Abstract:
A wheeled carrier for hay or the like has a low bed that may be tilted from a horizontal transport position rearwardly for rear loading or forwardly for front loading, and has a draft tongue secured by a transverse pivot adjacent a front corner of the bed and swingable laterally about an upright pivot so that the carrier may be towed directly behind a tractor for transporting a load or offset from the tractor for front loading. The bed consists of a set of short front parallel rails and a set of long rear parallel rails; and longitudinal chain conveyor means for both sets of rails has a single drive shaft that extends through overlapping inner end portions of both sets and may be driven in either direction. The extremities of the conveyor means are on idler sprockets with no continuous cross shafts.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Modern farming methods employ such devices as bale rollers which roll a swath or windrow of hay or other long fiber forage crops into hugh rolls which are left in the field, or straw bunchers which take the straw from a combine and drop it in large bunches about a field. The prior art contains a number of specialized transport devices which have a normally horizontal bed that may be tilted rearwardly in order that a tractor may back the transport device under a large bale or under a bunch of straw, after which the bed is returned to its horizontal transport position so the hay or straw may be moved to a place of storage. Commonly, such transport devices are provided with conveyor chains that extend the whole length of the bed and that may be driven to push the load off the rear of the bed. In some cases, the chains carry a movable upright wall which bears against the front of the bale or bunch. In other cases they have upstanding hay engaging fingers at intervals along the chains so that by using a reversible drive the conveyors may assist in loading the transport device as well as in unloading it. 
     Typical of such prior art devices are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,761,577; 3,366,257; 3,415,400; 3,209,932; and 3,624,786. 
     A difficulty with all such devices is that they may be loaded only by backing the tractor which requires considerable skill to drive the transport device directly beneath the load in a straight line and which also requires that the tractor operator guess when the entire load is on the transport device or else dismount from the tractor to go to the rear of the transport device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a carrier for hay or the like which may be tilted either rearwardly for rear loading or forwardly for front loading, and which has its draft tongue secured adjacent a front corner of the carrier bed so that it may be swung laterally between a transport position in which the carrier is directly behind the tractor and a front loading position in which the carrier is completely offset to one side of the tractor. This permits the operator to swing the carrier to a position to one side of the line of travel of the tractor, tilt the carrier for forward loading, and drive the tractor forward alongside the bale or bunch where he can see exactly what is happening and can tell when the entire load is on the carrier. 
     In addition, the carrier of the invention has a unique bed structure that consists of forward and rearward sets of longitudinal rails which have their inner ends overlapping so that a single drive shaft may extend through the overlapping ends of both sets and carry the drive sprockets for chain conveyors which are mounted one on each rail of each set with only idler sprockets and no shafts at the ends of the rails. Eliminating the cross shafts at the ends of the rails makes it easier to push the rails beneath a bale or bunch of material during loading. 
     The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an improved apparatus for picking up and transporting a mass of material such as hay or straw. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus which may be loaded and discharged either from the front or from the rear. 
     Still another object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus in which a chain conveyor system which is used to unload the apparatus and which may be used to assist in loading it has no shafts at the ends of the carrier bed. 
    
    
     THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a first embodiment of the apparatus of the invention illustrated in a transport position in full lines and in a forwardly tilted loading position in broken lines, with a tractor also illustrated in broken lines; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of the invention in transport position with a tractor illustrated in broken lines; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus in rearwardly tilted, rear loading position; 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus in its forwardly tilted, laterally displaced forward loading position and with the hitch tongue illustrated in broken lines in transport position; 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view on an enlarged scale to illustrate details of the actuating pistons and the drive for the conveyors and with the front and rear skids omitted for clarity; FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially as indicated along the line 6--6 of FIG. 5; and 
     FIG. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of a second embodiment of the apparatus which differs from the first in the structure of its draft tongue. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings, the apparatus of the invention consists of a mobile frame, indicated generally at 10, which is surmounted by a bed, indicated generally at 11. At a front corner of the apparatus is a draft tongue, indicated generally at 12; and associated with the draft tongue is a hydraulic bed tilting means, indicated generally at 13. Conveyor means associated with the bed 11 is indicated generally at 14. 
     The mobile frame consists of a pair of deep, transverse channel members 15 along the lower ends of which are transverse box beams 16, longitudinal webs 17 connect the channels 15, and fore-and-aft extending webs 18 project from the channels 15. Mounted in the webs 17 are axles 19 for dual wheels 20. A rear cross beam 21 and a front cross beam 22 are connected by longitudinal side bars 23. 
     As seen in FIG. 2, the bed 11 consists of a set of parallel longitudinal rear rail 24 which are supported upon the cross webs 15 and the rear and front cross beams 21 and 22 and which have their forward ends supported upon a front cross member 25; and a set of parallel longitudinal front rails 26 which alternate with the rear rails 24 and are supported upon the cross members 22 and 25 between which the rear rails and the front rails have an overlapping area 27. 
     As best seen in FIG. 5, a shaft 25a extends laterally from the front cross member 25 and has its outboard end supported in a frame plate 28. The draft tongue assembly 12 includes a sleeve 29 which is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 25a and carries a yoke 30 which is thus rotatable about a transverse axis provided by the shaft 25a. As seen in FIG. 1, the underside of the yoke 30 is provided with a skid 31 which rests upon the ground when the apparatus is in its forwardly tilted front loading position. At the front of the yoke 30 is an upright pivot 32 which receives the rear end of a draft tongue 33 which is laterally swingable about the pivot 32 between a transport position which is illustrated in FIG. 2 and a laterally offset front loading position which is illustrated in FIG. 4. The draft tongue 33 has a rearward portion 34 which is parallel to the longitudinal rails 24 and 26 in transport position, and a forward portion 35 which extends diagonally inwardly so that a yoke 36 at its forward end is substantially on the longitudinal median line of the apparatus when the tongue is in transport position. The draft tongue yoke 36 is mounted at the forward extremity of the draft tongue 33 upon a transverse pivot 36a and may be connected to a hitch H of a tractor T by means of a pintle P in the conventional way. 
     Also secured to the sleeve 29 is a bracket 37, and on the rearward portion 34 of the hitch tongue is a laterally extending bracket 38; and mounted between the brackets 37 and 38 on upright pivots 37a and 38a is a hydraulic cylinder and piston unit 39 which is seen to have its piston rod 39a extended when the draft tongue 33 is in transport position. Retraction of the piston rod 39a swings the draft tongue 33 laterally to its front loading position as seen in FIG. 4. 
     The means for tilting the apparatus between its horizontal transport position and its front and rear loading positions constitutes a cylinder and piston unit 40 which has one end connected to a transverse pivot on a bracket 41 which is on the forward cross beam 22, and which has its other end connected to a transverse pivot on a rib 42 that is seen in FIG. 1 to extend upwardly and rearwardly from the yoke 30 so that the transverse pivot for the forward end of the cylinder and piston unit 40 is above the transverse pivot axis of the yoke. 
     In the transport position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 1 the piston rod 40a of the cylinder and piston unit 40 is in a partially extended position, and the apparatus is swung to the front loading, broken line position of FIG. 1 by retracting the piston rod. Extension of the piston rod 40a moves the apparatus to the rear loading position of FIG. 3. 
     It is obvious that the draft tongue 33 may be swung to its laterally displaced position for front loading only while the tractor and the apparatus are in motion. The cylinder and piston units 39 and 40 are connected to the tractor hydraulic system by a conventional set of pressure hoses (not shown), and the system includes valve means mounted on the tractor in a position to be conveniently manipulated by an operator sitting on the tractor seat. The valve means controls the retraction and extension of both cylinder and piston units. 
     Either front loading or rear loading of the apparatus requires that an end of the bed 11 be moved into contact with the ground as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, and to prevent the ends of the rails from digging into the ground during loading, the underside of each of the rails 24 is provided with a skid 24a, and the underside of each of the rails 26 is provided with a skid 26a. 
     As best seen in FIG. 5, the conveyor system 14 includes a cross shaft 43 which is journalled in the overlapping portions 27 of the rails 24 and 26, and in the top of each rail above the shaft 43 is an opening 44 through which a sprocket 45 on the shaft projects. At the rear end of each of the rear rails 24 is an idler sprocket 46, and trained around each idler sprocket 46 and the aligned sprocket 45 is a conveyor chain 47. Similarly, at the front of each of the front rails 26 is a sprocket 48, and a chain 49 is trained around each of the sprockets 48 and the aligned sprockets 45. 
     Power for driving the conveyor means 14 is provided by a hydraulic motor 50 which is supported beneath one of the forward rails 26 and has an output sprocket 51. An intermediate shaft 52 has an input sprocket 53 which is driven from the motor sprocket 51 by a chain 54; and an output sprocket 55 on the shaft 52 is connected by a chain 56 with an input sprocket 57 on the conveyor shaft 43. The hydraulic motor 50 is reversible so that the conveyor chains 47 and 49 may be driven in either direction; and the motor is connected with the tractor hydraulic system through pressure conduit (not shown) and a three position control valve on the tractor which has an open center and a control handle which is moved one way or the other to put hydraulic pressure on one side or the other of the motor 50. 
     The second embodiment of FIG. 7 is the same as the first embodiment, except that it has a draft tongue means 112 which is different from the draft tongue means 12. Accordingly, only that portion of the apparatus of FIG. 7 is described in detail, and other components are given the same numbers that they bear in FIGS. 1 to 6. 
     The alternative draft tongue means of FIG. 7 includes a small sleeve 129 which is journalled upon a rod 25a; and a draft tongue 133 includes a rearward portion 134 which is integral with the sleeve 129 and extends forwardly parallel to the forward rails 26, and it also includes a forward portion 135 which is mounted on an upright pivot 135a at the front end of the fixed draft tongue portion 134. Projecting laterally from the fixed draft tongue portion 134 is a bracket 137, while projecting laterally from the swingable forward draft portion 135 is a bracket 138; and a cylinder and piston unit is mounted between upright pivots 137a and 138a on the respective brackets 137 and 138. As in the first embodiment of the apparatus, the cylinder and piston unit 139 is connected to the tractor hydraulic system and is controlled by means of a valve which is manipulated by an operator on the tractor seat. 
     The reversible conveyor system 14 of the apparatus is significant to the operation of the unit for two reasons. First, placing the conveyor drive shaft 43 at the overlapping inner end portions 27 of the rails 24 and 26 permits the idler sprockets 46 and 48 at the extremities of the rails to be journalled without the need for a continuous cross shaft as has previously been used in apparatus of the present general type. A cross shaft at the end of the rails interferes with loading, and the prior art devices have used various expedients in an effort to minimize the interference with loading which is caused by the cross shaft at the end of the rails. 
     In addition, the conveyor means 14 may be used to assist in loading either from the front or from the rear, and may also be used in unloading either to the rear or to the front. However, in most instances the apparatus is unloaded to the rear. 
     Furthermore, the present structure, and in particular the conveyor system without cross shafts at their ends, permits a bale or other mass of hay to be loaded without rotation of the mass, so that cylindrical bale may be loaded with the bale moved onto the apparatus either endwise or sidewise. 
     The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.