Oversize bale release mechanism for waste material baler

Claim 1

A waste baling machine including a compressing chamber of generally parallelopiped configuration having fixed opposite top and bottom walls and a fixed first sidewall, a horizontally extending charging passage including said fixed top and bottom walls and having an exit at said compressing chamber opposite said fixed first wall, a charging plunger reciprocable in said charging passage for pushing waste material into said compressing chamber and defining, in one position, a fourth compressing chamber wall, a horizontally extending discharge passage defined by said top and bottom walls, said fixed first sidewall and another sidewall adjacent the exit end of said charging passage and leading from said compressing chamber at right angles to said charging passage, and an ejection plunger advanceable through said compressing chamber and said discharge passage for ejecting bales of compressed waste material which, when in a retracted position, defines a fifth compressing chamber wall, wherein the sidewall of the discharge passage which is adjacent the exit end of said discharge passage comprises a first vertically oriented planar surface supported on a structure which is mounted for back and forth horizontal movement in a direction parallel to the sidewalls of said charging passage, said first vertically oriented planar surface normally being positioned substantially adjacent the exit end of said charging passage and perpendicular to the sidewalls of said discharge passage and together with said fixed first sidewall defining the normal width of the discharge passage, said structure being movable if desired to a second position at which said first vertically oriented planar surface is displaced parallel to itself from said normal position in a direction to increase by a desired amount the width of the discharge passage throughout its length to permit the ejection therethrough of an oversize compressed bale of waste material, wherein the sidewall of said charging passage which is adjacent said first vertically oriented planar surface is shorter than the opposing sidewall of the charging passage by approximately twice the desired increase in the width of said discharge passage and is extended by substantially said desired distance by an extender plate which is much thinner than said sidewall, and wherein said structure has a second vertically oriented planar surface disposed adjacent and perpendicular to said first vertically oriented planar surface for slidably engaging the outer surface of said extender plate as said structure is moved back and forth.