Lumber tagger

Details Lumber tagger Lumber tagger

1999-09-30

2001-04-10

Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)

Metal working

Means to assemble or disassemble

With means to regulate operation by use of templet, tape,...

C227S039000, C227S040000, C227S015000, C227S100000, C029S714000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06212762

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to staple driving apparatus with means to convey work relative to a driving station.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is common to place tags on dimension lumber for price and inventory control purposes. Affixing these tags to individual pieces of lumber has, unfortunately, been a time-consuming process. Although a staple gun is normally used, tagging proceeds slowly since manually positioning a staple gun and squeezing its trigger to affix a tag is a relatively slow endeavor. Thus, a manufacturer of large quantities of lumber can find itself employing, at high cost, several laborers for tagging purposes.
Efforts to automate the process of tagging lumber have not met with great success. Normal variations in the length, width, and height of dimension lumber from one piece to another have plagued past designers by making it difficult to affix tags in rapid succession. Warps or twists in many lumber pieces further complicate the matter of affixing tags. A need, therefore, exists for an automated apparatus which is capable of rapidly affixing tags to an indefinite number of lumber pieces regardless of slight variations in the length, width, height and shape of the lumber pieces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In light of the problems associated with the known apparatus for affixing tags to dimension lumber, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a lumber tagger which, with little or no human intervention, will staple tags in rapid succession onto the ends of a plurality of lumber pieces which may vary somewhat from one to the other in terms of: length, width, height and the presence of warps.
It is another object of the invention to provide a lumber tagger of the type described which makes minimal physical contact with lumber being tagged in order to reduce wear upon its parts and to maximize its useful life.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in a lumber tagger for the purposes described which is lightweight in construction, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and fully dependable in use.
Briefly, the tagger in accordance with this invention achieves the intended objects by featuring a motor-driven chain for positioning adjacent a lumber conveyor. A stapler is positioned adjacent the chain for driving a staple through a tag and into a piece of lumber on the conveyor. A tag feeding attachment urges one tag of a contiguous sequence of tags into alignment with the stapler and severs the tag. The stapler and tag feeding attachment are actuated in sequence by a central processing unit in response to signals from a photosensor positioned near the stapler.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4392204 (1983-07-01), Prim et al.
patent: 5014896 (1991-05-01), Reitmeier et al.
patent: 5021837 (1991-06-01), Uto et al.
patent: 5195672 (1993-03-01), Souverain
patent: 5208962 (1993-05-01), Walker
patent: 5775397 (1998-07-01), Lippincott
patent: 6058601 (2000-05-01), DeKoning
patent: 2731353 (1979-01-01), None

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