EP4194164A1

EP4194164A1 - A splitting axe with structures and a vertical log splitter with said splitting axe

Info

Publication number: EP4194164A1
Application number: EP22203700.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rafko Znidaric
Original assignee: Rafko Znidaric SP
Current assignee: Rafko Znidaric SP
Priority date: 2021-12-13
Filing date: 2022-10-25
Publication date: 2023-06-14
Also published as: SI26283A

Abstract

The present invention belongs to the field of forestry devices, more precisely to the field of devices for splitting and chopping wood, and is particularly associated with the splitting means for said devices. The present invention relates to a splitting axe with structures and a vertical log splitter with said axe. The essence of the splitting axe is in that it is provided with grooves, that prevent the log or the wood part from moving or falling off from the axe. The axe according to the invention has a base wedge-shaped body with a wider part that narrows towards a cutting edge defined by two surfaces. Both surfaces are provided with grooves perpendicular to the cutting edge and extend along the height up to the top of the wider part. The grooves may be made in any suitable manner. Preferably, the grooves are made by milling.

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention belongs to the field of forestry devices, more precisely to the field of devices for splitting and chopping wood, and is particularly associated with the splitting means for said devices. The present invention relates to a splitting axe with structures and a vertical log splitter with said axe.

Background of the invention and the technical problem

Known log splitters have various splitting means arranged to split wood into smaller pieces. The vertical log splitters are provided with splitting axes attached to a sliding plate that is arranged to move along a vertical guide upwards and downwards, so that during the downward movement a part of a log placed beneath the splitting axe is split. Said part of the log may be placed on a supporting table or on the surface at the bottom of the machine, depending on the size of the log to be split. The problem of known vertical log splitters is in that the log to be split is not attached or fixed, hence, it can move during the splitting movement, which is particularly often with the surface of the log is not flat and consequently the log is not standing vertically or perpendicularly to the surface. In this case, the splitting force levels it when the supporting table or the surface at the bottom of the device, which can lead to the log sliding from the axe.
The technical problem, which is solved by the present invention, is constructional design of a log splitter and a splitting axe thereof, which will prevent movement of the log to be split.

Prior art

Patent SI25674 describes a vertical splitting machine with a splitting axe installed on a plate arranged to slide along a vertical guide. The splitting axe has a triangularly shaped cross-section, wherein its upper part is wider and its lower part is narrower forming a uniform, smooth cutting edge.
Document CN109079950 relates to a device for splitting wood, wherein on one side of the frame splitting means are provided, while wood is pushed into the splitting means with a hydraulically-controlled body. Said splitting means are smooth without grooves or similar elements. A similar splitting axe used in a horizontal splitting machine was used in patent application US4374532 .
Patent application FR2820356 describes a wedge for splitting wood having a long metal body with an end forming a smooth cutting edge. Above the cutting edge, approximately at the half of the wedge height are four grooves parallel to the cutting edge that are arranged to prevent return of the wedge from the split wood. EP 2508315 describes a solution for a splitting wedge, wherein the grooves are arranged as a fish bone or horizontally as in the FR2820356 , and thus create a stepwise structure that prevents movement of the log during splitting.
Patent application GB1352864 discloses a blade for cutting logs into smaller pieces, wherein the blade has a cutting edge that is on one side of the blade provided with transversely placed grooves in order to form two parallel cutting edges. The distance between both lines of cutting edges is from 0.16 to 0.64 cm, the width of the groove is preferably equal to the intermediate part between two grooves.
Patent application WO2015064010 relates to preventing damage to the splitting edges, particularly of circular blades. The blade of the splitting head for wood has a cutting edge defined by the first and the second surface that are relatively one-to-another suitably positioned at an angle. On the first surface grooves of very small dimensions are provided from the cutting edge, said grooves being provided to prevent damage of the splitting head or the edge. The grooves have a width from 15 to 75 µm, depth from 2 to 14 µm, distance between centres of grooves from 40 to 800 µm, and the ratio between the distance between centres of grooves and the width is from 2 to 16.
All solutions differ from the present invention, as they do not prevent movement of logs during the splitting movement, particularly those logs which are not evenly cut.

Description of the solution to the technical problem

The invention is based on a vertical log splitter, wherein the log or a part of the wood to be split is placed beneath the axe, which then presses on the log or the part of the wood with a splitting force approximately perpendicular to the floor. The technical problem of preventing movement of logs or wood parts, particularly those unevenly cut, is solved as defined in the independent claim, wherein the preferred embodiments are defined in dependent claims.
The essence of the splitting axe is in that it is provided with structures, preferably grooves, protrusions, welded structures or rods that can be welded or in any other manner attached to the surface of the splitting axe, wherein these structures prevent the log or wood part from slipping during the splitting movement, as the wood engages with the structures, i.e. grooves or spaces between protrusions, due to the forces created during the splitting movement, thus preventing the log or the wood part from moving or falling off from the axe.
The splitting axe according to the invention has a basic wedge-like shaped body with a wider upper part, which is then narrowing towards a splitting edge defined by two surfaces. At least one, preferably both surfaces are provided with said structures, which are preferably vertical, parallel to the guide of the axe installed on the log splitter and/or perpendicular to the splitting edge. Said structures may also be slightly inclined in case the cutting edge of the axe is not completely perpendicular to the axe guide.
Further, said structures have a height of at least one-half of the axe height, preferably on the whole surface up to the top of the widest part of the axe. The structures preferably have a width from 4 to 26 mm, depth, or elevation of at least 1 mm, wherein the distance between two structures is from 4 to 26 mm. The arrangement of structures may be evenly distributed (distance between structures is the always the same) or not (distances between structures differing along the axe). Cross-section of said grooves or protrusions, welds, or rods is shaped in any suitable manner, for example semi-circular, square, rectangular, triangular, most optimally square, as they are the easiest to manufacture, function best and do not weaken the material of the axe.
In case the structures are grooves, they can be made in any suitable manner, for example with milling, forging and similar methods, preferably the grooves are made with milling. The protrusions may be made with welding, rods can be welded on the axe surface or the rods are attached to the surface in any other suitable manner. Different structures may be combined in any combination, for example grooves and rods, welds and grooves or rods with different cross-sections.
The upper part of the splitting axe may be provided with additional surfaces or plates having a different incline angle than the basic surface of the wedge-shaped axe body. The structures, i.e., grooves, protrusions, welds, or suitably mounted rods may be present on these two additional surfaces as well. Preferably the difference in the incline angle is intended for increasing the width of the axe, which makes splitting logs easier. Namely, in the beginning the cutting edge cuts through the wood, while the upper part of the axe splits the wood during movement of the axe due to pushing parts of wood apart.
The splitting axe according to the invention may be installed in any suitable log splitter, preferably in a vertical log splitter, wherein the splitting axe is installed in any suitable manner on a movable plate arranged to slide along a vertical guide.
The splitting axe with structures and the vertical log splitter with said axe will be further described in continuation based on an exemplary embodiment and figures, which show:

.Figure 1: Elevation view of the splitting axe according to a possible embodiment
Figure 2: A cross-section of the cutting edge of the splitting axe shown in figure 1
Figure 3: A cross-section of the splitting axe shown in figure 1

Figure 1 shows a possible embodiment of the axe 1 installed on a plate 2 for a vertical log splitter, wherein the axe 1 is shaped as a base wedge-shaped body 11 with two sides 12, which are joined in the lower part into a cutting edge 13. On the upper part of the axe two additional plates 14 are provided, said plates 14 having a different incline with regards to the surfaces 12. Surfaces 12 and the plates 14 are provided with welded protrusions 15, which are uniformly distributed on most of a part 1a of the axe, which is important for splitting logs. As mentioned above, the protrusions could also be attached rods or grooves provided on the surfaces 12 and plates 14. Figure 2 shows a detail of protrusions 15, which are in cross-section approximately semi-circular and have an elevation of at least 1 mm.
In the cross-section shown in figure 3 the base body 11 has a triangular shape, more precisely downwards rotated isosceles triangle, wherein the sides are covered with two surfaces 12 joining in the cutting edge 13. The difference in inclines between surfaces 12 and additional plates 14 is obvious from the figure, wherein the purpose of the additional plates 14 is to increase the width of the upper part of the axe 1 in order to allow easier and faster log splitting.

Claims

A splitting axe (1) with structures (15), characterized in that the axe (1) has a base wedge-shaped body (11) with a wider upper part that narrows towards a cutting edge (13) defined by two side surfaces (12), wherein at least one of said side surfaces (12) is provided with said structures (15) that have a depth or an elevation of at least 1 mm.
The splitting axe with structures according to claim 1, wherein the structures (15) are vertical.
The splitting axe with structures according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the structures (15) are perpendicular to the cutting edge (13) or the structures (15) are slightly inclined with regards to the cutting edge (13).
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the structures have a width from 4 to 26 mm, wherein the distance between two structures (15) is between 4 and 26 mm.
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the structures (15) reach up to at least half of height of the said side surface (12).
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the structures (15) are provided along the whole height from the edge to the top of the wider upper part of the axe.
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the shapes of structures are arbitrary, for example semi-circular, square, rectangular or triangular, preferably said structures (15) are semi-circular or square.
The splitting axe with structures according to the preceding claims, wherein the structures (15) are distributed evenly or unevenly.
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said structures (15) are grooves, protrusions, welds, or rods that are welded or in any other manner attached to the surface of the axe (1).
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the structures (15) are grooves made in any suitable manner, preferably with milling or forging.
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said structures (15) are protrusions made by welding or the side surfaces (12) of the axe (1) are provided with attached, preferably welded, rods.
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein both side surfaces (12) are provided with said structures (15).
The splitting axe with structures according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the splitting axe (1) is on its upper part provided with additional surfaces or plates (14), having a different incline than the surfaces (12) of the wedge-shaped body (11) of the axe (1).
The splitting axe with structures according to the preceding claim, wherein the structures (15) are provided on said additional surfaces or plates (14).
A vertical log splitter with the splitting axe according to any of the preceding claims.