FR2497627A1 - Method of extracting timber from forest - uses helicopter to move felled trees to plant where bark and branches are removed for transportation - Google Patents

Abstract

The method is used to exploit forests. Once felled, the timber is conveyed, complete with bark and branches, to a regrouping and treatment site or sites with mills for the removal of bark and branches. Helicopters may be used to move the timber from the felling area, the processing plant being located by a major highway, a railway or a navigable waterway. Processing involves converting the timber into logs, bark and waste. The waste may be compacted and loaded into containers to be distributed with the logs by rail, road or waterway.

Description

 The subject of the invention is a process for the rational exploitation of forests.

 The subject of the invention relates in particular to the technical sector of forestry and the exploitation of forests, as well as the work and use of wood.

 According to some estimates, 50 million cubic meters of wood are produced annually in France, of which only 35 million are used. We can consider that to the 15 million cubic meters unused is added 12 million cubic meters of waste. A considerable energy source is thus wasted annually. It must be taken into account that, for 100 tonnes of lumber used in a modern forest, 80 tonnes of wood would be abandoned, as well as 25 tonnes of bark and 10 tonnes of leaves and twigs.

 In particular in the mountains, the exploitation of the forest often takes place in successive thinnings in preference to the exploitation in "nc" cut.

 The felling, delimbing and debarking are carried out in the forests by the loggers. These works are carried out manually with some mechanical means (cutting saws for example). The logs are then hauled with the help of powerful forestry tractors to bring them from a point where they will be loaded onto trucks. This operating method has notable drawbacks, among which - A relatively large and qualified workforce is required.

However, this workforce is becoming scarce, and there are fewer and fewer lumberjacks capable of performing careful work.

- The situation is even more difficult with regard to logging, because there are few family businesses or individuals who can acquire modern forestry tractors.

- The bark, crowns and branches are left on site. They are therefore not only lost, but clutter the soil for 4 or 5 years. These soils are therefore unsuitable for natural reproduction and reforestation during this time.

- The trees are felled in a direction which facilitates the skidding of the logs, but this direction is not that which spares to the maximum the subjects which must remain on the spot.

- Skidding is carried out using powerful and bulky forestry tractors, and is the cause of the main ravages that the exploited forest undergoes. It is necessary to take care of this for tractors of traffic paths with a width of approximately 3 meters. The logs which are dragged on the ground, crush or uproot large areas of young subjects who were growing.

- Finally, these forest tractors take the municipal roads, producing significant damage, especially when they drag the logs. These roads must therefore be maintained at great cost by the municipalities, especially if they serve dwellings located away from the roads.

 The operating method which is the subject of the invention eliminates these drawbacks and provides important advantages which will emerge from the following description.

 The process, object of the invention, is made more concrete by describing it without limitation in the rest of its operations, and by referring to the single figure of the appended drawing which illustrates several essential phases of the process.

 According to this process: 10) The trees A are felled by any process and means currently known, but by choosing fall directions which spare the trees remaining in place as much as possible.

 2) The felled trees are then transported with their branches and their bark preferably by air, without carrying out any work on site concerning them, by helicopter B or by "Helicostat" (special machine combining the characteristics of the helicopter with the thrust aerostatic of tapered balloons), to an area C located on the side of the road, or of a railway or navigable waterway, in a preferred and recommended way.

 This ai can be made up of old fields, unused pastures, old woods cut to white or heaths. There are many such surfaces in the mounting areas. It is sufficient to reserve the use thereof during the time of forest exploitation in the wooded sector.

30) Mechanized means D are installed on the area or areas C for delimbing and debarking the trees. These means shown in a purely schematic manner in the drawing are known in themselves and currently exist. They are currently used in mobile units for the exploitation of large areas in the Nordic countries. The process makes it possible to carry out an industrial organization and establishment for a concentrated and industrialized execution of operations, in an economical manner and with a high yield.

 After delimbing and debarking operations carried out at the same location, we obtain on the one hand the logs A1 ready to be loaded on truck F or other vehicles or means or displacement systems and, on the other hand, all the bark , branches, twigs, leaves, ..., A grouped in the same place.

 4) It is then possible, conveniently, with means for processing quantities, to take up the remains of the delimbing and debarking operations in order to treat them with the aid of equipment E, of compaction known in themselves. Means for shredding waste are also provided directly on the delimbing and preparation of logs area. This facilitates the handling, loading and transport of slaughter residues. These shredded residues can then, after possible drying, be used directly for energy, chemical or biochemical purposes.

 5) These compacted remains are then loaded into containers G of suitable dimensions, to be transported in vehicles or boats or other means of transport.

 6) After having carried out, in a usual manner, the marking and cubing of the logs which can be carried out automatically by means known in themselves and combined with the delimbing machine, it remains to transport the logs.

 This transport can be carried out as is done in a manner known per se by suitable trucks equipped with a loading crane or possibly by waterway. The logs are then sent to the factories, construction sites and companies that use them, for example: sawmills, post factories, loading on railroad cars for transportation to paper mills, etc.

The containers with debarking and limbing waste are transported to units capable of processing them.

 The treatment and use of the debarking and delimbing residues can be carried out in various ways and according to different methods, known in themselves, and which are cited to illustrate the advantage of the method according to The invention - It is possible to proceed by direct combustion producing heat and possibly electrical energy. There are projects and means in this regard.

- We can engage in a chemical transformation of waste: by hydrogenation, hydrocracking, hydrolysis (production of glucose and ethanol by fermentation), etc ...

- We can also consider a separation of the remaining wood (branches, crowns), so as to transform it into chips intended for the paper industry, the other waste (thorns, twigs, bark, etc.) being intended for energy production or chemical as above.

- Other processes can be applied, for example to recover the resin which is already a relatively noble product.

 The interest and the advantages of the process appear from the description. We also underline - The possibility of recovering the waste left on the spot (houp-pers, barks, branches) and lost in current methods of exploitation, in order to use it either for energy purposes, or for chemical transformation purposes ( wood chemistry), - The maximum safeguard of growing young trees, - The fact that we no longer clutter the soil with waste, and that we gain 4 or 5 years on the renewal cycle trees, - The existing labor economy which is concentrated on essential operations (felling) by mechanizing and even automating operations that may be, - The elimination of damage caused by large forest machines.

 The invention is in no way limited to that of its modes of application any more than to those of the embodiments of its various parts having been more especially indicated; on the contrary, it embraces all its variants.

Claims (5)

-1- Process for the rational exploitation of forests, characterized in that, after having felled the trees by any known process and means, they are transported directly with their branches and their bark, from the place of felling, to an area or regrouping and treatment areas on which or on which are preferably mechanized means to conveniently and quickly perform the debarking of trees. -2- Method according to claim 1, characterized in that no work n1 is carried out on the spot, at the place of felling of the trees, and in that one transports the felled trees preferably by aerial carriers such as helicopter or "Helicostat" system. -3- A method according to claim 1, characterized in that on the area or areas of consolidation and treatment are preferably along or near roads, or a railway or waterway, and in that the trees grouped are limbed and debarked by mechanical means known in themselves, under industrial conditions, economically and with high yield, so that logs are obtained on the one hand, and on the other hand, the remains (bark, branch, twigs, leaves, ...) grouped in the same places.  the, soncopaces by means known in themselves, then loaded into containers of suitable dimensions. -4- The method of claim 1, characterized in that the remains resulting from delimbing and debarking, shredded and / pu -5- A method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3 and 4 characterized in that the logs are transported to sites, factories and companies of use, while the remains compacted or not, are treated or used in various ways and method.