Background Art In a conventional pulp bale wrapping apparatus, a covering sheet is firstly wrapped around a bale, with portions of the covering sheet folded against opposite sides of the bale, and the bale is then advanced to a first tying machine, at which a first wire is tied around the bale and its wrap in order to retain the wrap against the opposite sides of the bale. The thus partially wrapped bale is then advanced along a path of travel and is either rotated through 90 degrees or is passed through a change of direction of 90 degrees and advanced further to a folding machine, at which projecting portions of the wrapper are folded against opposite ends of the bale. The thus-wrapped bale is then advanced to a second tying machine, at which the second wire is tied around the bale, at right angles to the first wire, in order to retain the wrap folds against the opposite ends of the bale.

It is a disadvantage of this prior bale wrapping apparatus that it causes the consumption of a substantial amount of stainless steel wire, which it is subsequently inconvenient for the end user to remove. Also, a punch used to secure the wrap to the bale will punch the wrapper itself and, thus, cause breakage of the wrapper, allowing contamination of the pulp in the bale.

In another type of conventional pulp bale wrapping apparatus, glue, instead of a wire, is employed to retain the wrap. More particularly, glue is applied to the wrapper, which is then folded and pressed against the sides of the bale, and the bale is then advanced to an end folder, where the ends are glued and then folded and pressed against the ends of the

bale. The disadvantage of this apparatus is that the bale must remain stationary while the glue dries, which produces a bottleneck in the production process. Modern mills act at fast speeds and require correspondingly fast bale wrapping, and the mill operators are therefore reluctant to employ such a slow system.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved bale wrap retaining apparatus which enables a wrap to be retaining partially around a bale while the bale is advanced to an end folding machine.

According to the present invention, a bale wrap retaining apparatus has a track extending along a path of travel of a bale, a bale wrap retainer device, and a suspension movable along the track and suspending the bale wrap retainer device from the track, the suspension being operable to move the bale wrap retainer device between a raised position, in which the bale wrap retainer device is spaced upwardly from the bale, and a lowered position, in which the bale wrap retainer device is in gripping engagement with a wrapper on the bale.

With the present apparatus, only one length of wire is required to be tied around the bale in order to secure the wrap on the bale. Consequently, the first length of wire, which was required in conventional prior art machines to retain the partially wrapped cover sheet material on the bale, is no longer required. This saves not only the cost of this first length of wire and of tying it around the bale but also the cost to the end user of removing it from the bale.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

The present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof given, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : -

Figure 1 shows a view in front elevation of a bale wrap retaining apparatus embodying the present invention ; Figure 2 shows a plan view of the apparatus of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 shows a view in side elevation of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2 ; Figure 4 shows a broken-away view, in front elevation, of parts of the apparatus of Figure 1 ; Figure 5 shows a side view, partly broken away, of parts of the apparatus of Figures 1 to 4 ; and Figure 6 shows a plan view of a pulp bale wrapping apparatus in which the retaining apparatus of Figures 1 to 5 can be employed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In Figure 1 of the accompanying the drawings, there is shown a bale wrap retaining apparatus which comprises a bale wrap retainer device indicated generally by reference numeral 10, which is illustrated in gripping engagement with a bale 12 and, more particularly, in contact with a cover sheet forming a wrapper 11 which is partially wrapped around the bale 12.

The bale wrap retainer device 10 comprises a support in the form of a transverse beam 14 which, at each of its opposite ends 15, carries a bale wrap retainer member indicated generally by reference numeral 16.

Each of the bale wrap retainer members 16 comprises an angle-shaped plate 18 which has outwardly curved edges 20 and which engages, as shown in Figure 1, in snug engagement

with an upper side corner 22 of the bale 12 so as to retain folded side portions 24 of the wrapper 11 against opposite sides 25 of the bale 12. Each of the angle-shaped plates 18 is suspended from a respective end 15 of the transverse beam 14 by a swing arm 26 which it is pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the transverse beam 14 and to the respective angle-shaped plate 18.

The transverse beam 14 is suspended beneath a track i the form of an I-beam 28 by means of a suspension indicated generally by reference numeral 30. This suspension 30 includes a pneumatically expansible and contractible bellows 32, which can be pneumatically inflated so as to move the transverse beam 14 downwardly from the I-beam 28 to a lowered position, and a pair of helical tension springs 34, which act as return springs biassing the transverse beam 14 upwardly towards the I-beam 28 into a raised position.

The bellows 32 and the springs 34 are connected to a carriage in the form of an upwardly open housing 36, which receives the I-beam 28, and which has rollers 38 in rolling the engagement with flanges of the I-beam 28 so as to support the bale wrap retainer device 10 for movement to and fro along the I-beam 28.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the transverse beam 14 is formed by a pair of elongate parallel plates 40, which are connected together by means of rods 42, and the swing arms 26 are pivotable about the rods 42. The swing arms 26 and, thereby, the bale wrap retainer members 16 are urged towards one another and, thus, towards of the opposite sides of the bale 12 by means of helical tension springs 44, which are connected between the swing arms 26 and bars 46 extending between the plates 40.

The manner in which the angle-shaped plates 18 are moved into engagement with the upper side corners 22 of the bale 12, as the transverse beam 14 is moved downwardly towards the bale 12, is illustrated in Figure 4.

As shown in Figure 4, when the transverse beam 14 is in its upper position, in which it is illustrated in unbroken lines, the angle-shaped plate 18 hangs from the beam 14 with its two sides 48 and 50 at an inclination to the horizontal. As the transverse beam 14 is

lowered and lower side 48 of the plate comes into contact with the bale 12, the side 50 is pressed downwardly onto the top of the bale 12. Upon further downward movement, both sides of the angle-shaped plate 18 slide on the bale 12 or, more particularly, on the cover sheet wrapped around the bale 12, into the positions in which they are shown in chain-dot lines and in which the angle-shaped plate 18 is snugly engaged with the upper top corner 22 of the bale 12.

This movement of the angle-shaped plate 18 causes the swing arm 26 to pivot about the respective rod 42 in an anti-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 4, against the action of the respective spring 44.

Figure 6 shows a pulp bale wrapping apparatus or line which has a conventional wrap dispenser 45 at which the wrapper 11 is dispensed, in known manner, onto the bale 12 and folded against opposite sides of the bale 12 into the condition shown in Figure 1.

The wrap dispenser 45 is followed by a first tying machine 47 which is not employed when the present invention is in use but which may be provided as a back-up or for occasional special orders requiring first and second wrap retaining wires to be applied in the conventional manner as described above.

When the present apparatus is provided, the I-beam 28 extends from this first tying machine 45 to an end folder 49.

With the folds of the wrapper 11 held against the opposite sides of the bale 12 by the bale wrap retainer members 16 as described above, at the end of the I-beam 28 proximate the tying machine 47, the bale 12 is advanced along its path of travel, through to a bale spinner 51, which remains unoperated, to the end folder 49, at which portions of the wrapper 11 projecting from opposite ends of the wrap are folded against the opposite ends of the bale. The bale wrap retainer device 10 is withdrawn from the bale 12 before the ends of the wrapper 11 are then folded against the bale 12.

The bale wrap retainer device 10 is driven along the I-beam by its engagement with the bale 12. When released from the bale 12, the bale wrap retainer device is returned to its initial position by a drive which includes a prime mover in the form of an electric motor 52 mounted on the housing 36, a drive gear 54 on the shaft 55 of the motor 52 and a driven gear 56 meshing with the drive gear 54. The driven gear 56 is coaxial with a drive wheel 58 forming a drive member, the driven gear 56 and the drive wheel 58 being carried on one end of an arm 60, which is pivotable about the motor shaft 55 against the action of a helical tension spring 62 when the drive gear 54 is rotated by the electric motor 52. This pivotation brings the drive wheel into frictional driving engagement with the I-beam 28 so as to propel the bale wrap retainer device 10 along the I-beam 28.

The bale 12 is then advanced to a second tying machine 53, where a length of wire (not shown) is tied around the bale 12 to secure the wrapper 11 on the bale 12. Consequently, only one such wire is required for that purpose.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, various modifications may be made in the above-described invention within the scope of the appended claims.

For example, the present bale wrap retaining apparatus may be employed in bale wrapping lines in which glue, instead of wire, is used to retain the wrap. In this case, the present apparatus applies sideways pressure against the wrap at the opposite sides of the bale, while the glue dries and while the bale is advanced from the wrap dispenser 45 to allow a succeeding bale to be wrapped in the wrap dispenser 45, thus reducing the time required for the wrapping process. Also, the present apparatus allows the use of stronger, longer-lasting adhesive which will maintain better bale quality without slowing production.