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US 4,538,948 AGranted
Hydraulic round bale handling system
AssigneeMelton Brothers Equipment, Inc.
InventorMichael A. Melton
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMelton Brothers Equipment, Inc.
InventorMichael A. Melton
Estimating the term…
A manually controlled hydraulically driven round bale loading and transport system is self contained on a trailer that only need be moved by a pick-up truck or the like. It has a wide arc full control lifting mechanism that permits lifting a bale from the ground and about a 160.degree. arc to a storage rack. This permits a second bale to be held in the lifting mechanism. A pair of grasping arms has the respective arms disposed on each end of the bale by separate manual hydraulic controllable pivot action permits picking up bales directly from uneven terrain. Bales may be unrolled by a hydraulic motor from standstill position, but conventional unrolling on the ground is permissible. Hydraulic control valves are located to permit viewing each bale end as the respective grasping arms are manipulated and the bale partially lifted by one end to permit grasping on the center line for good balance and proper unrolling.
Ground supported handling and transport apparatus for generally cylindrically shaped round bales having substantially parallel ends, comprising in combination,
Ground supported handling and transport apparatus for generally cylindrically shaped round bales having substantially parallel ends, comprising in combination,
The improvement in a ground supported handling and transport device for round hay bales formed by rolling up layers of hay about longitudinally extending axes having grasping and positioning means penetrating the bales from opposite ends thereof characterized in that the penetrating means at one end are rotatable by a manually controllable hydraulic motor thereby to rotate the bales while grasped, a cradle for holding the bales in place by gravity while rotating, hydraulic motor driven means operating simultaneously to rotate the bales by said penetrating means and to drive an auger rotatable adjacent the cradle and placed to receive the bale by gravity thereagainst along an axis parallel to the bale axis for loosening hay from the outer layer of the bale while being rotated by said motor means and conveying means for receiving the loosened hay and transporting it to a discharge location displaced from the cradle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.