Claims
- 1. An apparatus for bagging forage crop comprising:
- i) a means for conveying a compacted baled crop to a cutting station having:
- (a) a knife for cutting the baled crop along the longitudinal axis of the bale;
- (b) a divider for separating the thus formed part-bales; and
- (c) a pair of rails to rotate each part bale through a quarter-turn about the longitudinal axis of the base;
- ii) a vertical bale compactor and a bagger apparatus arranged side by side with a second vertical bale compactor and a bagger apparatus to further process each part-bale individually and simultaneous:
- (a) each vertical bale compactor having:
- (1) an in-feed hopper with hinged side and face plates attached to a pivoted stirrup by cams which are acted upon by a hydraulic ram such that the movement of the in-feed hopper plates is controlled by the hydraulic ram, pivoted stirrups, and cams to open away from one another to form a tapering chute to receive a part-bale and to subsequently close the plates to compress and align a part-bale with the compaction chamber located directly below the in-feed hopper;
- (2) each vertical bale compactor further having a long-stroke hydraulic ram which terminates in a plunger of complementary shape to the compaction chamber, wherein the plunger operates down through the in-feed hopper and acts to further compact the uppermost part-bale against part-bales already in the compaction chamber, and a discharge spout to deliver further compacted part-bales into plastic bags;
- (3) each vertical bale compactor being arranged to permit the insertion of plastic separator sheets between part bales; and
- (b) each bagger apparatus having a means for plastic sheeting to be drawn from a roll of plastic sheeting through a forming shoulder to form a plastic tube, the overlapping seam of which is sealed by a vertical sealing bar, further having a horizontal sealing bar for sealing and cutting the sealed plastic tube to form a plastic bag, a sensor to control the downward feed of the plastic bag, and directed pressurized air to inflate the formed plastic bag in order to receive the further compacted part-bale.
- 2. A forage crop bagging apparatus comprising:
- (a) a means for receiving a forage crop in a compacted bale of given size;
- (b) a cutter for cutting the bale longitudinally into part-bales arranged substantially level with the top of a compaction chamber having cross-sectional dimensions substantially the same as the transverse dimensions of the part-bales;
- c) a means for carrying the bale past the cutter;
- d) an in-feed hopper at the top of the compaction chamber to receive the part-bales from the cutter and feed the part-bales into the compaction chamber;
- e) a means for carrying the part-bales to the in-feed hopper;
- f) a means for further compacting the part-bales in the longitudinal direction within the compaction chamber;
- g) a bagging apparatus at a longitudinal output of the compaction chamber to receive the further compacted part-bales therefrom; and
- h) a means for transversely sealing the further compacted part-bales airtight in a bag before full re-expansion of the further compacted part-bales.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the in-feed hopper is provided with hinged side and front plates controlled to be opened away from one another to receive a part-bale and be closed towards one another to align a part-bale with the compaction chamber.
- 4. A forage crop bagging apparatus comprising:
- (a) a means for receiving a forage crop in a compacted bale of given size;
- (b) a cutter for cutting the bale longitudinally into part-bales;
- c) a means for carrying the bale past the cutter;
- d) a compaction chamber of cross-sectional dimensions substantially the same as the transverse dimensions of the part-bales and having an in-feed hopper at an input to the compaction chamber to receive the part-bales from the cutter and feed the part-bales into the compaction chamber;
- e) a means for carrying the part-bales from the cutter to the in-feed hopper;
- f) a means for further compacting the part-bales in the longitudinal direction within the compaction chamber;
- g) a bagging apparatus at a longitudinal output of the compaction chamber to receive the further compacted part-bales therefrom; and
- h) a means for transversely sealing the further compacted part-bales airtight in a bag before full re-expansion of the further compacted part-bales.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
862562 |
Oct 1986 |
GBX |
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Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 07/350,706 filed as PCT/GB87/00758, Oct. 27, 1987, now abandoned, which application was originally filed as PCT application Ser. No. PCT/GB87/00758 on Oct. 27, 1987.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (8)
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1954729 |
May 1970 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
350706 |
Apr 1989 |
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