Patent ID: 8621837

Claim:
A harvesting header operable to harvest crop, said harvesting header comprising: a header frame; a flexible cutterbar assembly mounted to the header frame to extend lengthwise in a lateral direction relative to the normal direction of travel of the header; a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms being attached to and cooperatively supporting the flexible cutterbar assembly, each of said support arms being pivotally coupled to the frame for swinging movement about a laterally extending axis so that the flexible cutterbar assembly is operable to flex along the length thereof in response to changes in terrain as the header is advanced; a conveyor assembly configured to receive severed crop materials from the cutterbar assembly and convey the materials laterally, said conveyor assembly presenting laterally endmost margins, an outer one of said support arms being positioned laterally outside one of the endmost margins of the conveyor assembly; and a cutterbar drive including a drive element and a forward gearbox drivingly connected between the drive element and the cutterbar assembly to provide driving power from the drive element to the cutterbar assembly, said forward gearbox being supported on the outer support arm adjacent the cutterbar assembly so that the forward gearbox and at least a portion of the drive element shifts up and down when an adjacent portion of the cutterbar assembly flexes.