Stripper Device for a Baler

Abstract

A stripper device, for reducing adhesions on a movable part of a baler including a pressing apparatus interacting with a bale, has a scraper bar carrier with a scraping bar, wherein the scraping bar carrier can be movably connected to the baler and has a first position, in which the scraping bar is operatively abutted against the pressing apparatus, and a second position, in which the scraping bar is withdrawn from the pressing apparatus, wherein the scraping bar assumes the second position cyclically.

Claims

1. A stripper device for reducing adhesions on a pressing apparatus interacting with a bale in an agricultural round baler, comprising: a scraping bar carrier that supports a scraping bar, wherein the scraping bar carrier is pivotably connected to a round baler, and the scraping bar carrier has a first position, in which the scraping bar is operatively abutted against a pressing apparatus, and a second position, in which the scraping bar withdrawn from the pressing apparatus, wherein the scraping bar moves to the second position cyclically.

2. The stripper device of claim 1, wherein the pressing apparatus is constructed in the form of an endless pressing belt.

3. The stripper device of claim 1, wherein the cycle is determined by a tensioning mechanism for the pressing apparatus.

4. The stripper device of claim 3, wherein the tensioning mechanism has at least one tensioning arm, which is connected one of directly or indirectly to a round-bale press so as to pivot or rotate and interacts with a tensioning element, wherein the tensioning arm is operatively connected to the scraping bar carrier in such a manner that the scraping bar carrier can follow a movement of the tensioning arm.

5. The stripper device of claim 4, wherein the scraping bar carrier is provided to be jointly pivotable with an articulated lever about an axle, and the articulated lever can cooperate via a connecting apparatus with the tensioning arm, wherein the connecting apparatus has at least one connecting element and a spring apparatus interacting therewith.

6. The stripper device of claim 1, wherein at least of portion of the scraping bar is flexible and is in the form of a hard rubber strip or lip.

7. The stripper device of claim 3, wherein the tensioning mechanism is provided to maintain a specifiable tension of the pressing apparatus during at least one of opening of the baling chamber and ejection of the bale.

8. An agricultural round baler for forming cylindrical bales, comprising: a baling apparatus and a stripper device having a scraping bar carrier that supports a scraping bar, wherein the scraping bar carrier is pivotably connected to a round baler, and the scraping bar carrier has a first position, in which the scraping bar is operatively abutted against a pressing apparatus, and a second position, in which the scraping bar withdrawn from the pressing apparatus, wherein the scraping bar moves to the second position cyclically.

9. The stripper device of claim 8, wherein the pressing apparatus is constructed in the form of an endless pressing belt.

10. The stripper device of claim 8, wherein the cycle is determined by a tensioning mechanism for the pressing apparatus.

11. The stripper device of claim 10, wherein the tensioning mechanism has at least one tensioning arm, which is connected one of directly or indirectly to a round-bale press so as to pivot or rotate and interacts with a tensioning element, wherein the tensioning arm is operatively connected to the scraping bar carrier in such a manner that the scraping bar carrier can follow a movement of the tensioning arm.

12. The stripper device of claim 11, wherein the scraping bar carrier is provided to be jointly pivotable with an articulated lever about an axle, and the articulated lever can cooperate via a connecting apparatus with the tensioning arm, wherein the connecting apparatus has at least one connecting element and a spring apparatus interacting therewith.

13. The stripper device of claim 8, wherein at least of portion of the scraping bar is flexible and is in the form of a hard rubber strip or lip.

14. The stripper device of claim 10, wherein the tensioning mechanism is provided to maintain a specifiable tension of the pressing apparatus during at least one of opening of the baling chamber and ejection of the bale.

15. The agricultural round baler of claim 8, wherein the stripper device is arranged in an area of the baling chamber facing a drawbar of the agricultural round baler, and cooperates with an outer side of the pressing apparatus.

16. A method for operating a baler having a stripper device, wherein the stripper device cooperates with the pressing apparatus during the formation of a bale in a baling chamber in such a manner that deposits that have adhered to the outer side of the pressing apparatus are at least partially removed from the pressing apparatus by the stripper, and during at least one of opening the baling chamber to eject a bale or ejection the bale, the stripper device is brought into a position withdrawn from the pressing apparatus in such a manner that previously stripped-off deposits can fall off the stripper device or the scraping bar.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the stripper device is operatively connected to a tensioning mechanism, which tensions the pressing apparatus while at least one of the baling chamber is being opened and the bale is being ejected from the baling chamber.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The disclosure, as well as further advantages and advantageous refinements of the disclosure and configurations of the disclosure, will be described in more detail and explained with reference to the drawing, which shows an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0019] Therein:

[0020] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a baler having a stripper device,

[0021] FIG. 2a shows an enlarged view of the stripper device of FIG. 1 in a first position, and

[0022] FIG. 2b shows an enlarged view of the stripper device of FIG. 1 in a second position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a baler 10, having a frame 12 that is supported via a chassis 14 on the ground 16. The baler 10 shown is designed in the form of a round baler and can be used both in the agricultural field and in the industrial field for producing a cylindrical bale, typically referred to as a round bale, from crop material, but also from trash, paper, sheet material or fabric, cotton, tobacco etc. Such a baler 10 can be towed by a working vehicle, for example in the form of an agricultural tractor, not shown, or can be constructed to be self-propelled.

[0024] According to the embodiment shown, a drawbar 20 is provided on the front side of the frame 12 in order to be able to hitch the baler 10 to an agricultural tractor, not shown, and tow it across a field. A receiving device 22 in the form of a pickup is used for receiving crop lying on the ground 16, e.g. hay or straw deposited in a swath. The crop picked up by the receiving device 22 is fed to an inlet 24 of a baling chamber 26 and wound up there in a spiral shape to form a cylindrical bale, tied and subsequently deposited on the ground 16.

[0025] A lower stationary roller 28 and two upper stationary rollers 30, 32 are positioned at the inlet 24 of the baling chamber 26. The baling chamber 26 is additionally formed by an endless pressing means 34, which is designed in the present embodiment in the form of two adjacent pressing belts side by side and is guided about a plurality of stationary rollers 36, 38, 40, 42 and movable rollers 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56. The pressing means 34 has an outer side 34a facing the frame 12 and an inner side 34b.

[0026] While the baling chamber 26 is surrounded peripherally substantially by the pressing means 34 and the rollers 28, 30 and 32, it is delimited laterally by side walls that are not shown.

[0027] Four rollers 50, 52, 54, 56 among the movable rollers 44-56 are mounted freely rotatably in a lower region 58 of a delta-shaped carrier 60, which is pivotably articulated at its upper vertex 62 about an axle 64 running transversely to the forward direction and can be brought by an actuator (not shown) from the bale-forming position shown in FIG. 1 into a bale ejection position, pivoted upward and to the rear.

[0028] A tensioning mechanism 66 for tightening the pressing means 34 has a tensioning lever 68 that cooperates with a first tensioning element, not shown, and a tensioning arm 72 that cooperates with a second tensioning element 70. Both the tensioning element that is not shown and the tensioning element 72 can be designed in a conventional manner as, and/or can comprise, a mechanical spring or a hydraulic motor.

[0029] The tensioning lever 68 is mounted in the region of the side walls, not shown, about an axle 74 running horizontally and transversely to the forward direction and bears, in an end region 76 facing away from the axle 74, two of the movable rollers 46, 48 and cleaning rollers 46a, 48a associated with these rollers 46, 48. The tensioning arm 72 is mounted correspondingly about an axle 78 and bears one of the movable rollers 44 in an end region 80. In addition, the tensioning arm 68 is operatively connected at one end to the tensioning element 70 and at the other end to the baler or the frame 12 thereof, in a manner not shown.

[0030] The pressing means 34 is pressed by the tensioning arm 70 sufficiently firmly against the rotationally driven stationary roller 38 that the pressing means is driven. The roller 36 is also driven rotationally. The pressing means 34 assumes an initial position, in which it spans, stretched in a straight line, the inlet 24, and a final position, in which it wraps around the bale like a large loop. The baling chamber 26 is therefore variable in size, i.e. its diameter increases with the size of the bale 18. The bale is located during formation thereof in the baling chamber 26 and is largely wrapped by the pressing means 34, but falls out of the baling chamber 26 to the rear onto the ground 16 as soon as the carrier 60 is pivoted upward by the movable rollers 50-56, counterclockwise as viewed in the drawing. Alternatively, the bale can also be deposited onto a device downstream of the baler 10 in the form of a device for wrapping the bale with a net or film of material.

[0031] The embodiment of the baler shown here is disclosed in detail in EP 1 308 078 A1. Other possible embodiments are described in DE 198 51 470 A1, DE 102 41 215 A1 and EP 1 264 531 A1. The disclosures of these documents are incorporated by reference into the present documents.

[0032] In a region 82 of the baler 10 that faces the drawbar 20, a stripper device 84 is provided in order to be able to scrape off or strip off deposits or adhesions on the pressing means 34 or the outer side 34a thereof, such as in the form of wet or moist crop such as grass, dirt or other material, for example, from the pressing means 34 or the outer region 34a thereof. The stripper device 84 has a scraping bar carrier 86 and a scraping bar 88. The scraping bar carrier 86 is pivotably connected via a joint 90 to a frame region 12a of the baler 10 at one and, at the other end bears the scraping bar 88, consisting, according to the present embodiment, of a flexible plastic material, which can be formed in the manner of a hard rubber strip or lip, for example.

[0033] The reader is now referred to FIGS. 2a and 2b, in which the stripper device 84 is shown in further detail. The scraping bar carrier 86 is pivotably connected, together with an articulated lever 92, to a region 12a of the frame 12 via the joint 90. The articulated lever 92 is in turn connected via a connecting element 94 and a connecting means 98 having a spring means 96 to a tensioning arm lever 100, which is mounted pivotably with the tensioning arm 72 about the same axle 78 in such a manner that it can also pivot jointly with the tensioning arm.

[0034] The mode of operation of the stripper device 84 will be dealt with in detail below. Reference is made for this purpose to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2a and 2b.

[0035] During the bale-forming process, the tensioning arm 72 assumes the position shown in FIG. 2a, pivoted downward and to the right relative to the baling chamber 12. After termination of the bale-forming process and a possible subsequent tying or wrapping with net or film material, a delta-shaped carrier 60 is pivoted backward and upward. The rollers 50 and 56 provided on the carrier 60 drive the pressing means 34 into exactly the same position, whereby the bale, previously surrounded in the baling chamber 26 by the pressing means 34, is discharged from the baling chamber 26 by the pressing means 34 and deposited on the ground 16 or on a connected device such as a device for wrapping the bale with a net or film material.

[0036] If the delta-shaped carrier 60, and thus the rollers 50, 56 mounted thereon and the pressing means 34, pivot backward and upward, then the tensioning lever 68 begins to move back in the direction of its lower position shown in FIG. 1. The tension of the pressing means 34 is briefly maintained by an upward movement of the tensioning arm 72. Any slippage that may occur can thus be absorbed and/or prevented. The tensioning arm 72 pivots briefly upward about the axle 78, whereby the pivot arm lever 100 pivots downward. This downward-directed movement is transmitted via the connecting means 98 to the articulated lever 92, which brings the scraping bar carrier 86, and thus the scraping bar 88, downward, shown in FIG. 2b, into the withdrawn position or, in other words, into the position remote from the pressing means 34 or the outer area 34a of the pressing means 34. In this position, the deposited material that may have been removed by the stripper device 84 or the scraping bar carrier 86 and/or the scraping bar 88 can fall downward. Then the tensioning arm 72 pivots back, due to the action of the tensioning means 70, into its position shown in FIG. 2a, in which it adjoins the outer region 34a of the pressing means 34. The spring means 96 can ensure in this position that the scraping bar 88 uniformly contacts the outer region 34a of the pressing means 34 and/or can allow escape of the scraping bar 88, the scraping bar carrier 86 and the articulated lever 92 in case of an overload produced in this area by a stone, highly compacted deposits or the like, for example. Damage to the stripper device 84 can be prevented in this manner and/or optimal function can be achieved.