Patent ID: 8065859

Claim:
A method for improving the flow of agricultural feed in an agricultural feed stock bagging machine having an extrusion tunnel that has an exit opening, wherein the exit opening has a cross-sectional area, and a primary compression mechanism, the method comprising: forcing feed into the tunnel; deploying a bag around an exterior circumference around the extrusion tunnel at the exit opening; and providing a non-moving top wall, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall of the tunnel, wherein the first and second sidewalls each have a top wall portion extending toward a center line and forming a planar surface that is parallel to the top wall, and wherein the top wall portions of the first and second sidewalls each have an inner edge that moves toward and away from an inner edge of the top portion of the opposite sidewall; hingedly connecting the first sidewall and the second sidewall to a front portion of the tunnel; varying a position of the first sidewall and the second sidewall of the tunnel over time relative to the top wall by forcing the first and second sidewalls toward one another while sliding the top wall portions of the first and second sidewalls across a surface of the top wall in order to provide a change in the exterior circumference of the extrusion tunnel at the exit opening and a change in the cross-sectional area of the extrusion tunnel's exit opening and a change in a rate of taper of the sidewalls of the tunnel.