Veneer lathes having veneer thickness sensor and thickness control

In a veneer lathe of the type including means for supporting and rotating a bolt of wood about its longitudinal axis and an assembly of a veneer peeling knife and pressure nose bar with the knife and nose bar in predetermined spaced relationship relative to one another, and which assembly is supported on a carriage that moves toward the bolt during peeling veneer in ribbon form from the outside of said bolt as the latter is rotated, the improvement comprising sensor means carried by said nose bar and operative to detect and provide an output signal in response to variations in said predetermined spacing of the knife and nose bar and proportioned to the magnitude of such variation and means for adjustably repositioning the peeling knife in response to commands from a controller acting in response to signals from said sensor means to maintain said predetermined spacing and thereby control the thickness of veneer during peeling.

In a veneer lathe of the type including means for supporting and rotating a bolt of wood about its longitudinal axis and a veneer peeling knife and pressure nose bar assembly in which the knife and nose bar are disposed in selected spaced relationship relative to one another, and which assembly is supported on a movable carriage for peeling veneer in ribbon form from the outside of said bolt as the latter is rotated, the improvement comprising sensor means mounted on said nose bar operative to provide an output signal in response to variations in said predetermined spaced relationship of the knife and nose bar, and proportioned to the magnitude of such variation, and means for adjustably repositioning the peeling knife in response to commands from a controller acting in response to signals from said sensor means.

A veneer lathe as defined in claim 24 wherein said power means are electrohydraulic linear actuators with feedback control means.

In veneer lathes of the type that include means for supporting and rotating a bolt of wood about its longitudinal axis, a veneer peeling knife and a pressure nose bar with the knife and nose bar in predetermined spaced relationship relative to one another for peeling veneer in ribbon form from the outside of said bolt as the latter is rotated, the improvement comprising means mounting said knife for movement along a linear path in a direction into and out of the cut selectively to vary the vertical gap and power means connected to said mounting means for moving the knife, and sensor means mounted on said nose bar to detect variations in said predetermined spaced relationship of the knife and nose bar and provide an output signal proportional to said variations and wherein said power means is actuated in response to such output signal to minimize any variation of veneer thickness during peeling of the same from the bolt of wood.