New Holland North America, Inc.

Freddy Albert Hindryckx

Adrianus Naaktgeboren

Dirk A R Vandamme

Danny Noel Oscar Claeys

An agricultural harvesting machine, such as a baler, is provided with a pick-up assembly and a feeder mechanism for picking up crop material from a field and feeding it to the inlet of a baling chamber. A crop retainer mechanism, such as a windguard, are mounted above the feeder mechanism for engaging the upper portion of said crop material whilst it is being fed to said inlet. The retainer mechanism is movable between a lower position assumed when no crop material is present on said crop intake apparatus and an upper position when a considerable amount of crop material is present on said crop intake apparatus. The harvesting machine is also provided with a dampening mechanism for damping the motion of said crop retainer mechanism. Advantageously, the motion is damped by a pair of gas springs mounted to the transverse rod of the windguard. This arrangement precludes sudden movements of the windguard and ensures a regular flow of the picked up material to the baling chamber.

Movable windguard

A parking lock for an agricultural implement, such as a baler, includes a force accumulator mechanism operatively installed between a setting apparatus and a lock member. A control mechanism is operable to apply a force on the lock member in the direction of the release when the setting apparatus is held in its transport position and the lock member is retained in the hold position. The control mechanism is also operable to move the lock member to the release position whenever the setting apparatus is held in the transport position and the lock member is released. The force accumulator can be a spring positioned between the setting apparatus and the lock member. A method of method of releasing a parking lock on an agricultural implement is also provided by which the setting apparatus is moved from the park position to the transport position to load the force accumulator. At least one of the wheels of the implement is oscillated to take away the force applied by the wheel on the lock member so that the lock member can be moved from the hold position to the release position by the action of the force accumulator without requiring further input from the operator.

Growing community of inventors

Oostende, Belgium

Freddy Albert Hindryckx