Weyerhaeuser Company Limited

Charles Blickenderfer

Frank Wislocker

Earl D Hasenwinkle

The invention is an infeed conveyor for a saw which enables feeding sweepy cants or logs in such a manner as to achieve a significant improvement in lumber recovery. The conveyor has at least one portion which can be configured between a straight line track and a curve which approximates an arc of a circle. The arc can be adjusted so that it approximates the sweep curvature of the log or cant which can then be guided into a saw along a path approximating it radius of curvature. The conveyor consists of a sharp chain having at least one portion running on a slide bar which can be configured to give the desired curvature. The conveyor can further be adjusted with regard to the following saw or saws to control offset. In its most preferred version a pair of chipper heads is located between the conveyor and saws to dress the upper and lower faces of an incoming cant into a gang cant of predetermined depth.

Infeed conveyor for saw

The present invention is a linebar assembly for guiding a cant or log into a saw. It comprises a flexible linebar which can be bent from a straight-line configuration to one approximating a circular arc having a minimum radius of about 30 m. The linebar can be configured into a circular arc which approximates the curvature of a cant or a log having sweep as great as about 100 mm in 5 m of length. The cant is fed into the saw along a circular path to achieve significantly higher lumber recovery. Extended tests have shown that this recovery will be 20-30% greater than that obtained using conventional straight-line sawing methods without any reduction in grade recovery.

Variable curve linebar

An improved positioning and feed system for cants or boards has the capability for skewing and offsetting at a pre-positioning station with respect to the saws of a sawing machine. At a pre-positioning station, at least one visible line is directed to and impinges upon an incoming piece. An operator, through the use linear positioners and a first set of movable pins, pre-positions the individual piece with respect to the reference line, skewing and offsetting it as necessary. Once the orientation is selected, a downstream second set of pins which assume the same position as the first set will be moved upwardly. The first set of pins will be retracted, allowing a conveyor table to convey the piece to the pre-positioned second set of pins. With the piece in its pre-priented position, the conveyor table is then moved vertically downward allowing the piece to lie atop a longitudinal infeed conveyor. Additional pins may be utilized according to the particular type of incoming cant or board.

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Puyallup, WA, United States of America

Charles Blickenderfer