Posted on 11/09/2007 8:58:56 AM PST by EveningStar
Police, coroner’s investigators and safety regulators are calling the death of a landscaper – who fell into a wood chipper while feeding the machine branches in a Tustin cul-de-sac Wednesday – an unfortunate industrial accident...
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
All you needed was videos from Sadaam’s sons.
Peter & Gordon had a hit with it in 1964. Del Shannon wrote the song.
The type they used back in the 1970's were not hydraulic fed. It had a square funnel like end with the blades spinning inside at the small part of the "funnel". No safety guards, no curtains, nothing. They were powered by V-8 auto type engines. Incredibly noisy even when not chipping.
Here is a picture of a similar "drum chipper" I used:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A_Wikimanual_of_Gardening/Woodchipper
To quote the article: The drum also serves as the feed mechanism, drawing the material through as it chips it. This caused it to be colloquially known as a "chuck-and-duck" chipper, because material would start moving through the chipper very quickly as soon as it made contact with the drum.
These chippers have many downsides. The drum-style chipper is not as safe as newer designs. If an operator becomes snagged on material being fed into the machine, injury or death is almost certain. These chippers are also very loud. "
My favorite P&G song is “ Woman”
In the 60’s I worked with a friend part time who worked with Asplundh. Used to feed branches into that thing and it sucked them in at unbelievable speed . Used to get whacked on the ears by branches as they wizzed by and that hurt . Couldn’t hear too well by end of day because of the noise level .
There also was a song, by the great Patsy Cline, called “I Fall to Pieces”.
I guess it was too late to tell the poor man to “pull himself together”.
Remade by LeeAnnRimes(sp?)
Yep. Great voice, but she ain’t Patsy. I’m just old.
I fall to pieces by Patsy Cline is a classic.
This would have been an ugly scene....
While researching safety matters just prior to purchasing a tractor, I read some articles on chippers.
My understanding is that the older designs used flywheels to provide the energy needed to cut through the larger limbs. Because of the mass of the flywheel they took some time to stop even after the safety mechanisms were activated. I thought that the hydraulic systems were superior because the safety switches could cause the rotating parts to stop almost immediately.
Though gruesome to think about, I would imagine that being "chipped" is probably pretty painless since the whole operation takes only a second or two. I recall that the typical death certificate would list cause of death as "total body morselization" or some such description.
A real Patsy Cline machine....
These machines should be outlawed, use beavers instead!
The poor former girlfriend. What a memory to have to live with, the target of attempted murder and witness to a gory suicide. On the positive side, she isn’t worried about him ever coming after her again.
This happened in my state not too long ago. The guy was completely gone in twenty seconds, reduced to one inch chips. I can think of worse ways to go . . .
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