Abstract: An agricultural baler has a device for picking up stalk-type and blade-type vegetation. The picked up vegetation is inserted into a precompacting chamber wherein it is subjected to initial compacting. The degree of compaction is sensed and, when it reaches a preselected magnitude, the precompacted body of vegetation is expelled from the precompacting chamber into a main compacting chamber. The precompacted bodies are of identical or substantially identical size and density.

Abstract: This invention relates to a round baler for windrowed fibrous agricultural materials in which the bales are formed by a two-part frame having a generally cylindrical baling zone therein defined by side wall members on the frame and roller members extending between the side wall members and distributed around the frame. The frame includes a conventional pickup and conveying apparatus to move the agricultural materials from the ground into the entrance of the cylindrical baling zone. A suitable drive means, adapted to be coupled to a power takeoff of a draft vehicle or mounted on the baler, rotates the roller members to form a bale of the agricultural materials which are fed to the baling zone by the pickup. The frame parts are separated through hydraulic actuators to open the baling zone and deposit the round bale therefrom.

Abstract: A device for forming bales of hay, straw or similar crops includes a container in which there is yieldably mounted a holding member situated between the inlet end and the outlet end of the baling chamber of the container. The device picks crops up from the ground and advances the same into the inlet end of the baling chamber so that the crops form a bale thereat, and the holding member presses against the forming bale for the entire duration of the formation of the bale. The holding member retards the advancement of the forming bale toward the outlet end of the baling chamber and yields only after the material of the forming bale has reached a desired degree of packing. The holding member may be a flap pivoted in the container or a shield mounted on a tiltable frame for movement relative thereto and for tilting therewith.

Abstract: A self-propelled harvesting machine of the type having an automatic steering system is provided with a pair of feelers extending toward one another from the facing surfaces of a pair of plant row dividers located at the forward end of the machine. Each feeler is mounted for motion within the casing of one of the dividers in cooperation with a magnetic transducer located within that casing, and extends from the interior of the casing through an elongated slot in the side wall of the casing. The external portion of each feeler extends in a rearward direction relative to the side wall of the casing and has a comparatively shallow convex arcuate configuration terminating at a free end of the feeler which is located to the rear of the rearward end of the slot.

Abstract: An agricultural machine of the type employing an automatic steering system is provided with separate switching devices for switching the steering system on and off. The mechanism for switching the system off is carried by the steering column of the machine and includes elements for monitoring the speed of manual rotation of the steering wheel to switch the automatic steering system off when the driver of the machine turns the steering wheel more rapidly than a predetermined speed of rotation. The mechanism for turning the automatic steering system on includes a pedal-operated switch which is covered by a displaceable housing, so that the automatic steering system can be turned on only by conscious effort of the driver. The on and off switching signals provided by these two mechanisms are coupled to an electronic switch forming a portion of the automatic steering system, and the switch-off signal normally predominates so that the preferred state of the system is its off condition.

Abstract: In a baler wherein material to be baled is displaced along a path past a plurality of needles into a baling chamber and wherein tying mechanism periodically displaces the needles in a predetermined direction across the path, a pair of shields are provided flanking each of the needles and displaceable in the same direction as the needles by links connected to the tying mechanism so as to force a way through material in the passage for the needles and thereby prevent bending of these needles. The shields are formed as circle segments pivotal about an axis immediately below the path and below the axis about which the needles are pivoted.