Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
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The present invention relates to sorting compartments
and to a procedure for the use of such compartments for sort-
ing timber. In this procedure, a sorting compartment is fil-
led with timber pieces, after which it is opened and the tim-
ber lot that has accumulated into it is allowed to discharge
on the take-up equipment, with which the timber lot is then
removed to be further processed. ~fter discharging, the com-
partment is closed for the reception of the next timber lot.
Description of the Prior Art
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In timber sorting installations, various diffexent
compartment sections with compartments into which timber is
directed according to its size and type are known. For in
stance, such installations are known wherein a compartlnent
bottom comprises a trap door hinged at its one edge t while
the other end of the compartment is suspended by flexible ?
supporters for opening and closing the compartment by raising
and lowering these flexible supporters. For this kind of com-
partment system, we refer to the applicant's Finnish Patent
No. 44352 issued August 1967.
As it has been noticed that, due to the high dropping
altitude, timber may break in sorting compartments described
above, wherefor elevator- or lift-type compartments have been
taken into use, as in these, the timber lot is cautiously
lowered on the take-up level, which may for instance, be a car-
riage or a conveyor, with which the timber lot is then removed
to be further
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processed. Such sorting compartment systems have recen-tly been
developed in which the compartments are ba~s composed oE flexi-
ble supporters, said bags being expanded as timher accumulates
into the bag. Examples of bag compartments of this type are
described in the applicant's U.S. Patent No. 3,776,379, Swedish
Patents Nos. 367,931 and 405,815 issued ~une 1974 and March 1977,
respectively, and U.S. Patent No. 3,776,379. However, in -these
well-known compartment construGtions, there have been such draw-
backs that they have not come into general use. As an example
of these drawbacks, one can mention complica-ted and expensive
structures, that also have an unfavorable effect on the relia-
bility of operation. Another drawback is that as, in equipment
known so far, the drive mechanisms of the flexible supporters
wind up only one end of the supporter, and rewinding that must
take place after the compartment has been emptied is too slow
for modern highly efficient sorting equipment. As the flexible
supporters are lengthened when filling up the compart.ment and as
the compartment is opened only at its one edge, timber pieces
at the edge areas of the bag come into a rotating movement that
breaks sharp edges of timber pieces thus lowering their quality.
Further, there is the additional drawback that special trigger-
ing mechanisms are required for cpening and closing the flexible
- supporters.
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We have concieved and contribute by the present inven-
tion compartments of the class described b~ which we are able
to sort timher in a manner to avoid the drawbacks mentioned above
and to provide a simple and eConomical method and compartment
~ construction.
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According to one aspect of the present invention there
is provided a method for the use of timber sortin~ compartments,
in which method a sorting compartment is filled with timber pieces
a~ter which the sortin~ comparmtent ls opened and the accumulated
timber lot is allowed to discharge onto take-up equipment, by
means of whi~ch the timber ~ot is then carried on to be further
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processed, after which the compartment is closed to be readv
to receive the next timber lot; wherein the me-thod comprises
the steps o~; accu~ulatin~ the timber lot upon rigid sup-
portlng arms suspended and extended by pairs of flexible sus-
pending means, these means being located on both sides of theaccumulated timber lo-t; lengthening the pairs of flexible sus-
pending means, then opening or allowing the supporting arms
to open; lifting the supporting arms independently and by sep-
arate paths to a top position by shortening the pairs oE flex-
ible suspending means; locking the supporting arms to form aclosed bottom of the compartment for receiving pieces of the
next timber lot, and repeating the phases for the next timber
lot.
~ccording to a further aspect of the present invention
there is provided a sorting compartment of a timber sorting
installation, comprising: flexible supporter means, connected
at the top ends thereof with winding equipment, rigid sup-
porting arms fastened to lower ends of said supporters, lock-
ing means connected to ad~acent ends of said supporting arms,
a take-up conveyor, means positioned beneath the level of the
take-up conveyor for unlocking said locking means, and guide
means at the top of the compartment for guiding said supporting
arms so that said supporting arms are locked bv said locking
means in a position in which they form the closed bottom of a
compartment when the supportinq arms are in their top position.
According to a still further aspect of the present inven-
tion there is provided a sorting compartment of a timber sort-
ing installation, comprising: flexible supporter means, con-
nected at the top ends thereof with winding equipment, rigidsupporting arms, fastened to lower ends of said.supporters,
lockiny means connected -to ad~acent ends of said supporting
arms, a take-up conveyor, means positioned beneath the level
of the take-up conveyor for unlocking said locking means, and
guide means at the top of the compartment for gulding said
supporting arms so that said supporting arms are locked
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by said locking means in a position in which they form the
closed bottom of a compartment when the supporting arms are
in their top position; and flanges at the inner ends of re-
spective supporting arms and corresponding flanges associated
with the outer ends of said supporting arms in an oblique
position relative to the longitudinal direction of the suppor-
ting arms, so that the supporting arms are locked, pair by
pair, to form an acute angle, seen in profile.
Thus, the principal characteristic features of the inven~
tion are:
That the timber lot is formed on rigid supporting arms
suspended by pairs of flexible suspending organs;
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that by lenghtening the hanging part of thesuspending organ pairs, the supporting arms are lowered
under the level of the take-up device;
that the locking of said supporting arms is
opened or allowed to open;
that the supporting arms are lifted to the top
position by shortening the hanging part oE the suspending
organ pairs;
that the supporting arms are locked to form a
closed bottom of the compartment for receiving pieces of
the next timber lot, for which the procedure ph~ses defined
above will be repeated.
The principal characteristic features of a timber
sorting compartment in which the inventive procedure is
allied are:
That to the lower end, at a suitable polnt, of
said flexible suppor~ers there are fastened rigid supporting ''
arms with appropriate locking equipment;
that underneath the level of the take-up conveyor
there are suitable organs for opening said locking equip-
ment, and
that,in thP top part of the compartment there are
particular guiding organs for guiding the supporting arms so
to lock them in the position where they form the-closed
bottom of the compartment when in the top position.
There has thus heen outlined rather broadly the
more important features of the invention in order that the
detailed description thereof that follows may be better
understood, and in order that the present contribution to
the art may he better appreciated. There are, of course,
additional features of the invention that will be described
more fully hereinafter. Those skilled in the art will
appreciate that the conception on which this disclosure is
based may readily be utiliÆed as the basis of the designing
of other methods and structures for carrying out the pur-
poses of this invention. It is important, therefore, that
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this disclosure be regarded as including such equivalent
constructions as do not depart from the spirit and scope
of the invention.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Several embodiments of the invention have been
chosen for purposes of illustration and description, and
are shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of
the specification, wherein;
Fig. 1 shows the compartment section of a timber
sorting installation, in which compartment section the
inventive procedure is applied~ wi~h different compartments
shown in different phases of operation;
Fig. 2 is a plan view o a compartment section
shown in Fig~ l; and
Fig. 3 ~hows the bottom of a compartment in
five different phases o~ operation and in a larger scale.
Descxiption of the Preferred Embodiments
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, timber pieces a, b
~ are, with hooks 22 o~ top conveyor 20, brought to a sort-
ing compartment assembly that comprises several successive
sorting compartments, into which timber pieces fall
from hooks 22 according to controlled impulses. The
dropping is carried out with dropping equipment 21,
known as such, with for instance, stopper arms that
come to the front of timber piece b as conveyor 20
moves in the direc tion of arrow E, whereat~itimber piece
b falls (arrow B) into the sorting compartment.
Below the sorting compartments there is a lower
take-up conveyor 15 that takes timber lots T to be further
processed, for instance to ribbing and packing apparatusO
Instead of bottom conveyor 15, timber carriàges can also
be used.
¦ The frame structure of the sorting compartments
comprise vertical beams 31 supported on foundation 30 and
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connected with each other by horizontal beams 32 to
which traverses 33 are fastened.
The bottoms o the compartments comprise twin
supporting arms 12a and 12b which are ~astened at their
outer ends to flexible suspender or supporter steel
ropes, straps or similar items lOa, lOb. At their top
ends, the flexible supporter pairs axe guided to winder
equipment 17, driven by motors 18 via chains 29.
Supporters pairs lOa, lOb o~ each sorting compartment,
of which there are, side by side, two or more pairs, for
instance three, ~s in Fig. 2, are connected with driving
motor 18 by means of ~ 28, said motor 18 being
controlled by an automatic system, known as such, to
start according to a certain automatic program as the
timber compar~ment is full. This state of fullness can
~e indicated for instance with photocell equlpment, also
known as such.
The construction and f~mctioll of a compartment
device in accordance with the invention will now be de-
scribed. In Fig. 1, the left-side compartment is empty
and ready to receive on its closed bo~tom timber pieces
coming from top conveyor 20, said bottom comprising arm
pairs 12a"', 12b"', interlocked by means of locking
device 140 As timber pieces are introduced into the
compartment~ the bottom is moved downwardly as motor }8 : :
lets supporters lOa, lOb move downwardly in the direction
of arrow C.
In Fig~ 1j timber lot T3 has accumulated into
the compartment second from the left, and supporters lOa
lOb, with the completed timber lot, is lowered in the
direction of arrow C so as to place timber lot T3 on the
bottom conveyor 15. This phase of operation is illustrated
with the next compartment, in which timber lot T2 has
been placed on the bottom conveyor 15, and as supporters
lOa' and lOb' have further been lowered, the rigid support-
ing arms 12a, 12b turn from their acute-angled (angle a)
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position so that said angle ~ opens and the interlocking of
the ends of arms 12a' and 12b' is released. For this
purpose, on fo~undation 30 there are protruding parts 16 that
effect ~ opening of the interlocking upon contact by
releasing flan~e 35b at the end of supporting arm 12b' from
behind the locking spur of locking arm 14'. After this~ the
flexible supporters move to positions indicated in Fig. 1
with supporters lOa"' and lOb "' on both sides of timber lot
T2, after which supporting arms 12a" and 12b" arer con-
trolled by the automatic system, wound up in the direction
of arrow D as shown in right-hand compartment of Fig. l; the
timber lot T1, after being discharged from this compartment,
is no more supported by compartmen~ sections 12 and 10/ and
is ready to be removed, in the direction of arrow A, further
on to packing and ribbing apparatus, for instance.
Another advantage of the invention is that,
immediately after the i~terlocking between the ends o~
arms 12a' and 12b' has been released, it is possible to
start, by means of lower conveyor lS, moving the,timber
lot T2 ~orwardl be~ore it is necessary to lift arms
12al and 12b' upwardly. Arms 12a' and l~b' can, of
course, be lifted to the top position past timber lot
T2 before starting to move lot T2 by means of the
bottom conveyor 15.
As supporting arms 12a" and 12b" move from
the position of Fig. 1 upwardly, flanges 25 of their
top ends become guided by oblique surfaces 23 to -the
position shown in Fig. 3I, wherein flanges 25 have come
underneath the overhead ledge 27 (Fig. 1). As sup-
porters lOa~ lOb are tightened even more, the apparatus
reaches the position shown in Fig. 3II, in which locking
arm 14 is guided behind ~lange 35b at the end of arm
12b, which has already taken place in Fig. 3III, in
which locking arm 14 "' has extended behind flange
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35b"', and spur 36 of 1ange 35a"' has become positioned
under the protrusion of flange 35b'". Now the compart-
ment bottom, formed by rigid arms 12a "' and 12b "', is in
the top position ready to take up the next timber lot.
In Fig. 3IV, supporters lOa and lOb start to loosen
and arms 12a and 12b start to move downwardly and the
lower part of flange 35b of arm 12~ is locked behind
the locking spur of locking arm 14, in which position
arm 14 is held in position by spring 19, which turns
locking arm 14 around its pivot 37 to the locking
position. In Fig. 3II, spring 19 lets arm 14 turn so ` ,
as to permit the locking to take place.
In the i~lustration of Fig. 3IV, arms 12a and
12b are coated with rubber or some other corresponding
material 38 for reducing harmful impact forces when
timber pieces fall on arms 12a, 12b.
We believe that the construction of our novel
sorting compartment and its method of use will be
understood that the advantages thereof will be fully ap-
preciated by those persons skilled in the art.
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