Automatic cant production machine

A machine to produce from round logs a cant of four sides at right angles to each other automatically while making a single pass through said machine and comprising in combination,

• (a) an elongated base frame having log inlet means at one end and cant discharge means at the other,
• (b) an upper frame substantially coextensive in length with and parallel to said base frame,
• (c) means extending between said frames to guide and effect vertical adjustment therebetween,
• (d) a conveyor mounted upon said base frame to provide a horizontal path of movement through the machine for a log and power means to drive it,
• (e) means on said conveyor engaging the lower surface of a log for support and guidance thereof along said path of movement,
• (f) additional guide means on said upper frame engageable with the upper surface of said log to maintain the same in accurate position along said path of movement,
• (g) said frames each including similar elongated central beams commonly within a vertical plane,
• (h) transverse end frame members fixed to the ends of said central beams and said aforementioned guide means extending between said frames being on the opposite ends of said end frame members,
• (i) supplementary frame members spaced along said central beams and extending transversely to opposite sides thereof, and
• (j) cutting means mounted respectively upon said supplementary frame members of said upper and lower frames in sequence and being positioned for operation respectively upon substantially the upper and lower halves of a log and respectively at opposite sides of a vertical plane intersecting said conveyor and additional guide means, said cutting means being of toothed rotary type and operable upon axes in longitudinally spaced planes transverse to said path of movement of a log through said machine, said axes being at an angle of substantially 45.degree. to said vertical plane and said cutting means being operable at spaced stations along said path of movement to cut portions from said log along the upper and lower portions thereof respectively at opposite sides of said vertical plane to produce four side surfaces on said log at a right angle to each other and respectively at an angle of 45.degree. to said vertical plane, whereby the vertical adjustability of said frames enables the machine to process logs of a substantial range of diameters.

A method of converting a log automatically to a cant and limited number of boards comprising the successive steps of:

• (a) feeding a log along a predetermined straight path while preventing rotation of the log,
• (b) forming pairs of adjacent V-shaped grooves respectively in the top and bottom portions of said log as fed along said path to provide guide means along said log in the form of opposite top and bottom corners of the cant to be formed by said method,
• (c) removing the normal slab areas from opposite sides of the upper portions of said log at a right angle to each other to form the outer surfaces of two upper boards of which the upper edges are formed by said pairs of grooves in the top portion of said log and simultaneously forming single grooves at opposite sides of said log to define the lower edges of said upper boards and portions of opposite side corners of said cant,
• (d) removing the normal slab areas from the opposite sides of the lower portions of said log at a right angle to each other to form the outer surfaces of two lower boards and also simultaneously form single grooves at the opposite sides of said log adjacent said aforementioned single grooves in the sides of said log to complete the formation of opposite side corners of said cant and the upper side edges of a pair of lower boards,
• (e) sawing lower boards from said log to form the two lower sides of said cant, and
• (f) sawing upper boards from said log to form the two upper sides of said cant to form four boards and a cant having four sides at right angles to each other.