Apparatus for lifting and transporting large bales of material

Claim 1

Apparatus for picking up and transporting one or more large bales of material, such as large cylindrical bales of hay, said apparatus comprising inverted, substantially U-shaped members; elongate frame members joining the mutual legs of the respective U-shaped members to provide a load-carrying chamber defined by the frame members at the respective sides, and the U-shaped members at the front and rear ends, respectively; a pair of wheels mounted at the respective sides of the load carrying chamber; means for connecting the apparatus to a motive vehicle; a pair of elongate, load-lifting structures pivotally attached to respective sides of the load-carrying chamber, said load-lifting structures comprising respective lowermost elongate lift members extending substantially the length of and substantially parallel to the respective sides of the load-carrying chamber, said lift members being pivotally attached to the respective sides of the load-carrying chamber by respective sets of arm members, so that the lift members can be moved in a swinging motion outwardly and upwardly from lowered positions adjacent to the lower sides of the load-carrying chamber to elevated positions extending outwardly from the respective sides and upwardly from the bottom of the load-carrying chamber and back to the lowered positions; at least one track means extending substantially transversely from the top of one of the sides to the top of the other side of the load-carrying chamber; a pair of carriages for each track means, said carriages being adapted to move outwardly along the track means from the respective sides of the load-carrying chamber; longitudinally expandable force members connected at mutually respective ends thereof to the respective carriages, with the mutually opposite ends of the expandable force members being connected to the respective load-lifting structures, whereby when the expandable force members are in their fully extended position, the carriages are positioned adjacent to the respective sides of the load-carrying chamber with the force members extending downwardly therefrom substantially alongside the respective sides of the load-carrying chamber, and when the expandable force members are shortened, the load-lifting structures move into their elevated position and the carriages move toward the center of the load-carrying chamber so as to maintain the expandable force members in substantially vertical position, thereby exerting maximum force on the load-lifting structure.