Apparatus for controlling both the push off feet and the tier forming table of a bale wagon

Claim 2

A bale wagon adapted to pick up bales, form said bales into a stack, and deposit the stack upon the ground, comprising: a. a chassis; b. a tier forming table pivotally mounted to the chassis and adapted to accummulate a tier of bales, the tier forming table being movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; c. a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack discharge position; d. stack push off means mounted on said chassis for movement thereof between a forward retracted position and a rearward extended position; and e. means interconnecting said tier forming table and said push off means for selectively moving said tier forming table between lowered and raised positions while maintaining the push off means in said forward retracted position, or said push off means between said forward and rearward positions while said tier forming table is maintained in its lowered position.

Claim 3

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said push off means comprises a pair of push off bars; and said moving means includes an interconnecting mechanism, one end of which being operably associated with said tier forming table and the other end being connected to the movable push off bars to control and coordinate the operation of the push off bars and the tier forming table with respect to each other.

Claim 4

A bale wagon adapted to pick up bales, form said bales into a stack, and deposit the stack upon the ground, comprising: a. a chassis; b. a tier forming table pivotally mounted to the chassis and adapted to accummulate a tier of bales, and tier forming table being movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; c. a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack discharge position; d. stack push off means mounted on said chassis for movement thereof between a forward retracted position and a rearward extended position; and e. means for selectively moving said tier foRming table between lowered and raised positions while maintaining the push off means in said forward retracted position, or said push off means between said forward and rearward positions while said tier forming table is maintained in its lowered position, said means for moving includes an activating mechanism, one end of the activating mechanism being substantially stationary during the movement of said tier forming table, and the other end of the activating mechanism being substantially stationary during the movement of the push off means.

Claim 5

A bale wagon adapted to pick up bales, form said bales into a stack, and deposit the stack upon the ground, comprising: a. a chassis; b. a tier forming table pivotally mounted to the chassis and adapted to accummulate a tier of bales, and tier forming table being movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; c. a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack discharge position; d. stack push off means mounted on said chassis for movement thereof between a forward retracted position and a rearward extended position; and e. means for selectively moving said tier foRming table between lowered and raised positions while maintaining the push off means in said forward retracted position, or said push off means between said forward and rearward positions while said tier forming table is maintained in its lowered position, said means for moving includes an activating mechanism, one end of the activating mechanism being substantially stationary during the movement of said tier forming table, and the other end of the activating mechanism being substantially stationary during the movement of the push off means.

Claim 6

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 3 wherein said activating mechanism includes an extendible and retractable hydraulic cylinder having relatively movable rod and barrel portions, one of said portions being substantially stationary under conditions where the tier forming table is moved, and the other portion being substantially stationary under conditions where the push off means are moved.

Claim 7

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 4 wherein said push off means comprises a pair of push off bars, and said means for moving further includes: a. a cylinder roller track mounted on said chassis between said push off bars for maintaining the barrel portion of said hydraulic cylinder in a particular direction during its operation; b. a plurality of cables having one of their ends rigidly connected to said push off bars, and their other end rigidly secured to the cylinder roller track; c. a pair of rearwardly positioned pulleys horizontally mounted to the chassis at a position to the rear of the cylinder roller track and between the push off bars and said cylinder roller track for supporting and directing the locating of said cables; d. a pair of forwardly positioned pulleys horizontally mounted to either side of the forwardmost end of the cylinder roller track for supporting and directing the location of said cables; e. a cylinder, pulley and roller assembly mounted to the rear of the barrel end of said hydraulic cylinder and positioned within said cylinder roller track, said cylinder, pulley and roller assembly having a pair of vertically mounted pulleys for supporting and directing the location of said cables; and f. a pair of springs having one end mounted to said chassis and their other end mounted to the forwardmost end of said pushoff bars to bias said pushoff bars in said forward or retracted position during the stack forming operation of the bale wagon; whereby upon the securing of the portion of said cylinder which controls the movement of the tier forming table, the activation of said cylinder will cause the cylinder, pulley and roller assembly to move longitudinally within said cylinder roller track causing a force to be exerted and transmitted through the cables and around the pulleys thereby moving and extending said push off bars in a rearward direction.

Claim 8

A bale wagon adapted to pick up bales, form the bales into a stack, and deposit the stack upon the ground, which comprises: a. a chassis; b. a tier forming table pivotally secured to said chassis and movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; c. a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear end of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack depositing position; d. means mounted on said chassis for engaging the raised stack, and adapted for movement between a rearward extended position and a forward retracted position; e. an extendable and retractable hydraulic cylinder supported by said chassis, one end of the cylinder being interconnected to said tier forming table for movement of said tier forming table between said lowered position and said raised position, and the other end of the cylinder being operably associated with said engaging means for movement of said engaging means from said retracted forward position to said extended rearward position; and f. means for automaticAlly latching one end or the other end of said hydraulic cylinder to prevent movement of the respective latched end of said cylinder so that the operation of said hydraulic cylinder can be controlled for performing either of said movements.

Claim 9

A bale wagon adapted to pick up bales, form the bales into a stack, and deposit the stack upon the ground, which comprises: a. a chassis; b. a tier forming table pivotally secured to said chassis and movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; c. a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear end of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack depositing position; d. means mounted on said chassis for engaging the raised stack, and adapted for movement between a rearward extended position and a forward retracted position; e. an extendable and retractable hydraulic cylinder supported by said chassis, one end of the cylinder being interconnected to said tier forming table for movement of said tier forming table between said lowered position and said raised position, and the other end of the cylinder being operably associated with said engaging means for movement of said engaging means from said retracted forward position to said extended rearward position; and f. means for automaticAlly latching one end or the other end of said hydraulic cylinder to prevent movement of the respective latched end of said cylinder so that the operation of said hydraulic cylinder can be controlled for performing either of said movements.

Claim 10

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 6 wherein said means for automatically latching comprises: a. a hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism connected to said other end of said cylinder for maintaining said other end of the cylinder in a fixed position so that upon activation of the cylinder it will move said tier forming table; b. a tier forming table latch mechanism operably associated with said one end of said cylinder and interconnected to said second table for maintaining said tier forming table in its lowered position thereby maintaining said one end of said cylinder in a fixed position so that upon activation of said cylinder it will move said engaging means; and c. a load rack sensor mechanism for automatically controlling the operation of both the hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism and the tier forming table latch mechanism.

Claim 11

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 7 wherein the load rack sensor mechanism comprises: a. a rotatable shaft mounted on said chassis; b. an extension rigidly mounted to one end of the shaft; c. a rod interconnecting the extension and said tier forming table latch mechanism to control and coordinate the engagement or disengagement of said tier forming table latch mechanism with the movement of the rod; d. a hook rigidly mounted to said rod and positioned along said rod in the immediate vicinity of said hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism; e. a control member connecting the hook and said hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism to control and coordinate the engagement and disengagement of said hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism with the movement of said rod; and f. means for automatically activating the load rack sensor mechanism to automatically control the engagement or disengagement of said hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism and said tier forming table latch mechanism.

Claim 12

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 8 wherein the means for activating the load rack sensor mechanism comprises: a. a rigid member having one end connected to said rotatable shaft, and its other end extending from said rotatable shaft to a position adjacent the front face of the engaging means; b. a plurality of brackets having one end connected to said chassis and another end supporting the rigid member; c. means for biasing said rigid member in a position adjacent the front face of said engaging means so that movement by said engaging means in a forward direction will impart a corresponding movement to said rigid member thereby activating the load rack sensor mechanism in such a way as to engage said tier forming table latch mechanism while simultaneously disengaging the hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism, and alternatively, to disengage said tier forming table latch mechanism while simultaneously engaging the hydraulic cylinder latch mechanism when said engaging means are moved rearwardly and returned to their initial position.

Claim 13

The bale wagon as set forth in claim 9 wherein the means for biasing comprises a plurality of springs spaced along said rigid member, said plurality of springs having one of their respective ends fixed to the brackets and their other ends fixed to said rigid member.

Claim 14

An improved bale wagon having a wheel supported chassis structure; a tier forming table pivotally mounted to the chassis and adapted to accummulate a tier of bales, the tier forming table being movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear end of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack discharge position, said load bed having a pair of openings defined in a floor thereof; a pair of push off bars moUnted on said chassis for longitudinal movement thereof between a forward retracted position and a rearward extended position; a pair of push off feet mounted to the rear most end of the push off bars, said bars being in alignment with and capable of passing through said respective openings in the floor of said load bed when said load bed is in its discharge position; wherein the improvement comprises: means interconnecting said tier forming table and said push off bars for selectively moving said tier forming table between its lowered and raised positions while maintaining the push off bars in their forward retracted position, or said push off bars between their forward and rearward positions while said tier forming table is maintained in its lowered position.

Claim 15

An improved bale wagon having a wheel supported chassis structure; a tier forming table pivotally mounted to the chassis and adapted to accummulate a tier of bales, the tier forming table being movable between a lowered tier forming position and a raised stack forming position; a load bed pivotally mounted at the rear of said chassis and positioned to the rear end of said tier forming table, and movable between a lowered stack forming position and a raised stack discharge position, said load bed having a pair of openings defined in a floor thereof; a pair of push off bars moUnted on said chassis for longitudinal movement thereof between a forward retracted position and a rearward extended position; a pair of push off feet mounted to the rear most end of the push off bars, said bars being in alignment with and capable of passing through said respective openings in the floor of said load bed when said load bed is in its discharge position; wherein the improvement comprises: means interconnecting said tier forming table and said push off bars for selectively moving said tier forming table between its lowered and raised positions while maintaining the push off bars in their forward retracted position, or said push off bars between their forward and rearward positions while said tier forming table is maintained in its lowered position.