Woodworking – Special-work machine – Tree delimbing
Patent
1995-03-08
1998-05-05
Bray, W. Donald
Woodworking
Special-work machine
Tree delimbing
144 41, 144343, B27L 100
Patent
active
057462623
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
The invention relates to an assembly for the remote-controlled gripping, sawing-off and holding of branches and parts of trunks in this position. Such an operating machine is briefly called a "self-propelled branch remover" if it is situated on a self-propelled undercarriage, e.g. a truck undercarriage or a driven rail-bound undercarriage, instead of on a trailer, semi-trailer or railcar, although whole trees can, of course, also be accommodated by the assembly and sawn off just above the ground insofar as said trees do not exceed the dimensioning of the operating machine.
There has previously been the problem that, in branch removal work or felling work on avenue trees or other trees at highly frequented sites, a worker with a hand-guided saw is lifted up to the cutting point in a load basket located at the end of the jib of a crane and works there, or climbs directly up the trunk as a climber and caps the treetop.
However, the branches or parts of the trunk cut off then drop down in an uncontrollable manner and thus require wide-ranging cordoning-off of the workplace, which is both a hindrance to traffic and also requires great time expenditure and thus personnel costs. Additionally, there is the risk of injury for the helpers working on the ground and the risk of damage to the truck bearing the crane or the other machines. With this manner of working, the felling costs are calculated to be about DM 5,000 per tree.
For felling work in forest areas, it is known to use so-called felling grippers which consist mainly of a two-part claw and a capping saw, usually a sword-shaped chainsaw, arranged with spacing parallel to said claw. After the branch or trunk to be removed has been gripped by the claw gripper, it is cut off by pivoting the capping saw, but is still held by the claw gripper.
This working unit, the so-called felling gripper, is usually located at the free end of a bendable, but not telescopic jib of a hydraulic crane and hangs down from its free end, connected via one or two universal joints.
In this case, it is impossible to move the working unit by means of forces from the machines into a position in which the claws of the claw gripper are disposed approximately horizontally in order to grip around a vertical trunk or approximately vertical branch. This is achieved in that, on the side of the claw gripper facing away from the capping saw between two catch struts protruding obliquely from the claw gripper, a transversely running holding edge is fitted with projecting catch spikes such that the working unit hanging down vertically is brought to rest on the trunk with these catch spikes and is lowered further, as a result of which, due to the high friction between the holding edge and the trunk, the working unit can be tilted out of the vertical plane to the extent that the claw gripper can grip the vertical trunk. However, it is not possible to transmit torques from the jib and thus the operating machine to the working unit.
This leads furthermore to the fact that, after the trunk has been capped, said trunk cannot be held in its previous position by the working unit and thus the operating machine, but falls over due to the force of gravity and can only then be lifted up by the working unit, which again hangs vertically, and transported away.
Consequently, the relatively uncontrolled dropping-down of capped branch parts and the falling-over of capped trunks thus cannot be avoided.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a self-propelled branch remover which, despite a simple and easy-to-handle construction, can saw off and remove branches and trunks by remote control without the removed wood falling over or dropping down in an uncontrolled manner.
In a branch remover according to the generic type, this object is achieved by the defining features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the subclaims.
Owing to the fact that bending moments and torques can be transmitted from the working unit via the jib of the crane onto the chassis which can indeed
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Bray W. Donald
Doll Fahrzeugbau GmbH
Kim Gene L.
LandOfFree
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