Apparatus for cutting vegetation with incremental feeding of cutting filament

摘要

A vegetation cutting apparatus of the filament type comprising a cutter head including a spindle adapted to be rotatably driven, a keyway in the spindle extending axially of the spindle, and a key member carried by the spindle and slidably movable in the keyway. A clutch means is coaxially mounted on the spindle, and a filament storage spool is mounted on the spindle, the spool being carried by and lying radially outwardly of the clutch means, whereby the clutch means and the spool rotatably move as a unit. A spring means normally biases the key member into driving relation with the clutch means whereby normally the spindle rotatably drives the clutch means through the key member to rotatably drive the spool. A means such as a ground contact plunger operatively related to the key member, or, alternatively, an operating rod operatively related to the key member and actuated by a cable or the like, imparts axial movement to the key member along the keyway against the spring means to move the key member out of driving relation to the clutch means to permit relative rotation between the spool and the spindle and thus to permit an increment of the filament to be fed by centrifugal force from the spool.