An agricultural baler includes a main bale chamber, and a plunger reciprocally movable within the main bale chamber through a compression stroke and a return stroke. The plunger has a duty cycle with a maximum power requirement, a minimum power requirement, and an average power requirement over the duty cycle. The baler further includes an auxiliary power system which is configured for transmitting power to the driveline to offset the duty cycle of the plunger and thereby establish a substantially constant power requirement at the driveline.

A machine for making bales from plant matter includes a compression chamber, a conveying device for conveying the plant matter into the compression chamber, a piston able to move in the compression chamber in order to compress the plant matter, and a drive device for driving the translational movement of the piston. The drive device further includes a hydraulic device comprising a hydraulic pump connected to the coupling member, a hydraulic motor powered by the hydraulic pump, a drive member driven by the hydraulic motor and configured to move the piston in a translational movement, and a control device for controlling the movement of the piston.

An agricultural baler has a shaft, and a flywheel connected to the shaft, and a brake system for holding or for stopping the flywheel. The brake system may be of at least one of the drum-type and of the caliper-type. The caliper-type has a brake disc and a brake caliper. The brake disc may be mounted on the flywheel, or on the shaft. The brake system may have an adjustable braking force. The disc brake may be manually or hydraulically activated. The brake system may be remotely activated from a tractor.

A baler for forming a pressed bale includes a baling chamber and a press means mounted within the baling chamber. The press means is operable in a bale formation cycle, where the bale formation cycle comprises bale formation cycle parameters. A primary power source is operably coupled with the press means to transmit a power to the press means, and an auxiliary power source is coupled to the press means. The auxiliary power source is operable in a power transmitting mode to transmit an auxiliary power to the press means. A control means is electrically coupled to the auxiliary power source such that the control means is configured for controlling operation of the auxiliary power source. The operation of the auxiliary power source is operably controlled manually or by the control means according to the bale formation cycle parameters.

A baler including a baling chamber that includes a bale-forming channel including an inlet end and an outlet end, a plunger mounted within the channel for compressing bale material in the channel and driving the compressed bale material towards the outlet end of the channel, and a rotary drive mechanism for driving reciprocating movement of the plunger, and an additional drive mechanism for driving the compressed bale material towards the outlet end of the channel, thereby reducing torque in the rotary drive mechanism.

A square baler that comprises at least one ram movably arranged in a pressing channel between end positions and a drivetrain which is designed to drive at least the ram. The drivetrain has a torque input connection through which torque is supplied to the drivetrain. The drivetrain comprises a transmission device arranged downstream from the torque input connection and has at least one flywheel. The transmission device has a first power splitter that is connected to the torque input connection, and two reduction gears that are assigned to the ram and are connected in parallel to one another to the first power split. At least one flywheel is connected upstream from each reduction gear. A shiftable clutch device is interposed between the first power split and the at least one flywheel and engages the at least one flywheel when the square baler is initially operated or during a startup process.

A gear assembly for a square baling press. The gear assembly drives a ram arranged movably between end positions in a pressing channel of the square baling press and at least one additional working unit of the square baling press. The gear assembly comprises two side gears and at least one reduction gear that is downstream from the particular side gear and may be connected on the output side to a crankshaft on which the ram is mounted. At least one flywheel is interposed between the particular side gear and the reduction gear downstream thereof. At least one of the reduction gears comprises a shiftable overload clutch which is designed to brake the reduction gears downstream from the flywheels to a standstill when a mechanical overload occurs.

An agricultural baler comprising: a frame; wheels; a gearbox; baler drive components configured to process crop material into bales; and a declutch mechanism. The declutch mechanism includes: an input shaft and an output shaft that both extend along a drive axis that is perpendicular to the baler's travel direction, with the input shaft connected to the gearbox and the output shaft connected to the drive components; a drive coupling positioned along the drive axis between the opposite ends of the input shaft and output shaft end, and an activation coupling assembly. The drive coupling is reconfigurable, by the activation coupling assembly, between an engaged position in which the drive coupling connects the output shaft to rotate with the input shaft about the drive axis, and a disengaged position in which the drive coupling does not connect the output shaft to rotate with the input shaft about the drive axis.

An agricultural baler including a bale case, a plunger, a duct, and a stuffer unit, operably associated with the duct. The stuffer unit includes a fork assembly including tines, a drive mechanism acting on the fork assembly, and a clutch arrangement for selective coupling the drive mechanism to a power source of the baler. The clutch arrangement includes a selectively operable dog clutch including a driving clutch member and a driven clutch member. The driving and the driven clutch member are configured for selectively engaging each other in one direction of rotation of the driving clutch member relative to the driven clutch member. The clutch arrangement furthermore includes an overrunning clutch associated with the driving clutch member and the driven clutch member.

A baling system acts at shut-down to automatically pre-position a plunger so that it is just past a rear-dead-center position when the baler is restarted, thereby minimizing the load on a power take-off during the next restart. In particular, when the power take-off is deactivated, a control unit automatically brakes the power take-off so that the plunger stops in the desired position. Alternatively, the baling system acts at restart-up to automatically repeatedly activate and deactivate the power take-off in order to accelerate the plunger to a predetermined minimum operating speed before activating the power take-off for continuous operation, thereby maximizing a flywheel's momentum during the restart.