Shield apparatus for agricultural implement header

A shield apparatus in combination with a header of an agricultural implement arranged for movement across the ground in a forward working direction in which the header comprises a header frame arranged to be supported on the agricultural implement and at least one collecting member rotatably supported on the header frame so as to be arranged to direct collected material rearwardly towards a rear discharge opening laterally centered on the header, the shield apparatus comprising:

• a mounting bracket assembly mounted onto the header frame;
• and
• a panel member coupled to the mounting bracket assembly such that the panel member is supported above the rear discharge opening of the header spanning in a lateral direction transversely to the forward working direction;
• the panel member being oriented to extend from a rear edge which is positioned rearwardly of the collecting member to a front edge which is spaced forwardly and upwardly in relation to the rear edge;
• wherein the mounting bracket assembly comprises a plurality of bracket members arranged to be independently coupled to the header frame at spaced apart positions in the lateral direction which is perpendicular to the forward working direction;
• and
• wherein each bracket member comprises:
• a base portion including a base mounting flange fastened to the header frame;
• a panel portion including a panel mounting flange fastened to the panel member, the panel portion being hinged to the base portion for relative pivotal movement about a common horizontal pivot axis of the panel member relative to the header;
• and
• an anchor member arranged to be selectively anchored to both the base portion and the panel portion at respective locations spaced from the pivot axis at any one of a plurality of different angular orientations of the panel portion relative to the base portion corresponding to different angular orientations of the panel member relative to the header.

A shield apparatus in combination with a header of an agricultural implement arranged for movement across the ground in a forward working direction in which the header comprises a header frame arranged to be supported on the agricultural implement and at least one collecting member rotatably supported on the header frame so as to be arranged to direct collected material rearwardly towards a rear discharge opening laterally centered on the header, the shield apparatus comprising:

• a mounting bracket assembly mounted onto the header frame;
• and
• a panel member coupled to the mounting bracket assembly such that the panel member is supported above the rear discharge opening of the header spanning in a lateral direction transversely to the forward working direction;
• the panel member being oriented to extend from a rear edge which is positioned rearwardly of the collecting member to a front edge which is spaced forwardly and upwardly in relation to the rear edge;
• wherein the mounting bracket assembly comprises a plurality of bracket members arranged to be independently coupled to the header frame at spaced apart positions in the lateral direction which is perpendicular to the forward working direction;
• wherein the panel member comprises a plurality of panel sections supported in series with one another in the lateral direction;
• and
• wherein there is provided one of the bracket members supported at a junction of each adjacent pair of panel sections such that the bracket member includes a base mounting portion fastened to the header frame, a first panel mounting portion fastened to a first one of the adjacent pair of panel sections and a second panel mounting portion fastened to a second one of the adjacent pair of panel sections.

A shield apparatus in combination with a header of an agricultural implement arranged for movement across the ground in a forward working direction in which the header comprises a header frame arranged to be supported on the agricultural implement and at least one collecting member rotatably supported on the header frame so as to be arranged to direct collected material rearwardly towards a rear discharge opening laterally centered on the header, the shield apparatus comprising:

• a mounting bracket assembly mounted onto the header frame;
• the mounting bracket assembly comprising a plurality of bracket members coupled to the header frame at spaced apart positions in a lateral direction which is oriented transversely to the forward working direction;
• and
• a panel member coupled to the mounting bracket assembly such that the panel member is supported above the rear discharge opening of the header spanning in the lateral direction;
• the panel member comprising a plurality of panel sections supported in series with one another in the lateral direction;
• the panel member being oriented to extend from a rear edge which is positioned rearwardly of the collecting member to a front edge which is spaced forwardly and upwardly in relation to the rear edge;
• one of the bracket members being supported at a junction of each adjacent pair of the panel sections, said at least one of the bracket members comprising:
• a base mounting portion fastened to the header frame;
• a first panel mounting portion fastened to one of the panel sections of the adjacent pair;
• a second panel mounting portion fastened to the other one of the panel sections of the adjacent pair;
• the first and second panel mounting portions being coupled for pivotal movement together with the panels about a common horizontal pivot axis of the panel member relative to the header between a plurality of different angular orientations of the panel member relative to the header;
• and
• at least one fastening member arranged to selectively fix the first and second panel mounting portions relative to the base mounting portion at a selected one of the different angular orientations of the panel member relative to the header.