Abstract: A folding implement has a pair of oppositely, laterally projecting tool beams which pivot about vertical axes between wide-spread, working positions and fold-back, transport positions in which the beams are substantially parallel to the path of travel of the implement. A secondary tool assembly situated behind the primary tool beams can swing about a transverse horizontal axis between a fully raised position for transport and a fully lowered position for working the ground. Push rod structure interconnects the secondary assembly with the primary beams so that as the primary beams are swung back to their transport positions, the secondary assembly is raised to its upper position, and conversely, as the primary beams are swung forwardly into their working positions, the secondary assembly is lowered into its ground-engaging position.

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: Gathering conveyors of the forage harvesting header deliver upstanding, severed crop stalks by their lower ends to an outlet toward which all conveyors of the header converge. The upper ends of the crop stalks are guided and gathered laterally inwardly by apparatus above the conveyors, and a transversely disposed knock-down bar just forwardly of the outlet leans the stalks back toward the front end of the header as they approach the outlet so that the stalks tend to enter and pass through the outlet in a butt-first condition. The knock-down bar is mounted so as to yield upwardly under the influence of crops passing therebeneath in the event that the volume of the crops is so great that they could otherwise not pass through the restriction formed by the knock-down bar on the one hand and the conveyors on the other hand.

Abstract: A flail-type mowing rotor, spinning about a horizontal axis transverse to its path of travel, has specially configured, swingable cutters that provide finish-cut quality notwithstanding design features that minimize the number of cutters required on the rotor, allow them to be fabricated from stamped, relatively light-gauge metal, and promote quick and easy removal and replacement of cutters as may be necessary or desirable. Each of the cutters comprises a pair of back-to-back, generally L-shaped blades having a medially disposed, obliquely oriented offsetting portion that locates the transverse cutting edge in offset relationship to the plane of the flat mounting portion of the blade. Thus, when the blades are disposed back-to-back on the rotor, the transverse cutting edge formed by the two cooperating blades is interrupted at its midpoint to present a gap through which uncut grass may pass as the rotor spins, thereby wiping the cutter clean and eliminating grass wrap.

Abstract: A horizontally folding implement has a pair of tool-supporting beams that project laterally outwardly from opposite sides of the central, fore-and-aft extending frame of the implement when the beams are in their widespread, working positions. A pair of vertical pivots on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the frame adapt the beams for horizontal swinging between such working position and a folded, transport position, while a pair of horizontal pivots adapt the beams for limited vertical swinging movement in order to accommodate variations in ground contour. A pivotal coupling between the proximal inner ends of the beams when the latter are in their working positions keeps the two inner ends at the same height relative to one another during terrain variations encountered by the ground wheels or the tools of the beams, but the coupling does not inhibit horizontal swinging of the beams between their working and transport positions.

Abstract: A shank assembly for tools, such as those used in tillage on farm implements, is provided with mechanism which, during use, will yield horizontally, yet not trip, when the tool encounters certain abnormal resistances, e.g. frozen or compact soils, thereby maintaining the tool in its proper attitude, which will trip in response to the tool encountering relatively immovable obstructions, for example large, heavy rocks, and which will automatically reset after the tool has cleared the obstruction.

Abstract: The knotting mechanism of a crop baler has a spring-loaded arm normally pulled down to a lowered position by the binding twine during operation of the knotter. However, if the knotter accidentally fails to tie a knot or the twine otherwise slips loose, the resulting slack will allow the arm to swing upwardly, and this motion may be used to trigger a switch for setting off an alarm or to raise a signal flag, either of which would indicate that the knotter needs attention.

Abstract: The machine employs a vertically oriented bale-starting chamber and a crop pickup located immediately below such chamber so that materials lifted from the ground by the pickup as the machine advances are fed directly up into the starting chamber to be acted upon by front and rear sets of oppositely moving, vertically disposed belts. A throat area at the bottom of the starting chamber and above the pickup is devoid of compression rollers and other like structure that would squeeze and compress the upwardly fed materials into a mat so that unencumbered free flow of materials up into the starting chamber is assured. A special bale-positioning roll adjacent the bottom of the chamber keeps the bale from riding against belts wrapped around a forward roll so that materials are not wedged in a pinch point where the belts contact the forward roller, and special projections on the forward roller clean out the area just above the latter so as to avoid the accumulation of trash material therein.

Abstract: The pickup assembly has an upright loading duct with a primary conveying impeller located between the upper outlet and the lower inlet of the duct. A secondary crop pickup impeller adjacent the inlet combs through crop stubble as the machine advances and lifts severed crop materials up to the primary impeller where the latter propels the materials upwardly through the duct and out the outlet. Flexible rubber fingers on the secondary impeller are generally T-shaped, having heads that are releasably clamped against the hub of the impeller by an inverted channel which is capable of retaining a series of the fingers at the same time. The secondary impeller floats independently of the duct and has one or more gauge wheels associated therewith to keep the fingers of the impeller from digging into the ground during rotation.

Abstract: The angular or rotative position of a sprocket wheel may be incrementally adjusted through the appropriate manipulation of a pair of spaced-apart, opposed wedge assemblies mounted on the wheel that capture a crank of the shaft so that by inching the crank in one rotative direction or the other through manipulation of the wedge assemblies, the rotative relationship between the wheel and the shaft is changed. Each wedge assembly includes a pair of relatively shiftable components having interengaging cam surfaces, one of such components having an arcuate surface that is received in slidable, mating engagement by a complementally formed recess on the proximal side of the crank, thereby permitting relative rotational movement between the crank and the wedge assemblies so as to accommodate the swinging or arcuate nature of the crank movement during adjustment.

Abstract: The depending struts on a tool beam have "floating" bearings at their lowermost ends which can be displaced in a horizontal direction generally parallel to the beam between relatively closely spaced, fixed limits. The bearings in turn journal a disc gang assembly for rotation of the latter during ground engagement, yet the bearings are secured against axial displacement relative to the assembly so that the assembly and the bearings can move together through said displacement between the fixed limits. Adjustment of the struts along the beam during installation until they are positioned between such limits so as to permit displacement in either direction thereby avoids axial pre-loading of the bearings.

Abstract: Bales made from successive charges of material packed against one another are readily separable into relatively discrete "flakes" corresponding to the charges of material from which the bale is built. By passing the bale over the top edge of an incline just before reaching disintegrating mechanism, the leading end flakes of the bale are induced to successively separate therefrom for advancement on down the incline and delivery into the disintegrating mechanism on a more or less individual basis, thereby promoting clog-free operation and even feeding.

Abstract: A stack-forming machine has a telescoping container defined by a vertically reciprocable, downwardly concave press that is received within an upwardly concave lower section that remains stationary during reciprocation of the press. When the press is raised and an upper door on the press and a lower gate on the lower section are opened, the stack may be discharged from the container. The upper door is normally held closed by an overlapping portion of the lower gate, the latter in turn being releasably latched in place, and while the lower gate is swung downwardly by gravity to its opened position as the press is raised, the upper door is powered to its open position through linkage that interconnects the door with the lower section of the container so as to utilize the upward movement of the press as the source of opening power for the door.

Abstract: Hydraulic "squeeze cylinders" control the size of the discharge orifice on an extrusion baler and are operated by a control circuit that relieves pressure in the cylinders in response to the buildup of a certain predetermined pressure level in the circuit. Pressurized fluid for the squeeze cylinders is supplied by a single-acting pump cylinder that is connected between the reciprocal plunger head and its push rod in such a way as to deliver a slug of pressurized fluid into the circuit on each compression stroke of the plunger, the pump drawing in a fresh slug from a reservoir during each retraction stroke of the plunger.

Abstract: The pull-type rake is designed to remain in a preselected trailing position relative to the towing vehicle while the raking head may be cocked to the right or left without the operator leaving the driver's seat, thereby placing the head in condition to deliver raked material leftwardly or rightwardly depending upon the selected angular position for the head. The main chassis of the implement is constructed in the form of a parallel, four-bar linkage that may be skewed by the operator into leftwardly or rightwardly oblique positions relative to the path of travel of the implement, thereby cocking the rake head accordingly, and the head itself includes a frame and a reel carried thereby, both of which are constructed in the nature of parallel, four-bar linkages so that they, too, can be skewed by the operator.

Abstract: An "extrusion" type baler controls bale density by regulating the size of the discharge orifice of the bale case, and the "squeeze" cylinders which provide power for changing the size of the orifice are hydraulically connected to a special pump associated with the plunger of the machine so that pressurized oil is added to or taken away from the cylinders depending upon the resistive force encountered by the plunger and its pump during the compaction stroke. The loader which stuffs a new charge of material up into the baling chamber ahead of the retracted plunger may, under certain circumstances, fail to load a new charge of material.

Abstract: If the next charge to be stuffed into the baling chamber has not yet reached the desired size and density by the time the stuffing fork and compacting plunger are ready to begin their next operating cycles, the plunger and the fork are temporarily deactivated until the charge reaches full size and density. Thereupon, the fork stuffs the entire charge into the baling chamber in a single cycle of operation for compaction by the plunger. The baler is loaded from the bottom of the baling chamber through an upwardly curved duct that serves both as an accumulating chamber and as a precompression area into which the charge is progressively packed by a rotating, retractable finger drum at the lower end of the duct. The plunger closes the top of the duct during such accumulation and pre-compression, and in order to provide ample time for the plunger to retract from the duct when the stuffing cycle commences, the fork moves slowly at first but then quite rapidly once the plunger has retracted.

Abstract: The baling chamber of a rotary baler has an outlet adjacent its front end which must be closed to prevent the escape of crop material when a bale-forming operation is started but must be opened at a certain later point in the operation to allow some materials to escape. A gate disposed within the path of crop flow through the outlet can be shifted between a closed position completely blocking the egress of material and an opened position in which the gate is substantially on edge with respect to the crop flow so as to permit the unhindered movement of crop material through the outlet. The gate is hinged to a stationary scraper that discourages wrapping of crop material around an adjacent roller, and movement of the gate is coordinated with enlargement of the baling chamber during formation so that the gate is opened after the chamber reaches a predetermined size.

Abstract: Pressurized fluid for the squeeze cylinders of an "extrusion" baler is supplied by a single-acting pump cylinder that is connected between the plunger head and its push rod in such a way as to deliver a slug of pressurized fluid into the circuit on each compression stroke of the plunger, the pump drawing in a fresh slug from a reservoir during each retraction stroke of the plunger. The push rod is connected to the plunger in a cranked relationship so that the radial distance between the end of the push rod and the fulcrum point of the crank comprises one lever arm, such lever arm being many times smaller than the lever arm between the fulcrum point and the point of connection of the crank of the pump cylinder.

Abstract: Method for semicontinuous formation of round bales is permitted by positively capturing material introduced into the bale-forming chamber of a round baler after ejection of the last-formed bale and while the web normally defining the chamber remains displaced from its forming position. In one embodiment, the crop-capturing function is performed by a grid comprising a plurality of parallel, upwardly arcuate, elongate bars forwardly mounted on the baler for swinging movement about a transverse axis toward and away from the lower apron of the chamber. Another embodiment employs a rearwardly mounted, vertically swingable grid of parallel, substantially rectilinear, elongate bars to positively retain crop material in the chamber.