Infeed conveyor for saw

In combination, a saw and an infeed conveyor for the saw for optimally feeding cants or logs having varying amounts of sweep from piece to piece which comprises:

• an endless sharp chain for conveying the cants to the saw;
• means to drive the sharp chain, said means including a tail sprocket at the cant receiving end and a head sprocket at the cant discharging end;
• a flexible slide bar for supporting at least that portion of the sharp chain adjacent the head sprocket;
• first frame means for mounting and supporting the drive means and slide bar;
• bending means for conforming the slide bar between a straight line and a line which approximates an arc of a circle so that said sharp chain path thereby follows the slide bar configuration;
• fixed position third frame means for supporting a saw assembly, said assembly including at least one saw mounted on an arbor;
• pivotable fourth frame means mounted on said third frame means, said foruth frame means including at least one generally horizontal circular saw;
• and
• tilting means for the fourth frame means to skew the saw assembly so that the projected continuation of the discharge portion curvature of the conveyor is essentially tangent to a plane parallel to the plane of the saw at a point on the projection of the axis of the saw arbor thereby controlling the entry angle of the cant into the saw to prevent binding, said conveyor being configurable into an arc which approximates the sweep curvature of a cant so as to guide the cant into the saw along a path approximating its radius of curvature.