Patent ID: 7874133

Claim:
A forage harvester having a header for harvesting crop from a field comprising: a chopper for comminuting the crop harvested by the header, a spout from which the chopped crop is discharged and a rotary blower ( 10 ) for propelling the chopped crop from the chopper along a discharge chute leading to the spout, wherein the blower has a housing with a front and rear wall forming an entrance, wherein a deflector plate ( 14 a ) is mounted to the rear wall adjacent the entrance of the blower, the deflector plate being movable between a first position in which the crop is guided to flow in a substantially tangential direction relative to the trajectory of the blades ( 10 a ) of the blower and a second position in which the crop is deflected radially inwards from the tangential direction to blades ( 10 a ) of the blower at a point along their length, wherein the deflector plate has a back plate extending therefrom to at least partially cover the entrance of the blower when the deflector plate is in the first and second positions, and all positions therebetween, further wherein the back plate has a resilient flap at a distal end thereof for contacting an edge of the rear wall of the blower housing.