Baled hay handling apparatus

Apparatus adapted to be attached to the boom arms of a conventional tractor supported front end loader for use in engaging, lifting, unrolling and performing other handling requirements of a large rolled round bale of hay. The apparatus includes frame elements designed to be operatively and removably secured to the boom arms of a front end loader to provide operating support for a pair of horizontally spaced and adjustable bale clamping arms, with an actuator operatively connected to the bale clamping arms and operable of effecting adjustment of the bale clamping arms between a closed bale clamping position and an open bale release and receiving position. A pair of disk elements are coaxially and rotatably mounted on the extended ends of the bale clamping arms and detailed to include bale engaging projections whereby a bale can be engaged and rotatably supported by the disk elements between the clamping arms. Conventional adjustment of the boom arms will permit the bale to be elevated in loading and other bale handling operations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The recent trends in handling hay in a cattle feeding operation is to 
process, by rolling and compressing, the hay into very large rolls. These 
large rolls will allow one single roll of hay to contain an amount equal 
to many small bales and will thus reduce the amount of labor required to 
effectively handle the hay during gathering, hauling, storing and feeding. 
Further, these large rolls of hay can be more effectively stored in the 
open air with a reduced loss of product due to spoiled or damaged hay. 
One problem that develops due to the creation of these large rolls of hay 
is the provision of effective equipment for handling the large hay rolls, 
since their size will prevent individuals from handling the large rolls of 
hay. 
A number of attempts have been made to develop apparatus which can be used 
in the handling of large hay rolls. However, the prior art apparatus 
require special vehicle means or require considerable modification to 
existing equipment. 
Certain of the prior art apparatus is designed to elevate and load the 
large hay rolls onto vehicle transport means, with additional apparatus 
required for unrolling the bales in a cattle feeding operation. 
Further, the prior art apparatus is complex in construction, expensive to 
manufacture, and often unreliable in operation. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The above indicated disadvantages have been overcome by the present 
invention which basically includes a hay handling attachment which can be 
added to the boom arms of a conventional front end loader and can be used 
in elevating and loading the large hay rolls onto vehicle transport means, 
can be used to retrieve large hay rolls from a stored location, and can be 
used to unroll the hay rolls during a cattle feeding operation. 
A primary object of the present invention is to provide hay handling 
equipment which can be easily added to or removed from the conventional 
boom arms of tractor supported front end loader, without modification of 
the boom arms. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a rolled hay 
handling apparatus which will effect an unrolling of the hay by supporting 
the hay in contact with a surface and by producing rolling movement of the 
hay roll relative to the surface. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a hay handling 
attachment which can be added to the boom arms of a conventional front end 
loader and can be remotely operated during a hay handling operation. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a front end loader 
attached hay handling apparatus which includes adjustment means 
independent of the front end loader. 
Additional objects and advantages of the details of construction will 
become apparent after reading the following description of the preferred 
embodiment with reference to the attached drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings, the hay handling apparatus embodying the 
principles of the present invention will be described relative to a 
conventional tractor supported front end loader having a pair of boom arms 
10, 11 with hydraulic cylinder means 14 used for effecting elevating 
adjustment of the boom arms. The hay handling apparatus of the present 
invention will be described relative to boom arm attached frame elements 
20, 21, bale clamping arms 40, 41, bale supporting disk 30, 31, and 
clamping arms adjustment means 50. 
As shown in FIG. 1, the front end loader boom arms 10, 11 are pivotally 
supported by frame standards 15 which are attached to a conventional farm 
tractor 16, with cylinders 14 being used to effect elevating adjustment of 
the boom arms. To utilize the hay handling apparatus of the present 
invention, the conventional loading bucket (not shown) is removed from the 
foward ends of boom arms 10, 11 and a pair of frame elements 20, 21 are 
clamped to the arms as shown in FIGS. 1-4. Elongated frame element 20 is 
fabricated from conventional stock material and is provided with a pair of 
end plates 20a, 20b which provide a pivotal support for clamping arms 40, 
41 as will be described below. Frame element 20 is transversely and 
horizontally oriented beneath boom arms 10, 11 and is clamped thereto by a 
pair of conventional U-bolt clamping elements 22, 23 (FIG. 3). Frame 
element 21 is transversely and horizontally oriented above boom arms 10, 
11 and is secured thereto by conventional U-bolt clamping elements 24, 25 
(FIG. 4). The frame elements 20, 21 can be easily added to or removed from 
the boom arms 10, 11 effecting adjustment of the U-bolt clamping elements. 
As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, the pair of clamping arms 40, 41 are 
pivotally supported of frame element end plates 20a, 20b, respectively by 
pivot pins 40a, 40b. Pivot pins 40a, 40b are coaxially aligned and extend 
through slot-type openings 45 formed adjacent the ends of clamping arms 
40, 41. The slot-type openings 45 will permit both vertical adjustment of 
the clamping arms 40, 41 about the axis of pivot pins 40a, 40b and lateral 
adjustment of the clamping arms 40, 41 between an open bale receiving and 
release position and a closed bale clamping position. 
A vertical adjustment of clamping arms 40, 41 relative to boom arms 10, 11 
is effected by a flexible cable assembly 26 which includes a number of 
cable clamping elements 27. Opposite ends of cable 26 are inserted down 
through openings (not shown) formed adjacent opposite ends of frame 
element 21 with ends of cable 26 being inserted around and through 
openings (not shown) formed in clamping arms 40, 41 (FIGS. 1 and 4). The 
clamping elements 27 are utilized to secure the opposite ends of cable 26 
with a pair of clamping elements 27 being secured to cable 26 above frame 
element 21 to hold the clamping arms 40, 41 in a selected adjusted 
position. Vertical adjustment of clamping arms 40, 41 relative to boom 
arms 10, 11 can be accomplished by adjusting the position of clamping 
elements 27 along cable 26. The use of flexible cable 26 will serve both 
to secure the clamping arms 40, 41 in an adjusted position relative to 
boom arms 10, 11 and will permit lateral adjustment of the clamping arms 
between the open and closed positions. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, lateral adjustment of clamping arms 40, 41 
between the open and closed positions is effected by an actuator assembly 
50 which includes a conventional hydraulic cylinder 51 having an operable 
piston rod 52. One end of cylinder 51 is pivotally connected at 53 to 
clamping arm 41 with an extended end of piston rod 52 being pivotally 
connected at 54 to an actuator link 55. Actuator link 55 includes a pair 
of overlapping link elements 55a, 55b which can be adjusted in length by 
conventional bolt and opening adjustment means 56. An opposite end of link 
55 is pivotally connected at 57 to clamping arm 40. The actuator assembly 
50 is detailed in length when in the fully closed clamping position to 
include an over-center relationship relative to frame element 20. The 
over-center relationship of actuator assembly 50 will insure an outward 
swinging movement of clamping arms 40, 41 to an open position in response 
to expansion of cylinder 51. A limit of the over-center relationship of 
actuator assembly 50 is maintained by a chain element 58 which is 
connected between frame element 20 and actuator assembly 50 (FIG. 2). 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of bale supporting disks 30, 31 are 
rotatably supported adjacent the forward ends of arms 40, 41 by 
conventional bearings 30a, 31a. Disks 30, 31 are supported for coaxial 
rotation about a horizontal transverse axis. Each of the disks 30, 31 
include a number of inwardly projecting spikes 30b, 31b. Spikes 30b, 31b 
are detailed for penetrating the sides of a large round bale of hay, 
generally, represented by number 100 (FIG. 2). 
In operation, the boom arm cylinders 14 and clamping arm cylinder 51 are 
remotely operated from the seat of the supporting tractor by conventional 
control means (not shown). To effect handling of a large round bale of 
hay, the boom arms 10, 11 are adjusted to the needed elevation to position 
the clamping disks 30, 31 which are adjusted to the open bale receiving 
position, adjacent opposite ends of a bale. Cylinder 51 is then adjusted 
to cause spikes 30b, 31b to pierce the bale and securely clamp disk 30, 31 
against the ends of bale 100. Boom arms 10, 11 can then be adjusted to 
lift bale 100 to a desired elevation, either for loading onto a transport 
vehicle or for transport by the supporting tractor to a desired location. 
Unrolling the bale 100 can be accomplished in a cattle feeding operation by 
lowering bale 100 into contact with a supporting surface and driving the 
tractor either forward or backward, depending on the direction of winding 
of the hay around bale 100. 
A clamped and supported bale can be deposited when desired by operating 
cylinder 51 to move clamping arms 40, 41 to an open position which will 
withdraw spikes 30b, 31b from the ends of a supported bale. 
While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using 
specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it 
is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without 
departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.