Gate regulator

Abstract

A gate regulator increases the productivity of unloading agricultural material from forage boxes. The gate regulator enables a box gate to swing open without restriction, but the gate is controlled for slow swinging closed. At a gate release position, the gate regulator releases control of the gate such that it swings freely by gravity from the release position to the closed position. The freely swinging gate has enough momentum to automatically relatch the gate closed. In one embodiment, the gate regulator includes a fluid cylinder with a cylinder pin that is received in an L-shaped slot on the gate. During controlled swinging closed, the cylinder pin is within one of the slots of the L-shaped slot. At the gate release position, the junction of the two slots is at the cylinder pin, which then has room to move freely in the other slot and thereby release the slot from the cylinder pin.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.