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US 6,684,614 B2Granted
Mobile power driven vegetation trimmer and line feed control
OwnerOwen Patrick Greenwellinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vegetation trimmer unit having an open generally ‘U’-shaped frame with a power driven string line cutter mounted thereon. A linkage mechanism permits the cutter head to move relative to the frame against a spring biasing the cutter head in a direction outwardly away from the frame. The trimmer unit is suspendable from the free outer end of an extendible and retractable vehicle mounted boom. An actuator located on the vehicle is used to dispense sequentially predetermined lengths of line from the string line cutter.
Claims26
A trimmer unit, attachable to the free end of a vehicle mounted boom, comprising:
- a rigid frame having means for glidingly supporting said trimmer unit on the surface of the ground;
- a cutter head having a power driven vegetation cutter;
- linkage means connected to said rigid frame and said cutter head permitting said cutter head to move relative to the rigid frame against means for biasing the cutter head in a direction outwardly away from said rigid frame;
- means carried by said rigid frame and connected to said cutter head for controlling movement of said cutter head relative to said rigid frame;
- said power driven vegetation cutter, during use, rotates in a generally horizontal plane and said means for controlling movement of the cutter head relative to said rigid frame comprises remotely actuated power means to controllably pivot the cutter head with respect to said horizontal plane,
- said power driven vegetation cutter including a power driven shaft, a reel mounted on said shaft and a string line wound said reel and having a free end portion extending therefrom, and
- said reel having a width approximately the same as but slightly greater than the diameter of said string line limiting said diameter of said string line to a single layer spiral winding on said reel.
4 more elements
Apparatus for trimming vegetation comprising:
- a motorized self-propelled vehicle;
- an extendible and retractable boom controllably swingably mounted on said vehicle and having a free outer end;
- a trimmer unit comprising a rigid, open, generally U-shaped frame having means to glidingly support said U-shaped frame on the surface of the ground, a cutter head having a power driven cutter, linkage system means movably supporting said cutter head on said U-shaped frame for movement relative thereto providing reciprocal movement of said power driven cutter in a direction toward and away said U-shaped frame and for tilting movement about a horizontal axis, counter-balancing means carried by said U-shaped frame and connected to said linkage means for controlling movement of the cutter head relative to said U-shaped frame said linkage means permitting said cutter head to move relative to the U-shaped frame against means for biasing said cutter head in a direction outwardly away from said U-shaped frame to a forward at rest position;
- means suspending said trimmer unit from said free outer end of said boom;
- power means connected to said trimmer suspension means for controllably rotating said trimmer unit about a first vertical axis;
- said power driven cutter is a string line type cutter including means to controllably dispense sequentially predetermined lengths of the line from said string line type cutter;
- and
- said string line cutter including a power driven shaft and a reel mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith about a second vertical axis during operation of said string line cutter, wherein said reel has a width corresponding to but slightly greater than the diameter of the string line limiting said string line to a single helical winding on said reel.
5 more elements
Apparatus for trimming vegetation comprising:
- a motorized self-propelled vehicle;
- an extendible and retractable boom controllably swingably mounted on said vehicle and having a free outer end;
- a trimmer unit comprising a rigid, open, generally U-shaped frame having means to glidingly support said U-shaped frame on the surface of the ground, a cutter head having a power driven cutter, linkage system means movably supporting said cutter head on said U-shaped frame for providing reciprocal movement relative thereto and counter-balancing means carried by said frame and connected to said linkage means controlling movement of the cutter head relative to said frame said linkage means permitting said cutter head to move relative to the frame against a means for biasing the cutter head in a direction outwardly away from said U-shaped frame;
- means suspending said trimmer unit from said free outer end of said boom;
- power means connected to said trimmer suspension means to controllably rotate said trimmer unit about a first vertical axis;
- said power driven cutter is a string line type cutter including means to controllably dispense sequentially predetermined lengths of the line from said string line type cutter;
- said power driven cutter includes a power driven shaft and a reel mounted thereon for rotation about a second axis during operation of said string line type cutter, wherein said reel has a width corresponding to but slightly greater than the diameter of the string line limiting said string line to a single helical winding on said reel;
- and
- said power driven shaft includes clutch means controllably releasably inter-engaging said power driven shaft and reel for selectively dispensing line from said reel during trimming including means on said vehicle to selectively actuate said clutch means.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.