CA1069028A - Method and apparatus for sorting trees - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for sorting treesInfo
- Publication number
- CA1069028A CA1069028A CA293,856A CA293856A CA1069028A CA 1069028 A CA1069028 A CA 1069028A CA 293856 A CA293856 A CA 293856A CA 1069028 A CA1069028 A CA 1069028A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- bunks
- trees
- frame
- vehicle
- boom
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
- A01G—HORTICULTURE; CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, RICE, FRUIT, VINES, HOPS OR SEAWEED; FORESTRY; WATERING
- A01G23/00—Forestry
- A01G23/003—Collecting felled trees
- A01G23/006—Log skidders
Abstract
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SORTING TREES
Abstract of the Disclosure Trees are sorted in situ in the forest immediately after being cut with the steps of limbing and topping optionally being included prior to the sorting operation.
To this end a vehicle is provided having a plurality of dumping bunks. Trees of different sizes or species are loaded into different bunks.
Abstract of the Disclosure Trees are sorted in situ in the forest immediately after being cut with the steps of limbing and topping optionally being included prior to the sorting operation.
To this end a vehicle is provided having a plurality of dumping bunks. Trees of different sizes or species are loaded into different bunks.
Description
~0~9~
.
Background of the Invention This invention relates to methods and apparatus for sorting trees. More particularly, this invention relates to the sorting of trees in a forest immediately after the trees have been cut down, or immediately after they have been cut down, limbed and, optionally, topped, using a vehicle provided with multiple dumpiny bunks each for receiving trees of different types or of different sizes.
After trees have been harvested, and before they are put to their final use as lumber or pulpwood, for example, it is necessary to sort the trees. The sorting operation may be simply to separate trees destined for lumber from those which are destined for papermaking.
The sorting operation also may be to separate hardwood from softwood. Also the sorting operation may be to separ-ate the trees into different lengths or different trunk diameters. Alternatively, the sorting operation may be to separate coniferous trees from deciduous trees.
In the past equipment that is capable of being used to sort trees has not been used to permit sorting of the trees at the harvesting site. As a consequence, the tree sorting operation has taken place at other locations where, for various reasons, it has been more difficult to perform than at the harvesting site. For example, various types of trees may be harvested in a forest, limbed, topped and forwarded to a landing site where they may be piled awaiting transportation to a pulp mill or to a lumber mill. The sorting operation may take place at the landing site. The tree trunks will be randomly piled with trunks o~ different lengths and diameters scattered throughout the pile. In order to sort the pile into trunks of different lengths or trunks of different diameters, the whole pile ~ .
l0~i9(~8 ' .
will have to be disrupted and rearranged. The same is true if the sorting is an operation to separate different species of trees. In that case, however, there may exist the additional problem of identifying the different species. In this respect~
identification by the relatively untrained eye of various different species of pines, for example, is much easier when the trees have their pine needles than after the limbs of the trees have been removed.
Thus, in accordance with this invention there are provided methods and apparatus for the sorting of trees at the tree harvesting site when the trees can be most efficiently sorted.
Summary of the Invention In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided apparatus for receiving trees that have been sorted according to different physical characteristics comprising a mobile vehicle having a frame, said vehicle having a longitudinal axis, said frame having a front end and a rear end with said longitudinal axis passing through both said front and rear ends; two bunks each having a front end and a rear end, said bunks being located on said frame at said rear end thereof and being mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other and generally parallel to said longitudinal axis, said bunks being pivotably mounted on said frame about pivot axes adjacent said rear ends of said bunks; means mounted on said frame for independently moving each of said bunks by pivoting said bunks about said pivot axes to raise said front ends of said bunks relative to said rear ends to dump trees to the rear of said vehicle; an operator's cab mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of one of said bunks; and means including a boom mounted on said ~Q69UZ~
frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of the other of said bunks for grasping and loading trees into said bunks, said boom being mounted beside said operator's cab.
Brief_Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a feller forwarder embodying this invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a loader forwarder embodying this invention; and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of a part of the loader forwarder of ~ig. 2 showing how trees may be unloaded from the side bunks thereof.
Detailed Description of the Invention Including the Preferred Embodiment `
Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown a feller forwarder vehicle 10 that may be used in the practice of this invention.
The basic eller forwarder 10 may be of known type, e.g., a Koehring ~trade mark) KFF Feller Forwarder, modified by the inclusion of two dumping bunks 11 and 12 in place of the single bunk conventionally used. The feller forwarder of the type illustrated is an articulated vehicle having front and rear sections 13 and 14 pivoted at 15, four wheels 16 (only two of which are down), an operator's cab 17, a knuckle boom 18 pivoted on the vehicle frame and a head 19 pivoted on the boom and capable of grasping, cutting and lifting a tree. The vehicle also includes suitable hydraulic mechanisms for operat-ing the boom and head, a main drive motor, transmissions, etc., but as the basic vehicleis commercially available, no detailed description thereof is required~`
A conven~ional Xoehring KFF Feller Forwarder is pro-vided with a single dumping bunk for receiving trees cut by 1 .
I .
`- ~o~9~
the cutting shear or chain saw of head 19. A feller forwarder embodying this invention is provided with at least two dumping bunks. In the embodiment of the invention shown - 4a -~''3W~ , '1~6gl~Z~
in Fig. 1 there are only two dumping bunks 11 and 12. These bunks are pivoted to the vehicle ~rame at 20 and can be moved into dumping position by means of a hydraulically operated cylinder and piston arrangement 21 or any other-suit-able operating mechanism, Bunks 11 and 12 are mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other, i.e., no other equip-ment is located between the bunks. The bunks are located on either side of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Likewise cab 17 and boom 18 are mounted on either side of the longitud-inal axis of the vehicle with the cab being directly in frontof one of the bunks and the boom being directly in front of the other of the bunks.
- In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1 bunks 11 and 12 dump to the rear of the vehicle about a horizontal axis parallel to the rear of the vehicle and per-pendicular to its longitudinal axis. Typical]y bunks 11 and 12 may be elevated to about a 50 angle when in the dumping position.
:
B
~0~i9V28 In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fi~. 1, the bunks are generally U~shaped in cross-section and are open at both ends so as to be capable of accommodating long trees. Typically a bunk would have a capacity of 3 to 7 cords.
If desired, two addi-tional bunks similar to bunks 11 and 12 may be mounted on the rear section 14 of the vehicle to the outside of bunks 11 and 12 respectively. The outer bunks may be arranged to pivot on the vehicle frame about horiæontal axes arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Thus, the outer bunks are arranged to dump sideways, rather than to the rear of the vehicle, suitable operating mechanisms for performing the dump-: ing operation and returning the outer bunks to their normal posi tions being provided. As in the ~ase of bunks 11 and 12, these operating mechanisms may consist of hydraulically operated cylinder and piston arrangements.
In the case of the vehicle shown inFig. 2 head 19 is replaced by a tree grapple 22 and side bunks 23 and 24 are provided. The two side bunks and the side bunk operating mechanisms are the same, so only one will be described. Thus, as shown ln Figs. 3 and 4, side bunk 24 is mounted on bunk 12. On the other hand side bunk 23 is mounted on bunk 11.
Bunk 24 consists of two shafts 25 each including, in the position thereof shown in Fig. 3, a horizontal section 26 extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of vehicle 10, a horizontal, forwardly inclined section 27 and an upstanding section 28.
Each section 26 is pivotably mounted on the underside of bunk 12 and is provided with a crank arm 29 -to enable bunk 24 to be moved to the load dumping position shown in Fig. 4 by any suitable operating mechanism such as hydraullcally operated cylinder and piston arrangemen-t 30.
When shafts 25 are in the position shown in Fig. 3, trees can be loaded into and retained in bunk 24.
When shafts 25 are rotated to the position shown in Fig. 4 trees will be dumped from bunk 24 to the side o~ vehicle 10. Of course, if desired bunk 24 may be li~ted with bunk 12 to the position shown in Fig. 1 and trees in ~unk 24 dumped to the rear of the vehicle.
,., .
:
In practising an embodiment of this invention, feller forwarder 10 is driven into the forest, which may contain mixed wood, and is used in a conventional way to cut down trees. In this respect, and as is conventional, boom 18 is moved to bring head 19 into engagement with a tree.
Tree gripping arms o~ head 19 engage the tree, which then is cut using a saw or shear constituting a part of head 19.
Boom 18 is activated again to swing the cut tree over one of the bunks, the tree gripping arms are released and the cut tree is permitted to fall into the selected bunk.
At some time during the operation just described the operator determines into which bunk the tree will be deposited and then deposits the tree into that bunk, effect-ing the s~rting operation. As noted hereinbefore, the ~:)69(3Z8 sorting operation may be by size or specie. Thus, for example, hardwood trees may be piled in bunk 11 and softwood trees in bunk 12. Alternatively, trees over, say 60' in length may be piled in bunk 11, and trees less than 60' in length in bunk 12, or trees having less than, say, 4" diameter trunks may be piled in bunk 11, and trees with larger diameter trunks may be piled in bunk 12. In any event the sorting operation takes place in situ at the tree harvesting site and immediately following the actual cutting operation.
In another embodiment of the invention a Koehring ~ree-leng*h or Loader Forwarder modified to incorporate-two or more bunks for tree storage and preferably provided with its own grapple for picking up trees to be loaded into the bunks may be employed. This forwarder is driven into the forest where trees are being cut. At the harvesting site the trees are lifted by the grapple and placed in selected ones of the bunks as determined by the"operator of the forwarder, thereby accomplishing the sorting operation in situ at the harvesting site. In this case the tree sorting operation may take place before or after the limbing operation, the latter being accomplished, for example,at the landing site to which the forwarder will take the trees. In the case where the sort-ing operation is to separate trees of different species, particularly in the case where the species are of the same classification, for example, coniferous, preferably the sorting operation is carried out before the limbing operation to assist the person making the selection identify the different species of trees.
V~8 ~
In another embodiment of the invention tree harvesting equipment of the general type disclosed, for example, in U. S. Patent Mo. 3,875,983, issued April 8, 1975, John Kurelek, assigned to Koehring C~nada Limited, modified by the inclusion of two or more bunks and provided with some suitable means for selectively transferring the cut, limbed and topped trees to the desired bunk could be employed. In this case the sorting step would follow the cutting, limbing and topping operations, but there would be no problem in effecting the sorting operation, even if it is based on species, since the operator will be able to readily identify the species of tree that is being dealt with at the time that the cutting operation is being per-formed and will determine at that time into which bunk the processed trees should be loaded.
As will be apparent from the foregoing, in all embodiments of the invention a mobile vehicle provided with two or more bunks is provided at the tree harvesting site.
Preferably the vehicle is provided with some mechanism to load trees into the bunks. The latter preferably are capable of dumping. In the event that they are not, auxiliary unloading equipment either carried by the vehicle or separate therefrom may be provided.
Vehicles having two or more load-carrying contain-ers, some of which are arranged to dump, are known, as is -~ot~
evident from the following U.S. patents:
3,841,234 issued October 15, 1974, T. J. Nicolletti 1,445,215 issued February 13, 1923, C. A. Holt, Jr.
666,567 issued January 22, 1901, C. Skone 3,371,939 issued March 5, 1968, A. G. Welk 273,202 issued February 27, 1883, W. Wallace 3,720,336 issued March 13, 1973, ~urray et al It will be apparent from a reading of these patents that none discloses equipment specifically for the purpose set out herein, or contemplates using the equipment for in situ tree sorting.
It will be seen from the foregoing that in practising a method embodying this invention for sorting trees at a tree harvesting site where the trees are felled, a mobile vehicle is provided at the site, this vehicle having at least two bunks for receiving trees. Trees felled at the site which differ in predetermined physical characteristics are loaded at the site into different ones of the bunks. In one case the physical characteristic may be length, with trees of shorter length being loaded into one of the bunks and trees of greater length being loaded into another of the bunks. Alternatively the physical characteristic may be trunk diameter, trees of smaller trunk diameter being loaded in one of the bunks and trees of larger trunk diameter being loaded in another of the bunks. If the physical characteristic is tree specie, trees of one specie may be loaded in one of the bunks and trees of a different specie may be loaded in the other of the bunks. The species may be softwood on the one hand and hardwood on the other hand or coniferous trees on the one hand and deciduous tr~es on the other hand.
In another embodiment of the method of this invention the trees are felled at ~he site and loaded into the bunks, the felliny operation being performed by equipment associated with the mobile vehicle carrying the b~nks or ' ~0ti~2~3 :
independent from that vehicle. In a further modification of this method the trees are limbed before being loaded into the bunks, and in another modification the trees are topped before the loading operation, the topping operation generally following the limbing step.
This application is related to co-pending Canadian patent application Serial No.273,~33filed ~c~6e~3"9~7 entitled APPARATUS FOR SORTING TREES where the apparatus disclosed in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of tbe lnstant application is claimed.
While preferred embodiments of this invention have been described and illustrated herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of ! this invention as defined in the appended claims.
,.
.
Background of the Invention This invention relates to methods and apparatus for sorting trees. More particularly, this invention relates to the sorting of trees in a forest immediately after the trees have been cut down, or immediately after they have been cut down, limbed and, optionally, topped, using a vehicle provided with multiple dumpiny bunks each for receiving trees of different types or of different sizes.
After trees have been harvested, and before they are put to their final use as lumber or pulpwood, for example, it is necessary to sort the trees. The sorting operation may be simply to separate trees destined for lumber from those which are destined for papermaking.
The sorting operation also may be to separate hardwood from softwood. Also the sorting operation may be to separ-ate the trees into different lengths or different trunk diameters. Alternatively, the sorting operation may be to separate coniferous trees from deciduous trees.
In the past equipment that is capable of being used to sort trees has not been used to permit sorting of the trees at the harvesting site. As a consequence, the tree sorting operation has taken place at other locations where, for various reasons, it has been more difficult to perform than at the harvesting site. For example, various types of trees may be harvested in a forest, limbed, topped and forwarded to a landing site where they may be piled awaiting transportation to a pulp mill or to a lumber mill. The sorting operation may take place at the landing site. The tree trunks will be randomly piled with trunks o~ different lengths and diameters scattered throughout the pile. In order to sort the pile into trunks of different lengths or trunks of different diameters, the whole pile ~ .
l0~i9(~8 ' .
will have to be disrupted and rearranged. The same is true if the sorting is an operation to separate different species of trees. In that case, however, there may exist the additional problem of identifying the different species. In this respect~
identification by the relatively untrained eye of various different species of pines, for example, is much easier when the trees have their pine needles than after the limbs of the trees have been removed.
Thus, in accordance with this invention there are provided methods and apparatus for the sorting of trees at the tree harvesting site when the trees can be most efficiently sorted.
Summary of the Invention In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided apparatus for receiving trees that have been sorted according to different physical characteristics comprising a mobile vehicle having a frame, said vehicle having a longitudinal axis, said frame having a front end and a rear end with said longitudinal axis passing through both said front and rear ends; two bunks each having a front end and a rear end, said bunks being located on said frame at said rear end thereof and being mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other and generally parallel to said longitudinal axis, said bunks being pivotably mounted on said frame about pivot axes adjacent said rear ends of said bunks; means mounted on said frame for independently moving each of said bunks by pivoting said bunks about said pivot axes to raise said front ends of said bunks relative to said rear ends to dump trees to the rear of said vehicle; an operator's cab mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of one of said bunks; and means including a boom mounted on said ~Q69UZ~
frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of the other of said bunks for grasping and loading trees into said bunks, said boom being mounted beside said operator's cab.
Brief_Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a feller forwarder embodying this invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a loader forwarder embodying this invention; and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of a part of the loader forwarder of ~ig. 2 showing how trees may be unloaded from the side bunks thereof.
Detailed Description of the Invention Including the Preferred Embodiment `
Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown a feller forwarder vehicle 10 that may be used in the practice of this invention.
The basic eller forwarder 10 may be of known type, e.g., a Koehring ~trade mark) KFF Feller Forwarder, modified by the inclusion of two dumping bunks 11 and 12 in place of the single bunk conventionally used. The feller forwarder of the type illustrated is an articulated vehicle having front and rear sections 13 and 14 pivoted at 15, four wheels 16 (only two of which are down), an operator's cab 17, a knuckle boom 18 pivoted on the vehicle frame and a head 19 pivoted on the boom and capable of grasping, cutting and lifting a tree. The vehicle also includes suitable hydraulic mechanisms for operat-ing the boom and head, a main drive motor, transmissions, etc., but as the basic vehicleis commercially available, no detailed description thereof is required~`
A conven~ional Xoehring KFF Feller Forwarder is pro-vided with a single dumping bunk for receiving trees cut by 1 .
I .
`- ~o~9~
the cutting shear or chain saw of head 19. A feller forwarder embodying this invention is provided with at least two dumping bunks. In the embodiment of the invention shown - 4a -~''3W~ , '1~6gl~Z~
in Fig. 1 there are only two dumping bunks 11 and 12. These bunks are pivoted to the vehicle ~rame at 20 and can be moved into dumping position by means of a hydraulically operated cylinder and piston arrangement 21 or any other-suit-able operating mechanism, Bunks 11 and 12 are mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other, i.e., no other equip-ment is located between the bunks. The bunks are located on either side of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Likewise cab 17 and boom 18 are mounted on either side of the longitud-inal axis of the vehicle with the cab being directly in frontof one of the bunks and the boom being directly in front of the other of the bunks.
- In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1 bunks 11 and 12 dump to the rear of the vehicle about a horizontal axis parallel to the rear of the vehicle and per-pendicular to its longitudinal axis. Typical]y bunks 11 and 12 may be elevated to about a 50 angle when in the dumping position.
:
B
~0~i9V28 In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fi~. 1, the bunks are generally U~shaped in cross-section and are open at both ends so as to be capable of accommodating long trees. Typically a bunk would have a capacity of 3 to 7 cords.
If desired, two addi-tional bunks similar to bunks 11 and 12 may be mounted on the rear section 14 of the vehicle to the outside of bunks 11 and 12 respectively. The outer bunks may be arranged to pivot on the vehicle frame about horiæontal axes arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Thus, the outer bunks are arranged to dump sideways, rather than to the rear of the vehicle, suitable operating mechanisms for performing the dump-: ing operation and returning the outer bunks to their normal posi tions being provided. As in the ~ase of bunks 11 and 12, these operating mechanisms may consist of hydraulically operated cylinder and piston arrangements.
In the case of the vehicle shown inFig. 2 head 19 is replaced by a tree grapple 22 and side bunks 23 and 24 are provided. The two side bunks and the side bunk operating mechanisms are the same, so only one will be described. Thus, as shown ln Figs. 3 and 4, side bunk 24 is mounted on bunk 12. On the other hand side bunk 23 is mounted on bunk 11.
Bunk 24 consists of two shafts 25 each including, in the position thereof shown in Fig. 3, a horizontal section 26 extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of vehicle 10, a horizontal, forwardly inclined section 27 and an upstanding section 28.
Each section 26 is pivotably mounted on the underside of bunk 12 and is provided with a crank arm 29 -to enable bunk 24 to be moved to the load dumping position shown in Fig. 4 by any suitable operating mechanism such as hydraullcally operated cylinder and piston arrangemen-t 30.
When shafts 25 are in the position shown in Fig. 3, trees can be loaded into and retained in bunk 24.
When shafts 25 are rotated to the position shown in Fig. 4 trees will be dumped from bunk 24 to the side o~ vehicle 10. Of course, if desired bunk 24 may be li~ted with bunk 12 to the position shown in Fig. 1 and trees in ~unk 24 dumped to the rear of the vehicle.
,., .
:
In practising an embodiment of this invention, feller forwarder 10 is driven into the forest, which may contain mixed wood, and is used in a conventional way to cut down trees. In this respect, and as is conventional, boom 18 is moved to bring head 19 into engagement with a tree.
Tree gripping arms o~ head 19 engage the tree, which then is cut using a saw or shear constituting a part of head 19.
Boom 18 is activated again to swing the cut tree over one of the bunks, the tree gripping arms are released and the cut tree is permitted to fall into the selected bunk.
At some time during the operation just described the operator determines into which bunk the tree will be deposited and then deposits the tree into that bunk, effect-ing the s~rting operation. As noted hereinbefore, the ~:)69(3Z8 sorting operation may be by size or specie. Thus, for example, hardwood trees may be piled in bunk 11 and softwood trees in bunk 12. Alternatively, trees over, say 60' in length may be piled in bunk 11, and trees less than 60' in length in bunk 12, or trees having less than, say, 4" diameter trunks may be piled in bunk 11, and trees with larger diameter trunks may be piled in bunk 12. In any event the sorting operation takes place in situ at the tree harvesting site and immediately following the actual cutting operation.
In another embodiment of the invention a Koehring ~ree-leng*h or Loader Forwarder modified to incorporate-two or more bunks for tree storage and preferably provided with its own grapple for picking up trees to be loaded into the bunks may be employed. This forwarder is driven into the forest where trees are being cut. At the harvesting site the trees are lifted by the grapple and placed in selected ones of the bunks as determined by the"operator of the forwarder, thereby accomplishing the sorting operation in situ at the harvesting site. In this case the tree sorting operation may take place before or after the limbing operation, the latter being accomplished, for example,at the landing site to which the forwarder will take the trees. In the case where the sort-ing operation is to separate trees of different species, particularly in the case where the species are of the same classification, for example, coniferous, preferably the sorting operation is carried out before the limbing operation to assist the person making the selection identify the different species of trees.
V~8 ~
In another embodiment of the invention tree harvesting equipment of the general type disclosed, for example, in U. S. Patent Mo. 3,875,983, issued April 8, 1975, John Kurelek, assigned to Koehring C~nada Limited, modified by the inclusion of two or more bunks and provided with some suitable means for selectively transferring the cut, limbed and topped trees to the desired bunk could be employed. In this case the sorting step would follow the cutting, limbing and topping operations, but there would be no problem in effecting the sorting operation, even if it is based on species, since the operator will be able to readily identify the species of tree that is being dealt with at the time that the cutting operation is being per-formed and will determine at that time into which bunk the processed trees should be loaded.
As will be apparent from the foregoing, in all embodiments of the invention a mobile vehicle provided with two or more bunks is provided at the tree harvesting site.
Preferably the vehicle is provided with some mechanism to load trees into the bunks. The latter preferably are capable of dumping. In the event that they are not, auxiliary unloading equipment either carried by the vehicle or separate therefrom may be provided.
Vehicles having two or more load-carrying contain-ers, some of which are arranged to dump, are known, as is -~ot~
evident from the following U.S. patents:
3,841,234 issued October 15, 1974, T. J. Nicolletti 1,445,215 issued February 13, 1923, C. A. Holt, Jr.
666,567 issued January 22, 1901, C. Skone 3,371,939 issued March 5, 1968, A. G. Welk 273,202 issued February 27, 1883, W. Wallace 3,720,336 issued March 13, 1973, ~urray et al It will be apparent from a reading of these patents that none discloses equipment specifically for the purpose set out herein, or contemplates using the equipment for in situ tree sorting.
It will be seen from the foregoing that in practising a method embodying this invention for sorting trees at a tree harvesting site where the trees are felled, a mobile vehicle is provided at the site, this vehicle having at least two bunks for receiving trees. Trees felled at the site which differ in predetermined physical characteristics are loaded at the site into different ones of the bunks. In one case the physical characteristic may be length, with trees of shorter length being loaded into one of the bunks and trees of greater length being loaded into another of the bunks. Alternatively the physical characteristic may be trunk diameter, trees of smaller trunk diameter being loaded in one of the bunks and trees of larger trunk diameter being loaded in another of the bunks. If the physical characteristic is tree specie, trees of one specie may be loaded in one of the bunks and trees of a different specie may be loaded in the other of the bunks. The species may be softwood on the one hand and hardwood on the other hand or coniferous trees on the one hand and deciduous tr~es on the other hand.
In another embodiment of the method of this invention the trees are felled at ~he site and loaded into the bunks, the felliny operation being performed by equipment associated with the mobile vehicle carrying the b~nks or ' ~0ti~2~3 :
independent from that vehicle. In a further modification of this method the trees are limbed before being loaded into the bunks, and in another modification the trees are topped before the loading operation, the topping operation generally following the limbing step.
This application is related to co-pending Canadian patent application Serial No.273,~33filed ~c~6e~3"9~7 entitled APPARATUS FOR SORTING TREES where the apparatus disclosed in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of tbe lnstant application is claimed.
While preferred embodiments of this invention have been described and illustrated herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of ! this invention as defined in the appended claims.
,.
Claims (8)
1. Apparatus for receiving trees that have been sorted according to different physical characteristics comprising a mobile vehicle having a frame, said vehicle having a longitudinal axis, said frame having a front end and a rear end with said longitudinal axis passing through both said front and rear ends;
two bunks each having a front end and a rear end, said hunks being located on said frame at said rear end thereof and being mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other and generally parallel to said longitudinal axis, said bunks being pivotably mounted on said frame about pivot axes adjacent said rear ends of said bunks; means mounted on said frame for in-dependently moving each of said bunks by pivoting said bunks about said pivot axes to raise said front ends of said bunks relative to said rear ends to dump trees to the rear of said vehicle; an operator's cab mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of one of said bunks; and means including a boom mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of the other of said bunks for grasping and loading trees into said bunks, said boom being mounted beside said operator's cab.
two bunks each having a front end and a rear end, said hunks being located on said frame at said rear end thereof and being mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other and generally parallel to said longitudinal axis, said bunks being pivotably mounted on said frame about pivot axes adjacent said rear ends of said bunks; means mounted on said frame for in-dependently moving each of said bunks by pivoting said bunks about said pivot axes to raise said front ends of said bunks relative to said rear ends to dump trees to the rear of said vehicle; an operator's cab mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of one of said bunks; and means including a boom mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of the other of said bunks for grasping and loading trees into said bunks, said boom being mounted beside said operator's cab.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said bunks are mounted immediately adjacent to each other.
3. Apparatus for receiving trees that have been sorted according to different physical characteristics comprising a mobile vehicle having a frame, said vehicle having a longitud-inal axis, said frame having a front end and a rear end with said longitudinal axis passing through both said front and rear ends; two bunks each having a front end and a rear end, each of said bunks having a bottom wall and spaced apart side members upstanding therefrom forming a generally U-shaped receptacle for retaining and confining trees therein, said bunks being located on said frame at said rear end thereof and being mounted side-by-side immediately adjacent to each other and generally parallel to said longitudinal axis, said bunks being pivotably mounted on said frame about pivot axes adjacent said rear ends of said bunks; means mounted on said frame for independently moving each of said bunks by pivoting said bunks about said pivot axes to raise said front ends of said bunks relative to said rear ends to dump trees to the rear of said vehicle; an operator's cab mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of one of said bunks; and means including a boom mounted on said frame at said front end thereof directly in front of the front end of the other of said bunks for grasping and loading trees into said bunks, said boom being mounted beside said operator's cab.
4. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein said bunks are mounted on either side of said longitud-inal axis.
5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein said bunks are mounted on either side of said longitud-inal axis and said cab and said boom are mounted on either side of said longitudinal axis.
6. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the last-mentioned means includes a head mounted on said boom, said head including means for cutting trees and means for grasping cut trees.
7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the last-mentioned means includes a tree grapple.
8. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein said front and rear ends of said bunks are open.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA293,856A CA1069028A (en) | 1977-12-23 | 1977-12-23 | Method and apparatus for sorting trees |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA293,856A CA1069028A (en) | 1977-12-23 | 1977-12-23 | Method and apparatus for sorting trees |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1069028A true CA1069028A (en) | 1980-01-01 |
Family
ID=4110381
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA293,856A Expired CA1069028A (en) | 1977-12-23 | 1977-12-23 | Method and apparatus for sorting trees |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1069028A (en) |
-
1977
- 1977-12-23 CA CA293,856A patent/CA1069028A/en not_active Expired
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