Tiltable carriage assembly and sawmill incorporating same
AssigneeWoodland Mills Inc.
InventorsNeil K. Bramley, Joshua J. Malcolm
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sawmill assembly comprising a bed, a carriage and a tilting device. The bed has a pair of substantially parallel rails that define a first plane, a first axis perpendicular to the first plane, and a second plane perpendicular to both the first plane and a longitudinal axis of the rails. The carriage is movably supported along the rails. The tilting device allows a user to adjust a tilt angle of the carriage in the second plane, relative to the first axis. Also disclosed are methods of adjusting a blade angle of the sawmill assembly, and methods of cutting a tapered piece from a workpiece material.
Claims20
A sawmill assembly comprising:
- a bed having a pair of substantially parallel rails, each said rail being attached longitudinally along its length to said bed;
- a carriage having at least one wheel on each of two sides of said carriage, said carriage being movable along said rails on said wheels in at least one direction;
- and
- a tilting device for tilting said carriage from one of said parallel rails towards the other one of said parallel rails in a plane substantially perpendicular to said at least one direction;
- wherein said carriage is configured to carry a saw head, when operably attached to said carriage, and wherein said tilting device is configured to allow a user to adjust a tilt angle of said carriage by either:
- a) changing a length of one of said sides of said carriage without changing a length of said other side of said carriage;
- or
- b) changing the lengths of both said sides of said carriage by different amounts.
A method of cutting a tapered piece from a workpiece material, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a sawmill comprising:
- a bed having a pair of substantially parallel rails, each said rail being attached longitudinally along its length to said bed;
- a carriage having wheels on two sides of said carriage, said carriage being movable along said rails on said wheels in at least one direction;
- and
- a saw head attached to said carriage, said saw head comprising a blade defining a cutting edge extending over said bed and arranged to make a cut through said workpiece material on said bed as said carriage is moved along said rails in said at least one direction;
- supporting said workpiece material on said bed;
- tilting said carriage from one of said parallel rails towards the other one of said parallel rails in a plane substantially perpendicular to said at least one direction by either:
- a) changing a length of one of said sides of said carriage without changing a length of said other side of said carriage;
- or
- b) changing the lengths of both sides of said carriage by different amounts;
- and
- moving said tilted carriage along said rails in said at least one direction as said blade cuts through said workpiece material thereby cutting said tapered piece from said workpiece material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.