Upper apron assembly for use with a roll bale forming machine

Claim 1

In a crop material roll forming machine of the type having a mobile frame adapted to travel across a field, material delivery means supported by said frame and an upper apron assembly supported by said frame and mounted above said delivery means, said upper apron assembly and said delivery means defining a roll forming region extending between opposite sides of said frame, at least a portion of said delivery means adapted to move in a predetermined direction to deliver crop material from the field to said roll forming region, said upper apron assembly comprising: endless flexible members movably mounted to said opposite sides of said frame above said delivery means and adapted to move in a direction opposite to that of said delivery means; a plurality of transition members mounted to said endless members at corresponding spaced locations therealong; and a plurality of elongated members for engaging crop material when delivered to said region and in cooperation with said delivery means for applying pressure to said crop material to effect rolling of said material into a roll, each of said elongated members extending between, and being rigidly interfitted at its opposite end portions with, corresponding ones of said transition members in generally transverse alignment with said flexible members so as to provide structural integrity of said elongated members of said upper apron assembly during the rolling of crop material at said roll forming region; each of said transition members being comprised by a mounting portion mounted to an inner side of a respective one of said endless flexible members and spaced projecting portions rigidly extending inwardly from, and transversely to, said mounting portion and being adapted to interfit with a respective one of said opposite end portions of said elongated members.