Claims
- 1. In a machine for tearing apart crop material bales from a stack thereof, the combination comprising:
- a mobile chassis;
- a load bed pivotally mounted near its one end to said chassis and moveable between a generally horizontal position and a genrally upright retrieving position in which said load bed may be disposed generally against a side of said bale stack, said one end being the rear end with respect to the primary direction of travel of the machine;
- stack retaining means including a pair of stack supporting arms mounted to said load bed and extending in a generally upright relation therefrom respectively adjacent opposing corners of said one end thereof, said arms being operable for movement between respective open positions disposed outwardly from opposite lateral sides of a lower end of said stack and respective closed positions disposed in supporting engagement with said stack lower end when said load bed is disposed in its upright stack retrieving position, and a pair of stack clamping arms mounted to said load bed and extensible in a generally upright relation therefrom respectively adjacent opposing corners of said other opposite end thereof, said arms being operable for movement between respective open positions disposed outwardly from opposite lateral sides of an upper end of said stack and respective closed positions disposed in clamping engagement with said stack upper end when said load bed is disposed in its upright stack retrieving position;
- means mounted on said load bed for advancing said stack longitudinally along said load bed toward an opposite other end of said load bed opposite to its one end when said load bed is disposed in its horizontal position;
- a generally horizontally-positioned platform mounted on said chassis adjacently along said other end of said load bed when said load bed is disposed in its horizontal position, said platform capable of receiving and supporting a leading portion of said stack each time said stack advancing means advances said stack longitudinally along said load bed;
- a crop material bale shredder operatively mounted on said chassis adjacent one lateral side of said platform; and
- feeder means mounted to said chassis along said platform and moveable toward said shredder for feeding said leading stack portion along said platform in a transverse relation to the longitudinal extent of said load bed and into said shredder.
- 2. The combination as recited in claim 1, wherein said feeder means comprises:
- track means mounted on said chassis along said platform oppositely from said load bed and extending between said one lateral side and an opposite other lateral side of said platform; and
- pusher means mounted on said track means to extend outwardly therefrom toward said load bed in overlying relation to said platform, said pusher means being moveable along said track means between a position adjacent said opposite other lateral platform side remote from said shredder wherein said leading stack portion may be positioned between said pusher means and said shredder and a position adjacent said shredder such that in moving to said latter position toward said shredder from said position remote therefrom said pusher means feeds said leading stack portion into said shredder.
- 3. The combination as recited in claim 1, further comprising:
- shroud means positioned partially about said shredder for confining the shredded crop material so as to feed said material out from said shredder at a predetermined location about said shredder.
- 4. The combination as recited in claim 1, wherein said shredder extends in a generally upright relation to said platform and is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis.
- 5. The combination as recited in claim 1, wherein said shredder is disposed adjacent said one lateral side of said platform and extending outwardly beyond the overall machine width when in use, said shredder being moveable to a storage position within the overall machine width when not in use for facilitating road transporting of said machine.
- 6. The combination as recited in claim 5, wherein said shredder is rotatably axially mounted on movable track means which are fixed to said chassis; and
- hydraulic means are operably connected between said chassis and said movable track means whereby, through actuation of said hydraulic means, said shredder may be selectively moved between positions of storage and use.
- 7. In a machine for tearing apart crop material bales from a stack thereof, the combination comprising:
- a mobile chassis;
- a load bed pivotally mounted near its one end to said chassis and moveable between a generally horizontal position and a generally upright retrieving position in which said load bed may be disposed generally against a side of said bale stack, said one end being the rear end with respect to the primary directon of travel of the machine;
- means arranged about said load bed and operable for retaining said stack against said load bed when said load bed is disposed in its upright position against said stack side and is moved from its upright position to its horizontal position;
- means mounted on said load bed for advancing said stack longitudinally along said load bed toward an opposite other end of said load bed opposite to its one end when said load bed is disposed in its horizontal position;
- a generally horizontally-positioned platform mounted on said chassis adjacently along said other end of said load bed when said load bed is disposed in its horizontal position, said platform capable of receiving and supporting a leading portion of said stack each time said stack advancing means advances said stack longitudinally along said load bed;
- a crop material bale shredder rotatably axially mounted on movable track means which are fixed to said chassis adjacent one lateral side of said platform and extending beyond the overall machine width when in use;
- hydraulic means operably connected between said chassis and said movable track means whereby, through actuation of said hydraulic means, said shredder may be selectively moved between positions of storage and use; and
- feeder means mounted to said chassis along said platform and moveable toward said shredder for feeding said leading stack portion along said platform in a transverse relation to the longitudinal extent of said load bed and into said shredder.
- 8. The combination as recited in claim 7, further comprising:
- shroud means positioned partially about said shredder for confining the shredded crop material so as to feed said material out from said shredder at a predetermined location about said shredder.
- 9. The combination as recited in claim 7, wherein said shredder extends in a generally upright relation to said platform and is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis.
- 10. The combination as recited in claim 7, wherein said shredder is disposed adjacent said one lateral side of said platform and extending outwardly beyond the overall machine width when in use, said shredder being moveable to a storage position within the overall machine width when not in use for facilitating road transporting of said machine.
Parent Case Info
This is a division, of application Ser. No. 467,359, filed May 6, 1974.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
512,003 |
Jun 1952 |
BE |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
467359 |
May 1974 |
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