Apparatus for making pallets

Abstract

An apparatus for making wooden pallets includes a conveyor for moving a plurality of parallel stringers under a nailing machine where deckboards are nailed transversely across the stringers to form one side of the pallet. During operation of the preferred embodiment, the gripping carriage of the stringer conveyor normally propels in front of it one set of stringers, on which three bottom deckboards have already been nailed to form a half-pallet, and pulls behind it a set of stringers that have had no deckboards at all nailed thereto. As the stringer of the half-pallet move under the nailing machine, five deckboards are nailed to its upper surface to complete the pallet and, when the trailing stringers move under the nailing machine, a set of three deckboards are nailed thereto to form a half-pallet. At a point downstream from the nailing machine, the full pallet is discharged and the gripper carriage starts to move rearwardly. During this rearward movement, the half-pallet is inverted and positioned on what is now the trailing side of the rearwardly moving gripper carriage. At a position on the upstream side of the nailing machine, the gripper carriage grasps a new set of stringers and starts forwardly again toward the nailing machine to have five top deckboards applied to the upper surface of the half-pallet to complete it, and have three deckboards nailed to the new set of trailing stringers to form a new half-pallet.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.