EP1729941A1

EP1729941A1 - Machine for splitting elongate sections of wood into logs

Info

Publication number: EP1729941A1
Application number: EP05714720A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dominique Cornu
Original assignee: Aficor SA
Current assignee: Aficor SA
Priority date: 2004-03-30
Filing date: 2005-03-29
Publication date: 2006-12-13
Anticipated expiration: 2025-03-29
Also published as: DE602005007716D1; CA2560087A1; FR2868352A1; EP1729941B1; WO2005095072A1; ATE399082T1; FR2868352B1; ES2310335T3

Abstract

The invention relates to a machine for splitting elongate sections of wood, i.e. logs of wood for a fire, enabling the splitting of wood to be optimized and automated in order to obtain pieces of wood having a predetermined section which can be quickly and easily modified according to requirements. The machine (10) comprises a frame (20), fixed knives (40) which are mounted on said frame and disposed in a substantially perpendicular manner with respect to the axis of the section of wood which is to be split, a support cradle (21) for the section of wood and a pushing device (30) designed to push the elongate section of wood in a substantially axial manner against the knives. The inventive machine also comprises a drum (50) which can rotate about an axis (51) which is substantially parallel to the axis of the section of wood to be split. The knives (40) are mounted on the rotary drum and are disposed in a manner such as to define distinct splitting areas, each corresponding to a number and/or different geometry of the section of the logs of wood for a fire obtained during the splitting process.

Description

WOODEN SPLITTING MACHINE

Technical area

The present invention relates to a machine for splitting into firewood logs an elongated section of wood of any shape and size, this machine comprising a frame, knives mounted on this frame and arranged substantially perpendicular to the axis of the section of wood. to split, a guide element for said section of wood and a pushing device arranged to push the elongated section of wood substantially axially against said knives mounted on a circular drum, rotating about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of l guide element.

Prior art

For many uses of wood, for example the manufacture of barrel staves, handles of hand tools, and in particular for the production of firewood for open fireplaces or cassettes, it is necessary or usual to prepare the pieces of wood by splitting and not by sawing. Sawing has the effect of cutting the wood fiber while the splitting follows the grain of the wood, which allows the object produced to have better resistance to stresses and in particular to bending and twisting.

Wood splitting machines are already known comprising a single knife intended for splitting a section of firewood in the direction of the fibers of this section. Most of these machines only allow the wood to be split along a single opening plane, at each operation. To obtain smaller pieces of wood from a larger section, this must be taken up several times on the machine. The operation is long, tedious and imprecise. It does not make it possible to obtain pieces of split wood having more or less similar sections. Most current machines do not allow splitting, in a single pass, a relatively large section of wood for make pieces of split firewood of approximately similar section.

Canadian patent CA 1 097 193 and European publication EP 0 334 741 describe machines for splitting and cutting pieces of wood of rectangular or square section, commonly called squares, by means of a rigid grid of fixed knives mounted in a frame according to two perpendicular directions. The purpose of these machines is to produce pieces of wood of regular section having flat faces, in order to be able to be assembled and glued in order to constitute panels of the type known as glued lamella, as shown in the Canadian patent.

Also known from French publication FR 2 841 173 is a wood splitting device making it possible to obtain a good quality of the finish of the pieces obtained. To this end, this device comprises means for guiding the sections associated with means for pushing against dies with one or more blades according to the number of pieces desired. These dies are provided on a rotating disc to cause the die to be used in correspondence with the section to be split. This device is intended for splitting small sections of wood to obtain finished products such as fence posts or roof shingles. It is absolutely not usable for splitting large logs in order to obtain fuelwood in the form of logs.

Statement of the invention

Firewood is traditionally presented in the form of irregular logs obtained by splitting sections of wood of predetermined length, this splitting being done in the direction of the fibers which is rarely straight for certain species of wood, in particular the sections coming from deciduous trees. The object of the present invention is to provide equipment making it possible to optimize and automate the preparation of firewood logs by splitting to obtain pieces of more or less predetermined section, the dimensions and the geometric shape of this section being able to be changed almost automatically as needed.

This object is achieved by the machine according to the invention as defined in the preamble and characterized in that the knives are flat blades arranged in planes substantially parallel to the axis of the guide element, in that these blades are mounted in groups of blades, each group of blades being composed of a set of blades diverging from a central point, and in that these blades are integral with one another and with the circular drum so as to delimit all the interior space of said drum in separate splitting zones corresponding respectively to one of said groups of blades and to a determined number of firewood logs obtained during splitting according to the group of blades used.

According to a preferred embodiment, said guide element for said section of wood is equipped with a support cradle adjustable in position.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the support cradle and the rotary drum carrying said blades are adjustable in height relative to one another.

According to an advantageous embodiment, said rotary drum comprises an annular peripheral support of said blades carrying a toothing arranged to be engaged with a drive pinion driven in rotation by an electric or hydraulic motor.

According to a preferred embodiment, said drum is rotatable relative to the frame of the machine.

Advantageously, among the knives some are radial. According to a preferred embodiment, said drum delimits at least one area for splitting the section of wood into two logs, at least one area for splitting the section of wood into four logs, at least one area for splitting the section of wood in six logs, at least one area for splitting the section of wood into eight logs and at least one area for splitting the section of wood into sixteen logs.

The pushing device advantageously comprises a pushing plate which is integral with the head of a rod of a hydraulic pushing cylinder.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the push plate is made of two elements sliding vertically relative to one another.

According to an alternative embodiment, the pushing device may comprise a first pushing plate integral with a first hydraulic pushing cylinder and a second pushing plate integral with a second hydraulic pushing cylinder, said first pushing plate having openings allowing the passage of bars and / or rods integral with said second push plate.

Said first push plate and said second push plate are preferably arranged to move simultaneously until the piece of wood to be split is pushed through the knives and said second push plate is preferably arranged to move alone with said bars and / or rods at the end of the journey to push any pieces of wood stuck out of the knife space.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention and its main advantages will appear better in the detailed description of a preferred embodiment and with reference to the appended drawings given for information and not limitation, in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the machine according to the invention,

FIG. 2 represents an elevation view of the machine,

FIG. 3 represents a plan view of the knives of the machine according to the invention of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 represents a perspective view of the knives of the machine, in operating mode for the splitting of an elongated section of wood into logs of predetermined length,

FIG. 5 represents a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the machine according to the invention, in a first operating position, and

6 shows a perspective view of the alternative embodiment according to Figure 5, in a second operating position.

Manner (s) of Carrying Out the Invention With reference to FIG. 1, the machine 10 for splitting elongated sections of wood according to the invention comprises a frame 20 on which is mounted a pushing device 30 and a set of fixed knives 40 mounted on a rotary drum 50. The pushing device 30 is arranged to push a section of wood (not shown in this figure) substantially axially against the cutting edge of the knives 40 to split said section into firewood logs of section and geometry predetermined.

The frame 20 is arranged to support, on the one hand, a support cradle 21 of the section of wood comprising a guide element 9 which, in the example shown, is in the form of a gutter made up of two side plates elongated 22 forming an acute angle between them and, on the other hand, the drum 50 on which the knives 40 are mounted. The two plates 22 are integral with two side members 23 made respectively integral with the frame by means of leaf springs 24 and can be separated from one another so as to open the angle of the gutter and allow the diameter of the section to be increased of wood during splitting. Other embodiments are conceivable, in particular a support consisting of several parallel blades arranged vertically and mounted on a lifting device which ensures the height adjustment of the section of wood to be split, or a monobloc assembly adjustable in height.

The knives 40 are in the form of flat blades arranged in planes substantially parallel to the axis of the guide element 9. These blades are mounted in groups of blades, each group of blades being composed of a variable assembly in quantity of blades diverging from a central point, respectively 41a, 41b, 41c and 41 d. These blades are integral with each other and with the circular drum 50 and delimit the entire interior space of said drum in separate splitting zones. These splitting zones correspond respectively to one of said groups of blades and to a determined number of firewood logs obtained during splitting according to the group of blades used.

The pushing device 30 comprises, in the example shown, a pushing plate 31 which is integral with the head of a rod of a hydraulic pushing cylinder 32. The pushing plate 31 has the function of bearing on the distal end of an elongated section of firewood to be split to push the latter against the edge of the knives 40. This pushing device could of course be constructed differently. The push plate could be made of two elements sliding vertically with respect to one another so as to be constantly in optimum support on the distal end of the section of wood whatever the height of the guide element. Indeed, in the planned embodiment, the hydraulic thrust cylinder 32 is fixed in position and the guide element is adjustable in height. Consequently, the optimal support mentioned is obtained when the thrust exerted by the rod of the jack is transmitted entirely on the section of wood to be split without causing deformation of the push plate 31.

The frame 20 comprises a front vertical support 25 (see FIG. 2) and a rear vertical support 26 (see FIG. 1) as well as horizontal crosspieces 27 and 28 which connect the two vertical supports. This frame in particular carries the hydraulic thrust cylinder 32 by means of two uprights 22b secured to the front vertical 25 and rear 26 supports and two vertical flat profiles 29a. The drum 50 is rotatable relative to the frame 20 and said frame carries the axis of rotation 51 of the drum 50 on which the knives 40 are mounted. In another alternative embodiment, the drum can be rotatable relative to the frame by the several holding rollers. The drum 50 consists of an annular peripheral circle 52 which is provided with a toothing 53 arranged to be engaged with a drive pinion 54 which is rotated by an electric or hydraulic motor 55. This toothing can be either made in the peripheral circle is reported and be in the form of a chain or a rack. The frame also carries two supports 60 intended to receive a roller (not shown) whose function is to cooperate with a device for automatically feeding the pieces of wood to be split and to allow their positioning on the guide element intended to receive them.

The knives 40 mounted inside the circle 52 define splitting zones which are differentiated by the number of logs that can be obtained in a single pass from the section of wood to be split and by the geometry of their section. Depending on the diameter of said section, the operator can select the splitting area by a simple rotation of the drum 50 so as to bring the selected area in front of the section of wood carried the support cradle 21. The areas are for example defined as follows : zone S2 which makes it possible to split a section of firewood into two logs, zone S4 which splits it into four logs, zone S6 which splits it into six logs, zone S8 which splits it into eight logs and the zone S16 which splits it into sixteen logs. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, these zones are crossed by four radial knives 40a, 40b, 40c and 40d corresponding to radii of the circle 52 and fixed, on the one hand, to the center 51 of the circle and to the 'interior of the latter and, on the other hand, by a number of fixed and mobile knives. The zone S2 is crossed only by the knife 40c. The zone S4 is crossed by the knife 40c and by a knife 40e which is perpendicular to the knife 40c in the center of this zone. The area S6 is defined by a bundle of three fixed knives, including the knife 40d and two other knives 43 and 44 which intersect in the center of this area. The zone S8 is defined by a bundle of four fixed knives, including the knife 40b and three other knives 45, 46 and 47 which intersect in the center of this zone. The area S16 is defined by a bundle of four fixed knives, including the knives 40a, 44 and 45 as well as another knife 48 which intersect in the center of this area and by a set of eight knives 49, which can pivot along an axis parallel to their cutting edge which are arranged in a regular octagon. The knives 49 are movable in order to avoid jamming of the logs if the grain of the wood is irregular, twisted or twisted

It is obvious that the number of splits per splitting zone can be modified according to the layout and the number of knives.

Other geometries are possible depending on the positioning of the knives, but the principle of the drum with different splitting zones is applied in all cases. It allows to quickly pass, by a simple rotation of the drum and a manual or automatic adjustment of the height of the guide element, from one configuration of the splitting knives to another while respecting the centering of the splitting whatever the diameter of the section to be split.

FIG. 4 represents a rear view of the drum in the phase of use for splitting a section of fuelwood 100. The zone selected is zone S16 which splits the wood into sixteen logs 101 by means of fixed knives and swivel knives that define this area. The pivoting knives can modify their position as a function of the stresses exerted during the splitting, these stresses being linked to the structure of the wood and in particular to the orientation and the entanglement of the veins of this wood.

The machine according to the invention can be used in all positions which makes it possible to split vertically or at any inclination.

One of the problems that can arise is that of blocking the logs between the blades of the knives, depending on the wood that is split. Some types of wood, like oak for example, can be very knotty and split irregularly. In this case, it may happen that pieces of wood get caught between the blades of the knives 40 mounted in the drum 50. In order to avoid these inconveniences, the variant embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 includes additional components which guarantee flawless operation without any risk of jamming knotty pieces of wood between the knives. Only the components that are new compared to the embodiment described above bear different references. The other components identical to those described in connection with the preceding figures keep the same reference numbers.

In this embodiment, the support cradle 21, which included a guide element in the form of a gutter made up of two elongated side plates 22 forming an acute angle between them, is replaced by a certain number of flat elements 110 parallel between them and erected vertically, offset in height so as to retain this function of guide gutter with inclined sides in which the piece of wood to be split slides in the direction of the knives 40 when it is pushed by the pushing device 30. In this variant , the pushing device 30 comprises a first pushing plate 111 integral with the piston of the hydraulic pushing cylinder 32 and which has a series of slots 112 traversed by the flat elements 110 which form said guide gutter. The machine further includes a opening series 113 whose function will be described below. The pushing device 30 also comprises a second pushing plate 114 integral with at least one second piston of the hydraulic pushing cylinder schematically designated by the arrow 115 and which carries a set of bars and / or rods 116 (see FIG. 6 ) which are arranged to pass through the openings 113. They are in fact pushers which extract the pieces of wood which remain possibly wedged between the knives 40 after the splitting of a block of wooden logs under the effect of the thrust by the first push plate 111.

In operation, a piece of wood 100 (see FIG. 4) is placed on the guide gutter, then it is pushed against the knives 40 by the first push plate 111 actuated by the piston of the hydraulic push cylinder 32. This cylinder moves the first push plate 111 as close as possible to the knife blades 40. The second push plate 114, which is offset axially with respect to the first push plate 111, moves simultaneously. When the first push plate 111 arrives close to the knives, it is stopped, but the second push plate 114 continues to advance, driven by its own push cylinder (s). The bars and / or rods 116 then pass through the corresponding openings 113 and engage in the spaces separating the knives so as to push back the pieces of wood which may have become trapped between these knives. This double pusher system can be applied to any type of log splitter, those which have parallel knives, those which have crossed knives and those which have sets of knives movable on a rotary drum, like the machine illustrated by the above figures.

In all the variants illustrated, the support cradle 21 can be movable vertically relative to its support constituted by the frame 20. This mobility can be obtained by manual or mechanical means. It facilitates the positioning of the piece of wood to be split with respect to the knives 40. The latter can be moved by rotation of the drum 50. According to the dimensions of this piece of wood and the number or dimensions of the logs that it is desired to obtain, the complementary movement of the support cradle 21 constitutes an additional advantage which increases the number of possibilities.

Claims

claims

1. A machine for splitting into firewood logs an elongated section of wood of any shape and size, this machine comprising a frame (20), knives (40) mounted on this frame (20) and arranged substantially perpendicularly to the axis of the section of wood to be split, a guide element for said section of wood and a pushing device (30) arranged to push the elongated section of wood substantially axially against said knives mounted on a circular drum (50), rotating around of an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the guide element, this machine being characterized in that the knives (40) are flat blades arranged in planes substantially parallel to the axis of the guide element ( 9), in that these blades are mounted in groups of blades, each group of blades being composed of a set of blades diverging from a central point (41a, 41b, 41c, 41d), and in that these blades are integral with each other the others and the circular drum (50) so as to delimit the entire interior space of the said drum in separate splitting zones corresponding respectively to one of said groups of blades and to a determined number of firewood logs obtained during the splitting according to the group of blades used.

2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said guide element (9) for said section of wood is equipped with a support cradle (21) adjustable in position.

3. Machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the support cradle (21) and the rotary drum (50) carrying said blades are adjustable in height relative to each other.

4. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said rotary drum (50) comprises an annular peripheral support (52) of said blades carrying a toothing (53) arranged to be engaged with a pinion drive (54) rotated by an electric or hydraulic motor (55).

5. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) is rotatable relative to the frame (20) of the machine.

6. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that among said knives some (40a, 40b, 40c, 40d) are radial.

7. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) delimits at least one splitting zone (S2) of the section of wood into two logs.

8. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) delimits at least one splitting zone (S4) of the section of wood into four logs.

9. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) delimits at least one splitting zone (S6) of the section of wood into six logs.

10. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) delimits at least one splitting zone (S8) of the section of wood into eight logs.

11. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said drum (50) delimits at least one splitting zone (S16) of the section of wood (100 in sixteen logs (101).

12. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the pushing device (30) comprises a pushing plate (31) which is integral with the head of a rod of a hydraulic pushing cylinder (32).

13. Machine according to claim 12, characterized in that the thrust plate (31) is made of two elements sliding vertically relative to one another.

14. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the pushing device (30) comprises a first pushing plate (111) secured to a first hydraulic thrust cylinder and a second pushing plate (114) secured to a second hydraulic push cylinder, said first push plate (111) having openings (113) allowing the passage of bars and / or rods (116) integral with said second push plate (114).

15. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said first push plate (111) and said second push plate (114) are arranged to move simultaneously until the piece of wood to be split is pushed through the knives (40), and in that said second push plate (114) is arranged to move alone with said bars and / or rods (116) at the end of the journey to push any pieces of wood stuck out of the knife space (40).