Pile-cutting machine and method of cutting multi-sided piles

A multi-sided pile-cutting machine comprising, a frame positionable at a desired location along the length of a multi-sided pile and having clamp means engageable with the pile for holding the frame at said location, guide means and a gear track mounted on said frame and shaped to define a square with rounded corners and intermediate straight sections, a carriage mounted for movement along said guide means by guide members engageable with the guide means and which cause the carriage to swing relative to the frame at said rounded corners, a cutting head carried by the carriage with a power-driven cutter positioned relative to the carriage to be at full cutting depth in a pile as the carriage moves along a straight section of the guide means, to automatically withdraw from the pile as the carriage swings in travelling around a rounded corner of the guide means and thereafter again move to full cutting depth in the pile with continued advance of the carriage along a straight section of the guide means, and a driven gear on said carriage engageable with said gear track for advancing said carriage along said guide means.

A multi-sided pile-cutting machine comprising, a frame positionable at a desired location along the length of a multi-sided pile and having clamp means engageable with the pile for holding the frame at said location, guide means mounted on said frame and shaped to define a square with rounded corners and intermediate straight sections, a carriage mounted for movement along said guide means by guide members engageable with the guide means and which cause the carriage to swing relative to the frame at said rounded corners, and a cutting head carried by the carriage with a power-driven cutter positioned relative to the carriage to be at full cutting depth in a pile as the carriage moves along a straight section of the guide means, to automatically withdraw from the pile as the carriage swings in travelling around a rounded corner of the guide means and thereafter again move to full cutting depth in the pile with continued advance of the carriage along a straight section of the guide means.

A cutting machine for cutting a multi-sided pile comprising, a frame positionable at a desired location along the length of and surrounding the pile and having clamp means engageable with the pile for holding the frame at said location, guide means mounted on said frame and contoured to the shape of the pile with rounded corners and intermediate straight sections, a carriage mounted for movement along said guide means by guide members engageable with the guide means and which cause the carriage to swing relative to the frame at said rounded corners, and a cutting head carried by the carriage with a power-driven cutter positioned relative to the carriage to be at full cutting depth in a pile as the carriage moves along a straight section of the guide means, to automatically withdraw from the pile as the carriage swings in travelling around a rounded corner of the guide means and thereafter again move to full cutting depth in the pile with continued advance of the carriage along a straight section of the guide means.

The method of cutting a multi-sided pile by a rotatable cutter in a single pass of the cutter around the pile by guiding the cutter in a continuous closed path of travel around successive sides of the pile, comprising, rotating the cutter at a cutting speed, feeding the cutter into the pile to a cutting depth, advancing the cutter along a side of the pile to form a straight length of cut in said pile, positioning the cutter as the cutter continues to move in the continuous closed path for advance along the next side of the pile while simultaneously withdrawing the cutter from the preceding length of cut, and repeating said positioning and withdrawal until all sides of the pile are cut and the cutter has travelled a complete circuit in said continuous closed path.