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:
Feb. 23, 1999
Filed:
May. 14, 1996
Applicant:
Inventor:
James J Fuller, Cross Plains, WI (US);
Assignee:
Other;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F26B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
34527 ; 34495 ;
Abstract
A real-time process and apparatus for controlling conditions in a lumber drying kiln include measuring the shrinkage of a sample of the lumber across the longitudinal axis of the lumber and over time. A slope of the curve is analyzed and can be used to determine when a stress peak and stress reversal occurs in the lumber sample. The detection of the stress peak indicates that the drying schedule of the kiln should be incremented to the next drying step. According to the invention, the schedule is incremented in the fastest possible way without degrading the quality of the lumber.