Patent ID: 8021219

Claim:
A threshing and separating mechanism for a combine having a supporting structure, the mechanism comprising: an elongated rotor mounted in the supporting structure for rotation about a rotor axis, the rotor having a threshing portion and a separating portion; an elongated, substantially solid housing mounted in the supporting structure, the housing having a threshing section and a separating section, the housing surrounding the rotor and being spaced from the rotor to form an annular space between the rotor and the housing for crop material to flow through in a crop flow direction from an inlet end of the housing to an outlet end of the housing, the threshing portion of the rotor corresponding to the threshing section of the housing and the separating portion of the rotor corresponding to the separating section of the housing; the housing having a top that is raised above the rotor to define a first distance between the top of the threshing section of the housing and the rotor axis, and a second distance between the top of the separating section of the housing and the rotor axis; and the housing having a substantially solid transition section between the threshing section and the separating section of the housing, and arranged over an outlet portion of the threshing portion of the rotor and an inlet portion of the separating portion of the rotor, the top of the housing being raised above the rotor at an inlet end of the transition section to define a third distance between the top of the transition section and the rotor axis, said top of the housing being raised above the rotor at an outlet end of said transition section to define a fourth distance between the top of the transition section and the rotor axis, said third distance substantially equal to said first distance and said fourth distance substantially equal to said second distance, wherein the transition section of the housing expands at an oblique angle from the inlet end of the transition section to the outlet end of the transition section, and wherein the transition section overlaps each of the threshing portion and the separating portion.