Baling apparatus and method

A baling apparatus comprising

• a frame adapted to be coupled with motive means for moving said frame along a field surface laden with crop material to be baled, said frame having a front end and a rear end for ejecting square bales of the crop, material from said frame;
• a baling chamber carried on said frame between said front end and said rear end and having a floor extending horizontally along said frame and spaced vertical side walls extending from said floor, said bailing chamber having an inlet for receiving the crop material to be baled;
• a pickup unit coupled with said frame for picking up crop material to be baled from the field and delivering the crop to be baled to the baling chamber via said inlet;
• a stationary knife disposed in said baling chamber and extending vertically from said floor in a plane parallel with said vertical side walls;
• a plunger movable rearwardly within said baling chamber from a position forward of said inlet to compress the crop material to be baled and move the compressed crop material rearwardly toward said rear end of said frame, said plunger pushing the compressed crop material against and past said knife to be center split and form first and second square bales of the crop material;
• and
• an ejection chute structure disposed at said rear end of said frame at a position to simultaneously receive said first and second bales from said baling chamber, said ejection chute structure ejecting said first and second bales in spaced relation to each other as said frame is moved along the field whereby said first and second bales are ejected at staggered times to be in longitudinally spaced relation to each other, said ejection chute structure including first and second slideways extending from said rear end of said frame downwardly toward the field surface, said first slideway having a sliding surface receiving said first bale from said baling chamber and said second slideway having a sliding surface receiving said second bale from said baling chamber for ejection of said second bale after said first bale is ejected.

A method of mechanically baling crop material in a field comprising the steps of

• moving a frame on a longitudinal path along the field;
• picking up the crop material and delivering the picked-up crop material to a pick-up chamber carried by the frame to create preformed flakes;
• forcing the preformed flakes into a baling chamber in a space between a plunger and a stationary splitting knife disposed in the baling chamber;
• moving the plunger toward the splitting knife to push the preformed flakes against and past the splitting knife to center split the flakes and simultaneously form stacks of flakes on opposing sides of the splitting knife;
• tying the stacks of flakes to simultaneously form first and second square bales of the crop material in the baling chamber;
• discharging the first and second bales simultaneously from the baling chamber;
• and
• ejecting the simultaneously discharged first and second bales in longitudinally spaced relation to each other via an ejection chute structure as the frame is moved along the field to form the first and second bales in a longitudinal line, wherein said first and second bales are ejected at staggered times to be in longitudinally spaced relation to each other by delaying one of said first bale or second bale.

A bailing apparatus comprising

• a frame having a front end adapted to be coupled with motive means for moving the frame along a field surface laden with crop material to be baled and a rear end for ejecting bales of the crop material from the frame;
• a baling chamber carried on said frame between said front end and said rear end and having a floor extending horizontally along said frame and spaced vertical side malls extending from said floor, said baling chamber having an inlet for receiving the crop materiel to be baled;
• a pickup unit coupled with said frame for picking up crop material to be baled from the field and delivering the crop material to be baled to the baling chamber via said inlet;
• a plurality of stationary splitting knives disposed in said baling chamber and extending vertically from said floor in spaced planes parallel with said vertical side walls, said splitting knives each having a leading cutting edge and angled cutting edges tapering to said leading cutting edge, said splitting knives defining baling spaces between said splitting knives and between said splitting knives and said baling chamber side walls;
• a plunger movable rearwardly within said baling chamber from a position forward of said inlet to compress the crop material to be baled and move the compressed crop material rearwardly toward said rear end of said frame, said plunger pushing the compressed crop material against and past said plurality of splitting knives to be split and form bales of the crop material in said baling spaces;
• and
• an ejection chute structure disposed at said rear end of said frame at a position to simultaneously receive said bales from said baling spaces and said ejection chute structure including a structure configured to separate said bales from each other by laterally moving one of said bales away from an adjacent bale prior to ejection of said separated bale from the ejection chute structure.