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US 5,088,271 AGranted
Method of and apparatus for preserving forage in bags
OwnerMark Westawayinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A preserved forage crop, such as grass or lucerne, is cut and allowed to wilt to a given dry matter content, it is then conventionally baled and bales (1) are subsequently compacted in one direction only and sealed into airtight bags (31) before the compacted bale can fully re-expand; preferably the bale (1) is cut longitudinally (z) and each part-bale (8) is compacted longitudinally to produce flat-sided, oblong bagged bales of stackable proportions and forage crop sealed under compaction in the bag and layered in planes (y) or (z) transverse to the longitudinal axis of the bag.
Claims4
An apparatus for bagging forage crop comprising:
- i) a means for conveying a compacted baled crop to a cutting station having:
- (a) a knife for cutting the baled crop along the longitudinal axis of the bale;
- (b) a divider for separating the thus formed part-bales;
- and
- (c) a pair of rails to rotate each part bale through a quarter-turn about the longitudinal axis of the base;
- ii) a vertical bale compactor and a bagger apparatus arranged side by side with a second vertical bale compactor and a bagger apparatus to further process each part-bale individually and simultaneous:
- (a) each vertical bale compactor having:
- (1) an in-feed hopper with hinged side and face plates attached to a pivoted stirrup by cams which are acted upon by a hydraulic ram such that the movement of the in-feed hopper plates is controlled by the hydraulic ram, pivoted stirrups, and cams to open away from one another to form a tapering chute to receive a part-bale and to subsequently close the plates to compress and align a part-bale with the compaction chamber located directly below the in-feed hopper;
- (2) each vertical bale compactor further having a long-stroke hydraulic ram which terminates in a plunger of complementary shape to the compaction chamber, wherein the plunger operates down through the in-feed hopper and acts to further compact the uppermost part-bale against part-bales already in the compaction chamber, and a discharge spout to deliver further compacted part-bales into plastic bags;
- (3) each vertical bale compactor being arranged to permit the insertion of plastic separator sheets between part bales;
- and
- (b) each bagger apparatus having a means for plastic sheeting to be drawn from a roll of plastic sheeting through a forming shoulder to form a plastic tube, the overlapping seam of which is sealed by a vertical sealing bar, further having a horizontal sealing bar for sealing and cutting the sealed plastic tube to form a plastic bag, a sensor to control the downward feed of the plastic bag, and directed pressurized air to inflate the formed plastic bag in order to receive the further compacted part-bale.
9 more elements
A forage crop bagging apparatus comprising:
- (a) a means for receiving a forage crop in a compacted bale of given size;
- (b) a cutter for cutting the bale longitudinally into part-bales arranged substantially level with the top of a compaction chamber having cross-sectional dimensions substantially the same as the transverse dimensions of the part-bales;
- c) a means for carrying the bale past the cutter;
- d) an in-feed hopper at the top of the compaction chamber to receive the part-bales from the cutter and feed the part-bales into the compaction chamber;
- e) a means for carrying the part-bales to the in-feed hopper;
- f) a means for further compacting the part-bales in the longitudinal direction within the compaction chamber;
- g) a bagging apparatus at a longitudinal output of the compaction chamber to receive the further compacted part-bales therefrom;
- and
- h) a means for transversely sealing the further compacted part-bales airtight in a bag before full re-expansion of the further compacted part-bales.
6 more elements
A forage crop bagging apparatus comprising:
- (a) a means for receiving a forage crop in a compacted bale of given size;
- (b) a cutter for cutting the bale longitudinally into part-bales;
- c) a means for carrying the bale past the cutter;
- d) a compaction chamber of cross-sectional dimensions substantially the same as the transverse dimensions of the part-bales and having an in-feed hopper at an input to the compaction chamber to receive the part-bales from the cutter and feed the part-bales into the compaction chamber;
- e) a means for carrying the part-bales from the cutter to the in-feed hopper;
- f) a means for further compacting the part-bales in the longitudinal direction within the compaction chamber;
- g) a bagging apparatus at a longitudinal output of the compaction chamber to receive the further compacted part-bales therefrom;
- and
- h) a means for transversely sealing the further compacted part-bales airtight in a bag before full re-expansion of the further compacted part-bales.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.