GB2164625A

GB2164625A - A bale-transporting trailer

Info

Publication number: GB2164625A
Application number: GB08504446A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Philip Sanderson Horn
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-02-21
Filing date: 1985-02-21
Publication date: 1986-03-26
Also published as: GB2164625B; GB8404454D0; GB8504446D0

Abstract

A bale-transporting trailer comprises a wheeled chassis supporting a bale-carrying platform (101). The platform (101), together with adjustable side walls (102, 103) and a front wall (104), define an enclosure for bales. A ramp (2) is mounted at the rear of the chassis (1) for pivotal movement between a downwardly inclined, ground-engaging lower position for enabling loading and unloading of bales into and from the enclosure and an elevated position for closing the enclosure. The ramp (2) is raised into its elevated position by at least one hydraulic ram where it is automatically locked in position by catch means. Release means (14) are provided which are operable to unlock the catch means to enable pivotal movement of the ramp (2) out of the elevated position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A bale-transporting trailer This invention relates to a bale-transporting trailer intended to be hitched behind an agricultural vehicle for transporting, for example, conventional small bales. Typically such small bales are generally right parallel-epipedal in form and may, for example, each have a width of approximately 45 cm, a height of approximately 35 cm and a length of approximately 90 cm.

Once bales of either hay or straw have been made, the conscientious farmer aims to move them under cover as quickly as possible to prevent deterioration of the bale material. They are usually transported from the field to a farm bale-storage building either by a tractor and trailer, or by a tractor and bale carrier.

Known bale trailers typically carry an average of 100 small bales. The bales are generally loaded either manually, one at a time, or mechanically with the aid of various "grabs" available for the front of a tractor loader, which load an arrangement of 7 or 8 bales at a time. The bales must be loaded and secured on the trailer in such a way as to be safe on the load. Such a loading operation requires at least two men, and takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. A similar length of time is also required for unloading the bales from the trailer.

If, instead of a bale trailer, a bale carrier is employed, the small bales are typically first arranged, e.g. manually by a single person, in generally right parallelepipedal piles for example with 17 or 21 bales in each pile. Suitably these piles are formed with a bottom row of 5 bales on edge supporting either 3 or 4 upper rows of bales each formed of 4 bales arranged side by side. Once the bales are arranged in piles, each pile is loaded intact onto a tractor-drawn bale carrier and is transported to the bale-storage building.However whereas this operation is comparatively quick and economical to perform when the field is close to the storage point, the often considerable distance travelled to and from a field make it increasingly less economic when the time and energy (diesel) involved are taken into consideration, since a separate trip has to be made to transport each pile of bales.

The present invention seeks to provide a baletransporting trailer which is intended to be used in conjunction with a bale carrier for transporting a plurality of piles of bales.

According to the invention a bale-transporting trailer comprises a wheeled chassis suporting a load-carrying platform, hitch means at the front of the chassis for hitching the trailer to an agricultural vehicle, first wall means extending above the platform at the front end of the latter, second wall means extending above the platform along each side of the latter, said first and second wall means and said platform defining an enclosure for bales, ramp means mounted to the rear of the chassis for pivotal movement between a downwardly inclined, ground-engaging lower position for enabling loading and unloading of bales into and from the enclosure and an elevated position for closing the enclosure, hydraulically operated actuating means for raising the ramp means from its lower position to its elevated position, catch means for automatically locking the ramp means in the elevated position on pivotal movement of the ramp means into the elevated position and release means operable to unlock the catch means to enable pivotal movement of the ramp means out of the elevated position.

Preferably each second side wall means is adjustably mounted to enable the spacing apart of the second side wall means to be adjusted. In particular the entire second wall means may be moved towards and away from each other. Alternatively each second wall means may be adjustably tilted to vary the separation of the upper parts of the second wall means. Conveniently the adjustable mounting of each second side wall means is provided by ratchet means.

Conveniently each second side wall means comprises a fixed lower rail, at least one post pivotally mounted on the lower rail, first ratchet means for adjusting the inclination of the or each post, an upper rail attached to the or each post and second ratchet means for adjustably connecting the front end of the upper rail to the first wall means. Suitably the height of the upper rail above the platform can be adjusted, e.g. into one or two pre-set positions.

Typically the trailer is a low-loading trailer and is double-axled.

The actuating means may comprise at least one, e.g. two, single or double acting hydraulic rams designed to be operated from a hydraulic supply of an agricultural vehicle, e.g. a tractor. If one or more double acting hydraulic rams are provided, the ramp means may be pivoted both upwardly and downwardly by the rams. If, on the other hand, one or more single acting hydraulic rams are provided, the ramp means is only pivoted upwardly by the rams and pivots downwardly under its own weight, the initial downward pivotal movement typically being initiated by spring means.

Preferably the release means include an actuating member operated by a lever from a remote location, e.g. at the front of the trailer.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view of a trailer according to the invention with a ramp in a ground-engaging lower position; Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the trailer shown in Figure 1 with the ramp in an elevated position; Figures 3 and 4 are schematic side views showing the trailer shown in Figures 1 and 2 with the ramp in its lower and elevated positions, respectively; Figure 5 is a schematic view from above of the trailer shown in Figures 1 to 4 but without its loading platform and illustrating the chassis and the ramp in the lower position;; Figures 6 and 6A show schematic details on en larged scales of a mechanical catch for the ramp, the catch being shown when the ramp is in its elevated and lower positions, respectively; and Figure 7 is a schematic detail on an enlarged scale of a hinging and ratchet arrangement for adjustably mounting a side wall of the trailer.

Figures 1-5 show an embodiment of a towable bale-transporting trailer according to the invention comprising a double-axled wheeled chassis 1 provided, at its front end, with a drawbar 100 for hitching the trailer to an agricultural vehicle (not shown), e.g. a tractor, and, at its rear end, with a ramp 2 pivotable between a downwardly inclined, ground-engaging lower position (as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 5) and an elevated position (as shown in Figures 2 and 4). The chassis 1 comprises longitudinal steel beams 1a-1d and transverse steel beams 1e-1h which support a loadsupporting platform 101 typically formed of boards fixed, e.g. bolted, to the underlying beams.The ramp 2 is typically in the form of a steel frame on which are fixed, e.g. by means of bolts, boards to enable agricultural bale loading machines to be driven onto and off from the platform 101 when the ramp is in its lower position.

Extending upwardly from the platform 101 are side walls, generally designated 102 and 103, and a front wall, generally designated 104, comprising vertical steel rods and an upper horizontal steel rod. Each side side wall 102 (103), comprises a lower rail 7 fixed, e.g. by bolts, to the chassis 1 and the front wall 104, an upper safety rail 5 and a strut or post 6 pivotably mounted on the lower rail 7 and carrying the safety rail 5 at its upper end. Although only one strut or post 6 is shown for each side wall, more than one such strut or post may be provided.The lower end of the or each post 6 is attached to the longitudinal beam 1a (or 1d) by means of a ratchet arrangement, generally indicated by the reference numeral 105 (see Figure 7), to enable the inclination of the post 6 to be adjusted thereby to enable adjustment of the separation of the upper ends of the or each post 6 of the two side walls 102 and 103.

In addition to the ratchet arrangement 105, further ratchet arrangements 4 are provided in the front wall 104 to enable the front ends of the safety rails 5 to be adjustably fixed to the front wall. As can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, two ratchet arrangements 4 are provided for each side wall 102, 103 to enable the safety rails 5 to be positioned in upper and lower positions depending on the number of bales to be transported. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, each rail 5 is fixed to an upper ratchet arrangement 4 and to an upper (of two) fixing positions on the post 6.

As can be seen in Figures 3-5, a pair of single acting hydraulic rams 8 are mounted between the chassis 1 and the ramp 2 for pivoting the latter from its lower position to its elevated position. A pair of catches, generally designated 9, each provided by a locking piece 9a (see Figures 6 and 6A) fixed to the chassis, a first locking bar 9b slidably received within the locking piece 9a and a second locking bar 9c pivotally mounted on the ramp 2, are provided for locking the ramp 2 in its elevated position. Each first locking bar 9b has a stop 106 at its end and carries a spring 10, between the stop 106 and the locking piece 9a, and a pivotable release cam 11 turnable to release the catch 9 from a locked condition. The cams 11 are operable by means of a lever 14 mounted at the front of the trailer.Movement of the lever 14 is transmitted via a longitudinal rod 13 and a transverse shaft 12 to cause pivotal movement of the cams 11.

In operation, generally right parallelepipedal heaps or piles of small bales of straw or hay are formed, e.g. manually in a field with typically 17 or 21 bales (i.e. 4 or 5 rows high) in each pile. The piles are then loaded one by one with the aid of a tractor-drawn bale carrier (not shown) into the trailer which is connected to a further tractor (not shown). This loading operation is achieved by positioning the ramp 2 in its ground-engaging lower position and reversing the tractor-drawn bale carrier up the ramp and into the bale-receiving enclosure provided by the platform 101 and the side walls 102 and 103 and front wall 104. Th weight of the bale carrier (and also its towing tractor) is borne by the double axles and wheels of the trailer.The tractor connected to the trailer ensures that the trailer does not tilt during loading (although other safety means 8 not shown 8 may also be provided to prevent trailer tilt). The piles of bales are then deposited into the bale-receiving enclosure which is filled up from its front end first. In this way a plurality of piles, e.g. six piles, of bales, each of 17 or 21 bales each, are loaded in the trailer from front to back. When the trailer is fully loaded, the hydraulic rams 8 are actuated and the ramp 2 is pivoted into its elevated position. The piles of bales are squeezed together as the ramp 2 pivots upwards.As the ramp 2 moves into its elevated position, the second locking bars 9c, which ride over their respective locking pieces 9a (i.e. as shown in Figure 6A) during upward movement of the ramp, drop behind the locking pieces 9a into locking position (i.e. as shown in Figure 6) thereby locking the ramp in its elevated position. In this locked position of the ramp 2, the springs 10 are compressed between the stops 106 and the fixed locking pieces 9a. With the catches 9 holding the ramp 2 in its elevated position, the hydraulic pressure from the trailer-towing tractor is released.

Before transporting the loading bales to a storage building, such as a barn, the upper safety rails 5 are positioned in their upper or lower positions (depending on the number of rows of bales in each pile) so as to be positioned substantially midway up the bales forming the upper row of each pile of bales. Then the side walls 102 and 103 are inwardly adjusted with the aid of the ratchet arrangements to ensure that the bales are supported along the sides of the trailer. When the trailer has been towed to the storage building, it is unloaded.

Unloading is achieved by operating lever 14to pivot the cams 11. As the cams 11 turn, they force the second locking bars 9c to pivot upwardly so that they are no longer engaged behind the locking pieces 9a. The compressed springs 10 urge the ramp 2 to start to pivot downwardly. This initial spring urging pivots the ramp 2 sufficiently far for the force of gravity to take over pivotal movement of the ramp 2 into its lower position. The rams 8 serve to damp this downward pivotal movement.

Once the ramp 2 has been lowered, the trailer is unloaded with the use of a conventional tractordrawn bale carrier in a manner similar to the previously described bale-loading operation.

It will be appreciated that the trailer described herein enables rapid loading and unloading of bales. For example it is typically possible for a single operator to load or unload 119 (six piles of 17 bales) or 147 (six piles of 21 bales) small bales in approximately 10 minutes.

By way of example only, in the trailer described with reference to the drawings, the platform 101 typically has a width of approximately from 2.13 m to 2.25 m and a length off approximately 5.7 m.

The upper surface of the platform is typically spaced from 40 cm to 60 cm, preferably from 45 cm to 50 cm, above ground level.

The trailer described herein may be modified.

For example a single wheeled axle may be provided for the chassis. Other forms of adjustable side walls may also be provided.

Claims

1. A bale-transporting trailer comprising a wheeled chassis supporting a load-carrying platform, hitch means at the front of the chassis for hitching the trailer to an agricultural vehicle, first wall means extending above the platform at the front end of the latter, second wall means extending above the platform along each side of the latter, said first and second wall means and said platform defining an enclosure for bales, ramp means mounted at the rear of the chassis for pivotal movement between a downwardly inclined, ground-engaging lower position for enabling loading and unloading of bales into and from the enclosure and an elevated position for closing the enclosure, hydraulically operated actuating means for raising the ramp means from its lower position to its elevated position, catch means for automatically locking the ramp means in the elevated position on pivotal movement of the ramp means into the elevated position and release means operable to unlock the catch means to enable pivotal movement of the ramp means out of the elevated position.

2. A trailer according to claim 1, in which each second side wall means is adjustably mounted to enable the spacing apart of the second side wall means to be adjusted.

3. A trailer according to claim 2, in which the second wall means are adjustably mounted to enable the separation of at least upper parts of the second wall means to be adjusted.

4. A trailer according to claim 2 or 3, in which the adjustable mounting of each second side wall means is provided by ratchet means.

5. A trailer according to claim 1, in which each second side wall means comprises a fixed lower rail, at least one post pivotally mounted on the lower rail, first ratchet means for adjusting the inclination of the or each post, an upper rail attached to the or each post and second ratchet means for adjustably connecting the front end of the upper rail to the first wall means.

6. A trailer according to claim 5, in which the height of the upper rail above the platform is adjustably positionable into any one of at least two pre-set positions.

7. A trailer according to any of the preceding claims, which is double-axled.

8. A trailer according to any of the preceding claims, in which the upper surface of the said platform is spaced from 40 cm to 60 cm above ground level.

9. A trailer according to claim 8, in which the upper surface of the said platform is spaced from 45 cm to 50 cm above ground level.

10. A trailer according to any of the preceding claims, in which the actuating means comprise at least one double acting hydraulic ram designed to be operated from a hydraulic supply of an agricul tural vehicle.

11. A trailer according to claim 10, in which the ramp means are pivotable both upwardly and downwardly between the lower and elevated positions by the ram(s).

12. A trailer according to any of claims 1 to 9, in which the actuating means comprise at least one single acting hydraulic ram.

13. A trailer according to claim 12, in which the release means include spring means for initiating downward pivotal movement of the ramp means from its elevated position on unlocking of the catch means.

14. A trailer according to any of the preceding claims, in which the catch means comprise at least one catch, the or each catch including a pivoting locking bar designed to pivotally move into a locking position relative to a fixed locking piece on movement of the ramp means into the said elevated position.

15. A trailer according to claim 14, in which the release means include at least one pivotal cam, the or each cam being actuable to pivot the said locking bar out of its said locking position.

16. A trailer according to claim 15, in which the release means includes a lever positioned at the front of the trailer operable to pivot the at least one cam.

17. A bale-transporting trailer constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.