The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 16, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 27, 1996
Cameron Dean Mierau, Portland, OR (US);
Aki Juhani Anttila, Portland, OR (US);
Richard Ichiro Komori, Lake Oswego, OR (US);
U.S. Natural Resources, Inc., Vancouver, WA (US);
Abstract
An infeed system that orients a log for a processing unit. A flight conveyor, a log turner and a sharp chain are in an overlapping arraignment. The flight conveyor conveys a log past a scanner which inputs scan data into a computer which determines the profile and orientation on the flight conveyor. The computer determines the desired orientation of the log for the processing unit. The log turner is arranged to rotate and skew the log to the desired orientation. The log is then transferred to the sharp chain conveyor. The overlapping arrangement of the flight conveyor, log turner and sharp chain maintains full control of the log at all times. The sharp chain conveys the log past a second scanner which inputs the scan data to the computer to determine the actual orientation of the log on the sharp chain. The infeed system may also be provided with a shift and lift mechanism for further controlling the log position relative to the processing unit.