US 3,942,651 AGranted

Baled hay stack forming apparatus

OwnerAllan B. Neely, Jr.inventor

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Abstract

An apparatus to form a hay bale stack which lies upon its side and upon the bed of a truck, trailer or similar vehicle. The bed will be tipped upwardly to discharge tha bale stack in an upright position. A bale collecting, conveying and dispensing apparatus is mounted at the side of the vehicle. A shiftable stack-layer-forming platen is carried upon a framework above the bed of the vehicle and above a stack being formed on the bed. Hay bales picked up by the dispensing apparatus are shifted onto this platen to form a stack layer. When a stack layer is completed, the platen tips, dropping the layer on its edge at the forward end of the vehicle bed. A pusher means pushes the bale stack layers rearwardly as they are deposited upon the bed. When a bale stack is completed, the bale collecting and dispensing apparatus may be disconnected from the vehicle, and the vehicle is then driven to a location where the stack is to be discharged. Once the bed is tipped upwardly to stand the bale stack upright, the tines of a holding fork, at the base of the stack and at the rear end of the vehicle bed, reciprocate to facilitate movement of the fork from underneath the upright stack as the vehicle moves away from the stack.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A bale collecting and stack forming apparatus adapted to be mounted upon a vehicle and comprising, in combination therewith:

a longitudinally extended stack bed having its rear section pivotally mounted upon the rear end of the vehicle to tip from a flat initial position upon the body of the vehicle to an upright position behind the vehicle, whereby to lift a bale stack lying on its side upon the stack bed to an upright position behind the truck for discharge of the stack therefrom;
a tipping means to tip the bed from a flat position to an upright position when a bale stack, lying on its side, is on the stack bed;
a shiftable platen normally positioned above the stack bed and above a bale stack formed upon the bed to receive bales arranged as a bale stack layer;
a platen shifting means operable after a bale stack layer is received on the platen to shift the platen from the aforesaid normal position above the stack to a substantially vertical position near the front end of the stack bed and to then drop the bale stack layer upon its edge on the forward end of the stack bed and to thereafter return the platen to its aforesaid normal position;
a layer shifting means to shift a bale stack layer dropped onto the stack bed towards the rear of the stack bed whereby the bale stack layer may become part of a bale stack lying upon the stack bed;
and,
means for dispensing bales onto the platen and arranging the bales in the form of a stack layer.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.