US Patent 7654892 Tailings re-thresher deflector

A re-threshing system for a combine includes a delivery mechanism for transporting tailings from the cleaning section of the combine to a re-threshing apparatus and a bypass that can be used to bypass the tailings around the re-threshing apparatus. The re-threshing apparatus includes a re-threshing housing that at least partially surrounds a re-threshing rotor. The rotor and housing have cooperating threshing elements that act to re-thresh the tailings delivered into the housing and deliver the re-threshed tailings out of a housing outlet into a discharge passage to be directed to the cleaning section of the combine harvester. The delivery mechanism is configured to throw or fling the tailings into an inlet opening of the housing in a direction substantially tangential to the rotor rotating direction. To bypass the re-threshing apparatus, a deflector can be deployed to block the inlet opening and deflect the tailings into a bypass passage that is open to the discharge passage.