Flail drum system

A flail drum for a flail drum system operable for delimbing and/or debarking wood products, comprising trees and logs, at a flailing station wherein there is forwarding mechanism for moving the wood products forwardly in a generally horizontal path, a rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent to the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, an opposite rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, and drive mechanism for driving the forwarding mechanism to move wood product in said path past said flail drums and for rotating said flail drums;

• said drum comprising:
• a. a central shaft connected to be driven by said drive mechanism;
• b. circumferentially spaced, generally axially extending rods radially spaced from said shaft and supported thereon for rotation therewith;
• c. a series of rod support rings having circumferentially spaced openings through which said rods extend, and which support said rods, fixedly connected to rotate with said shaft;
• d. circumferentially scalloped spacers between said rings, having ends adjacent said rings and connected to rotate with said shaft, and providing radially inwardly extending openings, with unbroken marginal radial walls extending from one end of the spacer to the other through which said rods extend without engaging said spacers;
• and
• e. a plurality of side of side, axially in-line mutually reinforcing, radially extending, adjacent chains for each spacer comprising a series of connected loop links with radially inner and outer terminal ends, the inner terminal ends of the chains comprising closed links in said spacer openings through which said rods extend, and the outer terminal ends of the chains extending sufficiently beyond said rings with rotation of said shaft to freely contact wood product moving in said path.

A method of removing flail supporting rods from a flail drum operable for delimbing and/or debarking wood products, comprising trees and logs, at a flailing station wherein forwarding mechanism moves the wood products forwardly in a path past a rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent to the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, the flail drum having a central shaft, axially parallel, circumferentially spaced generally axially parallel rods radially spaced from the shaft and supported thereon for rotation therewith, a series of rod support rings having circumferentially spaced openings through which the rods extend connected to rotate with the shaft, circumferentially scalloped spacers between the rings connected to rotate with the shaft and providing radially inwardly extending openings through which the rods extend without engaging the spacers, and radially extending, circumferentially spaced chains comprising a series of connected loop links with radially inner and outer terminal ends, the inner terminal ends of the chains comprising closed links through which the rods freely extend, and the outer terminal ends of the chains extending sufficiently beyond the rings to freely contact wood product moving in the path, end members on said shaft, one of said end members having circumferentially spaced through passages in which the ends of said rods are received, and a lock plate rotatable on said shaft relative to said end member from a position covering said passages to a position in which it does not;

• and locking mechanism for said lock plate to lock it in position, the steps of:
• a. unlocking said lock plate;
• b. revolving it from a position in which it blocks the openings in said end member to a position in which it does not;
• c. withdrawing at least one of the rods endwisely from the drain links and drum to free chains formerly supported thereon;
• d. reinserting said rod through the inner closed links of chains held in the spacer openings;
• and
• e. rotating said locking plate to block the rod ends in said end member passages and locking it in position to rotate with the end member.

A flail drum for a flail drum system operable for delimbing and/or debarking wood products, comprising trees and logs, at a flailing station wherein there is forwarding mechanism for moving the wood products forwardly in a generally horizontal path, a rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent to the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, an opposite rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, and drive mechanism for driving the forwarding mechanism to move wood product in said path past said flail drums and for rotating said flail drums;

• said drum comprising:
• a. a central shaft connected to be driven by said drive mechanism;
• b. circumferentially spaced generally axially extending rods radially spaced from said shaft and supported thereon for rotation therewith;
• c. a series of rod support rings having circumferentally spaced openings through which said rods extend, and which support said rods, fixedly connected to rotate with said shaft;
• d. circumferentially scalloped spacers between said rings connected to rotate with said shaft and providing radially inwardly extending openings through which said rods extend without engaging said spacers;
• e. radially extending, circumferentially spaced chains comprising a series of connected loop links with radially inner and outer terminal ends, the inner terminal ends of the chains comprising links through which said rods extend, and the outer terminal ends of the chains extending sufficiently beyond said rings with rotation of said shaft to freely contact wood product moving in said path;
• f. at least one end disc member provided at the end of said drum which has through openings circumferentially spaced to receive the ends of said rods;
• and
• g. a locking plate rotatably mounted on said shaft and having through openings which align with said rod receiving openings, provided between radial stop projections, said plate being rotatable from a position in which said openings in the locking plate align with said rod receiving openings in said end support member and can be withdrawn to a position in which said radial projections align with the openings in said end support member and block said rods;
• and
• h. releasable means for holding said locking plate in blocking position.

A flail drum for a flail drum system operable for delimbing and/or debarking wood products, comprising trees and logs, at a flailing station wherein there is forwarding mechanism for moving the wood products forwardly in a generally horizontal path, a rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent to the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, an opposite rotary chain flail drum disposed adjacent the path and mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to the path, and drive mechanism for driving the forwarding mechanism to move wood product in said path past said flail drums and for rotating said flail drums;

• said drum comprising:
• a. a central shaft connected to be driven by said drive mechanism;
• b. circumferentially spaced, generally axially extending rods radially spaced from said shaft and supported thereon for rotation therewith;
• c. a series of radially extending rod support rings, having side walls with circumferentially spaced openings through which said rods extend, and which support said rods, fixedly connected to rotate with said shaft;
• d. circumferentially scalloped spacers, disposed between said rings and circumferentially inset with respect to said rings to form circumferentially inset pockets between said rings with pocket side walls defined by said ring side walls, connected to rotate with said shaft and providing radially inwardly extending openings through which said rods extend without engaging said spacers;
• and
• e. radially extending, circumferentially spaced chains comprising a series of connected loop links with radially inner and outer terminal ends, the inner terminal ends of the chains comprising chain links, through which said rods extend, and chain links connected thereto and extending outwardly therefrom which are guided on said pocket side walls radially outwardly of said spacers during rotation of the shaft, and the outer terminal ends of the chains extending sufficiently beyond said rings with rotation of said shaft to freely contact wood product moving in said path during rotation of said shaft.