Hesston Corporation

Hay & Forage Industries

Hay and Forage Corporation

Bruce Lynn White

Mark Winfield Kiner

Arlen Jacob Wiens

Allen A White

Stanley R Clark

Bobby D McWhirt

Harold William Voth

Merle Keith Burkhart

La Vern Goossen

Edward S Arter

In a rotary crop baler for producing cylindrical crop bales, a simulated bale size and shape indicator is provided which provides the baler operator with a graphic representation of the size and shape of the bale being formed in the baler. The preferred indicator includes a potentiometer for producing a signal representative of the overall size of the bale, a plurality of potentiometers for producing corresponding signals representative of the shape of the bale, and an indicator including a signal processor and display liquid crystals or the like for producing the graphic simulation of the size and shape of the bale being formed.

Round baler having simulated bale size and shape indicator

The baler has an internal chamber within which crop materials are coiled up into a cylindrical bale by fore-and-aft spaced-apart, oppositely moving web stretches, the forwardmost stretch of which is looped around a forward drive roll. A special bale supporting roller adjacent the bottom of the chamber keeps the bale from riding against the web wrapped around the forward roll. The support roll includes a cylindrical shaft and a plurality of resilient flaps extending tangetially outward from the periphery of the shaft. During baler operation, crop material tends to be carried downwardly by the forwardmost stretch into a zone located between the forward roll and the support roller, but is immediately ejected from the zone by the roller flaps and into the baling chamber, thereby preventing crop materials from wedging between the forward roll and the support roller. When the flaps are brought into contact with the bale, they yield to its weight, conforming to the periphery of the shaft, thereby forming a relatively smooth, circular roller surface for supporting the bale without tearing up the exterior thereof.

Round baler having anti-plugging means

A round baler having a shiftable repositioning member for moving a completed, discharged bale of hay away from the baler is provided with an interlock mechanism for preventing movement of the repositioning member until such time that the bale has been discharged from the chamber. A sensor is located on a side of the baling chamber to determine the absence of a bale, and preferably takes the form of a rounded element biased toward a position normally protruding into the chamber. The presence of a bale within the chamber causes the element to shift outwardly and thereby close a valve interposed in a hydraulic circuit for providing motive fluid power to a piston and cylinder assembly that, in turn, drives the repositioning member. Once the completed bale has been discharged from the baling chamber, however, the element shifts under the bias of a spring toward its normal position protruding into the chamber to thereby close the contacts of a magnetic reed switch and open the hydraulic valve so that the repositioning member may then be activated to shift the bale away from the baler.

Round baler having interlock mechanism for assuring post discharge

The baler has a set of belts which bear against the surface of a cylindrical bale during formation thereof to compact the bale and to drive it rotatably about its longitudinal axis. Such belts are guided by shafts spanning the chamber of the baler, certain of which may be provided with annular expelling collars that rotate with the shaft and function to reject and expel stray crop material from the immediate vicinity of the shaft in order to prevent its accumulation and buildup. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the collars are attached to opposite ends of a shaft carried by the belt tensioning assembly whose shafts bear directly upon the top periphery of the bale during its formation and thus have a greater tendency than others to accumulate materials straying from the baling chamber. Preferably, the collars are used in connection with the shaft that rotates generally down and away from the area of normal accumulation such that the collars function to expel the stray material in the same downward and outward direction.

Stray crop buildup expeller for rotary balers

Bales made from successive charges of material packed against one another are readily separable into relatively discrete 'flakes' corresponding to the charges of material from which the bale is built. By passing the bale over the top edge of an incline just before reaching disintegrating mechanism, the leading end flakes of the bale are induced to successively separate therefrom for advancement on down the incline and delivery into the disintegrating mechanism on a more or less individual basis, thereby promoting clog-free operation and even feeding.

Bale disintegrator and method

A mover-disintegrator for large cylindrical bales of crop material is provided with a bale-supporting bed swingable toward and away from a bank of shredding rolls for forced, one-at-a-time feeding of bales into the rolls. A loading fork mounted on the rear of the machine is vertically swingable from a ground-engaging position to a vertical position adjacent the bed and is adapted to engage circumferentially supported, ground-lying bales for individually raising the bales from the ground to an end-supported position upon the bed. From its on-end position, a loaded bale is fed into the disintegrating rolls in a highly desirable end-first manner by swinging movement of the bed.

Method and apparatus for loading and disintegrating single round bales

A mover-disintegrator for large cylindrical bales of crop material is provided with a bale-supporting bed swingable toward and away from a bank of shredding rolls for forced, one-at-a-time feeding of bales into the rolls. A loading fork mounted on the rear of the machine is vertically swingable from a ground-engaging position to a vertical position adjacent the bed and is adapted to engage circumferentially supported, ground-lying bales for individually raising the bales from the group to an end-supported position upon the bed. From its on-end position, a loaded bale is fed into the disintegrating rolls in a highly desirable end-first manner by swinging movement of the bed.

Method for loading and disintegrating single round bales

A machine for handling large crop masses and the like is presented which permits completely automatic processing of these masses and requires only a single operator to effectively manipulate the machine to perform this function. A tiltable bed having a fore-and-aft conveyor is arranged behind a bank of shredding rolls for engaging ground-supported crop masses, loading the latter to a horizontally support position and then feeding the same horizontally into the rolls. Swingable structure is provided between the rolls and the bed for positive feeding of remnant portions of the masses presented at the end of the feeding cycle. The bed and the processor are releasably connected such that they effectively cooperate as a single machine, yet at the same time may be used individually to perform other unrelated farm tasks.

Growing community of inventors

Newton, KS, United States of America

Bruce Lynn White