Veneer stacking system
AssigneeU.S. Natural Resources, Inc.
InventorJohn C. Holbert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A veneer stacking system providing the feature of consistent air suction above the multiple veneer stacks enabling reliable separation of the veneer sheets from an overhead conveyor. This consistent air suction is provided by independent air chambers for each stack. It also includes aligning belts for aligning the sheets on the overhead conveyor. An aligning belt replaces a section of one or both of the conveyor belts and is independently driven to speed up or slow down one side of the sheet to achieve the desired alignment. It also includes improved knock-off shoes activated byh cylinders connected to master cylinders in a master cylinder housing activated by a common mover piston for simultaneous knock off of veneer sheets onto the stacks.
Claims7
A veneer stacking system comprising;
- a veneer stacking housing separated into multiple air chambers, an air source for each air chamber for generating an independently controlled negative air pressure in each of the air chambers,
- a driven conveyor following a pathway across the bottom of the air chambers, the veneer stacking housing being open along said pathway and the conveyor including openings whereby air flow is generated upwardly through the conveyor,
- means for depositing veneer sheets in succession onto the underside of the conveyor to be attached to the conveyor by the suction of air drawn through said openings and thereby being conveyed by said belt along the pathway across the air chambers,
- multiple stack holders positioned below said air chambers, designating means at the outset of said pathway for analyzing the sheets in succession and for designating a stack among the plurality of stacks, for each of the sheets, and knock-off means for each stack holder for selectively dislodging the veneer sheets from the conveyor for depositing the sheets in a squared up position onto the designated stack.
A veneer stacking system comprising;
- a veneer stacking housing and a veneer sheet conveyor for conveying veneer sheets along a pathway along the bottom of the housing, vacuum means for drawing air into the housing through the conveyor whereby veneer sheets are adhered to the bottom of the conveyor during the conveyance of the sheets along the pathway, and the improvement that comprises;
- said conveyor including a pair of parallel directed belt means, one on each side of the sheets being conveyed, said pair of belt means traveling at the same rate of movement to maintain orientation of sheets conveyed along said pair of belt means, an alignment belt replacing a specified segment of one of said belt means and mated with a corresponding segment of the other belt means whereby a different rate of movement for the alignment belt will generate skew adjustment only of a sheet conveyed along the specified segments, separate drive means for the alignment belt, sensing means prior to the specified segments for sensing the orientation of the sheet on the conveyor relative to the desired orientation for proper stacking, and said separate drive means responsive to said sensing for selectively speeding or slowing the alignment belt and thereby skewing the sheet to the desired orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.