Package making – Methods – Conforming by stretching or shrinking of cover over contents
Patent
1993-09-27
1995-01-31
Sipos, John
Package making
Methods
Conforming by stretching or shrinking of cover over contents
53459, 53556, 53567, 53576, B65B 4326
Patent
active
053850025
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for placing material, for example, straw, grass, hay or silage, which may, but need not be formed into bales, within a tubular sheath.
There is known from GB 2 136 761 A, a bale-sheathing device comprising a mobile sheath-carrying structure arranged to support and hold open an axially closed-up portion of a tubular sheath in a manner enabling said closed-up portion to be progressively pulled out rearwardly off the sheath-carrying structure, and bale lifting and guide means carried by the mobile sheath-carrying structure and arranged to lift up a bale to be sheathed and guide it through the closed-up portion of the sheath as the device is advanced relative to the bale, the device being so arranged that after passage through the closed-up portion of the sheath, the bale is put down again whereby, in use of the device, the bale comes to rest within an axially opened-out part of the sheath pulled out off the structure during advance of the device.
It was proposed in GB 2 136 761 A that this device be used to sheath bales within tubular plastic sheaths of greater diameter than the bales. Thus, for example, tubular plastics sheaths of 2 m diameter and up to 80 m in length were proposed to be used for containing large round bales of up to 1.8 m in diameter.
It has however now been appreciated that the relatively large volume of air necessarily contained within a plastics sheath of this dimensional relationship with the baled material can promote undesired fermentation. Also, the slack portions of the sheath are liable to be snagged and torn. The present invention is thus concerned with the provision of a sheathing method and apparatus by which these disadvantages may be overcome.
The present invention accordingly provides a method of and an apparatus for sheathing material in which the material is fed into a resilient sheath through an open end thereof with at least the open end portion of the sheath held in a resiliently expanded condition so that after insertion of the material the sheath can contract around the material, so expelling excess air.
The sheath can thus be held during insertion of the material by a holding device having a first position in which the sheath can be readily located on the device in its unstressed condition. The device can then be operated so as to enlarge at least the open end of the sheath by stretching of the resilient plastics sheet of which it is constructed.
The holding device can comprise a plurality of cranks spaced around the periphery of a support ring, the cranks having mounting portions journalled on the ring about axes parallel to the ring axis and axially offset parallel support portions extending away from the ring in the direction in which the material is to be loaded into the sheath. Initially, the cranks are positioned so that the support portions are all located at their innermost positions. The sheath has a diameter in its relaxed condition which is intermediate between that of the ring and that of the circle on which the crank second portions initially lie, so the sheath can be readily placed on the cranks. Rotation of the cranks on the support ring effects movement of the support portions outwardly to positions adjacent the support ring periphery,so this movement stretches the sheath side wall so that the sheath has an open end of a cross-section approximating to that of the support ring.
The rotation of the mounting portions of the cranks about their axes can be effected by any suitable common drive mechanism. For example, the cranks may be mechanically linked by a linkage acted upon by an hydraulic ram. Alternatively, the mounting portions could be rotated by rotation of an outer ring to which the cranks are in driven relationship by means of gear teeth on the outer ring and meshing with gear teeth on the mounting portions.
In the stretched condition of the sheath, the material to be sheathed, preferably but not necessarily in the form of bales, can enter the stretched sheath through the support ring
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Ag-Bag Corporation
Harrington Robert L.
Moon Daniel B.
Sipos John
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