Center knife drive for an agricultural harvester

Abstract

A header for an agricultural harvester comprising a frame and an epicyclical drive operatively connected to the frame. The epicyclical drive includes a first rotatable wheel having a first central rotational axis and a first flange. The first flange includes a first eccentric axis rotatable about the first central rotational axis, and a first output shaft spaced from the first eccentric axis. The epicyclical drive further includes a second rotatable wheel having a second central rotational axis and a second flange. The second flange includes a second eccentric axis rotatable about the second central rotational axis, and a second output shaft spaced from the second eccentric axis. The header further includes a first cutter bar directly connected to the first output shaft and a second cutter bar directly connected to the second output shaft. Operation of the epicyclical drive results in substantially linear oscillating motion of the cutter bars.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.