Patent ID: 7311448

Claim:
A bearing arrangement for a harvesting machine, comprising: said harvesting machine including a vertical wall joined to a chassis and including an opening; a product treating element coupled to a shaft having an end region projecting through said opening in said vertical wall; a bearing configured to couple said end region of said shaft with said wall, and hence to said chassis of the harvesting machine so that the shaft is rotatable about a shaft axis with respect to the chassis, wherein the bearing includes a house mounted to said wall at an opposite side of said wall from said product treating element; a contactless seal comprising separate first and second elements, with said a first element being coupled for rotation with the shaft and being shaped such that a space concentric to said shaft is defined between an inner surface of said first element and said shaft and with said second element having a first portion coupled with the chassis of the harvesting machine and having a second portion located within said space and having an outer surface disposed in confronting, spaced relationship to said inner surface, wherein the first element and second portion of said second element cooperate to define a concentric gap between them.