Closed-throat rotary baler

A shaping machine for circular bales of crop material comprising:

• a movable housing which can be tilted open;
• a plurality of rollers within the housing including a first lower roller and a second lower roller;
• at least one strap continuously passing around the rollers, the strap forming and defining a coiling chamber, the coiling chamber being generally closed by the strap and the housing except for a crop material inlet for accepting into the coiling chamber retrieved and conveyed crop material,
• the crop material inlet being disposed between the first lower roller and the second lower roller;
• and
• a rotor disposed substantially between the first lower roller and the second lower roller in the crop material inlet to close off the crop material inlet, the rotor being rotatably seated substantially vertically under the crop material inlet, the rotor having a rotating periphery and acting to compact the crop material while conveying the crop material into the coiling chamber;
• the rotor including prongs extending, to the rotating periphery, a constant diameter from a horizontal shaft defining an axis of rotation of the rotor;
• and
• strippers forming a blocking grating, the grating having slots through which the prongs protrude during a segment of rotor rotation.