Patent ID: 9066472
Filing Date: 2015-06-30
Classification: A01F

Abstract:
1. An agricultural baler comprising: a baling chamber for use in compressing crop material to a bale; a bale chute disposed at an outlet of said baling chamber for receiving said bale and lowering the completed bale onto the field; wherein the bale chute has a leading end connected to the outlet of the baling chamber for pivoting movement about an axis transverse to the direction of travel of the baler between a first position in which bales from the baling chamber can be received onto the bale chute and a lowered second position which is inclined to the horizontal to cause a completed bale to slide under the action of gravity along the bale chute and to fall onto the field from a trailing end of the bale chute; a hydraulic actuator configured to pivot the bale chute between the second position and the first position; a hydraulic accumulator hydraulically connected to the hydraulic actuator such that the hydraulic actuator exerts an upward force on the bale chute, the upward force extending along but opposing the direction of the gravitational pull, the hydraulic actuator and the hydraulic accumulator are provided such that the upward force of the hydraulic actuator on the bale chute in the first position of the bale chute is smaller than the downward force generated by the combined weight of the bale chute and a completed bale on the bale chute but in the second position of the bale chute is larger than the downward force generated by the weight of the bale chute and wherein upward force equals the downward force generated by the combined weight of the bale chute and the completed bale in the second position of the bale chute.