US-12623426-B2 - Bale eject door assembly for baling presses

US12623426B2US 12623426 B2US12623426 B2US 12623426B2US-12623426-B2

Abstract

A bale eject door assembly designed to promote the safe opening of a bale eject door under pressure. The bale eject door assembly can include an end door engaged to and closing the bale exit end of a baling chamber on a baling press, a hinge, a door cylinder piston assembly and a locking mechanism.

Inventors

Raymond Adams
Dennis Kelley

Assignees

C & M Baling Systems, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230816

Claims (19)

1 . A baling press comprising: a baling chamber in which a bale is formed, the baling chamber comprising four exterior walls; a ram; and a bale eject door assembly comprising, an end door comprising a hinge and at least one end door side support comprising a first end proximate said hinge and a second end opposite said first end, wherein each end door side support is mounted to a first side and/or a second side of the end door and is substantially perpendicular to said hinge; one or more door cylinder piston assemblies configured to open and close said end door; and one or more locking mechanisms comprising at least one locking cylinder piston assembly comprising a piston rod, at least one locking arm, at least one rear brace, and at least one slot positioned proximate to said second end of said end door side support; wherein each said locking cylinder piston assembly is mounted to at least one of said four exterior walls of said baling chamber such that said piston rod and said at least one of said four exterior walls form an angle between about 45 degrees and 90 degrees.
2 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said at least one end door side support comprises a first end door side support mounted to said first side of said end door and a second end door side support mounted to said second side of said end door.
3 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein each locking arm comprises an engagement hook configured for insertion into a corresponding slot of said at least one slot.
4 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said at least one rear brace comprises one or more flanges mounted to said at least one of said four exterior walls of said baling chamber and configured to pivotally engage each locking arm.
5 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said locking cylinder piston assembly comprises a cylinder stroke distance between about 1″ and 7.5″.
6 . The baling press of claim 5 wherein said cylinder stroke distance is between about 1″ to 5″.
7 . The baling press of claim 6 wherein said cylinder stroke distance is between about 1″ and 2″.
8 . The baling press of claim 7 wherein said cylinder stroke distance is about 1.5″.
9 . The baling press of claim 4 wherein each of said one or more flanges is a triangular shaped flange comprising a vertex distal said exterior wall of said baling chamber wherein said vertex comprises an aperture configured to receive a first pin and wherein said piston rod comprises an aperture configured to receive a second pin.
10 . The baling press bale eject deer assembly of claim 9 wherein each locking arm comprises a rear aperture configured to receive the first pin and a front aperture configured to receive the second pin.
11 . The baling press of claim 3 wherein said engagement hook comprises a wear insert.
12 . The baling press of claim 11 wherein said engagement hook comprises an interior face and wherein said wear insert is affixed to said interior face.
13 . The baling press of claim 12 wherein said wear insert comprises an angled contact surface.
14 . The baling press of claim 13 wherein said wear insert is replaceable.
15 . The baling press of claim 14 wherein said wear insert comprises a material selected from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), PTFE, nylon, acetal, and machinable metal.
16 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said hinge is mounted at a junction between a side edge of the end door and a side rim of said baling chamber, wherein said four exterior walls of said baling chamber comprise a top wall, a bottom wall, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall, and wherein each locking cylinder piston assembly is affixed to said baling chamber top wall.
17 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said hinge is mounted at a junction between an upper edge of the end door and an upper rim of said baling chamber, wherein said four exterior walls of said baling chamber comprise a top wall, a bottom wall, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall, and wherein each locking cylinder piston assembly is mounted to said first side wall and/or said second side wall of said baling chamber.
18 . The baling press of claim 17 wherein said at least one locking cylinder piston assembly comprises a first locking cylinder piston assembly mounted to said first sidewall of said baling chamber and a second locking cylinder piston assembly mounted to said second sidewall of said baling chamber.
19 . The baling press of claim 1 wherein said angle between said piston rod and said at least one of said four exterior walls is about 90 degrees.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This non-provisional utility application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/398,686 filed on Aug. 17, 2022 and entitled A Bale Eject Door Assembly for Baling Presses the disclosure of which is incorporated as if fully set forth herein. TECHNICAL FIELD The general technical field covered by the present invention relates to baling presses with bale eject doors, particularly, bale eject doors that lock and are opened to eject a fully formed bale. BACKGROUND A baling press can be used to bale many types of materials. The bales are densified by hydraulic or mechanical compression force which is retained by manual or automatic application of bale binding or tying material, such as wire ties, steel bands, or plastic straps. Some baling presses are suitable for baling a variety of materials. Occasionally, one type of material is baled and immediately followed by a bale of a different type of material. Such versatility is particularly useful at a commercial or municipal recycling facility. For baling most materials, the ram, bale eject door, baler ceiling, and/or baler floor, could have a slotted platen attached to insert wire ties, steel bands, or plastic straps to fully encircle the material(s) being baled. Usually materials compressed into a baling chamber (a/k/a densification chamber) require several cycles (charges) of the compression ram or other mechanical device with additional material added to achieve the desired bale density or bale length. In most cases, once the desired minimum bale density is achieved, the compressed material at increased density is restrained by encircling/securing with wire ties, metal bands, or plastic strapping. After securing the bale density with binding material, the compression ram is typically retracted from contact with the newly formed bale. Ordinarily, this retraction reduces the compression force against the bale eject door, so the bale eject door can be safely and easily unlocked and opened. The completed bale can then be ejected by the compression ram from the baling chamber, the bale eject door closed, then relocked, and a new bale can begin to be formed. During the course of development, the inventors observed for the first time that, for some materials such as those with less memory (e.g., fibers, shredded paper, shredded cardboard, agricultural materials, like cotton gin trash), as the compression ram retracts from a newly formed and bound bale, the portion of the bale nearest the bale eject door does not significantly relax or decompress due, in large part, to the friction between the sides of the baling chamber against the bale. Thus, the bale continues to exert substantial force against the bale eject door making it difficult and unsafe to unlock the bale eject door. This may be true, for example, if the bale eject door has inside attachments or structural components to aid the insertion, manually or automatically, of binding material, such as wire ties, steel bands, or plastic straps or if it is an internal designed door. Such designs can hinder the insertion of binding material. This phenomenon is less prevalent (if not non-existent) for materials with more memory such as, for example, plastic bottles or foam rubber. For years, slow-release locking mechanisms have been used to relieve the residual force exerted by the bale in these situations. In most cases, the slow-release mechanisms are positioned vertically along one edge of the baling chamber and the bale eject door hinge is generally located vertically along the opposing edge of the baling chamber. Some rectangular shaped doors (i.e., width greater than height in most cases) can be quite heavy and difficult to support with the small area available for a vertical hinge. Moreover, adjustments to the hydraulic rod extensions used to open and close doors become difficult when the bale eject doors are cantilevered a significant distance from the short vertical hinges—a condition that grows worse with hinge wear over time and use. Under or over extension of the cylinder rod produced by faulty adjustment can damage the hydraulic cylinder, damage the welded connection to the cylinder attachment ears, or completely break the connection between the attachment ears and the baling press side wall. Some bale eject door unlocking or locking mechanisms used to address the normally expected issues described above include those that have a hinge attached vertically to the baling chamber structure and a door lock hinged flange with an “L” shaped structure also known as an “angle iron,” In operation, as the flanged door lock rotates about the vertical hinge, the pressure on the bale eject door is slowly released. Other designs use hinged hook(s) attached to the end of a hydraulic cylinder rod that remain engaged to the bale eject door while the rod is slowly extended and until sufficient reduction in pressure is achieved permitting safe manual removal (by rotating t