Lugged chain board loading apparatus

High-speed board loading apparatus comprising:

• a feed conveyor for supporting the undersides of boards in a planar feed zone, said feed conveyor being powered by drive means to advance the boards in a downstream direction;
• an endless pick off conveyor having projecting lugs mounted thereon and distributed along the conveyor, said lugs having boards supporting surfaces, said pick off conveyor having an upwardly inclined run extending across said feed zone, with the surfaces of said lugs within said run being approximately parallel with a plane of said feed zone;
• a receiving conveyor for receiving each board at the upper end of said run;
• and
• an arrester and means synchronizing the operation of said arrester with upwardly inclined movement of said pick off conveyor to permit the board foremost on said feed conveyor to be loaded onto said receiving conveyor;
• said arrester including an upright arm with an upper free end having a forward position underneath said run and an intermediate position above said run, the means synchronizing the operation of the arrester with movement of the pick off conveyor including an eccentric which oscillates said arm in timed relation with movement of the pick off conveyor;
• the means synchronizing operation of the arrester further including pneumatic means biasing said arm to urge the arm against the eccentric, said pneumatic means being selectively actuatable to move the arm away from the eccentric with the arm moving to a non-oscillated position where said upper free end of the arm is in a rearward position clear of said projecting lugs.

High-speed board loading apparatus comprising:

• a feed conveyor and powered means for driving the feed conveyor to advance boards in a downstream direction and toward a forward end of the conveyor, the feed conveyor adjacent said forward end supporting the undersides of boards in a substantially planar feed zone;
• an endless pick off conveyor having projecting lugs mounted thereon and distributed along the conveyor, said lugs having board supporting surfaces, said pick off conveyor having an upwardly inclined run extending across the forward end of the feed conveyor with the surfaces of said lugs within said run being approximately parallel with the plane of said feed zone;
• a receiving conveyor disposed forwardly of the pick off conveyor for receiving each board arriving at the upper end of the said run;
• and
• arrester means controlling movement of boars off the forward end of the feed conveyor and onto said pick off conveyor;
• said arrester means including an upright arrester arm and said arm having an upper free end, an eccentric operable to oscillate the arm in timed relation with movement of the pick off conveyor, and pneumatic means urging said arm against said eccentric, the eccentric producing movement of the arm between forward position where said upper free end of the arm is disposed forwardly and under said run and intermediate position where said upper free end is above said run, said pneumatic means being selectively actuatable to shift the arm away from said eccentric to place its said upper free end rearwardly from said intermediate position and in a position stopping movement of boards in said feed zone.