Side dumping vehicles for a variety of materials are known in the prior art and some examples of the patented prior art are contained in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,083,058, 3,712,675, 3,205,011, 3,844,617, 3,937,502.
The present invention is concerned with a broadly similar class of towed side dumping vehicle which is particularly constructed for transporting picked or stripped cotton from a harvester to a module. The objective behind providing the particular specialized cotton transporting and dumping vehicle is to enable the cotton farmer to keep the harvester working in the field and avoid the high cost and wasted time of using the harvester to deliver picked cotton to the module and then deadheading back to the end of a row. By means of the invention, the expensive harvester can be kept working more hours per day anc can take advantage of good harvesting weather, thus reducing the risk of crop deterioration in bad weather.
With the above in mind, the invention has been tailored to meet the problems which are peculiar to handling, transporting and dumping the fluffy lightweight cotton bolls, as distinguished from other materials having vastly different physical properties. The dump body or basket of the vehicle is constructed with wire mesh panels strategically located in its bottom and opposite end walls to permit the escape of air when the picked cotton is delivered into the dumping basket from the harvester. Without these air escape panels in proper locations, the loose cotton would simply boil and float over the open top of the basket on the cushion of air built up therein under the cotton. No known prior art vehicle is suitable in this respect for handling picked or stripped cotton.
A further feature of the invention adapting it to its very specialized mission resides in the provision of a dump body or basket having a capacity to hold two to three bales of picked cotton or two and one-half bales of stripped cotton. To achieve this, the basket must have a load holding volume of about 850 cubic feet.
Under such capacity or loading, the stability of the transport and dumping vehicle becomes of prime importance, and herein lies a further important aspect of the invention distinguishing it from the generally similar devices in the prior art. The geometric arrangement of the elevated dump basket pivot relative to the main frame wheels and the location of the dump basket hydraulic cylinders in relation to the main horizontal wheeled frame are quite critical to achieving stability particularly during dumping and retaining within reasonable limits the force required to raise and dump the loaded basket. A unique geometric arrangement of critical pivots and planes have been created in the invention to render the invention safe and very efficient as well as simplified and economical to manufacture.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.