Patent ID: 8136445

Claim:
A swath roller apparatus for attachment to a swather tractor to follow the tractor along a direction of travel to roll a swath, comprising: a roller; a first frame for attachment to the tractor including two arms and a transverse beam; a pair of brackets, each for attachment to a rear member on the swather tractor such that the brackets are located at spaced positions across the rear of the tractor; each arm having a hitch coupling at a forward end for connection to a respective one of the brackets, the hitch coupling allowing at least up and down pivotal movement of the arm relative to the respective bracket; the transverse beam being connected across the arms generally at right angles to the direction of travel so as to be located transverse to the tractor behind the tractor; a second frame for carrying the roller; a pair of castor wheels on the second frame at positions thereon spaced outwardly to respective sides of the roller such that the castor wheels roll on the ground and locate a height of the second frame and therefore the roller carried thereon relative to the ground; the second frame being connected to the first frame by a coupling arrangement arranged so that the second frame is pulled by the first frame across the ground behind the tractor to guide the roller in a rolling action and so as to allow side to side pivotal movement of the second frame and therefore the roller relative to the first frame about a pivot axis generally along the direction of travel.