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The deal in the barn we had involved two tripping devices, one automatic, one manual. The hoisting deal worked like this: A trolley travelled along a trolley track the length of the barn, just under the roof peak. The trolley would be held at the hoisting end by means of a clamp on it that acted on a ramp piece about a foot or two long which was fastened to the hoisting end of the track. One end of the hoist rope was tied to the trolley. It went down to a hoisting pulley and then back up through the trolley. From there it went to a pulley on the opposite end of the track, then down to the ground and to a tractor or truck by means of several other pulleys. This main rope was about 1 inch diameter and was about 250 feet long, total. The hoisting pulley was attached to a four prong hay fork, which was tripped by a smaller, separate rope. When everything worked right, my granddad would set the hay fork into a load of loose hay. I or someone would be instructed to start pulling on the main rope with a tractor or pickup. The load would go up, and when it got to the top the load pulley would lock into the trolley and the trolley would be released relative to the track. The load would then traverse along the track until he signaled the puller to stop. He would yank the fork trip rope and down would go the hay. When the puller went back toward the barn, he'd then retrieve the fork by pulling on the trip rope. When it got to the trip ramp the trolley would lock into position, release the hoisting pulley and down would come the fork. Sadly, the trolley locking deal only worked right about half the time. We never did get it working consistently. When it did work, though, you couldn't have wanted an easier way to unload loose hay.
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