System for diverting veneer sheets having offsize defects
AssigneeU.S. Natural Resources, Inc.
InventorsWilliam E. Bolton, John C. Holbert, Jeffrey D. Ballance
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for detecting offsize defects and for segregating the veneer sheets containing the defects from the non-defective sheets. Scanners are positioned along the in-feed conveyor leading to the clipper. As offsize defects are identified, a computer determines which of the sheets to be cut will contain the defects. These sheets are segregated as by diverting them to a pull chain conveyor following the cutting of the sheets from the continuous sheeting. Dye is sprayed on the area of the defects as detected by the scanners to aid in further handling of the defective sheets when removed from the pull chain.
Claims9
In a veneer handling process, apparatus for detecting and segregating defective veneer sheets produced from continuous sheeting of veneer comprising;
- a clipping means for clipping continuous sheeting of veneer into veneer sheets of a determined dimensional length, an in-feed conveyor means for conveying the sheeting along a path into the clipping means, and movement monitoring means for monitoring the in-feed movement of the continuous veneer sheeting being conveyed to the clipping means;
- detecting means positioned along the path of in-feed conveyance of the veneer sheeting at a known distance preceding the clipping means, said detecting means comprised of a plurality of thickness variation detectors spaced along the width of the sheeting, each detector individually detecting thickness variation of the sheeting in a discriminate area and thereby detecting offsize defects in the veneer sheeting, and
- veneer sheet conveying means for receiving veneer sheets produced by the clipping means for conveying the sheets along a path, said path leading to a sheet segregating means for selectively segregating sheets conveyed along said path as between defective and non-defective sheets, and
- computing means in communication with said movement monitoring means and detecting means, and control means responsive to said computing means for controlling said sheet segregating means, and said computing means determining from said communication from the detecting means and monitoring means the sheets that contain offsize defects and through said control means, segregating the defective sheets from the non-defective sheets.
A method of automatically detecting and diverting defective veneer sheets out of a veneer handling process which comprises;
- conveying a continuous sheeting of veneer along a known path at a known rate of movement,
- automatically scanning the sheeting at a position along the path at aligned positions on opposite sides of the sheeting and at spaced positions along the width for determining variations in the sheeting thickness at discrete areas spaced along the width and determining thereby offsize defects in the sheeting, and conveying the information therefrom to a computer,
- clipping the sheeting into veneer sheets at a position along the path following the scanning thereof and at a known distance from said scanning,
- accumulating in a computer the information of offsize defects, the rate of sheeting movement, and relative position of scanning and clipping, and computing therefrom which sheets contain offsize defects,
- and automatically segregating said defective veneer sheets from the defect-free sheets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.