turning to fig1 of the drawings there is illustrated an apparatus designated generally by the numeral 10 for inserting a tag or label into a bale of hay or the like . the apparatus includes a support and bracket member 12 of a generally flat rectangular configuration having a forward end formed of or to which is attached a somewhat triangular blade configuration 14 having a belved edge 16 facing into the path of hay or other bale materials . the forward end 14 extends through a slot 18 in a baler chamber wall or housing wall 20 into the bale chamber . a guiding and feeding mechanism includes a reciprocating slide member 22 which reciprocally mounted on the underside of the support member 12 and is reciprocated by means of a fluid actuated ram 24 . other forms of actuation including a solenoid or the like can be utilized . the feeding or slider mechanism 22 engages and advances individual tags or a strip of tags from a roll 26 mounted on the feeding mechanism , with a strip of tickets 28 extending into a slot 40 beneath the support member 12 and is dispensed outward from a slot with individual tickets 30 extending outward inside the bale chamber 32 in the path of bale material . the individual ticket or tag extends outward onto the or beneath the blade 14 and is engaged and stripped or torn from the roll by means of the advancing bale material 34 . the general configuration and operation of the typical hay baler is illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 890 , 891 the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference . as pointed out therein the conventional formation of a bale of hay or the like is formed by a ram in the bale forming chamber in layers by ramming layers of materials intermittingly fed thereinto . the bales are tied at particular lengths by a tying mechanism which on modern machines includes one or more needles that are forced through the bale . in the present invention it is contemplated that the tag is to be selectively inserted anywhere along the length of the bale depending on the particular producer or the like . this forms a code indicating the location of the tag . the activation of the slider and thus the dispensing of each selected tag can be controlled by an activating mechanism which is responsive to either the tying mechanism of the baler or any other mechanism indicating the beginning of a bale of hay . the activation can then be timed such that the tag is inserted in or dispensed into the chamber after the ram had withdrawn from a compressive stroke in preparation for receiving a charge of material to be baled . the construction as contemplated herein eliminates the need for knives or the like for cutting the tags from the roll . preferably the roll is perforated to separate individual tags as illustrated in fig6 . with this arrangement each individual tag can be torn from the end of the roll by means of the advancing charge of baled material . the tag 30 is thus wiped or torn from the end of the roll simply by the advancing charge of hay or the like . the preferred construction of a guide way or slot for the ticket strip 28 is best shown in fig4 . in the preferred construction the slide member 22 is formed in a generally u - shaped configuration as illustrated and rests in grooves formed at 36 and 38 in the face support member 12 . this arrangement provides a generally rectangular cross section slot 40 through which the tags are fed . the slide member 22 as best seen in fig2 includes a shoulder 42 adapted to engage one side of a stop member 44 and a shoulder at 46 adapted to engage the other side of stop 44 . this limits the stroke of the slide member 22 . preferably adjustable stops means may be provided so that the stroke of the slide member 22 may be adjusted to the length of the ticket or tag being dispensed . a bracket or arm 50 extends beneath the slide member 22 and has a shoe 51 which supports the slide member and is adjustable by means of screw 52 into the proper spacing engagement or spacing from the guide member 12 as in fig3 . this adjusts the spacing between the members and thus the guide slot 40 for the passage of the tickets . the slide and the support members preferably include pawls 53 and 54 as shown best in fig5 which alternately engage perforations within the strip 28 of tickets for advancing and holding the tickets in a predetermined position . this pawl mechanism for advancing and for engaging and holding the tickets in the advanced positions may either engage individual perforations especially placed on the tags for this purpose . as best seen in fig6 perforations 55 may be selectively placed in each tag 30 for engagement by the respective pawl members . the unit is stabilized against wall 20 by a face plate 66 fixed perpendicularly to support member 12 . the forward end of face plate 66 is attached to wall 20 by a hinge 68 and the rear end is secured by a shear pin 70 through a bracket 72 . if any obstruction or solid matter in the baler is driven against blade 14 with sufficient force to cause damage , the shear pin 70 will break and allow the blade to swing outwardly . turning to fig7 there is illustrated a schematic of a control system for activation of the tag feeding mechanism . this control mechanism includes a source of pressurized fluid such as hydraulic or a gas supplied from a source 56 through means of a control valve 58 which may be controlled , for example , by a solenoid 60 supplying fluid to the ram 24 . the ram may be either single or double acting and in the case of a single acting or action would be spring returned . the solenoid 60 would be actuated by means of a electrical circuit as illustrated which would be preferably controlled by some sequence of the bale length indicating means such as the tying or threading mechanism 62 and the ram advancing or activating system 64 . thus the feeding mechanism can be thus selectively activated at a particular length of the bale . thus upon retraction of the ram at a time when the length of the bale has advanced to its position to activate the bale length switch the ram switch will be similarily activated completing the circuit to activate the ram 24 . a ticket will then be advanced into the bale chamber and thus into the formed bale . while i have illustrated and described my invention by means of specific embodiments , it is to be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .
a tagging attachment for a hay baler for automatically inserting an identification tag into a hay bale at a specified preselected location , includes a guide support member extending into the bale chamber for supporting a tag in a position in the chamber for being torn from a roll or strip of tags as the bale is being formed . the hay passing across the support engages and tears the tag from the tag strip . tags are selectively and intermittently advanced in response to a predetermined timing during the formation of the bale for precise location of the tag within the bale .