Weighing scales – Structural installation – Vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-03
2001-05-15
Gibson, Randy W. (Department: 2859)
Weighing scales
Structural installation
Vehicle
C702S174000, C702S175000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06232565
ABSTRACT:
SPECIFICATION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for weighing bales. More particularly this invention concerns a method of and apparatus for weighing bales as they exit a mobile baler.
2. Background of the Invention
Hay is particularly useful as animal bedding, horticultural mulch, and for industrial and commercial purposes such as in insulation and packing materials. Hay is produced by cutting standing crop and, normally after stripping off any useful part, spreading it on the field to dry for some time.
In order to turn the loose hay into a product that can be transported, stored, and accounted for, it is pressed into bales. Some crops can be baled fresh. For commercial purposes the so-called square bale, which is actually parallepipedal, is used. It is produced in a baler that picks the cut crop up off the ground, normally comminutes it somewhat, presses it into bales, applies ties around the bales, and drops the bales on the field behind the machine. In view of the pace of the baling operation, it is more expedient for the baler simply to leave a trail of bales in the field that are later picked up by a different crew operating at a different pace.
Much hay is sold right from the field, that is the purchaser actually picks up and carts off the product, so it is important to know the actual weight of the bales. Depending on product, dryness, compressibility, and other factors, the bale weight and even length can vary somewhat. The product is sold by total weight so, in addition to the count, the weight of the bales, which as mentioned above can vary from one side of a field to another, is critical information. The bale count is easily determined, either automatically by the baler as it ties each individual bale, or simply by counting the bales in the field. The purchaser does not want underweight or undersize bales and the seller does not want to produce overweight or oversize bales, unless there is some allowance.
Accordingly, German patent document 195 43 343 discloses several devices for weighing bales wherein the weight of the output end of the housing of the pressing passage is monitored each time the baling mechanism—press or tier—cycles. This measurement is fairly inexact as the relatively robust housing forming the press passage is certain to have a weight which is a multiple of that of any bale being produced. The entire mechanism is also probably jolting up and down in a field as the measurements are taken, so the one-time measurement is easily incorrect, perhaps because it was taken just when a wheel of the baler dropped into a rut or hit a rock. Furthermore since the variation in weight at the measured point is only a fraction of the overall weight, it is difficult to determine weight accurately, especially as the press-passage housing must be relatively solidly mounted. Finally there is the question of bale length which might vary and falsify readings further in such a baling operation.
Further systems for weighing bales use a weight sensor at the hitch by means of which the normally two-wheeled baler is towed by a tractor also having a power takeoff that drives the baler. Such a sensor can detect the weight of the crop stream being picked up and processed, but once again is highly inaccurate in that the baler and tractor are riding on very rough ground so the equipment is moving somewhat violently both horizontally and vertically, and the weight of the crop stream is a small fraction of the overall weight bearing on the hitch. In fact it is such a small part that its percentage may be smaller than the accuracy rating for the sensor, making it in fact not measurable. Placing sensors on the wheel axles is similarly ineffective.
Above-mentioned German 195 43 343 also proposes that the individual bale weight be determined by monitoring the overall weight of the baler at least at the output, and taking particular note of its periodic sudden weight losses, as occurs when a bale drops off. Once again, however, too much equipment is being weighed along with the bale to give an accurate reading.
German 44 36 128 further suggests a bale-weighing device which is integrated in the baler's output chute from which finished bales drop directly to the ground. The chute is constituted as a nearly vertically oriented support frame that is secured by means of upper and lower links to the rear end of the press-passage housing. The fixed frame extends as a rearward continuation of the floor of the press passage and serves to hold an entire bale just before it is dropped onto the field behind the advancing machine. Once the bale reaches a predetermined position, it tips the entire output chute from the horizontal to drop it onto the field. The measurement is made at the instant the chute tips by a sensor that is fixed via a holder on the end of the press passage. The sensor is connected via a controller with a computer for displaying overall bale weight, the weights of the individual bales, and the bale count.
The disadvantage of this system is that the measurements are not accurate enough when the baler is moving, as for instance being towed behind a tractor, as extraneous movements falsify so many of the readings that the results would be unusable. Stationary use is only rarely efficient so this system has limited applicability. Furthermore the output chute and its mount must be made particularly durable to withstand the harsh conditions it is subjected to when in ordinary use. Finally this system requires that the bales succeed each other with some spacing out of the press passage, something that is not always the case. When the succeeding bale is actually pushing on the outgoing bale, any weight measurements are likely to be seriously incorrect.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for weighing bales at the output of a mobile baler.
Another object is the provision of such an improved system for weighing bales at the output of a mobile baler which overcomes the above-given disadvantages, that is which produces an accurate measurement of the weight of each bale, even when the baler is moving along the ground and the bales issue from the baling passage in contact with one another.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Square bales are produced by a baler having a pressing passage from which emerges a succession of the bales that travel rearward from the press passage over an output chute and fall off a rear edge of the chute from the baler. The bales are weighed according to the invention by continuously monitoring the downward force with which the bales bear on the chute rear edge, continuously calculating an average of the monitored force, establishing as an individual bale weight the calculated average each time it peaks before a bale drops from the chute rear edge, and storing the individual bale weights.
Thus with this system the continuous measuring and the averaging of the continuously received values allows the anomalies created by the equipment bouncing up and down in the field to be eliminated. The average value will increase as a bale moves back over the downwardly deflectable rear portion of the output chute until its front end tips up and the bale falls off the chute. At this last instant the average value will peak and will correspond exactly to the actual weight of the bale. At this instant when the bale tips up and applies all its weight to the outer end of the chute, it also separates itself from any bale pushing it so that only this one bale, regardless of its length, is weighed. The controller can easily store the weights of the bales and produce a total value for the field that accurately reflects the exact weights of the individual bales, even if some are drier and, hence, lighter or vice versa. The weights of the bales can be displayed to the operator of the tractor pulling the baler so he or she can monitor the baling operation.
The average is calculated over a period of time substantially shorter than a time a bale takes to completely travel past the rear edge. Th
Case Harvesting Systems GmbH
Dubno Herbert
Gibson Randy W.
Wilford Andrew
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