Cutlery – Combined cutlery or combined with ancillary feature – With means to apply transient fluid to tool
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-21
2001-07-10
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Cutlery
Combined cutlery or combined with ancillary feature
With means to apply transient fluid to tool
C030S276000, C030S347000, C056S012700, C239S104000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256886
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for cutting vegetation, and to a device for putting this cutting method into effect.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For several decades now, the mechanized cutting of vegetation has been habitually performed by machines or appliances powered by electricity or fuel, in which one or more metal or synthetic blades, or synthetic cords, or indeed any other cutting member capable of cutting the vegetation encountered in its path, is propelled at high speed. These machines or appliances include in particular lawnmowers on the one hand, and grass trimmers and edge trimmers on the other, the latter appliances having a rotary head driven at high speed and turning one or more synthetic cords.
With this type of machine or appliance, it is the violent impact (due to the speed of rotation generated by the motor) of more or less sharp objects, such as the blades of lawnmowers or the cords of trimmers, on the vegetation that performs the cutting work by a “smashing” action: a nonmoving lawnmower blade or trimmer cord has no cutting power in itself, and only the fact that these parts are spun at high speed can cut vegetation. Hence, in order to function effectively, existing machines and appliances are usually polluting and noisy and consume electricity or fuel and oil in order to produce the necessary motive force.
In the case of grass and edge trimmers, attempts have already been made to reduce the noise by giving the cutting cord special configurations, such as twisted or undulating shapes. However, this only partly solves the problem because the noise of the motor itself is of course not suppressed, and moreover pollution is not reduced.
It is against this background that a number of standards are currently being set up in order to reduce all forms of pollution (noise, chemical, etc.) generated by machines and appliances for the upkeep of vegetation.
Besides the conventional solutions cited above, proposals have been made for systems that cut vegetation with jets of water. Examples that may be cited here are documents DE-A-3135927, DE-U-9300077, GB-A-2093327 and FR-A-2312953.
All these documents utilize the principle of “fixed” cutting jets which are only moved past the vegetation to be cut by the forward motion of the appliance on which the jet emitting means are supported, the speed of the jets relative to the vegetation to be cut thus remaining very small. These systems retain a number of disadvantages in particular:
A fixed or virtually fixed jet is liable simply to press the vegetation which it encounters down on the ground without cutting it, especially in the case of fine vegetation such as grass.
In order to “sweep” a certain width of ground, known systems use a larger number of jets, arranging them one behind the other; this means that separating fingers must be positioned opposite the jet ejecting nozzles in such a way as to direct the vegetation toward the jets.
Most systems proposed to date include means for collecting and recycling the ejected water. This complicates the structure and prevents the water from being used to irrigate or treat the vegetation and/or soil.
Lastly, these known systems are based on replacing a conventional bladed lawnmower with an appliance using transverse jets of water; none of these systems are designed as lightweight—that is, specifically, portable—appliances comparable with modern grass or edge trimmers.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional machines and appliances described above, as well as those of already known jet of water cutting systems, by providing a method and device for cutting vegetation that produces none of the pollution currently observed, and cuts vegetation effectively by simple, inexpensive and lightweight means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To this end the subject of the invention is a method of cutting vegetation, according to which there is emitted at least one pressurized jet of water which is directed at and moved over the vegetation to be cut, and wherein the pressurized jet or jets of water are themselves the cause, by mechanical reaction, of their movement, in particular their rotary movement.
Thus, the inventive idea consists in replacing the conventional blades or cutting cords with water in the form of a rotating jet, the observation having been made that water, even at a comparatively low pressure, can be made to exert both a cutting and a “driving” action. Thus the method forming the subject of the invention combines the cutting action of the jet of water with the motive “rotary” action of this jet, this combination being all the more advantageous as the two actions result from the pressure of the water, with no necessity for any supplementary motor means. The result is therefore a very simple and economical cutting method that is also remarkably efficient when compared with the known “fixed” jet systems discussed above. Moreover the rotation of the jet or jets of water makes it an easy matter to “sweep” a certain area of vegetation in need of cutting, and to treat a more or less large area of vegetation, by moving the system around, even with a single jet, i.e. without a multiplicity of nozzles. In addition, the water used here for cutting the vegetation is a natural substance that is available everywhere, is inexpensive and is “ecological”, the recovery and recycling of which are surely unnecessary, in contrast to what is indicated in the aforementioned documents. Indeed, the water used in the form of a cutting jet of water in the method according to the invention, and not then recovered, simultaneously waters the ground, and, if it contains additives, treats the vegetation concerned and/or the ground, simultaneously with the cutting action.
In order to augment the cutting power of the pressurized jet of water it is also possible to add, to the water being used in the form of a cutting jet of water, an abrasive, in particular mineral, component of very small particle size, such as silica, sand, glass or marble. In this case, the “Venturi” effect created by the pressurized water enables the abrasive particles stored in a separate container to be transported by suction.
Using a cutting jet of water also presents the advantage of not causing the noise pollution usually generated by a trimmer cord spinning at high speed. At a speed of 8000 revolutions per minute, a 2.4 mm diameter cutting cord generates a sound level of more than 100 decibels, while a jet of water turning at the same speed generates a sound level of less than 80 decibels.
The cutting jet of water also eliminates all the problems of chemical pollution produced by the particles of synthetic material strewn into the environment by the use of cutting cords (some 10,000 tonnes of polyamine cord are dispersed over the Earth in this way each year). Clearly, a jet of water eliminates this large amount of pollution, which it is presently difficult to solve by any other means than photodegradation.
The use of a jet of water will also be found advantageous from the point of view of human safety, in comparison with blades or cutting cords which present a certain risk.
The invention also relates to a device for cutting vegetation, that puts into effect the method defined earlier.
In a generally known way, this device comprises, in combination:
means for supplying water at pressure,
means for ejecting the water at pressure in the form of at least one jet of water and directing it at the vegetation to be cut, and
means for causing movement of the jet or jets of water.
According to the invention, the means for ejecting the water at pressure and at the same time rotating the jet or jets of water are constructed in the form of a head mounted rotatably relative to a part that supports it, the rotating head being supplied with water at pressure along its axis, through a rotating coupling, and being provided at its periphery with at least one nozzle through which a cutting jet of water is emitted, the rotating head containing at least one wa
Chang Rick Kiltae
Dubno Herbert
Speed France
Young Lee
LandOfFree
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