Sicklebar Cover Protects From Cuts
After their uncle received several stitches in his forehead while trying to pull straw out of the draper head on his rice harvesting combine, Ryan and Jeff Atchison invented a product to safely cover a combine sicklebar while working on or around it.
  The patented Cutter Cap comes in 5-ft. sections and snaps onto the sicklebar knife guards. It’s designed for Deere, Honey Bee and MacDon headers, and others may follow, say the Atchisons.
    The Cutter Cap is made by a California company that uses waste material generated during the production of high quality vinyl windows. “The material is extremely durable yet flexible, and it’s UV-stabilized so it won’t crack or fade,” says Ryan.
     “We farm, and during the off-season we put 5 sections on our 25-ft. header to cover the entire header. That way when we’re walking around in the shop we don’t have to worry about snagging our clothing on the sicklebar or someone cutting their fingers.”
  He says the cover is designed to fit single sicklebar-type headers typically used to harvest small grain. Another version is available for sicklebars with longer protective spikes typically used to harvest wheat and soybeans.  
  If you want, you can carry a couple of cover sections with you on the combine, using specially made brackets that let you store 2 cover sections, one inside the other, held in place by a bungie cord.
  “If you’re in the field and your draper plugs up, you can pull both sections off the ladder and snap them onto the sicklebar so you won’t get cut as you lean over and unplug the header,” says Ryan.
  He says they also plan to develop Cutter Caps for swathers.
  Cutter Cap sells for $59.95 plus S&H. Mounting brackets sell for $49.99 plus S&H.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ryan Atchison, 4250 Kathy Lane, Chico, Calif. 95973 (ph 530 966-2462; ryankatchison@gmail.com; www.cuttercaps.com).


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2019 - Volume #43, Issue #2