Patent ID: 7275904

Claim:
An apparatus for use in depositing bales in groups in a field, said apparatus comprising an upwardly extending chute having a lower end portion with an entrance through which bales move into said chute as the apparatus moves around the field and an upper end portion with an exit through which bales leave said chute, an inclined ramp connected with said chute and having an upper side which slopes downward away from the exit from said chute and forms a continuation of the exit from said chute to enable a leading end portion of a bale to engage said upper side of said inclined ramp while a trailing end portion of the bale is in engagement with the exit from said chute so that the bale can slide along both the exit from said chute and the upper side of said inclined ramp, a plurality of guides which are connected with said ramp and cooperate with said upper side of said inclined ramp to form a plurality compartments in which bales are accumulated, a plurality of diverter gates which are disposed adjacent to an upper end portion of said inclined ramp and are operable to direct bales to the compartments as the bales slide downward on the upper side of said inclined ramp, and an exit gate which is disposed adjacent to a lower end portion of said inclined ramp, said exit gate being operable between a closed condition blocking sliding movement of bales from said compartments on the upper side of said inclined ramp and an open condition in which a group of bales accumulated in said compartments slide under the force of gravity downward from said compartments on the upper side of said inclined ramp and onto the field in the same relative positions that the group of bales were in when in said compartments, said inclined ramp being configured to position said bales accumulated in the compartments of the inclined ramp out of contact with the field until said exit gate operates to said open condition.