Method and apparatus for transporting and processing multiple round bales

Large round bales are picked up in the field by forcing the inclined bed of the machine beneath the bales while simultaneously drawing them onto the bed with a conveyor chain. With the bed leveled, the bales can be transported end-to-end to a feeding location and, while still moving, thereupon successively transferred laterally to an outboard disintegrating unit which drops the material in a continuous stream to the ground or into a feed bunk. After each lateral transfer and outboard disintegration, the bales are advanced along the bed until the next succeeding bale is in position for processing. Alternative forms of lateral transfer apparatus include a lift that swings a bale upwardly off the bed and into the disintegrating unit, a ramp that cocks the bale toward the disintegrating unit in position for an overhead door to sweep the cocked bale into the unit, and an overhead feeder that reaches across the bed and draws the bale into the unit.

This invention relates to feeding a body of crop material, such as a small 
stack or large bale, to livestock while on the move. Numerous devices are 
presently commercially available to ranchers and stockmen for achieving 
this style of rapid, one-man feeding, but heretofore they have all 
utilized a disintegrating unit located at the leading end of the machine 
in such a position that the operator of a tractor towing the machine has 
an obstructed view of activity behind the disintegrating unit. Where the 
machine is self-loading by virtue of a bed that may be tilted rearwardly 
to the ground and then backed under the haystack or other crop body to be 
processed, the loading procedure may be difficult for the operator because 
of his poor visibility. 
Therefore, one important object of the present invention is to achieve at 
least the same quality of crop disintegration as prior machines having 
disintegrating units "in line" with their load-carrying beds but avoid the 
problem of poor visibility. 
Pursuant to the foregoing object, it is an important aim of this invention 
to locate the disintegrating unit laterally outboard of the bed, outside 
of the normal line of vision of the operator to the rear of the machine, 
such as to provide excellent visibility for loading and other purposes 
while at the same time obtaining the virtues of dropping the disintegrated 
material directly from the unit in a windrow alongside the advancing 
machine. 
An additional important object of this invention is to mount the 
disintegrating unit in such a way that the bed may be tilted to the ground 
for self-loading without interference from and without supporting the 
weight of the disintegrating unit. 
Another important object of this invention is to provide lateral transfer 
apparatus between the bed and the disintegrating unit which is so 
effective that positive, controlled transfer of a crop body from the bed 
to the disintegrating unit can be carried out even where the bed utilizes 
a pair of spaced, for-and-aft extending beams for supporting large round 
bales which tend to sag down between the beams during transport and 
thereby normally resist lateral transfer. 
Pursuant to the foregoing object, another important goal of this invention 
is to provide alternative forms of such transfer apparatus, including a 
lift that swings a body upwardly off the bed and into the disintegrating 
unit, a ramp that cocks the body toward the disintegrating unit in 
position for an overhead feeder to sweep the cocked body into the unit, 
and an overhead feeder that reaches across the bed and draws the body 
progressively into the unit. 
A still further object of this invention is to provide in conjunction with 
at least certain of the foregoing alternative lateral transfer 
apparatuses, the capability of loading the machine from either the front 
or rear thereof by tilting the bed to the ground in either direction and 
conveying the bales up the inclined bed without interference from the 
apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGS. 1-7 
The machine has a wheeled chassis 20 that includes a transverse box beam 
22, a pair of rotatable ground wheels 24 at opposite ends of the box beam 
22, and a towing tongue 26 extending forwardly from box beam 22 adjacent 
the right end of the latter as viewed from the rear of the machine. The 
tongue 26 and the box beam 22 are pivotally interconnected for buckling 
the chassis 20 about a transverse axis slightly forward of the box beam 
22, such connection being accomplished by a pair of laterally spaced, 
aligned, horizontal pivots 28. A fluid pressure piston and cylinder device 
30 interconnects upright, rigid lugs 32 and 34 on the tongue 26 and the 
box beam 22 respectively to effect powered buckling of chassis 20 about 
pivots 28 in response to extension and retraction of the ram 36 of 
hydraulic device 30. 
The box beam 22 rigidly carries a fore-and-aft extending bed 38 which may 
take several different forms depending upon the character of the crop body 
to be handled by the machine. For the purposes of illustration, the bed 38 
is shown as being especially suited for handling large round bales and 
therefore is formed by a pair of laterally spaced, fore-and-aft extending 
beams 40 and 42 fixed substantially at their midpoints to the box beam 22 
for movement therewith during buckling of the chassis 20. As a result of 
this fixed relationship between bed 38 and box beam 22, upon extension of 
the ram 36 of hydraulic device 30, the bed 38 may be tilted rearwardly to 
the ground as illustrated in FIG. 7 as the chassis 20 buckles about pivots 
28 and the box beam 22 rotates clockwise relative to the ground wheels 24 
about their axis of rotation. A loading conveyor 44 on the bed 38 is in 
the nature of a pair of endless chains 46 looped longitudinally about the 
beams 40 and 42 so that the chains 46 are exposed along the top 
longitudinal surfaces of the beams 40, 42. The chains 46 may be driven 
along the beams 40 and 42 by a reversible hydraulic motor 48 coupled with 
a drive shaft 50 common to the two chains 46, the motor 48 and shaft 50 
being disposed rearwardly adjacent the box beam 22. 
The tongue 26 is of a two-part construction, having a rearmost stationary 
section 52 that connects to the box beam 22 through pivots 28, and a 
forwardmost, laterally swingable section 54 that connects to a towing 
vehicle (not shown) through a hitch 56 at its forward end. A vertical 
pivot 58 (FIG. 4) between the sections 52 and 54 provides the forwardmost 
section 54 with its swingability, and a hydraulic piston and cylinder 
device 60 between laterally projecting lugs 62 and 64 on sections 52 and 
54 provides powered swinging of section 54. Such an arrangement permits 
the machine to be towed directly behind the point of connection with the 
towing vehicle as illustrated in FIG. 1, or off to the left side thereof 
when the ram 66 of hydraulic device 60 is retracted such as to bring 
sections 52 and 54 into longitudinal alignment with one another. 
The stationary section 52 carries an upstanding disintegrating unit 68 that 
is disposed laterally outboard of the bed 38 with respect to the path of 
travel of the latter. As shown best in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, a pair of 
depending legs 70 and 72 on the unit 68 are fastened by two-part clamps 74 
and 76 respectively, to the stationary section 52 at the lowermost ends of 
legs 70, 72 while sockets 78 and 80 on the upper ends of legs 70 and 72 
respectively complementally receive a fore-and-aft structural pipe 82 of 
unit 68. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5 the pipe 82 has for each leg 70 
and 72 an upper clamp half 84 fixed thereto which is bolted against a 
lower clamp half 86 fixed to the corresponding leg 70, 72. By virtue of 
this mounting on the stationary tongue section 52, the disintegrating unit 
68 remains stationary during any tilting activity of the bed 38 such as 
during loading thereof as illustrated in FIG. 7. 
The unit 68 further includes a box-like housing 88 having an open front 90 
along the bed 38; a rear wall 92 spaced laterally outboard of the front 
90; a pair of opposite fore-and-aft spaced sidewalls 94 and 96; and a top 
wall 98. A floor 100 (FIG. 2) within the housing 88 overlies the 
structural pipe 82 and terminates at its laterally outboard end 102 
inwardly of the rear wall 92, thereby presenting a gap that defines a 
discharge opening 104 whose lateral dimensions may be varied by adjusting 
the angular position of a depending baffle 106 on the rear wall 92. 
The unit 68 further includes one or more fore-and-aft extending 
disintegrating rotors 108 and 110 disposed within housing 88 and supported 
by the latter for rotation about axes 112 and 114 respectively. The rolls 
108 and 110 are superimposed one above the other with the top roll 108 
offset slightly outboard of the roll 110 as illustrated best in FIG. 2. 
Drive mechanism 116 carried by the housing 88 on sidewall 96 may be 
operably connected to the power takeoff shaft (not shown) of the towing 
vehicle through a suitable driven shaft (not shown) extending along and 
carried by the front section 54 of the tongue 26, the rotors 108 and 110 
preferably both being driven in a clockwise direction viewing FIG. 2. The 
rotors 108 and 110 may be of any suitable construction, preferably being 
provided with a plurality of peripheral knives (not shown) that are 
capable of chewing into crop material presented thereto with sufficient 
aggressiveness to thoroughly reduce large slugs of the material, thereby 
enabling the disintegrated material to flow smoothly through the unit 68 
and out the discharge opening 104 in a continuous stream. 
In order to transfer a body of crop material from the bed 38 into the unit 
68, lateral transfer apparatus 118 is provided. In FIGS. 1-7, the 
apparatus 118 takes the form of a lift 120 mounted on the bed 38 for 
swinging movement about a fore-and-aft axis 122 (FIGS, 2, 3, 4 and 6) 
between a lowered position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 2 and a 
raised position illustrated in phantom lines in that Figure. The swinging 
axis 122 of lift 120 is located laterally outboard of the bed 38 generally 
between the latter and the disintegrating unit 68. Viewing FIGS. 2, 3, 4 
and 6 in particular, it may be seen that such outboard disposition of the 
axis 122 is accomplished by three mounting arms 124, 126 and 128 that 
extend laterally outwardly from the beam 40 of bed 38 and are spaced apart 
in a fore-and-aft direction, the arm 124 being rearwardly remote from the 
other arms 126 and 128 which are forwardly disposed in a closely spaced 
pair. At its outermost end the arm 124 carries a pivot 130, while the arms 
126 and 128 at their outermost ends cooperate to carry a pivot 132, the 
pivots 130 and 132 in turn defining the swinging axis 122. 
Again with particular reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 6, it may be seen that 
the pivot 130 has a set of mounting lugs 134 extending inwardly and 
upwardly therefrom which are rigidly joined with a square structural tube 
136 of the lift 120 that spans the arms 124, 126 and 128, the tube 136 in 
turn being connected to the front pivot 132 by way of a second set of 
inwardly and upwardly extending mounting lugs 138. FIG. 6 reveals details 
of construction at the forward end of the lift 120 and shows that a 
hydraulic piston and cylinder device 140 (also shown in FIG. 2, 3 and 4) 
is connected between a depending ear 142 on beam 40 and a small depending 
ear 144 on tube 136 between arms 126 and 128 for supplying the power 
necessary to swing the lift 120 between its raised and lowered positions. 
Extending across the bed 38 from the forward end of the structural tube 136 
is a cantilever member 146 that is spaced slightly above the beams 40 and 
42 and terminates laterally outwardly beyond the beam 42. Vertical plates 
150 and 152 depend from member 146 on opposite sides of the beam 42 and 
have rearwardly extending panels 154 and 156 respectively at their lower 
extremities that cooperate to define the load-supporting surface of the 
lift 120. The panel 156 throughout its major portion, extends parallel to 
the member 146, while the outer panel 154 slopes downwardly and inwardly 
with respect to member 146. A third panel 158 located between the beam 40 
and the structural tube 136 is carried on the latter by a pair of short 
arms 160 and 162 (FIG. 4) laterally adjacent the mounting arms 124 and 126 
respectively. Panel 158 slopes upwardly and outwardly toward the unit 68 
in overlapping relationship to an upwardly arched lip 164 (FIGS. 2 and 3) 
of the floor 100 such as to seal off the otherwise open area between panel 
158 and the floor 100. As illustrated best in FIG. 3, the lip 164 extends 
substantially the full fore-and-aft distance between the pivots 130 and 
132, being substantially concentric with their common axis 122. 
OPERATION OF FIGS. 1-7 
From the foregoing it should be apparent that the disintegrating unit 68 
remains stationary with the tongue 26 during loading of a crop body, while 
the lift 120 tilts with the bed 38 relative to unit 68 about the axes of 
rotation of the ground wheels 24, all as shown in FIG. 7. Having tilted 
the rear of the bed 38 to the ground as in FIG. 7 by extending the ram 36 
of hydraulic device 30 so as to buckle the chassis 20 upwardly about 
pivots 28, the machine is in condition to self-load a crop body such as 
the large cylindrical or "round" bale 166. The bale 166 is centered 
endwise between the beams 40 and 42 so that backing the machine toward 
bale 166, while simultaneously driving the conveyor chains 46 forwardly, 
causes the bale to be progressively drawn onto the beams 40, 42 in 
bridging relationship to the latter. The spacing between beams 40 and 42 
is, of course, less than the diameter of the bale 166 such that the latter 
will in fact be carried by beams 40 and 42 instead of slipping between the 
same, but it will be appreciated that since the bale 166 is engaged at 
circumferentially spaced locations around the bottom thereof, it tends to 
partially settle between beams 40 and 42 and become partially contained 
thereby. 
Once the bale 166 has been drawn onto the bed 38, the latter may be 
re-leveled by retracting the ram 36 of hydraulic device 30 and the machine 
driven to the next bale for loading. The foregoing procedure is then 
repeated until the bed 38 is fully loaded with a series of bales aligned 
end-to-end, the leading bale in the series advancing progressively closer 
to the lift 120 each time an additional bale is added until, finally, the 
leading bale engages the cross member 146 of lift 120 and directly 
overlies the central panel 156. Thereupon, the operator may actuate the 
hydraulic device 140 to swing the lift 120 toward its raised position 
shown in phantom in FIG. 2 such that the leading bale is lifted off the 
bed 38 and progressively transferred laterally into the disintegrating 
rotors 108 and 110 of unit 68. The rotors 108 and 110 progressively 
disintegrate the bale and, if the machine is continuously advancing at 
this time, the disintegrated material simply drops through the discharge 
opening 104 into a windrow either along the ground or within a feed bunk 
alongside the advancing machine. The width of the stream issuing from 
discharge opening 104 may, of course, be varied by shifting the baffle 106 
in a direction to enlarge or decrease the width of opening 104 as may be 
necessary or desirable. 
As the leading bale is swung into the unit 68, the inclined panels 154 and 
158 of the lift 120 cooperate with the central panel 156 thereof so as to 
effectively cradle the bale against escape. Since the bale is circular in 
transverse cross-section, it can have a tendency to roll about its 
longitudinal axis when engaged by the spinning rotors 108 and 110, but the 
containment provided by the cradle-like panels 154, 156 and 158 prevents 
the bale from rolling off lift 120. Note also that the upwardly arched lip 
164 between panel 158 and the floor 100 of unit 68 serves as a sliding 
guide surface for the bale as it swings into the unit 68 and is 
disintegrated. 
After the leading bale has been disintegrated, the lift 120 is lowered to 
its normal position across the bed 38, whereupon the series of bales 
supported by the bed 38 may be advanced forwardly by the conveying chains 
46. When the next leading bale has arrived in a position overlying the 
lift 120, the chains 46 are deactivated, whereupon the lift 120 may again 
be raised to progressively feed the bale into the rotors 108 and 110 for 
disintegration and discharge to the ground or feed bunk. After thorough 
disintegration, the lift 120 is again lowered to its normal position and 
the foregoing cycle repeated until such time as all bales on the bed 38 
have been disintegrated. Then, a new supply may be picked up using the 
loading technique illustrated in FIG. 7. 
Normally, during loading, transport and disintegration of the bales, the 
machine will be positioned directly behind the towing vehicle for the sake 
of convenience, at which time the tongue 26 is articulated as illustrated 
in FIGS. 1 and 4. However, should it become necessary or desirable to 
dispose the machine to the left of the towing vehicle, viewed from the 
rear thereof, the ram 66 of hydraulic device 60 may be retracted such as 
to straighten the tongue 26 and thereby position the bed 38 to the left of 
the vehicle. It is to be understood, of course, that the principles of 
operation remain the same regardless of whether the bed 38 is directly 
behind the towing vehicle or off to one side thereof. 
DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION OF FIGS. 8 AND 9 
The machine illustrated fragmentarily in FIG. 8 utilizes the same chassis 
20 and bed 38 as the machine of FIGS. 1-7. It also uses the same 
disintegrating unit 68, with the exception only that the upper 
disintegrating rotor 108 is disposed directly above its lower counterpart 
110 instead of being laterally offset therefrom. The difference lies in 
the lateral transfer apparatus 200 used to feed a bale from the bed 38 
into the unit 68. 
Apparatus 200 includes a slightly downward concave ramp 202 disposed 
between the beams 40 and 42 and swingably mounted on the beam 40 for 
movement about a fore-and-aft axis 204 between a lowered position 
illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 8 and a cocked position illustrated in 
phantom lines. A hydraulic piston and cylinder device 206 between beam 40 
and ramp 202 supplies the force necessary to shift the latter to its 
cocked position, at which time ramp 202 generally faces the unit 68. 
The apparatus 200 further includes an overhead feeding door 208 mounted by 
brackets 210 and 212 onto the opposite sidewalls 94 and 96 of the housing 
88 for swinging movement about a fore-and-aft axis 214 between the raised 
position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 8 and the lowered position 
illustrated in phantom lines. The location of axis 214 is such that when 
the ramp 202 is cocked upwardly, the door 208 sweeps across the top of 
ramp 202 in close proximity thereto, powered by a pair of hydraulic 
devices 216 and 218 coupled with cranks 220 and 222 respectively, that are 
attached to opposite ends of a torque shaft 224 of the door 208. 
Accordingly, a bale overlying the ramp 202 is first cocked upwardly out of 
the space between the two beams 40 and 42, slightly toward the unit 68. 
Thereupon, the overhead door 208 is swung downwardly toward the rolls 108 
and 110, sweeping the bale off ramp 202 and progressively into the unit 68 
for disintegration. The material obtained from the bale may be directly 
dropped to the ground or into a feed bunk through the discharge opening 
104 in a continuous windrow if the machine is advanced during such 
disintegration. Note that a ledge 226 between the beam 40 and the unit 68 
substantially bridges those two structures so as to facilitate rolling the 
bale into the disintegrating rolls 108, 110. This procedure may be carried 
out several times over until all of the bales on the bed 38 have been 
disintegrated, the ramp 202 and the door 208 being returned to their 
normal lowered and raised positions respectively, following each 
disintegration cycle. 
It is important to note that the lateral transfer apparatus 200 offers an 
advantage over apparatus 118 of the first embodiment in that with 
apparatus 200 the bed 38 may be self-loaded from either end. While the 
cross member 146 of apparatus 118 prevents loading bed 38 from the front 
thereof, there is no such member in apparatus 200 since the ramp 202 is 
safely tucked below the upper surface of beams 40, 42 and the door 208 is 
raised up and out of the way during the loading operation. Hence, with 
apparatus 200, the bed 38 may be tipped forwardly to the ground with the 
machine disposed to the left of the towing vehicle as viewed from the 
rear, and by driving the conveying chains 46 in reverse while forcing the 
beams 40 and 42 forwardly under a ground-supported bale, the latter may be 
drawn up onto the front of the bed 38 until a complete front loaded, 
end-to-end series of the bales is obtained. Such front loading capability 
may be highly desirable in certain circumstances. 
DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION OF FIGS. 10 AND 11 
As in the embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9, the form of the invention 
illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 utilizes the same chassis 20, bed 38, and 
disintegrating unit 68, except for the fact that the upper disintegrating 
rotor 108 lies directly above the lower rotor 110. Again, the difference 
lies in the lateral transfer apparatus denoted by the numeral 300. 
The apparatus 300 does not utilize any mechanism between the beams 40 and 
42 to either completely or partially elevate the bale from the bed 38. 
Instead, only overhead structure is utilized, such being in the form of an 
upwardly arched feeder member 302 looped over the bed 38 and mechanism 304 
on the unit 68 for drawing the member 302 across bed 38 toward unit 68. 
Alternate extreme positions of the feeder 302 and mechanism 304 are 
illustrated in FIG. 10. 
Desirably, the mechanism 304 is operable to not only draw the feeder 302 
across the bed 38, but also to do so in a slightly upwardly arched path of 
travel in order to effectively extract the bale from between the beams 40 
and 42. To this end the mechanism 304 includes a skewed four-bar linkage 
306 on each sidewall 94 and 96 of housing 88 respectively, each linkage 
306 including a pair of crooked, laterally spaced links 308 and 310 
pivoted at 312 and 314 respectively to an inclined, stationary mount 316 
on the corresponding sidewalls 94 and 96. The links 308 and 310 have 
pivots 318 and 320 at their outermost ends to the feeder member 302, and a 
hydraulic piston and cylinder device 322 extends between links 308 and 310 
out of parallelism with the mount 316. 
Such oblique relationship between device 322 and mount 316, coupled with 
the fact that the distance between pivots 318 and 320 is less than that of 
pivots 312 and 314, causes the feeder member 302 to move in its upwardly 
arched path of travel as the links 308 and 310 are swung rearwardly upon 
contraction of the device 322. This action alleviates the need for lifting 
structure between the beams 40 and 42. 
By progressively drawing the member 302 toward unit 68, a bale supported on 
the bed 38 beneath apparatus 300 may be progressively fed into the 
disintegrating rotors 108 and 110 for disintegration in the manner 
discussed above with regard to the first two embodiments. This particular 
embodiment shares the advantage with the second embodiment of either front 
or rear loading of the bed 38 inasmuch as no structure spans the bed 38 in 
the path of travel of bales being loaded onto the latter. This, then, can 
be a distinct advantage over apparatus 118 of FIGS. 1-7, although in some 
instances, the embodiment of FIGS. 1-7 may be much preferred. 
It should now be apparent that regardless of which transfer apparatus 118, 
200 or 300 is selected for use, the operator is assured of unobstructed 
vision to the rear of the machine such as permit safe, sure loading and 
disintegration. Moreover, in each instance the disintegrated material may 
be dropped directly from unit 68 into a windrow on the ground or in a feed 
bunk to facilitate feeding while on the move.