BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to material reduction machines with a rotatable shaft, and more specifically to material reduction machines that minimize material from wrapping around portions of the rotatable shaft during use.

Material reduction machines are typically used in environments where material (e.g., wire, vegetation, twine, hose, etc.) lays on the ground or is buried in the ground. When existing material reduction machines are used in these environments, the material often wraps around the shaft or other rotating parts of the machine (e.g., the shaft of a comminution wheel of a stump cutter). The wrapped material becomes tightly wound around the rotating part(s) and can damage the bearing assembly, the shaft, or other parts of the machine, and can prevent the machine from being used until the material is removed. A user is often forced to spend a significant amount of time removing the tightly wrapped material so that the machine can continue to be used.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, the invention provides a guard plate that can be attached to the material reduction machine (e.g., to a cutter assembly of a stump cutter) to minimize downtime of the machine due to material becoming entangled in the assembly. For example, the guard plate has an axial extent and a radial extent that fill, or predominantly fill, a gap that exists adjacent the comminution wheel and the shaft that rotates the comminution wheel. Optionally, the guard plate can have different shapes and sizes of the axial and radial extents to accommodate different material reduction machines, or to account for gaps that have different sizes or shapes. Another option is to provide the guard plate with a yield feature that facilitates bending or breaking the guard plate when an overload situation occurs (e.g., where a significant amount of material becomes entangled in the machine). Still other options for the guard plate, including the quantity of guard plates used and the features associated with the guard plate, are described in detail below.

Other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings.

