JP7125330B2 - Self-propelled logging machine - Google Patents

Description

In the present invention, a pair of grapples hold a piece of wood as a standing piece of wood from the sides, while cutting the piece of wood with a cutter, making the grapples follow the felling of the piece of wood, and carrying out the felled piece of wood through the grapples. The present invention relates to a self-propelled lumber felling transporter.

In the case of felling wood, it is common to fell down trees almost manually with a chase saw, which is likely to cause accidents resulting in injury or death due to occupational accidents. Although mechanization is desired to prevent accidents resulting in injury or death, large machinery cannot move in forestlands, and when the slope angle exceeds 45°, the soil and ground conditions deteriorate, making it impossible to even bring in large machinery. .

From the viewpoint of preventing accidents resulting in injury or death, the self-propelled robot can be operated wirelessly without the need for people to get close to the trees to be felled, enabling it to fell and carry out large-diameter trees not only in horizontal forests, but also up and down sloping forests. There has been a strong demand for the advent of a mobile logging machine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled lumber felling/unloading machine that meets such demands.

The above object of the present invention is to provide a grapple device having a pair of grapples for embracing and holding standing trees from the sides in an internal space of a tire-type or track-type traveling vehicle body structure, and a standing tree for felling trees. and a device for rotating the rotating frame between vertical and horizontal positions of the grapple device and the cutting device, the rotating frame being connected to the cutting device and a guide device, the guide device including a pair of guide rails, a slide bracket, and a hydraulic cylinder for sliding the slide bracket forward and backward along the guide rails, The grapple device is suspended from the slide bracket, sliding of the slide bracket moves the grapple device between a forward position and a rearward position, and the grapple of the grapple device fells trees by reverse rotation of the rotating frame; This is achieved by providing a self-propelled lumber felling carrier in which a grapple of a grapple device carries out felled lumber as the lumber felling carrier travels after felling.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a traveling grapple device body structure includes a front body portion and a pair of bifurcated rear body portions defining an interior space, the rotating frame being within the interior space. The device for rotating the rotating frame, which is rotatably mounted on a pivot fixed to the rear body portion, includes a hydraulic cylinder connected to the rotating frame via a linkage mechanism. provide the machine.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cutting device is fixed to a mounting arm disposed within the cutter box and rotatably mounted on a pair of pivots fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box. and a pair of hydraulic cylinders for rotating the two blades about the pivot in opposite directions.

According to a variant of the invention, the cutting device is located in the cutter box and is fixedly mounted on a mounting arm rotatably mounted on a pivot fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box. A self-propelled timber felling unloading machine is provided that includes a blade and a hydraulic cylinder for rotating the single blade about the pivot.

According to a further variant of the invention, the cutting device is arranged in the cutter box and fixedly mounted on a mounting arm rotatably mounted on a pivot fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box. A self-propelled lumber felling unloading machine is provided that includes a chainsaw and a hydraulic cylinder for rotating the chainsaw around the pivot.

(action)
The self-propelled timber felling machine of the present invention is adapted to be remotely actuated by radio-controlled operation, the grapple device being in a rearward position, along with the cutting device being rotated from a vertical position to a horizontal position by rotation of the rotating frame. Turned around, a pair of grapples of the grapple device grasp and hold the tree, and the cutting device cuts the tree. The grapple device is directed to the forward position and the rotating frame is reversely rotated to cut down the standing tree. After felling, the felled tree is carried out while being dragged by the grapple of the grapple device by running the felled tree.

1 is a rear view of a self-propelled timber felling vehicle according to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a side view of a self-propelled timber felling vehicle according to the invention, showing the rotating frame in a horizontal position; FIG. Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the rotating frame in a vertical position; 1 is a plan view of a self-propelled timber felling vehicle according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a side view of the rotating frame; FIG. It is a bottom view of a rotating frame. 1 is a side view of a grapple device of a self-propelled timber felling vehicle according to the present invention; FIG. FIG. 8 is a front view of the grapple apparatus shown in FIG. 7; 1 is a detailed view of the grapple device; FIG. 1 is a rear view of a two-blade cutting device of a self-propelled timber felling vehicle according to the present invention; FIG. It is a front view which shows the inside of a cutting device. It is a bottom view of a cutting device. 1 shows a single-blade cutting device; FIG. It is a figure which shows the cutting device of a chainsaw. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing felling work on an uphill slope by the felling timber carrying-out machine of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing felling work on a downward slope by the lumber felling transporter of the present invention;

1 to 3, a self-propelled timber felling machine 1 according to the invention comprises a body structure 2 extending rearwardly from a front body part 3. It has a pair of rear body parts 4,4. The front wheels 5 are mounted on a steering frame 6 pivoted from the front body section and the rear wheels 7 are mounted on a pair of rear body sections 4, 4 respectively, these front and rear wheels being shown in detail. However, each has a built-in hydraulic motor and is rotationally driven by the hydraulic motor. The front wheels 5 are also hydraulically steered by a generally known steering mechanism associated therewith. In the illustrated example, the front and rear wheels are of the tire type, but they may be of the crawler type. An engine section, a hydraulic pump driven by the engine, a battery, a group of control valves, and the like are mounted on the front body portion 3 .

4 to 6, a space 8 is defined between the pair of rear body parts 4, 4 in which space a rotating frame in which a grapple device 9 and a cutting device 10 are mounted, as will be described later. 11 are placed. The rotating frame 11 includes front and rear support plates 13 and 14 that constitute a cutter box 12 in which the cutting device 10 is arranged, side plates 16 that function as a pair of side arms 15 connected to them, and central upper edges of the front and rear support plates. bifurcated bottom support plates 18 , 18 extending forwardly from a fixed top support plate 17 and front support plate 13 .

Rotating frame 11 is connected to pivot shafts 21 respectively provided in rear body parts 4, 4 via link mechanism 20 by extension and contraction of a plunger rod of hydraulic cylinder 19, one end of which is pivotally connected to body structure 2 at 19'. It rotates around. The link mechanism 20 is rotatably attached to the link 22 pivotally attached to the plunger rod of the hydraulic cylinder 19 and to the pivot shaft 21. One end is pivotally attached to the link 22 at 22' and the other end is rotatable. A bell crank 23 fixedly connected at 15' to the lower end of the side arm 15 of the frame 11, and a pivot having one end pivoted at 22' to the intermediate portion of the link 22 and the other end provided at the rear vehicle body portion. and a support link 25 rotatably attached to 24 . Thus, rotation of the rotating frame 11 about the pivot axis 21 causes the grapple device 9 and the cutting device 10 to be oriented from the vertical position to the horizontal position and vice versa.

The grapple device 9, as shown in detail in FIGS. grapples 28, 28 and hydraulic standers 29, 29 having plunger rods attached to said pivots and pivoted at 28', 28' to the upper end of each grapple. Thus, expansion and contraction of the plunger rod by actuation of the two hydraulic cylinders 29,29 can close and open the pair of grapples 28,28 to grip and release the tree as will be described. A well-known timing rod 30 is pivotally connected to the grapples 28, 28 below the pivot 27 of one grapple and above the pivot 27 of the other grapple to coordinate the opening and closing of the grapples.

The car body structure comprises a guide device 31 for the grapple device 9 which is integral with the top support plate 17 and the bottom support plates 18, 18 and defines a space 32 between a pair of opposed plates. It includes guide rails 33, 33 and a slide bracket 34, the slide bracket 34 having guide rollers 35, 35 engaged with the guide rails 33, 33 so as to slide back and forth along the guide rails 33, 33. It has become. The grapple device 9 is suspended from the slide bracket 34 . In the space 32 between the guide rails 33 , 33 is arranged a hydraulic cylinder 37 whose one end is pivotally attached to the guide rails between the guide rails at 37 ′, the plunger rod of which is provided at the front end of the slide bracket 34 . It is attached to a lateral pin 38 which Thus, extension and retraction of the plunger rod by actuation of the hydraulic cylinder 37 causes the slide bracket 34 to slide forward and backward along the guide rails, thereby moving the grapple device 9 between forward and rearward positions.

A swing bracket 39 of the grapple device is rotatably mounted to the slide bracket 34 via a rotary bearing 40 . The grapple bracket 26 is attached to the swing bracket 39 via a lateral pin 41 so that the grapple of the grapple device can swing 15 degrees forward and 15 degrees backward, for example. This fore-and-aft deflection of the grapples 28, 28 of the grapple device 9 is preferably enabled when the grapple device 9 is towards the forward position, but is disabled in the rearward position. For this purpose, a pair of left and right contact elements 42, 42 provided on the upper surface of the grapple bracket 26 and contact surfaces 43, 43 extending forward from the front support plate 13 of the cutter box 12 and contacting the contact elements are provided. A steady rest is provided which includes a pair of plate-like elements 44, 44 having respective plates. Thus the steady rest does not work when the grapple device 9 is in the forward position because the contact elements 42, 42 are out of contact with the contact surfaces 43, 43 of the plate-like elements 44, 44, and the grapple device 9 pulls the lateral pin 41. It can swing freely back and forth about the center, but when the grapple device 9 is moved rearward, the contact elements 42, 42 work to contact the contact surfaces 43, 43 of the plate-like elements 44, 44, and the grapple device's Shaking can be stopped. When the grapple device is turned from a vertical position to a horizontal position and vice versa from a horizontal position to a vertical position, the grapple device is in a steady state so that the grapple device does not swing back and forth.

Further, the grapple device 9 can swing left and right by turning the swing bracket 39 at the front position. However, it is desirable that the grapple device be stabilized when it is moved from the forward position to the rearward position. This anti-vibration is positioned so that a roller 46 provided at the tip of a stand pin 45 implanted in the front protruding portion 39' of the swing bracket 39 can enter between the guide rails 33, 33 from the front to provide a grapple device. This is achieved by contacting the lower opposing surfaces 33', 33' of the guide rails 33, 33 when 9 is moved from the forward position to the rearward position. In the forward position, the rollers 46 are removed from between the guide rails and the swing bracket 39 is free to swing, allowing side-to-side swing of the grapple. However, when the stand pin 45 comes into contact with a pair of stoppers 47, 47 projecting downward from the lower surfaces of the left and right overhanging portions 18', 18' of the bifurcated bottom support plates 18, 18, for example, the left 45° to the right and 45° to the right.

A cutting device 10 is arranged in the cutter box 12 . 10 to 12, the cutting device 10 has mounting arms 49, 49 rotatably mounted on a pair of pivot shafts 48, 48 fixedly mounted on the front and rear support plates 13, 14 of the cutter box 12. two blades 50, 50 (one of which is omitted in FIG. 11 and shown in dashed lines for clarity of blade attachment) fixedly attached to the front and rear support plates 13, 14; Hydraulic cylinders 52,52 having plunger rods mounted on a pair of pivots 51,51 mounted at 49,49 and pivoted at 49',49' to mounting arms 49,49. Thus, the blades 50,50 are rotated about the pivots 48,48 by extension and retraction of the plunger rods of the hydraulic cylinders 52,52 to open and close for wood cutting operations.

FIG. 13 shows the cutting device 10 including a single blade 50 mounted rotatably on a pivot 48 fixedly mounted to the front and rear support plates 13, 14 of the cutter box 12. It is fixedly attached to the arm 49 . A hydraulic cylinder 52 is mounted on a pivot 51 fixedly attached to the front and rear support plates 13, 14 and has a plunger rod pivotally attached to the mounting arm 49 at 49'. Thus, single blade 50 is rotated about pivot 48 for wood cutting operations by extension of the plunger rod of hydraulic cylinder 52 .

Figure 14 shows the cutting device 10 including a chainsaw 50'. The chainsaw 50' is fixedly attached to a mounting arm 49 which is rotatably mounted on a pivot shaft 48 which is fixedly attached to the front and rear support plates 13, 14 of the cutter box 12. As shown in FIG. A hydraulic cylinder 52 is mounted on a pivot 51 fixedly attached to the front and rear support plates 13, 14 and has a plunger rod pivotally attached to the mounting arm 49 at 49'. Thus, chainsaw 50' is rotated about pivot 48 for wood cutting operations by retraction of the plunger rod of hydraulic cylinder 52.

It should be noted that reference number 53 designates a hydraulically driven winch and 54 designates a swing guide sheave for the wire paid out from the winch. The winch is installed to allow the vehicle to ascend and descend steep woodlands by winding wires tied to trees.

In operation, all the hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic motors of the self-propelled logging vehicle according to the invention are remotely actuated via receivers and control valves by radio-controlled operation. The running state of the timber felling delivery vehicle and the tree felling operation are grasped by monitoring images from a camera appropriately installed on the timber felling delivery vehicle.

The procedure for felling standing trees and carrying out lumber will be described below, although not limited thereto. Normally, the rotating frame 11 will be positioned such that the grapple device 9 and the cutting device 10 are in a vertical position with respect to the car body structure, the grapple device 9 being in a position forward of the car body structure 2 . In this condition, grapples 28, 28 are closed, double blades 50, 50 or single blade 50 are open, and chainsaw 50' is retracted into the cutter box. Felling operations are generally carried out not only on horizontal forest land but also on standing trees growing almost vertically in sloping forest land.

By moving the slide bracket 34 along the guide rails 33, 33 by operating the hydraulic cylinder 37, the grapple device 9 is slid rearward from the forward position to the rearward position. Next, by operating the hydraulic cylinders 19, 19, the rotary frame 11 is rotated around the pivots 21, 21 via the link mechanisms 20, 20, and the guide device 31 is turned from the horizontal position to the vertical position with respect to the vehicle body structure. do. In this way the grapples 28, 28 of the grapple device 9 and the double blades 50, 50 or the single blade 50 or chainsaw 50' of the cutting device 10 are turned from a vertical position to a horizontal position. In this state, the grapples 28,28 are rotated outward about pivots 27,27 by actuation of hydraulic cylinders 29,29 to contract the plunger rods and open. Next, the lumber felling carrier 1 is driven toward the tree to be felled, and the grapples 28, 28 are rotated inwardly around the pivots 27, 27 by extending the plunger rods by operating the hydraulic cylinders 29, 29. and close it, hugging the tree and holding it. Then, by operating the hydraulic cylinders 52, 52 to extend the plunger rod and rotate the two blades 50, 50 around the pivots 51, 51 in opposite directions, in the case of the single blade 50, the single blade By rotating the blade 50 from outside to inside about the pivot 51, in the case of the chainsaw 50', the retraction of the plunger rod of the hydraulic cylinder 52 causes the chainsaw 50' to rotate about the pivot 51 in the activated state. Cut the standing tree by rotating from the inside to the outside. After cutting, hydraulic cylinders 37 and hydraulic cylinders 19, 19 are sequentially actuated to extend their plunger rods, thereby moving slide bracket 34, and thus the grapple, along guide rails 33, 33 and rotating frame 11. is reversed around a pivot 21 to fell a standing tree. It is clear that the cutter is returned to its original position after cutting. It will be appreciated that when the grapple begins to move along the guide rails 33, 33, the grapple acts to lift the cut tree from the stump, thus facilitating the felling of the tree. When the felling is complete, the grapple is in a downward, forward position, thus causing the timber felling unloader to travel backwards, away from where the standing tree was, to move the felled tree along the terrain. carry it out while dragging it. In its forward position, the grapple device is configured to swing back and forth and side to side, so that the wood being dragged will adapt better to the terrain of the woodland, and will also give the vehicle extra power when the vehicle is about to turn left or right. No load.

In a sloping forest, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the rotating frame is placed against the standing tree by the grapples 28, 28 of the grapple device 9 and the double blades 50, 50 or the single blade 50 or chainsaw 50' of the cutting device 10. Rotate it so that it is almost perpendicular.

The timber felling transporter according to the invention can also be used for gripping and transporting timber lying on its side by means of a grapple.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 timber felling transporter 2 traveling vehicle body structure 3 front vehicle body portion 4 rear vehicle body portion 5 front wheel 7 rear wheel 8 space 9 grapple device 10 cutting device 11 rotating frame 12 cutter box 13 front support plate 14 rear support plate 15 side arm 18 Bifurcated bottom support plate 19 hydraulic cylinder 20 link mechanism 21 pivot 26 grapple bracket 28 grapple 29 hydraulic cylinder 31 guide device 32 space 33 guide rail 34 slide bracket 37 hydraulic cylinder 48 pivot 50 double blade, single blade 50' chain saw 52 hydraulic pressure cylinder

Claims (5)

A grapple device having a pair of grapples for embracing and holding standing trees from the sides in the internal space of a tire-type or belt-type traveling body structure, and cutting for cutting trees from the sides for felling trees. providing a rotating frame with a device and a device for rotating the rotating frame between vertical and horizontal positions of the grapple device and the cutting device;
The rotating frame includes a cutter box on which the cutting device is installed, and a guide device, the guide device comprising a pair of guide rails, a slide bracket, and a slide bracket for sliding back and forth along the guide rails. a hydraulic cylinder, wherein the grapple device is suspended from the slide bracket, and sliding of the slide bracket moves the grapple device between a forward position and a rearward position;
A self-propelled logging system in which the grapple of the grapple device cuts down the standing tree by the reverse rotation of the rotating frame, and after the tree is felled, the grapple of the grapple device carries out the felled wood by running the logging machine. overturn machine. The traveling body structure includes a front body portion and a pair of bifurcated rear body portions defining an interior space, wherein a rotating frame is within the interior space and rotates on a pivot fixed to the rear body portion. 2. The self-propelled wood felling unloader of claim 1, wherein the freely mounted device for rotating the rotating frame includes a hydraulic cylinder connected to the rotating frame via a linkage. The cutting device includes two blades arranged in the cutter box and rotatably attached to a pair of pivots fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box, and the two blades being opposed to each other around the pivots. and a hydraulic cylinder for rotating in a direction. The cutting device is arranged in the cutter box and fixedly attached to a mounting arm rotatably attached to a pivot fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box; and a hydraulic cylinder for rotating from outside to inside about a pivot axis. The cutting device includes a chainsaw disposed in the cutter box and fixedly mounted on a mounting arm rotatably mounted on a pivot fixed to the front and rear support plates of the cutter box; and a hydraulic cylinder for rotating from inside to outside.

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