Abstract

A straw and chaff chopping and discharge arrangement is attached to a rear discharge opening of a combine harvester. The discharge apparatus includes a horizontal hub member transverse to the combine and carrying upon it a plurality of blade members arranged in radial planes along the length of the hub member. Each blade member includes a support plate lying in a radial plane together with a transverse blade surface which is inclined so that it extends outwardly and forwardly to generate a high velocity of air rotating with the chopping assembly around the axis. A housing is shaped with a stripping edge at the discharge opening to cause the rotating air and chopped material to be expelled through the discharge opening upwardly and rearwardly from the housing. The material can be spread across the ground up to a width equal to the swath from which the crop has been cut to provide even spreading of the material across the ground. Alternatively the material can be discharged into a transportation wagon for collection.