Delivery tray return mechanism for a bale wagon

In a bale wagon for picking up bales of crop material lying in the field, arranging said bales into a stack and depositing said stack at a desirable location, said bale wagon having a moveable frame, a load bed mounted on said frame to provide support for said stack of bales, pickup means mounted on said frame for engaging bales of crop material on the ground and elevating the said bales onto the said bale wagon, a bale delivery tray moveable between a neutral position above said load bed for receiving a predetermined number of bales and a drop position closer to the load bed at which said predetermined number of bales are transferred therefrom, conveyor means for transporting the said bales from said pickup means to said bale delivery tray, and means for controlling the bale delivery tray movement, the improvement wherein said means for controlling comprises:

• a counterbalance weight connected to said bale delivery tray biasing same towards said neutral position, the mass of said counterbalance weight being more than that of said bale delivery tray and less than that of said bale delivery tray and said predetermined number of bales loaded thereon;
• and
• a vertical elongated container into which said counterbalance weight fits to operably enclose said counterbalance weight, said counterbalance weight having a cross sectional configuration like that of said container, but slightly smaller so as to move freely therein, yet with an air metering effect therebetween, so as to control the speed at which said bale delivery tray moves between said neutral and drop positions, whereby said counterbalance weight is operable to control the movement of said bale delivery tray in two directions.