Agricultural harvester with improved elevator geometry

A crop material elevator, comprising:

• a housing including a return side, a conveyance side, and side walls between the return and conveyance sides, the housing further including a boot portion at a bottom of said housing, said boot portion defining a bulbous shape on the conveyance side of said housing;
• a driving loop held within said housing and configured to rotate about an axis of rotation;
• a driving element linked to said driving loop and configured to rotate said driving loop;
• and
• a plurality of paddles carried by said driving loop;
• wherein the plurality of paddles are rotated towards the boot portion on the return side of the housing and away from the boot portion on the conveyance side of the housing;
• and
• wherein the bulbous shape includes a radial widening of the conveyance side of the housing uniformly extending from the axis of rotation between the side walls of the housing.

An agricultural harvester, comprising:

• a chassis;
• a cleaning system carried by said chassis and configured to clean crop material;
• and
• a crop material elevator carried by said chassis and supplied with cleaned crop material from said cleaning system, said crop material elevator including:
• a driving loop configured to rotate about an axis of rotation;
• a driving element linked to said driving loop and configured to rotate said driving loop;
• a plurality of paddles carried by said driving loop, said plurality of paddles each being carried by said driving loop to define a travel path with a rotational component that transitions into a linear component;
• and
• a housing at least partially surrounding said driving loop and said plurality of paddles, said housing having a region of divergence relative to said driving loop adjacent to said rotational component of said travel path and a region of convergence relative to said driving loop adjacent to said linear component of said travel path, said housing including a return side, a conveyance side, and side walls between the return and conveyance sides, and said housing including a boot portion defining a bulbous shape on the conveyance side of the housing;
• wherein the plurality of paddles are rotated towards the boot portion on the return side of the housing and away from the boot portion on the conveyance side of the housing;
• and
• wherein the bulbous shape includes a radial widening of the conveyance side of the housing uniformly extending from the axis of rotation between the side walls of the housing.