Tree bark and branch stripper - has tiltable sprung cutting head allowing automatic alignment with inclined tree trunk

摘要

The cutting head (2) consists of two ring-shaped rotors (5, 8). The first drives the conical cutters (6) the remove the branches from the tree and the second has internal cutters to remove the bark. Spiked rollers draw the trunk through. The base plate (10) that carries the cutters is pivoted on a horizontal axle. One end of this axle can slide in a horizontal slot so that the cutting head can turn about a vertical axis. Springs (16) tilt the head downwards to receive a trunk, which is supported by an extensible fork (19) until it has entered the head and been accepted by the forwarding rollers (9). A microswitch gives the signal to retract the fork.