DE20008520U1 - Round bale network - Google Patents

Description

Stenger, Watzke & Ring J. J _# * : _t# : _# *"VsiLrlfriidrich-Rin _{g 70}

D-4 0*5 4 Y DÜSSELDORF

PATENT ATTORNEYS

DIPL-ING. WOLFRAM WATZKE (- 1999)

DIPL-ING. HEINZ J. RING

DIPL-ING. ULRICH CHRISTOPHERSEN

DIPL-ING. MICHAEL RAUSCH

DIPL-ING. WOLFGANG BRINGMANN

PATENT ATTORNEYS

TEUFELBERGER COMPANY M.B.H. EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEY Vogelweiderstrasse 50 4600 Wels Austria Us. Sign 00-0505 Our ref. Your sign Your ref. Date 10 May 2000

Round bale net

Telephone (0211)572131;·· \ ^: ! W \ B^Ft-ßank, i?Ü5sel<3qrf · . · ($L3 30020500) 40113276 Fax (0211) 5882Ti?"* ·"· *··* '··'Slatft-Sparkasse·,^'sseldorf'^L^«30050110) 10090769

Round bale net

The invention relates to a round bale net for holding together bales of grass, hay, straw or similar materials, with a web-shaped knitted fabric, e.g. a raschel knitted fabric, which has warp threads running in the longitudinal direction, which are knitted into fringe sticks, and weft threads running in a zigzag shape between adjacent warp threads.

Round bale nets iii in the form of knitted strips or webs are known, for example, from AT 1217/97 A, from DE 83 11 900 U or from US 4 569 439 A and are used, among other things, in agriculture to wrap around and hold together bales of hay, straw or similar materials; this eliminates the need for bale fixation using binding twine, which is disadvantageous in terms of handling and also digs deep into the bale in question.

In the production of such round bale nets, suitable threads, e.g. film strips, which have been cut and stretched from a plastic film web, are fed to a knitting machine, in particular a raschel machine. In this knitting machine or raschel machine, some of the threads are knitted into supporting warp threads, the so-called fringe rods, with other threads, the weft threads, being bound to these warp threads in a zigzag shape. The distance between the warp threads or fringe rods can be relatively wide for the stated purpose, namely the fixation of bales, compared to other net structures. For example, there can be fifty to sixty supporting warp threads (fringe rods) across the width of the web-shaped or strip-shaped knitted fabric, whereby the entire width of the round bale net can be up to 130 cm, for example.

The fringe rods or warp threads must provide the necessary force to hold the silage, hay or straw bales etc. together. Their strength is therefore critical, especially if there are relatively large gaps between the fringe rods. Moreover, when collecting and fixing the goods to be tied together into bales, the greatest material compaction occurs in the middle area of the round bale. With large bales or if the warp threads are not strong enough, this can

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the round bales formed can tear open, particularly in the middle area. To remedy this, it would be conceivable to arrange all the fringe rods closer together, but this would lead to an undesirable increase in the amount of material used. Arranging only the central fringe rods closer together would, however, make the production of the knitted fabric excessively complicated.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a round bale net of the type mentioned at the outset, in which increased strength is achieved in a simple manner in the desired, critical area.

Accordingly, the round bale net according to the invention of the type mentioned at the outset is characterized in that in one region, in particular in the middle region, of the web-shaped knitted fabric, at least one fringe rod is designed as a reinforced fringe rod using at least one additional warp thread.

Instead of providing the fringe rods at closer distances from one another, at least in the area of the round bale net or knitted fabric in question, the invention thus provides for adding at least one additional thread to the normal warp thread in at least one fringe rod, which is fed together with the normal thread during production in the knitting machine, in particular a raschel machine, so that a reinforced fringe rod consisting of at least two threads is obtained in the critical area. This increases the strength in the desired area without any special effort during production, i.e. the respective bale can be held together with greater force compared to conventional round bale nets with normal, unreinforced fringe rods.

Depending on the width of the round bale net, it may be sufficient to provide just one reinforced fringe rod, or it is preferable to provide several reinforced fringe rods in the desired area of the net, particularly the middle area. The latter is useful for the usual round bale net sizes, although tests have shown that it is sufficient to provide three reinforced fringe rods in the middle area.

The reinforced fringe rods can be directly attached to each other

adjacent, but they can also be spaced apart from each other, i.e. between two adjacent reinforced fringe rods there can be simple fringe rods. This allows a sufficient increase in the strength of the net in some areas, particularly in the middle area, over a comparatively large width.

In order to be able to immediately recognize when using a round bale net, e.g. in agriculture, that there is a partially reinforced fabric without having to subject the existing fringe rods to a time-consuming check for the presence of double warp threads, it is also advantageous if the or at least one additional warp thread is a different color to the other warp threads. This different coloring of the additional warp thread(s) means that the reinforced fringe rods can be immediately visually distinguished from the other fringe rods by color.

It should be mentioned here that it is known from DE 83 11 900 U to provide the end edges and longitudinal edges of the net strip with a visible edge marking in order to check that the end areas of a net strip are correctly positioned and that they overlap cleanly on a bale, whereby it is particularly intended to weave the edge of the raschel fabric with foil strips of a striking color. Reinforcing the net or fabric is not intended, and it would not be useful to do so on the edges mentioned.

In order to achieve the desired material strength while using as little material as possible, it is also advantageous if the or each additional warp thread, as well as the other warp threads and the weft threads, consist of stretched polypropylene film hands.

When selecting the materials for the film strips used in the knitted fabric and when producing the knitted fabric, the details can be followed in particular in accordance with the disclosure in AT 1217/97A.

The invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing.

Fig.l schematich a rolled up round bale net with three central, reinforced, optically recognizable fringe rods; and

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Fig.2 shows a schematic section of a net strip with a normal and a reinforced fringe rod and a weft thread running back and forth in a zigzag pattern between them.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a web-shaped round bale net 1 made of a raschel fabric in the rolled-up state, with three reinforced fringe rods 2, 3, 4 being illustrated by reinforced lines in the middle of the net bale, between each of which there is a single, simple fringe rod 5 or 6. On both sides of the reinforced fringe rods 2, 4 there are further simple fringe rods 7 or 8. In common round bale nets made of a raschel fabric, for example, there are between 50 and 60 fringe rods 2 to 8, for example 52 to 56 fringe rods.

These fringe rods 2 to 8 are woven from warp threads, which are the "supporting" elements in the net or knitted fabric, since they have to absorb the tensile forces that occur in the circumferential direction of the respective bale when securing bales of crops in agriculture. As mentioned, when the crop is collected, the greatest compaction of the crop occurs in the middle of the respective bale, and accordingly, in the embodiment shown, reinforcement of the net 1 is provided in this middle area to achieve greater load-bearing capacity and strength; this reinforcement is achieved by the reinforced fringe rods 2, 3, 4.

Of course, it would also be conceivable to provide only one or two reinforced fringe rods or more than three reinforced fringe rods, just as it may be advantageous, depending on the application, to provide the reinforced fringe rods 2, 3, 4 etc. directly next to each other, without simple fringe rods in between, or at greater distances from each other, for example with two or three normal, unreinforced fringe rods between each two adjacent reinforced fringe rods.

From Fig.2 it is clear how such a reinforced fringe wale, e.g. 2, is obtained in addition to a simple, normal fringe wale, e.g. 7. To produce the normal fringe wale 7, a normal warp thread 9 is fed in the usual way to the knitting machine, e.g. Raschel machine (not

shown) and knitted into the fringe wale 7, whereby loops or stitches 10 are formed.

The reinforced fringe wale 2, on the other hand, is obtained by adding a further, additional warp thread 11 in addition to the normal warp thread 9; the additional warp thread 11 is, for example, specially colored, as is schematically indicated in Fig. 1 and 2 with reinforced lines, and this different color enables visual recognition; the additional warp thread 11 is woven together with the normal warp thread 9 to form corresponding stitches or loops 10. A weft thread 12 runs in a conventional zigzag shape between the two fringe wales 2, 7, with one loop 10 being provided per weft thread length in the example according to Fig. 2. Of course, modifications are possible here, for example by providing two or more loops per weft thread length, or by providing a further weft thread crossing the weft thread 12 (not shown).

Stretched film strips made of polypropylene are preferably used for the warp threads 9, 11 and weft threads 12, and these can also be thermally sealed together in the areas where the weft threads 12 are bound to the fringe rods, e.g. 2 or 7, so that the loops 10 are fixed in the given shape and, moreover, the warp threads 9, 11 and weft threads 12 are connected to one another. Such a thermally sealed fixed round bale net 1 can also be divided relatively easily by clamping or partially cutting and subsequent tearing in the transverse direction.

In a practical embodiment, 53 fringe rods are provided at equal intervals across the width of the round bale net 1, and the middle (27th) fringe rod is a reinforced fringe rod (see fringe rod 3 in Fig. 1). On both sides of this, normal fringe rods (5, 6 in Fig. 1) are provided as the 26th and 28th fringe rods, respectively; to the left and right of these, as the 25th and 29th fringe rods, reinforced fringe rods (2 and 4 in Fig. 1) are provided.

As mentioned, the gap between two adjacent

reinforced fringe rods, e.g. 2, 3 or 3, 4, can also be enlarged, e.g. to two normal fringe rods; however, it is also conceivable to attach reinforced fringe rods directly next to each other, without normal fringe rods in between.

For identification and control purposes, as mentioned, the respective additional warp threads 11 are specially colored or generally provided with a different color than the normal or other warp threads 9, so that when the net 1 is wound up according to Fig. 1, the three colored stripes in the middle are immediately recognizable.

Claims (6)

1. Round bale net ( 1 ) for holding bales of grass, hay, straw or similar materials together, with a web-shaped knitted fabric, e.g. a raschel knitted fabric, which has warp threads ( 9 ) running in the longitudinal direction, which are knitted to form fringe rods ( 2 to 8 ), and weft threads ( 12 ) running in a zigzag shape between adjacent warp threads ( 9 ), characterized in that in one region, in particular in the middle region, of the web-shaped knitted fabric at least one fringe rod ( 2 , 3 , 4 ) is designed as a reinforced fringe rod using at least one additional warp thread ( 11 ). 2. Round bale net according to claim 1, characterized in that several reinforced fringe rods ( 2 , 3 , 4 ) are provided in the middle region of the net. 3. Round bale net according to claim 2, characterized in that three reinforced fringe rods ( 2 , 3 , 4 ) are provided. 4. Round bale net according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that between each two adjacent reinforced fringe rods ( 2 , 3 or 3 , 4 ) there is at least one simple fringe rod ( 4 or 5 ). 5. Round bale net according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the or at least one additional warp thread ( 11 ) has a different color than the other warp threads ( 9 ). 6. Round bale net according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the or each additional warp thread ( 11 ) as well as the other warp threads ( 9 ) and the weft threads ( 12 ) consist of stretched polypropylene film strips.