565,420. Wire-tying mechanism for balers. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER CO. OF GREAT BRITAIN, Ltd. (International Harvester Co.). May 18, 1943, No. 7896. [Class 6 (iii)] [Also in Group XXII] Mechanism for tying up bales, of the kind wherein a strand of tying material is passed around the bale to be tied, comprises means for forming a bight in the strand and for twisting the bight to form a closed loop, means also being provided for severing the strand close to the loop and for clamping that severed end of the strand not having the loop. The bale-tying machine shown comprises a baling chamber 18, Figs. 1 aiid-2, a pick-up cylinder 10 and an auger 12, the machine being carried by a steerable front truck 19 and being supported by wheels 21. The material to be baled is picked up by cylinder 10 and is fed by auger 12 into the path of raking fingers 116a which are secured to a crank structure 62 on a shaft 63 and which serve to sweep the material into the baling chamber. The shaft 63, cylinder 10 and auger 12 are all driven by an engine (not shown), on the truck 19 through transmission gear, the engine also driving through pulleys 70, 71 and gears 67, 68, the connecting rod 74 of the baling plunger 46. The crank structure 62 on shaft 63 is fitted with a bevel wheel 61, Fig. 3, which meshes with a gear 60 on a shaft 56 driving the auger. Shaft 56 also drives a shaft 54 through a special form of clutch 58 which operates only when shaft 56 is in a certain predetermined angular position. Shaft 54 is fitted with a cam 53 which through links 48, 47 and 42 drives a needle 36, with a cam track 84 which through a lever 86 pivoted at 87 and connecting rod 87a operates a severing and clamping means 91, and with a mutilated gear 76 which through gears 77, 79 and 80 drives twisting hooks 81. The machine is fitted with a pair of needles 36 suitably interconnected to operate in unison, and as shown in Fig. 5 each needle is adapted to pass through an aperture in the base 17 of the chamber 18 and through a slot 45 in the baling plunger 46. Each needle is fitted with rollers 39, 40 around which the tying wire 31 passes, the wire being fed from coils in containers 22, Fig. 1. The wire passes from each container through a tube, then under a pulley 33, over the rollers 39, 40, over a roller 37, along the inside of the base 17, vertically upwards across the chamber 18, along the top of the chamber and then out of the top. In operation, the material fed by cylinder 10, auger 12 and fingers 116a passes horizontally into the chamber 18 when it is compressed by the reciprocating plunger 46. When the mass of the material 38, Fig. 5, is of sufficient size, a member 59, Fig. 3, is pulled to actuate clutch 58, thus driving shaft 54 at the required moment. Cam 53 on the shaft drives needle 36 upwardly through the chamber 18 and slot 45 in the plunger forming a bight, Figs. 2 and 5, which is brought over and on to a hook 81. The needle is then withdrawn. In the meantime, the clamping and severing means 91 is moved downwards from a nearly vertical position by the cam track 83 and engages the side portions 117 of the bight with its side portions 93, 93a, Fig. 11. A lever 101 pivoted between these side portions has a follower 104 engaging in a cam groove 105 of a sleeve 106 which is secured to the pin 96 about which the means 91 rotates. When severing means 91 is lowered, this lever engages between the portions 117 of the bight and with the side portions 93, 93a holds the portions against rotation when hook 81 is rotated. The hook is rotated by the gear 75 on shaft 54 and thus twists the bight forming a loop 119. Subsequently cam track 83 lifts the means 91 which in turn removes the loop from the hook, as shown in Fig. 11, further lifting from the position shown causing the lever 101 to be moved by groove 105 towards the side portion 93, such movement effecting severing of the wire by cutting edges mounted on the lever and portion 93 and serving to clamp the unlooped end of the wire between these two members. The bale is then tied and the clamped end is held until a new bale is to be formed. Subsequent downward movement of the clamping and severing means moves the lever 101 to release the clamped end, a release hook being provided to pull the released wire clear of the said means. Specification 564,376, [Group XVII], is referred to.