Patent ID: 8051771

Claim:
An agricultural round baler comprising: a ground-supported main frame; a bale forming chamber defined in a space between opposing side walls by a plurality of side-by-side belts trained around a plurality of elongate guide rolls extending transverse to said frame, said chamber further defined by a floor roll and a starter roll, each extending transverse to said main frame and spaced apart to form a crop infeed opening therebetween having an infeed dimension, said plurality of guide rolls including a forward idler roll and a lower idler roll, said lower and said forward idler rolls being positioned peripherally outboard of said floor roll and said starter roll, respectively, relative to said infeed opening, said bale forming chamber configured to form a cylindrically shaped bale oriented transverse to said frame by motion of said plurality of belts and rotation of said starter and floor rolls; a tension arm pivotally connected at a first end to said frame and configured for movement about an axis between opposing core formation and full bale positions, said pivot axis of the tension arm is transversely aligned generally above said bale forming chamber in both of said core formation and full bale positions, and said pivot axis is rearward of an axis of rotation of said starter roll and forward of an axis of rotation of said lower idler roll; first and second tension rolls connected to said tension arm at a second end opposite from said first end, said first and second tension rolls being aligned parallel to each other, transverse to said frame, and spaced apart to enable said plurality of belts to pass therebetween; and a first portion of said plurality of belts spanning directly between said lower idler roll and said first tension roll; and a second portion of said plurality of belts spanning directly between said forward idler roll and said second tension roll wherein said first and second portions, the floor roll and the starter roll generally define the periphery of the bale chamber, and said first portion is displaced from the starter roll approximately twice said infeed dimension forming the width of the chamber and said second portion is displaced from the floor roll approximately three time the infeed dimension when said tension arm is in the core formation position forming the height of the chamber, wherein the height and width are measured perpendicular to each other.