Patent Application
20070113491
An anchor system which provides a threaded member which can be advanced into a baled material upon rotational engagement of a first member end terminal with the baled material.
Production of baled material can use a large amount of resources (land, labor, seed, fuel, fertilizer, equipment, or the like). The manner in which baled material is stored after baling can affect baled material quantity and quality. As such, it can be worthwhile investing additional resources (money, labor, equipment, or the like) in baled material storage to preserve the value of the baled material.
In this regard, baled material stored outside without cover can incur substantial dry matter losses caused by the combination of soil moisture and precipitation. For example, with respect to baled forage materials in Oklahoma, researchers found 13.1% dry matter loss for uncovered storage on the ground versus 2% loss for covered storage on pallets. Similarly, Wisconsin researchers found 10.9% loss for uncovered storage on the ground versus 4.6% in a barn. The studies further showed that average dry matter losses in the uncovered baled material on sod were 11.2% versus 2.3% in the barn. It appears that for eight to nine months of storage, a 6 to 11 percentage unit advantage can be obtained by keeping bales off wet ground and under cover.
Besides losing dry matter, uncovered baled material can also lose quality as determined by nutritional analysis and by appearance. The loss in dry matter reduces weight available for sale and the loss in quality can have a large impact on animal performance and on baled material value. For example, the internal parts of baled hay stored in a shed had a relative feed value (RFV) of 133 and the bottom six inches of the bales at the bottom of the pile had an RFV of 106. The internal parts of bales stored uncovered, outside on sod had an RFV of 114 and the external parts of the bales had RFVs ranging from 55 to 107. In just eight months, the differences in the baled hay weight, quality, and price resulted in baled hay stored in the shed being worth about $3350 (at then existing prices) more per 100 tons harvested than baled hay stored outside on sod. These numbers indicate that it is worth considering an investment in tarpaulins and gravel, or even hay storage sheds.
Also, pests can infest baled materials, such as cotton, requiring fumigation of the bailed material. Tarpaulin fumigation involves the placement of a gas-tight material over the commodity or structure to be fumigated. The tarpaulins made for fumigation, can be impregnated nylon, or can be sheet polyethylene, or the like. In some circumstances, many sections of impregnated nylon tarps can be held together, so there is no limit to the size of the stack or structure that may be covered. In addition to considering the material to use for tarpaulin fumigation, consideration must be given to the method of obtaining a seal which holds an adequate concentration of fumigant for the time necessary to kill target pests.
While there may be a variety of reasons to cover baled materials and while a variety of cover materials are available to cover baled materials either to protect baled materials from moisture, to hold adequate concentration of fumigates to kill pests, or otherwise, there appears to be a long felt but unresolved need for an anchor to secure or seal the cover materials to baled materials.
Accordingly, a broad object of the invention can be to provide an anchor which provides a threaded member which can be advanced into a baled material upon rotational engagement of a first member end terminal with the baled material.
Another broad object of the invention can be to provide a thread which upon rotational engagement with a baled material coordinates a plurality of discrete pieces of the material baled to establish a baled material force receiving surface which sufficiently opposes forces of engagement with at least one thread surface to allow advancement of the member to which the thread is coupled into the baled material.
Another broad object of the invention can be to provide a method of securing a sheet material, tarpaulin, or other article to the external surface of a baled material by engaging such sheet material, tarpaulin, or other article directly or indirectly to an anchor which has been rotationally advanced into the baled material.
Naturally, further objects of the invention may be disclosed throughout other areas of the specification, drawings, and claims.
An anchor system which provides a threaded member which can be advanced into a baled material upon rotational engagement of a first member end terminal with the baled material.
First, referring primarily to
With respect to the baled material (5), a bale provides a pressed package of material typically bound with a baled material restraint (7) such as a cord, wire, strap, or the like, or wrapped with a sheet material such as paper sheet, plastic sheet, or the like. A baled material (5) can comprise any of a numerous and wide variety of raw materials or finished materials which can be pressed and bound to generate the pressed package. Some non-limiting examples of a baled material (5) include a baled crop such as a baled hay, a baled alfalfa, a baled wheat grass, or a baled cotton; and can further include a baled crop residue such as baled straw or baled corn stalks; and can further include other naturally or non-naturally occurring materials such as a baled cellulose fiber, a baled synthetic fiber such as a baled polyester fiber, a baled polypropylene fiber, a baled nylon fiber, or the like (or materials made from such fibers). A baled material (5) can further include various combinations of baled materials (those above-described or otherwise) along with any impurities integral to, baled with, or combined into the material baled, whether intentionally or unintentionally. A baled material (5) can provide a pressed package of the above-described materials, or others, in a wide variety of configurations, for example and without limitation, a round bale, a rectangular bale, a square bale, or the like. The external surface (4) of the baled material (5) refers to the outside surface area of the baled material (5) including the outside surface of features generated during baling of a material, whether intentional or unintentional, such as dimples, cleats, holds, insertion points, grooves, gutters, projections or indentations (whether or not mated), or the like, along with the surfaces of any restraint (7), such as those above-described. The location (3) on the external surface (4) means any location on the external surface (4) of the baled material (5). Additionally, it is not intended that baled material (5) be limited to any particular weight, volume, weight per volume, density, measure, or similar characteristic. Additionally, while embodiments of the invention can be advanced into a baled material (5) as described, it is not intended that the invention be so limited and it is understood that the invention can also be advanced into other materials such as certain support surfaces (35) on which the baled material (5) can be located, such as the ground.
An operator (8) can perform the above-described steps by engaging a first member end (9) (or first member end terminal (25)) at a location (3) on the external surface (4) of the baled material (5) and generating rotation of the member (1) about the longitudinal axis (2). Rotation of the member (1) about the longitudinal axis (2) can be achieved by rotationally engaging a second member end (10) (or other components of the anchor coupled to the second member end (10), as described below) with a first hand (11) or a second hand (12), or both hands. Alternately, generating rotation of the member (1) about the longitudinal axis (2) can be achieved by engaging a rotor (13) to a rotor receiver element (14) coupled directly to the member (1) or indirectly through other components of the anchor described below.
The rotor (13) can comprise any means that can be coupled, connected, engaged, or mated (whether removably, fixedly, slidely, frictionally, or otherwise) to the rotor receiving element (14) of the member (1) capable of generating rotation of the member (1) about the longitudinal axis (2). The illustrative rotor (13) shown by
Similarly, the rotor receiver element (14) while shown by
As shown by
The method of anchoring can further include the steps of engaging the baled material (5) with an article (18) and securing the article to the member (1) directly, or indirectly by securing the article (18) to an article engagement element (19), further described below. The step of engaging the baled material (5) can comprise engaging the external surface (4) of a baled material (5), whether the baled material comprises one bale or a plurality of bales, with the article (18), or whether engagement of the external surface (4) is in whole or in part. As to certain embodiments of the invention as shown by
As shown by
Now referring to
The term thread (6) is intended to encompass all thread (6) configurations which can be coupled to the member (1), whether directly or indirectly, capable of advancing the above-described member (1) into a baled material (5) by rotation of the member (1) to slidely engage at least one thread surface (22) with an opposed baled material force receiving surface (21) having baled material force receiving characteristics. Baled material force receiving characteristics can be differentiated from the force receiving characteristics of conventional materials such as wood, plastic, or metal into which conventional threaded objects may be advanced by rotation. Unlike wood, plastic, metal or other substantially homogeneous single piece materials in which a rotating thread slidely may engage an opposed force receiving surface to advance a conventionally threaded object (such as a screw or a bolt) into the conventional material, baled material (5) typically comprises a plurality of non-homogeneous discrete pieces of the baled material (5) which can be pressed to form a bale (without the use of other binders such as adhesive, resin, polymer, to hold the discrete pieces together). As such, the thread (6) of the invention upon rotation into a baled material (5) slidely engages a baled material force receiving surface (21) which comprises a plurality of discrete pieces of baled material (5) each capable of discrete directional travel in response to forces transmitted from slideable engagement of at least one thread surface (22) upon rotation of the member (1) into the baled material (5). To advance the member (1) into the baled material (5) the thread (6) must be configured to act upon the plurality of discrete pieces of the baled material (5) in a manner that reduces randomness in discrete directional travel of the discrete pieces of the baled material (5) and increases homogeneity of such discrete directional travel among a plurality of pieces of the baled material (5) sufficient to generate a baled material force receiving surface (21) capable of opposing a sufficient amount of force delivered from at least one thread surface (22) to allow the first member end (9) to advance a distance into the baled material (5). Also, once the member (1) has been advanced a distance into the baled material (5) at least one thread surface (22) must coordinate discrete travel of a sufficient plurality of pieces of the baled material (5) to oppose non-rotational travel of the member (5) in or from the baled material (5) to an extent which allows the member (1) to be utilized to secure the above-described article (18).
The particular embodiment of the member (1) shown by
As shown primarily by
Now referring again primarily to
Now referring primarily to
As to the embodiment of the invention shown by
Now referring primarily to
Again referring to
As can be easily understood from the foregoing, the basic concepts of the present invention may be embodied in a variety of ways. The invention involves numerous and varied embodiments of an anchor and methods of making and using such anchor.
As such, the particular embodiments or elements of the invention disclosed by the description or shown in the figures accompanying this application are not intended to be limiting, but rather exemplary of the numerous and varied embodiments generically encompassed by the invention or equivalents encompassed with respect to any particular element thereof. In addition, the specific description of a single embodiment or element of the invention may not explicitly describe all embodiments or elements possible; many alternatives are implicitly disclosed by the description and figures.
It should be understood that each element of an apparatus or each step of a method may be described by an apparatus term or method term. Such terms can be substituted where desired to make explicit the implicitly broad coverage to which this invention is entitled. As but one example, it should be understood that all steps of a method may be disclosed as an action, a means for taking that action, or as an element which causes that action. Similarly, each element of an apparatus may be disclosed as the physical element or the action which that physical element facilitates. As but one example, the disclosure of an “anchor” should be understood to encompass disclosure of the act of “anchoring”—whether explicitly discussed or not—and, conversely, were there effectively disclosure of the act of “anchoring”, such a disclosure should be understood to encompass disclosure of an “anchor” and even a “means for anchoring.” Such alternative terms for each element or step are to be understood to be explicitly included in the description.
In addition, as to each term used it should be understood that unless its utilization in this application is inconsistent with such interpretation, common dictionary definitions should be understood to included in the description for each term or element as contained in the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, second edition, each definition hereby incorporated by reference.
Thus, the applicant(s) should be understood to claim at least: i) each of the anchors herein disclosed and described, ii) the related methods disclosed and described, iii) similar, equivalent, and even implicit variations of each of these devices and methods, iv) those alternative embodiments which accomplish each of the functions shown, disclosed, or described, v) those alternative designs and methods which accomplish each of the functions shown as are implicit to accomplish that which is disclosed and described, vi) each feature, component, and step shown as separate and independent inventions, vii) the applications enhanced by the various systems or components disclosed, viii) the resulting products produced by such systems or components, ix) methods and apparatuses substantially as described hereinbefore and with reference to any of the accompanying examples, x) the various combinations and permutations of each of the previous elements disclosed.
The claims set forth in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference as part of this description of the invention, and the applicant expressly reserves the right to use all of or a portion of such incorporated content of such claims as additional description to support any of or all of the claims or any element or component thereof, and the applicant further expressly reserves the right to move any portion of or all of the incorporated content of such claims or any element or component thereof from the description into the claims or vice-versa as necessary to define the matter for which protection is sought by this application or by any subsequent continuation, division, or continuation-in-part application thereof, or to obtain any benefit of, reduction in fees pursuant to, or to comply with the patent laws, rules, or regulations of any country or treaty, and such content incorporated by reference shall survive during the entire pendency of this application including any subsequent continuation, division, or continuation-in-part application thereof or any reissue or extension thereon.
The claims set forth below are intended describe the metes and bounds of a limited number of the preferred embodiments of the invention and are not to be construed as the broadest embodiment of the invention or a complete listing of embodiments of the invention that may be claimed. The applicant does not waive any right to develop further claims based upon the description set forth above as a part of any continuation, division, or continuation-in-part, or similar application.
