DE2410601

An articulated, four-wheel drive tree harvesting machine includes a front frame section upon which a felling boom assembly, a delimbing assembly and a feed assembly are mounted. The felling boom assembly is operable for severing a tree and lowering the same into a generally horizontal dispostion from where the trunk of the tree may be released for engagement by feed rolls of the feed assembly and for encirclement by blades of the delimbing assembly. Once a tree is released by the felling boom assembly, the feed rolls may be operated to draw the tree trunk through the delimbing blades while the felling boom may be operated to sever and position a second tree. The delimbing blades of the delimbing assembly are carried on a subframe which is pivotally mounted on a blade support frame for movement about a horizontal axis while the blade support frame is pivotally mounted on the front frame section of the machine for movement about a vertical axis, the structure of the delimbing assembly making it possible for the delimbing blades to keep in proper alignment with a tree trunk encircled thereby.