Patent ID: 7395601

Claim:
A rotary flail feeding device comprising a head and a unitary subassembly, said head having walls defining a cavity for holding coiled flail line, a central recess extending into the head from an open recess end, and a line feed passage extending from said cavity to said recess; said subassembly comprising a line winding post and a line guide rotatably mounted on and surrounding the post, the line guide having opposed first and second slots, the post having an end, a line winding surface surrounding the post and located between the end and the line guide, and first and second line guide retention members; said subassembly having an operative position wherein the post extends into the recess, the line guide is positioned adjacent the open end of the recess and the line winding surface extends from the line feed passage to the line guide for automatic feeding of flail line from the cavity, through the passage, around the winding surface, through the slots in the line guide and outwardly from the subassembly, and a loading position wherein the subassembly is withdrawn from the recess as a single unit with the line guide retention members holding the line guide on the post to permit feeding of flail lines into the recess, through the feed passage and into the cavity and the line guide is retained on the post by said retention members.