Header cutting system with knife guards

A cutting system for a harvesting header comprising:

• a transversely extending cutter bar;
• a transversely extending knife back, said knife back having a main body portion;
• a plurality of knife sections, each knife section of said plurality of knife sections having at least one knife edge extending generally in a forward direction, said plurality of knife sections being connected to said knife back in series transversely along said knife back;
• a plurality of knife guard components, each knife guard component of said plurality of knife guards components having a front guard portion and a rear portion interconnected by a medial portion, said medial portion having a recess, said medial portion for receiving a lengthwise portion of the knife back with at least one attached knife section being received into, said at least one knife section operable to move transversely at least partially into and out of a cutting slot in said front guard portion;
• a plurality of hold down components, each hold down component comprising a body portion located between an upper surface of said rear portion of at least one knife guard component and an underneath surface of said cutter bar;
• and
• an attachment mechanism operable to secure said plurality of knife guard components and said plurality of hold down components to said underneath surface of said cutter bar.

A method of assembling a cutting system comprising:

• (a) attaching a plurality of knife sections to a knife back;
• (b) loosely mounting a plurality of main guard components and a plurality of corresponding hold-down components at a lower surface area of said cutter bar, such that a body portion of each hold-down component is sandwiched between a body portion of a main guard component and the cutter bar;
• (c) completing the securement of the plurality of main guard components and the plurality of corresponding hold-down components at a lower surface area of said cutter bar;
• and
• (d) inserting a knife back and attached knife sections into a receiving portion of a base portion and into slots of a main guard component, such that said knife back and attached knife sections are restrained from substantial upward/downward motion and from substantial forward/backward motion by said main guard component and a rear hold-down component.

A cutting system for a harvesting header comprising:

• a transversely extending cutter bar;
• first and second transversely extending knife backs interconnected to said cutter bar and being transversely aligned with each other, said first and second knife backs each having a main body portion;
• at least one knife section mounted to each of said first and second knife backs, each said at least one knife section having at least one knife edge extending generally in a forward direction;
• and
• a crop divider interconnected to said cutter bar and located between said first and second knife backs.