Patent ID: 8683779

Claim:
An agricultural piston bale press, comprising: a pressing piston arranged in a bale chamber to form bales of crop material; a main drive mechanism to drive the pressing piston; an intake device to take in crop material, and a stuffing device to stuff crop material taken in by the intake device and to load the stuffed crop material to the bale chamber, wherein the stuffing device comprises a feed passage and a stuffing mechanism, the stuffing mechanism comprising a tine arm supporting tines, which tines can be moved along at least one stuffing trajectory to stuff crop material in the feed passage, and a drive mechanism to drive the tine arm, wherein the drive mechanism is configured to move the tine arm in a cyclic movement along a constant trajectory, the tines being movably supported on the tine arm by a pivotal connection so that the tines are arranged in different positions with respect to the tine arm to follow different trajectories, and wherein the stuffing mechanism comprises a tine locking device, wherein the tine locking device has a locked position to lock the tines in a loading position and an unlocked position wherein the tines are freely movable with respect to the tine arm.