GB2059911A - Bale-gathering and stacking wagon - Google Patents

Abstract

A wagon for gathering and stacking bales of stalked agricultural crop material, which is picked up from the ground or supplied by a pick-up baler, which comprises an inclined conveyor 6 with a platform 7 adjoining its upper, discharge end, the platform being associated both with a transverse moving slide 15 and with a turning and withdrawing means 18 comprising a pivotable arm 19 and wherein the end of the platform 7 opposite the discharge end is adjoined by a stacking grid or other support 21 which can be lowered to different levels and stopped there. The table 7 is moved in guides 5 in direction Z to transfer bales A B onto the support 21. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bale-gathering and stacking wagon The invention relates to a wagon for gathering and stacking bales of stalked agricultural crop material which are picked up from the ground or supplied by a pick-up baler.

A wide variety of machines have been developed to save work in gathering up and loading such bales which have been deposited in the field. The simplest machines of this type are frame-like structures which are either pushed in front of a tractor or hitched onto a pick-up baler and by means of which the bales are pushed or pulled, dragging over the ground, until a pile of bales is obtained; by releasing a bolt the frame is pulled away from the pile and refilled. With this type of equipment the bales are collected in untidy heaps, with the disadvantages that the bales become dirty during their collection and that they have to be taken out one by one for loading on a transporting vehicle.

With complex gathering machines of more expensive construction the bales are put into an orderly arrangement and/or transported to store on mobile gathering surfaces. The resultant groups of bales, arranged on a level, can be lifted compactly by suitably equipped tractor frontloading grippers and stacked in groups or loaded on a transporting vehicle. The front-loading grippers are constructed so that when the front-loader is set down on the group of bales individual prongs of the grippers each pass into a particular bale, and the whole group of bales is thus raised and can be deposited at the desired location.

The disadvantage is that the thus mechanised bale gathering and transposing process functions only up to a bale density of 1 20-1 30 kg/m3. If the bales are compressed to a higher density, as is increasingly required in practice, the prongs of the grippers no longer pass into the bales when the front loader is set down, so that the bales cannot be lifted.

In some areas it is the custom to allow bales to sweat in the field and the bales are stacked as high as possible in groups of 8 or 10 to protect them from the rain. In such areas apparatus is known, which is hitched to the baler to form such stacks and deposit them on the field. Since the bales are stacked in parallel layers, they do not hold together sufficiently, particularly when the stacks are being loaded onto transporting vehicles. As a means of avoiding this disadvantage a bale stacker has been proposed which forms such stacks and ties the bales in the stack together again with twine (the bales are already tied with baler twine). The large constructional outlay and high consumption of twine are a great disadvantage with this solution to the problem.

Increasing surpluses of straw are leading to a change in its utilisation. Increasing quantities of straw often have to be transported over long distances. For more economic loading of the transporting space the bales have to be compressed more densely for this purpose, i.e. have to be made heavier. Instead of being moved by hand the bales can now only be moved mechanically and the previously used bale-gathering equipment is not suitable.

The invention arose from the problem of providing a mobile bale-gathering machine, with which even dense, heavy bales can be stacked mechanically, so that the stacks hold together sufficiently without being tied, even when loaded onto transporting vehicles.

According to the invention, there is provided a wagon for gathering and stacking bales of stalked agricultural crop material, which is picked up from the ground or supplied by a pick-up baler, which comprises an inclined conveyor with a platform adjoining its upper, discharge end, the platform being associated both with a transverse slide and with a turning and withdrawing means and wherein the end of the platform opposite the discharge end is adjoined by a stacking grid or other support which can be lowered to different levels and stopped there.Further desirable features are hereinafter set out in the claims An embodiment of the invention will now be explained in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mobile bale-gathering wagon or trailer in the unladen state, Figure 2 shows part of the Fig. 1 construction on a larger scale, Figure 3 shows a detail from Fig. 1 in side elevation, Figure 4 shows how the bales are fitted together in four layers, Figure 5 shows the electrically controlled hydraulic circuit and Figure 6 shows a three-layer stack of bales.

The chassis 1 is hitched by its hitch pole 2 to a baler, part of which is shown in Fig. 3. The bales are transferred from the baler to the chain conveyor 6, which picks them up individually and carries them onto the platform 7. A yoke shaped upper guide 8 and a bale stop 9 hold the bales securely on the platform 7. The stop 9 may be moved from the stopping to the transit position by means of the hydraulic cylinder 1 0. The bales are transposed sideways by means of a rocking mechanism 1 2 which moves within the slots 11 in the platform 7.The rocking mechanism is pivoted to the hitch pole 2 by means of bearings 14, and a tubular slide 1 5 at the top moves the bales sideways when the mechanism is operated by means of the hydraulic cylinder 1 6. When the bales have been pushed to the side the mechanism 1 2 returns to its starting position (Figs. 1 and 2). The next bale which is placed on the platform 7 by the conveyor 6 is left in a position parallel with the first. The bale-turning lever 1 9 is then pivoted from the continuous-line position in Fig. 2 to the broken-line position, and is thus located in front of the end faces of the two bales A and B.Following this the frame 13, in which both the bale-turning lever 1 9 and the cylinder 3 acting on the lever 1 9 are mounted pivotably and which forms part of a bale feed unit 18, is moved along the rails 5 by the cylinder 20 in the direction of the arrow Z, far enough to bring the bales A and B into the supporting grid 21. In order to reduce friction, the frame 1 3 is mounted on rollers 13' so that it can travel along the rails 5, which are fixed to the frame 1. For the salte of clarity only part of the bale-shifting mechanism 1 8 is shown in Fig. 1.

Depending on what program is switched on, the two bales A and B lying parallel with the direction of travel may e.g. (see position 1, Fig. 4) be adjoined by a transverse bale C, followed by two parallel bales D and E. Thus the next bale C placed on the platform 7 by the conveying chain 6 has to be turned through 90 by the lever 19 and pushed onto the supporting grid 21 and against the bales A and B lying there, by backward movement of the bale feed unit 1 8. For this purpose the bale feed unit 1 8 is first moved back into the continuous-line position in Fig. 2, after which the bale C is transported onto the platform 7. The frame 1 3 is then moved by the cylinder 20, far enough to bring the turning levcr 1 9 to the side bale C.The bale is turned through 90 by pivoting the lever 1 9 into the brX 'sen-line position by means of the cylinder r 3; that is to say, the bale C lies transversely to the baies A and B. During the turning process the guiding board 17 (Fig. 1) ensu- es that the bale cannot drop off the platform 7. After the turning operation the bale C is pulled one the grid 21 !,p to the bales A and B by actuating the cylinder 20. The last two parallel bales D and E ale transported into position 1 in the same way as tie first two bales A and B; this last conveying operation brings the bales already lying on the centre part of the grid 21 to the end of it, and the grid 21 is now covered with a layer of bales (see position 1, Fig. 4).To make room for the next layer of bales, the grid is lowered one step by the hydraulic cylinder 22, and the second layer (see position 2, Fig. 4) is assembled on the first, in an appropriately changed sequence, by the bale feed mechanism 1 8. To prevent the end bales of the first layer from coming out at the bdck of the frame, a tail flap 23 is mounted at the end of the bale gathering means; this flap can be raised by a hydraulic cylinder 24 before the whole stack of bales is discharged.

When the grid 21 is laden with all 4 layers of bales (layers 1 to 4, Fig. 4) it is lowered into contact with the ground by gravity and by extension of the piston rod 22' of the hydraulic cylinder 22. A wire cable 22" is looped around a pulley on the piston rod 22'. The cable is secured to the chassis at one end and at the other is fixed to a cross member 26' which in turn is arranged to move up and down in a pair of inwardly facing channel shaped guides 26", the pronged bars 26 of the grid 21 being fixed to the cross member 26'. As shown in Fig. 3 each side of the cross member 26' has two rollers 37, 36 one above the other so that the grid 21 is supported in cantilever fashion.The lower ends of the guides 26" are angled forwards, so that when the supporting grid moves downwards the lower rollers 36 of the cross member 26' move into the bent portions of the guide, while tk- upper rollers 37 remain in the straight portions.

The cross member 26' and the pronged bars 2Rt joined to it thereby take up an inclined position, so that the layers of bales can slide off or be pushed off by the motion of the wagon over the ground. They can be pushed off e.g. by means of an unloading slide 25, which anchors itself in the ground when the grid 21 is lowered and which pushes the stack of bales off the grid as the wagon moves forward. The empty supporting grid 21 is returned to its uppermost position by the hydraulic cylinder 22, and the unloading slide 25 held by a looped wire cable (not shown), slips along the prongs 26 and back to its starting position with the raising of the grid.

Fig. 5 shows the electrically controlled hydraulic circuit with the hydraulic cylinders 10, 16, 20, 22, 24 and 3, the oil motor 28 and corresponding control valves 32 and the pimp 29, aii tank 30 and pressure limiting valve 31. The two hydraulic cylinders 20 and 22 of the bale P- that unit and grid operate not only with an initial and final position a and b, but with an initial and final position and intermediate positions a, b and c and a, b, c, d and e, defined by electric limit switches.Their automatic programmed control, using electric drum switches or the like, takes place as follows to form the layers and stacks of bales shown in Fig. 4: For position 1 the circuit begins with oil motor 28 driving the chain conveyor 6; the first bale is thereby conveyed onto the platform 7 as far as the stop 9; pushed sideways out of the starting position by the rocking mechanism 12, by means of the hydraulic cylinder 16, moving from its position a to its position b; when the cylinder 1 6 returns to a, the rocking mechanism is back in its starting position. This movement of the first bale can be expressed in abbreviated form as: 28, 1 6a-b-a-.

The next bale, pushed onto the chain conveyor 6 by the baler or a scoop, is similarly conveyed by the oil motor 28 onto the platform 7 as far as the stop 9, and lies adjacent and parallel with the first bale. Moving from position a to position b cylinder 3 swings in the bale turning lever 1 9 of the feed unit 18; moving from a to b the bale stop cylinder 10 opens the bale stop 9 and allows free passage, so that in the movement from a to C the cylinder 20 of the unit 18 can pull the first two bales onto the supporting grid 21.Moving from b to a cylinder 3 swings the turning lever 1 9 back to its starting position; moving from b to a the bale stop cylinder closes; and moving from c to a the cylinder 20 of the bale feed unit 1 8 pushes the unit into the starting position for the next cycle. In brief: 28, 3 a-b, 10 a-b, 20 a-c, 3 b-a, 10 b-a, 20 c-a.

The following bale is turned by the same mechanism and pushed up against the first tw,o bales, lying parallel in the direction of travel on the supporting grid. The process is started by the oil motor 28, which transports the bale with the chain conveyor 6 onto the platform 7 as far as the stop 9. The bale stop is opened by movement of the cylinder 10 from a to b; the cylinder pulls the bale feed unit from a to b. From a to b the bale turning lever 19, moved by the cylinder 3, turns the bale through 90 , and from b to c pulls it onto the grid by means of the cylinder 20. From b to a the cylinder 3 swings the turning lever back; from b to a the bale stop cylinder 10 closes; and from c to a the cylinder 20 moves the bale feed unit 1 8 into its new starting position.The process in abbreviated form: 28, 1 Q a-b, 20 a-b, 3 a-b, 20 b-c, 3 b-a, 10 b-a, 20 c-a.

The fourth and fifth bales of layer 1 are again pushed onto the suppporting grid parallel in the direction of travel, as already described for bales 1 and 2.

When all five bales are on the supporting grid and the mechanisms have been swung back to their starting positions, the cylinder 22 for raising the grid comes into action; it moves from a to b, thereby lowering the grid 21 on layer of bales; in brief: 22a-b.

The programs for the parallel position of bales 1 and 2 and bales 4 and 5 and the turned position as with bale 3, referred to as I and II, are repeated in any way according to the desired arrangement of the stack. For the form of stack shown in Fig. 4 the following automatic programs are carried out:: Layer 1 (I 28, 1 6a-ba, 28, 3a-b, 1 Oa-b, 20a-c, 3b-a, 1 Ob-a, 20c-a (Il 28, 20a-b, 1 0a-b, 3a-b, 20b-c, 3b-a, lOb-a, 20c-a (I 28, 1 6a-b-a, 28, 3a-b, 1 0a-b, 20a-c, 3b-a, 1 0b-a, 20c-a, 22a-b Layer 2 ) II Layer 3 ) I Layer 4 ) II ) I ) Il ) II II ) I ) I ) II ) 22c-d ) II ) 22b-c ) 22d-e 22e-a (return of empty grid to starting position.) Many different arrangements of the layers of bales and thus different forms of stack can be obtained in the manner described, by using any desired programs. Thus stacks consisting of 2 or 3 layers can also be assembled.

Fig. 6, for example, shows the program for a three-layer stack; Layer 1 ) II Layer 2 ) I Layer 3 ) II )ri ) l ) I II ) II ) I ) II ) 22b-c ) 22c-e II ) 22a-b 22e-a The program can in part by further simplified, e.g. by having the bale stop 9 held in its stopping position by tension or compression spring instead of the hydraulic cylinder 10, by letting it be opened by pressure from the bale which has been pushed back, and afterwards by having it returned to the stopping position by the spring.

The weight, size and shape of the stacks described are such that the stacks can be loaded mechanically onto transporting vehicles with tractor front-loading grippers, and the vehicles can thus receive a completely balanced load.

Instead of the example illustrated, for hitching to a baler, it is also possible to provide a machine of this type with a bale pick-up mechanism in front of the chain conveyor 6. The machine may be hitched directly to a tractor or may be a self-propelled machine, fitted with a drive motor, gears, steering axle and controls.

Claims (11)

1. A wagon for gathering and stacking bales of stalked agricultural crop material, which is picked up from the ground or supplied by a pick-up baler, which comprises an inclined conveyor with a platform adjoining its upper, discharge end, the platform being associated both'with a transverse slide and with a turning and withdrawing means and wherein the end of the platform opposite the discharge end is adjoined by a stacking grid or other support which can be lowered to different levels and stopped there.

2. A wagon according to claim 1, wherein a bale stop is associated with the platform at its discharge end.

3. A wagon according to claim 2, wherein the bale stop is in the form of a flap arranged to pivot about an axis by means of a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit.

4. A wagon according to any preceding claim, wherein a pivotable layer-stopping lever is associated with the supporting grid.

5. A wagon according to any preceding claim, wherein the transverse slide comprises a tubular member fixed to a rocking mechanism which projects through slots in the platform, the rocking mechanism being movable to a fro by a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit.

6. A wagon according to any preceding claim, wherein the turning and withdrawing means comprise a frame arranged to be slid along rails by means of a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit in which frame there is mounted a lever which is pivotable about a vertical axis by means of a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit also fixed to the frame.

7. A wagon according to any preceding claim, wherein the supporting grid comprises individual bars which are fixed to a cross member, the cross member being mounted in guides.

8. A wagon according to claim 7, wherein the guides are inclined in the direction of travel, at the ground end.

9. A wagon according to claim 7 or 8, wherein an unloading slide is slidable to and fro on the bars and has downwardly directed projections.

10. A wagon according to claim 9, wherein the unloading slide is held in the normal position by a cable line or by spring force.

11. A wagon according to any preceding claim, comprising pre-settable control means for the stacking movements.

1 2. A wagon substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.