WO2006004514A1

WO2006004514A1 - A method and device for pressing animal fodder into a bale

Info

Publication number: WO2006004514A1
Application number: PCT/SE2005/001043
Authority: WO
Inventors: Staffan Söderberg
Original assignee: Soederberg Staffan
Priority date: 2004-07-02
Filing date: 2005-06-30
Publication date: 2006-01-12
Also published as: SE0401740L; SE527659C2; SE0401740D0

Abstract

At the pressing of animal fodder into a bale (1A, 1B, 1C, ...), which in conjunction with the pressing is provided with packaging film (10), applied generally transverse to an advancing direction at the pressing, the bale is divided into sub-bales within the packaging film (10).

Description

A METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PRESSING ANIMAL FODDER INTO A BALE

Technical Field The present invention relates to a method at the pressing of animal fodder into a bale, which in conjunction with the pressing is provided with packaging film,, applied, generally transverse to an advancing direction at the pressing. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out this method.

Background of the Invention

It has become customary to package animal fodder or silage harvested in the field in bales normally wrapped in plastic film, in most cases of the stretch type. Such bales can be of a generally cylindrical type or a generally parallelepipedical type. The present invention is shown and described as being applied to the latter type, but may equally well be used for the former type.

The normal procedure is to press and at least partially wrap the bale in a mobile bale press, possibly coupled to a tractor, sometimes followed by a separate final wrapping. The procedure may alternatively be stationary. The bale is then stored until use in an animal farm. The silaging occurs in the bale, which has to be as tight as possible against the intrusion of oxygen.

For practical and economical reasons it is preferred to make the bales as big as possible (whereby also the most effective silaging is obtained) , but such bales may be difficult to handle in the animal shed or stable and the fodder consumption in a specific part of the shed or stable may be too low to motivate the use of a big bale. The problem to be solved by the invention is thus to maintain the advantages of the present big bales and to add the advantages of smaller bale entities with regard to ease of handling and possibly successive consumption in the shed or stable. The Invention

This is according to the invention attained in that the bale is divided into sub-bales within the packaging film. As a first alternative the bale is longitudinally cut into sub_τbales in the press.

As a second alternative sub-bales are consecutively formed after one another in the press. These sub-bales can be wrapped with plastic film or not in conjunction with the pressing and prior to the provision of the packaging film for forming the bale.

A bale can thus divided by one or more knives in the bale channel of the press, and a stretch film is applied under tension transverse to the longitudinal direction or advancing direction of the bale in successive turns at the advancement of the bales out of its bale channel and onto a following bale slide. As appears above, two or more smaller, wrapped or unwrapped bales from a smaller press can also be held together to a larger bale in this way. The following advantages are hereby attained: a) A cost-effective bale consisting of two or more sub-bales is obtained. b) The, stretch film keeps the different sub-bales together. c) The transverse stretch film has initiated the desired tight enclosure for silaging. d) The transverse film facilitates the separate, final enclosure by plastic film. e) The edges of the bale become less "sharp". f) Projecting straws will be bent down before the final enclosure by plastic film, which assists in providing a faster and tighter enclosure, g) The immediate enclosure is advantageous for the silaging process. h) The stretch film will be torn off between the bales by the arrangement of the bale slide, i) By suitable design of the bale slide and the location and variation of layers of plastic film along the bales, the tearing-off process may be controlled to occur between each second or third bale. It is thus possible to obtain a bale containing 2, 4, 6, .. sub-bales with one knife. With two knives, 3, 6, 9, .. sub-bales can be obtained.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described in more detail below under reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Pig 1 is a very schematical side view, partly in section, of a bale press device according to the invention, Fig 2 is a similar end view of this device, and Fig 3 is a view corresponding to Fig 1 of a modified embodiment. Description of Practical Embodiments A bale press device illustrated in Figs 1 and 2 is intended for pressing generally parallelepipedical bales

IA, IB, 1C, ... of animal fodder or silage, but the method and device according to the invention is equally applicable for generally cylindrical bales.

A bale channel 2, preferably of metal material, has a rectangular cross section and is arranged in a chassis (not shown) . This chassis may be wheeled and connectable to a tractor. As a non-limiting example, the cross-sectional dimensions of the channel 2 may be 80 x 90 cm. The bale channel 2 may as suggested be downwardly inclined from an entrance end to the right in Fig 1 to an outlet end to the left.

A piston 3 with an external shape corresponding to the internal shape of the bale channel is arranged for reciprocal movements in the entrance end of the bale channel 2 to the right in the drawing. The reciprocal movements may for example be accomplished by a crank mechanism 4, as is well known to any person skilled in the art. The driving force for this mechanism may for example be derived from the usual power outlet of the tractor. Animal fodder material to be pressed into bales IA, IB, 1C, ... is fed into the bale channel 2 in front of the piston 3 (in a retracted position) in a conventional, not illustrated way. For keeping the material together and defining a certain bale length (for example 1.5 m) longitudinal stitches may be accomplished in the fodder material .

A transverse knife 5 is permanently attached in the vicinity of the entrance end of the bale channel 2. The knife 5 may have a bow-shaped and undulated cutting edge to the right in Fig 1 in order to improve its cutting performance. In the case illustrated in Fig 1 the knife is vertically arranged, but it could have a different orientation. The pressed bales IA, IB, 1C, ... advancing within and out from the bale channel 2 under the action of the piston 3 will accordingly be longitudinally cut into two portions or sub-bales, as is also illustrated in Fig 2.

A rotatable packaging film ring 6 is arranged at the outlet end of the bale channel 2. It may be carried and rotated by two drive rollers 7 (for example hydraulically powered) and guided by a guide roller 8.

A roll or magasine 9 of packaging plastic film 10 may be carried by the ring 6 via a bracket 11. The plastic film 10 is preferably of stretch-type, and the film magazine 10 is in that case provided with brake and stretch rollers 12 and 13 in a tensioning assembly.

The members 6-13 can together be defined as a wrapping assembly.

By rotating the ring 6, packaging film 10 may be overlappingly laid in a tensioned state around the bales IA, IB, 1C, ... advancing out of the bale channel 2. Bales 1C may continue - after having been wrapped - on a bale slide 14, which may be provided with movement enhancing rollers or not.

Wrapped bales 1C can be severed or separated by gravity from the row of bales leaving the bale slide 14, and the stretch film will herewith break between the bales. The severed bales 1C will then separately be provided with a final wrapping of packaging film in a way known in the art and not described here. A modified knife arrangement is illustrated in Fig 3, where the bale press device in all other respects is the same as has been shown in Figs 1 and 2 and has been described above. Here, a transverse knife 5A is permanently attached in the bale channel 2. The knife 5A is forwardly inclined, so that the fodder material reaches its lower end first, which provides advantages with regard to the cutting action. However, there is a tendency for fodder material to be stuck in an uncut condition against the ceiling at the upper end of the knife 5A. This problem may be solved by providing an auxiliary knife 5B at the upper portion or at the ceiling of the bale channel 2. The edge of this auxiliary knife 5B is preferably backwardly inclined, as is shown in Fig 3.

Other modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims. One such modification is to provide the bale channel 2 with several parallel knives 5 or 5A in order to divide the bale 1 into several portions or sub- bales.

Claims

1. A method at the pressing of animal fodder into a bale (IA, IB, 1C, ...) , which in conjunction with the pressing is provided with packaging film (10) , applied generally transverse to an advancing direction at the pressing, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bale (IA, IB, 1C, ...) is divided into sub-bales within the packaging film (10) .

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the bale (IA, IB, 1C, ...) is longitudinally cut into sub-bales in the press .

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein sub-bales are consecutively formed after one another in the press.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the sub- bales are wrapped with plastic film or not prior to the provision of the packaging film (10) for forming the bale.

5. A device for pressing animal fodder into bales (IA, IB, 1C, ...) and for providing the bales in conjunction with the pressing with packaging film (10) generally transverse to an advancing direction at the pressing, wherein a bale channel (2) for the pressing and a wrapping assembly (6-13) at an outlet end thereof are provided, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by at least one knife (5; 5A) permanently attached in the bale channel (2) .

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein the knife (5; 5A) is vertically arranged in the bale channel (2) .

7. A device according to claim 5, wherein the knife (5) is bow-shaped in the direction against the advancing direction of the animal fodder.

8. A device according to claim 5, wherein the knife (5A) is forwardly inclined.

9. A device according to claim 8, wherein an auxiliary knife (5B) is arranged at the forward end of the knife (5A) .

10. A device according to claim 5, wherein a rotatable ring (6) with a magazine (9) for packaging film (10) is arranged at the outlet end of the bale channel (2) .

11. A device according to claim 10, wherein the ring (6) is rotatably driven by drive rollers (7) and is further guided by a guide roller (8) .

12. A device according to claim 10, wherein brake and stretch rollers (12, 13) for the packaging film (10) are arranged in the vicinity of the film magazine (9) .