Self-rotating wood cutting tooth
AssigneeDavid Pope
InventorsJarvis Rylan Shaver, David Alexander Pope
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A self-rotating saw tooth and associated mount assembly for use in wood cutting, for example with the saw disc on a feller buncher. Each saw tooth configured to rotate about its own axis of rotation responsive to contact with wood during cutting. A saw disc specially configured for use with the self-rotating saw teeth.
Claims35
A tooth assembly for mounting with a bolt to a wood saw disc having a disc plane of rotation and a disc axis of rotation, and having a plurality of tooth mount tangs arrayed about the circumferential periphery of the saw disc, each tooth mount tang having a tang tooth face and a tang bolt hole, the tang bolt hole having an opening in the tang tooth face and defining a bolt longitudinal axis, the tooth assembly comprising:
- a rotatable cutting tooth having:
- a circular cutting edge,
- a central retainer receiver, and
- a tooth axis of rotation concentric with the circle defined by the circular cutting edge and with the retainer receiver:
- a retainer having:
- an external retainer flare configured for engagement with the retainer receiver while permitting relative rotational movement between the cutting tooth and the retainer about the tooth axis of rotation and
- an offset retainer threaded bore;
- and
- an adaptor wear plate for interposing between a tang tooth face and the cutting tooth, and having:
- an adaptor tang face,
- an adaptor tooth face,
- an adaptor bolt hole extending between the adaptor tang face and the tooth face, and
- a retainer abutment region in the adaptor tooth face adjacent the adaptor bolt hole;
- wherein a tooth assembly may be mounted to a tooth mount tang by, with the retainer engaged with the retainer receiver, inserting a bolt through the tang bolt hole, from the end of the tang bolt hole opposite the tang tooth face and through the adaptor bolt hole, and threadedly engaging the bolt with the retainer threaded bore to secure the retainer against the retainer abutment region, wherein, when the tooth assembly is so mounted, the bolt longitudinal axis is not aligned with the tooth axis of rotation, and the configuration of the retainer abutment region and the misalignment between the bolt longitudinal axis and the tooth axis of rotation cooperatively impede relative rotational movement between the retainer and the adaptor wear plate;
- and
- whereby the tooth axis of rotation intersects the disc plane of rotation at an angle of greater than 0 degrees, and in use the cutting tooth rotates about the tooth axis of rotation responsive to contact with wood being cut.
14-18. (canceled)
A generally circular saw disc having a periphery and a disc plane of rotation comprising:
- a plurality of mounting tangs evenly spaced around the periphery of the saw disc;
- a circular cutting tooth having a cutting edge to cut material as the saw disc is rotated, the cutting tooth being removably and rotatably mounted to each of the mounting tangs by a saw disc mounting system including:
- a mounting tang bore defined in each of the mounting tangs, the mounting tang bore extending generally tangentially with respect to the rotation of the saw disc and terminating at a generally radially extending tang tooth face;
- a bolt positioned within each of the mounting tang bores;
- an adaptor plate having a centrally-disposed aperture, the adaptor plate being positioned on the bolt with the bolt passing through the aperture, and having a first face abutting the tang tooth face and a second face wherein the two adaptor plate faces are inclined with respect to each other;
- a retainer that defines a retainer aperture, the retainer being positioned on the bolt with the bolt passing through the retainer aperture, the retainer being mounted in abutment with the adaptor plate;
- and
- wherein the cutting tooth is rotatably mounted to the retainer so that as the saw disc is rotated to cut material, the cutting tooth will rotate on the retainer to present to the material a different cutting edge from time to time as the saw disc is rotated.
A system for mounting a circular cutting tooth to a mounting tang for a generally circular saw disc in which the mounting tang includes a tangentially extending bore with a bolt positioned within the bore along a bore axis, the cutting tooth mounting system comprising:
- an adaptor plate defining a centrally-disposed aperture, the adaptor plate being positioned on the bolt with the bolt passing through the aperture, and having a first face abutting the mounting tang and a second face wherein the two adaptor plate faces are inclined with respect to each other;
- a generally conical retainer defining a retainer aperture, the retainer being mounted onto the bolt with the bolt passing through the retainer aperture in a manner offset with respect to the bore axis, the retainer being mounted in abutment with the adaptor plate;
- and
- wherein the cutting tooth is defines a generally conical internal opening complementing the configuration of the retainer, the cutting tooth being rotatably and removably mounted to the retainer such that it is offset in such a manner that the cutting tooth rotates when the cutting tooth contacts the material to be cut by the saw disc.
A tooth assembly for use with a wood saw disc having a plurality of tooth mount tangs arrayed about the circumferential periphery of the saw disc, and having a disc plane of rotation and a disc axis of rotation, the tooth assembly comprising:
- a rotatable cutting tooth having a generally circular cutting edge and a tooth axis of rotation passing through the center of the circle defined by the circular cutting edge;
- and
- a retainer configured for use in attaching the rotatable cutting tooth to a mount tang so as to permit rotation of the cutting tooth about the tooth axis of rotation;
- wherein when mounted to a wood saw disc, in use the rotatable cutting tooth rotates about the tooth axis of rotation responsive to contact with the wood being cut.
A process for periodically presenting a new cutting edge of a circular cutting tooth to material being cut by a saw disc in which the saw disc includes a plurality of evenly spaced mounting tangs defining tangentially-extending, threaded bores, each of which threadably receives a cutting tooth mounting bolt having a bolt axis, a proximal end and a distal end extending toward the cutting tooth, the process comprising the following steps, not necessarily in the order recited:
- selecting an adaptor plate defining a centrally-disposed aperture and including a first and a second opposed faces that are inclined with respect to each other, and mounting the adaptor plate to the saw disc with the bolt extending through the adaptor plate aperture;
- selecting a circular cutting tooth defining an aperture having a generally frusto-conical shape, and including an axis;
- selecting a generally frusto-conical retainer having a shape complementing the shape of the cutting tooth aperture and including proximal and distal ends;
- mounting the cutting tooth to the retainer with the cutting tooth and retainer distal and proximal ends are adjacent each other, such that the cutting tooth is permitted to rotate with respect to the retainer;
- and
- mounting the retainer and cutting tooth to the saw disc with the bolt extending through the retainer aperture and the cutting tooth aperture, and the bolt axis and the cutting tooth axis offset from one another.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.