Patent GB-727071-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to feed mechanism for balers
IPC: A01F15/10
Filed: 1952-10-27
Abstract: 727,071. Hay baler. SPERRY CORPORATION. Oct. 27, 1952 [Oct. 30, 1951], No. 26908/52. Class 94 (1). A hay baler which is hitched to a tractor includes. on one side, a pick-up 12 delivering the hay to an auger 15 which feeds it transversely to a compressor plate 65 arranged to reciprocate horizontally and laterally of the auger. The hay is compressed into a ribbon betweer the auger and plate and is fed across an opening 85, and a reciprocating wadboard 80 passing through the opening feeds the ribbon into a bale chamber '68 containing a reciprocating plunger 67. The ribbon is thereby compressed into a bale which is tied &c. and ejected in conventional manner. The pick-ttp 12 comprises several series of spring teeth 13 which rake across the ground and extend between spaced channel sections forming a floor 14. Each series is carried on a shaft 40 mounted on a spider 41 keyed to a shaft 42 and driven from a sprocket 43. Each shaft 40 is keyed to a lever 44 supporting a cam follower 45 engaging a cam track 46. The shafts are rotated to project the teeth 13 as they pass under the pick-up and to retract them from the hay as the hay is fed towards the auger. A series of resilient, downwardly biased windguard bars 25 are supported from a pivotally mounted bar 26, the latter being adjustable by a lever and cam mechanism at one end to vary the spacing of the windguard bars from the floor 14. The pick-up has side walls 18 and is pivotally mounted on a shaft 20 by arms 19, and is supported by an adjustable spring 21. The shaft 20 comprises the main drive, shaft for the pick-up and auger. The auger is secured to a shaft 51 supported at one end in a bearing, and the hay is moved transversely on a resiliently mounted guide plate 54 pivoted at 55 and urged upwardly by a tension spring 62. The guide plate is in two parts resiliently urged together at 54d and engages a web 59 and, in its uppermost position, a cover plate 60. A stripper bar 58 slopes upwardly towards the free end of the auger and prevents hay wrapping about the auger. The hay is fed against the compressor plate 65 secured to a pusher 64 carried by and forming a lateral extension of, the bale plunger, and is formed into a ribbon. The plate 65 combines with a corner part 57 to define a throat through which the ribbon is fed, on edge, into alignment with the wadboard. The latter, comprising wood pieces 81, 82, Figs. 1 and 7, with sawtoothed ends, and a metal frame 83 with a toothed part 84, is mounted in slideways 87, 88 on a wall. A resiliently yieldable section 92 is secured to the part 81 which prevents damage to the wadboard. A downwardly extending arm 90 on the wadboard is secured to a sprocket chain 91 which is oscillated in a horizontal plane. The wadboard drive is such that the wadboard feeds the hay through an opening 97 in the bale chamber when the plunger 67 is retracting, and as the plunger moves forwardly the wadboard is retracted. As the plunger 67 moves to the end of its compression stroke a knife 99 co-operates with an anvil 98 on the plunger to cut the ribbon of hay. The drive mechanism comprises an engine 11 driving, through reduction gearing, a crankshaft 115 which drives the plunger 67 and sprocket wheels 173, 174. The wheel 174 drives a chain which rotates, through a clutch 179, the drive shaft 20. The latter, through further chains and sprocket wheels rotates the pick-up shaft 42 and feed auger shaft 51. The main plunger reciprocates a chain 191 which, in turn, drives the chain 91 connected to the wadboard. A fragile connection is made between the plunger and chain 191 which will break should the wadboard become jammed during its infeed' stroke.