Patent Publication Number: US-2019191640-A1

Title: Method of felling a tree

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application is based on and claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/137,927, filed Mar. 25, 2015, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     One of the elements of logging is the process of felling or downing individual trees. Trees may be felled by making a face cut or notch cut and a back cut opposite the notch cut. A wedge can then be hammered into the back cut so that the tree falls towards the side of the notch cut. 
     The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     SUMMARY 
     A power wedge device includes a base, a screw-type cone wedge mounted to the base and having a threaded cone portion that tapers to a pointed tip. The tree felling device further includes a motor mounted to the base and coupled to the screw-type cone wedge to rotatably drive the threaded cone portion and a counter-rotational member coupled to the base and configured to ground the screw-type cone wedge so as to prevent the screw-type cone wedge from spinning the motor and the base. 
     A power wedge device for felling a tree includes a screw-type cone wedge mounted to a base and including a threaded cone portion that tapers to a tip. The tip engages with a back cut on a tree to be felled. A motor is mounted to the base and coupled to the screw-type cone wedge to rotatably drive the threaded cone portion. An elongated rod extends from the base and terminates at a distal end. The distal end of the elongated rod engages with a ground so the elongated rod acts as a counter-rotational member to prevent the screw-type cone wedge from spinning the base and the motor. 
     A method of felling a tree includes cutting a notch cut into a base of a tree on the side of the tree to which the tree should fall and cutting a back cut into a base of the that is opposite the notch cut but does not intersect the notch cut. A pointed tip of a screw-type cone wedge is placed on an outer surface of the tree at the back cut and the screw-type cone wedge is powered so that a threaded cone portion of the screw-type cone wedge drills into the back cut until the tree falls. 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a power wedge device in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a left side view of the power wedge device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a right side view of the power wedge device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of the power wedge device of  FIG. 1   
         FIG. 5  is a bottom view of the power wedge device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 6  is a front view of the power wedge device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an enlarged side view of the screw-type cone wedge illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 . 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a schematic diagram of preparing a tree for felling with the power wedge device illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 . 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a schematic diagram of felling a tree using the power wedge device illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS 
     Forestry or logging is a dangerous business. The most dangerous part is felling trees with a chainsaw, hammer and wedge. The unpredictable nature of how a tree will ultimately fall combined with the position the person who is operating the chainsaw and/or the wedge creates an element of danger. For example, the tree being felled may be on a steep hill, with many other small trees around it, or the tree being felled may be surrounded by snowy or wet conditions, making escape from the falling tree difficult and dangerous. Still further, there may be other tree tops interfering and/or other trees leaning on the target tree adding more difficulties and dangers to the process. 
     Embodiments of a power wedge device, as will be described in detail below, allow an operator to prepare a tree for felling according to a standard process, insert the power wedge device, walk away from the tree to be felled and remotely operate the device from a safe distance. In one embodiment, the power wedge device is a remote controlled wedge. It replaces the work previously done at the base of the tree with a hammer and wedge and effectively prevents injuries and saves lives. Other advantages include more precise directional tree felling, which results in less damage to the tree and an increase in the amount of sellable timber from the tree. 
       FIGS. 1-6  illustrate a remote power wedge device  100  in accordance with one embodiment.  FIG. 1  is a perspective view,  FIGS. 2 and 3  are left and right side views, respectively,  FIG. 4  is a top view,  FIG. 5  is a bottom view and  FIG. 6  is a front view. Remote power wedge device  100  includes a base  106 , a screw-type cone wedge  108 , a motor  110  and a counter-rotational member  112 . Screw-type cone wedge  108  is coupled to motor  110  and together screw-type cone wedge  108  and motor  110  are mounted on base  106 . Extending from base  106  is counter-rotational member  112 . Power wedge device  100  further includes a power coupler  109  that connects motor  110  through a machine block  114  to screw-type cone wedge  108 . Screw-type cone wedge  108  couples to power coupler  109  through a through hole in machine block  114 . Machine block  114  is mounted to base  106 . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an enlarged side view of screw-type cone wedge  108 . Screw-type cone wedge  108  includes a cone portion  111  that is in the shape of a cone and therefore tapers to a pointed tip  118 , has a threaded exterior surface, and is defined by a length  116  that terminates at the point or pointed tip  118 . The screw-type cone wedge  108  illustrated in  FIGS. 1-7  is made of steel, however, other materials, such as other metallic materials, are possible. Exemplary materials for making screw-type cone wedge  108  as strong as possible, but also be as light as possible include case hardened aluminum, metal alloys, carbon fiber and etc. 
     In the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 , motor  110  is an electric motor that is powered by an onboard battery  120  and is configured to rotatably drive screw-type cone wedge  108 . As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , battery  120  is a removable battery. It can be clipped onto counter-rotational member  112  and connected to motor  110  via battery and remote control relay  121  and can be removed from counter-rotational member  112  to be charged with a battery charger, for example. Of course, battery  120  can also remain clipped to counter-rotational member  112  and be charged in situ by a charger. In this embodiment, power wedge device  100  also includes a gear reduction mechanism  113  that is coupled to motor  110  so that the highest possible torque can be obtained. It should be recognized, however, that other types of motor configurations are possible including a gas powered motor or engine, different configurations of gearing and any other way to power screw-type cone wedge  108 . 
     Counter-rotational member  112  acts like a lever and prohibits power wedge device  100  from spinning when in use. Ways in which counter-rotational member  112  can be grounded or stabilized to ensure threaded cone section  111  is being screwed into a tree to be felled rather than spinning is discussed in detail below in regards to device operation. Regardless, counter-rotational member  112  illustrated in the  FIG. 1  embodiment is a rigid, linear member including an elongated rod that extends from base  106 , is telescopic to allow the elongated rod to be lengthened or shortened and terminates at a distal end  115 . Distal end  115  engages with a ground. 
     In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1 , power wedge device  100  also includes two different power on/off switches. First, power wedge device  100  includes battery  120  and remote control circuitry  121 , such as a relay, a remote control receiver  124  and an associated remote control transmitter  102  (illustrated in  FIG. 9 ). The combination of these elements allow tree felling device  100  to be powered on and powered off remotely or a safe distance from device  100  using remote control transmitter  102 . In particular, remote control circuitry  121  and remote control receiver  124  are located proximal to screw-type cone wedge  108 , such as mounted to counter-rotational member  112  as is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Remote control transmitter  102  is located remotely from screw-type cone wedge  108  so that motor  110  can be turned on by the remote control transmitter  102  a safe distance from screw-type cone wedge  108 . 
     Second, tree felling device  100  includes a finger trigger  122  that is mounted, in the  FIG. 1  embodiment, right below base  106 . Trigger  122  starts and stops motor  110  and therefore starts and stops the rotation of screw-type cone wedge  108 . In particular, trigger  122  is a forward and reverse trigger so that threaded cone portion  111  can be powered on to rotate in a forward direction or powered on to rotate in a reverse direction. Trigger  122  provides tree felling device  100  with the advantages of a hand held power tool that could serve as a replacement tool in situations where a hammer and wedge could have been used. For example, when a chainsaw gets pinched during normal sawing operations, trigger  122  would allow device  100  to rescue the pinched saw blade and save time for the forester using device  100  along with a chainsaw. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a schematic diagram of preparing a tree  200  for felling.  FIG. 9  illustrates a schematic diagram of felling tree  200  using power wedge device  100 . To prepare the tree for felling by power wedge device  100 , standard tree felling preparation procedures are followed. For example, a face cut or notch cut  202  is made on the side of the tree to which the forester wants the tree to fall and includes two cuts so as to notch out a portion of the thickness of the tree. A back cut  204  is a horizontal cut and is made opposite notch cut  202 , but does not intersect notch cut  202  so that a hinge section  206  of the tree remains uncut. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , tip  118  of screw-type cone wedge  108  is placed on the exterior surface of the tree at back cut  204 . For the power wedge device  100  illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 , counter-rotating member  112  is a telescopic member that can be lengthened or shortened so that a distal end of counter-rotating member  115  rests on the ground and tip  118  of screw-type wedge is placed at back cut  204 . By resting distal end  115  on the ground, counter-rotational member  112  prevents power wedge device  100  from spinning on its own. The feature of member  112  being telescopic adds versatility, but is not essential or critical for operation. In general, the telescopic member  112  would likely remain fully retracted 95% of the time. It should be realized that other types of counter-rotational members are possible including a U-shaped member that is held to the trunk of the tree under the notch cut and the back cut so that the tree acts as the grounding mechanism. In this way, tip  118  of screw-type cone wedge can be placed any distance from ground depending on the location of the back cut. Other variations include strapping tree felling device  100  to the tree to be felled to ground power wedge device  100 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , after tip  118  of screw-type cone wedge  108  of power wedge device  100  engages with an outer surface of the tree at the back cut  204 , a forester  300  stands a safe distance away from the tree  200  to be felled. Using remote control  102 , forester  300  powers screw-type cone wedge  108  via motor  110  by a remote control switch on remote control transmitter  102 . Screw-type cone wedge  108  begins to drill into back cut  204  spreading out the back cut until screw-type cone wedge  108  forces the tree to begin to fall in the direction to which notch cut  202  is located. In this way, screw-type cone wedge  108  does the job of what a forester would use a hammer and flat wedge for, but now the same job can be accomplished remotely so as to make the entire felling of tree  200  safer to all those involved. 
     Although elements have been shown or described as separate embodiments above, portions of each embodiment may be combined with all or part of other embodiments described above. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.