US3400959A - Tying mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Sept. l0, 1968 H. N. GRILLOT TYING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 26, 1966 INVENTQR HOMER N. GRILLOT Sept- 10, 1968 N. GRILLOT 3,400,959

TYING MECHANISM Filed 0cm. 26, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HOMERN. GR/LLUT BP Wm/W ATT'Y Sept. 10, 1968 H. N. GRILLOT 3,400,959

TYING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 26, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VE N TOR HOMER N. GRILLO T www ATT'Y United States Patent O 3,400,959 TYING MECHANISM Homer N. Grillot, Naperville, Ill., assignor to Internavtional Harvester Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 589,596

11 Claims. (Cl. 289-2) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A knotter assembly for use in hay balers and comprising a shank having a pair 'of laterally and diametrically projecting hooks, and a pair of jaw members normally engageable with said hooks, said hooks and said jaw members being cooperatively arranged for gripping strands disposed therebetween.

This invention relates generally to tiers and more particularly to a novel hook for use in automatic bale tiers.

The term tier as used herein designates generally any device used for tying together a pair of strands of ilexible binder material, whether the material be wire or twine.

Tiers as a device used in balers for tying the ends of a strand of binder material encircling a bale of forage crops such as hay is old as evidenced by the early Appleby Patent 262,883 dated Aug. 15, 1882. Although substantial improvements have been made in baler tiers, the principle of operation remains generally the same. A detail description of the tying operation is presented in the patent issued to H. O. Sullivan et al., 3,101,963 dated Aug. 27, 1963.

The tying operation requires coordinated action of several component parts including a strand carrying needle, a strand holder, a hook, and a knife. Heretofore the single billhook has been employed to perform the important functions of twisting and gripping portions of strand in the knotting operation. The home position of the single billhook must be the same for receiving the strands at the beginning of the operation and for, stripping the completed knot from the hook. If this position favors the stripping operation a breastplate or finger must be lprovided to receive the strand for the succeeding bale. On the other hand, if the home position favors strand-receiving, a stripper iinger must be provided to dislodge the knot from the hook. Hence, a home position intermediate the two extremes is at best a compromise. Furthermore, the single billhook, because it must be rotated an even number of revolutions in order to return to its home position, limits the type of knot that can be tied. For example, the Flemish knot, which requires one and one-half twists, cannot be tied by the conventional tiers presently used in balers.

The general purpose of the present invention is to provide a tier which ties a superior knot and eliminates the necessity of both the breastplate and the stripper finger. To accomplish this, the present invention contemplates the use of a unique double billhook.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a self-stripping tier which requires no breastplate finger.

Another object is the provision of a tier capable of tying a Flemish knot.

A further object is the provision of a tier having a double billhook.

A still further object is the provision yof an improved gripping jaw in a tier.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the disclosure is made in the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

3,400,959 Patented Sept. 10, 1968 ICC FIGURE 1 is a side view partly in section of the tier contemplated by the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the novel hook used in the tier of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of the hook shown in FIG- URE 2; 4

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the hook shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a tier equipped with the novel double billhook showing the needle delivering a strand to the tier;

FIGURE 6 is another perspective view similar to that of FIGURE 5 showing the relative positions of the strand holder and hook preliminary to hook rotation;

FIGURE 7 is another perspective view showing an intermediate stage after the hook has rotated one-half turn;

FIGURE 8 is another perspective view showing the relative 4positions of the hook and corresponding jaw member in the strand gripping stage;

FIGURE 9 is another perspective View showing the strand gripped between the hook and jaw;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view showing a successive stage in the operation; i

FIGURE 11 is another perspective view showing the completed knot as it is stripped from the billhook; and

FIGURE 12 shows a loosely formed Flemish knot.

As shown in FIGURE 1 the tier 10 is` mounted over a bale-forming chamber 11 of baler 12. An opening 13 formed in the baler chamber 11 permits the passage of a strand-carrying needle 14a which is aligned to cooperate with tier 10. The tier comprises generally a timer disk 14, a strand holder 15, and a hook 16.

The hook 16 includes a shank 17 which is journalled to a housing 18. The shank 17 carries at one end a bevel gear 19 which is aligned to mesh with a segmental gear 20 formed in the timer disk 14.

Although forming no part of the present invention, it should be noted that the strand holder 15 attached to the housing 18 is operated through cooperation of shaft 21, a pair of intermeshing gears 22 and 23, a shaft 24, and a bevel gear 25 which is aligned to mesh. with segmental gears 26 formed on the timer disk 14. A. knife 27 bolted to the housing 18 as shown at 28 is arranged to cooperate with the strand holder 15.

The hook 16 is of a double billhook conguration having a pair of lateral billhooks 29 and 30 projecting from the common shank 17. Cooperatively arranged with the double billhooks 29, 30 are a pair of jaw mem- bers 32 and 33. The jaw members 32 and 33 project laterally from a shaft 34 mounted in the housing 18 and concentrically with respect to shank 17. The shaft 34 has an extended portion 35 which is adapted to engage one end 36 of a cam follower arm 37. The cam follower arm 37 is pivotally mounted to the housing 18 by pin 38 and carries a cam follower 39 which rollingly follows cam 40 formed in the timer disk 14. A compression spring 41 held concentrically with respect to extension 35 by washer 42 and pin 43 biases the jaw members 32 and 33 into normal engagement with corresponding hooks 29 and 30, respectively, and maintains a continuous engagement of the cam follower 39 upon the cam 40. The cam 40 is of generally circular configuration with a pair of noncircular sections 40a, 40b.

Referring to FIGURES 2, 3, and 4, the laterally projecting billhooks 29 and 30 are formed by connecting the shank 17 to the mid-point of a downwardly turned circular section 44 as shown at 45, the projections from either side of the shank 17 constituting the billhooks 29 and 30, Thus the upper surfaces of the hooks 29 and 30 have, respectively, a convex shape and the lower surfaces have, respectively, a concave shape. The circular cross section dimension at the mid-point of the circular section 3 44 is greater than that at the outer extremities of the hooks 29 and 30, giving the hooks a somewhat tapered configuration.

The concave under surfaces of billhooks 29 and 30, respectively, receive corresponding jaw members 32 and 33 whose outer extremities terminate slightly inwardly thereof. The jaw members 32 and 33 are formed from a member connected at its mid-point to the shaft 34 and respectively have formed thereon inwardly facing shoulders 47 and 48.

FIGURES 5 through 11 illustrate the tying operation. It should be understood that the coordinated action of the several parts is effected by the timer disk 14 which is not shown in these drawings.

Preparatory to lbaling operations one end 50a of strand 50 is threaded into the holder 15 and laid over billhook 30 and the opposite end 50b is carried by the needle 14a. As the bale B is formed the strand 50 is forced rearwardly, as shown by the arrow, encircling three sides of the bale B. When the bale B is completely formed, the needle 14a lays strand end 50b over the billhook 30 beside end portion 50a and into the holder 15. At this juncture in the sequence of operation the bale B is completely encircled by the strand 5.0 and the tier commences the tying process.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the holder 15 rotates clockwise drawing the pair of strands 50a and Stlb tautly over the billhook 30. With the holder 15 in the position shown, the shank 17 rotates one-half turn in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 7 forming bights 50c and 50d, respectively, in the strand ends 50a and Sill; about the billhook 30. Note that the bights 50c and 50d encircle both the billhook and the corresponding jaw member 33.

Now referring to FIGURE 8, the shank 17 continues rotating in the same direction one more full revolution to the position indicated. During this revolution the shaft 34 is forced downwardly by the cam follower arm 37 which is pivoted about point 38 due to the cam follower 39 rolling over the non-circular portion 40a of the cam 40 (see FIGURE 1).

Upon completion of rotation of the shank 17 strand portions a and 50b are lodged in a mouth 51 formed by the separation of the jaw member 33 and the hook 30. At this point in the operation the cam follower 39 has returned to the circular portion of the cam 30 causing the shaft 34 to close the mouth 51 thereby gripping strand portions 50a and 50b between the jaw member 33 and the hook 30 as shown in FIGURE 9.

The next step in the operation is the rotary movement of the holder 15 in the direction as indicated in FIGURE 10 causing the strand 50b to be sheared as it passes over knife 27.

A succeeding bale forces the tied bale B rearwardly stripping the bights 50c and 50d from the hook 30 over the gripped portions 50a and 50h thereby forming the knot as shown in FIGURE 1l. Note that the diametrically opposed billhook 29 is in position to receive the strand 50e for the succeeding bale upon completion of the one and one-half revolutions of the shank 17. Thus it will be understood that billhooks 29 and 30 operate alternatively in tying successive balers.

The knot formed by this tying procedure is a Flemish knot shown in FIGURE l2 which demonstrates superior unreeving qualities as compared to the overhand knot tied by conventional tiers presently in use.

Although the above disclosure involves particularly a twine knotter it should be understood that the principles of operation are equally applicable to wire twisters. The double billhook particularly contigurated to function as a twister rather than a knotter would eliminate the stripper finger presently required in some wire twisters.

Although the preferred embodiment of the invention as presented herein has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it should be understood that the A disclosure is for illustrative purposes only and that various modications of the construction and procedure may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is Claimed is:

1. In a tying mechanism for joining opposite ends of a strand encircling a 'bale formed Kin a baler, a strand twister assembly comprising: a shank; a plurality of angularly displaced hooks on said shank; and means for rotating said shank Iand said hooks, said hooks operative to manipulate said opposite strand ends upon rotation to form a knot therein.

2. In a twister assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the number of hooks total 2 and are disposed in diametrically opposed positions on said shank.

3. In a tying mechanism for joining opposite ends of a strand encircling a bale formed in a baler, a knotter assembly comprising a shank; at least one hook projecting laterally from said shank; and a jaw member normally engageable with said hook, land movable axially with respect to said shank to a gripping position for gripping portions of said strand with said hook.

4v ln a tying mechanism for joining opposite ends of a strand encircling a bale formed in a baler, a knotter assembly, comprising a shank; a pair of diametrically opposed hooks projecting laterally from said shank; an-d a pair of jaw members cooperably arranged with said pair of hooks, each of said jaw members normally engageable with a corresponding hook, each of said jaw members movable with respect to its corresponding hook to a strand gripping position yfor gripping portions of said strand with its corresponding hook.

5. In the knotter assembly as recited in claim 4, and further characterized by a shaft mounted concentrically in said shank and co-rotatable therewith, said shaft movable axially with respect to said shank, said pair of jaw members projecting laterally .from said shaft.

6. A strand twisting mechanism for use in a baling machine, comprising a frame; a shank rotatably mounted on said frame; a pair of diametrically opposed hooks projecting laterally from said shank, each of said hooks movable first to a strand receiving position for receiving opposite ends of a strand encircling a b-ale, and then to a strand stripping position for stripping the received strand ends therefrom; and means `mounted on said Iframe for alternately positioning the said hooks in .the said strand receiving position whereby the said pair of hooks alternately receive strands for a succession of bales.

7. A tying mechanism for joining opposite ends of a strand encircling a bale, and adapted to handle a succession of bales formed in a baling machine comprising a frame; a shank journalled to said frame; a pair of hooks projecting laterally from said shank and in diametrically opposed directions, said shank having a yfirst position wherein one of said hooks is disposed in a strand receiving position and the other of said hooks in an inactive strand stripping position, and said shank having a second position wherein the positions of said hooks are reversed; and means for moving said shank to said first and second positions `for alternate bales.

8. In the tying mechanism as recited in claim 7, and further characterized as having strand `gripping means cooperable with each said pair of hooks for gripping portions of said strand with each of said hooks.

9. In the tying mechanism as recited in claim 8 wherein the strand gripping means includes a shaft concentrically mounted in said shank and co-rotatable therewith, said shaft being axially movable with respect to said shank, a pair of jaw members projecting laterally from said shaft and aligned to cooperate with said hooks, each of said jaw members in normal engagement with a corresponding hook; and means for moving the said shaft axially causing the said jaw members to be spatially disposed from its corresponding hook.

10. In the tying mechanism as recited in claim 9 wherein the said means for moving said shaft includes a cam rotatably mounted on said lframe, a cam follower engageable with said cam, said cam follower a'ctuably connected to said shaft `for imparting axial movement thereto `in response to rotation of said cam.

11. The method of tying a Flemish knot in opposite end portions of a Strand encircling a bale formed in a baling machine, comprising the steps of laying the said end portions in a sideJby-side relationship over a hook having a pair of relatively movable jaws, each of said end portions having a loose end extending in the same direction; rotating the said hook one-half revolution forming a loop in each of said side-by-side portions of strand, each of said loops encircling the said jaws; rotating the hook one additional revolution and causing the jaws to open during the said additional revolution; gripping said end portions intermediate said loops and said loose ends between said jaws; stripping said loops over said gripped end portions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,101,963 8/1963 Sullivan et al. 289-11 3,168,342 2/1965 Harper 289-2 3,301,583 1/1967 Grichnik 289--11 LOUIS K. RIM-RODT, Primary Examiner.

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