GB2212100A

GB2212100A - Mobile collecting equipment for bales

Info

Publication number: GB2212100A
Application number: GB8825844A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Snr Heinrich Bollmann
Original assignee: Gebrueder Welger GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Gebrueder Welger GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1987-11-07
Filing date: 1988-11-04
Publication date: 1989-07-19
Anticipated expiration: 2008-11-04
Also published as: NL8802648A; DE3737969A1; GB8825844D0; GB2212100B; DE3737969C2

Description

1 1 on 2212 U Title: MOBILE COLLECTING EQUIPMENT FOR BALES

This invention relates to a mobile collecting equipment for agricultural bales of stalky materials supplied by a collecting or baling press, of the kind consisting of a substantially horizontal collecting floor, on to which the bales of material are pushed and are arranged in rows next to one another into one layer, which is then deposited in the field.

Such a collecting equipment is known from the MEIJER brochure 'Big-Baler and bale equipment', printed in November 1986. The bales coming from a compression channel of the baling press are pushed by subsequent bales on to a platform and then by a transverse pusher to an adjacent platform. A chain conveyor, for conveying in the longitudinal direction, is situated between the platforms and is operated intermittently to deposit the formed layer of bales. The disadvantage of this equipment is that two separate drivable devices are necessary for the transverse movement and the longitudinal movement for unloading. The control of the drives of these collecting equipment is expensive and liable to suffer from faults.

It is an object of the invention to provide a collecting equipment of the kind set forth above, which makes longitudinal and/or transverse transport possible with only one uncontrolled drive.

1 According to the present invention there is provided a mobile collecting equipment for bales of agricultural stalky materials supplied by a baling press, wherein the equipment comprises a substantially horizontal collecting floor which consists of bale transport rollers arranged transverse to the intended direction of movement and means for driving at least some of the rollers, the rollers being arranged to transport the bales of material pushed 2 on to the floor from a baling press into rows arranged next to one another in one layer, by means of transverse transport elements, the layer of bales being thereafter deposited on the ground.

In the present collecting equipment, the bales supplied by the compression channel of a baling press can be simultaneously transported transversely and longitudinally, or only transversely or only longitudinally with an unchanged drive of the bale transport rollers.

In a further embodiment of the collecting equipment, it is proposed that each transverse transport element is made as a guide rail which is pivoted about a vertical axle and which can be set obliquely to the direction of movement.

In this way, the bales of material can be simultaneously moved in the transverse direction during their transport in the longitudinal direction, in order to be guided from their original direction in line with the compression channel into a position laterally displaced relative to the compression channel.

The driven bale transport rollers cause exclusively transverse transport as is required, for example, for lateral displacement of the bales or for lining up the bales, if at least part is made as a transverse transport element in the form of a transverse transport helix, which transports the bales of stalks in the transverse direction, if it is held in the longitudinal direction.

For the safe stopping and even release of the bales, a bale stop is an upper lever arm which is mounted to pivot around an upper axle transverse to the intended direction of movement, and which can be unfolded from a substantially vertical, stopped bale stop position into a 1 3 substantially horizontal through position to deposit the bales.

According to another feature of the invention, the guide rail and the lever arm made as the bale stop are mounted to pivot jointly around the vertical axle, and a bale acting on the lever arm at a distance from the axle supports transverse transport due to the transverse transport helix via torque on the guide rail. The transverse transport of the transport helix and the torque on the guide rail due to the bale being pressed in the longitudinal direction are superimposed here in a favourable way. In this way, only some transport rollers need to be supplied with helical parts in order to transport several bales lying behind one another simultaneously in the transverse direction.

In order to achieve automatic matching of the feed speed of the bale transport rollers to the throughput depending on the speed of movement, the drive of at least one bale transport roller from the wheels of the collecting equipment is of the type of a friction wheel gearing.

A particularly safe depositing of the layer on the ground is achieved if the circumferential speed of the bale transport rollers is equal to or a little greater than the speed of movement of the collecting equipment. The layer of bales is deposited on the ground as a stationary layer. An indicator device may be provided for the length of the bales.

In order to enable the invention to be more readily understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example an embodiment thereof, and in which:Fig. 1 is a side view of a mobile collecting equipment in the unloaded state, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a collecting equipment shown in 4 Fig. 1 when loaded with two bales of material, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the collecting equipment in a fully loaded state, and Fig. 4 is a side view of the rear end of the fully loaded collecting equipment during the unloading thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, the collecting equipment there shown is connected directly to a compression channel 1 of a baling press partly shown in Fig. 1 and is drawn in the direction of movements of the baling press as indicated by the arrow 2. The embodiment of the collecting equipment shown is designed to accommodate three rows of bales next to one another and parallel to the direction of movement, each row consisting of two bales lying behind one another, as can be seen in Fig. 3.

The collecting equipment consists mainly of a substantially horizontal collecting floor 3 with transport rollers 4 extending transverse to the direction of movement, and with two guide rails 8 and 9 movable about pivot axes and arranged to form three collecting channels 5, 6 and 7, there being a bale stop 10 situated at the output end of each collecting channel. The equipment also includes a funnelling roller 11 and an alignment element 12 at the output end.

The transport rollers 4 are mounted for rotation at both sides of a rectangular base frame 13, which is supported by two wheels 14 and 15 spaced apart from one another. The base frame 13 has a draw bar 16 at its front end, which is coupled to a hitch 17 of the baling press.

A rotatable transfer roller 18 is also mounted in the base frame 13 so as to lie immediately behind the compressing channel 1. Two transport rollers 19 and 20 each having a left handed helical part 21 and a right handed helical part 22, serve as transverse transport elements and are spaced one after the other from the transfer roller 18.

t The helical parts 21 and 22 start outside the vertical longitudinal central plane of the collecting equipment at a spacing from one another, which is less than the bale width and are arranged so that they transport outwards in their axial direction when driven in the direction of rotation shown by arrow 23. The helical parts 21 and 22 can be manufactured from a roller which is welded with the same spiral pitch spirally on a round bar. In order to increase the addendum circle of the helical parts 21 and 22 at the start of their movement and therefore their lateral movement effect, the rollers 19 and 20 have a larger diameter in the central part. A following transport roller 25 is divided into a left half roller 26 and a right half roller 27. Each half roller 26 and 27 is supported on the base frame 13 so as to be rotatable and is driven by a ground wheel 14 or 15. The wheels 14 and 15 are each suspended on a carrier arm 28 and are pushed by a spiral spindle 29 situated between the base frame 13 and carrier arm 28 with adjustable tension from below against the half rollers 26 and 27. Two connected transport rollers 30 and 31 extend right across the base frame and are arranged to transport only in the longitudinal direction of the equipment, while the last roller 11 is again provided with a left hand helical part 32 and a right hand helical part 33, which meet roughly in the centre of the roller and are arranged to transport from the outside to the inside in the axial direction of the equipment.

All the rollers 11, 18 to 20, 30 and 31 are driven in the same direction 23 and, except for the funnelling roller 11, are driven at the same speed. The drive of the rollers is designed so that the circumferential speed of the first six transport rollers is somewhat greater than the speed of movement of the collecting equipment, while the funnelling roller 11 runs at double the speed. The first three rollers 18 to 20 are driven via the left half 6 roller 26 from the left hand wheel 14, and the last three view the right half roller 27 from. the right hand wheel 15.

The left half roller 26 and the three front transport rollers 18 to 20 project at one end.. Pulley wheels 34 are fixed on the projecting ends, and are connected to each other by a V belt 35. The drive of the other transport rollers and funnelling roller 11 is done in the same way.

The collecting equipment is bounded on both sides by fixed sidewalls 36. Each sidewall 36 is formed by two flat steel bars 37 which are situated above another and extend in the longitudinal direction, and which are supported by vertical front bars 38 and rear bars 39 fixed to longitudinal carriers 40. The rear bars are situated at the corners of the base frame 13 and are connected to one another by a transverse bar 41 at a spacing above the transport rollers, which is greater than the bale height.

Two vertical axles 42 and 43 are situated one on each side of the vertical longitudinal central plane of the collecting equipment and are spaced a small distance from one another, the axles being rotatable in straps 44 at the top and bottom. The straps 44 are welded on the back of transverse carrier 45 and transverse bar 41. Each axle 42 or 43 carriers below the top connection, a horizontal cross arm 46 or 47 respectively on which a guide rail 8 or 9 is fixed and spaced to one side of axle 42 or 43 by about half the height of axle 42 or 43 and at right angles to the respective cross arm. Both guide rails 8 and 9 have their free ends extending in the direction of movement 2 and movable between two stops 48 and 49. In its oblique position 50 shown in Fig. 2, the guide rail 9 forms a funnel-shaped collecting channel, while in a position 51 parallel to the direction of movement as shown in Fig. 3, it is temporarily stopped by means not shown in detail, for depositing the layer of bales. The guide C.

1 t 7 rails 8 and 9 are connected to one another for joint pivoting by a first spring 52, while for resetting the guide rails 8 and 9 to the initial position shown in Fig. 1, a spring 53 is tensioned between the guide rail 8 and a rear bar 39.

Two downward pointing lever arms 54 to 57 are supported on each cross arm 46 and 47 so as to be able to pivot around an upper horizontal axle 58. In their vertical position 59, in which they are locked, they form the bale stops for the collecting channels 5 to 7 and after unlocking, they can be folded out into an unloading position 60 shown in Fig. 4. The base frame 13 is extended on both sides below and above by a cantilever 61 and 62 to the rear. The lower cantilevers 61 mount the funnelling roller 11, while the upper cantilevers 62 mount at their rear ends a rotating bar 63 on which bars 64 pointing downwards are welded. The bar 63 with bars 64 forms the alignment element 12 and is held by a tension spring 65 in the basic position on stop 66 shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The collecting equipment takes up a position according to Fig. 2 at the start of the operation to form a layer of bales. The first bale 67 is pushed by collecting rollers 18 to 20, 25, 30 and 31 along the oblique guide rail 9 in the collecting channel 7 until it comes up against the stopped lever arm 57 where it is held. When the second bale 68 comes to the first one 67, a stop of the guide rail 9 is released. The guide rail 9 now pivots due to the pressure from the bales 67 and 68 pushed by the rollers on to lever arm 57 which, due to the transverse transport helical parts 22, pivots about the axle 43 to take up its position 51 parallel to the direction of movement 2, in which the bales 67 and 68 touch the sidewall 36. Simultaneously the guide rail 8 is pulled via the spring 52 against the pull of the spring 53 into an oblique position against the stop 49. The following two bales 69 and 70 are taken into the collecting channel 8 in the same 8 way as the bales 67 and 68. When the guide rail 8 is pivoted back into the position parallel to the direction of movement 2, the guide rail 9 remains in its parallel position 51 due to bale pressure on lever arm 57. The last two bales 71 and 72 are now pushed into the central collecting channel 6. The last bale 72 releases the stops of all lever arms 54 to 57, which now pivot into the unloading position shown in Fig. 4. The bales now slide downwards over the funnelling roller 11 and are pulled inwards from both sides so that there are no gaps between the bales. The fronts of the bales hit the bars 64, which move to the position 73 shown in Fig. 4 against the force of the spring 65. The bales of material are aligned on the front. Due to the fact that the circumferential speed of the transport rollers is equal to the speed of movement but in the opposite direction, the layer of bales will lie on the ground practically without any horizontal relative movement, which gives a good shape to the layer. All the elements then return to the position shown in Fig. 1 so that a new layer of bales can be formed.

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Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A mobile collecting equipment for bales of agricultural stalky

materials supplied by a baling press, wherein the equipment comprises a substantially horizontal collecting floor which consists of bale transport rollers arranged transverse to the intended direction of movement and means for driving at least some of the rollers, the rollers being arranged to transport the bales of material pushed on to the floor from a baling press into rows arranged next to one another in one layer, by means of transverse transport elements, the layer of bales being thereafter deposited on the ground.
2. A mobile collect':ng equipment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each transverse transport element is a pivoted guide rail which is movable about a vertical axle and which can be set at an angle to the intended direction of movement.
3. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one of the bale transport rollers is a transverse transport element in the form of a transverse transport helix which is arranged to transport a bale in the transverse direction, if it should be stopped in the longitudinal direction.
4. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein that a bale stop is provided at the output end of the collecting equipment.
5. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the bale stop is a lever arm mounted to pivot about an upper axle transverse to the intended direction of movement, from a substantially vertical stopped bale stop position into a substantially horizontal unloading position for depositing the bales on the ground.
6. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claims 2 and 5, wherein the guide rail and the lever arm made as a bale stop can be jointly pivoted about said vertical axle and a bale acting on the lever arm at a distance from the axle promotes transverse transport of the bale due to the transverse transport helix via a torque on the guide rail.
7. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 2 or any one of claims 3 to 6 when appended to Claim 2, wherein two guide rails are situated between two fixed side walls to form three collecting channels, and can be pivoted from a position oblique to the direction of movement to a position parallel to the direction of movement.
8. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the guide rails are connected to one another by springs and a further spring is provided for automatically pulling the guide rails out of their initial position.
9. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 3, or any one of Claims 4 to 8, when appended to Claim 3, wherein the transverse transport helixes each consist of a roller on which an iron rod is welded spirally with the same spiral pitch.
10. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the enveloping circle of the transverse transport helixes is greater at the start of its transport region than in the subsequent region.
11. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein the bale transport rollers are made as double transverse transport helixes with a left hand and a right hand helix part which are arranged to transport bales outwards in the axial direction of the rollers.
12. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one z Z! 11 1 of Claims 1 to 11, wherein at least one bale transport roller is drivable from ground wheels of the collecting equipment through a friction wheel gearing.
13. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transport roller driven by the ground wheels is divided into two parts each separately driven by a respective ground wheel.
14. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one pf Claims 1 to 13, wherein the circumferential speed of the bale transport rollers is equal to or greater than the speed of movement of the collecting equipment when the latter is in motion.
15. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in Claim 4 or any one of Claims 5 to 14 when appended to Claim 4, wherein one of said transport rollers is a funnelling roller extending over the width of the collecting equipment after the bale stop, and having a left hand and a right hand helix part which come together or overlap at about the centre of the roller and which are arranged so that both of them transport in the axial direction of the roller from the outside to the inside.
16. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in claim 15, wherein the funnelling roller is arranged to run in the same direction of rotation as the other transport rollers but at twice the speed thereof.
17. A Inobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 16 wherein a suspended alignment element is situated at the rear of the collecting equipment, and extends transversely to the intended direction of movement and nearly over the whole width of the collecting equipment, the element serving to align the ends of the bales before the layer of bales is deposited on the ground.

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18. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in claim 17, wherein the alignment element can move away against the force of a spring in a direction opposed to the intended direction of movement of the equipment.
19. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 18, wherein an indication device is provided for the length of the layer of bales.
20. A mobile collecting equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 19, wherein the movements for collecting and depositing are controlled by well-known means, including catches which can be locked and unlocked, which work depending on the position of the bales, the opening movement of the bale stops of all collecting channels being controlled by the last bale handled.
21. A mobile collecting equipment for bales of agricultural stalky material supplied by a baling press substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Published 1989atThePatent Office. StaleHouse.66'71 Hlg, HolboT..LordrWCIR4TP-nL-ther copies znky be obtamedfrom The Patent Office. Sales Branch. St Mary Cray. OrPlngLon. Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Mu]L'Plex techniques ltd, St Marv Cray. Kent. Cor_ 1,187 z, 1