Cylindrical baler having bale-shape-responsive loading control system

Abstract

As the tractor and baler are driven straight down the windrow, hay is picked up and placed upon a platform conveyor which transfers the same rearwardly toward the baling chamber, during which transfer a deflector diverts the crop stream into an appropriate one of three axial sections of the chamber as determined by sensing and control mechanism associated with the baler. As the hay builds up in one of the sections, the sensors of the mechanism compare the size of that portion of the bale with the bale portion in the next adjacent chamber section, and once the differential between the two bale portions reaches a certain predetermined level, the control mechanism swings the deflector to its next position, directing hay into that next adjacent section to build up that portion of the bale. While build up is occurring in that section, such build up is compared with that in the next adjacent section until the deflector is shifted again, and so on, until a finished bale of uniform diameter from end-to-end has been completed without requiring that the operator weave the baler back-and-forth on the windrow. The need for hay within the respective chamber sections is sensed by the difference in tension of forming belts associated with the corresponding chamber sections, and a microprocessor serves as the primary control source for the deflector movement.