Abstract:
A material reclaiming conveyor is positioned below the apron of a round baler. The apron has a series of side by side bale forming belts that are spaced apart and form a bale chamber. The conveyer underlies an in-feed region to the bale chamber to catch material falling through the spaces between the bale forming belts and convey the material forwardly, to be recycled into the in-feed region of the baler. A trough is provided under an in-feed drum to receive the material from the reclaiming conveyer and cause such material to be carried with the drum into the bale forming chamber.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to “round balers” which form cylindrical bales of crop material, and more particularly, to a reclamation conveyor that is mounted below the bale forming chamber to recover leaves and short stems that have been torn from the crop being baled, and drops through gaps or openings, and that returns such high nutrient components to be recycled into the baled material.  
         [0002]     Round balers are widely used at the present time, and, generally utilize a series of belts that accept a swath or windrow of hay crop from a pick up and in feed roller or drum feed system. The hay is fed into the baler chamber, and as a bale starts to form in the inlet throat of the baler, that is, between a starter roller and a support drum, the belts or rollers will tend to tear off leaves and short stems in high quality hay crops such as alfalfa. The leaves and stems that are torn off will fall between the openings in the series of side by side belts used commonly for forming the round bale, or other gaps and thus will be lost.  
         [0003]     It is well known that the leaves, in particular, are high in the digestive nutrients in a hay crop such as alfalfa, and so loss of such high quality components is detrimental.  
         [0004]     The reclamation conveyor is designed primarily for use with a round baler that utilizes a series of bale forming belts that are positioned side by side and that have spaces between the side by side belts, particularly in the region where hay is being fed into the bale chamber.  
         [0005]     Prior art round balers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,899,651; 4,870,812; 5,444,969; and 6,098,391. A round baler which uses rolls for forming the bales is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,237.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The present invention relates to a reclamation conveyor that catches materials that are dropped or dislodged from crop material as the crop material enters the baling chamber of a round baler and return the material to the baler in feed for recycling into a bale being formed. The reclaiming of the crop material is accomplished by utilizing a conveyer, as shown, a belt or belts below the in-feed of a round baler.  
         [0007]     The conveyor is preferably driven whenever the baler is operated, and receives crop materials that drop through gaps in the bale forming belts or rollers on its upper surface and move the dropped crop material back toward the in-feed region of the baler. Particularly the reclaimed material is fed into a trough below a rotating feeder drum which transfers material from the trough into the baler in-feed region. The leaves and short stems returned to the in-feed region will be picked up and carried with incoming crop material, such as hay, and mixed in and retained in the incoming windrow of material, and thus retained in the bale being formed.  
         [0008]     The reclaiming conveyor of the present invention is mounted on the baler frame. As shown, the reclaiming conveyor belt support rollers extend transversely to the baler and transversely to the direction of movement of the bale forming belts. The conveyor rollers are parallel to the axis of the bale being formed. The reclaiming conveyor is preferably formed as a self-contained assembly of a frame, belt rollers and a belt mounted over the belt rollers. The conveyor can have a selected fore and aft length but generally is of sufficient length to underlie the entire in-feed area of a baler where the feed drums and rollers engage the incoming hay and tend to shatter or tear the leaves and small tender stems from the main plant stems.  
         [0009]     The surface of the reclaiming belts can be smooth or have irregularities, as desired. The drive to the rollers can either be chain or belt drives from driven rollers on the baler, or can be a hydraulic motor utilized for driving one of the conveyor belt rollers.  
         [0010]     A single endless belt that extends the full width of the baler is preferred to reduce or prevent any materials that are deposited on the top surface of the belt from falling through onto the ground.  
         [0011]     The reclaiming conveyor provides a saving of high quality portions of the hay or other crop materials, which increases the food value of the baled material, thus benefiting a cattle feeding operation. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is a side schematic view of a typical round baler with the bale forming chamber illustrated only schematically,  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a rear view of the baler of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a schematic representation of a reclaiming belt assembly made according to the present invention installed in lower portions of a baler, below the in-feed region where crop material enters the bale chamber;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged rear view of one side of the reclaiming belt of the present invention showing the position of the frame of the baler;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged fragmentary side view of a reclaiming conveyor installed on a baler; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a reclaiming conveyor assembly. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     A baler  10  which is a “round” baler has a main frame  12  that is made up of a number of interconnected structural elements. The baler frame  12  has side walls  14 , and has an expandable bale chamber defined partially by a dotted representation of a round bale inside an apron  44  that forms the bale, expandable bale chamber  16  is in the center portions of the baler. The frame  12  and side walls  14  are supported on wheels  18 , and a tongue  19  is used for connecting the baler to a tractor.  
         [0019]     The baler includes a tailgate section  20  that is closed during bale formation, as shown in  FIG. 1 , but is hinged to the front portion of the baler at the top of the wall  14 , and can be opened so the bottom of the tailgate swings out to drop a bale onto the ground after the bale is formed. The tailgate  20  is pivoted to the side frame for the walls  14  on pivot shafts  22  at the top, and is open and closed with hydraulic cylinders in a conventional manner.  
         [0020]     The bale forming chamber has a hay inlet indicated generally at  24 , which receives incoming hay from a pick up  26  that engages a window or swath of hay (crop material) on the ground and which transports the swath upwardly over the pick up. The hay swath is represented at  28  schematically, and is moved across suitable guides into the inlet  24 .  
         [0021]     A bale starter roller that is illustrated at  30  is rotatably mounted on the side walls  14  and is driven in a suitable manner, as shown schematically with a chain drive  32 , and rotates in direction as indicated by the arrow  34  to urge hay from the hay swath or source  28  into the bale chamber through the inlet or throat  24 . A support drum  36  is also suitably driven with a chain  38  that is represented only in dotted lines.  
         [0022]     It should be noted that a power take off connection  40  can be used for driving the baler components, or suitable hydraulic motors can be utilized for drivers as well. The support drum  36  is rotated in a direction as indicated by the arrow  42 , to urge the hay into the bale forming chamber. The bale forming chamber is conventional, and is further defined by the apron  44 , which in  FIG. 1  surrounds the bale that is formed. As can be seen in  FIG. 2 , the bale forming apron  44  is made up of a plurality of side by side belts  46 , mounted on suitable transversely extending drive rollers and guide rollers, in a conventional manner.  
         [0023]     The bale forming belts  46 , as can be seen are spaced apart with slot like openings  48  between the bale forming belts. The openings are large enough to permit passage of leaves or short stems through the slots. In the throat area  24 , the starter roller  30  and the support drum  36  can strip, jar or vibrate leaves and short stems off the hay plant main stalks, and these leaves and short stems will drop through the openings  48  between the bale forming belts  46  of the apron that forms the bale.  
         [0024]     In order to provide for a recovery of such leaves, short stems and other materials that drop through the slots  48 , the present invention includes a trough  50  that is part cylindrical, and spaced below the lower portions of the support drum  36 . The trough  50  is fastened using suitable side flange members  52  as perhaps best seen in  FIG. 5 . The trough  50  extends laterally along the entire length of the support drum  36  between side walls  14 . The trough  50  is imperforate, and it will catch and hold material that is deposited in the trough, which is then returned to the bale chamber by drum  36 .  
         [0025]     It can be seen that the main region for shattering, stripping, and dropping leaves is to the rear side of the drum  36 , spanning the lower side of the entire bale forming region all the way to the rear wall of the tailgate, represented generally by the double arrow  56  ( FIG. 1 ). In this region, the majority of the loose leaves and the like would be dropped, and to reclaim these leaves a reclaiming conveyer assembly indicated generally at  60  is supported on the side walls  14  of the baler. The conveyor assembly is preferably a self-contained conveyor or belt assembly having a frame  57  that include longitudinal side frame member  58  held together with cross members shown at  59  ( FIG. 6 ).  
         [0026]     End belt support rollers  62  and  64 , respectively, are rotatably supported on the side frame members  58 , as can be seen in  FIGS. 2, 4 , and  6 . The conveyer belt support rollers  62  and  64  carry a solid surface (imperforate) full width belt  66 . This is preferably a continuous belt surface across the width of the baler.  
         [0027]     The tailgate has an inclined bottom wall  70  that catch materials dropping through rear portions of the tailgate. The wall  70  is inclined sufficiently so the material slides down onto the top of the reclaiming belt  66  and the material is then returned to the trough  50 .  
         [0028]     The reclaiming conveyor assembly  60  is suitably powered by driving front roller  62 . The conveyor assembly is held in place by fasteners from flanges or supports  61  on the tail gate  20  that support flanges  58 A on the conveyor frame members  58 . The conveyor assembly  60  thus moves with the tail gate when it pivots rearwardly as a formed bale is dropped. The conveyor drive is represented only schematically at  72 , because it can be any desired type of drive which will move with the tail gate.  
         [0029]     The conveyer belt  66  moves so that the top length of the conveyer belt  66  is moving forwardly toward the trough  50 , and it will deposit loose crop materials on the top of the belt, such as leaves and stems indicated at  76 , into the trough  50 . The loose crop material will be carried around the support drum  36  and into the flow of hay (the windrow or swath  28 ) coming into the inlet or throat region  24 . The reclaimed leaves and stems will be mixed in with the hay swath or windrow, and will then be processed and held in place in the formed bale.  
         [0030]     The fore and aft length of the conveyer assembly  60  can be selected to be as desired, and the drive speed can also be selected to accomplish the purposes of returning the dropped materials  76  that have fallen through the openings  48  between the bale forming belts  46  (or other openings in balers using rolls for bale forming) onto sloping wall  70  and onto the conveyer assembly  60  and into the trough  50  for re-processing.  
         [0031]     Again, the types of drives for the conveyer assembly  60  can be as desired. The position of the conveyer assembly  60  on a round baler having a plurality of side by side belts that are spaced to form gaps, is below the general crop material inlet area of the baler where the greatest losses of the highly nutritious leaves of crop plant such as alfalfa occur. Sloping or tapering walls such as wall  70  can be used to aid in returning materials to the conveyor.  
         [0032]     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.