Agricultural bag loading machine

Apparatus for loading chopped, compacted material into an elongated flexible bag comprising:

• a movably mounted undercarriage;
• a hopper supported on said undercarriage for receiving the material;
• a pair of vertically extending, rotatably driven, counterrotating tine shaft assemblies mounted on said undercarriage adjacent said hopper for receiving material to be chopped from the hopper and chopping material;
• an open ended delivery chamber including opposed walls and mounted on said undercarriage and positioned on the opposite side of said shaft assemblies from said hopper for receiving chopped material from said two shaft assemblies;
• a plurality of adjustable pivot panels mounted in said delivery chamber adjacent a plurality of the walls of said delivery chamber for interdicting progressive transit of chopped material through the delivery chamber and concurrently compacting the chopped material;
• and
• means mounted on said delivery chamber for retaining a folded bag in a position in which a portion of said bag surrounds a part of said delivery chamber, and for dispensing said bag from the folds thereof away from said delivery chamber as feed enters said bag from the open end of said delivery chamber.

An agricultural bag loading machine adapted to continuously compress and progresssively feed chopped vegetable feed material into agricultural bags for uniform density feed material in-field storage, said machine comprising in combination:

• a mobile undercarriage including interconnected horizontal and vertical members;
• a feed material compression and forming chamber mounted on said mobile undercarriage;
• a material feed hopper in said compression and forming chamber;
• an open ended delivery chamber mounted on said undercarriage and adapted to receive chopped material and deliver it through an open end thereof to an elongated flexible agricultural bag carried thereby;
• a plurality of vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts rotatably supported on said undercarriage adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber;
• a plurality of horizontally mounted, vertically spaced tines assembled in an alternating opposing array along each of said vertically disposed shafts adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber and adapted to coactively engage and compressably urge feed material from said hopper into said feed material compression and forming chamber and therefrom through said delivery chamber when said plurality of shafts are counterrotated, each of said tines being provided with an incrementally angled pusher face leading profile comprised of three distinct, progressively receding angular segments;
• means mounted on said delivery chamber for retaining a folded bag in a position in which a portion of said bag surrounds a part of said delivery chamber, and for dispensing said bag from the folds thereof away from said delivery chamber as feed enters said bag from the open end of said delivery chamber;
• and
• a backstop to retainably engage the filled end of the bag as compressed and formed feed material is progressively delivered thereto from said delivery chamber, whereby the mobile undercarriage of said machine is removably displaced therefrom during progressive bag filling.

The method of progressively feeding a chopped, compressed vegetable animal feed material into a flexible, elongated, generally cylindrical agricultural feed bag for subsequent use in in-field animal feeding comprising:

• placing a plurality of radially superimposed accordian pleat folds in radial alignment with the open mouth of the bag;
• forming a feed material delivery chamber so that the chamber has a trapezoidal cross-sectional configuration in a plane extending normal to the direction of movement of chopped compressed feed material therethrough, with the relatively longer parallel side of the trapezoid forming the lower side of the chamber, and the relatively shorter parallel side of the trapezoid forming the upper side of the chamber, and so as to have a pair of horizontally spaced openings on opposite sides of said plane;
• sleeving said bag around the outer side of said chamber so that said folds are located adjacent one of said openings, and concurrently distending the closed end of said bag into a trapezoidal configuration substantially conforming to the cross-sectional configuration of said delivery chamber and at a location spaced horizontally from said delivery chamber and the other of said delivery chamber openings;
• continuously feeding chopped compressed animal feed material in a formed shape of rectangular transverse cross-sectional configuration through said one opening at a location within said delivery chamber in which the rectangular cross-sectioned feed material is located nearer to the relatively shorter upper parallel side of the trapezoid of the chambers trapezoidal crosssection than to the relatively longer lower parallel side of the trapezoid;
• and
• continuously controllably braking the relative movement of the distended closed end of said bag horizontally away from said chamber during said continuous feeding, and while paying the bag out from said accordian pleat folds.

An agricultural bag loading machine adapted to continuously compress and progressively feed chopped animal vegetable feed material into flexible agricultural bags in a formed mass of substantially uniform density for storage in the field in the bag, said machine comprising in combination:

• a wheeled vehicular undercarriage having interconnected horizontal and vertical members;
• a feed material compression and forming chamber supported on said undercarriage and interconnected to an infeed hopper at one end thereof and having a hood defining a delivery chamber at the other end thereof;
• a pleat folded bag retaining and dispensing means mounted on said hood and adapted to supportably receive and retain accordian pleats formed adjacent the open end of a flexible agricultural bag when the bag is disposed around the hood for receiving compressed chopped animal vegetable feed material from said delivery chamber;
• horizontally and laterally spaced, vertically disposed shafts assembled upon said interconnected horizontal and vertical members of said undercarriage adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber;
• bearing means assembled upon said interconnected horizontal and vertical members, and rotatably supporting said laterally spaced shafts;
• drive means supported upon said vehicular undercarriage for driving said vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts in counterrotation relative to each other;
• a plurality of horizontally projecting, vertically spaced tines assembled along the length of each of said vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts and positioned adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber, the tines on said shafts being adapted by their positions to cooperate in compressively acting upon said feed material and in urging said feed material from said infeed hopper into said feed material compression and forming chamber, and from said feed material compression and forming chamber through said delivery chamber so as to develop a uniform side wall density in the feed material fed into said bag by the counterrotation of said plurality of vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts, each of said tines having at least three incrementally angled pusher faces extended at acute angles to each other, with each said pusher face, as viewed from the respective tine tip radially inwardly toward the axis of the shaft upon which it is carried, extending at progressively lesser angles to a projected diameter of the respective shaft upon which the respective tine is mounted, whereby the angled pusher faces on the two counterrotating shafts cooperate upon such counterrotation of the shafts to thereby unidirectionally compact and urge feed material from the hopper into and through the feed material forming and compression chambers;
• a displaceable static backstop means for retainably engaging the filled end of a flexible agricultural bag as compressed and formed feed material is progressively delivered into the open end of the bag, whereby the wheeled vehicular undercarriage of said machine is movably displaced away from said static backstop means as the bag becomes progressively filled;
• and
• brake shoe means adapted to be adjustably set to selectively control displacement of said undercarriage during bag filling operations whereby feed material is progressively compressed and progressively formed within said bag.

An agricultural bag loading machine adapted to continuously compress and progressively feed chopped animal vegetable feed material into flexible agricultural bags in a formed mass of substantially uniform density for storage in the field in the bag, said machine comprising, in combination:

• a wheeled vehicular undercarriage having interconnected horizontal and vertical members;
• a feed material compression and forming chamber supported on said undercarriage and interconnected to an infeed hopper at one end thereof and having a hood defining a delivery chamber at the other end thereof;
• a folded bag retaining and dispensing means mounted on said hood and adapted to supportably receive and retain accordian pleats formed adjacent the open end of a flexible agricultural bag when the bag is disposed around the hood for receiving compressed chopped animal vegetable feed material from said delivery chamber, said folded bag retaining and dispensing means comprising:
• a bag feed control bar positioned around and held in place at an outwardly spaced location with respect to said hood;
• and
• a plurality of spaced bar mounting brackets positioning and holding said bag feed control bar in its outwardly spaced position relative to said hood, said bar mounting brackets each having an L-shaped configuration and including:
• a first leg secured to said bag feed control bar, and spaced outwardly from said hood to define a space between the respective first leg and the hood for receiving the folds of a flexible agricultural bag as said folds are inserted in said space;
• and
• a second leg extending normal to said first leg and having one end secured to said hood and the other end secured to said first leg, said control bar being positioned forwardly in the direction of movement of said machine from, and with respect to, the points of attachment of said second legs to said hood, and said control bar defining with said hood an opening into said spaces between said first legs and said hood;
• said mounting brackets being adapted to successively interleaf a plurality of accordian pleated bag folds adjacent the mouth of the bag, and effect the dispensing of the bag from said accordian pleated folds during progressive bag filling operations;
• horizontally and laterally spaced, vertically disposed shafts assembled upon said interconnected horizontal and vertical members of said undercarriage adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber;
• bearing means assembled upon said interconnected horizontal and vertical members, and rotatably supporting said laterally spaced shafts;
• drive means supported upon said vehicular undercarriage for driving said vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts in counterrotation relative to each other;
• a plurality of horizontally projecting, vertically spaced tines assembled along the length of each of said vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts and positioned adjacent said feed material compression and forming chamber, the tines on said shafts being adapted by their positions to cooperate in compressively acting upon said feed material and in urging said feed material from said infeed hopper into said feed material compression and forming chamber, and from said feed material compression and forming chamber through said delivery chamber so as to develop a uniform side wall density in the feed material fed into said bag by the counterrotation of said plurality of vertically disposed, laterally spaced shafts;
• a displaceable static backstop means for retainably engaging the filled end of a flexible agricultural bag as compressed and formed feed material is progressively delivered into the open end of the bag, whereby the wheeled vehicular undercarriage of said machine is moveably displaced away from said static backstop means as the bag becomes progressively filled;
• and
• brake shoe means adapted to be adjustably set to selectively control displacement of said undercarriage during bag filling operations whereby feed material is progressively compressed and progressively formed within said bag.