The inclination of the neutral sheet separating the two oppositely directed magnetic polarity hemispheres of the heliosphere is determined from solar K-corona data from 1971 to 1974. We show that the interplanetary sector structure inferred from these observations agrees well with the interplanetary sector structure observed at the earth over this same time period and demonstrate a strong correlation between the inclination of the neutral sheet and solar wind speed in the ecliptic plane during this period. The inclination of the neutral sheet is compared with the cosmic ray intensity at the earth, recorded by the Mount Washington neutron monitor from 1971 to 1975. There is a general inverse correlation between the cosmic ray intensity at the earth and the inclination of the neutral sheet over this period; the large decreases in cosmic ray intensity which occurred in 1973 and 1974 correlate well with large excursions in the inclination of the neutral sheet occurring some months earlier during these two years.