Abstract:
A square baler has a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a pickup apparatus. A stuffer is operable through successive stuffing strokes within the duct to both transfer material from the pickup apparatus into the baling chamber and precompress the material within the duct. The stuffer includes a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffing stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke forwardly of the inlet of the duct. The stuffer is operable in timed relationship with the plunger so that the leading fork precompresses a charge of material against the bottom of the plunger as it is retracting and then stuffs the precompressed charge into the chamber when the plunger is sufficiently retracted. The trailing fork, on the other hand, sweeps new material into the inlet of the duct and advances it up to the bottom of the plunger path of travel as the leading fork carries out and completes its stuffing stroke. The trailing fork is narrower than the leading fork, providing room for center-gathering stub augers to deliver materials from the pickup to an inboard position generally under the center prongs of the trailing fork.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present invention relates generally to “square” or “rectangular” crop balers having a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an in-line, underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a crop pickup apparatus. More particularly, the invention concerns improvements in a stuffer operable within the duct for transferring crop material from the pickup apparatus to the baling chamber.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    In U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,335 assigned to the assignee of the present invention there is disclosed and claimed an in-line baler in which the stuffer performs the dual purpose of both precompressing charges in the loading duct and stuffing such charges into the baling chamber. While such stuffer has performed well in a variety of crop conditions, in some conditions more than others there is a tendency for the baler to produce bales that are softer in the lower central areas of the bale and firmer in the upper corners, rather than uniformly dense throughout the cross-section of the bale.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to improve upon the dual-purpose stuffing concepts of the &#39;335 Patent by consistently providing more uniform density across the entire cross-sectional area of the bale. The present invention continues the concept of providing the stuffer with a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffer stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins forwardly of the duct inlet. Accordingly, the leading fork precompresses the charge against the bottom of the plunger as the plunger is covering the open end of the duct and then stuffs the precompressed charge into the chamber when the plunger is sufficiently retracted. The trailing fork, on the other hand, sweeps new material into the inlet of the duct and advances it at least to the beginning of the path of travel of the leading fork as the leading fork carries out and completes its stuffing stroke. However, in accordance with the present invention, the leading fork is wider than the trailing fork, rather than the same width as in the stuffer of the &#39;335 Patent. This allows extra room in front of the inlet of the duct for center-gathering stub augers to move additional material further to the lateral center than in the prior are design and results in more uniform density across the cross-section of the bale.  
           [0004]    In the preferred embodiment, the prongs on both the leading and trailing forks are all equally spaced apart and in fore-and-aft alignment. However, there are four prongs on the leading fork and only two prongs on the trailing fork. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, somewhat schematic, side elevational view of a square baler with portions thereof being removed to reveal internal details of construction, particularly illustrating a stuffer constructed in accordance with the present invention and the paths of travel of the leading and trailing forks of the stuffer;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is a schematic top plan view of the baler illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is an enlarged, exploded perspective view of the stuffer and drive mechanism therefor, particularly illustrating the components of the drive mechanism for controlling the movement of the stuffer such that the forks have respective kidney-shaped paths of travel.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of just the stuffer, its drive mechanism, and the center-gathering stub augers;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 5 is an enlarged, schematic side elevational view of the stuffer, drive mechanism, loading duct and stub augers;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the stuffer adjacent one of the outer prong elements illustrating the absence of a trailing prong on the rear fork;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 7 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the stuffer adjacent one of the center prong elements illustrating the presence of both a leading and a trailing prong;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, schematic side elevational view of the baler, particularly illustrating the plunger as it moves rearwardly during its compaction stroke and the stuffer as it moves forwardly and downwardly during its return stroke;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 9 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 8, but illustrating the plunger at its rearwardmost position just before its retraction stroke and the stuffer at the beginning of the stuffing stroke with the leading fork positioned rearwardly of the duct inlet and the trailing fork positioned forwardly of the duct inlet;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 10 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 9, but illustrating the plunger as it moves forwardly during its retraction stroke and the stuffer as it moves rearwardly and upwardly during its stuffing stroke so that the leading fork packs material masses  1  and  2  against the bottom of the forwardly moving plunger and the trailing fork moves material mass  3  through the duct;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 11 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 10, but illustrating the plunger moved forwardly relative to FIG. 10 and the stuffer moved further along its stuffing stroke so that the leading fork further packs material masses  1  and  2  against the bottom of the plunger and the trailing fork continues to move the material mass  3  through the duct;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 12 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 11, but illustrating the plunger in its forwardmost position and the stuffer further along its stuffing stroke so that the leading fork stuffs material masses  1  and  2  into the baling chamber and the trailing fork continues to move material mass  3  through the duct;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 13 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 12, but illustrating the plunger at the beginning of its compaction stroke and the stuffer at the end of its stuffing stroke, whereby the leading fork projects slightly into the baling chamber to further precompress material masses  1  and  2  and the trailing fork has moved the material mass  3  to a position adjacent the duct outlet;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 14 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 8, with the plunger compacting material masses  1  and  2  within the baling chamber;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 15 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 9, but illustrating material masses  3 ,  4  and  5  within the loading duct;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 16 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 10, with the leading fork packing material masses  3  and  4  against the bottom of the plunger and the trailing fork moving material mass  5  through the duct;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 17 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 11, with the leading fork further packing material masses  3  and  4  against the bottom of the plunger and the trailing fork continuing to move material mass  5  through the duct;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 18 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 12, with material masses  3  and  4  being stuffed into the baling chamber by the leading fork; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 19 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 13, with material masses  3  and  4  within the baling chamber and material mass  5  adjacent the chamber inlet. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0024]    The baler  10  selected for illustration has a wheeled chassis  12  including an axle  13  and a pair of laterally spaced ground wheels  14  and  16 . The chassis  12  carries a substantially horizontal, fore-and-aft extending baling chamber  18  that is centered between the two wheels  14 ,  16  (see FIG. 2). As will subsequently be described, a plunger  19  reciprocates in a fore-and-aft direction within the baling chamber  18  for compacting crop material into a bale. A windrow pickup, generally designated by the numeral  20 , is supported on the chassis  12  below the baling chamber  18 , in front of the wheels  14 ,  16 , and centered along the fore-and-aft axis of the baler for picking up a windrow of crop material as the baler is advanced along a path of travel by a towing vehicle (not shown). A loading duct  22  extends generally between the pickup apparatus  20  and the baling chamber  18  and contains a stuffer, generally designated by the numeral  24 , constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention (see FIG. 1). As will be described hereinbelow, the stuffer  24  transfers crop material from the pickup apparatus to the baling chamber and precompresses the material within the duct prior to stuffing it into the chamber.  
         [0025]    Accordingly, the illustrated baler is a so-called “in-line” square baler with the baling chamber  18 , plunger  19 , loading duct  22  and crop pickup apparatus  20  located along the same longitudinal, fore-and-aft axis. However, the principles of the present invention are equally applicable to various other square and rectangular baler designs. For example, it is entirely within the ambit of the present invention to utilize the inventive stuffer  24  on a square baler having a pick up apparatus offset from the baling chamber.  
         [0026]    With the foregoing caveat in mind, a tongue  26  extends from the front of the baler  10  to connect the baler to the towing vehicle. The forward end of the tongue  26  has a hitch  28  for connection to the towing vehicle, while the rearward end of the tongue is pivotally connected to the chassis  12  for movement about a generally upright pivot  30  (see FIG. 2). It will be appreciated that the pivot  30  enables the tongue  26  to swing back-and-forth in a generally horizontal plane so that the baler may be positioned either directly behind the towing vehicle or at a position offset relative to the vehicle. A hydraulic swing cylinder  32  pivotally connected between tongue  26  and chassis  12  is provided for swinging the tongue and thereby shifting the baler between its aligned and offset positions. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,206.  
         [0027]    As the baler is pulled along its path of travel by the towing vehicle, the pickup  20  picks up the windrow of crop material. Particularly, a plurality of laterally spaced tines  34  are driven along an upwardly and rearwardly extending path to transfer crop material from the ground to a laterally extending pan  36  (see FIG. 1). As perhaps best shown in FIG. 2, the pickup extends outwardly in opposite directions beyond the lateral confines of the duct  22 . A pair of center-gathering stub augers  38  and  40  are provided on opposite sides of the pickup  20  to convey crop material from the outer, lateral reaches of the apparatus to the center of the machine in alignment with the duct  22 .  
         [0028]    The converged flow of crop material is subsequently transferred through the duct  22  by the stuffer  24 , as will be described hereinbelow. The duct has a generally square cross-sectional configuration and curves generally rearwardly and upwardly from the pickup apparatus  20  to the baling chamber  1 ,. The duct  22  is at least as long as the chamber  18  is tall, and preferably is on the order of twice the height of the chamber. The duct  22  is open at both ends to present a forwardly facing inlet  42  immediately rearward of the pan  36  of the pickup  20 . The other end of the duct  22  presents an outlet which cooperates with an opening in the floor of the baling chamber  18  to define a crop material passageway, generally designated by the numeral  44 , intercommunicating the duct and chamber.  
         [0029]    The compacting plunger  19  is reciprocated within the baling chamber so that each new charge of the crop material stuffed through the passageway  44  is compacted rearwardly by the plunger  19  during its compaction stroke. During such compaction stroke, the plunger  19  moves rearwardly, as indicated by the leftwardly pointing arrow in FIG. 8, across the top of the duct  22  to close off the passageway  44 . At full compression it is disposed slightly beyond the rear edge of the passageway  44  (,see FIG. 9). On the other hand, when fully retracted, the plunger  19  has withdrawn slightly beyond the opposite, forward edge of the passageway  44 , as shown in FIG. 12. Each charge of new hay in the baling chamber  18  is packed rearwardly by the plunger  19  against a body of previously compacted hay. Thus, the previously compacted materials provide a backstop for each freshly compacted charge, and the total compacted mass within the chamber  18  is inched rearwardly toward a rearmost discharge outlet  48  with each compaction stroke of the plunger.  
         [0030]    As shown in FIG. 2, a hydraulically controlled squeezed mechanism, broadly denoted by the numeral  50 , controls the size of the outlet  48  and the side squeeze or pressure applied on the mass of materials between the outlet and the rear face of the plunger  19 . The squeeze mechanism  50  applies inwardly directed squeeze force to an inwardly and outwardly moveable top rail  52  (see FIG. 2) and a pair of side rails  54  (only one such side rail being illustrated in FIG. 1). In its preferred form, the baler also has a bottom rail (not shown) that is moveable inwardly and outwardly with respect to the baling chamber for applying controllable amounts of squeeze pressure from the bottom of the machine so that pressure is actually applied from all four sides of the bale case. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,199.  
         [0031]    A suitable knotter and tying mechanism (not shown) is preferably provided for binding bales of the crop material before they issue from the outlet  48 . Knotting needles  56  (see FIG. 1) suspended below the baling chamber  18  may comprise a part of such mechanism, as well understood by those skilled in the art.  
         [0032]    As apparent from the foregoing description, the baler has numerous operating components that require driving power. These include the plunger  19 , the pickup  20 , the stuffer  24 , the swing cylinder  32 , the stub augers  38 ,  40 , the squeeze mechanism  50 , and the knotter and knotting needles  56 . Such diving power may be provided through a power take-off shaft (not shown) on the towing vehicle and a mechanical drive line (not shown) carried by the tongue  26 . Alternatively, as contemplated by the illustrated embodiment, the source of driving power may be an onboard internal combustion engine and other apparatus all supported by the chassis  12  so that, except for certain controls, all of the operating and drive components for the baler are carried on the baler itself.  
         [0033]    As shown in FIG. 2, an internal combustion engine  57  is mounted on the left side of the chassis forwardly of the wheel axle  13 . The exhaust pipe  58  for the engine is shown in FIG. 1. The engine is drivingly connected to a hydraulic pump (not shown) which supplies oil under pressure to the various hydraulically powered components of the baler. Furthermore, the engine is drivingly coupled to a Large flywheel sheave  60  connected to the front end of a gear box  62  (see FIG. 2). The gear box  62 , in turn, provides mechanical driving power for the plunger  19 , pickup  20 , stuffer  24 , stub augers  38 ,  40 , and the knotting mechanism and needles  58 .  
         [0034]    With respect to the plunger  19 , the gear box  62  has a transverse output shaft  64  that fixedly carries a pair of laterally spaced cranks  66  and  68 . A pair of connecting rods  67  (only one of such rods shown in FIG. 1) are pivotally connected between the plunger  19  and respective ones of the cranks  66 ,  68  for transferring the generally circular movement of the cranks to reciprocation of the plunger.  
       Stuffer  24   
       [0035]    As indicated above, during the stuffing stroke of the stuffer  24 , crop material is both transferred from the pickup  20  to the baling chamber  18  and precompressed within the loading duct  22  prior to being transferred into the chamber. The stuffer  24  has a leading fork  69  and a spaced trailing fork  70  with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during the stuffing stroke. Leading fork  69  is wider than trailing fork  70 , presenting a series of four side-by-side prongs  69   a - d.  Prongs  69   a  and  69   d  are outer prongs, while prongs  69   b  and  69   c  are center prongs. Trailing fork  70  has only two prongs, namely two center prongs  70   b  and  70   c  that are aligned fore-and-aft with leading center prongs  69   b  and  69   c . In the preferred embodiment of the invention, center prongs  69   b  and  70   b  comprise integrally connected portions of a generally C-shaped prong element, as do center prongs  69   c  and  70   c.    
         [0036]    The prongs of both forks each have a generally concave leading face and a generally convex trailing face. Furthermore, the forks so spaced in a fore-and-aft direction that the distance between the forks  69  and  70  at the tips is approximately one-and-one-half times the height of the baling chamber  18 .  
         [0037]    As shown in FIG. 1, the forks  69  and  70  each have a generally kidney-shaped path of travel which is controlled by a drive mechanism broadly designated by the numeral  72  (see FIG. 3). Particularly, the stuffer is provided with a transverse mounting tube  74  to which a series of laterally spaced brackets  76  are attached. As shown in FIGS. 3, 6 and  7 , the prongs of forks  69  and  70  are fastened to the corresponding brackets  76  by bolt assemblies  78 . The mounting tube  74  is rockably received on a transverse shaft  80  which spans and is rigidly affixed at its opposite ends to a pair of crank arms  82  and  84 . The right crank arm  82  (as viewed from the rear of the machine) has a transverse, outwardly extending stub shaft  86  fixed thereto which is in turn journaled by bearing assembly  88  for rotation about a transverse axis defined by the stub shaft  86 . Likewise, the left crank arm  84  has its own transverse, outwardly extending stub shaft  90  (see FIGS. 4 and 5) fixed thereto which is in turn journaled by a bearing assembly (not shown) for rotation about an axis coinciding with that of stub shaft  90 . The stub shaft  90  projects further outwardly than stub shaft  86  and has a drive sprocket  94  fixed thereto. An endless chain  96  entrains the drive sprocket  94  and a second sprocket  98  carried on the output shaft  64  of the gear box  62  for drivingly connecting the stuffer  24  to the engine  57 .  
         [0038]    The transverse shaft  80 , and thereby the tube  74 , are thus driven in a circular orbit about the aligned axes of the stub shafts  86 ,  90  (in a clockwise direction viewing FIG. 5) when power is supplied to the stuffer  24  by the chain  96 . However, the forks  69  and  70  travel along their kidney-shaped paths, rather than follow the circular path of the tube  74 . This is accomplished by the presence of a crank  100  and a stiff link  102  which cooperatively control the movement of the forks  69 ,  70 . The crank  100  is fixed to the mounting tube  74  and pivotally connected to one of the ends of the link  102 . The other end of the link  102  is pivotally connected to the proximal side of the baling chamber  18  at a point spaced above and forewardly of the axes of the stub shafts  86 ,  90 . Accordingly, the link  102  limits the degree of movement of the crank  100  such that the forks  69 ,  70  move along their respective kidney-shaped paths.  
         [0039]    As shown in FIG. 1, the path of the leading fork  69  (designated by the numeral  104 ) begins rearwardly of the duct inlet  42  and terminates within the baling chamber  18 . The path of the trailing fork  70  (designed by the numeral  106 ), on the other hand, begins slightly forwardly of the stub augers  38 ,  40  and extends into the duct  22  to overlap the path of the leading fork  70 . Furthermore, the operation of the stuffer  24  is coordinated with the operation of the plunger  19  so that the stuffing strokes of the forks  69 ,  70  are generally concurrent with the retraction stroke of the plunger  19 , while the return strokes of the forks are generally concurrent with the compaction stroke of the plunger. That is to say, as the plunger  19  moves forwardly during its retraction stroke, the forks  69 ,  70  move generally rearwardly and upwardly through the duct to transfer crop material into the baling chamber  18 . As will be further described below, the timed relationship of the plunger  19  and stuffer  24  also allows the leading fork  69  to pack material against the bottom of the plunger during its retraction stroke to effect the desired precompression of the material within the duct  22 . Additionally, the trailing fork  70  moves through a path that serves to sweep crop material from the pickup  20  and stub augers  38 ,  40  to the path of the leading fork  69  so that the leading fork does not have to sweep entirely through the duct  22  (i.e., from the pickup to the baling chamber).  
       Operation  
       [0040]    As the baler  10  is pulled across the field by the towing vehicle (not shown) the baler is aligned with a windrow of crop material. If necessary, the baler  10  may be offset relative to the towing vehicle by actuating the swing cylinder  22  to swing the tongue  26  about the pivot  30 . The upwardly and rearwardly moving tines  34  of the pickup  20  pick the crop material up off the ground and transfer it rearwardly to the pan  36 . The stub augers  38 , 40 , in turn, converge the picked up crop material laterally inwardly past the side edges of the duct inlet  42  to a position generally under the trailing fork  70 .  
         [0041]    The sequence of operation will now be described with the assumption that the baler  10  has been sufficiently towed across the field so that masses of crop material, designated by the numerals  1  and  2  in FIG. 8, are present within the loading duct  22 . As shown in FIG. 8, the plunger  19  moves rearwardly during its compaction stroke (indicated by the arrow) to compact the crop material within the baling chamber  18  and move the material rearwardly through the bale case. During the compaction stroke of the plunger  19 , the leading fork  69  and trailing fork  70  travel along their respective return strokes. The forks  69 ,  70  are disposed almost entirely outside the duct  22  during their return strokes so as to prevent backflow of the material masses  1  and  2  which would otherwise be caused by the forwardly and downwardly moving forks. As the plunger  19  moves rearwardly during its compaction stroke and the stuffer  24  moves generally forwardly and downwardly during its return stroke, a third mass of material, designated by the numeral  3 , collects on the pan  36  between the augers  38 ,  40 .  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 9 shows the plunger  19  at its rearwardmost position, with the bottom of the plunger extending substantially across the passageway  44  so as to block the flow of crop material from the duct  22  into the baling chamber  18 . The stuffer  24  is illustrated at the beginning of its stuffing stroke so that the forks  69 ,  70  straddle the duct inlet  42 .  
         [0043]    As the stuffer  24  initially moves along its stuffing stroke, the forks  69 ,  70  are shifted rearwardly and progressively inserted into the duct  22  so that the leading fork  69  is positioned between material masses  2  and  3  and the trailing fork  70  is positioned forwardly of the mass  3  (see FIG. 10). Accordingly, the mass  3  is trapped between the forks  69 ,  70  to move with the stuffer during its stuffing stroke, while the masses  1  and  2  are located downstream from the leading fork  69  to be forced through the duct  22  by the leading fork  69 . Although the plunger  19  retracts forwardly as the stuffer  24  begins its stuffing stroke, the passageway  44  remains blocked by the plunger  19  during a considerable portion of the stuffing stroke. Accordingly, the material masses  1  and  2  are pressed against the bottom of the plunger  19  by the upwardly moving leading fork  69  before being stuffed into the baling chamber  18 . The timed relationship of the plunger  19  and the stuffer  24  thus causes precompression of the material masses  1  and  2  as the leading fork  69  moves through the duct  22  during its stuffing stroke and the plunger  19  blocks the passageway  44  (see FIGS. 10 and 11). As shown in FIG. 11, material mass  3  contained between the forks  69  and  70  moves through the duct  22  with the stuffer  24 , while a new material mass  4  begins to collect on the pan  36 .  
         [0044]    It will be appreciated that the crop material has a fairly self-adhesive nature and clings together so that material mass  1  does not enter the baling chamber even though the bottom of the plunger  19  only partially blocks the passageway  44 . However, once the plunger  19  has shifted sufficiently forward so that it no longer blocks the passageway  44 , the leading fork  69  stuffs the precompressed charge of material comprising material masses  1  and  2  into the baling chamber  18 , as shown in FIG. 12. It will be noted that the adhesiveness of the crop material and the action of the pickup tines, the auger flighting and the forwardly moving baler cooperate to introduce the material mass  4  into the duct inlet  42  as the stuffer moves through its stuffing stroke (compare FIGS. 11 and 12).  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 13 illustrate, the stuffer  24  at its upwardmost position just prior to beginning its return stroke. The leading fork  69  projects slightly through the passageway  44  and into the baling chamber  18  for further compressing masses  1  and  2  and ensuring that the material is fully loaded up against the top of the baling chamber. At this time, the mass  3  is located immediately below the passageway  44  (i.e., within the path of the leading fork  69  when it makes the subsequent stuffing stroke), the mass  4  has been introduced into the duct  22  and a new material mass  5  is accumulating on the pan  36 .  
         [0046]    Thereafter, the plunger  19  compacts the material masses  1  and  2 , while the stuffer  24  moves along its return stroke, as shown in FIG. 14. FIGS.  14 - 19  illustrate the same sequence of events illustrated in FIGS.  8 - 13 , with the material masses  3  and  4  being precompressed within the duct  22  and subsequently stuffed into the baling chamber  18 , and material mass  5  being contained between the leading fork  69  and trailing fork  70 .  
         [0047]    By eliminating the two outboard prongs on the trailing fork  70 , the stub augers  38 ,  40  can be lengthened beyond that possible in the &#39;335 Patent, without causing interference between trailing fork  70  and the stub augers. Consequently, stub augers  38 ,  40  can deliver more material near the lateral center of the duct for ultimate disposition in the corresponding central region of the bale, helping to reduce the softness sometimes experienced at that location in prior bales. Moreover, the narrowness of trailing fork  70  compared to leading fork  69  seems to produce better folding into the c(enter of the bale of strands of material that previously tended to drape over the outboard prongs and remain in the outer regions of the bale.  
         [0048]    The preferred forms of the invention described above are to be used as illustration only, and should not be utilized in a limiting sense in interpreting the scope of the present invention. Obvious modifications to the exemplary embodiments, as hereinabove set forth, could be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the stuffer may comprise a pair of independently operable forks which move through the loading duct in a, manner similar to the leading and trailing forks described hereinabove.  
         [0049]    The inventors hereby state their intent to rely on the Doctrine of Equivalents to determine and assess the reasonably fair scope of the present invention as pertains to any apparatus not materially departing from but outside the literal scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.