Agricultural baler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10588272-B2
Application number	US-201615769890-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2016
Priority date	Oct 20, 2015
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

An agricultural baler including a bale chamber; a feeder duct communicating with the bale chamber; and a feeder operable within the feeder duct to accumulate a charge of crop material therein and then stuff that accumulated charge into the bale chamber. The baler further includes a conveying channel and a conveyor operable in the conveying channel to convey the crop material along a bottom wall of the conveying channel toward the feeder duct. The bottom wall of the conveying channel is adapted to be moved away from the conveyor; and the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct is attached to the movable bottom wall of the conveying channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An agricultural baler comprising:
a bale chamber having an inlet opening formed therein;
a feeder duct communicating with the bale chamber through the inlet opening for a charge of crop material to be transferred from the feeder duct into the bale chamber, the feeder duct having an upper end facing generally upwardly and communicating with the inlet opening in the bale chamber and a lower end facing generally in a forward direction;
a plunger reciprocable within the bale chamber to compress the charge of crop material received from the feeder duct to form a bale;
a feeder operable within the feeder duct to accumulate the charge of crop material therein and then stuff the charge of crop material into the bale chamber;
a conveying channel communicating with the lower end of the feeder duct for the charge of crop material to be conveyed to the feeder duct, the conveying channel having a bottom wall; and
a conveyor operable in the conveying channel to convey the charge of the crop material along the bottom wall of the conveying channel toward the feeder duct,
wherein:
the feeder duct has a top wall and a bottom wall extending between the lower end and the upper end of the feeder duct, the top wall providing an upper boundary of the feeder duct and the bottom wall providing a lower boundary of the feeder duct,
the bottom wall of the feeder duct includes a first door and a second door selectively engageable to the first door, the first door being formed by a lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct, and the second door being formed by an adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct,
the bottom wall of the conveying channel is configured to be moved away from the conveyor and has a movable edge that is adjacent to the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct,
the first door comprises a leading edge that is directly attached to the movable edge of the bottom wall of the conveying channel, and
the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct that forms the first door is hingedly attached to the bottom wall of the conveying channel.

2. The baler according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyor comprises a rotor cutter operable in the conveying channel for cutting the charge of crop material in cooperation with a set of knives arranged on the bottom wall of the conveying channel, and for conveying the cut charge of crop material toward the feeder duct.

3. The baler according to claim 1 , wherein the movable edge of the conveying channel is movable by being pivotable.

4. The baler according to claim 1 , wherein the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct that forms the first door is movable between a closed position and an opened position, and the leading edge of the first door remains permanently attached to the movable edge of the bottom wall of the conveying channel in both of the closed and opened positions.

5. The baler according to claim 1 , further comprising a latch configured for selectively moving the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct and the second door between a closed position wherein an edge of the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct opposite to an edge thereof that is attached to the bottom wall of the conveying channel is adjacent an edge of the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct thereby providing together with the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct at least part of the lower boundary, and a partly opened position wherein the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct and the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct are positioned away from the top wall of the feeder duct, while leaving the lower boundary intact.

6. The baler according to claim 5 , wherein the latch is releasable to allow the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct and the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct to be positioned in an opened position, wherein the latch is configured to selectively move the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct and the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct between the closed position, the partly opened position, and the opened position, and wherein, in the opened position, the edge of the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct opposite to the edge thereof that is attached to the bottom wall of the conveying channel is positioned away from the edge of the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct, thereby providing an opening in the lower boundary between the edge of the lower end part of the feeder duct opposite to the edge thereof that is attached to the bottom wall of the conveying channel and the edge of the adjacent part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct.

7. The baler according to claim 5 , wherein the latch is manually operable.

8. The baler according to claim 1 , further comprising a first actuator configured for selectively moving the lower end part of the bottom wall of the feeder duct.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Devroe Jeroen
• Kindt Dieter
• Liefooghe Dries
• Rosseel Bram

Classifications

• A01F2015/107

  Means for withdrawing knives, rotor or walls of the feeding chamber in case of plugging or congestion · CPC title

• A01F17/02

  Mechanical conveyors · CPC title

• A01F15/101 Primary

  Feeding at right angles to the compression stroke (A01F15/106 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01F2015/102

  the pressing chamber is fed from the bottom side · CPC title