GB798556A - Improvements relating to the sorting of boards or timber and similar elongated articles according to length - Google Patents

Abstract

798,556. Sorting timber &c. PHOENIX TIMBER CO., Ltd. June 14, 1956 [June 17, 1955], No. 17532/55. Class 117 [Also in Group XIX] Apparatus for sorting boards of timber or similar elongated articles according to length, comprising a continuous or substantially continuous ledge J for supporting one long side of each of the articles as they are fed endwise one behind the other, the ledge having a width less than half the width of the articles being fed, and co-operating local supports B for the other long side of each of the articles, successive local supports B being set apart longitudinally at distances slightly in excess of a series of nominal lengths into which the articles are to be sorted. The boards are fed, e.g. from a planing machine .along the ledge J which supports one side only, by rollers E, the boards being pressed downwards by pressure pads or rollers A on weighted levers C adjacent the local supports B. The rollers E, and associated rollers A or pressure pads, together with the ledge J hold the board level until the forward end has reached the next local plate and rollers. If a board is too short to reach the second plate, it falls sideways. The plates B are bevelled so that the oncoming faces of the boards meet the part adjacent the ledge J first. Side pressure may be exerted on the boards by springs to hold the boards close to a vertical surface K adjacent the ledge J. To prevent a board being clamped endwise between the preceding and succeeding boards the boards may be separated by accelerating them by paired snatch rollers driven at a speed in excess of the normal rate of feed.