The invention relates to a cutting blade overload protection device (10) for a cutting mechanism (11) of a harvester (100) for leaf and stalk material, comprising at least one cutting blade (13) which can pivot about a cutting blade rotational axis (12) and which is connected to a toggle lever mechanism (14). The toggle lever mechanism (14) includes two coupled toggle levers (16, 17) which can pivot about a toggle lever rotational axis (15) and which move the cutting blade (13) from an operating position (P1) to a resting position (P2) when a predefined force (F1) is exceeded.The invention also relates to a harvester (100) which is equipped with at least one such cutting blade overload protection device (10).In order to protect the cutting blade (13) better when contacting foreign objects, it is proposed to provide the cutting blade overload protection device (10) with a special toggle lever mechanism (14) which comprises a stop limit (24) and a spring element (19), with the spring element (19) and limit stop (24) interacting such that when a predefined force (F1) is exceeded, the toggle lever rotational axis (15) is moved past a dead center point (20), with the position of the toggle levers (16, 17) shifting from a first buckling position (21) through a straight position (22) into a second buckling position (23).
