Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BALING MACHINE
BACKGROUND OF TOE I~V~TION
This invention relates to a baling machine and
particularly one of the type comprising a cylindrical
chamber or housing into which harvested material is fed
and is rolled by belts within the housing into a large
cylindrical bale.
Baling machines of this type have become very
popular for various reasons in recent years and are
widely used for baling harvested material from swaths.
The operation is now well developed and the baling tech-
nique is very effective however a problem remains in
relationship to the unloading of formed bales and the
material which i5 fed during the unloading process.
The instruction manual or most baling machines
of this type requires that prior to ejection of a formed
bale, the baler be halted in its movement across the
ground and the tractor reversed so as to back up the
baler by about ten (10) feet. At this stage the housing
is opened by pivotal movement of a rear section of the
housing about a horizontal axis at the top of the housing
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so as to open at an opening provided at the bottom rear
i portion of the housing to allow the bale to escape. The
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front and rear portions thus operate somewhat in the form
of a clamshell arrangement with the bale being ejected
from the opened housing by the belts which form the bale
within the housing.
With the bale ejected from the housing, the
tractor can move forward so that the rear portion clears
the bale and then can close the housing to restart forma-
tion of the next bale. During the forward movement,
because of the previous backup, no material is fed into
the baler for those ten (10) feet so that by the time the
baler encounters fresh material for collection it is
closed and ready to continue operation.
This operation is however unsatisfactory in
that the operator has to stop and maneouver the tractor
and baler which iB undesirab.Le and therefore the operator
attempts to avoid it. q'his can cause a number of prob-
lems including contacting the bale with the rear portion
as it closes, feeding material right through the front
portion of the baler and out the opening which can waste
material and fu:rthermore material can be trapped between
the two portions of the housing as they close and thus
can inhibit the proper formation of a bale within the
housing and can cause jamming of the feed mechanism into
the housing.
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Proposals have been made in U.S. Patent No.
3,914,922 (Todd) and in U.S. Patent No. 4,135,352 (Swen-
son) both of which propose spring-mounted tines which are
normally biased into position which inhibits movement of
material from toe feed mechanism into the housing The
spring tines are then depressed by the formation of the
bale to a position where the formation can continue.
Both of these arrangements are concerned with
the type of baler including an elongate inner belt run
which extends substantially wholly around the interior
surface of the housing and expands as the bale increases
in size. Following ejection of the bale the elongate
band i5 drawn inwardly relative to the inner surface of
the chamber or housing. In addition both of the above
devices are unsatisfactory in that they can interfere
with the proper formation of the bale particularly in the
type of device wherein the belts lie around the periphery
of the housing and are formed by a number of separate
belt runs as opposed to the continuous belt run which
collapses into the interior of the housing when the bale
is ejected.
It is one object of the present invention,
therefore, to provide an improved bailing device which
overcomes the disadvantages of the above arrangements.
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According to the invention, therefore, there is
provided a baling machine comprising a substantially
cylindrical housing, means at a bottom front position of
the housing for feeding crop material into the housing,
the housing including a front portion and a rear portion,
means mounting the rear portion on the front portion for
pivotal movement about a horizontal axis arranged adja-
cent tO the top of the housing so as to open at an open-
ing at a bottom rear position of the housing to allow a
formed bale to escape from the housing, belt means within
the housing defining a chamber for forming the fed mater-
ials into a bale, means for halting feeding of said
material .into said chamber, said halting means consisting
solely of a plurality of tines movable from a retracted
position in which they lie outside the belt means and do
not interfere with the formation of the bale to a raised
position in which they project inwardly of the belt
means, said tines being shaped to engage and halt
material fed by said feeding means, said tines being
fixedly mounted on a common pivotal member for common
plvotal movement therewith and mechan.ical interconnecting
means directly connecting movement ox said rear portion
:~ of the housing to and from an open position to said com-
mon pivotal member -o move said tlnes to and from the
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raised and retracted positions respectively.
According to a second aspect of the invention
there is provided a baling machine comprising a sub-
stantially cylindrical housing, a plurality of belt run
portions arranged around an inner periphery of the hous-
ing in spaced relation to one another angularly of the
housing defining a chamber, means at a bottom front
position of the housing for feeding crop material from a
swath into the chamber for rolling by the belt portions
into a bale, the housing including a front portion and a
rear portion, means mounting the rear portion on the
front portion for pivotal movement about a horizontal
axis arranged adjacent the top of the housing so as to
open at an opening at a bottom rear position of the
housing to allow a formed bale to escape from the
chamber, one of the belt run portions including a plural-
ity of separate belts spaced axially of the housing each
having an inner run extending from said feeding means to
said opening, means for halting feeding of said material
into said chamber, said halting means consisting solely
of a plurality of tines movable from a retracted position
in which they wholly underlie the inner run of the belts
to a raised position in which they project between the
inner runs inwardly into the housing, said tines being
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I.
352
shaped so as to engage and halt movement of material on
said one belt run portion to said opening and being
fixedly mounted on a common pivotal member for movement
therewith and mechanical interconnecting means for
directly communicating movement of said rear portion of
the housing to and from an open position for moving said
common pivotal member to move said tines to and from the
raised and retracted positions respectively whereby when
the rear portion of the housing is opened the tines are
moved to the raised position to halt the movement of
material on said one belt run portion to said opening,
said mechanical interconnecting means being spring biased
to the raised position of the tines and the rear portion
including a stop mechanism for holding said mechanical
lnterconnecting means in the retracted position of the
tines while the rear position is in the closed position.
The tines can therefore can be operated by
opening and closing of the clamshell front and rear por-
tions so that when the rear portion is closed the tines
are immediately retracted to a position underlying the
lower belt so that they cannot interfere with the forma-
tion of the next bale.
This is particularly important in relation to
the type of baler using separate belt portions which
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remain around the periphery of the housing rather Han
collapsing tO the interior of the housing since the pro-
jection of tines into the interior can interfere with the
proper rolling of the material around the interior. Thus
even if the tines can be compressed by the formation of
the bale their presence during the initial portions of
the bale formakion can interfere with the proper forma-
tion of the bale.
With the foregoing in view, and other advan-
tages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art
to which this invention relates as this specification
proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference
to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which
includes a description of the best mode known to the
applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the
principles of the present invention, in which:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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Figure 1 i5 a schematic side elevational view
partly in cross-section of a baling machine according to
the invention.
; Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the
actuating mechanism of Figure 1 shown with the tines in
raised position and omitting for simplicity of illustra-
tion the baling machine itself.
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Figure 3 is an isometric view showing the tines
and part of the adjacent belt run with the tines in
raised position or engaging the harvested material.
In the drawings like characters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the different figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring firstly to figure 1 there is shown a
baling machine of a conventional type which includes a
housing 10 mounted on groundwheels 11 and drawn by a
hitch 12 from a tractor (not shown).
The housing is formed in two portions compris-
ing a front portion 13 and a rear portion l which are
relatively hinged at a horizontal axis 15 so that they
can open at an opening point 16 to assume the position
illustrated in Figure 2 in which the chamber is opened to
allow the exit of a formed bale.
A feed mechanism indicated schematically at 17
is provided at a front lower portion of the housing 10
for collecting harvested material in a swath 18.
Within the housing a bale is formed by a plur-
ality of belts which are arranged around the periphery of
the cylindrical housing 10. A first belt indicated at 19
is formed at the bottom of the housing extending from the
inlet of the feed section 17 to the opening 16 for initi-
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ally conveying the -Eed material across the bottom of the
housing. The belt l9 is mounted on dry rollers 20 and a
tensioning roller 21 extending parallel to toe axis of
the cylindrical housing lO with one or more of the rol-
lers 20 driven in a direction to move the upper or inner
run of the belt l9 indicated at 22 in a rearward direc-
tion toward the opening 16.
Rearwardly of the roller 20 at the opening 16
is provided a further belt 23 mounted on rollers 2~ and
carried by the rear portion 14 of the housing. This belt
also provides an inner run which carries the material
from the rear end of the belt 22 rearwardly and upwardly
in the housing toward a further belt 25 mounted on rol-
lers 26 and from there to a yet further belt 27 mounted
on rollers 28. From the end of the belt 27 extends first
belt 29 and a second belt 30 in the front portion 13 of
the housing the latter extend downwardly to the front of
thè belt 22. Thus the inner runs of each of the belts
comblne to form a rotating supporting surface for the
material around the inner periphery of the housing lO
with each of the belt forming a portion of the periphery
spaced angularly of the housing. It will be appreciated
that the pivot axis 15 and the opening 16 are provided
between adjacent ends of respective belts so that the
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opening causes movement of the belt 23 away from the belt
22 to allow the escape of a formed bale.
As illustrated in Figure 3, each cf the belts
22, 23, 2~, 27, 29, 30 is formed of a plurality of separ-
ate bands 31 which are spaced axially of the housing and
which co-operate to effectively form an apron or belt
extending the full width of the chamberO The rollers 20,
24, 26, 28 are fixed to the respective housing portion
and hence retain the belts a the outer periphery of the
housing regardless of the amount of material within the
housing.
As shown in Figure 3 a plurality of tines 30
are provided each of which passes through a respective
slot between two of the bands 31. The tines 30 are
arcuately curved so as to present a concave side to the
upstream side of the belt run 22 in the raised position
illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The tines are mounted
upon an elongate actuating rod 33 which extends across
the bands 31 to one side for connection to a lever 34
which is positioned outside the housing on one sidewall.
The lever 34 is connected to a push-rod 35 which extends
downwardly along the outer surface of the sidewall which
in turn is pivotally connected to a bell-crank 36 includ-
ing a first leg at 37 and a second leg at 38 at right
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angles to the first. The bell~crank is also connected by
an extension portion 39 to a spring 40 which provides
spring-bias in a direction to lift the tines 32 into the
raised position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The end
of the portion 38 of the bell-crank 36 is attached to a
curved slide rod 41 which passes through a guide 42 at-
tached to the front portion of the housing on an outer
surface of the end face thereof. The slide rod 41 in-
cludes an end abutment face 43 for engaging a fixed stop
44 attached to the outer face of the rear portion 14 of
the housing.
In operation with the rear portion 14 of the
housing closed, the stop 44 engages the slide rod 41
which in turn rotates the connecting rod 33 via the bell-
crank 36 in an anti-clockwise direction as shown in
Figure l to retract the tines 32 to a position where they
are fully underlying the upper run 22 of the belt l9. In
this position the tines 32 in no way interfere with the
rolling or tumbling of the collected harvested material
and thus allow it to be rotated by the belts to roll into
a bale which is of the generally cylindrical shape de-
fined by the belts themselves.
When the formation of the bale is complete, the
operator can open the rear portion 14 of the housing to
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vested material around the chamber under control of the
belts.
Since various modifications can be made in my
invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently
widely different embodiments o same made within the
spirit and scope of the claims without departing from
such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter
contained in the accompanying specification shall be
interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting
sense.
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vested material around the chamber under control of the
belts.
Since various modifications can be made in my
invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently
widely different embodiments of same made within the
spirit and scope of the claims without departing from
such spirit and scope, it is intended thaw all matter
contained in the accompanying specification shall be
interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting
sense.
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