Material or article handling – Vehicle-carried bale accumulator
Patent
1991-09-19
1994-03-22
Bucci, David A.
Material or article handling
Vehicle-carried bale accumulator
414526, 4147897, 1984185, B60P 140, A01D 9008
Patent
active
052957764
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a mobile bale collector with conveyor means arranged for receiving from a press outlet of a bale press a succession of bales, for conveying the bales such as to form a row of a predetermined number of bales, the row extending at right angles to the direction of travel of the collector, and for discharging this row of bales off the conveyor means in a direction opposite to the direction of travel upon completion of the row, and with detection means for detecting the completion of a row, the detection means being connected to discharge inhibiting means for inhibiting discharge of a row until the row is completed, and in which the conveyor means comprises bale supporting rollers.
A mobile bale collector of this type is disclosed by GB-A-1.410.170. With this prior art collector the conveyor means consists of a roller bed of a number of rollers forming a row of rollers each extending in parallel to the direction of travel of the collector, a push mechanism which pushes a bale dropped on the roller bed by a baler in a direction transverse to the direction of travel to an end of the roller bed, and further means which discharges a completed row of bales off the roller bed.
A disadvantage of the prior art collector is that it is very complex and therefore relatively expensive and susceptible to malfunction. In addition, because of in particular the push mechanism, the width of the collector transverse to the direction of travel is rather great, which makes the collector more difficult to maneuver and to park in a barn. Further, since the push mechanism is such that it does not operate upon completion of a row of bales the last bale of the row will not be pushed against the preceding bale and therefore the rows of bales thus obtained are not compact as is desired. Still further, since the bales received on the roller bed are conveyed firstly in a direction transverse to the direction of travel this offers hardly an opportunity to space successive bales further apart in order to have no interference between a rear end of a bale and the front end of a succeeding bale which could disturb the operation of the collector severely.
The object of the invention is to solve the disadvantages of the mobile bale collector of the type mentioned in the introduction hereinbefore.
According to the invention this object is obtained by that the rollers extend at right angles to the direction of travel, the rollers are screw conveyors and are rotatably driven, the direction of the screw thread and the direction of rotation of the rollers being such that bales supported on the rollers are urged opposite and transverse to the direction of travel the inhibiting means comprise a blocking means behind a row to be formed as seen in the direction of travel and, connected to the blocking means, control means which, upon completion of a row signalled by the detection means remove the blocking means out of its position blocking the completed row, the collector further comprising a guide element which extends parallel to the direction of travel at a place to guide a first received bale of a completed row. This provides a bale collector having a rather simple and therefore less costly construction, which is yet able to provide dense rows of bales of which end parts are aligned positively by urging them against the blocking means.
Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the explanation which follows for two embodiments of the mobile bale collection according to the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 shows a top view of a first embodiment of the bale collector according to the invention;
FIG. 2 shows a side view of the bale collector of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows on a larger scale a part of the blocking means shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 shows an electrical diagram for the control of a lifting element of the blocking means;
FIGS. 5a and 5b show two phases of the operation of the collector of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 shows a top view of a second embodiment of the bale collector accord
REFERENCES:
patent: 2702131 (1955-02-01), Leupke
patent: 2867340 (1959-01-01), Brownlee et al.
patent: 3703972 (1972-11-01), Muldoon
patent: 3782570 (1974-01-01), Sunderman
patent: 4604018 (1986-08-01), Kruse
patent: 5192177 (1993-03-01), Cardinal
Bucci David A.
Morse Gregory A.
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