Method and apparatus for producing bales

A method of producing bales of loose compressible material such as tobacco, the steps comprising, compressing the material in a compression chamber, conveying individual upper and lower packing members for each bale having generally planar inside surfaces along upper and lower spaced generally horizontal and parallel paths to a compressed material receiving station, pushing the compressed material out of the chamber and directly to and between said opposed packing members and into direct engagement therewith at said receiving station, holding said members stationary and supporting them against movement away from each other under the pressure of the compressed material engaging the packing members, conveying the packing members with the compressed material therebetween to a strapping station while maintaining the support of the packing members to prevent movement away from each other, and strapping the packing members with the material therebetween to a predetermined tension to form a bale, and wherein the compressed material with the packing members moves to the strapping station generally at right angles to the direction of movement of the material when it leaves the compression chamber and enters between the packing members, and wherein there is further included the step of containing the opposite sides of the material as it moves to the strapping station, and wherein there is further included the step of packing the material against a stop after leaving the compression chamber and arriving between the packing members.

Apparatus for producing bales of compressible material such as tobacco, comprising in combination, a compression chamber including opposite side walls and opposite vertically movable doors forming end walls, a vertically movable plunger including a pressing head for packing in said compression chamber loose compressible material into a cake, an ejector head movable generally in a horizontal plane through said compression chamber when the doors are raised for ejecting a cake of compressed material from one end of the compression chamber, conveyor means for conveying individual upper and lower packing members for each bale having a generally planar inside surfaces along upper and lower spaced generally horizontal and parallel paths to a first station in line with and adjacent to said compression chamber means for holding upper and lower board-like packing members at said first station for receiving said cake in contacting engagement with and in between said members directly from said one end of the compression chamber when ejected by said ejector head, stop means at said first station for engaging and defining the position of the cake between said packing members at said first station, said conveyor means comprises means for moving said packing members with a cake therebetween towards a strapping station along a second generally horizontal path extending generally at right angles to the path of movement of said ejector head, means for constraining the packing members against movement under the pressure of the cake during movement towards the strapping station, and means positioned on opposite sides of said path for constraining the cake during movement towards the strapping station.