Clutch system for twin baler
OwnerWallace WOODinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clutch system for use with an agricultural baler to create a single hay bale that is easily separable into two or more smaller, lighter bales that remain tied after separation is provided herein. The clutch system controls the center knotter of a three-tie baler to be activated every other time the other two knotters are activated to tie two 2′×2′ bales into a single 2′×4′ bale. The two 2′×2′ bales are individually tied so that if a user separates the 2′×′4 bale, the smaller bales remain intact.
Claims3
A drive system for controlling a center knotter of a baler, the system comprising:
- a) An alternating relay capable of being triggered by a trigger switch which is keyed to motion of a baler electrically and where the alternating relay is connected to
- b) A linear actuator which drives a taper tooth gear between a drive position and a braked position, where the drive position occurs when drive teeth of the taper tooth gear are engaged with a drive sprocket and braked position occurs when break teeth of the taper tooth gear are engaged with a brake sprocket;
- c) A countershaft on which are mounted the brake sprocket, the drive sprocket, and a center knotter sprocket, where the center knotter sprocket is capable of engaging a center knotter of a baler;
- d) Where the alternating relay is capable of being triggered by a trigger switch which is keyed to motion of the baler.
An agricultural baler, comprising:
- a) A drive system for controlling a center knotter of the baler, including:
- b) An alternating relay triggered by movement of a needle of the center knotter or an outside knotter where such trigger drives a linear actuator to alternately engage a drive sprocket and a brake sprocket;
- c) The drive sprocket capable of driving a countershaft on which is mounted a center knotter sprocket, which center knotter sprocket carries a center knotter chain for driving a center knotter;
- and
- d) The brake sprocket capable of preventing rotation of the countershaft.
A method of creating double-sized bales from two single-sized bales, the method comprising engaging a three-tie knotter shaft with a center knotter to a countershaft capable of driving the center knotter on every-other rotation of the knotter shaft, where the countershaft rotates by engagement of a drive sprocket and brakes by engagement of a brake sprocket, and, when the countershaft rotates, a center knotter sprocket affixed thereto synchronously rotates to engage a center knotter.
- 10
- Clutch system
- 11
- Center knotter
- 12
- Knotter shaft
- 20
- Countershaft
- 21
- Blocks
- 22
- Center knot sprocket
- 23
- Collar
- 24
- Drive sprocket
- 25
- Brake sprocket
- 26
- Taper tooth gear
- 27
- Sprocket position
- 28
- Brake position
- 29
- Pivot fork
- 30
- Linear actuator
- 31
- Motor
- 80
- Limit switch
- 81
- Alternating relay
- 82
- Forward relay
- 83
- Reverse relay
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.