Articulated bucket adapted for a fork-lift truck

A loading apparatus comprising:

• a bucket having, as an integral assembly, a bottom plate, a pair of spaced apart side plates positioned laterally to the bottom plate, a medially positioned gusset plate and a rear plate, the rear plate providing a bucket pivoting means receiving means comprising a pair of spaced apart vertically oriented reinforcement blocks integral with the rear plate, and a ramming means attaching means, the plates defining a scooping volume enabled for scooping, carrying and dumping a payload;
• a fork engagement platform providing a fork engagement means enabled for engagement with the forks of a fork-lift truck, and at a distal end of the fork engagement platform, an integral bucket pivoting means comprising a straight rod extending laterally outwardly on opposing sides of the fork engagement means and enabled for pivotal engagement with the vertically oriented reinforcement blocks of the bucket pivoting means receiving means at opposing terminal ends of the straight rod, wherein the bucket is enabled for rotation between a level attitude for scooping the payload from a horizontal surface, and a dump attitude for dumping the payload;
• a ramming means pivotally engaged with the fork engagement platform at a first end of the ramming means, and further, pivotally engaged with the bucket at a second end thereof at a medial position on the bucket opposing the gusset plate;
• the ramming means enabled for linear extension and contraction so as to rotate the bucket about the ramming means attaching means for positioning the bucket between the level attitude and the dump attitude.