Woodworking – Process – Timber harvesting or processing
Patent
1987-08-25
1989-06-13
Bray, W. Donald
Woodworking
Process
Timber harvesting or processing
83928, 303795, 144 2Z, 144 3D, 144343, 280442, A01G 2308
Patent
active
048383287
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method for mechanized thinning of a forest by means of a wheeled harvester having a processor for cutting, longitudinally feeding and limbing, especially small trees, and a likewise wheeled forwarder of the type comprising a crane, a driver's cab and a load carrier located behind the cab, the harvester being caused to advance in the forest stand concerned in routes optimally selectable with regard to the characteristics of the forest stand, between main haul roads or strip roads close to each other, and parked on suitable places along said routes for felling one or more trees on each parking place.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In conventional thinning of young trees by means of machines travelling on strip roads, such roads are made in the forest stands and in order to ensure maximum yield from the remaining, thinned forest, the strip roads should be spaced as far as possible from each other. In practice, however, these strip roads, primarily because of the limited range of operation of the cranes carrying the felling or processing equipment, cannot be located at a distance from each other of more than about 30 m and then are in the form of substantially parallel, straight roads. In practice, available machines require a width of about 4 m, which means that the strip roads must have a minimum width of 4 m. This combination of relatively small spacings between the strip roads and their considerable width results in that the finally thinned stands will contain far too large areas without any trees, this notably reducing the total productivity of the stands. A highly contributory reason for poor total productivity also is that the strip roads--in order not to leave any unthinned spots in the forest stands--are made substantially rectilinear. In this way, the operator is often forced to fell first-quality, vigorous trees situated in the linear extent of the road while less vigorous trees are left in the immediate vicinity of the road.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims at overcoming the above-mentioned drawbacks and providing a thinning method which in a simple and efficient way ensures extremely high productivity in the thinned forest. According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the harvester on each parking place is caused, in a substantially stationary condition, to fell a plurality of trees, more specifically in such a manner that each standing tree is cut and moved in an upright position to the area in front of the harvester where it is tilted to a horizontal position in which it is longitudinally fed, while being limbed, through the processor to a position at least partially below the harvester in the region between the wheels thereof, so as to build up a bundle of limbed tree stems in said region, and that the forwarder in a subsequent step is caused to follow the harvester in the same route of travel as this and load the stems placed underneath the harvester and left behind it, namely by moving said tree stems located in front of the forwarder past the cab of the forwarder to the load carrier located behind the cab, the forwarder, as it is moved along said route made by the harvester, collecting said tree stems in order to land them at the main haul road.
By the method according to the invention, it is possible to make the necessary strip or main haul roads at quite substantial distances from each other while the identical routes in which the two machines advance, can be selected in each sector of the forest stand with regard to the location of the vigorous trees, i.e. the routes need not be rectilinear but may be curved in an arbitrary fashion. Since the harvester and the forwarder separately fulfil the functions of processing and transportation, they can be made small and lightweight and, thus, may have a small working width. This in turn entails that the routes of travel--apart from not necessarily being rectilinear--may also be given an advantageously small width.
The invention also relates to a harv
REFERENCES:
patent: 3340912 (1967-09-01), Williams et al.
Bray W. Donald
OSA AB
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