Apparatus for binding a crop bale

Abstract

In a crop baler each compacted bale is progressively formed in the bale chamber and incrementally advanced therethrough by the successive packing of new charges of loose material into the chamber against the trailing end of the partial bale. Yieldable resistance to movement of the bale through the chamber is normally provided by a previously formed and tied bale in order that the forming bale may be packed and densified in the proper way. Each bale is bound in its compacted condition by at least one complete loop of binding material, each loop consistng of a pair of separate strands from two separate sources of supply. The two strands of each loop are circumferential complements of one another and are connected together at the two locations where they are substantially end-to-end such that each binding loop contains two knots or other types of strand connections, depending upon the nature of the binding material selected for use. Each loop is so formed and tied that the portion thereof which extends through the pressurized interface between a previous bale and the one being formed remains substantially stationary with respect to the bales throughout the bale-forming and bale-tying sequences instead of being pulled through such interface during that period, thereby substantially alleviating the tension under which the loop is formed.