Patent ID: 8627767

Claim:
Apparatus for forming a compacted unitary bale of agricultural or forestry biomass, comprising: a mobile structure having a floor and upstanding walls defining a compacting chamber, and an inlet in an upper region of one end of the structure configured for receiving a substantially continuous stream of the agricultural or forestry biomass for flow along a path through the chamber from the one end toward a second end opposite the one end; packer apparatus configured and supported in the chamber for reciprocating movement through the chamber between the one end to the second end and progressive movement upwardly within the chamber, for compacting the biomass against the floor for forming the bale; a crop deflector supported in the chamber above the packer apparatus for deflecting the stream of the biomass downwardly; characterized by the crop deflector being configured and operable so as to move continuously with the packer apparatus between the ends of the chamber and to substantially constantly reconfigure as a function of a position of the packer apparatus and a direction of the movement thereof so as to deflect the stream of the biomass directly a path of the packer apparatus in the current direction of the movement thereof so as to be immediately compacted thereby onto the floor or the bale; and further characterized by the crop deflector having a crop deflecting surface positioned and configured to be impinged by the stream of the biomass and to deflect and guide the stream downwardly, and wherein the reconfiguring of the crop deflector comprises changing a vertical extent of the crop deflecting surface; wherein the crop deflecting surface is extendable and retractable for changing the vertical extent thereof.