Patent Application
20090060685
Tree harvesting and logging operations are often conducted in hard-to-reach areas with difficult terrain or through areas in which minimum disruption is sought. Often large vehicles and heavy equipment are used that tear up the upper soil layer and create muddy messes that are difficult to navigate over and difficult to restore. Heavy logging vehicles also compact the lower soil layers making it difficult for the roots of vegetation to penetrate the soil and make it harder for trees to grow back into a logged site.
Once a tree is cut down, the logs are extracted from the site. Often skidders, bulldozers, or even horses are used to merely drag the logs along the ground. Such dragging damages the logs and further tears up the upper soil layers. However, log forwarders that carry the logs out instead of dragging them are sometimes used. Most forwarders are wheeled which limits their utility in muddy locations. Wheeled vehicles and horse teams have limited utility in wet and winter weather. This limits the ability of loggers to conduct operations over a significant portion of the year. The tracked vehicles that are in use often have steel tracks that are not much gentler on the terrain. Both wheels and steel tracks are known to cut into the root mass of trees as they maneuver around a logging site. This severely damages the surrounding vegetation, which reduces the capacity of trees to grow and sometimes destroys existing vegetation outright.
Heavy equipment described above is usually transported between logging sites by loading the equipment on the flat beds of trucks. This is time consuming and requires the owner or operator of the equipment to spend significant time filling out paperwork for transportation permits. This is especially true if the machines loaded onto a transportation vehicle exceed legal height and width restrictions for transport on highways. Shipping and freight that exceeds these limits must obtain permissions and permits in order to travel on state and federal highways. This represents a significant delay and overhead to ensure compliance with appropriate transportation regulations.
A log forwarder is provided. The chassis of the log forwarded has two sides. Each side has a separate series of rollers mounted substantially along the length of the chassis. Each series of rollers has an endless track made substantially of elastomeric material that extends around the rollers so as to contact the ground. The series of rollers extends the ground contact area and weight distribution substantially along the length of the log forwarder. The log forwarder has a flat bed for receiving longs, a covered cab, and a boom adjacent the covered cab adaptable for moving logs to and from the flat bed. A covered cab includes within it a first of set of controls for maneuvering the log forwarder and a second set of controls for manipulating the boom. The log forwarder is of a height and a width that is less than height and width dimensions that require a road travel permit.
In one embodiment, the covered cab area swivels with the boom. The controls in the covered cab can be arranged in many ways. In one embodiment, the first set of controls for maneuvering the log forwarder is oriented towards the front of the log forwarder and the second set of controls for manipulating the boom oriented is towards the back of the log forwarder. The second set of controls can include controls for maneuvering the log forwarder as well. The covered cab can include an adjustable seat that may be oriented to provide access to either the first set of controls or the second set of controls. Alternatively the covered cab can have a seat oriented forward to provide access to the first set of controls and a second seat oriented towards the back to provide access to the second set of controls.
Those skilled in the art will realize that this invention is capable of embodiments different from those shown and described herein and that details of the devices and methods can be changed in various manners without departing from the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded as including such equivalent embodiments as do not depart from the spirit and scope of this invention.
For a more complete understanding and appreciation of this invention, and its many advantages, reference will be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to the drawings, some of the reference numerals are used to designate the same or corresponding parts through several of the embodiments and figures shown and described. Corresponding parts are denoted in different embodiments with the addition of lowercase letters. Variations of corresponding parts in form or function that are depicted in the figures are described. It will be understood that variations in the embodiments can generally be interchanged without deviating from the invention.
As can be best understood by comparing
The log forwarder 10 has a flat bed 18 located behind a covered cab 20 for receiving logs. The flat bed 18 has vertical supports 22 to help retain stored material on the flat bed 18, but other support elements could be used, such as side walls, fence frames, netting, or other appropriate devices.
A boom 24 is mounted on a swivel base 26—in this example the swivel base 26 is mounted on top of the covered cab 20.
The endless tracks 14 are preferably made of an elastomeric material such as rubber. Each endless track 14 may be a single flexible belt as shown in
The tracked log forwarder 10 has better mobility over rough terrain than similar vehicles with pneumatic tires. The endless tracks 14 are much less likely to get stuck in soft ground, mud, or snow, since they distribute the weight of the vehicle over a larger contact area, thereby decreasing its ground pressure. The endless tracks 14 of the embodiment of log forwarder 10 shown in
The elastomeric material of the endless tracks 14 provides improves traction and reduces soil compaction over similar tracks made of steel or metal and allows the log forwarder 10 to relocate itself on public roads without damaging the road surface.
Prolonged use of normal heavy logging machines and vehicle places enormous strain on the drive transmissions and the mechanics of the vehicles, which must then be overhauled or replaced regularly. In order to reduce wear and tear, it is common to transport this equipment long distances by a wheeled carrier such as a semitrailer or train. Most equipment transported in such a manner exceeds federal and state height and width restrictions. In the United States, height restrictions are imposed at the state level. According to the United Stated Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, vehicle height limits in most states range from 13.6 feet to 14.6 feet. Federal regulations require that no state may impose a width limitation of other than 102 inches (8.5 feet) not including safety devices such as mirrors, handholds, etc. Shipping and freight that exceeds these limits must obtain permissions and permits in order to travel on state and interstate highways. This represents a significant delay and overhead to ensure compliance with appropriate transportation regulations.
The log forwarders 10 presented herein have a height and a width that are less than height and width dimensions that require a road travel permit. The embodiments of log forwarders 10 presented herein can be constructed to be no more than about 8.5 feet wide and no more than about 13.6 feet high. In particular, the embodiment shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The line of sight from the covered cab 20 shown in
A dozer blade 36b may be optionally attached to the log forwarder 10b to provide additional functionality. The dozer blade 36b can be used to move obstacles from the path of the log forwarder 10b, to move dirt or other debris, to reposition logs, etc. Other equipment such as a winch (not shown) may be optionally included instead or as well
This invention has been described with reference to several preferred embodiments. Many modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding specification. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such alterations and modifications in so far as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents of these claims.
