Patent ID: 6840729

Claim:
Apparatus for transporting round bales comprising: a transporter frame mounted on ground wheels for movement across the ground; the frame having two sides defining therebetween a support area; two bale support cradles, each mounted at a respective one of the sides; each support cradle being pivotal about an axis along the respective side between a first lifting position in which the cradle extends outwardly from the respective side and a second transport position in which the cradle is located on the support area for transport on the frame; each cradle having bale support surfaces defining a cylindrical chamber within which a plurality of bales can be supported coaxially end to end with the axes of the bales extending longitudinally along the cradle; the support surfaces being arranged such that a bale in the chamber is lifted and rotated, by movement of the cradle from the first position to the second position, from a position alongside the frame at an initial angular orientation relative to the ground to a transport position on the frame and is returned to the position alongside the frame at the same initial orientation relative to the ground, by movement of the cradle from the second position to the first position; each cradle having two bale lifting surfaces extending longitudinally along the cradle and transversely spaced across the cradle; the bale lifting surfaces being arranged so that during foward longitudinal movement of the cradle in a direction axially of a bale resting on the ground the bale lifting surfaces move axially of the bale to a position where each lies on a respective side of a center line of the bale; the bale lifting surfaces being arranged and spaced by a distance less than the diameter of the bale such that the bale lifting surfaces extend underneath that part of the bale which is spaced from the ground for lifting the bale from the ground and returning the bale to the ground.