Patent ID: 7640852

Claim:
In a large round baler including a baling chamber defined in part by a plurality of bale forming belts supported in side-by-side relationship across a plurality of fixed rolls supported by opposite sidewall structures, and by a plurality of movable rolls including rolls carried by a discharge gate pivotable between a lowered baling position and a raised discharge position, and at least one tensioning arm assembly mounted to said sidewall structures for pivoting vertically and carrying at least one bale-forming belt guide roller for engaging the bale-forming belts at a location between two adjacent ones of said plurality of fixed rolls, said discharge gate includes triangular end members, said at least one tensioning arm assembly being located for pivoting about a horizontal axis between a lowered position corresponding to a bale-starting condition, wherein said baling chamber is empty and said discharge gate is in its lowered baling position, and a raised position corresponding to a bale-completed condition, wherein said baling chamber contains a completed bale, at least one extensible and retractable tensioning actuator being coupled to said at least one tensioning arm assembly for resisting movement of said at least one tensioning arm assembly between its lowered and raised positions, the improvement comprising: a connection arrangement coupling one end of said at least one tensioning actuator to said at least one tensioning arm assembly such that, once said at least one tensioning arm assembly moves to its raised position, said at least one actuator is actuated so that a line of action of said at least one actuator moves over center relative to said axis and below said axis, and said one end of said at least one tensioning actuator moves from a position above said horizontal axis to a position below said horizontal axis, whereupon said at least one actuator is operated to effect downward movement of said at least one tensioning arm assembly so that it aids in ejecting the bale, once said discharge gate is raised to its discharge position, so that said at least one tensioning arm assembly acts to forcibly eject said completed bale.