Abstract: A square baler has a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a pickup apparatus. A stuffer is operable through successive stuffing strokes within the duct to both transfer material from the pickup apparatus into the baling chamber and precompress the material within the duct. The stuffer includes a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffing stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke forwardly of the inlet of the duct.

Abstract: A square baler has a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a pickup apparatus. A stuffer is operable through successive stuffing strokes within the duct to both transfer material from the pickup apparatus into the baling chamber and precompress the material within the duct. The stuffer includes a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffing stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke forwardly of the inlet of the duct.

Abstract: The in-line baler has its crop pickup, baling chamber and compacting plunger all located on the same fore-and-aft axis as viewed in top plan, but the tongue of the baler can be selectively swung by a hydraulic cylinder from a centered position to an offset position so that the baler may be correspondingly operated either directly behind the towing vehicle or off to one side as desired by the operator. To compensate for an otherwise excessive weight transfer onto the outboard ground wheel when the baler is shifted to the offset location, the onboard internal combustion engine and other drive apparatus for the operating components of the baler are all located off to one side of the center line of the machine, i.e., toward the inboard ground wheel. The pivot point for the tongue is located forwardly of the transverse axis of the ground wheels and slightly to the inboard side of the central axis of the baler, between the pickup and the overhead baling chamber.

Abstract: A square baler has a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a pickup apparatus. A stuffer is operable through successive stuffing strokes within the duct to both transfer material from the pickup apparatus into the baling chamber and precompress the material within the duct. The stuffer includes a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffing stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins its upstroke forwardly of the inlet of the duct.

Abstract: A bale chamber 22 includes a pair of elongated top rails 72,74, a pair of elongated bottom rails 80,82, an elongated right siderail 80, an elongated left siderail 90, and a squeeze mechanism 24 positioned proximate the discharge end of the bale chamber 22 for symmetrically adjusting the cross-section size of the discharge opening by simultaneous movement of all the rails. The squeeze mechanism 24 includes a vertical squeeze assembly 92 for adjusting the vertical distance between the top and bottom rails 72,74,80,82 and a horizontal squeeze assembly 94 for adjusting the horizontal distance between the left and right siderails 88,90. Each squeeze assembly 92,94 includes a jaw-type lever assembly 96,116 surrounding its respective rails and a cylinder assembly 98,118 that selectively shifts its lever assembly 96,116 and its respective rails towards and away from one another near the discharge end of the bale chamber 22.