STUMP GRINDER WITH LATERALLY OFFSET GRINDING ARM OPERATED BY SINGLE JOYSTICK

Abstract

A stump grinder has a grinding arm that durably mounts a rotatable grinding wheel by securing the drive shaft of a motor to the grinding wheel such that a pair of bearings within the motor support one side of the grinding wheel and by supporting the other side of the grinding wheel with a stub shaft received within a third bearing. The grinding arm is laterally offset on the frame of the stump grinder to have a swing angle that is not symmetrical relative to the width of the frame, but with the swing angle starting at one side of the frame and then traversing across substantially the entire width of the frame to improve the ability of the operator to see the grinding wheel. A single joystick is movable in orthogonal directions corresponding to desired up and down and side-to-side pivoting motions of the grinding arm. The joystick includes a depressible trigger for starting and stopping the operation of the grinding wheel.

Claims

1. A stump grinder, which comprises: (a) a frame that is supported for movement over the ground, the frame having a traction drive system for self-propelling the frame over the ground; (b) a rotatable grinding wheel that rotates about a substantially horizontal axis for grinding or comminuting stumps or wood debris; (c) a grinding arm that mounts the grinding wheel, wherein the grinding arm is carried by the frame and is movable relative to the frame to cause the grinding wheel to lift and lower and to move left and right relative to the frame; (d) at least one power source carried by the frame for powering the traction drive system, for moving the grinding arm, and for rotating the grinding wheel; and (e) wherein the frame has a rear end which carries various hand operated controls for operating the traction drive system and for moving the grinding arm relative to the frame, wherein the rear end of the frame has a rearwardly facing back end which is substantially unobstructed from behind, and wherein the controls are located on the rear end of the frame substantially proximate to the back end.

2. The stump grinder of claim 1, wherein the controls are laterally spaced apart relative to one another across the rear end of the frame.

3. The stump grinder of claim 1, wherein the at least one power source comprises a single power source.

4. The stump grinder of claim 3, wherein the single power source is mounted on the frame rearward of the grinding arm.

5. The stump grinder of claim 1, wherein the grinding arm is laterally offset relative to a fore-and-aft centerline of the frame.

6. The stump grinder of claim 1, wherein one of the controls includes a depressible trigger that can be squeezed against the one control to start the rotation of the grinding wheel, and wherein the rotation of the grinding wheel is stopped when the trigger is released.

7. The stump grinder of claim 6, wherein the one control further has a depressible button that must be pressed before the depressible trigger is squeezed against the one control in order to start the rotation of the grinding wheel.

8. The stump grinder of claim 7, wherein the button is configured to be released after the grinding wheel has started its rotation without such release stopping the rotation of the grinding wheel for so long as the depressible trigger remains squeezed against the one control.

9. The stump grinder of claim 6, wherein the one control causes motion of the grinding arm relative to the frame.

10. A stump grinder, which comprises: (a) a frame that is supported for movement over the ground, the frame having a traction drive system for self-propelling the frame over the ground; (b) a rotatable grinding wheel that rotates about a substantially horizontal axis for grinding or comminuting stumps or wood debris; (c) a grinding arm that mounts the grinding wheel, wherein the grinding arm is carried by the frame and is movable relative to the frame to cause the grinding wheel to lift and lower and to move left and right relative to the frame; (d) at least one power source carried by the frame for powering the traction drive system, for moving the grinding arm, and for rotating the grinding wheel; and (e) wherein the frame carries various hand operated controls for operating the traction drive system and for moving the grinding arm relative to the frame, wherein one of the controls includes a depressible trigger that can be squeezed against the one control to start the rotation of the grinding wheel, and wherein the rotation of the grinding wheel is stopped when the trigger is released.

11. The stump grinder of claim 10, wherein the one control further has a depressible button that must be pressed before the depressible trigger is squeezed against the one control in order to start the rotation of the grinding wheel.

12. The stump grinder of claim 11, wherein the button is configured to be released after the grinding wheel has started its rotation without such release stopping the rotation of the grinding wheel for so long as the depressible trigger remains squeezed against the one control.

13. The stump grinder of claim 10, wherein the one control causes motion of the grinding arm relative to the frame.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] This invention will be described more completely in the following Detailed Description, when taken in conjunction with the following drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stump grinder according to this invention;

[0013] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the stump grinder of FIG. 1;

[0014] FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the stump grinder of FIG. 1, particularly illustrating the left side of the forwardly extending grinding arm;

[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating the right side of the forwardly extending grinding arm;

[0016] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the front of the grinding arm of the stump grinder of FIG. 1, particularly illustrating the third bearing and drive motor that support the grinding wheel from opposite sides thereof;

[0017] FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 5, but with the third bearing, stub shaft support hub, drive hub and drive motor for the grinding wheel being shown in exploded form for the sake of clarity; and

[0018] FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the stump grinder of FIG. 1, particularly illustrating the single joystick control for operating the grinding arm and the grinding wheel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Referring first to FIG. 1, one embodiment of a stump grinder according to this invention is generally illustrated as 2. Stump grinder 2 comprises a traction frame 4 that carries a power source 6, such as an internal combustion engine, that provides the power for propelling frame 4 over the ground. The propulsion means can take different forms, but in the illustrative embodiment shown in FIG. 1 comprises a pair of elongated, ground engaging tracks 8. A single such track 8 is located adjacent and immediately outboard of each of the opposite left and right sides of frame 4.

[0020] Frame 4 has an upwardly extending portion 10 at the rear thereof behind which an operator may walk on the ground as frame 4 is propelled over the ground. The top of rear portion 10 of frame 4 carries various controls that may be comfortably gripped by the operator as the operator stands behind frame 4. Among these controls is a traction and steering control indicated generally as 12. When power source 6 is in operation, the operator may manipulate traction and steering control 12 to cause a drive system (not shown) carried on frame 4 to drive ground engaging tracks 8 in forward or reverse at desired speeds with steering being accomplished through driving tracks 8 differentially at different speeds. The tracked frame 4 illustrated herein as well as the traction and steering control 12 are of the type shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,460,640 and 6,709,223, which are assigned to the assignee of this invention and which are hereby incorporated by reference.

[0021] A grinding arm 14 is mounted on the front of frame 4 in a laterally offset position in which grinding arm 14 extends forwardly along the left side of frame 4 with grinding arm 14 overlying the left side of frame 4. Grinding arm 14 comprises two sections thereof, namely a rear section 16 and a front section 18. Rear section 16 of grinding arm 14 pivots on frame 4 about a lateral, substantially horizontal pivot axis x such that the entire grinding arm 14, i.e. both the rear and front sections 16 and 18 thereof, can swing or pitch downwardly or upwardly towards or away from the ground as indicated by the arrows A and B in FIG. 3. Pivot axis x is located very low on frame 4 at a distance that is only a few inches above the rotational axis of the front drive pulley or sprocket on track 8. Front section 18 of grinding arm 14 pivots relative to rear section 16 about a substantially vertical pivot axis y to swing or pivot front section 18 from side-to-side as indicated by the arrows C and D in FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0022] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, frame 4 includes a pair of laterally spaced, forwardly extending support walls 20 having at least lower portions thereof that extend forwardly to a front end of frame 4. A top wall 22 joins and connects support walls 20 together over rear portions of support walls 20. Note that in FIG. 4 the inner support wall 20 has been removed to illustrate a first hydraulic actuator 24 that is located between support walls 20 and beneath top wall 22. The cylinder 26 of first hydraulic actuator 24 is pivotally connected to the rear of support walls 20 by a pivot pin 30.

[0023] Rear section 16 of grinding arm 14 also includes a pair of side walls 32 that are joined or connected together by a top wall 34. Side walls 32 of rear section 16 have a slightly narrower spacing than the spacing of support walls 20 of frame 4 such that rear ends of side walls 32 of rear section 16 nest between support walls 20 of frame 4. Side walls 32 of rear section 16 are generally L-shaped with one leg of the L-shape extending downwardly to pivotally journal rear section 16 of grinding arm 14, and thus the entire grinding arm 14, on a pivot pin 36 that is carried between support walls 20 and that forms the horizontal pivot axis x for grinding arm 14. The rod 27 of first hydraulic actuator 24 pivotally connects to the rear ends of side walls 32 of rear section 16 at a pivot pin 38 close to the juncture of the legs of the L-shape and above the pivot pin 36 forming the pivot axis x. Thus, retraction of rod 27 into cylinder 26 of first hydraulic actuator 24 causes upward pivoting of grinding arm 14 in the direction of arrow B and extension of rod 27 out of cylinder 26 causes downward pivoting of grinding arm 14 in the direction of arrow A.

[0024] Front section 18 of grinding arm 14 is generally similar in structure to that of rear section 16 in the sense that front section 18 also comprises a pair of laterally spaced side walls 40 that are joined or connected together by a top wall 42. Side walls 40 of front section 18 are laterally spaced apart by a greater distance than side walls 32 of rear section 16 to allow the rear of front section 18 to telescopically nest over and around the front of rear section 16. A vertical pivot structure 44 forming the vertical pivot axis y pivotally joins the front and rear sections 18 and 16 together with side walls 40 of front section 18 having U-shaped cutouts 46 to allow front section 18 to swing or pivot around the front of rear section 16 without interference between the two.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 3, a second hydraulic actuator 48 has a cylinder 50 that is pivotally mounted by a pivot pin 52 to the exterior of one of side walls 32 of rear section 16. Rod 51 of second hydraulic actuator 48 is pivotally connected to an exterior of one of side walls 40 of front section 18 of grinding arm 14. Extension and retraction of rod 51 of second hydraulic actuator 48 causes front section 18 of grinding arm 14 to swing or pivot about the vertical pivot axis y relative to rear section 16 of grinding arm 14.

[0026] FIGS. 1-4 illustrate grinding arm 14 in a home position in which grinding arm 14 is substantially horizontal and with grinding arm 14 being longitudinally aligned with rear section 16 of grinding arm 14 with grinding arm 14 extending straight ahead in a longitudinal fore-and-aft direction. From this home position, grinding arm 14 can pivot or pitch downwardly in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 approximately 28° and can pivot or pitch upwardly in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3 approximately 52°, for a total of approximately 80° of swing about the horizontal pivot axis x. From this home position, front section 18 of grinding arm 14 can pivot to the left in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 3 approximately 80° and can pivot to the right in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 3 approximately 20°, for a total of approximately 100° of swing about the vertical pivot axis y. Clearly, front section 18 of grinding arm 14 has an asymmetric swing angle in which it swings approximately four times further to the right than it does to the left (i.e. 80° to the right versus 20° to the left).

[0027] Front section 18 of grinding arm 14 has a front end that houses a rotatable grinding wheel 54. Grinding wheel 54 is in the form of a substantially flat, planar disc that has a plurality of stump or wood grinding tools 56 attached to the periphery thereof at circumferentially spaced locations. The nature of the wood grinding tools 56 that are used is not important to this invention and may be of any type that is known in the stump grinder art. Grinding wheel 54 is rotatably journalled on grinding arm 14 for rotation about a lateral, substantially horizontal, grinding axis xl. See FIG. 3.

[0028] As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, grinding wheel 54 is mounted to front section 18 of grinding arm 14 and is powered by a hydraulic motor 58 in a simple and durable manner. Motor 58 is bolted to an exterior of one of side walls 40 of front section 18. Motor 58 has an inner portion 60 extending through side wall 40 to be positioned relatively close to one side face of grinding wheel 54. Motor 58 has an inwardly projecting drive shaft 62 that sticks further inwardly from the inner portion of motor 58 such that drive shaft 62 extends into, but not through, a central bore 64 in grinding wheel 54. FIG. 6 depicts central bore 64. Motor 58 includes a pair of radial bearings (not shown) within the housing thereof that rotatably journal and support drive shaft 62 of motor 58 against radial loads on drive shaft 62. Motor 58 is preferably a TJ Series Motor manufactured by the Hydraulic Pump/Motor Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation.

[0029] One face of grinding wheel 54 has a drive hub 68 bolted thereto. The interior of drive hub 68 has a keyed, splined, or tapered drive connection (not shown) to drive shaft 62 of motor 58. Thus, as motor 58 is rotated by hydraulic fluid flow therethrough, the rotation of drive shaft 62 will be transferred through drive hub 58 to grinding wheel 54 to rotate the same about its axis of rotation xl. The support of grinding wheel 54 could end there, as is conventional in the stump grinder art, with grinding wheel 54 simply being supported by motor 58 alone. However, the Applicants have found that this imposes undesirably high loads on motor 58 in many stump and wood grinding operations.

[0030] Thus, grinding wheel 54 of this invention is further supported on the other side or face thereof as well. A support hub 70 that carries an outwardly extending stub shaft 72 is bolted to the opposite side face of grinding wheel 54. See FIG. 7. A third radial bearing 74, namely a stub shaft bearing, is then bolted to the inside of the opposite side wall 40 of front section 18 of grinding arm 14. Third bearing 74 rotatably journals and supports stub shaft 72 to support the opposite side of grinding wheel 54. Thus, going from right to left in FIG. 5, there are three radial bearings that carry the radial loads from grinding wheel 54, i.e. a first drive shaft radial bearing inside motor 58, a second drive shaft radial bearing inside motor 58 with both drive shaft bearings being on one side of grinding wheel 54, and a third stub shaft radial bearing 74 on the opposite side of grinding wheel 54. This allows a hydraulic motor 58 to be simply and inexpensively bolted to one side wall 40 of front section 18 of grinding arm 14 but, with the use of stub shaft bearing 74, still provides radial bearing support on both sides of grinding wheel 54. Enough vertical slop or play is desirably provided between the bolts 76 and the holes that are used to bolt stub shaft bearing 74 in place such that the vertical position of stub shaft bearing 74 on side wall 40 can be shifted up and down as need be before stub shaft bearing 74 is firmly tightened into place to allow alignment of stub shaft 72 with drive shaft 62.

[0031] Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 7, stump grinder 2 of this invention includes a joystick 80 for simple and intuitive operation of grinding arm 14 and grinding wheel 54. Joystick 80 has a centered neutral position as is typical of joysticks, which neutral joystick position corresponds to the home position of grinding arm 14. Joystick 80 is pivotally mounted in any suitable manner in frame 4 for movement in a longitudinal fore-and-aft direction as indicated by the arrows E and F in FIG. 2. This longitudinal motion of joystick 80 will control first hydraulic actuator 24 to cause grinding arm 14 to pivot up in the direction of the arrow B when joystick 80 is pulled back in the direction of arrow F and to cause grinding arm 14 to pivot down in the direction of the arrow A when joystick 80 is pushed forwardly in the direction of arrow E. The pivotal mounting of joystick 80 also permits movement of joystick 80 in a lateral side-to-side direction as indicated by the arrows G and H in FIG. 2. This lateral motion of joystick 80 will control second hydraulic actuator 48 to cause front section 18 of grinding arm 14 to swing from side-to-side in a direction corresponding to the direction of joystick 80, front section 18 swinging in the direction of the arrow C when joystick 80 swings in the direction of the arrow G and in the direction of the arrow D when joystick 80 swings in the direction of the arrow H.

[0032] Thus, the user need only operate a single control, namely joystick 80, and need move that control only in a direction corresponding to the up and down and side-to-side pivoting that is desired for grinding arm 14. This greatly eases the task of operating grinding arm 14, especially for a new or relatively unskilled operator, since the operator need not grip and coordinate the operation of separate control levers. All the operator need use is the single joystick 80.

[0033] To further ease the task of operating stump grinder 2, joystick 80 can be provided with a compressible trigger 82 on the front side thereof that controls the on-off operation of grinding wheel 54. In order to start grinding wheel 54, the operator need only press a button 84 on top of joystick 80 and then squeeze trigger 82 rearwardly until the top of trigger 82 abuts against joystick 80. A switch (not shown) will be closed by trigger 82 and grinding wheel 54 will start rotating. Once trigger 82 is closed, the operator can release button 84 on top of joystick 80. To stop grinding wheel 54, the operator need only release trigger 82, which causes trigger 82 to pivot back forwardly away from joystick 80 under the bias of a spring (not shown), to stop the rotation of grinding wheel 54. Integrating the on-off control for grinding wheel 54 on the same joystick 80 that controls the up and down pitching of grinding arm 14 and the side-to-side traverse of grinding wheel 54 further simplifies the task of operating stump grinder 2.

[0034] The offset nature of grinding arm 14 provides better visibility to the operator during a stump grinding operation. Of course, during such an operation, the operator will wear eye protection to protect his or her eyes from wood chips or other debris being generated by stump grinder 2. But, grinding wheel 54 can now traverse or swing from the extreme left side of frame 4 in a large arc extending in front of frame 4 and across substantially the entire width of frame 4 without being obstructed by rear section 16 of grinding arm 14, which remains in place on the left side of frame 4 out of the line of vision of the operator. This allows the operator to better see and place grinding wheel 54 at a desired location on the stump or other debris that is being ground down.

[0035] Various modifications of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the scope of this invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.