Patent ID: 7887275

Claim:
A bale handling vehicle, comprising: a wheeled chassis and a cab supported by the wheeled chassis; a bale gripper structure at the front of the vehicle for picking up bales; a first platform located above said cab and being arranged to receive bales deposited by the bale gripper structure, said first platform having a substantially horizontal first position for receiving bales from the bale gripper structure and a second position in which a front end of the first platform is raised so that the first platform is inclined at an angle that causes bales to slide rearwardly across the first platform; and a second platform positioned behind the first platform, said second platform having a first position in which said second platform is inclined downwardly from front to rear at an angle substantially the same as the angle of the first platform in its inclined second position for receiving bales from a rear end of the first platform, and a second position in which a movable portion of said second platform is substantially vertical for stacking the bales in a vertical stack on top of each other, wherein said first platform is rotatable about a first axis located at a fixed point on the vehicle near a rear end of the first platform, and said first platform is moved from its first position to its second position by raising said front end of the first platform to rotate the first platform about said first axis.