Patent ID: 6029434
Filing Date: 2000-02-29
Classification: A01F

Abstract:
In a round baler having a bale chamber provided with a crop inlet, the improvement comprising:a crop pickup spaced downwardly and forwardly from said inlet for picking up crop materials from the ground as the baler moves across a field and for feeding the picked up materials in a stream toward the inlet;an infeed ramp leading upwardly and rearwardly from the pickup for guiding materials to the inlet;stuffer mechanism associated with said ramp for receiving the stream of crop materials from the pickup and for feeding the materials upwardly along the ramp to said inlet,said pickup being wider than the inlet for creating a crop stream that is wider than the inlet;a pair of laterally spaced apart, opposed stub augers at the lower end of the ramp for engaging opposite outboard margins of the crop stream as it flows from the pickup to the infeed ramp and for consolidating the stream centrally until it is at least substantially no wider than the inlet; andapparatus for driving said stub augers in such a direction that forward portions of the augers turn down and under the axes of rotation of the augers for causing outboard margins of the stream to flow down and under the augers as they are converged centrally to the stuffer mechanism, said ramp having a plurality of longitudinally extending clearance slots therein arranged in a transverse row,said stuffer mechanism including a plurality of teeth that are projected upwardly through the clearance slots from beneath the ramp.