US 9,751,113 B2Granted

Lumber diverters, lumber sorters and related methods

AssigneeMill Tech Industries

InventorsRonald James Hougen, Robert B. Van Varseveld

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A lumber sorter includes a plurality of bins. A conveyor carries lumber (e.g. boards) along a path extending above the plurality of bins. A diverter is selectively operable to allow the conveyor to carry the boards past one or more bins or to divert a selected board into a selected bin. The diverter may comprise an upstream gate and a downstream gate, each operable to move between respective closed positions and open positions. In the closed positions, the top surfaces of the upstream and downstream gates are substantially level and allow boards to travel along the path as directed by the conveyor. The diverter may be actuated to the open position in which the upstream and downstream gates are separated, thereby providing a path for a board to fall into a bin.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A lumber sorter comprising:

a conveyor arranged to deliver pieces of lumber along a path in a flow direction across an opening of at least one bin from an upstream side of the opening to a downstream side of the opening;
a diverter comprising upstream and downstream gates respectively extending from the upstream side and the downstream side of the opening, the gates having a closed configuration in which lumber being delivered by the conveyor is blocked from entering the bin and an open configuration in which lumber being delivered by the conveyor is diverted into the bin through the opening;
and
at least one actuator connected to selectively actuate the upstream and downstream gates between the closed and open configurations;
wherein actuation of the downstream gate from the closed configuration to the open configuration lifts at least an upstream end of the downstream gate into the path and actuation of the upstream gate from the closed configuration to the open configuration moves the upstream gate in an upstream direction substantially parallel to the path.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/958,566Filed 3 Dec 2015
Published: US 2017/0157650 A18 Jun 2017
Granted: 5 Sep 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

B07C 5/38
Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution: collecting or arranging articles in groups
B07C 5/14
Characterised by the application to particular articles, not otherwise provided for: sorting timber or logs , e.g. tree trunks, beams, planks or…
B07C
Postal sorting

Family

US 2017/0157650 A1Pre-grant publication · published 8 Jun 2017
US 9,751,113 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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