Cotton harvesters having on-board module forming structure such as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,996 provide a compact bale or module directly on the harvester to reduce the amount of support equipment needed in the field and minimize harvester idle time during offloading. The on-board processing structure includes a bale handling system for moving a large formed bale rearwardly to prepare the bale chamber for a second bale with little or no harvester down time. The formed bale is relatively large, and designing the bale-forming chamber to maintain a satisfactory harvester shipping and transport height has been a continuing source of difficulty. The system shown in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,996 patent provides reduced height by pivoting one portion of the bale chamber relative to the other portion so that the uppermost extremity of the chamber is lowered. The aft chamber can be supported on a rear bale handler and lowered for increased height reduction. As the capacity of a harvester increases, the problems with maintaining shipping and road transport heights within acceptable ranges become more acute. In addition, servicing the bale chamber area or replenishing the wrap mechanism of the baler, particularly in a chassis-mounted baler, becomes more challenging because of the increased height of the unit above the ground.
With previously available baling systems having pivoting gate structure to release a formed bale, separate latching mechanisms are required to lock the gate in place. Such mechanisms, which may include cylinder operated locks or complicated linkages which have to be adjusted and which add to the cost and complexity of the baling system.