State of the art Two-station presses, namely presses with a pre-pressing station and a final pressing and binding station, are described, for example, in Italian Patents no. 1,201, 292, no. 1,201, 240, no. 1,214, 914 and in the Italian Utility Model Patent no. 207,273. These presses are provided with a carriage, which in certain cases also defines the pre-pressing chamber, which transfers the partially pressed material in the pre-pressing station to the final pressing and binding station. Although this solution is efficient it entails relatively high costs, particularly when the press must be designed according to the user's specific requirements. A perfected type of two-station press is described in WO-A- 0038908.

There are also prior art presses that may be used to obtain a bale wrapped at least partially in a sheet, which may be a sheet of plastic or another suitable material, all obtainable in an essentially automated way. A prior Patent Application filed by the Applicant in Italy on 13 November 2000 relates to a press for the formation of bales of textile material that may be used for partial wrapping. The press comprises: a first pre-pressing station and a second final pressing station; an upper and a lower containment wall, that are approximately parallel and define a transfer path of the pre-pressed material from the pre- pressing station to the final pressing station; and a pusher that pushes the material along said path between the two containment walls to a space defined by two pressing plates of said second final pressing station. Means for unwinding a wrapping sheet from a horizontal roll and positioning it perpendicularly to the direction of advance of the material along said transfer path are associated with said second final pressing station, upstream of the pressing plates of the second pressing station. Three sides of the material are wrapped in said sheet when the material is inserted between the pressing

plates of the second pressing station. The press described in the aforesaid Patent Application is used to dress three sides of the bale, generally rectangular and prismatic in shape, including the two sides in contact with the pressing plates A subsequent Patent Application by the same applicant, filed on 13 July 2001, relates to a solution that allows at least three sides or also four sides of a bale to be dressed in a press of the type in question, also advantageously applicable to a press of the type in the aforesaid prior Patent application dated 13 November 2000 or of another type that performs partial wrapping. In this subsequent application the two plates of the press, upper and lower, between which the bale is formed with final pressing, are fitted on coaxial coupling attachments, so that they can rotate; means are provided to turn said plates and the bale after final pressing; a lateral sheet, which is at least partially laterally wrapped around the bale, by effect of rotation of the coupling attachments, is unwound from a reel with a fixed vertical axis, and-means are provided for cutting the sheet and for temporarily fastening the end of the piece of sheet thus obtained to the plates of the press or to the bale. A binding device with straps, namely a device for strapping the bale, is operated after the aforesaid rotation. In a press suitable for forming bales with essentially rectangular horizontal cross-sections, said plates and bales are made to rotate through 360° to wrap at least three lateral surfaces of the bale or also all four lateral surfaces.

Objects and summary of the invention The present invention relates to an improved solution, which is simpler and costs less than the one indicated above, as it does not require the coupling attachments and rotation of the press plates, and also attains other objects and advantages, which shall be apparent from the text below.

The invention may be adopted in a press for forming bales of textile material comprising a final pressing station with a vertical press comprising an upper and a lower plate and usually also a pre-pressing unit and a reel with fixed vertical axis, from which a lateral sheet destined to be wound laterally around the bale at least partially is unwound. According to the invention the press comprises an assembly rotating around an axis corresponding approximately with the vertical geometrical axis of the bale compressed

between the two plates ; said assembly extends with a cantilever arm to support, outside the compressed bale, an upright equipped with means to fasten the end of the sheet and to unwind the sheet and wrap it around at least three of the vertical sides of the bale ; means are provided to impart two subsequent rotations in opposite directions of said assembly with upright and cutting means operating when said assembly returns to the starting position, as are means, per se known, to fasten the ends of the piece of cut sheet to the bale.

Said assembly is fitted on a rolling crown wheel adjacent to the upper plate or to the lower plate of the press.

At the end of the angular return stroke, the upright comes into contact with the unwound sheet and diverts it to a position in which cutting means cut the sheet, a gripping member grips the sheet to fasten it to the bale and fastening means fasten the new end of the sheet to said upright.

Other features are set forth in dependent claims, appended to the following description.

Brief description of the drawings The drawing merely shows an example of the finding, the shapes and arrangements of which may vary. In the drawing: Figure 1 schematically shows a unit comprising the device in question; Figure 2 shows a detail of the final press, enlarged, Figures 3 to 7 schematically show, according to the section III-VII in figure 2, the same number of phases of an operating cycle of the device in question; Figure 8 shows a cross-sectional diagram to illustrate a preliminary wrapping phase with a vertically unwinding sheet; Figure 9 is a perspective view of the starting phase of the operating cycle ; Figure 10 is a perspective view, with parts removed, of a bale in the conditions immediately prior to binding.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention A press to which the present invention may be applied, indicated as a whole with 101, is illustrated as an example. It has a first pre-pressing station 103 and a second pressing and binding station 105. A so-called condenser

107, which feeds the textile material to be packaged in bales, is associated with the pre-pressing station 103. The condenser 107 feeds the textile material into a loader 109, in which a piston-cylinder system 111 with a plate 113, provided with reciprocating movement in the direction of the double arrow f113, unloads the textile material into a loading area 115 over a pre-pressing chamber 117. A pre-pressing plate 119 is associated with the loading area 115 and the pre- pressing chamber 117. The pre-pressing plate 119 is operated by a piston- cylinder actuator, for example of the hydraulic type. The pre-pressing chamber 117 is delimited by two fixed walls (not visible), which are essentially parallel to the drawing plane, and by a plate 125, which forms part of a pusher 127 and by a wall 129, oscillating around a horizontal axis 129A, so that said wall 129 can move to a vertical downward-facing position and can move to a horizontal position, as shown in figure 1. A horizontal transfer path 131, which includes the chamber 117, extends between the pre-pressing station 103 and the final pressing station 105. The upper part of the path is delimited by a first wall, which is formed by the vertical wall 129 when it moves to the raised position.

The lower part of the path is delimited by a second horizontal containment wall 135. This latter wall moves horizontally in the same direction as the plate 125 of the pusher 127. The oscillatory movement of the mobile wall 129 makes the pre-pressing chamber 117 communicate with the transfer path 131 leading to the final pressing station 105 when the wall 129 is raised. The final pressing station 105 comprises a first fixed upper pressing plate 137 and a second lower pressing plate 141, which is raised to perform final pressing. The plate 125 of the pusher 127 moves in the direction of the double arrow f127 and has a horizontally extending piston-cylinder actuator positioned in an extension of the transfer path 131. A horizontal sheet 147 is associated with the plate 125 and moves in the direction of the double arrow f127 integral with the plate 125. Two comb systems 149, which can oscillate around horizontal axes to hold the pre- pressed material inside the pre-pressing chamber 117 when the pre-pressing plate 119 is raised, thus preventing the pre-pressed material from swelling in the loading area 115, are positioned between the loading area 115 and the pre- pressing chamber 117. A binder 151 is associated with the final pressing and binding station 105, as is a carriage with collection device that picks up and removes pressed and bound bales from the final pressing station 105.

The press described herein is merely an example of a press to which the invention may be applied.

To wrap the pressed bale, a support 201 for a roll R of film or plastic sheet, indicated with T1, may be associated with the second final pressing station 105. This roll is used to wrap three or four sides of the material pressed in the final pressing station 105 before binding the bale. The sheet T is sent along a path over the pressing plate 137 to be pulled transversally across the transfer path of the pre-pressed textile material from the pre-pressing station 103 to the final pressing station 105. The path of the sheet T1 is defined by guiding rollers 162,163, 164,165 to a vertical lowering trajectory. A system for unwinding the sheet T1 is provided to take the sheet under the level of the lower pressing plate 141. In this way, the final trajectory of the sheet T1 fully intercepts the path taken by the pre-pressed material M to reach the final pressing station 105. When the material M advances (rightwards in figure 1), the sheet T1 is intercepted and drawn by the mass M (see figure. 9) until it wraps three of the six sides of the partially pressed bale of material coming from the pre-pressing station 103 during the movement to transfer the material to the final pressing station 105, as shown with T2, T3, T4. Two of these sides are those on which the plates 137 and 141 will act upon while the other side is the one on the right in figure 1 and figure 2. The present invention is designed to cover the three sides T5, T6, T7 of the bale.

To produce this wrapping, according to the invention a reel 301 for a sheet 303 destined to wrap the sides T7, T6 and T5 of the bale Bo pressed by the two plates 137 and 141 is provided at the side of the position reached by the pressing plates 137 and 141 at the end of compression. An assembly moving angularly around the axis X-X of the geometrical dimensions of the bale Bo is fitted adjacent to the upper plate 137 of the press. This assembly is comprised of a rolling crown wheel 306 the external ring of which has toothing 306A meshing with a toothed reel of a geared motor 308 suitable to control rotation of the assembly in the two opposite directions. The assembly comprises an essentially radial arm 310 originating from the external ring of the crown wheel 306; an upright 312 extends vertically (downwardly in the example in the drawing) from the end of said arm 310 for the purposes indicated hereunder; the upright 312 can make angular movements around the pressed

bale Bo, as can be seen in the five diagrams in Figs. 3 to 7, for the purposes indicated hereunder.

In figure 3 the press has pressed the bale. The end 303A of the sheet 303 unwound from the reel 301 is fastened to the upright 312 with means per se known.

Upon reaching the maximum pressing position of the bale, which is wrapped with the sheet T1 with the portions that extend on the sides T2, T3, T4, the assembly 306,310, 312 starts to rotate according to the arrow f1 (Figs.

3 to 5), namely counter-clockwise according to the diagrams in said Figs. 3 to 5; upon reaching the position indicated approximately in the diagram in figure 6, the arm 310 and the upright 312 reach a position more or less symmetrical to the starting position shown in figure 3 and therefore the sheet 303 is almost wrapped around the side T7 of the bale and is wrapped around the side T6 and around the side T5. At this point (figure 6) the end 303A of the sheet may be released from the upright 312 and fastened against the edge between the side T5 and the side T3, (which is already covered by the sheet T just as the two sides T2 and T4 compressed by the plates 137 and 141). Immediately after this the assembly 306,310, 312, from which the end 303A of the sheet 303 fastened to the bale has been released, starts the return travel according to the arrows f3 (figures 6 and 7) until once again reaching the starting position as shown in figure 3; almost at the end of the return travel according to the arrow f3 the upright of the assembly 306, 310,312 collects the sheet 303 and positions it against the side T7 of the bale. When said assembly reaches the position in figure 7 (essentially corresponding to the one in figure 3) the sheet 303 is in the condition to allow it to be cut by a device, per se known, to create a new end 303A of the sheet 303 while the piece of cut sheet is fastened against the edge adjacent to this position of the arm 310 and of the upright 312 to be fastened to the side T7 of the bale. In this way the sides T7, T6 and T5 of the bale are also wrapped.

The sheet 303 will be sufficiently wide for the pressed bale to be bound traditionally with a binding device such as the one indicated with 151 and traditional for these operations to be implemented on the pressed bale Bo and still in contact with the two pressing plates 137,141 ; the bindings can thus flatten the edges of the sheet 303 along the horizontal edges of the bale to

complete wrapping before being removed from the press.

It is understood that the drawing merely shows an example provided purely as a practical illustration of the finding, which may vary in shapes and arrangements without however departing from the scope of the concept on which the finding is based.