Oscillating guillotine clipper for wood veneer

An apparatus for cutting a continuously traveling sheet of material, having a substantial thickness, transversely without interrupting the continuous flow of said material, said apparatus comprising:

• an anvil across which said material is conveyed;
• a plurality of knife blades, each of which extends transversely across said sheet material;
• a knife actuator assembly for each knife blade for advancing said blade vertically, and simultaneously, horizontally, into cutting contact with said sheet material, whereby said cutting is synchronized with the conveyance of said sheet material across said anvil, each assembly further including:
• a plurality of connector rods spaced transverse to said sheet material to which lower portion each knife blade is fixed,
• guides receiving an upper portion of each connector rod for restraining and guiding the vertical motion of said rod, whereby said blade cuts said material perpendicular to its major surface, resulting in a square cut edge on said cut material,
• a shaft transverse to said material for each blade, including a plurality of cam eccentrics upon which a lower portion of said connector rods is journaled, said shaft provided with a plurality of bearing supports for rigidly supporting said blade into transverse cutting alignment with said sheet material, and
• sensors for initiating said knife or assembly in response to a measured characteristic of said material.

An apparatus for intermittently cutting traveling wood veneer having a substantial thickness, transverse to its direction of travel, comprising:

• an anvil, transversely positioned with respect to said veneer sheet, said anvil including surfaces, rotating at substantially the same speed that said veneer sheet is traveling that momentarily support and convey said veneer sheet;
• a pair of knife blades transversely positioned, spaced from said sheet and adjacent said anvil;
• an actuating assembly that independently supports each blade adjacent and opposed to said anvil and independently simultaneously advances each blade substantially horizontally in synchronization with the conveyed veneer and guides each blade essentially vertically with respect to said veneer such that said blade contacts said veneer and anvil perpendicular to its major surfaces, transversely cutting said veneer without disrupting alignment of said segments with respect to one another or said veneer sheet and producing a square cut edge on said cut sheet, said blades spaced from one another adjacent said anvil to permit simultaneous actuating;
• and
• a sensor for sensing defects in said veneer sheet prior to said anvil and, in response, initiating said actuating assembly whereby said knives cut sequentially, producing segments of desired narrowness including said defect.