System and method for plank processing
AssigneeShaw Industries Group, Inc.
InventorCraig Robert Grunewald
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
System and method for producing resilient planks are described. A die punch press is provided to receive and die punch resilient slabs into planks. Die punching the resilient slabs into plural planks can sometimes create a deformity on at least one bottom edge of the plank. The planks are then automatically conveyed from the die punch press to a shaping tool. The shaping tool receives individual planks and forms at least one bevel in the respective plank removing the deformity. The planks can then be stacked and prepared for shipping.
Claims18
A system for producing resilient planks comprising:
- a die punch press for receiving and die punching a resilient slab into plural planks;
- a shaping tool for receiving an individual plank from the die punch press and shaping a bevel in at least one bottom edge of the individual plank to create a profiled plank which is a resilient plank without a physical deformity at the bottom edge of the plank;
- a resilient slab conveyor for selectively transporting the resilient slab to the die punch press;
- a plank conveyor for selectively receiving and conveying the planks from the die punch press;
- a first de-stacker for receiving the plural planks from the plank conveyor,
- a first profile conveyor for selectively receiving individual planks from the first de-stacker and conveying the individual planks to the shaping tool;
- a second profile conveyor for selectively conveying the profiled planks from the shaping tool;
- and
- a second de-stacker for receiving the profiled planks from the second profile conveyor and for feeding the profiled planks back to the plank conveyor.
A method of preparing resilient planks comprising:
- die punching at least one resilient slab into plural resilient planks;
- forming, by a shaping tool, a bevel in at least one bottom edge of each of the plural resilient planks to create a profiled plank, wherein the shaping tool is a profiler configured to form the bevel;
- conveying, by a plank conveyor, the plural resilient planks to a first de-stacker;
- de-stacking, by the first de-stacker, the plural resilient planks into individual ones of the plural resilient planks;
- conveying the individual ones of the plural resilient planks to the shaping tool;
- conveying the profiled planks to a second de-stacker;
- and
- feeding, by the second de-stacker, the profiled planks to the plank conveyor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.