Patent ID: 8776678

Claim:
On a plant material compacting apparatus having a floor and upstanding structure extending thereabout defining a compacting chamber for receiving a flow of plant material from above, an improvement comprising a system for wrapping a bale of the plant material formed in the compacting chamber, including a first wrapping material dispenser disposed along a first upper periphery of the structure bounding a first side of the compacting chamber, and a second wrapping material dispenser disposed along a second upper periphery of the structure bounding a second side of the chamber opposite the first side, the dispensers being configured for automatically operating to dispense sheets of wrapping material, respectively, in overlapping relation over the chamber, and apparatus configured and operable for joining the overlapping sheets together; the system being configured for automatically operating to dispense sheets of the wrapping material in overlapping relation over the chamber, and to join the overlapping sheets together so as to be positioned for receiving the flow of the plant material thereon, and before or while the plant material is received thereon to further dispense the sheets to allow the joined sheets to move downwardly into the chamber and against the floor so as to receive and wrap about the plant material, and then to dispense opposite ends of the sheets in overlapping relation over the received plant material and to loin the overlapping ends together such that the sheets form a wrapper extending completely about the received plant material.