An agricultural baler including a bale chamber; a feeder duct communicating with the bale chamber for charges of crop material to be transferred from the feeder duct into the bale chamber; a plunger reciprocally moveable within the bale chamber to compress successive charges of crop material received from the feeder duct to form a bale; and a feeder operable within the feeder duct to accumulate a charge of crop material therein and then stuff that accumulated charge into the bale chamber. The feeder includes at least one first tine and at least one second tine, each having a leading face for engaging the crop material. A width of a frontal area of the leading face of the second tine is smaller than a width of a frontal area of the leading face of the first tine.

A control system for an agricultural harvester includes a crop inlet with infeed rollers for collecting crop from a pickup assembly connected to the harvester; and a lift assembly for moving the pickup assembly from an operational configuration, in which the pickup assembly is operable to pick up crop from the ground and to convey the picked-up crop to the crop inlet of the harvester, to a non-operational configuration. The control system includes a detector for detecting a foreign object in the collected crop; and one or more controllers configured to (i) receive a signal from the detector that is indicative of a foreign object in the collected crop while the pickup assembly is in the operational configuration; and (ii) control the lift assembly to raise the pickup assembly, away from the crop on the ground, to the non-operational condition, in dependence on the received signal.

A pickup unit for an agricultural baler. The pickup unit includes a frame; a pickup roll carried by the frame; and a windrow conditioning roll carried by the frame and positioned in front of the pickup roll when in an operating position. The windrow conditioning roll includes a center core and a pair of counter-rotating flightings surrounding the center core. The counter-rotating flightings are connected together in a manner such that wrapping of crop material around the windrow conditioning roll is inhibited.

Provided are systems, apparatus, and methods for use with mergers. A method for processing a material on a ground surface includes detecting, via one or more sensors, an object of interest associated with the material when a merger is forming a windrow on the ground surface. The method also includes a step for facilitating removal of the object of interest from the material in response to the detection.

A control system for controlling a pickup assembly attached to an agricultural harvester. The pickup assembly includes: a pickup drum with pickup tines operable to pick up crop from the ground for transport to a crop inlet of the harvester during active rotation of the pickup drum; and one or more drive systems operable to rotate the pickup drum in a pickup direction. The control system includes: a detector for detecting a foreign object in the picked-up crop; and one or more controllers configured to: receive a signal from the detector that is indicative of a foreign object in the picked-up crop; and in dependence on the received signal, control the one or more drive systems to: stop active rotation of the pickup drum; and resist rotation of the pickup drum in a direction opposing the pickup direction.

An apparatus for transferring agricultural products, for agricultural machines designed for the formation of a bale is provided. The transfer apparatus includes at least one impeller rotor, which can be arranged between a pick-up drum of agricultural products and a chamber for the compression of the agricultural products. The rotor is facing a deck, for delimiting at least partially a channel. The deck is coupled to a fixed frame by way of at least two supports which can move on command. At least one first support includes at least one support pin, which is coupled to a first portion of the deck and moved, in a corresponding guiding slot, by a corresponding actuator. At least one second support includes at least one crank, which is coupled to a second portion of the deck and rotatable about a rotation axis that is perpendicular to the advancement direction.

A windrow merger includes heads having cams that control the speed of the tines. The cam is configured with a section that slows the speed of the tines while passing a lower front portion of the path of rotation to lift material from the ground at lower speeds and therefore handles the material more gently at the point of pickup. The cam is configured to accelerate the tines at the point where the lifted material is propelled rearward from the pickup assembly. The merger heads also include a widened conveyor that is configured with an upper surface extending rearward and slightly downward to further evenly distribute material across the width of the conveyor. The heads are supported on skids that have a linkage connecting the skids at each end of the head with one of the skids having a mechanism that acts as a master to control the slave of the linked opposite skid.

An agricultural machine with a mechanism involving rotating fingers for gathering crops towards an entry port, such as a rotating auger tube, has fingers mounted to be rotatable about a shaft that is itself movable inside the rotating tube, as the ends of the shaft are supported by a pair of cams. The ends of the shaft are movable along cam tracks which impose movement of the shaft along a pre-defined trajectory. Through a suitable coupling mechanism, the rotation of the tube drives the movement of the shaft ends in the cam tracks and hence the movement of the shaft itself, while the shaft remains parallel to the tube's rotation axis.

The round baler includes a frame and a tailgate pivotally mounted to the frame via a tailgate pivot axis. The tailgate is movable along a path of travel range between an open position and a closed position. When in the open position, a bale can be discharged from the baler and, when in the closed position, a bale is prevented from being discharged from the baler. The baler also includes a sensor that has a sensor axis. This sensor is mounted to the baler with the sensor axis approximately coaxial with the tailgate pivot axis. An operating portion of the sensor is operatively directly movable with the tailgate. The sensor has a mechanical rotary range that is at least the travel range of the tailgate; and an electrical sensing range. The electrical sensing range is less than both the mechanical rotary range and the travel range of the tailgate.

A crop baler comprises a frame, a pressing chamber for crop, into which a stuffer can be introduced in order to compress the crop into a bale, a drive for producing a reciprocating movement of the stuffer, and a countermass coupled to the drive and configured to move in a counteracting direction to the movement of the stuffer, the countermass at least approximately compensates movement of the frame induced by the reciprocating mass of the stuffer and the drive unit thereof due to inertia. Alternatively or additionally, a flywheel mass of the drive can have a variable moment of inertia to similarly compensate movement of the frame induced by the reciprocating mass of the stuffer.