Machine for forming round bales

In a machine for forming round hay bales by rolling a hay mass along ground covered with loose hay:

• an open bottom housing including an endgate swingable between a position closing the rear of the housing for bale formation and a position opening the rear of the housing for finished bale discharge;
• a pair of ground wheels on opposite sides of the housing adapting the same for advancement over the loose hay;
• mechanism within said housing for forming a round bale as the housing passes over loose hay and the latter is picked up from the ground;
• power means between said ground wheels and the housing for raising and lowering the latter relative to the ground wheels to vary the height of said mechanism;
• and
• apparatus operably coupled with said endgate and responsive to raising the housing more than a predetermined amount to swing said endgate to said opening position.

In a machine for forming round bales by rolling a hay mass over ground covered with loose hay:

• a mobile, open bottom housing;
• mechanism at the rear of the housing for picking up loose hay through said open bottom as the housing passes over the hay;
• an upwardly concave, rear forming element extending forwardly from said mechanism adjacent the bottom of the housing;
• and
• an upwardly concave, front forming element extending rearwardly toward said mechanism adjacent the bottom of the housing and in overlapping relationship with said rear element for cooperating with the latter to define an expandable, arcuately topped forming chamber ahead of said mechanism and above said open bottom,
• said elements being oppositely swingable under resistance about front and rear transverse axes as a mass of hay is rolled into a larger bale within said chamber, and said axis of the front element being shiftable forwardly during said rolling action to expand the chamber fore-and-aft as well as vertically as the bale grows in size.

In a mobile round bale forming machine having a baling chamber:

• a rotary member carried in a position normally adjacent the ground and having an arcuate periphery;
• an elongated, flexible element looped around said member and movable lengthwise during rotation of the member,
• said element having a bale-engaging stretch extending across said chamber in disposition for engaging a bale forming in the chamber;
• and
• a series of elongated crop lifting devices mounted on said element with their longitudinal axes extending at least substantially parallel to that of the element,
• said devices being mounted to remain in said parallel relationship along said bale-engaging stretch but swing outwardly from said relationship as they move around said periphery of the member with the element.