GB2146947A

GB2146947A - Big bale baler for agricultural crop material

Info

Publication number: GB2146947A
Application number: GB08423454A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gerhard Clostermeyer; Werner Konekamp
Original assignee: Claas KGaA mbH
Current assignee: Claas KGaA mbH
Priority date: 1983-09-22
Filing date: 1984-09-17
Publication date: 1985-05-01
Also published as: FR2552302A1; FR2552302B1; GB8423454D0; GB2146947B; DE8327172U1

Abstract

A big bale baler for agricultural crop material having a baling chamber which is formed by driven winding elements 5 disposed at a spacing from each other, having means for wrapping around a finished crop bale 14 a web of material 9 which is introduced into the baling chamber in the region of the upper apex thereof through an introduction gap formed by two adjacent winding elements, wherein the wrapping means, in addition to a storage container 8 for a roll of the wrapping material, has a pair of feed rolls 10, 11 and a severing means 17, 18 which includes a knife, for the web of material, and wherein a twine feed means 22 is also additionally associated with the pair of feed rolls so that twine may be fed to the bale chamber by the feed rolls. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Big bale baler for agricultural crop material The invention relates to a big bale baler for agricultural crop material having a baling chamber which is formed by driven winding elements disposed at a spacing from each other, having means for wrapping around a finished crop bale a web of material which is introduced into the baling chamber in the region of the upper apex thereof through an introduction gap formed by two adjacent winding elements, and wherein the wrapping means, in addition to a storage container for a roll of the wrapping material, has a pair of feed rolls and a severing means, which includes a knife, for the web of material.

Big bale balers of this type can be used to wrap rolled bales for example with a water-repellent film which protects the bale, when it is lying in the open air, from the penetration of moisture from above and from below and which at the same time promotes ventilation of the bale in the direction of its rotational axis and thus promotes the evaporation of residual moisture in the crop material. Such big bale balers operate in a satisfactory manner in themseles. However, practical experience has shown that for certain kinds of crop and natures of crop, it is still necessary to use big bale balers with means for binding the bales with twine.

The present invention arose from the problem of providing such a big bale baler in which it is possible for a big bale to be bound selectively with a wide web of material or with twine (yarn). A further problem is that of so designing a big bale baler that a big bale can be wound around with binding twine in addition to being encased with a wide web of material.

According to the invention, there is provided a big bale baler for agricultural crop material having a baling chamber which is formed by driven winding elements disposed at a spacing from each other, having means for wrapping around a finished crop bale a web of material which is introduced into the baling chamber in the region of the upper apex thereof through an introduction gap formed by two adjacent winding elements, wherein the wrapping means, in addition to a storage container for a roll of the wrapping material, has a pair of feed rolls and a severing means, which includes a knife, or the web of material, and wherein a twine feed means is also additionally associated with the pair of feed rolls so that twine may be fed to the bale chamber by the feed rolls.

In the arrangement hereinafter described in detail, the twine feed means is provided in the region between the storage container and the feed rolls and has a laterally reciprocable guide tube which is disposed above the plane of the feed rolls and can be moved from one side of the machine to the other to fully bind the bale. In that arrangement, a storage container for the binding twine is secured to a side wall of the baler.

The invention will now be described by way of example and in greater detail with reference to the accompanying diagramatic drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a big bale baler, and Figure 2 shows a side view of the upper part of the big bale baler shown in Figure 1, in cross-section taken along line ll-ll in Figure 1.

The baling chamber 2 which is mounted on the travel axle 1 is formed from two housing halves 3 and 4. The baling chamber is defined in a radial direction by driven winding rolls 5 which are supported by means of their shafts 6 in spaced-apart side walls of the respective housing halves 3 and 4. The housing half 4 is pivotally connected by brackets 7 to the housing half 3 which is fixed with respect to the frame structure, and is pivotable by a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit (not shown) for the purposes of unloading a finished bale. A storage container 8 for the supply of wrapping material 9 extends between the side walls of the machine, in the region of the upper boundary wall thereof.Two co-operating feed rolls 10 and 11 extend adjacent to the container 8 and parallel thereto, also between the side walls of the machine, with the wrapping material 10 being held or guided between the two feed rolls 10 and 11. The feed roll 10 is connected by way of a freewheel unit to its drive shaft which is driven by a mechanical or hydraulic drive (not shown), when the wrapping material 9 is to be advanced, until the wrapping material 9 is entrained or drawn in by the rotating bale 14. The feed roll 11 only has to perform a pressing function in regard to the wrapping material between the feed rolls and for that reason is freely movably mounted at one end of a pair of pivotal levers 15 which are engaged by tension springs 16 which thus urge the feed roll 11 against the roll 10. The feed of wrapping material 9 into the baling chamber is produced by driving the roll 10.The severing mechanism 21 for the wrapping material 9, which comes into operation after the material has been completely wrapped around the finished bale 14, comprises a fixed knife bar member 17 and a knife carrier 18 which is movable theretowards. Guide plate members 19 and 20 are disposed between the feed rolls 10 and 11 and the severing means 21. As the drawings also show, disposed between the container 8 and the feed rolls 10 and 11 is a twine feed means 22 which is per se known from German Published Patent Application (DE-OS) No. 28 31 700. The twine feed means 22 has a laterally reciprocal twine guide tube 23 which is disposed above the plane of the feed rolls 10 and 11. The binding twine storage container 24 in which the roll of twine is disposed is secured to the side wall 3. Thus round bales may be bound both with a wide web of material and with binding twine. It is also possible for a bale to be bound simultaneously with a wide web of material and with twine. The construction of the big bale baler is accordingly extremely simple more specifically because the feed rolls which are provided in any case in known balers and the severing means, besides feeding and severing the wide web of material, also serve at the same time to feed and sever twine. The only construction ex penditure lies in positioning a twine feed means which is known per se and which forms an individual assembly unit, at a specifically determined location on the baler.

Claims

1. A big bale baler for agricultural crop material having a baling chamber which is formed by driven winding elements disposed at a spacing from each other, having means for wrapping around a finished crop bale a web of material which is introduced into the baling chamber in the region of the upper apex thereof through an introduction gap formed by two adjacent winding elements, wherein the wrapping means, in addition to a storage container for a roll of the wrapping material, has a pair of feed rolls and a severing means, which includes a knife, for the web of material, and wherein a twine feed means is also additionally associated with the pair of feed rolls so that twine may be fed to the bale chamber by the feed rolls.

2. A big bale baler according to claim 1 wherein the twine feed means is disposed in the region between the storage container and the feed rolls and has a laterally reciprocably movable twine guide tube disposed above the plane of the feed rolls.

3. A big bale baler according to claim 1 or 2 wherein a binding twine storage container for the twine feed means is secured to a side wall of the baler.

4. A big bale baler substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.