Deere + Company

US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Colin M Hudson

David L Rabe

Gust S Soteropulos

William L Andre

A baler has a preservative applicator assembly with an improved nozzle array for applying a volatile crop treating fluid to crop material as the crop material is being formed into a bale. The nozzle has a centrally disposed passageway which has a cross-sectional area greater than the minimum sum of the cross-sectional areas of a plurality of fluid dispensing openings in the end of the nozzle. Each of the openings includes a throat and a lip outwardly diverging from the throat. The nozzle array maintains the fluid under high pressure and aids in dispersing the fluid with a high velocity to enhance the retention of the fluid as a liquid while in the nozzle and to promote wide and uniform dispersing of the fluid throughout the crop material during the application.

Baler having preservative applicator with improved nozzle

A round baler has a conventional pickup and an approximately horizontal, wide, lower conveyor for removing hay from a field and delivering it rearwardly in a transversely extending mat to a transversely extending bale chamber where it is rolled into a cylindrical bale. The upper run of the lower conveyor is approximately tangential to the lower side of the forming bale so that there is a 'pinch point' where the incoming mat of crop material converges on the periphery of the forming bale. A series of fluid dispensing nozzles spaced across the machine connected to a source of preservative carried on the baler is disposed so that preservative may be applied to the hay close to the pinch point across the lateral extent of the bale chamber. The incoming mat may vary in width and in lateral disposition relative to the baler conveyor system and sensors spaced across the machine and used to detect the presence or absence of hay and control fluid valves in the nozzle lines so that preservative is released only adjacent those portions of the bale where hay is being added. In a preferred embodiment, the nozzles are carried above the incoming mat and direct preservative downwardly and rearwardly adjacent the pinch point and the hay sensors are associated with compressor rods associated with the pickup assembly.

Preservative applicator for a round baler

Method and apparatus for actuating a counting device for recording and stng data. The invention comprises an activator for a counter device and includes a mass or weight having an eccentric center of mass which is freely pivotable in one plane in response to an externally applied impulse force of a predetermined magnitude to apply a torque force to a shaft which, on rotation thereof under the influence of said torque force, activates the counter mechanism to record a count. Means are also provided to apply counter torque force of a constant predetermined magnitude or value to the shaft so that the counting device is actuated only in response to a resultant torque force of a predetermined magnitude or value generated by the impulse.

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Moline, IL, United States of America

Colin M Hudson