Patent GB-1485089-A (GB)
Title: Bale stacking apparatus
IPC: B65G57/30
Filed: 1976-03-17
Abstract: 1485089 Bale stacking apparatus C J ARMSTRONG and J W HOLMES 17 March 1976 [2 April 1975] 13440/75 Heading B8C Bale stacking apparatus in the form of a vehicle 11-13 comprises a stacking station 14 and a guide station 94-99 for guiding bales 70-73 into the stacking station during movement of the apparatus so as to arrange at least two bales 72, 73 in side-by-side relationship to form a layer, lifting means, 42, 43, 45, 46, for raising the layer of bales whilst a further layer 70, 71 of bales is guided into the stacking station, and for releasing the raised layer 72, 73 on to the further layer 70, 71 so as to form a stack of at least two layers, the lifting means comprising a pair of upright gripping arms 37, 83, Figs. 4- 6, each relatively pivotally movable in a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the bales are guided into the stacking station, a linkage 50, 51 between the arms and actuating means 19, 20, 22, connected with the linkage for actuating the latter to draw the arms relatively towards each other for gripping a layer of bales and then raising the linkage together with the arms and the layer of bales gripped thereby. As shown, the stacking station comprises an upright frame 14 which consists of front and rear cross-pieces 16a, 16b, 16c, and 15a, 15b, 15c braced by members 17, 18. The pistons of each of a pair of hydraulic cylinders 19, 20, mounted at the sides of the frame, are connected to a lifting beam 22 at the ends of which are pivotally mounted pairs of links 50, 51 and 52, 53, the outer ends of which are respectively pivoted to corresponding pairs of lifting arms 37, 38 and 39, 40 pivotally mounted respectively to slide frame members 31, 32 mounted, for vertical sliding movement, on the uprights 16a, 16c and 15a, 15c of the front and rear cross-pieces. Support arms 35, 36 depend from the slide frame members 31, 32 and have respective pairs of support links 35a, 35b and 36a, 36b pivoted to their lower ends. Gripping bars 42, 43 of angle iron are connected respectively between the lifting arms 37, 39 and 38, 40, and support bars 45, 46 interconnect corresponding support links 35a, 36a and 35b, 36b, the pairs of links 35a, 35b and 36a, 36b being spread apart, during lowering, by spacers 60, 61. In use, as trailer moves bails are directed, byabistable dividergate 94 and a blocking mechanism 96-99, alternately to opposite sides of a median beam 11a of the base frame 11 until a layer of four bales are located in the stacking frame, whereupon the two cylinders 19, 20 are energized to raise the lifting beam 22 which acts upon the links 50-53 to urge the suspension arms 37-40 towards the support arms 35, 36 so that the gripping bars 42, 43 grip a bale 70, or 71 against a corresponding support bar 45 or 46. Continued lifting of the beam 22 causes corresponding lifting of the slide frames 31, 32 together with the suspension arms 35, 36 and the bales 31 while a further layer of bales is guided into the space vacated by the raised bales. The beam 22 is then lowered to place the raised bales on top of the bales therebelow, the release of the gripping bars 42, 43 from the bales being assisted by triangular cam members 80- 83 on the suspension arms 37-40 co-operating with cam follower rollers, such as 84a, as the suspension arms 37-40 are lowered, the cam follower rollers being mounted upon supports 84 -87. A stack of at least three, and preferably four, bales high is envisaged, and the stack may be four bales wide, the gap at the centre, due to the spacers 60, 61, increasing from a minimum at the top, to a maximum at the bottom, of the stack. The frame 14 may be clad with sheet metal, and have doors 90, 91 at the rear which are automatically released when the stack being built has attained the desired height. Other means may be provided to guide the bales into the stacking station.