BALING MACHINE

Abstract: A machine, towed by a tractor, for forming large cylindrical bales of hay has a rear gate assembly (54) through which a fully formed bale is unloaded. The gate then overlies the bale (78). In order to avoid the need to manoeuvre the tractor back and forth to enable the gate to clear the bale before the gate is lowered again the main frame (10) of the machine is arranged to be swingable about a vertical hinge (86) through 90° or more relative to the tractor. Thus when a bale has been fully formed, the tractor is stopped, the main frame is swung, the gate raised, the bale unloaded, the main frame swung back, the gate lowered, and baling is continued again.

Description: Baling. machine This invention relates to a baling machine, for forming cylindrical bales of crop material, having: a main frame; draft means, for attaching the machine to a tractor; and an upwardly and downwardly swingable rear gate assembly through which a formed bale can be ejected at its upward position so that the assembly overlies the ejected bale. Machines, towed by a tractor, for forming large cylindrical bales of hay are known in which, as the machine advances, the crop is removed from a windrow by a pick-up mechanism and delivered rearwardly to a baling chamber where it is rolled into a bale between an upper and lower belt conveyor running in opposite direction, the bale rotating about a horizontal axis. One such machine is described in British patent specification 1 477 260. When a full sized bale has been formed it is ejected onto the ground from the rear of the machine through a gate assembly the gate being swung rearwardly and upwardly. The gate then overlies part of the ejected bale. Therefore for the gate to be closed without fouling the bale, it is necessary either to move the machine or the bale. Normally the machine is driven rearwardly, the gate opened, the bale ejected, the baler driven forwardly until the gate clears the bale, and finally the gate closed cleanly. This, of course, is somewhat time consuming. The present invention provides a baler which eliminates the need for driving the tractor to-and-fro to release a bale. According to the present invention the main frame is pivotally connected to the draft means and power means are connected between the main frame and the draft means so as to be capable of swinging the frame about the said pivotal connection between a baling position and a position angled therefrom, the angled position being such that a bale ejected at that position will be cleared by the gate assembly on closing at the baling position. The angle through which the main frame will need to swing from the baling position will usually be 900 or more, but will depend largely on the shape and size of the gate assembly. Thus on completion of a bale, the tractor is stopped and the power means, which can conveniently be a piston and cylinder unit, is operated to swing the main frame to its angled position relative to the tractor. The rear gate assembly is raised and the bale is ejected. The piston and cylinder unit is operated once more to return the main frame to the baling position, and finally the gate assembly is lowered cleanly of the bale. It is therefore not necessary for the tractor to be manoeuvred back and forth during bale unloading. An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a baling machine for forming large cylindrical bales of hay looking from the front and somewhat to the left hand side of the machine when in a position for baling; and Fig. 2 is a side view of the machine of Fig. 1 in a position, angled from that in Fig. 1, at which a formed bale has been unloaded. In the drawings, the machine includes a mobile main frame 10 mounted on a pair of wheels 12. The main frame includes a pair of upright, opposite, fore-and-aft extending left and right side walls 14 and 16 which define a baling chamber between them. A transverse beam 18 connects the forward ends of the side walls 14, 16 and a hollow draft member in the form of a tongue 20 which is connected to the beam 18 extends forwardly for attaching the baler to a tractor (not shown) having a conventional rear power take-off mechanism. The main frame also includes a transverse upper beam 22 interconnecting the side walls 14, 16 above the beam 18. A pick-up mechanism 24, which is of conventional construction and will not therefore be described in detail, is mounted for vertical adjustment on the main frame 10 by a pair of vertically swingable arms 26, the pick-up mechanism spanning the width of the main frame forwardly of the baling chamber and being operative to elevate the crop from a windrow on the field as the machine advances and to deliver it rearwardly to a pair of transverse, oppositely rotating compressor rolls 28, 30 which pass the crop in the form of a mat onto a belt-type# conveyor 32. The conveyor 32 spans the width of the machine between the side walls 14, 16 and includes an endless belt 34 which is trained around the lower compressor roll 30 and a rear roller 36. A pair of intermediate rollers 38 and 40 also extends between the opposite side walls and supports the upper run of the belt 34, the rollers 36, 38, 40 lying on substantially the same horizontal plane as the lower compressor roll 30 so that the upper run of the conveyor 32 is substantially horizontal. An upper belt-type conveyor 42 is disposed between the opposite side walls 14, 16 above the lower conveyor 32 and includes a plurality of belts 44 that are disposed side by side across the width of the machine. The belts are trained around a lower front roller 46, an upper front roller 48, and a pair of upper intermediate rollers 50 and 52, all of which extend between the opposite side walls 14, 16 and are engaged by the inner faces of the belts 44. A rear gate assembly 54 includes a pair of inner arms 56, having their forward ends respectively connected to the opposite side walls 14, 16 on pivots 58, and a pair of outer arms 60 respectively pivotally connected to the rearward ends of the inner arms 56 on transverse pivots 62 only the arms of the left hand side of the machine being shown. A pair of links 64 respectively extends between the upper ends of the outer arms 60. above the pivots 62 and brackets 66 on the opposite side walls 14, 16. A lower rear roller 68 runs between the lower ends of the outer arms 60, whilst an upper rear roller 70 extends between the outer arms 60 coaxial with the pivots 62, the conveyor 42 also being trained around the rollers 68 and 70. Two hydraulic cylinders 72 (one cylinder only being shown) respectively extend between the opposite side walls 14, 16 and the inner arms 56 for swinging the arms in unison about their pivots 58 to open or close the gate assembly 54. The upper and lower conveyors 42, 32, as well as the compressor rolls 28, 30, a stripper roller 74 which is disposed below the roller 46, and the pick-up mechanism 24 are driven by conventional belt drives on the left side of the machine, the power for the belt drives being supplied as usual through a fore and aft drive shaft (not shown) above the implement tongue 20, the forward end of the drive shaft being connectible to the tractor power take-off mechanism. The rearward end of the drive shaft is connected to the transverse drive shaft (also not shown) through conventional bevel gearing, the left end of the transverse shaft providing the input for the various belt drives to the driven components. Initially during the bale forming operation, the lower rear roller 68 is disposed above the front intermediate lower conveyor roller 38, and the belts 49 are inclined upwardly and forwardly from the lower front roller 46. As the crop material is delivered in a mat on top of the upper run of the lower conveyor 32, the mat moves rearwardly until it engages the upwardly and forwardly moving lower run of the upper set of belts, which causes the mat of crop material to start to roll. The transverse stripper roller 74 is disposed immediately to the rear of the upper compressor roll 28 and directly below the lower front roller 46 to strip the crop material from the belts 44, so that the material does not pass out between the upper compressor roll 28 and the roller 46, the stripper roller 74 defining the forward end of the baling chamber and the shiftable rear roller 68 defining the rearward end. As the bale grows, the rear gate assembly 54 swings rearwardly, the links 64 causing the lower end of the outer arms 60 to move approximately in a straight line until the rear roller 68 is above the rearward end of the lower conveyor 32. Of course, as the bale grows, the belts 44 require substantially increased distances between the lower rear roller 68 and the lower front roller 46, and a belt take-up mechanism 75, of which one spring 76 of a pair on either side of the machine is shown in Fig. 2, is provided to give the necessary belt length. The springs 76 supply an increasing tension in the belts 44 as the bale gets bigger, the tension in the upper belts compressing the crop into the bale. Details of the take-up mechanism 75 have been omitted from the drawings as it is conventional. When the bale is fully formed the tractor driver normally stops further forward movement of the baling machine to interrupt the flow of crop material delivered by the pick-up mechanism 24. The driver operates a valve (not shown) causing the cylinders 72 to extend and thus the rear gate assembly 54 to swing upwardly so that the fully formed bale, numbered 78, is ejected through the gate onto the ground as can be seen in Fig. 2. The gate assembly 54 then overlies the bale 78 and could not be closed with the machine and the bale in this position. In order to avoid having to manoeuvre the tractor back and forth, there is provided an arrangement 80 for swinging the main frame 10 through an angle of 900 in relation to the tractor. The details of this arrangement will now be described. The tongue 20 is T-shaped.in plan view, its shank portion 82 diverging rearwardly and the forward end of the shank portion 82 being connected by conventional means to the tractor. The flange portion 84 of the tongue is pivotally attached at its left hand end to the transverse beam 18 by a vertical hinge 86 so that the beam 18, and thus the main frame 10, can swing in the direction of arrow A in Fig. 1. An hydraulic piston and cylinder unit 88 controlled by a manually operated valve from the tractor gives the power for the swinging movement. The unit 88 is pivotally connected at either end to the flange 84 and the beam 18 so that contraction of the unit will cause the beam 18 to be aligned with the flange 84, in the position shown in Fig. 1, so that they both lie transversely of the direction of travel in "the baling position". Expansion of the piston and cylinder unit 88 will, on the other hand, cause the beam 18 to swing away from the flange 84 about the hinge 86 until, at the end of the stroke, the beam 18 is at an angle of 900 to the flange 84 at the l'angled position" shown in Fig. 2. Thus the sequence of operations for discharge of a bale is as follows. After the tractor driver has stopped his vehicle when a full size bale has been formed as mentioned above, he moves the manual control for the piston and cylinder unit 88 to expand the unit. The frame 10 swings to the Fig. 2 angled position. He then opens the rear gate assembly 54 and the bale is ejected. Again, he operates the manual control to cause the piston and cylinder unit 88 to contract and thus the frame 10 to swing back to the Fig. 1 baling position. The rear gate assembly 54 can then be closed and baling recommenced. If required, an automatic lock can be provided to maintain the beam 18 in the baling position very rigidly attached to the flange portion 84, the lock being released just as the piston and cylinder unit 88 is about to expand.

Claims: Claims 1. A baling machine, for forming bales of crop material, having: a main frame (10); draft means (20), for attaching the machine to a tractor; and an upwardly and downwardly swingable rear gate assembly (54). through which a formed bale (78) can be ejected at its upward position so that the assembly overlies the ejected bale; characterised in that the main frame (10) is pivotally connected to the draft means (20) and power means (88) are connected between the main frame (10) and the draft means (20) so as to be capable of swinging the frame (10) about the said pivotal connection (86) between a baling position and a position angled therefrom, the angled position being such that a bale (78) ejected at that position will be cleared by the gate assembly (54) on closing at the baling position. 2. A baling machine according to claim 1 in which the power means comprise a piston and cylinder unit (8 & ). 3. A baling machine according to claim 1 or 2 in which the draft means (20) include a beam (84) transverse of the direction of travel of the machine. 4. A baling machine according to claim 3 in which the main frame includes a beam (18) transverse of the direction of travel of the machine pivotally attached at one end to the beam of the draft means (20). 5. A baling machine according to claim 3 or 4 in which the draft means (20) is T-shaped in plan view, its said beam (18) constituting a flange of the "T". 6. A baling machine according to any preceding claim in which the frame (10) is arranged to be swung between a baling position and a position substantially at right angles thereto at which the frame is disposed transversely to the direction of travel.

Inventors: GIANI, ANGEL
Applicants: JOHN DEERE (SOCIETE ANONYME)
Application year: 1982
Main classification: A01F15
IPC codes: A01F15