Method and apparatus for sorting timber pieces
OwnerAlpo Rystiinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and apparatus for sorting timber pieces as the same are transversely conveyed include for each timber piece, pairs of supporting members, each including a hook arm and an adjacent straight arm supported by a respective support member mounted on the conveyor. The straight arm forms a part of an angular arm member which is supported both on the support member to which the hook arm is fixed and to the support member which precedes that support member in the direction of travel of the conveyor. The timber pieces are dropped in accordance with a preset program through the movement of the hook and straight arms relative to each other.
Claims14
Apparatus for sorting timber pieces comprising:
- endless conveyer means;
- a plurality of elongate support members mounted on said conveyer means extending transversely to the direction of travel of said conveyer means, substantially equally spaced from one another in the direction of travel, and freely rotatable about their respective longitudinal axes;
- at least two hook arms fixed to each of said support members for rotation therewith, each hook arm having a stop portion at a free end thereof for supporting a timber piece;
- at least one angular arm member mounted on each of said support members, each angular arm member including a stem portion having a free end mounted for free rotation on a respective support member, an angular portion extending from said stem portion, and a straight arm extending from said angular portion into operative relationship with said hook arms fixed to a succeeding support member in the direction of travel of said conveyer means, said angular arm members being in supported engagement in the region of said angular portion thereof with said succeeding support members;
- and means for rotating each of said support members upon the same reaching a predetermined location along its path of travel to thereby rotate said hook arms fixed thereto relative to said straight arms.
A method of sorting timber pieces as the same are conveyed by a conveyer having a plurality of support members associated therewith which extend transversely to the direction in which the timber pieces are conveyed, comprising the steps of:
- supporting a plurality of timber pieces on the conveyer so that each extends transversely to the direction of conveyance, each timber piece being supported by pairs of supporting members, each pair comprising a hook arm and a straight arm of an angular arm member, the hook arm and angular arm member being supported on the same support member and the angular arm member being additionally supported on the support member of a preceding pair of supporting members in the direction of conveyance;
- conveying the timber pieces with each timber piece extending transversely to the direction in which it is being conveyed;
- and dropping each of the timber pieces at a selected location by moving the hook and straight arms relative to each other through rotation of the support member supporting the same.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.