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.
Claims20
A system for formation of foundation trusses for box springs or mattress foundation frames, comprising:
- a first truss rail assembly station including:
- block feeders located adjacent an upstream end of an assembly conveyor, each block feeder 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 end of the hopper, and a loader positioned adjacent the discharge end of the hopper and configured to move the blocks through the discharge end of the block feeder and onto the assembly conveyor;
- a first rail hopper positioned downstream from the block feeders, the first rail hopper configured to feed at least one rail onto an associated set of blocks as the associated set of blocks is moved along a path of travel by the assembly conveyor;
- and
- a series of fastening devices moveable into engagement with each rail received on its associated set of blocks and apply fasteners for coupling each rail to its associated set of blocks to form a first truss portion;
- and
- a second truss rail assembly station, comprising:
- a second rail hopper in which a supply of additional rails is received and dispensed;
- a carriage on which additional rails dispensed from the second rail hopper are received, the carriage moveable to position each additional rail into registration with the blocks of an associated first truss portion received in the second truss rail assembly station;
- and
- a series of fastening mechanisms configured to apply fasteners for attaching each additional rail to the blocks of its associated first truss portion to form a foundation truss.
A method of forming foundation trusses for box springs or foundation sets, comprising:
- moving a set of blocks along an assembly conveyor;
- feeding a top rail into registration with the set of blocks moving along the assembly conveyor;
- attaching the top rail to the set of blocks for forming a first truss portion;
- engaging and rotating the first truss portion to reorient the set blocks of the first truss portion;
- moving a bottom rail from a hopper and into registration with the set of blocks, and attaching the bottom rail to the set of blocks to form a foundation truss;
- and
- releasing the foundation truss toward a discharge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.