Abstrict A crusher 1 used particularly for clearing woods or forest of undergrowth,
is provided with a drum 2 and cutting devices 6 mounted into slots
5 of the drum. Said cutting devices comprise a counter-blade 8
a blade 7 tightening device for holding said cutting device in
slot 5 and adjusting means for adjusting the height of the blade
7. Said adjusting means are preadjusted before the mounting of the
blade 7.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A crusher comprising a drum having a peripheral surface and
mounted for rotation on a shaft supported by a crusher frame, said
drum being provided on its periphery with several longitudinal slots
substantially uniformly spaced from each other, said slots each
having opposed lateral surfaces and forming a housing for a respective
cutting device; an inlet conduit for introducing objects to be crushed;
an outlet conduit for discharging the crushed objects; a drive system
for rotating said drum; several cutting devices housed within respective
ones of said slots, each cutting device being constituted by a blade/counter-blade
assembly including a blade having a pair of opposed faces and a
bevelled side forming a cutting surface and an associated counter-blade
against which one of said opposed faces of said blade bears, said
counter-blade being in the form of a substantially parallelepipedic
block having a flange on the rear side thereof; tightening means
for urging each said blade/counter-blade assembly against one of
said lateral surfaces of the respective slot in which it is housed;
and a respective device cooperating with each of said blade/counter-blade
assemblies for adjusting the height of each blade with respect to
the counter-blade associated with it and the location of said blade/counter-blade
assembly in its respective slot with respect to the peripheral surface
of said drum, each of said height adjusting devices being entirely
supported by said counter-blade, each of said height adjusting devices
being constituted by at least two screws which extend through respective
bores formed in said flange of the counter-blade so that one end
of each screw abuts against the end surface of the associated blade
which is opposite from its cutting surface, and wherein said tightening
means are constituted by at least one screw partially threaded at
one end into a threaded bore of the counter-blade and having a free
other end which is pressed against the other lateral surface of
said slot to urge a face of the associated blade against said one
of said lateral surfaces of said slot.
2. The combination of claim 1 wherein a groove is formed in said
other lateral surface of the slot and wherein the free end of said
tightening screw is pressed against the bottom of the groove.
3. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the position of
said screws of each of said height adjusting devices in said respective
bores formed in said counter-blade flange are preadjusted in a template
means which simulates said drum slots in which the blade is to be
housed to provide a pre-adjustment of the height of the blade with
respect to the associated counter-blade before the blade/counter-blade
assembly is housed in said slot.
4. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the screws constituting
each of said height adjusting devices are mounted in respective
threaded orifices formed in the flange of the counter-blade supporting
the same and protrude from each side of the flange, and wherein
said slot in which the counter-blade is housed has a bottom in which
orifices are formed which receive the portions of the screws which
protrude beyond the side of the flange which is remote from said
blade.
5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said drive system for rotating
said drum comprises a drive shaft substantially axially aligned
with said drum shaft, a first pair of pulleys mounted on said drum
shaft, one of said first pair of pulleys being mounted for free
rotation on said drum shaft and connected to said drive shaft and
the other of said first pair of pulleys being fixed for rotation
with said drum shaft, a counter-shaft rotatably mounted on said
crusher frame, a second pair of pulleys fixed on said counter-shaft
for rotation therewith, and a pair of flexible members interconnecting
respective ones of said first and second pair of pulleys to each
other and wherein said pulleys are sized so as to impart to said
drum a higher rotating speed than that of said drive shaft.
6. A crusher comprising a drum having a peripheral surface and
mounted for rotation on a shaft supported by a crusher frame, said
drum being provided on its periphery with several longitudinal slots
substantially uniformly spaced from each other, said slots each
having opposed lateral surfaces and forming a housing for a respective
cutting device; an inlet conduit for introducing objects to be crushed;
an outlet conduit for discharging the crushed objects; a drive system
for rotating said drum; several cutting devices housed within respective
ones of said slots, each cutting device being constituted by a blade/counter-blade
assembly including a blade having a pair of opposed faces and a
bevelled side forming a cutting surface and an associated counter-blade
against which one of said opposed faces of said blade bears, said
counter-blade being in the form of a substantially parallelepipedic
block having a flange on the rear side thereof; tightening means
for urging each said blade/counter-blade assembly against one of
said lateral surfaces of the respective slot in which it is housed;
and wherein said crusher further comprises a respective device cooperating
with each of said blade/counter-blade assemblies for adjusting the
height of each blade with respect to the counter-blade associated
with it and the location of said blade/counter-blade assembly in
its respective slot with respect to the peripheral surface of said
drum, said height adjusting devices being entirely supported by
said counter-blade and being constituted by at least two screws
which extend through respective bores formed in said flange of the
counter-blade so that one end of each screw abuts against the end
surface of the associated blade which is opposite from its cutting
surface, and wherein said screws constituting each said height adjusting
device are mounted in respective threaded orifices formed in the
flange of the counter-blade supporting the same and protrude from
each side of the flange, and wherein said slot in which the counter-blade
is housed has a bottom in which orifices are formed which receive
the portions of the screws which protrude beyond the side of the
flange which is remote from said blade.
Description The present invention relates generally and has essentially for
its subject matter a crushing device or crusher intended more particularly
to be used for clearing and cleaning woods or forests of undergrowth.
Use is generally made, in such crushers, of the known principle
of wood planing machines, i.e. of blades mounted tangentially to
a rotating cylinder. The fixing of the plates on the cylinder is
one of the problems to be solved. Some devices provide for the fixing
of the blades by means of longitudinal grooves. This method, however,
is very expensive for it requires not only the cutting of the grooves
on the rotating cylinder but also an accurate reproduction of such
grooves on the blades themselves. In other devices, use is made
of stop-screws placed at the bottom of the blade-support housings
provided in the rotating cylinder. This, however, results in that
the removal of the blades either for sharpening purposes or simply
for replacement requires careful and time-consuming work which is
very difficult for a forest worker to perform.
It should also be noted that the cylinder of crushers such as,
in particular forest or wood undergrowth crushers rotating at a
much higher speed than the power take-off of the driving devices
such as the tractors pulling such crushers require the use of a
speed-increasing gear. Such a speed-increasing gear is generally
constituted by a simple V-belt drive. This solution, however, suffers
from the drawback that the rotating cylinder (the heavier part of
the crusher) is not coaxial with the lifting device of the agricultural
tractors on which it may have to be installed. In the case of small
tractors, the eccentricity due to this type of transmission results
in a considerable unbalance.
The invention is intended to remedy such drawbacks by providing
a crusher which is characterized by a cutting device constituted
by a blade, a counter-blade against which the said blade bears by
one of its faces, and a tightening device carried by the counter-blade
for pressing the other face of the blade against one of the longitudinal
lateral walls of the slot forming a housing for the blade and provided
at the periphery of the rotating cylinder, the said tightening device
being pressed against the other longitudinal lateral wall of the
said slot.
According to another characterizing feature of the invention, the
tightening device is constituted by at least one screw partially
screwed into a threaded bore of the counter-blade and whose free
end located outside the counter-blade tightly abuts against the
adjacent longitudinal lateral wall of the slot forming said housing.
According to another characterizing feature of the invention, there
is provided a device for adjusting the height of the blade, which
device is carried by the counter-blade and is constituted by at
least two adjustable screws on the ends of which abuts the end surface
of the blade opposite to its cutting end.
According to another characterizing feature of the invention, the
adjustment of the screws for adjusting the height of the blade is
performed before its mounting in the associate housing of the rotating
cylinder of the crusher.
According to another characterizing feature of the invention, the
axis of the rotating drum is aligned with the power take-off of
a driving device such as a tractor pulling the crusher.
Other characterizing features, advantages and details will appear
more clearly from the following explanatory description made with
reference to the appended drawings given solely by way of the example
and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a sectional view in a plane perpendicular to the axis
of the rotating cylinder of the crusher according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed view of the portion indicated by
arrow II in FIG. 1 to illustrate a cutting device of the crusher
and its mounting;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view upon the line III--III of FIG. 2 with
parts broken away;
FIG. 4 is an elevational sectional view of an adjusting template
allowing the height of the crusher blades to be adjusted; and
FIG. 5 is a sectional view upon the line V--V of FIG. 1 illustrating
the crusher rotating cylinder driving system.
Referring to the Figures and particularly to FIG. 1 the crusher
1 according to the invention comprises a rotating cylinder or drum
2 rotatably mounted on a shaft 3 itself supported in rotation by
the frame or casing 4 of the crusher 1.
The drum 2 is provided on its periphery with parallel longitudinal
slots 5 e.g., uniformly spaced from one another and four in number
in the example illustrated. Each slot forms a housing for a cutting
device 6 to be described later.
Each slot 5 is shifted by an angle .alpha., in the direction of
rotation of the drum 2 with respect to a slot which would be located
radially with respect to the drum 2. The said angle is in the range
of between about 30.degree. and 45.degree..
In each slot 5 is mounted a removable cutting device 6 comprising
a blade 7 and a counter-blade 8 which will be described in more
detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.
A blade 7 is in the form of a rectangular plate bevelled at one
of its longitudinal ends to form a cutting edge.
A counter-blade 8 is in the form of a substantially parallelepipedic
block 9 extending over substantially the same length as the blade
7. The said counter-blade is provided along one of its longitudinal
edges with a flange 10 at 90.degree. extending along the whole length
of the block 9 and the width of which corresponds substantially
to that of the blade 7.
Each counter-blade 8 carries on the one hand a device for tightening
the blade 7 and a device for adjusting the height of the blade 7.
The said tightening device is constituted by at least two screws
11 partly screwed into two threaded orifices 12 provided in the
block 9 of the counter-blade 8. Each device for adjusting the height
of the blade 7 is constituted by at least two screws 13 mounted
respectively in two threaded orifices 14 of the flange 10 of the
counter-blade 8. It is important to note that the screws 13 protrude
from either side of the flange 10 and are also screwed into two
threaded blind semi-bores 15 cut in the adjacent longitudinal face
of the block 9 of the counter-blade 8 and axially aligned with the
threaded orifices 14.
The mounting of a cutting device 6 in an associated slot 5 of the
drum 2 is performed as follows.
The first step consists in introducing the counter-blade 8 into
the slot 5 so that the block or body 9 of the counter-blade 8 is
placed parallel with the external longitudinal lateral wall 23 of
the associated slot 5 by bearing on the bottom of the slot 5 by
its end surface extended by the flange 10 which itself comes into
contact with the lateral wall 23. There is thus defined between
the adjacent walls of the slot 5 and the body 9 of the counter-blade
8 a space into which a blade 7 is introduced so as to abut by its
end surface opposite to its cutting edge against the adjacent ends
of the adjusting screws 13 protruding beyond the flange 10 of the
counter-blade 8.
It should be noted that in the bottom of the slot 5 are provided
two orifices 16 which receive the portions of the screws 13 which
protrude beyond the flange 10 of the counter-blade 8 and which do
not cooperate directly with the blade 7. In order to facilitate
this process, a guiding pin 17 is engaged into the bottom of the
slot 5 and is received freely by its free end in an orifice 18 provided
in the flange 10 of the counter-blade 8 (FIG. 3), the said orifice
18 being for example provided between two orifices 14 of the flange
10 of the counter-blade 8.
After the blade is thus positioned, it has to be fixed or more
exactly pressed against the external longitudinal lateral wall 23
of the slot 5. It is sufficient, to this end, to manipulate the
fixing screws 11. To facilitate this fixing step, each screw 11
is for example integral with a screw-head portion 19 provided towards
the free end of the screw 11 which is not introduced into the associated
orifice 12 of the counter-blade 8. The screw-head portion 19 allows
the screw to be screwed in a direction tending to withdraw the screw
11 from its orifice 12 so as to move the free end of the screw 11
into pressed contact with the other longitudinal lateral surface
20 or an internal lateral surface of the slot 5. The internal lateral
surface 20 is advantageously provided with a longitudinal slot 21
intended to receive the adjacent end of the fixing screws 11 so
as to ensure an improved tightening. The reaction opposed by the
fixing screw 11 ensures the tightening of the counter-blade 8 and
therefore the blade 7 against the external longitudinal lateral
surface 23 of the slot 5.
It should also be noted that the screws 13 for adjusting the height
of the blade 7 are advantageously locked in position through the
medium of for example pressing or set screws 22 mounted perpendicularly
to the adjusting screws 13 so as to tightly abut against the latter
by one of the ends. Each pressing screw 22 is supported by the counter-blade
8 by being for example screwed into a threaded bore of the counter-blade
8 and opening at one end into the corresponding threaded orifice
14 of the flange 10 in which the associated adjusting screw 13 is
screwed.
It is important to note that when each counter-blade 8 is mounted
in its associated slot 5 the adjusting screws 13 are already adjusted
so that, after the blade 7 is mounted, the cutting edge of the plate
is perfectly positioned with respect to the drum. The previous adjustment
of the screws 13 is performed through the medium of a template 25
or the like represented in FIG. 4.
The adjusting template 25 comprises a base 26 surmounted by a T-shaped
structure 27. Before being mounted, each counter-blade 8 and its
associated blade 7 are placed on the template 25 between its base
26 and one of the lateral arms of the T-shaped structure 27. Thereafter,
the adjusting screws 13 are adjusted so that the cutting edge of
the blade 7 comes into contact with the lower surface 28 or 29 of
the lateral arms of the T-shaped structure 27. It should be noted
that the lower surfaces 28 and 29 of the two arms of the T-shaped
structure 27 are not at the same height with respect to the base
27 thus allowing two different adjustments of the blades 7. After
this adjustment is completed, the counter-blade 8 supporting the
adjusted adjusting screws 13 and the tightening screws 11 and the
blade are mounted in the associated slot 5 of the drum 2.
Referring again to FIG. 1 the space defined between the drum 2
and the frame 4 of the crusher 1 communicates, on the one hand with
an inlet conduit 30 for introducing the elements to be crushed and
a discharge conduit 31 for ejecting the crushed products which are
thereafter conveyed for example to a motor or trailer truck.
The crusher 1 according to the invention also comprises a member
32 serving as a cutting support. The member 32 is located in proximity
to the inlet conduit 30 and is borne by a support 33 integral with
or secured to the frame or casing 4 of the crusher. It should be
noted that the member 32 in the form of a plate is maintained on
its support 33 by at least one screw 34 which is threaded in a bore
formed in member 32 which is not located on the axis of symmetry
or centerline of the member 32. Indeed, according to the two adjustment
positions offered by the template 25 and the corresponding different
heights of the blades adjusted thereby, the member 32 may be mounted
in either one of two positions by simply reversing the member 32
by 180.degree. with respect to its support 33 to adjust the clearance
between the member 32 and blade 7 during operation. This arrangement
prevents the cutting edge of the blade 7 from coming into contact
with the supporting member 32. Thus, when the elements to be crushed
are introduced through the inlet conduit 30 they fall between the
support plate 32 and the drum 2 which rotates and crushes, the said
elements in the region of the support plate 32.
Referring to FIG. 5 there will now be described the device for
driving the drum 2 in rotation.
The power take-off, such as a driving shaft 35 driven in rotation
by a driving member (not shown), drives the drum 2 in rotation through
the medium of a transmission 36 allowing the drum 2 to rotate faster
than the shaft 35.
Before describing the transmission 36 it should be noted that
the shaft 3 for rotating the drum protrudes from both sides of the
latter.
A shaft 3 is supported in rotation through the medium of bearings
37 e.g., roller bearings, supported by the frame 4 of the crusher.
The drum 2 is jointly rotatable with the shaft 3 by means of keys
38.
The transmission 36 is constituted by a first grooved pulley 39
idly mounted, through the medium of a roller bearing 40 on the
shaft 3 in proximity to its end adjacent to the driving shaft 35.
The pulley 39 is jointly rotatable with the shaft 35 through the
medium of a Cardan joint 41. The pulley 39 drives in rotation a
second grooved pulley 42 of smaller diameter through the medium
of transmission belts 43. The pulley 42 is jointly rotatable, through
the medium of a key 44 with a shaft 45 parallel with the shaft
3 and supported in rotation by the casing 4 of the crusher 1. The
shaft 45 towards its other end, supports a third grooved pulley
46 of substantially the same diameter as the grooved pulley 39.
The pulley 46 is jointly rotatable with the shaft 45 through the
medium of a key 47. This third pulley 46 drives in rotation a fourth
grooved pulley 48 through the medium of belts 49. The pulley 48
is mounted on the shaft 3 towards its end opposite to the first
pulley 39 and is jointly rotatable therewith by means of a key 52.
The pulley 48 is substantially equal in diameter to the second pulley
42.
The transmission 36 mounted between the driving shaft 35 and the
drum 2 is therefore constituted, in the form of embodiment described,
by a double belt-drive including a countershaft, which allows the
shaft 35 and the drum 2 to rotate in the same direction but at different
speeds while being substantially axially aligned, thus allowing
any unbalance between the tractor member (not shown) and the crusher
1 to be avoided.
The required tension of the belts 43 (between the first pulley
39 and the second pulley 42) and of the belts 49 (between the third
pulley 46 and the fourth pulley 48 driving the drum 2) is obtained
by means of two tensioning devices 50 which allow the distance to
be varied between the shaft 3 supporting the drum 2 and the shaft
45 supporting the intermediate pulleys 42 and 46.
According to a second form of embodiment of the transmission 36
between the driving shaft 35 and the shaft 3 supporting the drum
2 the double belt-drive may be replaced by an epicyclic train or
planetary gearing 36' mounted between the Cardan joint 41 and the
adjacent end of the shaft 3 substantially axially aligned with the
shaft 35.
On the crusher casing 4 are provided several fixing lugs 51 which
allow the crusher 1 to be fixed for example to an automatic tractor-lifting
device.
The crusher according to the invention is therefore equipped with
cutting devices 6 that are easy to mount in the drum housings 5
with the blades 7 already adjusted in height by means of the screws
13 carried by the counter-blades 8. When it is desired to sharpen
the blade 7 the length of which may have varied as a result of
operating troubles (chipping or the like) it is sufficient to remove
the blade 7 concerned and its associated counter-blade 8 and to
adjust the blade anew through the medium of the adjusting template
25. Under such conditions, the expenditure of time for mounting
and removing the blades 7 and for the adjusting steps are considerably
reduced and the handling operations facilitated. |