Abstract: A stacking head for stacking rolls of sod can include a number of screw assemblies that are employed to secure and remove sod rolls from a stacking conveyor. Each screw assembly can include a center stake and a corkscrew that pierce a roll as the stacking head is forced into the roll. The rate at which the stacking head is moved vertically relative to the roll can be synchronized with the rate at which each screw assembly is rotated. This synchronization ensures that the corkscrew will pass into the roll while the stacking head is simultaneously forced into the roll without damaging the delicate sod.

Abstract: A wire installation tool for installing a wire through an existing wiring harness includes a handle configured to be manually grasped by a user, an elongated shaft extending from the handle, and a wire engagement feature disposed at the free end of the shaft. In one aspect, the wire engagement feature is a generally flat elongated plate defining two openings sized to snugly receive the wire and spaced apart a distance sufficient to receive the wire bent to a curvature between the openings. In another aspect, the wire engagement feature includes a pig-tail element about which the wire is wound and held by friction between the wire and the pig-tail element to hold the wire in engagement with the wire installation tool as the tool and wire are pulled through an existing wiring harness.

Abstract: A yard garden tool for heightening matted groundcover, the yard garden tool constructed from a main shaft having an upper end and a lower end and a lifting member attached to the lower end of the main shaft. The lifting member is capable of sliding under a portion of the matted groundcover and remaining in contact with a portion of the groundcover, and wherein upon lifting, the lifting member elevates, or fluffs, the groundcover.

Abstract: A sod stacking machine includes a conveyor system for receiving sod pieces from a sod harvesting machine and aligning the pieces in rows. The sod pieces can be translated laterally from the conveyor to form a full layer for movement to a stack of the layers. The full layer is then grasped and lifted simultaneously for movement to the stack. The lifting is carried out by a planar lifting element which has a plurality of screw elements mounted thereon and which are rotatable in a screw direction and a release direction simultaneously by a chain drive system. Each screw element is surrounded by a compressing device for engaging the sod around the screw as it is screwed into place. The lifting device thus lifts all of the sod pieces simultaneously and transfers them to a pallet. The device can be used either with rolled sod pieces or folded slab sod pieces.

Abstract: A tractor mountable handling device for handling baled material, such as giant round hay bales, employs an open center, open coil helical screw that is screwed into the bale, and a frame for holding the bale on the three-point hitch of the tractor or on a front loader thereof. The helical screw is rotated under power to engage the baled material, and is reversely rotated to release the material. The pitch of the screw is selected small enough so that the bale will not rotate and release itself from the helical screw under its own weight while being handled by the device.

Abstract: A motorized device for retrieving rectangular objects and stacking said objects on a pallet is described. The device includes a conveyor for picking up objects such as hay bales from the ground and a manipulator for taking bales from the conveyor and orienting them either lengthwise or crosswise. The oriented bales are then individually transported to an accumulator in the desired orientation to form a layer. When the layer has been formed on the accumulator, a carriage is translated forward and downward to engage the layer and pick the layer up, moving the carriage and layer of bales rearwardly to deposit them on a pallet. Successive layers are formed in this fashion until a stack of the desired height is disposed on the pallet. The device then may transport the palletized load to a storage or transport area where the load may be moved by forklift truck.

Abstract: A hay bale handling apparatus has a screw spear, which is rotatably supported by a frame, advanced into a round hay bale by a hydraulic motor, which is mounted on the frame, rotating the spear as a vehicle, which may be a tractor, for example, having a front loader, a backhoe, or a farm loader attached thereto, for example, supporting the frame is advanced. The frame has a bearing rack supported thereon with spaced picks of relatively short length engaging portions of the bale to provide stability to the bale when the screw spear has been advanced into the center of the bale. Three screw spears of the same length may be employed instead of the single screw spear with the spears being rotated in the same direction through a sprocket and chain arrangement with one of the sprockets attached to an output shaft of the hydraulic motor. This arrangement also may use the bearing rack.