Method and apparatus for tying and binding bales of compressed materials

A mechanism for securing together the overlapped ends of an elongated binding device wrapped around a bale of compressible material for binding the bale comprises a housing and a twister pinion rotatably coupled to the housing and configured to receive overlapped ends of the elongated binding device into a slot therein. The twister pinion includes alignment pins positioned on opposite sides of the slot for engaging the overlapped ends and maintaining those ends in the pinion slot. A drive mechanism is coupled to the pinion and rotates the pinion to twist the overlapped ends. In another embodiment of the invention, the twister pinion is coupled to a twister gear by an alignment pin which extends into an alignment aperture and an alignment groove in the gear and pinion. In another embodiment of the invention, a retrieving device is movably coupled with the body for moving toward and away from the twister pinion for moving the ends of the binder device into the twister pinion slot.