Abstract: An improved method is provided for wrapping generally cylindrical bales of hay with twine to maintain the structural integrity thereof, in which a unique pattern of twine bindings is utilized to achieve greater strength and reliability. A related form of improved bale wrapping apparatus is also provided, in which the electrically driven twine guiding tube is electrically controlled in manner to automatically produce the pattern of bindings contemplated by the method, and which requires operator attention or control only for initiating the otherwise automatic operating cycle. The method and apparatus significantly utilize time reference techniques correlated with the known rate of rotation of the bale to produce the improved pattern of bindings and to control the production thereof automatically.

Abstract: A pair of generally flat, horizontally disposed mowing rotors at the front of the machine sever the standing crops as the machine is advanced and, by creation of an air stream as well as through a physical throwing force, the rotors propel the severed crops rearwardly through a centrally disposed passage to a conditioning zone adjacent the rear of the machine where such severed crops are treated by the conditioner to expedite curing of the crops when they are thereafter directed onto the ground in a swath or windrow.

Abstract: A tractor and a loader implement detachably mounted thereon have releasable front and rear locks at corresponding pairs of legs depending from the loader frame. A loader bucket on the boom assembly and a stand on the frame cooperate to support the attachment after removal from the tractor. Hydraulic piston-cylinder assemblies, normally used to raise and lower the boom relative to the frame, are used to position the frame and to lower it into place during the mounting procedure. All parts of the attachment are guided properly onto the tractor without aid of the tractor or any parts thereon.

Abstract: The baler has a set of belts which bear against the surface of a cylindrical bale during formation thereof to compact the bale and to drive it rotatably about its longitudinal axis. Such belts are guided by shafts spanning the chamber of the baler, certain of which may be provided with annular expelling collars that rotate with the shaft and function to reject and expel stray crop material from the immediate vicinity of the shaft in order to prevent its accumulation and buildup. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the collars are attached to opposite ends of a shaft carried by the belt tensioning assembly whose shafts bear directly upon the top periphery of the bale during its formation and thus have a greater tendency than others to accumulate materials straying from the baling chamber.

Abstract: The tillage implement has tool beam assemblies that project laterally outwardly in opposite directions from the central fore-and-aft axis of the implement, and the inboard ends of the assemblies are overlapped transversely with respect to the path of travel of the implement while also being offset in a fore-and-aft direction so that the soil worked by the inboard end of the leading tool assembly is reworked by the inboard end of the trailing tool assembly to eliminate the formation of a furrow or ridge at the point of convergence of the tool assemblies. Notwithstanding the overlap and offset, the assemblies may be swung back into folded positions for transport in which the assemblies are substantially parallel to one another in order to reduce the overall roading width of the implement.

Abstract: The bale-forming machine has rolling mechanism that initially tumbles loose crop material forwardly between the mechanism and the ground as the machine advances along a windrow. Thereafter, the rolling material becomes confined off the ground in an elevated forming chamber as additional material is fed into the chamber and as the mechanism rolls the material into a bale. Upon reaching a predetermined size, the bale can be tied and then ejected from the chamber through the raised rear section of the machine.

Abstract: Actuation of a valve is prevented under certain circumstances wherein an axially reciprocable stem connected to the valve has shoulders thereon, which shoulders are selectively engageable by shiftable blocking bars.

Abstract: The chopping cylinder has knives that extend longitudinally of the axis of rotation of the cylinder and which are twisted in such a way that their longitudinal cutting edges wind generally helically around the periphery of the cylinder so that a scissor-like shearing cut is obtained as the knives move past a cooperating shearbar. Special crop flow directors are bolted to the inner faces of the knives between supporting spiders for the knives so as to intercept the crop flow headed toward the interior of the cylinder following severance and to maintain the same adjacent the outer periphery of the cylinder during the movement of the crop material around and with the cylinder to a point of discharge. Special mounting hardware permits the individual directors to be attached directly to the knives in a manner to increase the efficiency and performance of the cylinder.

Abstract: The windrow crop pickup has tines which are controlled by a cam at one end of the pickup reel so that the tines rock to-and-fro in a particular pattern during rotation about the axis of the reel, such action aiding in proper uplift of the crop from the ground and subsequent stripping of the crop from the tines as they release and feed the crop materials for further processing. The controlling cam for the tines is mounted on the outboard side of its supporting sidewall of the pickup, and each set of tines has an operating rocker at the end of the reel adjacent the cam which projects through an opening in the proximal sidewall and is received by the cam track such that, upon driving rotation of the reel, the stationary track imparts the desired rocking motion to the tines.

Abstract: The shearbar of a forage chopper, positioned in such a way that direct access thereto for adjustment purposes is obstructed by other adjacent structures and mechanisms, is provided with an adjuster which may be manipulated at a point remote from the shearbar itself under conditions providing free, uninhibited access to the adjuster. A cam in the nature of a wedge is shifted infinitely along a path of travel that causes responsive shifting of the shearbar assembly along a path of travel extending toward and away from the chopper when a setscrew is released to permit such shifting on the part of the assembly.

Abstract: As the baler advances across the field picking up windrowed crop material, the material is continuously packed into the lower, open end of an upwardly curved duct leading to the bottom of the main baling chamber. A loading fork sweeps upwardly through the duct at regular intervals to stuff an accumulated charge of materials up into the baling chamber from the duct, and a packer at the mouth of the duct continuously adds new material to the duct at such a rate as to precompress the charge of materials accumulating within the duct prior to stuffing thereof into the bale chamber. If the precompressed charge reaches a certain predetermined density level between stuffing cycles, the duct may expand transversely via a spring-loaded sidewall thereof to keep the charge from substantially exceeding the selected density level yet permit the uninterrupted infeed of still further material pending the next operation of the loading fork.

Abstract: A multilayer, free-standing stack of bales is built from the bottom up in a machine that forms each successive layer and then raises the layer directly overhead to retaining structure that supports the layer, as well as any others above it, at a high enough elevation to avoid interference with the formation of the next layer therebelow. After the stack has been completely built by raising successive layers up to the retaining structure, the stack may be discharged out of the machine while still in an upright condition and at any selected one of a number of vertical positions, e.g., onto the ground or onto the bed of an awaiting tractor-trailer.

Abstract: A rotary baler utilizing endless, driven belts to assist in formation of the bale has a tailgate that is raised for discharge of the bale after the forming cycle has been completed. A span of the belting is carried by the tailgate as the latter is opened, and a stationary tightener is positioned in the path of travel of the span during its movement with the tailgate so that the belting is progressively deflected in a transverse direction by the tightener as the tailgate continues to open, thereby tensioning the belting to forcefully eject the bale from the baler.

Abstract: A three-bale load is accumulated on the trailer as bales issue from the rear of the baler, whereupon the accumulated bales may be dumped all at the same location or singly as may be desired. Successive bales issuing from the baler arrive at a central platform from which they are alternately distributed to laterally disposed side platforms in an automated procedure. Once a side platform receives its bale, lockout mechanism prevents the transfer device from presenting the side platform with another bale until such time as the previous bale has been dumped. Once a bale has been dumped from a platform, the transfer device is automatically actuated, if indeed the next bale is ready to be transferred, for loading of the next bale onto the awaiting side platform.

Abstract: As the twine dispensing tube swingably approaches its home or standby position, the tube strikes one leg of an L-shaped, pivoting lever of the cutter to swing the opposite leg thereof up into edgewise engagement with the underside of the twine such that the latter is stretched between the raised leg and the end of the tube. A depending, swingable knife of the cutter which has been momentarily pushed by the tube out of its path of travel returns with its sharp edge engaging the twine stretch and depresses the latter out of a straight-line relationship between the tube and the raised leg of the lever such that, as the tension and stress in the moving twine stretch increase due to its deflected, serpentine condition around said knife edge and the lever and the opposite pulling forces exerted by the tube and the bale, the twine severs itself against the sharp edge of the knife.

Abstract: Forming belts and an overhead device within the chamber of the baler apply a compacting force to the bale during its formation, the belts also serving to drive the bale in a rolling motion so as to coil up new hay material continuously being presented to the chamber. The position of opposed, oppositely moving stretches of the belts essentially determines the variable horizontal dimensions of the chamber, while the position of the overhead device, which draws together and retains the belt stretches, essentially governs the vertical dimension of the chamber. Both the belt-retaining device and a slack-takeup roller for the belts are carried by a common support that progressively swings further and further from the bottom of the chamber under resistance during bale growth to pay out additional belt length and to continue compaction of the bale.

Abstract: During the twine wrapping cycle after complete formation of the bale, the bale continues to sping in the baling chamber, and twine from a pair of separate dispensing tubes is wrapped around the bale in helical fashion as the tubes swing back and forth along the length of the bale. The tubes swing in mutually opposite directions during the cycle and start and finish in a crossed position, thereby each moving from one end of the bale to the opposite end thereof and then back again to complete the cycle. As the tubes cross each other near the midlength of the bale during their return strokes, the twine strands become interlaced so as to more effectively bind the bale and promote structural integrity thereof. Separate cutoffs for each tube sever the twine strands as the tubes approach their home positions.

Abstract: Two sickles, each slightly longer than half the width of the swath taken by the mower, are supported across the front of the mower for reciprocation in mutually opposite directions. Although the two sickles are located in the same vertical plane, they are situated in two different horizontal planes so as to permit overlap in the center during reciprocation. To further facilitate such overlap, the backing bar to which the knife sections of one sickle are attached is located on top of the sections, while on the other sickle, the backing bar is located along the bottom of the sections. The sections are so arranged adjacent the inner ends of the sickles that even when the sickles are at the extremes of their outward strokes away from one another, no gap is presented in the center between the two innermost sections of the two sickles, thereby promoting even cutting across the entire swath taken by the sickle assembly.

Abstract: Two tool-carrying beams extending laterally in opposite directions from the tongue of the frame may be swung fore-and-aft between lateral working positions and folded back transport positions. A collapsible link between the tongue and each beam, respectively, may be held partially collapsed against the tongue to maintain its beam in the operating position, or the link may be released for partial extension to permit the beam to swing back into its transport position. Although the innermost tools of the two beams are disposed in close proximity of one another when the beams are in their widespread working positions, the vertical pivots for the beams are so disposed that the beams can swing through arcs exceeding ninety degrees without causing said innermost tools to strike one another.

Abstract: In the event that crop material is loaded into the baling chamber more heavily in one portion than another, the forming belt at the area of insufficient volume will become slackened relative to the remaining belts. Such slack condition is sensed by the monitor, and a signal device such as a light, buzzer or bell is actuated to indicate to the operator that additional crop material is needed in the deficient portion of the chamber so as to prevent the bale from becoming improperly shaped. The operator can thereupon take steps to assure that material is loaded in such a way as to make up for the deficiency.