Patent ID: 7934524

Claim:
A self-propelled log splitter comprising: a tractor with articulated front loader arms, and with a hitch extending rearward from the tractor; a ballast mounted to the rearward hitch of the tractor; a frame including a working surface for contacting a log, the frame being mounted across the loader arms with the working surface angled between about thirty degrees and about fifty degrees with respect to the loader arms; a ram coupled to the frame; a wedge coupled to the frame opposing the ram across the loader arms, the wedge including a main blade attached to and extending away from the frame and a cross blade extending from opposed sides of the main blade, with a cross edge of the cross blade offset from a main edge of the main blade toward or away from the ram; at least one cross blade being angled away from the working surface by a non-zero tilt angle around the cross edge and at least one cross blade being angled away from the working surface by a non-zero wing angle around the juncture of the cross blade to the main blade; an actuator movably coupling one of the ram or the wedge to the frame, that one of the ram or the wedge being slidingly coupled to the frame for motion across the loader arms, and the other of the ram or the wedge being fixedly coupled to the frame; and a controller operable to direct the motion of the actuator, wherein the wedge and the ram cooperate to define a log opening across the loader arms for receiving a log, the log is split by moving the ram toward the wedge so as to force the log sequentially against the main edge and the cross edge of the wedge, and the ballast counterbalances the log and loader arms so that the tractor may be maneuvered with the loader arms raised to position the log in a dumping position above a truckbed during splitting, loader arms being adjustable between a loading position and the dumping position.