Bale wagon having improved rolling rack tines
AssigneeCNH America LLC
InventorStephen W. Jacobs
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bale wagon is disclosed having rolling rack tines that pivot, by only a few degrees, so as to reduce the angle between said rolling rack tines and the bale wagons loading bed surface at several preset positions, allows improved control over the lean angle of the unloaded bales.
Claims6
In a bale wagon having a load bed, a crossbar movable along the load bed, and a plurality of elongate tines, each tine having first and second opposing ends and a longitudinal axis therebetween;
- said tines attached to the movable crossbar, the improvement comprising:
- a plurality of brackets affixed to the crossbar;
- a plurality of adjustment bolts;
- a plurality of spaced apart openings in each of the tines spaced generally along a portion of the length of the longitudinal axis and adjacent to the respective first ends;
- and
- a plurality of cooperative adjustment apertures in each of said brackets, said adjustment apertures arranged in pairs spaced to cooperate with said openings in each respective tine, each said opening aligning with a coordinated pair of the adjustment apertures in each bracket, whereby a tine is attached to a bracket by inserting one of said bolts in a selected pair of said adjustment apertures and a respective opening, the openings arranged on the tine in a pattern to allow selective adjustment of the tine between a plurality of tilt angles, wherein the tilt angle is measured between the longitudinal axis and the load bed.
A method for unloading tiers of stacked bales from a loaded bale wagon to form a larger stack of bales, said bale wagon having a load bed, a movable crossbar and at least two elongate tines, each tine having first and second opposing ends and a longitudinal axis therebetween, said method comprising:
- providing a plurality of spaced apart openings in each of the tines spaced generally along a portion of the length of the longitudinal axis and adjacent to the respective first ends;
- providing a plurality of brackets affixed to the movable crossbar, each bracket having a plurality of cooperative adjustment apertures arranged in pairs spaced to cooperate with said openings in each respective tine, each opening aligning with a coordinated pair of the adjustment apertures in each bracket, whereby a tine is attached to a bracket by inserting one of said bolts in a selected air of adjustment apertures and a respective opening, the openings on the tine arranged in a pattern to allow selective adjustment of the tine between a plurality of tilt angles;
- setting the tines to a desired first tilt angle, unloading a first load of bales to lean at an angle corresponding to the first tilt angle, repositioning the bolt into a second adjustment aperture and respective opening to set the tines to a second tilt angle and then, against said first load of bales, unloading a second load bales from the same wagon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.