Claims
- 1. A mechanism for tying a bale of compressible material comprising:a housing; a worm gear rotatably mounted with respect to the housing; a drive mechanism operable for rotating said worm gear, the drive mechanism comprising a motor coupled to the worm gear to rotate the gear; a twister pinion rotatably mounted with respect to the housing and coupled to the worm gear to rotate when the gear rotates, the twister pinion including a slot with opposing ends formed therein for receiving overlapped wire sections and twisting the wire sections upon rotation of said pinion; the twister pinion including a sloped surface formed therein proximate each end of said slot, the sloped surface having a spiral shape and configured for engaging the overlapped wire sections and, when the pinion is rotated, directing the wire sections inwardly toward a center axis of the pinion.
- 2. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said sloped surface slopes radially inwardly toward the center axis of said pinion.
- 3. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said sloped surface slopes longitudinally along the length of said pinion.
- 4. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said sloped surface slopes longitudinally along the length of said pinion and radially inwardly toward the center axis of said pinion.
- 5. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said pinion further comprises projections extending into the slot from at least one side thereof, the projections operable for engaging a section of the overlapped wire ends to maintain said section generally untwisted when the pinion rotates.
- 6. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said pinion further comprises a pair of projections each projecting into the slot from a side thereof, the projections operable for engaging a section of the overlapped wire ends to maintain said section generally untwisted when the pinion rotates.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 08/947,457, filed Oct. 7, 1997 (abandoned), entitled “Method and Apparatus for Tying and Binding Bales of Compressed Material,” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/547,329, filed Oct. 24, 1995, entitled “Automatic Tie System for Baler,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,283 on Jan. 6, 1998. These pending applications and patents are all completely incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
US Referenced Citations (41)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
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152933 |
Jan 1951 |
AU |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
08/947457 |
Oct 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/522582 |
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US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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08/547329 |
Oct 1995 |
US |
Child |
08/947457 |
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US |