A METHOD AND A COLLECTOR CART FOR COLLECTING LARGE STRAW BALES ON THE FIELD

Abstract: For the picking up of straw bales on the field it is known to use a collector cart, which is advanced by a tractor laterally staggered therebehind and having at its front end an upwardly pivotal fork element, which can pick up the bales successively and swing them such that they fall down onto the body of the cart, whereby it is a condition that the successively loaded bales are manually removed from the loading position on the body and stowed thereon. With the present invention the pivot system (14) is designed such that it causes one or more bales to be deposited in a well controlled manner onto the body (20) with an associated automatically achieved rearward displacemnt of the previously loaded bales, whereby the cart may be entirely filled with large and heavy bales without any manual work and without the use of separate means for the rearward displacing of the bales. If desired, however,this displacing may be effected otherwise, e.g. by means of a conveyor along the body. The bales are easy to unload from the cart in that the body is made as a dump body (20).

Description: A method and a collector cart for collecting large straw bales on the field. The present invention relates to a method of collecting straw bales on the field onto a collector cart, which is advanced and functions as stated in the introductory clause of claim 1, i.e. which has a foremost, upwardly pivotal fork element for collecting a bale and subsequently swinging the bale upwardly for delivery thereof to the body of the cart . A method of this kind is known from US-A-3,841 ,504, in which the fork element swings a collected bale into a raised position, from which the bale slides or overturns down to a delivery area on the cart, from which it is picked up manually for stowing on the cart. The body is considerably broader than the -fork element, which is mounted frontwise of the cart adjacent one side thereof, and the cart is advanced in a position laterally offset relative to a preceding tractor, such that during the driving the fork element may be guided straight under a bale lying on the field, whereafter the bale is swung up onto the cart. The bales are relatively small and just suited to be moved and stowed manually on the body of the cart, upon being automatically thrown up onto the body. . A corresponding arrangement would not be usable for the picking up of large bales, the weight of which may well be some 500-600 kg. It has already been proposed to pick up large round bales with the use of a pivot element, which in a pickup position projects laterally from the cart and is swung upwardly and inwardly for supplying the bale to a foremost loading area on the cart, from which the bale may be displaced rearwardly on the cart by means of a hydrau I i ca I ly operated pressing plate, which may be actuated successively for the bui lding up of a rearwacdly extending row of bales, e.g. 3-4 bales. Here there is no reason to consider the ' fi lling of the cart with more than a single row of bales. This earlier proposed loading and stowing system, however, is relatively expensive, and besides it is not suited for the handling of large box shaped bales. It is the purpose of the invention to provide a method of the first mentioned kind, by which the bales - and preferably large box bales - may be loaded onto the cart in an easy manner and with simple means. This is abhieved.by carrying out-the loading as stated in the characterizing clause of claim 1. Thereby the bales are delivered in a well controlled manner inasfar as during the last phase of their swinging movement they wi ll be moved onto_ the body through a flat curve, whereby they may be deposite-d on the body without having to carry out any sliding or rolling except for the introduction sliding onto the body, the body itself supporting the bale during the said last phase. Besides, the bales under introduction will hereby be well suited, during their introduction movement onto the body, to cause the previously deposited bale or bales or be forced rearwardly on the body. The invention also comprises the cart claimed in claim 3 for picking up straw bales by the disclosed method. Thπs cart may show the advantage that one same fork element may serve two different purposes, viz. partly to swing up and deposit the collected bales and partly to effect a rearward displacement of one or more already loaded bales for bui lding up a row of bales on the cart. For the invention, however, it is not a condition that the rearward displacement has to take place by the action of the fork element, as it might be effected with the use of a lower conveyor system along the body, e.g. a known conveyor having protrusions for moving the bales. The transverse pivot axis of the fork element should not necessari ly be stationari ly arranged, though according to claim 4 it has proved possible to achieve the desired result just with a simple rigid mounting of the pivot axis. For the invention it is an important possibi lity that according to claim 5 two or more bales may be collected after each other on the lowered fork element; by the following upward pivoting of the fork element through 90 there wi ll be provided a correspondingly high-pi led number of bales, i.e. on the wi ll be built up a row of bales in more Layers without the loading means having to be especially adapted for the formation of such a double or plural layer configuration. It is here extra important that the bales are not deposited on the body by some mere sliding, rolling or falling down onto the body, as they wi ll have to be delivered as a pi le, which is supported by or against the body already by the pivoting thereof onto the body. The discussed rearward displacement of the previously deposited bale or bales wi ll be noticeably faci litated when the body of the cart is rearwardly and downwardly inclined as specified in claim 6. In the following the invention is described in more detai l with reference to the drawing, in which:- Fig. 1 is a general top view showing a tractor and a cart according to the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan lateral view, partly in section of a cart according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a top view of the cart shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the front end of the cart shown in Fig. 2. The general view of Fig. 1 shows a cart 2 according to the invention as towed laterally staggered behind a tractor 3, which is also - in dotted lines - shown in a norm-al transport position in front of the cart 2. The i llustrated laterally staggered position is obtained by means of a swung-out, carrying waggon pole 6, which is pivotally secured at 8 midways of a rear wheel shaft 10. In order to stabilize the cart 2 in the llustrated working position a support wheel 12 is mounted adjacent the front end of the cart at the side thereof opposite the swung-out waggon pole 6. At the front end of the cart 2 is arranged a fork lift system 14 having a lift fork 16. The cart 2 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 consists of a cart chassis 18, on which is rested a dump body 20 pivotally secured at 22 to the rear end of the chassis 18. The chassis 18 also comprises straight as well as inclined struts for holding the rear wheel shaft 10. In the top side of the waggon pole 6 is mounted a carrier roller 24 cooperating with a transverse carrier bed 26 of the chassis 18. Ideally the carrier bed 26 should be slightly arched, centered in the pivot link 8, but in stead the carrier roller 24 is rather long, such that some skidding between the roller 24 and the bed 26 is accepted by the swinging of the waggon pole 6, such swinging being governoured by means of a hydraulic cylinder 28 interposed between the rear wheel shaft 10 and the pole 6. Fig. 2 illustrates the situation in which the pole 6 is swung out while the support wheel 12 is lowered and the fork element 16 is swung down. The cart has just been Loaded with a total of ten Large bales ("Heston"-ba Les) . In Fig. 3,-. in which the pole 6 is shown in its swung-in transportation position, the support wheel 12 is shown in full lines, i.e. corresponding to the staggered towing position shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. For space saving purposes the pole 6 is shown as being shortened in Figs. 2 and 3, but it should be mentioned that the pole 6, in well known manner, may be provided w th a telescopic end portion, such that the total length of the pole 6 may be adapted to the particular towing vehicle. At the front of the cart 2 the fork lifting system 14 is mounted between bearing brackets 30 at opposite sides of the chassis 18, angular arms 32 -with inclined struts 34 being rotatably held at 36 at the Lower end of the brackets 30. Opposite to the pivot Link 36 a short Lever portion 38 of the angular arm 32 is. pivotally connected with a piston arm 40 of a hydraulic cylinder 42, which at 44 is pivotally to the chassis 18, while a long arm portion 46 of the angular arm 32 opposite to the pivot Link 36 i s,: connected with a transverse beam 48 extending between the angular arms 32 at the opposed sides of the cart 2. The transverse beam 48 is provided with five fork members as constituting the Lift fork 16. The fork Lift system 14, moreover, is i llustrated in dotted lines in a swung-up position, in which the Lift fork 16 forms a foremost limitation of the fully loaded cart as shown in Fig. 2, the cart here being loaded with ten Large bales in two Layers. For the picking up of the bales from the field two bales Cas indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2) are collected on the lift fork in the same plane, i.e. located one in front of the other. By a concurrent upward swinging of these ,two bales as described below the bales will be turned 90 and be deposited one on the top of the other on the dump body 20, whi le at the same ime previously deposited bales wi ll be pushed rearwardly on the body until the body, as shown, is fi lled up with large bales. An unloading of the bales is effected by actuation of two hydraulic cylinders 50 and 52, which are both interposed between the rear shaft 10 and the dump body 20. The two cylinders 50 and 52 are controlled in a coordinated manner such that an upward and rearward pivoting of the body 20 about the pivots 22 is effected oy way of push from the cylinder 50 and pull from the cylinder 52 unti l the dump body and the ten bales assume the position shown in dotted lines. The rear end of the body 20 is provided with upstanding forks 54, and the distance between the rear end of the body and the pivot axis 22 corresponds to the distance between the pivot axis and the ground, whereby the forks 54 in the unloading position as shown in dotted lines will be laid against the ground such that the pi le of bales is supported on the ground between the forks. Thereafter the cart, sti ll with the body in the raised position, is retracted from the five Layer, double pi le of bales. A return pivoting of the body 20 is effected by renewed actuation of the cylinders 50 and 52, now with the cylinder 52 pushing and the cylinder 50 pulling. The pi le of bales may be unloaded onto. a number of laths, i.e. slightly above the ground, and the entire pi le of all ten bales may then be reloaded onto the cart, viz. by introducing the forks 54 under the pi le and folding down the dump body 20. The i llustrated cart according to the invention is adapted to receive a maximum of ten large cubic straw bales in two layers of five bales, but the cart, of course, may have a Larger or smaller capacity, e.g. five bales in one layer or a total of six or eight bales in two Layers, the fork lift system 14 and the rear forks 54 being adapted to the actual capacity. The cart according to the invention may well be modified fpr handling of round bales, experiments having shown that the cart can easi ly unload a high pi le of up to five layers of round bales, when these, by or before the picking up, are only or ented such that the flat sides are horizontal, i.e. the body should be shaped or profi led for supporting the cylindrical bales. Fig. 4 i llustrates in more detai l the operation of the loading fork system 14. In a preferred embodiment of the cart the body 20 is located at a level roughly corresponding to the height of the bales 56 to be picked up, and the fixed pivot axis 36 is located in approximate¬ ly half this height, whi le its horizontal distance from the front end of the body is appri imate ly the half of the length of the bales as seen in their loaded position, i.e. the shaft 36 is Located apprixi ately underneath the middle area of the just loaded bales. During the initial upward pivoting a first position shown in dash lines is reached, in which the bale or bales are sti ll resting on the forks, but now also on the introduction stop 58 and even in engagement with the front end of the body 20. An earlier loaded bale, if any, standing at the front end of the body, will already hereby start to be pushed rearwardly. By a further upward pivoting of the forks 16 the side of the inner bale now being the underside wi ll scrape over the front end of the body, but sti ll carried thereby. If there is no previous bale on the cart the new bale wi ll be able to ti lt down onto the body during the very Last phase of the pivot loading, but only by a short and well defined tilting. Such a free tilting wi ll not occur when the bale acts to displace a previously loaded bale._ For faci litating the sliding of the bale over the front end of the body there may be arranged, along this front end, a roller 60 which is freely rotatable for rollingly supporting the underside of the bale. It has been found possible to use the cart even for picking up, large round bales standing upright on the field, viz. by introducing the forks 16 tangentially underneath the bales. By the following loading the bales wi ll not change their position or orientation except for the very displacement, and it is possible to pick up two bales at a time, when they stand or are placed side by side.

Claims: C LA I M S : 1. A method of picking up straw bales from the field onto a collector cart, which is advanced with a front end portion exposed towards the baLes, said front end portion being provided with a collector element, which is upwardly pivotally arranged about a transverse axis and has a fork element, which in a downwardly pivoted position projects forwardly along the ground, and which, upon being introduced underneath a bale is pivoted upwardly and rearwardly through approximately 90 for delivery of the bale to a body area of the cart, characterized in that the fork element, during the last part of its upward swinging movement, is brought to move the collected bale in a combined displacement and ti lting movement inwardly onto the body of the cart in such a , manner that the bale is hereby introduced onto the body rested thereagai nst, the bale adjacent the side thereof facing the cart being supported partly by an abutment on the fork element and partly by the front end of the body of the cart. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the introduction movement is effected with a force sufficient to cause one or more baLes previously deposited on the body to be forced rearwardly along the body by the pressure exerted by the rear side of the bale now being introduced. 3. A collector cart for picking up straw bales by the method according to claim 1 and of the kind adapted to be advanced with a front end portion exposed towards bales lying on the ground for picking up the bales, preferabLy by be ng towed by a tractor in a laterally staggered working position therebehind, the front end of the cart being provided with a collector element, which is pivotal about a transverse axis between a Lowered pickup position, in which a fork element projects forwardly substantially in the ground level, and a raised position, pivoted upwardly through, approximately 90°, in which a picked up bale has been swung upwardly and rearwardly for delivery to a body of the cart, the fork element having a rear, upwardly projecting introduction stop, from which a rigid connector part extends to the transverse pivot axis, characterized in that the collector element is guided such that the fork element during the Last phase causes a picked up bale to be pivoted upwardly and rearwardly over the front end of the body for introduction thereon by a combined tilting and displacement, said introduction stop in its raised final position being located adjacent the front end of the body and mainly in the plane thereof. 4. A cart according to claim 3, w ere the collector element is purely pivotally mounted abcit a fixed transverse pivot axis, characterized in fiat the pivot axis is Located underneath the body spaced behind the front end thereof and approximately midways between the body surface and the ground. 5. A cart according to claim 3, characterized in that the Length of the plate or fork element is sufficient for the picking up of two or more bales and that the cart is designed for correspondingly being able to carry two or ore layers of bales of the particular size. 6. A cart according to claim 3, characterized in that the body is rearwardly and downwardly inclined, preferably at an angle of some 15 with the horizontal. 7. A cart according to claim 3, characterized in that a freely rotatable roller is mounted along the front edge of the body for faci litating the introduction of the bales onto the body.

Inventors: NYGAORD CLAUS MARTIN HOLMEN, NYGAORD, CLAUS, MARTIN, HOLMEN
Applicants: NYGAORD CLAUS MARTIN HOLMEN, NYGAORD, CLAUS, MARTIN, HOLMEN
Application year: 1986
Main classification: A01D90
IPC codes: A01D90