Patent ID: 6171046
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: A01D

Abstract:
Apparatus for retrieving and stacking elongated bales in a multi-tier stack with bales of each tier oriented ninety degrees relative to bales in an adjacent tier of the stack, said apparatus including, in combination:a mobile frame;a support platform rotatable mounted on said mobile frame having an upper bale support surface, said upper bale support surface being disposed in a horizontal plane and rotatable in said horizontal plane;bale engagement and transport means connected to said mobile frame for engaging bales on the ground seriatim during movement of said mobile frame and for individually transporting each engaged bale from the ground to a predetermined location on the upper bale support surface of said support platform;bale displacement means for contacting a bale supported by said support platform at said predetermined location to displace the bale contacted thereby along the upper bale support surface thereof away from said predetermined location to provide room at said predetermined location for another bale subsequently transported by said bale engagement and transport means to said predetermined location, said bale displacement means including a pusher member movably mounted to said support platform for pushing bales on said upper bale support surface to form a row of bales disposed side by side and oriented in the same direction; andsupport platform rotating means for rotating the support platform ninety degrees after formation of a row of bales on said upper bale support surface to rotate the upper bale support surface in said horizontal plane and change the orientation of the bales in the row of bales supported thereby ninety degrees.