JPH0671395B2 - Pruning machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a pruning machine, and more specifically, a branch located at a considerably high place can be quickly, lightly and surely dropped from the base of the branch along the trunk without climbing a standing tree. Further, the present invention relates to a pruning machine configured so that an operation force applied to an operation tube can be effectively transmitted to a rotary blade attached to a tip portion of the operation tube, and work can be performed more efficiently.

In order to obtain high-quality grain wood in the field of forestry, it is necessary to prun the lower branches of the tree during the tree growing process. When this pruning operation is performed, it is necessary for the branches to be completely dropped off from the roots thereof without leaving stump-like projections. This is because if the protrusions are left, an annual ring is formed so as to cover the protrusions, and as a result, the wood grain is distorted and the quality of the wood deteriorates.

Such pruning work has traditionally been performed by a traditional method in which a worker with skillful technique carefully cuts off each branch using a nata while climbing on a tree. It was However, such traditional work is extremely difficult and dangerous, and because each tree must be climbed onto the tree, it is inefficient, the operator's fatigue is heavy, and the work is prolonged. Can't continue. Due to the poor working environment of such pruning work, the number of skilled workers has decreased in recent years, and many timber trees are left unattended without pruning their lower branches.

In addition to the so-called chain saw, a working machine designed to perform pruning work with the help of power
There is a pruning machine and the like shown in Japanese Patent No. 23158. However, with Chienso, the cutting surface is prone to peeling, so even if it is suitable for cutting or thinning the tree itself from its root, it is necessary to finish the cutting surface neatly. It is not suitable for, and because it is necessary to carry a considerably heavy machine to climb on a tree, there is a complaint about efficiency. Further, since the pruning machine shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-23158 is basically configured to cut the branches in the lateral direction, the branches sway in the lateral direction due to wind during cutting. In this case, due to the lever action that uses the part connected to the trunk of the branch as a fulcrum, the opposing cutting surfaces sandwich the rotary blade with a powerful force, and the rotary blade stops due to insufficient horsepower. Since it is impossible to continue further cutting and it is often impossible to even extract the rotary blade that has cut into the cut surface, it is not used effectively.

The branches of a tree are made to cut from their roots from top to bottom, the weight of the branches gradually tilts downwards, the cuts spread out, and the blades are shrunk and pinched by the cuts. It should not happen. In addition, in order to perform the pruning work more efficiently, it is necessary to be able to work while standing on the ground rather than climbing trees one by one.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and cuts branches from top to bottom, completes the branches from their roots along the trunk surface without leaving hump-shaped projections. Its basic purpose is to provide a pruning machine that can satisfy all of the above three conditions that are considered necessary for efficiently performing high-quality pruning work such as cutting into pieces and operating from the ground. . Further, the present invention is devised so that the operating force applied to the operating tube for operating the rotary blade from the ground effectively acts on the rotary blade or the branch to be cut.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following technical means.

That is, in the pruning machine of the present invention, a rotary blade having a flat lower surface is attached to the distal end portion of the operation tube having a predetermined length, and at the same time, a portion located at the rear of the rotary blade in the extending direction of the operation tube. A guide member that has a guide portion in a plane including the lower surface of the rotary blade and has a predetermined length in the extending direction of the operation tube, and the direction of the surface of the rotary blade and the operation tube. It is characterized by matching the axis line of.

As a result of taking such technical measures, the following effects are brought about.

That is, the guide portion of the guide member that is attached to at least the position behind the rotary blade is the lower surface of the rotary blade,
In other words, the rotary blade is located in a plane that substantially matches the plane with respect to the trunk, and the lower surface of the rotary blade is a flat surface without protrusions, so the rotary blade should be located above the branch to be cut. When the guide portion is brought into contact with the trunk surface at a side line passing through the branch to be cut, the position of the rotary blade is determined so as to be along the trunk surface above the branch to be cut. Moreover, since the guide member extends a predetermined length along the operation tube behind the rotary blade, the side edge of the guide member is applied to the branch to be cut and slid relative to the branch. By
The operation tube can be stably pulled down. At this time, the rotary blade is moved downward as it is while maintaining the state along the trunk surface as described above, and by this rotary blade, it is possible to cut without leaving a bump-like projection at the root of the branch. . If you move the rotary blade further down,
The branches are completely cut off from the root. At this time, the branches are cut from top to bottom, so the cutting edge spreads due to the weight of the branches,
The rotary blade is never caught in this cut. Further, in the present invention, since the direction of the surface of the rotary blade and the axis of the operation tube are coincident with each other, the operation force for pulling the operation tube downward in the axial direction to move the rotary blade downward is effective. Since it effectively acts on the rotary blade or the branch of the cutting partner, the rotary blade can be efficiently cut, and the internal stress generated in the rotary blade support part provided at the tip of the operation tube is minimized. Can be suppressed. This greatly contributes to increasing the substantial strength of the rotary blade support portion, increasing the substantial strength of the rotary blade support portion, or reducing the weight of the rotary blade support portion.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. The drawing shows an example in which the backpack-type engine and the operation tube are connected by a flexible transmission shaft, and most of the weight of the device is supported by the shoulder or back of the worker. It is also possible to construct an engine-integrated type in which the engine is directly attached to the base end of the operation pipe.

FIG. 1 shows the entire pruning machine 1 according to the present invention.

An engine 2 for driving the pruning machine 1 is supported by a backpack frame 3 configured to be carried on the back of an operator. The backpack frame 3 has a horizontal portion 3a for mounting the engine 2 and a vertical portion 3b to which the backrest pad 4 is attached, and has a substantially L shape in a side view. In the horizontal part 3a,
The engine 2 is supported rotatably about a vertical axis, and upper and lower ends of the vertical portion 3b are provided with upper and lower end portions of a shoulder strap 5, respectively. A shoulder pad 6 is attached to the shoulder strap 5.

The rotation output of the engine 2 is a flexible wire (not shown in the figure) inserted through the flexible tube 7 or an operation tube 9 connected to the tip of the flexible tube 7.
It is transmitted to the rotary blade 11 attached to the distal end portion of the operation tube 9 via the rigid transmission shaft 10 inserted through the inside thereof to rotate the rotary blade 11. In this example, the distal end portion 7a of the flexible tube 7 and the proximal end portion 9a of the operation tube 9 are detachably connected to each other.
If an auxiliary pipe 13 in which a rigid transmission shaft (not shown in the figure) is inserted is inserted between the operation pipe 9 and the operation pipe 9, the entire length of the operation pipe 9 is extended, and the position becomes considerably high. Even branches can be cut from the ground.

The details of the rotary blade 11 support portion at the tip of the operation tube 9 are described in the second section.
Shown in Figures and FIG.

A gear housing 14 is fixedly attached to the distal end of the operation tube 9, and inside the operation tube 9, a rotary blade support shaft 15 supported so as to be substantially orthogonal to the operation tube 9 is inserted. The rigid transmission shaft 10 is connected by a pair of bevel gears 16 and 17. The rotary blade 11 is attached to the tip of the support shaft 15. As shown in FIG. 3, the structure for supporting the rotary blade 11 with respect to the rotary blade support shaft 15 includes an upper side surface near the central portion of the rotary blade 11 fixed to the tip of the rotary blade support shaft 15 ( It is convenient to use a large-diameter mounting washer 18 that backs up a relatively large area (on the right side of the drawing) because the blurring of the rotary blade 11 during high-speed rotation can be minimized.

Further, in the present invention, the portion located at the front portion and / or the rear portion of the rotary blade 11 with respect to the extending direction of the operation tube 9 is located in a plane substantially matching the lower side surface (left side surface in the drawing) of the rotary blade 11. A guide member having a guide surface is provided, and this guide member allows the rotary blade 11 to be positioned along the trunk in the vicinity of the trunk surface, but in this example,
Both the first guide member located at the front part of the rotary blade 11 and the second guide member located at the rear part of the rotary blade 11 are provided.

That is, the gear housing 14 is located in a plane P that substantially coincides with the lower side surface 11a of the rotary blade 11, and the rotary blade 1
While providing a first guide portion 20 that is located slightly outward in the radial direction of the rotary blade 11 with respect to the outer peripheral edge of approximately the front half of 1 (the upper half of the rotary blade shown in FIGS. 2 and 3), The operation pipe 9 includes a lower side surface 11a of the rotary blade 11 behind the rotary blade 11 (below the rotary blade shown in FIGS. 2 and 3).
Located in a plane P that substantially coincides with
Is provided with a second guide portion 21 extending in a direction substantially corresponding to.

As the first guide portion 20, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a base portion 23a is fixed to a collar 22 provided on the gear housing 14, and is arranged along the upper side surface of the rotary blade 11. The peripheral edge of the plate-shaped cover 23 extending radially outward to the peripheral edge of the rotary blade 11 is biased downward, and this biased portion functions as an arc-shaped guide portion 20 having a constant width in the radial direction of the rotary blade 11. It is better to let them do it. In the example shown,
The arc formed by the first guide portion 20 has a central angle α of 180 °, which is 90 ° to the left and right with respect to the direction of the operation tube 9. This center angle α may be slightly changed from 180 °. In the illustrated example, the edge of the cover 23 in the radial direction is greatly engraved in a semicircular shape. This is to allow the branch, which is considerably thick, to be cut without any inconvenience by allowing the branch to escape into this dug-in portion as shown by an imaginary line in FIG.

Further, as the second guide portion 21, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of stays extending integrally with a plate-shaped guide member 24 having a width slightly wider than the thickness of the operation tube 9 are formed.
The lower surface of at least the portion of the guide member 24 adjacent to the rotary blade 11 attached to the operation pipe 9 via the position 25 is located in the plane P including the lower side surface 11a of the rotary blade 11 like the first guide portion 20. It can be configured by In addition,
The second guide portion 21, which will be described in detail later, mainly serves to position the rotary blade 11 along the trunk surface and parallel to the trunk by abutting it on the trunk surface. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, as a result of making the width thereof slightly wider than the thickness of the operation tube 9, the side portion of the guide member 24 is
21a slides while abutting against the branch to be cut so as to lean against it, and also plays a role of defining the moving direction of the operation tube 9 or the rotary blade 11. However, even if the second guide portion 21 has a rod shape whose width is thinner than the thickness of the operation tube 9, for example, it can play the main role. In this case, the lateral side surface of the operation tube 9 comes into contact with the branch and slides, and plays a role of defining the moving direction of the operation tube 9 or the rotary blade 11. Further, in the illustrated example, the entire lower surface of the second guide member 24 is used as the second guide portion 21 so as to be in the substantially same plane P as the lower side surface 11a of the rotary blade 11, but the second guide member Even if the entire lower surface of 24 is not located in the plane P as described above, only the front end portion of the second guide member 24, that is, the portion closest to the rotary blade 11 is located in the plane P, and the other portions are located. The same effect as that of the illustrated example can be exhibited even if it is tilted so as to approach the operation tube 9. This is because the portion of the second guide member 24 that comes into contact with the trunk when the rotary blade 11 is about to cut into a branch, that is, the portion of the second guide member 24 near the rotary blade is located in the plane P. This is because the rotary blade 11 can be guided so as to cut the branch from the root along the trunk.

Further, in the present invention, the direction in which the surface of the rotary blade 11 extends and the axis of the operation tube 9 are made to coincide, but in the example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation tube 9 is set to the second guide member. twenty four
This is embodied by dividing the front end portion 9a and the base end portion 9b in the vicinity of the rear end portion, and eccentricizing both of them 9a and 9b by a predetermined amount. The deviation amount between the tip end portion 9a and the base end portion 9b of the operation tube is an amount corresponding to the distance between the axis of the tip end portion 9a and the rotary blade 11. The rigid transmission shaft 10a in the distal end portion 9a and the rigid transmission shaft 10b in the proximal end portion 9b are the gears 26 attached to both of them.
27 are connected to each other by meshing with each other in a gear housing 29 provided in the eccentric portion 28 of the operation tube 9.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, reference numeral 30 is a third guide member for defining the moving direction of the rotary blade 11 after the rotary blade 11 cuts into the branch and then contacts the branch. . By positioning the third guide member 30 in the vicinity of the upper side surface 11b of the rotary blade 11, the third guide member 30 also serves to prevent the rotary blade 11 from being shaken or bent during cutting.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show a second embodiment of the present invention.

In this example, a rotary blade supporting rod 31 also serving as a second guide portion 21 is connected to the tip of the operation tube 9, and the rotary blade 11 is attached to the tip of the rotary blade 11 so that the direction of its surface is the axis of the operation tube 9. It is installed to match the mind. Further, the rotation of the rigid transmission shaft 10 in the operation pipe 9 is made orthogonal to the transmission shaft 10 by the pair of bevel gears 33, 34 in the gear housing 32 at the connecting portion between the rotary blade support rod 31 and the operation pipe 9. Intermediate shaft supported in series
35 and the sprocket 36 and 37 on the rotary blade support shaft 15 respectively.
It is adapted to be transmitted to the rotary blade 11 by mounting it and suspending the endless chain 38 around these sprockets. The lower surface 31a of the rotary blade support rod 31 is in the same plane P as the lower side surface 11a of the rotary blade 11 and functions as the second guide portion 21. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the width of the rotary blade support rod is made larger than the diameters of the sprockets 35 and 36, and when the side surface 31b is slid onto the branch to be cut, the chain 3
The 7 should not touch the branches. The first guide portion 20 in this example has the same structure as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Next, the usage of the pruning machine of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9. The pruning machine shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 has the structure of the rotary blade support shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 6 is a view of the condition of the tip portion of the operation tube 9 immediately before cutting the branch B as seen from the side of the tree. In this figure, the shaded portions are the portions or members that directly contact the trunk A, that is, the first guide portion 20 and the second guide portion 21. As described above, the first guide portion 20 and the second guide portion 21 are the lower side surface of the rotary blade 11.
It is located in the same plane P as 11a.

First, the rotary blade 11 is located above the branch B to be cut, and both the first guide portion 20 and the second guide portion 21 are in contact with the trunk A at the side line C passing through the branch B. . At this time, the relationship between the rotary blade 11 and the trunk A is determined. That is, the rotary blade 11 does not swing so that the upper part or the lower part thereof approaches the trunk A, and the rotary blade 11 does not carelessly scratch or damage the bark. At this time, as shown in the drawing, when the side portion of the second guide portion 21 is leaned against the branch B to be cut, the operation pipe 9 slides so that the branch B is on the side of the second guide portion 21. Since it is determined by sliding the portion, the operation of pulling the operation pipe 9 downward and moving the rotary blade 11 downward is very easy to perform.

Next, when the operation tube 9 is slid in the axial direction (in the direction of arrow Q), the rotary blade 11 cuts the root of the branch B from top to bottom as shown by the phantom line in FIG. When the operation tube 9 is slid in the direction of arrow Q, the branch B is finally cut off.

In the structure having the structure shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, since the third guide member 30 is provided, before the rotary blade 11 is cut into the branch B as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The branch B that slides on the side of the second guide member 24 is the rotary blade.
After 11 cuts into this branch B, it slides on the side part of the third guide member 30. Therefore, even after cutting the branch B, the rotary blade 11 has its moving direction (arrow Q direction) defined and is extremely stable. In this condition, branch cutting is performed effectively, and chattering vibration and shaking do not occur.

Further, in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the operation pipe 9 is tilted rightward and used to cut the branch B by the right half of the rotary blade 11, but conversely, the operation pipe 9 is used. Tilt to the left, rotary blade
It can also be used to cut branches in the left half of 11. This means, for example, by holding the operation pipe 9 left and right while standing on the contour line of the slope of the mountain that passes through the position where the trees grow, both the branch extending to the mountain side and the branch extending to the valley side can be set to the standing position. This means that the cutting can be done smoothly without any change, and as a result, the efficiency of the pruning work is dramatically increased.

Further, as clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, in the pruning machine of the present invention, the direction of the surface of the rotary blade 11, that is, the direction in which the rotary blade moves when performing the cutting action, Since the axis of the pipe 9 coincides with the axis of the pipe 9, the operator pulls the operation pipe 9 downward in order to cut the branch B into the rotary blade 11. As a result, the rotary blade 11 can perform an effective cutting action without waste, and the gear housing 14, the rotary blade support shaft 15, and the like can substantially increase the strength of the rotary blade support member,
Further, it is possible to reduce the weight of the rotary blade support member.

As a result of the above, the pruning machine of the present invention is extremely easy to perform the inefficient pruning work that has traditionally been performed for a long time and which must rely on the skill of the nata and the operator who operates it. Can be replaced by efficient work.

It goes without saying that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings. For example, in the example shown, the rotary blade
11 shows an example in which both the first guide portion 20 and the second guide portion 21 that are substantially on the same plane as the lower side surface of the 11 are provided, but even when only the second guide portion 21 is attached, it is almost the same. The rotary blade 11 can be guided so as to cut through the root of the branch to efficiently perform the pruning work. In order to match the direction of the surface of the rotary blade with the direction of the axis of the operation tube, in addition to the structure shown in the drawing, the vicinity of the tip of the operation tube 9 is eccentric, and a flexible transmission shaft is passed inside this. It can also be configured by inserting.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a rotary blade support portion, FIG. 3 is a partial sectional side view thereof, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a front view of another embodiment of the rotary blade support portion, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, FIG. 6 is a usage explanatory diagram, FIG. 7 and FIG.
FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view, and FIG. 9 is an overall view showing a working state. 9 ... Operation tube, 11 ... Rotary blade, 11a ... Lower side surface (of rotary blade), 2
0 ... (first) guide part, 21 ... (second) guide part, P ... plane

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary blade having a flat lower surface is attached to a tip portion of an operation tube having a predetermined length, and at least a portion of the rotary blade located rearward with respect to a direction in which the operation tube extends extends to the rotation. A guide member having a guide portion in a plane including the lower surface of the blade and having a predetermined length in the extending direction of the operation tube is attached, and the direction of the surface of the rotary blade coincides with the axis of the operation tube. A pruning machine characterized by being made.