Agriculture baler

1. An agricultural baler, comprising:

a bale chamber having an inlet opening formed therein;

a feeder duct communicating with the bale chamber through the inlet opening for a charge of crop material to be transferred from the feeder duct into the bale chamber;

a plunger reciprocable within the bale chamber to compress the charge of crop material received from the feeder duct to form a bale; and

a feeder operable within the feeder duct to accumulate the charge of crop material therein and then stuff the charge into the bale chamber,

wherein the feeder duct has an upper end facing generally upwardly and communicating with the inlet opening in the bale chamber and a lower end facing generally in a forward direction,

wherein the feeder duct further has a top wall and a bottom wall extending between the lower end and the upper end of the feeder duct, the top wall providing an upper boundary of the feeder duct and the bottom wall providing a lower boundary of the feeder duct,

wherein there is an opening in the bottom wall of the feeder duct and the bottom wall comprises an upper end part, with a first edge and a second edge opposite to the first edge, and at least one door that is hingedly attached to the second edge of the upper end part, which is an edge of the opening, and

wherein the first edge of the upper end part of the bottom wall is hingedly attached to the upper end of the feeder duct near the inlet opening of the bale chamber, at a pivot axis, such that the upper end part is pivotable relative to the top wall of the feeder duct at the pivot axis of the first edge.

2. The baler according to claim 1 , wherein the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall to which the door is attached are movable between a closed position and an opened position, wherein in the closed position the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall provide the lower boundary of the feeder duct, and in the open position the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall are positioned away from the top wall of the feeder duct, thereby no longer providing the lower boundary of the feeder duct.

3. The baler according to claim 1 , further comprising one of a pair of latches and a pair of actuators configured for selectively moving the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall between a closed position and a partly opened position, wherein in the closed position the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall provide the lower boundary of the feeder duct, and in the partly opened position the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall to which the door is attached are positioned away from the top wall of the feeder duct, thereby leaving the lower boundary intact.

4. The baler according to claim 3 , wherein one of the pair of latches and the pair of actuators are releasable to allow the door and the upper end of the bottom wall to be positioned in an opened position.

5. The baler according to claim 4 , wherein one of the pair of latches and the pair of actuators are configured to selectively move the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall between the closed position, the partly opened position, and the opened position.

6. The baler according to claim 3 , wherein the pair of latches are configured for selectively moving the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall between the closed position and the partly opened position and are manually operable.

7. The baler according to claim 3 , further comprising a controller connected to each actuator of the pair of actuators for controlling each actuator, wherein the baler further comprises a sensor connected to the controller and configured for detecting plugging of the feeder duct, and wherein the controller is configured for controlling each actuator such that the door and the upper end part of the bottom wall are moved into the partly opened position when a plugging of the feeder duct is detected by the sensor.

8. The baler according to claim 1 , wherein adjacent an edge of the door opposite to an edge that is hingedly attached to the upper end part of the bottom wall, there is an edge of an adjacent part of the bottom wall, wherein at least the adjacent edge of the adjacent part of the bottom wall is movable relative to the top wall of the feeder duct so as to form an adjacent door that is movable between an opened position and a closed position and that when opened provides an opening in the bottom wall.

9. The baler according to claim 8 , further comprising a linear actuator configured for selectively moving the adjacent door between the closed position and a partly opened position, wherein in the closed position the adjacent door provides the lower boundary of the feeder duct, and in the partly opened position the adjacent door is positioned away from the top wall of the feeder duct, thereby leaving the lower boundary provided by the adjacent door intact, and wherein, with the door and the adjacent door in their respective partly opened position, the adjacent edges of the door and the adjacent door are at substantially the same distance from the top wall of the feeder duct.

10. The baler according to claim 8 , wherein the adjacent door is formed by an end part of the bottom wall.