Abstract: A self-propelled combine has a series of rotary paddles for moving the crop rearwardly along the feeder housing from the platform to the combine separation system. The paddles are driven by a series of interconnected chain drives on the side of the feeder house, each drive including a chain trained around sprockets on the adjacent paddle shafts, and each drive is provided with an adjustable idler to vary the chain tension. Each idler includes a hexagonal shaft mounted in a support for adjustment normal to the shaft axis, and a ball type bearing is mounted on the shaft, the bearing having an inner periphery conforming to the shaft cross section so that it is axially slidable but nonrotatable thereon. The outer race of the bearing is provided with a sprocket that engages the drive chain, and the idler shift freely shifts along the shaft within limits to stay in alignment with the driven and driven sprockets.

Abstract: A self-propelled combine has a forward transversely elongated harvesting platform mounted on the forward end of a forwardly and downwardly inclined feeder housing through which the crop is fed to a separating mechanism in the combine body. A plurality of axially transverse paddle type impellers are mounted in the feeder housing and extend between the opposite sides of the housing immediately above the housing floor, the impellers being rotated in the same direction so that the impeller paddles move rearwardly along the floor, whereby the crop material is engaged by successive paddles and moved upwardly and rearwardly along the housing floor to the separating mechanism.