Patent ID: 6651416
Filing Date: 2003-11-25
Classification: A01F

Abstract:
In a large rectangular baler including a baling chamber having an inlet, a plunger head mounted for reciprocating fore-and-aft within said baling chamber from one side to another of said inlet, a crop delivery duct mounted for directing crop to said inlet of said baling chamber, a pick-up arrangement including a rotatable pick-up device for elevating a windrow of crop material and delivering it rearwardly to said crop delivery duct, a packer arrangement including a rotatable packer device located for receiving crop from said pick-up device and pushing it into a pre-charge chamber of said crop delivery duct which is delimited on its end remote from said packer device by a retractable retaining fork arrangement, the improvement comprising: a variable speed, hydraulic pick-up drive motor being coupled for driving said pick-up device; a variable speed, hydraulic packer drive motor being coupled for driving said packer device; and a hydraulic control valve arrangement being coupled to said pick-up drive motor and said packer drive motor for effecting independent control of the speed of said pick-up and packer drive motors.