The invention provides an apparatus and method to passively lower a stream of individual boards inline with conveyors or other apparatus between a board feeding mechanism, such as an unscrambler machine, and a board handling mechanism such as a stacking machine in the pallet industry. The apparatus includes multiple ramps for lowering the boards.
B65G 47/12 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from disorderly-arranged article piles or from loose assemblages of articles
The present invention provides a method and mechanism to build individual stacks of boards and collect them as a layer from a stream of single boards in the same orientation and direction positioned between a board feeding mechanism such as an unscrambler machine and a board handling mechanism such as a stacking machine in the pallet industry.
A method and apparatus wherein a flow of elongated product, such as wooden boards, oriented transverse to the direction of travel; having abutted stacks or piles with numerous layers in a variously misaligned fashion, is received onto the first and uppermost of a series of generally horizontal conveyors arranged in a single vertical array one above the other with each subsequent level operating in a direction opposite of the level above it. The flow of product is transferred off the end of each conveyor into and through a gap between the conveyor and a declined reversal ramp system wherein gravity acts with the product's momentum to move it across and past a series of adjacent, planar surfaces angled relative to one another in the general direction of product travel such that the product is aligned more perpendicular to its travel, dispersed more into a single layer, and reversed in its direction of travel with each successive transition to the next lower conveyor resulting in a singulated, aligned array of pieces flowing onto the last and lower-most conveyor from which they are presented to a subsequent process or machine.
B65G 47/31 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a series of conveyors by varying the relative speeds of the conveyors forming the series
B65G 47/14 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from disorderly-arranged article piles or from loose assemblages of articles arranging or orientating the articles by mechanical or pneumatic means during feeding
B65G 47/244 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors orientating the articles by turning them about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying plane
4.
Dedusting of wood boards by use of two counter-rotating pairs of brushes with a vacuum system
A deduster is comprised of two sets (pairs) of counter-rotating dedusting brushes in cooperation with a vacuum system for saw dust removal from wooden lumber. In addition to these features, the deduster may feature a separate, movable, top brush assembly that can be easily adjusted for different board thicknesses and raised up to allow for clearing board jams and for pass-through if boards were to be run without dedusting. This deduster apparatus is modular, thereby allowing it to be positioned over an existing machine or a lumber board unscrambler machine such as a lugged unscrambler machine. There is also a deduster for a board handling hopper.
B27G 3/00 - Arrangements for removing bark-zones, chips, waste, or dust, specially designed for use in connection with wood-working machine or in wood-working plants
Retail store services featuring parts for stacking machines, including lumber stacking machines; On-line retail store services featuring parts for stacking machines, including lumber stacking machines
9.
Dedusting of wood boards by use of two counter-rotating pairs of brushes with a vacuum system
A deduster is comprised of two sets (pairs) of counter-rotating dedusting brushes in co-operation with a vacuum system for saw dust removal from wooden lumber. In addition to these features, the deduster may feature a separate, movable, top brush assembly that can be easily adjusted for different board thicknesses and raised up to allow for clearing board jams and for pass-through if boards were to be run without dedusting. This deduster apparatus is modular, thereby allowing it to be positioned over an existing machine or a lumber board unscrambler machine such as a lugged unscrambler machine.
B27G 3/00 - Arrangements for removing bark-zones, chips, waste, or dust, specially designed for use in connection with wood-working machine or in wood-working plants
An unscrambler machine receives a load of wooden boards in its hopper. The unscrambler steadily dispenses one board at a time onto a grading “waterfall” conveyor. When the board leaves the unscrambler, it is relatively aligned, but not always adequately aligned, perpendicular to the direction of travel of the conveyor. In the case that multiple tiered “waterfall” conveyors are used, the board is cascaded down each waterfall configuration and will continue to be straightened out by nature of the effect of gravity on the board as it slides down to encounter the conveyor chain of each conveyor tier.
B65G 47/24 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors orientating the articles
B65G 47/31 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a series of conveyors by varying the relative speeds of the conveyors forming the series
B65G 47/72 - Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors, i.e. discharging or feeding devices transferring materials in bulk from one conveyor to several conveyors or vice versa
B65G 37/00 - Combinations of mechanical conveyors of the same kind, or of different kinds, of interest apart from their application in particular machines or use in particular manufacturing processes
A flexible chain diverter system acts as a moveable diverter “swing-arm” capable of dispensing groups of bottles into the array of entrance gates for loading onto a shipping pallet. The flexible chain has a variable axial length. As a result of the ability to change in axial length, the diverter described herein can remain taut at the shortest distance gates and can stretch to reach gates at the maximum range of reach. This allows for the path length of travel to be optimized for any gate.
B65G 17/06 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriersEndless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface having a load-carrying surface formed by a series of interconnected, e.g. longitudinal, links, plates, or platforms
