System and method of making wood curls
AssigneeEastview Enterprises, Inc.
InventorJames Lovinsky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method are provided for producing wood curls with reliable consistency and resiliency. Moisture content of wood blocks is determined and a plurality of cutting knives are installed on a disc of a curling machine and set to extend about 0.012 inches from the face of the disc. The wood blocks are fed through the curling machine and the feed rate is set based on the moisture content of the blocks and the sharpness of the cutting knives and readjusted based on the resiliency of previously cut curls in order to produce wood curls of a desired resilience.
Claims14
A method of producing wood curls comprising:
- determining a moisture content of a plurality of wood blocks;
- arranging a plurality of knives on a disc of a curling machine, wherein the plurality of knives each protrude from a face of the disc from 0.011 inches to 0.013 inches;
- determining a sharpness of the plurality of knives;
- feeding one of the plurality of wood blocks through the curling machine at a feed rate, wherein the feed rate is based upon the moisture content of the plurality of wood blocks and the sharpness of the plurality of knives;
- cutting with the plurality of knives the one of the plurality of wood blocks into curls;
- assessing a thickness of the curls;
- and
- adjusting the feed rate based on the thickness of the curls so that subsequent wood curls produced from other ones of the plurality of wood blocks will have a thickness closer to 0.012 inches by at least adjusting an amount of air released from a muffler on an air/hydraulic manifold of the curling machine.
A method of producing wood curls comprising:
- determining a moisture content of a wood block;
- arranging a plurality of knives on a disc of a curling machine, wherein the plurality of knives each protrude from a face of the disc from 0.011 inches to 0.013 inches;
- determining a sharpness of the plurality of knives;
- feeding the wood block through the curling machine at a feed rate, wherein the feed rate is based upon the moisture content of the wood block and the sharpness of the plurality of knives;
- and
- cutting the wood block into curls having a desired resilience.
A system for producing wood curls comprising:
- a wood block having a moisture content and a hardness;
- a curling machine having a rotary disc, the rotary disc including a face;
- and
- a plurality of cutting knives having a sharpness and being installed on the rotary disc such that the cutting knives protrude 0.011 inches to 0.013 inches from the face of the rotary disc,
- wherein the wood block passes through the curling machine at a feed rate such that the cutting knives cut the wood block to form wood curls having a resilience and wherein the feed rate is adjusted based on the sharpness of the plurality of cutting knives and the moisture content and the hardness of the wood block so that the resilience of the wood curls is such that the wood curls, when dried, are suitable for use as a packing material that does not readily collapsing in a container when pressured by items contained in the container, and wherein the curling machine includes an air/hydraulic manifold with a muffler and the feed rate can be fine-tuned by adjusting an amount of air released from the muffler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.