Agricultural machine with a cutterbar driven by a pair of generally vertical drive shafts

A motor conditioner comprising:

• a frame supporting a header;
• a transverse cutterbar carried by said header for severing crop material in a field, said cutterbar having a plurality of transversely disposed individual rotatable cutting units divided into two laterally opposing groups of cutting units, each said group of cutting units including a laterally outboard end cutting unit located adjacent opposed sides of said frame and an intermediate cutting unit disposed inwardly of said end cutting unit between the opposing said end cutting units;
• conditioning means mounted in said header substantially rearwardly of said cutterbar for conditioning crop material after it has been severed by said cutterbar;
• a tongue pivotally connected to said frame intermediate the opposed sides of said frame and adapted for attachment to a tractor;
• and
• means for rotatably driving said cutting units including a pair of generally vertical drive shafts connected respectively to said intermediate cutting units to effect rotation thereof and directly drive said intermediate cutting units and a pair of generally horizontal drive shafts interconnecting the respective one of said intermediate cutting units and the corresponding said end cutting unit to transfer rotational power between the operatively connected intermediate cutting unit and the corresponding said end cutting unit for rotatably driving all of said cutting units within the corresponding group of said cutting units.