Tree harvesters

A harvesting head for a tree harvester, the harvester head including:

• a chipper or chopper drum rotatable about a first axis;
• at least one pair of nip rollers rotatable about respective substantially parallel second and third axes, vertically spaced above the first axis;
• and
• at least one drive means to rotatably drive the chipper or chopper drum and the, or each, pair of nip rollers;
• so arranged that:
• the first, second and third axes are disposed substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the tree harvester, and are upwardly inclined to the horizontal from a leading end to a trailing end, so that the, or each, pair of nip rollers are operable to maintain a stem of a tree being harvested in a substantially vertical position, while feeding the tree downwardly through the chipper or chopper drum.

A harvesting head for a tree harvester, to harvest a row of trees, the harvesting head including:

• a chipper or chopper drum rotatable about a first axis;
• at least one pair of nip rollers rotatable about respective substantially parallel second and third axes, vertically spaced above the first axis;
• and
• at least one drive means to rotatably drive the chipper or chopper drum and the, or each, pair of nip rollers;
• so arranged that:
• the first, second and third axes are disposed substantially transverse to the direction of travel of the tree harvester;
• where the second axis is forwardly spaced relative to the first axis, and the third axis is rearwardly spaced from the second axis and vertically spaced a small distance there-above, so that the, or each, pair of nip rollers are operable to maintain the stem of a tree being harvested in a substantially vertical position while feeding the stem of the tree downwardly to the chipper or chopper drum.