Interlocking panel haystack cover

Claim 1

The combination of a stack of baled agricultural feed material and a frameless, stack-supported gable roof therefor, said stack including a row of bales forming a ridge extending along the top of the stack intermediate its lateral edges, with the roof resting directly on the bales and spanning the lateral edges and ridge-forming row, said roof comprising a multiplicity of elongate flexible panels having corrugations extending along their length, each of said panels including a pair of oppositely inclined gable expanses integrally joined together at an apex in an inverted-V configuration, said panels being disposed side-to-side, transversely of said ridge, with their adjacent margins overlapped and with the apex of each panel disposed above the ridge-forming row of bales, means interconnecting the overlapping adjacent margins of the panels, each expanse of one panel including female connector means in operative interconnection with male connector means on an adjacent expanse of another panel, said female and male connector means being disposed within similar marginal corrugations in said one and other panels, respectively, configured and positioned to interengage during an assembly sequence for said roof which comprises first lifting of said one panel at its apex, whereupon its oppositely inclined gable expanses flex toward each other, then lowering the panel onto said other panel in marginal overlapping relationship, whereupon engagement of the respective male and female connector means occurs as the gable expanses flex away from each other, and means extending between the panels and the stack, tying them to the stack.