Bale stooking machines

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR STACKING A GROUP OF ARTICLES IN PRISMATIC STACK RELATION COMPRISING A STACK SUPPORT, A CONVEYOR FOR RECEIVING ARTICLES AT INTERVALS OF A PREDETERMINED LENGTH AND HAVING A DELIVERY END, MEANS FOR DETECTING RECEIPT OF AN ARTICLE UPON SAID CONVEYOR, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID DETECTOR FOR INITIATING MOVEMENT OF SAID ARTICLE TOWARD SAID DELIVERY END, AN INDEXING MECHANISM HAVING A STORED PROGRAM OF CONVEYOR DELIVERY POSITIONS, CONVEYOR POSITIONING MEANS CONTROLLED BY SAID INDEXING MECHANISM FOR DIRECTING DELIVERY OF EACH ARTICLE RECEIVED INTO CONSECUTIVE HORIZONTALLY ADJACENT STACK POSITIONS IN EACH TIER COMMENCING WITH AN END POSITION OF THE BOTTOM TIER AND TERMINATING WITH THE DELIVERY OF AN ARTICLE TO A TERMINAL POSITION OF A TOP TIER OF SAID STACK, SAID POSITIONING MEANS COMPRISING DRIVE MEANS OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO SAID DETECTING MEANS TO POSITION SAID CONVEYOR WITHIN SAID INTERVAL AND FOLLOWING DELIVERY OF THE DETECTED ARTICLE, SAID DRIVE MEANS BEING DISABLED UNDER CONTROL OF SAID INDEXING MECHANISM UPON COMPLETION OF EACH POSITIONING OPERATION, AND MEANS FOR ADVANCING SAID INDEXING MECHANISM CONCURRENTLY WITH OPERATION OF SAID POSITIONING MEANS.