Abstract: An agricultural crop harvester (1) includes a tank in which harvested crops are stored, a stored amount calculation section (51) that calculates a current stored amount of harvested crops stored in the tank, a communication section (61) which receives drier operation information indicative of a drier operational status transmitted from a drying facility 7, a work management section 62 that determines completion timing of a harvesting work based on the current stored amount and the drier operation information, and a notification section 63 which notifies the completion timing.

Abstract: A baler (1) composed of a pick-up device (4) for picking up a crop string (12), a compression device for compressing the crop in a compression direction to form a bale, the compression device having components (19) for measuring a distribution of a charging degree transversely to the compression direction. The baler (1) also has a 3D imaging device (11) for recording a 3D image (23) of the field and the crop string (12) in front of the baler (1), and a control device including a data processor (13) for controlling the baler (1) in dependence on data from the 3D image (23) and the charging degree (25).

Abstract: A harvesting device for harvesting agricultural crops being adapted to harvest an agricultural crops, to compress the agricultural crop into bales, and to strip loose material from at least a portion of the surface region of a bale of the agricultural crop.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for measuring the weight force of a bale in a baler wherein the bale moves between a first position, within the baling chamber, and a second position, within a wrapping apparatus carried by the baler chassis. A measurement device, which is connected to a data processing device, is provided, for measuring a measurement parameter influenced by the weight force of said bale in each of said first and second positions and developing a signal representative of the weight of the bale at those positions. The processing device is set up to calculate the weight force of the bale taking into account a first signal output from the measurement device when the bale is in the first position and a second signal output from the measurement device when the bale is in the second position.

Abstract: A forage loading assembly substitutes a large reciprocating piston for the traditionally employed auger to impel and compact the forage into a huge bag. In an intermediate but simultaneous action, the forage is brought by a conveyor to the site of a preliminary rotable impelling assembly which transfers it horizontally to a point within the pathway of a piston. The bottom of the conveyor is suspended to avoid being dragging along the ground during widely recognized forward creeping assembly phenomenon.

Abstract: An operation sensor for a wrap material dispensing system of a round baler. The operation sensor includes a rotatable member with which the wrap material is engaged, and which rotates along with the wrap material as the wrap material is fed to a wrap material feeding arrangement for introduction into the round baler. Rotation of the rotatable member is detected by a sensing arrangement, which is interconnected with a visual display for providing a user with a visual indication as to the rate of advancement of the wrap material.

Abstract: The invention pertains to a device and procedure to regulate the bale length in a square baler. Sensors determine both the forward and backward movement of the crop bundle and transfer these measurements to an evaluation electronic. The evaluation electronic adds the measurements and triggers the tying process when the actual length value is reached. The procedure includes the steps of: sensing both the forward and backward movement of a crop bundle in a baling chamber; adding the measured forward and backward movements to determine an actual length value of the crop bundle; and triggering the tying device once a pre-set target actual length value is reached.

Abstract: A baler is provided with a baling chamber for producing parallelepiped bales. The baling chamber has an upper part that can be repositioned in height by servo motors. The baling plunger is constructed of upper and lower parts that can also be adjusted vertically a corresponding amount.

Abstract: A baler for the production of parallelepiped or slab-shaped bales is provided with a baling chamber whose cross section can be easily repositioned in height by servo motors that operate to adjust one part of the baling chamber relative to an overlapping second part. Corresponding adjustments can be made to the position of a driver for the baling piston, which itself is constructed to include separate telescoping parts. In addition, the needle assembly is provided with needle carrying arms that are mounted for movement with the movable part of the baling chamber.

Abstract: Bale collector comprising a roller bed with a number of horizontal rollers, which are positioned at right angles to a direction of travel and which are suitable for receiving thereon successive bales from a press outlet of a baling press and for having bales pushed backwards onto each other, whereby the roller bed comprises, viewed in the direction of travel, a front part and a rear part, which can swivel about a horizontal axis under control of control means which are coupled to the roller bed parts for moving a rear end of the rear roller bed part between an upper position at a height which allows conveyance of the rear end of the rear part of a bale over the rear part and from the rear part onto the ground, and a lower position of the rear end of the rear part at a height in which the rear part is inclined downwards with respect to the front part for allowing expedited conveyance of the bale from the rear part onto the ground.

Abstract: An agricultural implement, such as a baler comprises a main frame and a hitch for attachment of the implement to a towing vehicle. The frame is supported on a bogie comprising a pair of steerable wheels. A pair of hydraulic rams can block these wheels in a fore-and-aft position for reversing the baler or for preventing fluttering during road transport. Hydraulic circuitry, which is used for controlling functions of said implement, such as the retraction of a bale chuteor the operation of a bale eject apparatus can be used to actuate the rams. The rams are loaded by providing pressurized oil to the return line and using a non-return valve for making the oil flow to the guiding the said circuitry to the rams.

Abstract: An on-board cotton harvester baling system includes first and second balers mounted side-by-side on the frame of a cotton harvester adjacent a single accumulator that extends generally the width of the balers. One of two sets of metering rollers located at the bottom of the accumulator is selectively activated to feed cotton to the first baler. A reversible auger extending the width of the accumulator moves cotton withing the accumulator towards the activated set of metering rolls to assure a continued supply of material for the operating baler. When the first bale is fully formed, the opposite set of metering rolls and the second baler are activated, and the auger is reversed. The completed bale can be easily unloaded while the second baler operates so that cotton harvester operation.

Abstract: A baler for making rectangular crop bales has a generally horizontally disposed fore-and-aft extending baling chamber. The pickup of the baler is disposed underneath the baling chamber in line with the path of travel of a reciprocating plunger in the overhead chamber. An in-line transfer duct leads generally upwardly and rearwardly from the pickup to the bottom of the chamber. An enclosed crop flow passage is defined from a point immediately behind the pickup to a point located at the opening in the bottom of the baling chamber and presents a forwardmost cutting zone, a packing zone behind the cutting zone, and an accumulating zone behind the packing zone. Cutter apparatus within the cutting zone reduces the crop materials into smaller pieces as they flow through the cutting zone, whereupon a separate packer takes the materials from the rear side of the cutter apparatus and packs them in a downstream direction toward the accumulating zone where they form into a charge.

Abstract: Cotton accumulator structure includes an upright storage area supported behind the cab of a cotton harvester. A screened upper cover area is supported above the storage area by hydraulic cylinders which move the cover between a raised harvest position and a lowered storage position for reduced transport height. As harvested material is directed through ducts towards the storage area, debris can exit through the screened cover. The lower end of the storage area includes an opening for egress of the cotton. Several shafts having timed projections are journalled for rotation adjacent the opening about parallel axes. The shafts, when not rotating, generally close the lower end and prevent cotton from falling through the opening. To meter the cotton from the storage area to an operating on-board processor, a drive is activated to rotate the shafts.

Abstract: An agricultural baler comprises a baling chamber and pick-up device for collecting crop material from a field and feeding it to conveyor mechanism which transports it into the baling chamber. A plunger reciprocates therein for compressing the crop material to a package and a tying mechanism encircles the package with one or more strands of tying material, thereby forming a completed bale. The baler comprises bale discharge device disposed at the outlet of the baling chamber, the bale discharge device being movable between an extended position for receiving the completed bale and depositing it onto the field and a retracted position for reducing the overall length of the baler. In the retracted position, a rear portion of the bale discharge device is rested on a support on top of the baling chamber. The discharge device are held in their retracted position by the rear portion itself.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for densification of fibrous material such as harvested cotton, preferably by a movement of the cotton continuously through a compacting zone on the harvester. In one aspect of the invention, the fibers are locked by differential translation of portions of the mass of compacted material to prevent a layer of material from springing back after compression. A continuous mat of compressed material with locked fibers is formed into a uniform, high density bale or module on the harvester. A cotton harvester compacting system includes an air system feeding harvested cotton into an accumulation area and to the compacting zone on the harvester. The cotton is compressed and fed through a shear zone which differentially translates the cotton and locks the cotton fibers into a uniform, compact mat. In one embodiment, the mat of compacted cotton is fed to a round baler on the harvester to form a dense round bale or module.

Abstract: The plunger of a baler for making parallelepiped bales is driven by an extensible and retractable hydraulic actuator that is connected for oscillating a link forming a crank coupled to the plunger by a connecting link. The dimensions and locations of the crank and connecting link relative to the hydraulic actuator results in the plunger being moved in the baling chamber through a distance which is about twice the stroke of the actuator when the plunger is moved from a fully retracted position, at one side of an inlet used for introducing crop into the chamber, to a fully extended position at an opposite side of the inlet from the fully retracted position.

Abstract: A baler is provided with a feed device in which the conveying curves of the conveyor rakes are automatically adjusted by actuation of a hydraulic cylinder in response to sensed changes in operating parameters of the baler.

Abstract: A self propelled baler includes a front pick-up device (10), a forward mounted cab (4), and engine (5) behind the cab and above a drive mechanism for the baler ram reciprocatable in a baling chamber. The crop picked up by the pick-up device is conveyed by a conveying device (20), positioned between the front drive wheels, rearwardly to a feeding device (30) which feeds the crop upwardly into the baling chamber.

Abstract: A vegetation harvesting/clearing device consists of an assembly including a pair of hinged jaws and an open noose of cable, all of which is mounted on a load-lifting device of a prime mover such as a farm tractor. The open jaws are deployed to cause a patch of vegetation to be enclosed by the open noose. The jaws are closed around the vegetation, whereupon the noose is tightened to garrote the vegetation in a swath. The load lifting device raises the closed jaws to uproot the vegetation and to remove the swath of uprooted material to a disposal site where the swath is deposited.

Abstract: A baling apparatus is provided for forming large rectangular bales of fibrous material. The apparatus includes a rectangular bale chamber having an inlet for receiving baling material beneath the bale chamber and an outlet for discharging completed bales at the top of the bale chamber. Balable material is gathered from the surface of the field of by the pickup mechanism, formed into a mat by clamping rollers and transported toward the bale chamber by a conveying mechanism. A conveyor sweep apparatus detaches a segment of the mat on the conveyor and feeds it to a compressing mechanism located beneath the bale chamber inlet. The clamping rollers ensure that the mat separates cleanly when engaged by the sweep apparatus. The compressing structure then compresses the segment of baling material in a slow upward compression stroke into the bale chamber inlet. As a result, a rectangular bale comprising successive horizontal layers is formed within the bale chamber.

Abstract: The apparatus of this invention forms and binds fibrous bulk material or the like into bales and comprises bale forming apparatus for forming the material into an elongated continuous mass. The bale forming apparatus has a bale-forming compartment with an infeed end and a discharge end, and material flow restricting apparatus located between the infeed and discharge ends for resisting the movement of the material. Auger feeding apparatus for conveying the material into the infeed end of said bale-forming compartment, and bale binding apparatus for receiving the mass of material from the discharge end of said bale-forming compartment and binding said mass into discrete bales, are provided.

Abstract: A lift apparatus for raising and lowering a ground vehicle. A pair of transversely opposite frame members are interconnected at their lower end portions by a transversely extended crank axle. A pair of four-bar parallelogram linkages are located on either side of the vehicle and each of which includes a lever plate which supports a ground wheel of the vehicle. An upper link pivotally interconnects the lever plate to the associated frame member. A lower link is pivotally attached at one end to the lever plate and is secured at its other end to the crank axle, thereby forming a crank arm. A hydraulic cylinder is interconnected between each of the lever plates and the associated frame member. Extension and retraction of the cylinders raises and lowers the vehicle.

Abstract: A harvester apparatus is provided for drying and baling forage crops in the field. The harvester apparatus includes an inlet for conveying forage crops to a dryer arrangement of the harvester where the forage crops are substantially evenly dried as they are conveyed through the dryer arrangement. The harvester apparatus includes compacting structure for compacting the forage crops before the drying process in completed. The harvester apparatus produces a layer of dried and compacted forage crops which are exited from the harvester apparatus at an exit which is adjacent a baling mechanism for securing the forage crops into bales. The layer of forage crops is converted by the baling mechanism into a column of stacked blocks secured together to form a bale.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and to a device for producing highly compressed cylindrical bales from loose stalk material, such as hay or straw, which is picked up continuously and is compressed to form a rotating compressed roll which flows continuously in an axial direction. Individual compressed roll sections (bales) are successively cut off from the front end of the compressed roll. For producing dimensionally stable bales of varying length, the compressed roll, which is still subject to radial pressure, is bound automatically by a binder during its axially feeding and before a bale is cut off. The binder is delivered under tension and utilizes the rotation and feed of the compression roll.

Abstract: A binding apparatus for tying up a round bale of harvested material formed in a baler, which is mounted on the housing of the baler, comprises at least one cord supply spool, a cord guide mechanism for guiding at least one cord along the upper surface of the round bale to tie the bale up, and a cutting mechanism for the cord, which is connected to the cord guide mechanism. The cord guide mechanism comprises at least one cord guide arm and a cord disk having a gear unit. The cutting mechanism is connected by means of a connecting rod to one end of a pulling strap, the other end of the pulling strap being attached by means of a pulling spring to a transverse truss provided for the binding apparatus, and on the cord guide mechanism an operating mechanism cooperating with the pulling strap is provided, in order to tie up the bale once or twice according to choice, before the cord is cut by the cutting mechanism.

Abstract: The hay cubing apparatus comprises a chassis having a substantially horizontally oriented table, the table having sidewalls issuing upwardly and at least a pair of dies mounted adjacent to the table on shafts, a feed cone carries on each of the dies. Each of the dies includes a rim being fastened to the shafts, a plurality of teeth mounted distally and radially about the rim, the dies meshing with each other, and means driving at least one of the shafts. Each feed cone material, handling means comprises an upstanding cone-shaped body, the body being mounted on the uppermost side of the dies; and an auger being a band projecting from the exterior walls of the cone-shaped body, and projecting in a spiral pattern from the apex to the base of the cone-shaped body.