US3687260A

US3687260A - Edging picker

Info

Publication number: US3687260A
Application number: US108011A
Authority: US
Inventors: James D Willows
Original assignee: Potlatch Forests Inc
Current assignee: Potlatch Forests Inc
Priority date: 1971-01-20
Filing date: 1971-01-20
Publication date: 1972-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-29
Also published as: ES398347A1

Abstract

An edging picker for use in conjunction with a double arbor edger or any machine that saws relatively large cants into a plurality of boards. The boards are fed into the apparatus on edge, being maintained as a group. A bumper in the path of the sawn boards limits their longitudinal travel. Laterally shiftable flipper assemblies can be adjusted under the boards so as to segregate side cuts as required for each individual operation. The movable picket of each flipper assembly is shiftable vertically to form inclined surfaces that guide the side cuts to opposite sides of the conveyor apparatus. Vertical guides maintain the center boards in an upright condition until the bumper is lowered and the boards continue along their desired longitudinal path.

Description

United States Patent Willows 51 Aug. 29,- 1972 [541 EDGING PICKER [72] Inventor: James D. Willows, Lewiston, Idaho [73] Assignee: Potlatch Forests, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

[22] Filed: Jan. 20, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 108,011

[52] US. Cl. ..198/24, 143/157 D, 143/157 E,

198/127 [51] Int. Cl ..B27b 5/28, B65g 13/02, 865g 47/74 [58] Field of Search ..198/24, 127, 20; 143/157 D,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 996,386 6/1911 Williams ..143/157 E Primary ExaminerEdward A. Sroka AttorneyWells, St. John & Roberts [57] ABSTRACT An edging picker for use in conjunction with a double arbor edger or any machine that saws relatively large cants into a plurality of boards. The boards are fed into the apparatus on edge, being maintained as a group. A bumper in the path of the sawn boards limits their longitudinal travel. Laterally shiftable flipper assemblies can be adjusted under the boards so as to segregate side cuts as required for each individual operation. The movable picket of each flipper assembly is shiftable vertically to form inclined surfaces that guide the side cuts to opposite sides of the conveyor apparatus. Vertical guides maintain the center boards in an upright condition until the bumper is lowered and the boards continue along their desired longitudinal path.

10 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMIQQ 1972 SHEET 1 0F 5 INVENTOR. JAMES o WILLOWS P'ATENTEBwszs m2 SHEET '4 OF 5

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5 or 5 PATENTi-imuszs I972 Fig. 7

INVENTOR. JAMES D. WILLOW AT T Yd.

EDGING PICKER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention results from the development of automated equipment for sawing cants into boards by the use of multiple parallel saws, such as in a double arbor edger. Such machinery is designed for extremely highspeed operation and the equipment used to segregate the full-width center boards in the sawn cant must be capable of accomodating such production speeds. It is further desirable that the positioning of the board separating elements be carried on simultaneously during reception of the cant in the apparatus.

Prior edging pickers have been primarily concerned with the separation of rough wanes or edges from boards positioned on their side and received from an edger. Most such devices have included upright separating blades or fences which are typically moved in conjunction with the edging saws so as to be aligned with the kerf of the boards as they emerge from the edger. Such an arrangement is suitable for edgers that incorporate transversely movable saws, but cannot readily adapt to multiple arbor edgers which do not utilize movable saws. In such installation it is necessary that the choice of boards to be removed from the sawn cant be made anytime during sawing or after the boards emerge from the edger. This eliminates the possibility of using a separating blade or fence to segregate the side boards from those of full width at the center of the cant.

Examples of prior patents that use upright blades or fences for edging segregation are the following: US. Pat. Nos. 2,353,239; 3,017,909; 3,101,754; 3,101,755, and 3,139,125. In addition, a slab-handling apparatus for removing side slabs from a log is shown in US. Pat. No. 3,205,924.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention disclosed herein essentially comprises a conveyor that defines a longitudinal path of travel for lumber, a stop selectively movable into the path of the lumber, transverse flipper means recessed under the conveyor behind the stop means, means for shifting the flipper means transversely and powered means for elevating the inner ends of the flipper means above the conveyor to segregate edgings from lumber located centrally along the conveyor.

It is a first object of this invention to provide a relatively simple edging picker that can accomodate highspeed production of a double-arbor edger or similar apparatus for sawing large cants into parallel boards.

Another object of this invention is to provide an edger picker which can be adjusted laterally after partial or complete reception of the sawn cant within the apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to eliminate the necessity of providing intersecting blades or fences along an edging picker apparatus.

These and further objects will be evident from the following disclosure, taken along with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred form of the invention. 7 r

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the conveyor rollcase of the lumber edging picker apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus as seen in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional elevation taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional elevation taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional elevation taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional elevation taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of the outfeed end of the rollcase illustrating the operation of the stop means;

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cant as it leaves the double arbor edger;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 8 showing the flippers in operational position; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view similar to FIGS. 8 and 9 showing operation of the flippers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, 10 designates a conveyor in the form of a rollcase table with a double arbor edger 11 located at the infeed end. The conveyor 10 includes side rails 12 supported at the infeed end by the double arbor edger 11 and at the outfeed end by support legs 13. Powered rollers 14 are positioned between the side rails 12.

The double arbor edger 11 may be of conventional construction, and is positioned in the usual lumber processing line to receive prepared cants. The cant leaves the double arbor edger 11 in the form of a plurality of upright parallel boards. Powered side press rolls 15 draw the cant out of the edger 11 onto the conveyor 10, maintaining inward pressure on the boards by means of air cylinders 16. The boards along the center portion of the cant are held vertical by a top press roll 17, the downward pressure being supplied by an air cylinder 18. The air cylinder 18 is double-acting and is alternately used to raise the top press roll 17.

Also included on the conveyor 10 are six flipper assemblies 20 which remove the side cuts or edgings laterally from the rollcase table, a bumper 21 to hold the cant in position on the rollcase table until the flipper assemblies 20 have operated, and a set works 22 which shifts the flipper assemblies to accomodate different width cants.

The six flipper assemblies 20 are arranged in three longitudinally spaced groups of two each. In each group the two flipper assemblies 20 are opposite and generally symmetrical about the center line of conveyor 10. Only one flipper assembly 20 will be described as the construction and operation is typical to all.

Each flipper assembly 20 has a normally horizontal elongated plate 23 hereafter referred to as the picker (FIGS. 3, 4, and 5). The picker 23 rests upon a support 24 that slidably guides its outer free end. The support 24 is fixed to the side rail 12. The inner end of the picker 23 is pivotally connected at 26 to the outer end of a piston rod movably mounted by an upright air cylinder 25. Also connected to the air cylinder 25 and The function of guide 27 is to provide vertical support for the boards at the center portion of the cant while the edgings are removed.

The flipper assemblies 20 are transversely movable relative to the conveyor. A transverse beam 30 extends across the side rails 12 adjacent each group of flipper assemblies. The cylinders 25 are suspended from beams 30 by slidable angle plates 31. Fixed to each plate 31 is a clip 32 and a hanger 35 carried by slidable brackets 34. The hanger 35 is a horizontal base for the air cylinder 25.

The flipper assemblies 20 are transversely adjustable for different width cants by means of the set works 22. Located on the outer face of the side rails 12 is a common shaft 36 on which are mounted a plurality of sprockets 37. The stacked cylinders 38 supply power to rotate the shafts 36. The flipper cylinders 25 are interlocked with the setworks stacked cylinders 38 to prevent shifting while the pickers 23 are in the up position. Transverse chains 40 are in meshing connection to opposite sprockets 37 and fixed to the flipper assemblies 20. A horseshoe type bracket 41 is fixed to each bracket 34 and each terminating end of the respective chains 40. There is one set of sprockets 37 and a chain 40 for each of the flipper assemblies 20 and for each set of stacked cylinders 38. The chains 40 are fed through apertures 42 in the side rails 12 (FIGS. 5, 6). When the stacked cylinders 38 rotate the sprockets 37 by means of the shaft 36 the chains 40 move the flipper assemblies 20 in their desired positions for handling wide or narrow cants.

Situated above shafts 36 are sloping longitudinal guides 43 which are parallel to the side rails 12. As the edgings are picked they slide down the guides.

The operation of bumper 21, which serves as a stop means, is shown schematically in FIG. 7. The bumper 21 is shown in its normal raised or up position. An air cylinder 44 is operatively connected to an arm 45 which rotates about a shaft 46. The crank arm 33 fixed to shaft 46 is operatively connected to the lower end of the bumper 21. In normal position the bumper 21 is elevated above the surface plane of the rollers 14 in order to halt longitudinal movement of a cant 47. When the rear end of the cant 47 passes a transverse electric eye 48, (FIG. 1) the air cylinder 44 is activated in part of a sequential series. The air cylinder 44 then rotates the arm 45 which lowers bumper 21, allowing the sawn and edged cant 47 to move on. The recessed position of the bumper 21 is indicated by broken lines in FIG. 7. The boards move onto another conveyor 52 for further processing. A second transverse electric eye located at 50 raises the bumper 21 to stop the next oncoming cant after being tripped by passage of the rear of cant 47.

The operation of the abovedescribed invention is described below with reference particularly to schematic FIGS. 8-10 as a supplement to the more detailed disclosure of FIGS. 1-7.

As the cant 47 leaves the double arbor edger 11, inward pressure is applied by the side rolls to keep the fresh sawn boards vertical while the cant is extracted. The rolls are driven by the edger feed works (not shown) and inward pressure is applied by the air cylinders 16. The center portion of the cant 47 is held vertical by the top press roll 17 as the cant 47 moves further down the conveyor rollcase 10. The air cylinder 18 maintains downward pressure of the top press roll 17.

The flipper assemblies 20 are shown in FIG. 8 positioned for a narrow cant and with the pickers 23 down. The setworks 22 are positioned laterally by an operator who triggers the stacked cylinders 38. Cylinders 38 move the flipper assemblies 20 through sprockets 37 and the chains 40 along the respective shafts 36, which transversely move the flipper assemblies 20 in opposite lateral directions to the selected spread positions show in FIG. 9. The lateral positions of flipper assemblies 20 may be accomplished at any time that they are recessed beneath rollers 14.

When the rear of the cant 47 passes the electric eye 48 a sequence of three events are initiated through suitable control devices.

First, the top press roll 17 is raised by the air cylinder 18. If the cant is of sufficient length, it will engage bumper 21, although short cants do not normally reach the bumper.

Secondly, the air cylinders 25 are activated, which elevates the inner edges of the pickers 23 and raises the pivotally depending support guides 27 to maintain vertical orientation of the boards 47a at the center of cant 47. The free outer ends of the pickers 23 are not elevated, forming diagonal planes along the inclined pickers 23. The outer edgings or wanes 47b are raised with movement of the pickers 23 and then proceed to slide outwardly and downwardly on the pickers 23 and the slides 43 by gravitational force. The edgings 47b drop onto a receiving conveyor generally indicated at 51. Conveyor 51 carries the edgings 47b away for reclamation or disposal. The pickers 23 are shown in up position by dashed lines in FIGS. 35 and in full lines in FIG. 10. The stacked cylinders 38 and the air cylinders 25 are interlocked to prevent simultaneous operation. This insures that pickers 23 cannot raise while the flipper assemblies 20 are being shifted. Also the flipper assemblies 20 cannot be shifted while the pickers 23 are being operated.

Thirdly, the bumper 21 is lowered by the activation of the air cylinder 44 which moves the arm 45 (FIG. 7). This allows the plurality of parallel vertical boards 47a to span the interval between the outfeed end of the picking conveyor and the infeed end of the conveyor 52. As the boards 47a travel on the conveyor 52 to be further processed, the transverse electric eye 50 is activated by their passing. The tripped electric eye 50 restores the bumper 21 to its normal position ready to halt the next cant.

Summarizing some of the important features of the invention, it should be noted that the picking operation of removing wane is automatic. The structure of the flipper assemblies is such that a compact structure results, and the picker can be mounted below the rollers that transport the boards. Also, different width cants can be accomodated by the movable features of the flipper assemblies. The apparatus accommodates some delay in the following movement of the trailing section, and for this reason a close spacing of consecutive cants traveling along the apparatus is possible.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the following claims. Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. Apparatus for removing edgings from lumber comprising:

conveyor means defining a longitudinal path of travel for the lumber; stop means selectively movable into the path of the lumber for selectively interrupting travel of the lumber along said conveyor means; transverse flipper means recessed beneath said conveyor means at locations rearward of said stop means; means mounting said flipper means for shifting of said flipper means transversely of the path of the lumber; and powered means operatively connected to said flipper means for selectively elevating the inner ends thereof above said conveyor means for segregating edgings located above said flipper means from lumber located transversely therebetween.

2. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said stop means comprises a transverse upright gate movable between a first position recessed beneath said conveyor means and a second position elevated above said conveyor means and interposed across the path of the lumber.

3. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said flipper means comprises:

a plurality of paired transverse plates extending inwardly from the respective sides of said conveyor means and terminating along inner edges aligned parallel to the path of the lumber;

and individual powered cylinders operatively connected to the underside of each plate adjacent its inner edge.

4. An apparatus as set out in claim 3 wherein each plate pivotally supports an upright plate depending therefrom along its inner edge about an axis parallel to the path of the lumber;

and upright guides on said conveyor means slidably engaged by said upright plates to maintain said upright plates in vertical orientations during movement of said flipper means.

5. An edging picker mounted along the outfeed of a lumber edger that saws upright parallel boards from two sided cants, comprising:

a longitudinal rollcase having a plurality of parallel powered rolls for moving transversely arranged sawn boards along a straight path leading from the edger;

recessed transverse flipper means mounted to said rollcase between selected rolls for selective elevational movement relative to the rolls and engagement at the underside of side boards formed from a sawn cant and supported on the rolls;

and powered means on said rollcase operatively connected to said flipper means for selectively elevating said flipper means above said rolls to thereby lift selected side boards from the rolls and segregate the selected side boards from the remainder of a sawn cant supported by said rolls along said path.

6. The apparatus set out in claim 5 wherein said flipper means comprises:

paired transverse plates extending inwardly from the respective sides of said rollcase and having upwardly facing top surfaces movable between a first position recessed beneath the top of said rolls and a second position wherein the inner edges of said plates are elevated above the top of said rolls.

7. The apparatus set out in claim 6 wherein said powered means comprises:

individual upright cylinder assemblies mounted for transverse movement across said rollcase beneath each plate, the respective cylinder assemblies being operatively connected to said plates adjacent the plate inner edges to selectively shift the top surfaces of said plates between said first and second positions.

8. The apparatus set out in claim 7 further comprismg:

setworks means operatively connected between the cylinder assemblies and said rollcase for selectively positioning said cylinder assemblies and the plates operatively connected thereto relative to the centerline of said straight path.

9. An apparatus as set out in claim 6 wherein each plate pivotally supports an upright plate depending therefrom along its inner edge about an axis parallel to said straight path;

and upright guides on said rollcase slidably engaged by said upright plates to maintain said upright plates perpendicular to the tops of said rolls during elevational movement of the inner edges of said transverse plates.

10. The apparatus as set out in claim 5 further comprises:

stop means mounted to said rollcase forwardly of said flipper means;

and powered means operatively connected between said rollcase and said stop means for selectively interposing said stop means across the rollcase immediately above said rolls to thereby control longitudinal movement of boards supported thereon.

Claims

1. Apparatus for removing edgings from lumber comprising: conveyor means defining a longitudinal path of travel for the lumber; stop means selectively movable into the path of the lumber for selectively interrupting travel of the lumber along said conveyor means; transverse flipper means recessed beneath said conveyor means at locations rearward of said stop means; means mounting said flipper means for shifting of said flipper means transversely of the path of the lumber; and powered means operatively connected to said flipper means for selectively elevating the inner ends thereof above said conveyor means for segregating edgings located above said flipper means from lumber located transversely therebetween.

3. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said flipper means comprises: a plurality of paired transverse plates extending inwardly from the respective sides of said conveyor means and terminating along inner edges aligned parallel to the path of the lumber; and individual powered cylinders operatively connected to the underside of each plate adjacent its inner edge.

4. An apparatus as set out in claim 3 wherein each plate pivotally supports an upright plate depending therefrom along its inner edge about an axis parallel to the path of the lumber; and upright guides on said conveyor means slidably engaged by said upright plates to maintain said upright plates in vertical orientations during movement of said flipper means.

5. An edging picker mounted along the outfeed of a lumber edger that saws upright parallel boards from two sided cants, comprising: a longitudinal rollcase having a plurality of parallel powered rolls for moving transversely arranged sawn boards along a straight path leading from the edger; recessed transverse flipper means mounted to said rollcase between selected rolls for selective elevational movement relative to the rolls and engagement at the underside of side boards formed from a sawn cant and supported on the rolls; and powered means on said rollcase operatively connected to said flipper means for selectively elevating said flipper means above said rolls to thereby lift selected side boards from the rolls and segregate the selected side boards from the remainder of a sawn cant supported by said rolls along said path.

6. The apparatus set out in claim 5 wherein said flipper means comprises: paired transverse plates extending inwardly from the respective sides of said rollcase and having upwardly facing top surfaces movable between a first position recessed beneath the top of said rolls and a second position wherein the inner edges of said plates are elevated above the top of said rolls.

7. The apparatus set out in claim 6 wherein said powered means comprises: individual upright cylinder assemblies mounted for transverse movement across said rollcase beneath each plate, the respective cylinder assemblies being operatively connected to said plates adjacent the plate inner edges to selectively shift the top surfaces of said plates between said first and second positions.

8. The apparatus set out in claim 7 further comprising: setworks means operatively connected between the cylinder assemblies and said rollcase for selectively positioning said cylinder assemblies and the plates operatively connected thereto relative to the centerline of said straight path.

9. An apparatus as set out in claim 6 wherein each plate pivotally supports an upright plate depending therefrom along its inner edge about an axis parallel to said straight path; and upright guides on said rollcase slidably engaged by said upright plates to maintain said upright plates perpendicular to the tops of said rolls during elevational movement of the inner edges of said transverse plates.

10. The apparatus as set out in claim 5 further comprises: stop means mounted to said rollcase forwardly of said flipper means; and powered means operatively connected between said rollcase and said stop means for selectively interposing said stop means across the rollcase immediately above said rolls to thereby control longitudinal movement of boards supported thereon.