Abstract: A baler has a frame, a shaft extending on the frame along and rotatable about an axis, and a knotter having a sleeve-like hub rotationally fixed to the shaft and of a predetermined outer diameter. A support journaled on the hub is fixed to the frame and carries movable knotting parts. A rim ring surrounding the axis is formed of a main C-shaped part having arms spaced apart by a distance greater than the hub outer diameter and a bridge part between the arms and closing the main part. The rim ring also has formations engageable with the parts for actuating same. Fasteners releasably fix the rim ring on the hub.

Abstract: A crop chopper for an agricultural machine has a rotor having a plurality of fingers displaceable on rotation of the rotor along the passage, and respective blades interleaved with the fingers and each having a front end pivoted about a horizontal axis and a rear edge formed with a rearwardly open notch so that crop pressed by the fingers between the blades is chopped and moved rearward along the passage. A rocker is pivotal about a horizontal axis and respective actuator plates juxtaposed with the rear edges of the blades are each formed with a rearwardly projecting arm. Respective abutment bodies on the plates are displaceable toward and away from the respective blades and respective springs braced between the bodies and the respective plates urge the bodies forward toward the blades.

Abstract: A method of knotting with a clamp adjacent an axis and a two-jaw knotting head rotatable about the axis comprises the steps of first wrapping a strand around an object to be trussed with the strand ends together and gripping and retaining the strand ends together in the clamp with one of the strand end portions passing under the jaws of the knotting head and then upward to the object, the other strand end portion passing over the knotting head between the one end portion and the axis and then downward to the object, and the strand end portions crossing between the knotting head and the object being trussed. Then the knotting head is rotated through less than one full revolution with the jaws closed together to bring the crossing point of the strands onto the jaws and loop the one end portion around the jaws. The jaws are then opened and the head rotated through the balance of the revolution to engage both end portions between the jaws between the clamp and the axis.

Abstract: A knotting device for a baling machine has a pivotal knotting element having a lower jaw and an upper jaw that are pivoted together and have separable tips. The lower jaw has a lower side formed with a pair of parallel and downwardly projecting ridges defining a downwardly open groove extending to the respective tip. Thus when a loop of a tie is tight around the jaws it spans this groove. It also has a pair of lateral sides each formed with a longitudinal ridge of cross section decreasing toward the respective tip. A stripping element is displaceable along the sides of the lower jaw by an appropriate actuator to push a loop from the jaws. Once the loop is formed and the two strands are gripped between the upper and lower jaws it will be stripped accurately from the knotter no matter how small it is, since it will only engage at the ridges.