System and method for forming a foundation truss
AssigneeAtlanta Attachment Company
InventorJeffrey S. Kane
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for forming a foundation truss for a box spring or mattress foundation frame includes a first truss rail assembly station having a series of block feeders, a top rail hopper and a filler strip hopper that received stacks of truss components such as blocks, top rails and filler strips and feed such truss components into stacked registration. The stacked truss components are moved into engagement with a series of staplers that secure the filler strips, top rails and blocks together to form first truss rail portions, which are then fed to a second truss rail assembly station where a bottom rail is automatically applied thereto.
Claims19
A system for formation of foundation trusses for box springs or mattress foundation frames, comprising:
- a first truss rail assembly station including:
- an assembly conveyor having a plurality of rails arranged thereon;
- block feeders located adjacent an upstream end of the assembly conveyor, each comprising a hopper in which a series of blocks are received, a block pusher for urging the blocks along the hopper and toward a discharge, and loader adjacent the discharge for engaging and moving the blocks through the discharge and onto the assembly conveyor;
- a first rail hopper downstream from the block feeders, the first rail hopper configured to receive a stacked series of rails and feed each of the rails onto a set of blocks as the set of blocks is moved along a path of travel by the assembly conveyor;
- and
- a series of fastening devices adjacent a downstream end of the assembly conveyor, the fastening devices moveable downwardly toward engagement with each rail received on its set of blocks for applying fasteners to couple each rail to its set of blocks, wherein one or more of the fastening devices is further moveable in across the assembly conveyor as needed to apply additional fasteners to couple each first rail and one or more blocks of its set of blocks to form a first truss portion;
- and
- a second truss rail assembly configured to receive each first truss portion, the second truss rail assembly station comprising:
- a second rail hopper in which a supply of additional rails is received;
- a carriage on which the additional rails are dispensed from the second rail hopper, the carriage moveable to position each additional rail into registration with the blocks of an associated first truss portion;
- and
- a series of fastening mechanisms moveable with respect to the additional rails as needed to apply fasteners to attach the additional rails and blocks of the first truss portion to form a foundation truss.
A method of forming foundation trusses for box springs or foundation sets, comprising:
- loading a series of blocks onto an assembly conveyor;
- moving sets of blocks along a path of travel with the assembly conveyor;
- feeding at least one rail into registration with an associated set of blocks as the blocks are moved along the path of travel by the assembly conveyor;
- as the sets of blocks with at least one rail applied thereover continue along the path of travel, applying a series of fasteners thereto to attach the at least one rail to its set of blocks and form a first truss portion;
- transferring each first truss portion to a second truss assembly station;
- engaging and rotating each first truss portion to reorient the set of blocks;
- moving a bottom rail from a hopper and into registration with the set of blocks;
- applying an additional series of fasteners to attach the bottom rail to the set of blocks to form a foundation truss;
- and
- releasing the foundation truss from engagement and moving the foundation truss toward a discharge position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.