Accessory for collecting and storing bales of compacted loose material

Description

The present invention relates to an accessory as defined in the preamble of claim 1 for collecting and storing bales of compacted loose material, formed by a machine for compacting loose material into bales. The use of machines for collecting loose material such as tree and bush prunings, hay, grass and the like is well-known in agriculture. Generally, loose materials are well adapted to be advantageously compacted into bales, substantially having the shape of round cylinders, for easy disposal and/or transport.

By mere way of example, an agricultural machine of this type is known from the prior art document WO2006/040783 , which is conveniently equipped with a cylindrical compaction chamber with a horizontally extending axis. The machine further includes means for collecting material from the ground and conveying it into said collection chamber, and means adapted to eject the bale of compacted loose material from the compaction chamber. Concerning the above machines, they have been found

to ensure high efficiency and performance, as they allow collection of loose material into easy-to-handle bales .

It shall be noted that the collection and compaction chamber obviously has a limited capacity wherefore, as full capacity is reached, the bale of compacted loose material must be removed before collecting further loose material, and particularly the ejection of bales of loose material from the compaction chamber is facilitated by special ejector means. Nevertheless, each bale of loose material is dropped out where the machine has ejected it, which involves the need of passing through these areas to collect the ejected bales.

When working on steep soils or in the presence of rows of plants, the solution of randomly dropping out bales of compacted loose material along the path is not feasible and/or convenient. Thus, in these cases, when the collection and compaction chamber of the machine is full, the collection of loose material has to be stopped and the machine has to be moved to a predetermined collection station, or at least at the ends of the rows, to eject and drop out the bale of compacted loose material from the collection and compaction chamber.

It is evident from the above that, in the field of machines for collecting and compacting loose material

into bales, typically agricultural machines, the need is strongly felt of clearing the chamber for compacting and collecting the loose material to be compacted, without randomly dropping out compacted bales of loose material and without having to move every time to a predetermined collection station.

This problem at the basis of the present invention is that of devising an accessory for collecting and storing bales of compacted loose material formed by a machine for compacting loose material into bales, which has such structural and functional features as to fulfill the above need, while obviating the above prior art drawbacks .

This problem is solved by an accessory for collecting and storing bales of compacted loose material, formed by a machine for compacting loose material into bales, as defined in the preamble of claim 1.

According to another aspect, the above problem is also solved by a machine for compacting loose material into bales as defined in claim 14.

Further features and advantages of the accessory for collecting and storing bales of compacted loose material and the machine for compacting loose material into bales according to this invention, will be apparent upon reading of the following description of one preferred

embodiment thereof, which is given by way of illustration and without limitation with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the accessory of the invention in a lowered configuration;

- Figure 2 is a perspective view of the accessory of Figure 1 in an intermediate configuration between the lowered configuration and the raised configuration;

- Figure 3 is a perspective view of the accessory of Figure 1 in a raised configuration;

- Figure 4 is a perspective view of the accessory of Figure 1 in a lowered configuration as it supports a bale of compacted loose material, and associated to the machine for compacting loose material into bales, only a few parts whereof are shown;

- Figures 5 and 6 are a side view and a top view of Figure 4 respectively;

- Figure 7 is a front view of the front part of the compaction machine with the accessory of Figure 1 fixed thereto, and

- Figures 8 and 9 are a side view and a top view of the machine of Figure 4, with the accessory of Figure 1 fixed to its rear part respectively.

Referring to the accompanying figures, numeral 1 generally designates an accessory of the invention for

collecting and storing bales B of compacted loose material formed by a machine 100 for compacting loose material into bales.

As used herein, the term "loose material" is intended to indicate materials such as tree and bush prunings, hay, grass and the like.

Particularly, in a wholly conventional manner, the machine 100 includes means for collecting loose material from the ground and conveying it into a collection and compaction chamber, and means for ejecting the bales B of loose material from the collection and compaction chamber. The material is typically collected from the front part of the machine 100 as said machine is moved forward, with the help of a special comb 101 for engaging with the loose material on the soil and facilitate conveyance thereof to the collection chamber, which is usually located in the rear part of the machine. The details of the machine 100 will not be further described herein as a description of such machine is contained in the international patent application WO2006/040783 , the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

It shall be noted that, for simplicity, the machine 100 is not shown at all in some of the annexed figures, and is only shown in a few details in other figures.

In addition to what has been disclosed and shown in the above mentioned international patent application WO2006/040783, the machine 100 has two lateral rotating brushes 102, located at the front end of the machine, in the proximity of the collecting and conveying comb 101, whose rotation allows a greater amount of loose material to be fed to the comb 101.

As shown in the accompanying figures, the accessory 1 of the invention has a frame, preferably of tubular shape, which comprises: a front structure 3 with fixing means 4, including perforated flanges and plates, for fixation of an end of the accessory 1 to the rear end of the machine 100 or a machine of different conformation; - a rear structure 2 having such a conformation as to define a cradle C for receiving the bales B and

- articulated connection means 5 for connecting the rear structure 2 to the front structure 3.

Advantageously, the articulated connection means 5 are adapted to allow articulation of the rear structure 2 relative to the front structure 3 to reversibly move from a lowered configuration (as shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and

8), in which the rear structure 2 substantially forms an extension of the front structure 3 along a longitudinal direction X-X, to a raised configuration (as shown in

Figure 3) in which the rear structure 2 relative to the front structure 3 is upwardly tilted at a predetermined angle, such as 90° as viewed in the longitudinal direction (X-X) , and is thus raised from the ground. Advantageously, the accessory 1 includes actuator means 6 for causing the rear structure 2 of the frame to reversibly move between said lowered configuration (as shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and 8) and raised configuration (as shown in Figure 3) . According to a preferred embodiment, the actuator means 6 are hydraulic cylinders which are placed in such positions as to operate directly between the front structure 3 and the rear structure 2. Particularly, in the illustrated embodiment, the accessory has one hydraulic cylinder at each side of the frame of the accessory 1.

Obviously, different types, positions and numbers of actuator means 6 may be provided, depending on the specific conformation of the accessory 1. Hydraulic cylinders are anyway a preferred choice, because the hydraulic system of the machine 100 may be utilized for operating the hydraulic cylinders.

It shall be noted that the above described movement of the rear structure 2 of the frame from the lowered configuration to the raised configuration, and vice

versa, is a pivotal motion about an axis transverse to said longitudinal direction X-X.

According to the preferred embodiment, this movement of the rear structure 2 of the frame from the lowered configuration to the raised configuration, and vice versa, is a pivotal motion about a hinge axis Y-Y perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. For this purpose, the articulated connection means 5 include a hinge connection. Particularly, the accessory 1 has two hinges 5 for end-to-end connection of the rear structure 2 and the front structure 3 of the frame.

It shall be noted that the above embodiment of the articulated connection means 5 is only a simple and cost- effective embodiment, and that other articulated connection means may be provided, such as connecting rods, cranks, toggles, links or other structural elements, to obtain more complex movements to meet specific requirements.

Advantageously, the cradle C defined by the rear structure 2 of the frame has a base for receiving the bales B, which is delimited, in the illustrated example, by two opposite longitudinal members 7 extending in the longitudinal direction X-X, and is delimited by two opposite longitudinal lateral guard rails 8. The ends of the cradle C are closed by two end side rails.

More in detail, a first end side rail 9 of the cradle C is formed by upward bending of the end portion of the longitudinal members 7, whereas the opposite end side rail 10 defines an openable side portion for dumping the bales B from the cradle C of the accessory 1.

Advantageously, said openable side portion 10 is at the end of the rear structure 2, which is situated at a lower level when the rear structure 2 is in the raised configuration (see Figure 3) , to allow the bales B to slip off the cradle C by simply lifting the rear structure 2, without requiring the rear portion to be totally overturned.

Preferably, the openable side portion of the cradle C coincides with the end side rail 10, which extends between the two opposite longitudinal lateral side rails 8 and is pivotally supported to rotate about an axis of rotation extending in the direction Y-Y perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X-X. This may be easily obtained by hinging the opposite ends of the end side rail 10 to respective longitudinal side rails 8 of the cradle C. Advantageously, the end side rail 10 is hinged at its top end, to cause the cradle C to be laterally closed by gravity when the rear structure 2 is in the lowered configuration. In this example, the end side rail 10 is embodied

by a cylindrical solid cross member with two equal opposite facing cranks hinged at its opposite ends, to define a generally U-shaped structure, each crank having its free end hinged to a longitudinal side rail 8 as described above. It shall be noted that, for simplicity, in figures 1, 3 and 4, such cross member and the two opposite cranks that form the end side rail 10 are shown in an exploded configuration with respect to the frame of the accessory 1, whereas it is omitted in the other figures.

In the illustrated example, the openable side portion of the cradle C, i.e. the end side rail 10 through which the bales B can slip off is situated at the end of the rear structure 2 that faces towards the front structure 3 and is the lower end of the cradle C when the rear structure 2 is in the raised configuration.

In an advantageous aspect, the rear structure 2 is a telescoping structure extending in the longitudinal direction (X-X) , so that the length of the cradle can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction X-X according to the number of bales to be held therein. This may be achieved by simply forming each longitudinal member 7 from tubular elements coaxially and slideably fitting one into the other. The accessory 1 comprises rolling means 11 acting as

a ground support for the frame, when the accessory is in the lowered configuration. The rolling means, in this example a wheel 11, need simply be supported by the rear part 2 of the frame, as the front part 3 of the frame is fixed and hence supported by the machine 100. Nevertheless, the presence of any additional wheels in the front part 3 of the frame may be useful if the accessory 1 has to be handled when it is not attached to the machine 100. As clearly shown in the above description, the accessory of the present invention fulfills the above mentioned need and also obviates prior art drawbacks as set out in the introduction of this disclosure.

Thus, as the bales B are ejected from the collection and compaction chamber of the machine 100, these bales B fall into the cradle C, which collects and stores them, obviously provided that the accessory 1 is attached to the machine 100 and is in the above mentioned lowered configuration. In this condition, the wheel 11 ensures ground support for the rear part 2 of the frame, and prevents the combined weight of the accessory 1 and the bales B thereon from being discharged on the machine 100 through the front portion of the frame.

The telescoping longitudinal members 7 allow adjustment of the length of the cradle C in the

longitudinal direction X-X, so that it can accommodate a greater or smaller number of bales B, e.g. from 3 to 5. It shall be understood that the size of the frame and particularly the width of the cradle C and the height of the lateral side rails 8 and the end side rails 9 and 10 can change depending on the machine 100 with which the accessory is to be associated and, more precisely, on the size of the bales B formed by the collection and compaction chamber of the machine. When the rear structure is in the lowered configuration, the end side rail 10 that forms the openable side portion of the cradle C is maintained by gravity on the lowered position, in which it prevents the bales B from falling off the cradle C. Dumping of the bales B from the accessory 1 simply requires the actuator means 6 to be operated, to cause the rear structure 2 to rotate relative to the front structure 3 of the frame about the axis of rotation Y-Y of the hinges 5. This causes the rear par 2 of the frame to be lifted from the ground to a fully rotated position (about 90° upwards) and the bales B to be consequently dumped by gravity through the openable side of the cradle C, i.e. the end side rail 10. It shall be understood that the raising movement of the rear structure 2 may. be stopped even in an intermediate step (see Figure 2) .

It shall be noted that, differently from what has been described and illustrated above, by making changes to the structure of the accessory, the raised part might be the end of the rear structure facing towards the front part of the frame, the bales being dumped, in this case, from the opposite end of the rear structure. Also, the accessory may be constructed in such a manner as to allow the bales to be dumped by raising the rear structure at a longitudinal side thereof. An advantage of the accessory of the invention consists in the simplicity of the structural solution in use, which ensures proper operation thereof without requiring high maintenance costs.

A further advantage of the present accessory is that, when moving from one row of plants to another, in small spaces, the rear part of the accessory may be raised, thereby reducing the space required to turn. In this case, the openable end side rail may be equipped with a locking means, to prevent any undesired drop off of the bales during the raising movement.

Those skilled in the art will obviously appreciate that a number of changes and variants may be made to the accessory as described hereinbefore, without departure from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.