Package making – Apparatus for contraction of cover by stretching or shrinking
Patent
1996-09-13
1998-04-21
Johnson, Linda
Package making
Apparatus for contraction of cover by stretching or shrinking
53211, 53587, B65B 5300, B65B 1104
Patent
active
057406626
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a bale wrapper apparatus, and is particularly, though not exclusively concerned with an apparatus for applying stretchable plastics film wrapping around a bale of agricultural crop material and which is of rectangular cross section.
The use of bale wrappers is now widespread in agriculture, in order to apply stretchable film wrapping around bales of crops such as straw, hay, grass and other long stem material, and to contain the crop in a substantially sealed manner so as to exclude atmospheric oxygen and water from coming into contact with the crop.
Wrapping of bales of newly or recently mown grass i.e. grass which still has a substantial proportion of water, is becoming a particularly popular way of forming silage, in that tightly wrapped bales of grass can mature or ferment to form silage within the wrapped bale in a relative short period of time (say two to three weeks), and without generation of silage effluent which is a serious drawback to the formation of silage in silage towers.
There are two main types of bale wrappers in use, namely the rotating turntable type and the orbiting "satellite" type of bale wrapper.
A rotating turntable type of bale wrapper comprises a turntable which is rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, a pair of laterally spaced rollers mounted on the turntable and which are operative to rotate a bale loaded onto the rollers about a substantially horizontal axis, and a mounting provided on the frame of the apparatus on which a supply reel of stretchable plastics film can be mounted, and from which film is withdrawn to be attached to the bale whereby, upon rotation of the bale about a horizontal axis under the action of the rollers, and simultaneous-rotation of the turntable about a substantially vertical axis, successive overlapping windings of film are applied around the outer periphery of the bale until such time as it has become completely covered, usually at least twice. Bale wrappers are usually employed to apply helical windings of stretched film around cylindrical or "round" bales, in which case the bale is supported on the rollers and is rotated about a substantially horizontal axis which comprises the longitudinal axis of the bale.
The other type of bale wrapper apparatus used to wrap cylindrical bales comprises the orbiting "satellite" type of bale wrapper, in which a pair of laterally spaced rollers are mounted on a table and which rotate the bale about its longitudinal axis similarly to that described above for the rotating turntable type of machine, but in this machine the table does not rotate about a vertical axis, and relative rotation about a substantially vertical axis takes place between the supply reel and the bale by virtue of the mounting of the supply reel on one end of a carrying arm which is rotatable at its inner end about a substantially vertical axis, and which carries the supply reel at its outer end and which thereby "orbits" around the bale mounted on the rollers of the table. The orbiting satellite type of bale wrapper has the advantage that the table does not rotate, and therefore the rotational inertia of the bale about the vertical axis does not have to be withstood by the components of the apparatus, and the component which rotates about the vertical axis i.e. the supply reel, is of small mass, and therefore the inertial forces generated are smaller. However, the supply reel is located at the end of the rotating arm which carries it, and from which it hangs, and therefore a substantial turning moment is applied to the mounting of the supply reel on the arm as the supply reel carries out its orbital path of movement around a circle of substantial radius.
Both the rotating turntable and the orbiting satellite type of bale wrapper apparatus have been designed primarily for use in the wrapping of cylindrical bales i.e. bales of circular cross section, in that the two horizontal spaced support rollers which rotate the bale about its axis (usually a substantially horizontal axis) are particularly suitable to rotate
REFERENCES:
patent: 4018036 (1977-04-01), Cicci
patent: 4563863 (1986-01-01), Humphrey
patent: 4641484 (1987-02-01), Popelka
patent: 4685270 (1987-08-01), Brambilla
patent: 4934131 (1990-06-01), Frisk et al.
patent: 4972656 (1990-11-01), Haugstad
patent: 5129215 (1992-07-01), Gratton
patent: 5224323 (1993-07-01), Fykse
Haugstad Jahn
Royneberg Erling
Tjermestad Trygve
Underhaug Frode
Johnson Linda
Kverneland Underhaug A/s
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