Apparatus for manufacturing wooden trusses and the like

In an apparatus for embedding connector plates into the joints of wooden frame members arranged on a jig table to form a truss or the like, a press for movement along a trackway for pressing connector plates into said frame members on said jig table, said press comprising:

• a generally C-shaped rigid press frame including vertically spaced upper and lower frame portions defining an open throat therebetween positioned at a level for receiving a jig tabletop,
• said lower frame portion being supported on wheels for travel along a ground-level trackway, said press frame otherwise being vertically and horizontally immovable when operative,
• self-propelling means carried by said frame for propelling said press frame along said trackway,
• a vertically movable upper press platen carried by said upper frame portion at a position to overlie said tabletop,
• a stationary lower press platen carried by said lower frame portion at a position to underlie said tabletop,
• platen drive means carried by said frame for effecting vertical movement of said upper platen toward and away from said lower platen for pressing connector plates into said frame members,
• said upper and lower press platens being sized to extend across substantially the full width span of a jig tabletop sized to support at least a substantial portion of the wooden frame structure to be formed including multiple joints thereof.

In an apparatus for prefabricating a wooden truss or other wooden frame structure wherein a stationary jig table with a perforate plate-like top for supporting at least a portion of said frame structure at a joint thereof cooperates with a traveling press for pressing connector plates into said joint, the improvement comprising:

• a pressure pad for supporting a joint of the frame structure on said tabletop during the pressing operation,
• said pad including flat parallel top and bottom surfaces, said top surface for supporting an assembly of connector plates and a frame joint, said bottom surface for engagement with said tabletop,
• a plurality of equally spaced-apart positioning pins of equal length projecting from said bottom surface, with the spacing between said pins corresponding to the spacing between perforations in said tabletop,
• said pins being sized to be received within corresponding said perforations,
• the lengths of said pins being greater than the thickness of said tabletop so that lower ends of said pins project below said tabletop when said pins are inserted into said perforations with said bottom surface of said pad engaging said tabletop, whereby the lower ends of said pins can be raised within said perforations to lift said pad and its supported joint from said tabletop by a lower platen of a press so that pressing forces to assemble said joint are transmitted through said pad but not through the tabletop.

In an apparatus for embedding connector plates into the joints of wooden frame members to form a truss or the like, including a stationary jig table for supporting said frame members and for cooperation with a traveling press, said jig table comprising:

• a generally flat, plate-like horizontally rigid tabletop having a sufficient continuous horizontal expanse to support multiple joints of a truss to be formed,
• support means for supporting said tabletop above a floor surface,
• said tabletop being provided with a network of indexing holes therethrough at equally spaced-apart intervals from end to end from side to side of said table for locating a series of frame joint and connector plate supporting pressure pads in fixed but variable predetermined positions on said tabletop,
• said support means being supportively connected to one side edge portion of said tabletop, said tabletop being cantilevered generally horizontally from said one side edge portion to provide an opposite unsupported side edge portion defining the upper limits of an opening beneath said tabletop providing access for said traveling press.

In an apparatus for embedding connector plates into the joints of wooden frame members arranged on a jig table to form a truss or the like, a press for movement along a trackway for pressing connector plates into said frame members on said jig table, said press comprising:

• a generally C-shaped rigid press frame including vertically spaced upper and lower frame portions defining an open throat therebetween positioned at a level for receiving a jig tabletop,
• said lower frame portion being supported on means for travel along a ground-level trackway, said press frame otherwise being vertically and horizontally immovable when operative,
• means for propelling said press frame along said trackway,
• a vertically movable upper press platen carried by said upper frame portion at a position to overlie said tabletop,
• a stationary lower press platen carried by said lower frame portion at a position to underlie said tabletop,
• platen drive means carried by said frame for effecting vertical movement of said upper platen toward and away from said lower platen for pressing connector plates into said frame members,
• said upper and lower press platens being of sufficient horizontal expanse to extend across substantially a full unsupported width span of a jig tabletop sized to support at least a substantial portion of the wooden frame structure to be formed including multiple joints thereof.