US2469580A - Rotary baler - Google Patents

Description

C. J. SCRANTON May 10, 1949.

ROTARY BALER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 8, 1944 May 10, 1949. c. J. SCRANTON ROTARY BALER 2 Sheets-Sheet 72 Filed March 8, 1944 Patented May 10, 1949 ROTARY BALER' Charles J. Scranton, La Porte, Ind., assignor to Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis. a corporation of Delaware Application March 8, 1944, Serial No. 525,482

v 4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to machines embodying apparatus for compressing and/or otherwise treating fibrous material delivered thereto and its primary object is to provide such, machines with an improved fibrous material conveying and/or feeding means which is operative to effect gravitational separation and disposal of foreign material carried along with the fibrous material being delivered to the machine and which is of particular advantage in connection with machines employed for picking up and treating such fibrous materials as grass, vines, leaves and the like containing foreign material such as stones, pieces of metal and glass.

Another object of this invention is to provide machines of the type hereinabove specified'with anovel correlation of elements affording a simplified, durable and inexpensive fibrous material conveying and/or feeding means.

The construction and the application of apparatus embodying the invention will become apparent as the disclosure progresses and .particularly points out additional objects, advantages, and correlations of features which are considered of special importance and accordingly the invention may be considered as consisting of the various details of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts as is more fully set forth in the appended claims and in the detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial plan view of a baling machine embodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1 with parts broken away to better show the arrangement of parts.

Referring to the drawings, it is seen that the invention may be applied to a machine embodying a frame structure I on which is operatively mounted a pick-up conveyor 2, and fibrous material treating apparatus comprising upper and lower drive roll assemblies 3 and 4, respectively,

"upper and lower bale forming bands 6 and l which pass over and are driven in opposite directions by the roll portions of assemblies 3 and 4, respectively, and a press roll assembly 8 coacting with assembly 4 to receive and compress the loose mass of fibrous material delivered thereto by conveyor 2 into a flat mat which is then acted upon by the bands 6 and l and rolled into a. compact cylindrical bale as disclosed in U. F. Luebben's rotary baler patents, U. S. 2,096,990 and 2,336,491, issued October 26, 1937, and December 14, 1943, respectively; it being understood i'orpurposes of this disclosure that the parts of the fibrous material treating apparatus thus far identified are to be considered as constructed and functionally correlated with each other and with additional parts as shown and described in said Luebbens patents and that if more detailed information is desired concerning the construction, correlation and operation of such parts,

reference may be had to the disclosures of said patents. A plurality of bands may be substituted for the, individual bands 6 and I shown in Fig. 2 in the manner shown and described in Luebben Batent No. 2,096,990.

Lower ,drive roll assembly 4 and press roll assembly 8 are normally rotating, being driven in any suitable manner by mechanism (not shown), and the assembly 4 includes oppositely extending roll supporting shaft portions 9 which arein turn rotatably supported in bearings I0 carried by brackets ll secured to the frame structure I. Conveyor 2 comprises a frame structure l2 having opposite sides of its dis-- charge end provided with rearwardly extending rigid brackets or. arms i3 having recessed rear ends supportingly hooked on the bearings l0 and thus retained by locking elements l4 thereby providing in effect a pivotal support for the rear end of conveyor'2. Opposite sides of the rear end portion of the frame l2 are also provided with rearwardly spaced pairs of bearings l6 and i1 rotatably supporting parallel shafts l8. and I9, respectively; shaft l9 being driven from shaft I8 by means of sprockets 2i, 22 and a chain 23 and shaft l8 being in turn driven from a shaft portion 9 by means of sprockets 24, 26 and a chain 21. Shaft I8 is also provided with a pair of laterally spaced intermediate sprockets 28 and 29 for driving parallel endless chain elements 3| and 32 interconnected by longitudinally spaced. transversely extending raddle bars 33.

The upper run of the material moving parts of the conveyor is supported for movement over and along the floor or material supporting surface 34 which is in turn supported by longitudinally and transversely extending bars 36, 31 and 38,

respectively, forming a part of frame structure The forward end of the conveyor is preferably supported in material pick-up. relation to the ground as indicated in Fig. 2 y vertically extending suspension rods 43 which may be attached to the upper portion of the frame structure I (not shown), as illustrated in Luebbens Patent 36,491.

Ihe rear end 39 of conveyor floor 34 is disposed in spaced opposed parallelrelation to the roll portion of lower drive assembly 4, and shaft l9, which is positioned approximately midway between said rear end 39 and roll portion, is provided with a plurality (three in this case) of outwardly extending, circumferentially spaced pocket forming blades or vanes 44 having offset end portions 46 preferably shaped as best shown in Fig. 2. The blades 44 extend parallel to shaft l9 and therefore parallel to the rear end 39 of conveyor floor 34 and to the roll portion of the lower drive assembly. Consequently, the pockets formed by blades 44 extend transversely with respect to the general direction of material movement and parallel to the shaft IS; the blades 44 and therefore the pockets formed thereby being substantially coextensive in length with the effective width of the discharge end of the conveyor and with the roll portion of assembly 4.

In operation, fibrous material picked up by the roll 40 is moved upward along the inclined floor surface 34 of conveyor 2 by the passage of the endless chains and raddle bars thereover and upon leaving the discharge end 39 of floor 34 is engaged and supported by the blades 44 which conduct the material over the pockets formed therebetween and to the coacting roll portions of the press and lower drive roll assemblies which operate to engage, compress and feed material into the machine in a fiat mat for further treatment as hereinbefore indicated. When handling such fibrous material as hay, vines and the like, only the first material discharged from the conveyor is actually engaged and supported by the blades 44 in its passage thereover and as soon as the loose mass of material reaches and passes between the compressing rolls, the pull exerted on the approaching mass of fibrous material by the action of the rolls, assuming a continuous mass is moving up the conveyor 2, lifts the mass out of engagement with the blades 44. Whether or not the pull exerted on the material by action of the compressing rolls will maintain the material out of engagement with the blades 44 is of course dependent upon the difierence in elevation between the discharge end of the conveyor and the compressing rolls and upon the nature and the continuity of the mass of material being handled.

In any event, the passage of a loose mass of material over the pockets formed by the blades 44 permits foreign material contained in said mass to gravitate into the underlying pocket which, due to the rotation of shaft I9, is subsequently positioned to effect a gravitational discharge of the foreign material therefrom. In other words, the normally rotating device comprising shaft l9 and blades 44 interposed between the discharge end of conveyor 2 and the roll portion of lower drive roll assembly 4 and over which the loose mass of material passes in moving from the conveyor to the compressing rolls, provides pockets which extend transversely to the general direction of material movement there? over and which are successively positioned to receive foreign material gravitating from the loose mass of fibrousmaterial passing thereover and to discharge the foreign material from the underside of the device; that is the pockets are successively positioned to receive and gravitationally discharge the foreign material into the passage beneath the device formed by opposed portions of the machine and the conveyor 2 supported thereon. Said device is operative when necessary and does operate on occasion to actually feed the material discharged from the conveyor to the compressing rolls and in addition prevents injury to such rolls or other material receiving and feeding parts of a machine embodying same by effecting gravitational separation and disposal of the foreign material carried along with the loose mass of fibrous material discharged from the conveyor.

The invention is generally applicable to all types of fibrous material treating machines and although the invention is disclosed as applied to a rotary baling machine, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the application, details of construction and exact mode of operation herein shown and described as various modifications within the scope of the appended claims may occur to persons skilled in the art.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a machine embodying apparatus for baling fibrous material delivered thereto, a frame structure operatively mounting means for compressively pulling fibrous material into said ma- .chine comprising a roll having one or more bands travelling over the compressing portion of the roll, a material pick-up and elevating conveyor supported on parts carried by said frame structure and with the discharge end thereof positioned in spaced opposed relation to and below the compressing portion of said roll and with the pick-up end thereof positioned in proximate relation to the ground, a rotatable device also from the fibrous material passing from the discharge end of said conveyor to the compressing portion of said roll, and means for operating said device to move said pockets successively to foreign material receiving and discharging positions.

2. In a machine embodying apparatus for baling fibrous material delivered thereto, a frame structure operatively mounting means for compressively pulling fibrous material into said machine comprising a roll having one or more bands travelling over the compressing portion of the roll, a material pick-up and elevating conveyor including a secondary frame supported on parts carried by said frame structure, said conveyor having its discharge end positioned in spaced relation to and below the compressing portion of said roll and having its pick-up end positioned in proximate relation to the ground, a rotatable device positioned by said secondary frame between the discharge end of said conveyor and said rollv and below the compressing portion of the latter, said device including elements processively to foreign material receiving and discharging positions we 3. In an agricultural machine embodying apparatus for baling fibrous material delivered thereto, a frame structure operatively mounting a pair of opposed material receiving and compressing rolls, a material pick-up and elevating conveyor having a secondary frame carrying a material supporting surface and endless elements interconnected by longitudinally spaced trans versely extending raddle bars supported for movement along said surface to convey material thereover, one or more bands at least partially covering the material receiving and compressing portion of one of said rolls, means including parts carried by said frame structure for mounting said conveyor on said machine with its pick-up end positioned in proximate relation to the ground and with its discharge end positioned in spaced opposed relation to and below the compressing portion of said one of said rolls, a rigidly constructed rotatable device supported on said secondary frame below the compressing portion of said one of said rolls and efiectively bridging th space between the discharge end of said conveyor and the compressing portion of said one of said rolls and including fibrous material supporting and conveying elements arranged to provide pockets which extend transversely with respect to the general direction of material movement and over which the fibrous material passes in moving from said conveyor to said rolls, and means for rotating said device to position said pockets successively for receiving foreign material gravitating from the fibrous material passing thereover and for discharging such foreign material beneath said device.

4. In a machine embodying apparatus for baling fibrous material delivered thereto, a frame 7 structure operatively mounting means for compressively pulling fibrous material into said machine comprising a roll having one or more bands traveling over the compressing portion of the roll, a material pick-up and elevating conveyer supported on parts carried by said frame structure and with the discharg end thereof positioned in spaced opposed relation to and below the compressing portion of said roll and with the pick-up end thereof positioned in proximate relation to the ground, and a rotatable device supported on parts carried by said frame structure and positioned thereby between the discharge end of said conveyer and said roll and \below the compressing portion of the latter, said device including a plurality of blades mounted on a shaft and effectively bridging the space between the discharge end of said conveyer and the compressing portion of said roll, said blades being spaced apart for receiving and discharging foreign material gravitating from the fibrous material passing thereover from the discharge end of said conveyer to the compressing portion of said roll, and presenting peripheral portions operative to move fibrous material from the discharge end of said conveyer to said compressing means.

CHARLES J. SCRANTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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