US2736078A

US2736078A - Cotton bale tie means

Info

Publication number: US2736078A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1956-02-28
Anticipated expiration: 1973-02-28

Description

Feb. 28, 1956 H. M. DONALDSON ETAL 2,736,078

COTTON BALE TIE MEANS Filed June 22, 1954 I N V EN TORS.

HARP/5 M DONALDSO/V W/LL/AM D. HEBERN A TTORNEVS United States PatentO 2,736,078 COTTON BALE TIE MEANS Harris M.-Dnaldson, San Mateo, and William D. Hebern, Kerman, Calif.

Application June 22, 1954, Serial No, 438,555. 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-"-22)' This invention relates to the tying or strapping of cotton bales for shipment, and more particularly to animproved arrangement of metal strap and buckle enabling quickand efiicient tying of a bale.

It is conventional in the art to which this invention appertains to employ cotton bale tie means comprisinga metal strap and a slotted metal buckle." Thebucklecarrying end of the strap is conventionally secured-to the buckle by passing the strap over a portion of the buckle, through the slot, and by then reversely bending the strap beneath itself. The portion. of the buckle .disposed at the other side of the slot is conventionally provided with a throat type opening or entrancewaythrough which, the

other end of the strap is twistinglyintroduced into the slot. The buckle of the present invention eliminates the need for such an entranceway to the slot, and in fact,: by way of'a novel positioning of the slot with-respect to theend edges 'of the buckle enables a readier :and mow-efficient tying of a bale than is the case with buckles:ofthe-described conventional type.

An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a cotton bale tie bucklelof sucharrangement that the end of the metal strap last to be engaged with the buckle may be introduced into and-through the slo't' of the buckle by a simple endwise and straight forward threading movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cotton bale tie consisting of a metal strap and a metal buckle, with the buckle being provided with a slot so positioned between the forward and trailing ends of the buckle as to provide an improved and more efficient biting or clamping action, on one of the strap ends, whereby the strap will not slip with respect to the buckle when the cotton bale is released from its condition of compression in the baling apparatus.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawing forming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged detail view in perspective of the buckle and strap combination of the invention;

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of the buckle alone, showing the same in the same position as it is shown in Figure 1; and

Figures 3-5 are perspective views showing sequentially the mode of attachment of the buckle and strap combination to a bale of cotton.

With reference to the drawing, the buckle, indicated generally at 10, is, for the sake of simplicity of manu facture, preferably rectangular in outline, being provided intermediate its leading and trailing or front and rear edges 12 and 14 with a rectangular slot 16, the side walls of which are disposed normal to the upper and

lower surfaces

18 and 20 of the buckle. The slot 16 is disposed materially closer to the leading or front edge 12 than to the trailing or rear edge 14 of the buckle for a purpose hereinafter described.

The buckle 10 and metal strap 22 are connected to- 2,736,078 Patented Feb. 28, 1956 ice gether by passing the free end 24 of the strap over the buckle, through slot-16 and by bending a substantial length of the fre'eend 24 back beneath the strap proper. The buckle and strap combination is then in condition to be employed in the bale tying operation now to be described.

As is well known, a bale of cotton 26 is maintained under compression in the baling apparatus until it has been tied.- The strap and buckle combination is initially disposed around the bale semi-tightly in the position shown in Figure '3. As shown a substantial length of the strap end 24 extends around a corner of the bale 26. The buckle is then rocked-outwardly and downwardly to the position shown in Figure 4, with the lower edge28 of the leading end 12 of the buckle in engagement with the bale and constituting, in effect, a fulcrum line. The free end 30 1 of the strap is then threaded flatly and forwardly through the slot 16 and into underlying relation with the doubled back end 24 of the strap. The strap is placed undersufiicient tension in the preliminary tensioning of it, as illustrated in Figure 4, to cause the free end of the strap to be held in position by the conjoint frictional engagement between the free end of the strap, the underlying bale'and the overlying strap portion and also by the force couple applied to the free end of the strap by the-

edges

33 and 32 of the slot. The longer dimension is but slightly greater than the width of the strap so that the slot serves to maintain the ends of the strap in aligned overlapping relation when the bale is tied. The shorter dimension of the slot is such that with the buckle in the canted position of Figure 4 the free end 30 of the strap may be readily passed through the slot with substantially minimum clearance.

Whenall of the buckle and strap ties for the bale have been placed in the manner shown in Figure 4, the bale is released from its condition of compression inthe baling apparatus, with the result that the expanding bale will cause the buckle to pivot about the fulcrumed forward end 12 and to be snapped downwardly to the position of Figure 5 where it is disposed in parallel with the adjacent surface of the bale. In the process of being moved to the Figure 5 position, the buckle, by way of the biting diagonally positioned

slot edges

33 and 32, imparts the double crimp 34 to the free end portion 30 of the strap, said double crimp being effective to securely lock the strap in place on the bale against any slippage.

We have found that the holding action of the subject bale tie means is considerably enhanced when the slot 16 is disposed materially closer to the forward end 12 of the buckle than to the rearward end 14. In fact, the tie means will not hold against slipping if the slot 16 is, for example, disposed centrally between the buckle ends 12 and 14 under modern day high compression baling conditions. It will therefore be appreciated that the positioning of the slot 16 in the manner described is an important factor in the subject invention.

The buckle 10 should of course be materially thicker than the metal strap 22 in order to provide an efiicient strap lock by means of the double crimp 34. In practice, we have found that a buckle thickness of approximately 55 of an inch is satisfactory for this purpose. The thickness of the metal strap conventionally used for cotton baling purposes is approximately & of an inch.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a cotton bale maintained under compression, and tie means disposed therearound comprising a fiat wholly planar rigid buckle of substantial thickness and rectangular in outline having forward and rearward ends disposed in parallel, an elongated rectangular slot formed in said buckle and defined in part by elongated side walls, which are parallel to each other and normal to the upper and lower surfaces, forming opposed upper and lower biting edges on the longer dimension of said slot, said slot being disposed in parallel relation with said ends and in substantially closer relation to said for ward end than to said rearward end, a relatively thin bendable tie strap having one end thereof extending over the buckle portion defined between the slot and rearward end, through said slot, and reversely beneath said buckle portion and a substantial length of said strap extending around a corner of the bale, said buckle being positioned along one side of the bale and being canted with its for ward end fulcrumed on the bale, the tie strap being extended around the bale with its other end passing through the slot on the canted buckle and underlying the reverse portion of the other end of the strap that extends around a corner of the bale, the longer dimension of said slot being slightly greater than the width of the strap, and the shorter dimension of said slot being such that with the buckle in said canted position, said other end of the strap may be readily passed through said slot with substantially minimum clearance, whereby upon the bale being released from compression the first mentioned end of said strap will cause said buckle to pivot about the fulcrumed forward end thereof and snap the same flat against the side of the bale, and whereby the lower biting edge of said elongated slot disposed toward the rear end of the buckle and the diagonally positioned upper biting edge of said slot disposed toward the forward end of the buckle will crimp the other strap end last passed through the slot to 1 prevent slippage.

2. In combination, a cotton bale maintained under compression, and tie means disposed therearound, said means comprising a fiat sided wholly planar rectangular metal buckle of substantial thickness having obverse and reverse faces and forward and rearward ends, an elongated rectangular slot formed in said buckle extending in parallel relation with said ends and disposed closer to said forward end than to said rearward end, a relatively thin metal strap having one end thereof extending over 6 that portion of said obverse face disposed between said rearward end and said slot, through said slot, and reversely beneath that portion of said reverse face disposed between said slot and said rearward end and beneath a substantial portion of said strap that is extended around a corner of the bale, said strap extending around the bale with its other end extended over that portion of said obverse face of the buckle disposed between the forward end of said buckle and said slot, through said slot, and beneath that portion of the reverse face disposed between said slot and the rearward end of the buckle and beneath a substantial portion of the other end of the strap that extends around a corner of the bale, said buckle being positioned along one side of the bale and being canted with its forward end being fulcrumed on the bale, the longer dimension of said slot being slightly greater than the width of the strap, and the shorter dimension of said slot being such that with the buckle in said canted position, said other end of said strap may be readily passed through said slot with substantially minimum clearance, whereby upon the bale being released from compression the first mentioned end of the strap will cause said buckle to pivot about the fulcrumed forward end thereof and snap the same fiat against the side of the bale, and whereby that portion of the longer dimension slot edge adjacent the forward end and obversely faced end of the buckle and the longer dimension slot edge disposed adjacent the rearward end and reversely faced end of the buckle will crimp the adjacent portions of the end of the strap last passed through the slot to prevent slippage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 31, 1951