IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRESSING AND BINDING INTO BALES HAY AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Van Wagner of Plowden Buildings Temple in
the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PRESSING AND BINDING INTO BALES HAY AND OTHER SUBSTANCES" A
communication to him from abroad by Preston Crane Hudson of the City of
Fort Dodge in the County of Webster and State of Iowa one of the United
States of America
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Van Wagner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd February 1882.
"
ALBERT VAN WAGNER of Plowden Buildings Temple in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRESSING AND BINDING INTO BALES HAY
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES [A communication from abroad by Preston Crane
Hudson of the City of Fort Dodge in the County of Webster and State of Iowa
one of the United States of America]
The objects of the Invention aro First To provide a portable press by which
hay taken up directly from the field may be baled and bound by hand power and
secondly. To provide a stationary press more economical of power and more
efficient than those now used. To accomplish these objects the machinery is so
arranged that the bale is bound by giving it a revolving motion and so that the
bale when bound may quickly drop away by its own weight. Thus little time is
required to bind the bale and remove it when bound and no power whatever is
expended in pushing it out of the way by the succeeding bale as is the case in many
of the best machines now in usc. The bale chamber or chamber in which the hay
or other material is formed into a bale is externally cylindrical in form whilst
internally it is preferably square in cross section. The cylinder is mounted

page_text: horizontally, one of its ends is closed and a short axis projecting backwards from
the centre of this end is mounted in suitable bearings. The other end is open and
rests upon supporting rollers. In front of the open end of the cylinder is a feed box
into which the hay or other substance to be baled may be thrown from either side
of the machine.
Within the feed box and opposite to the open end of the bale chamber is a
compressing piston it is carried by a rod which passes out from the feed box and
has a to and fro motion given to it in a line with the axis of the bale chamber. As
the piston is thus moved to and fro it presses hay from the feed box into the bale
chamber-a concave groove is formed all around the sides of the piston so that the
piston may press the hay into the bale chamber with but little friction. Along the
inner sides of the bale chamber notched bars are fixed the notches in the bars are
formed like ratchet teeth they allow the hay to be pressed into the balo chamber
but retain it when the piston retires away from its end. Two of the sides of the
bale chamber, are fast with the solid end, the two other sides are hinged together
and one of them is also hinged to one of the fixed sides, they thus form as it were
a double door which may be opened to allow the contents of the chamber to be
discharged whilst the hay is being pressed into the bale chamber the door is locked
and prevented from opening by means of a locking catch. This may conveniently
be formed of a broad spring attached to the exterior of the fixed side that the door
closes against. The edge of the door which closes against this side may have a catch
of lesser width projecting from it to catch into a slot in the spring. Two springs
may also be carried by the door one along each side of the catch when theso springs
are pressed inwards they press against the broad spring and depress it into a recess
in the exterior of the cylinder and so release the catch and allow the door to open.
Whilst the baling chamber is being filled with hay it is stationary and is not
revolved. To indicate when the bay in the baling chamber has been compressed to
the required extent there is in front of the inner side of the closed end of the bale
chamber a disc with a stem projecting from it through the axis which supports this
end. The extremity of the stem is made to bear against a weighted lever and when
the pressure upon the disc is sufficiently high to raise the weighted arm of the lever
the bale in the bale chamber is, sufficiently compresed. The reciprocating to and
fro motion of the compressing piston is then stopped and the bale chamber is revolved
in order to twist together at the centre of the front end of the bale a number of
wires which have been laid along the sides of the bale as herein after described.
When the wires have been sufficiently twisted together the twist is severed at its
centre by suitable severing mechanism leaving the bale bound and secured and the
wires which are to bind the next bale also secured together at their ends. When
this has been effected the bale chamber as it continues to revolve is caused to open
by bringing a roller into the path of the springs which are alongside of the catch
of the bale chamber door, the springs are thereby pressed inwards and tho catch is
set free. The door then opens and the bale drops out. Afterwards as the balc
chamber continues to revolve the door closes by its own weight and is caught and
held closed by the spring fastening.
The wires are led through tubes to the opening in the feed box opposite to the
open end of the bale chamber. Preferably 8 wires are used two to pass over the
top two below the botton and two along each side of the bale. When the wires
are twisted together as above described they form a net work of wire in front of the
opening into the bale chamber. When the piston is again caused to move to and
fro the hay is pressed against this network of wire and forces it backwards into the
bale chamber and when the bale chamber is again filled the same operations are
repeated.
In order to give the to and fro motion to the compressing piston the rod which
carries this piston is connected to a crosshead which by rods passing along either
side of the bale chamber is connected to crank pins on an axis to which a revolving
motion may be imparted by a large toothed wheel or wheels upon it being driven
by a pinion or pinions on a driving shaft which also carries a heavy fly-wheel.

page_text: The driving shaft may have motion imparted to it either by hand or in any other
suitable manner.
Provision is made for disengaging the shaft carrying the crank pins, from the
driving shaft either by any ordinary clutch arrangement for locking or unlocking
one or other of the toothed gear wheels to the shaft which carries it or preferably
it is effected by making a segment of the large toothed wheel or wheels on the crank
shaft capable of being slidden sidewise to put it or them out of gear with the pinion
or pinions on the driving shaft. Upon the driving shaft is also a bevil pinion which
whenever desired can be made to gear with a corresponding bevil pinion the axis
of which has upon it a pinion gearing with a ring of teeth formed around the exterior
of the end of the cylinder in this way the bale chamber may have a revolving motion
imparted to it from the driving shaft whenever desired.
The rod which carries the compressing piston may have a screw thread cut around
it and a nut screwed on to this screw thread may connect the rod with the cross-
head before mentioned so that by turning the nut the piston may be set to enter to
a greater or less distance into the bale chamber.
The wires for binding the bales are carried upon a reel and are led between a pair
of friction rollers before passing into the pipes which conduct them to the entrance
to the bale chamber.