Presses – Methods – With heating or cooling
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-04
2002-04-02
Vo, Peter (Department: 3721)
Presses
Methods
With heating or cooling
C100S215000, C100S218000, C100S092000, C100S071000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06363845
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of conveying or transferring a sheet material through a working apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of transferring a sheet of wood veneer through a hot press type drying apparatus.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There has been known a veneer dryer having a pair of hot plates which are disposed one above the other for drying a sheet of wood veneer by hot pressing the sheet therebetween. In such dryer, a green or undried veneer sheet is moved from one end of the dryer to a predetermined position within the dryer, where the veneer sheet is hot pressed for a predetermined length of time for drying to a desired extent. After the drying has been completed, the dried veneer sheet is moved out of the apparatus through the opposite end thereof.
For better understanding of underlying problems and objects of the invention, reference will be made to
FIGS. 24
to
27
which show a typical hot press type veneer dryer. It is to be understood that in describing the drawings only those portions of the construction of the dryer has been shown which enable those skilled in the art to readily understand the underlying principle and concept of the present invention.
Referring to
FIG. 24
which is a schematic side view of the hot plate dryer and
FIG. 25
which is a fragmentary plan view as seen from dash-and-dot line A—A in arrow direction, a pair of hot plates
101
,
103
are disposed one above the other, of which the lower plate
101
is stationary while the upper plate
103
is movable toward and away from the stationary lower plate
101
, as indicated by arrow. Seen in the direction in which veneer sheets are transferred through the dryer, or from right to left as viewed in the drawings, the hot plates
101
,
103
have a longitudinal dimension L
1
, respectively, corresponding to the maximum working length of the dryer, while each veneer sheet
115
to be worked by the dryer has a longitudinal dimension L
2
as measured in the same direction, and this L
2
is smaller than L
1
, as best seen FIG.
26
.
Adjacent to the upstream end, or right hand side as seen in
FIG. 24
, of the hot plates
101
,
103
is located a plurality of feed rolls
105
mounted on a common drive shaft and rotating constantly in the arrow direction for moving a veneer sheet
115
into the dryer. On the opposite downstream end of the apparatus is provided a plurality of pairs of delivery rolls
107
mounted on drive shafts, respectively, of which the lower rolls are constantly rotatable in the arrow direction, while the upper idle rolls
107
are spaced apart from their corresponding lower rolls at an appropriate distance for holding therebetween and conveying a dried veneer sheet out of the dryer.
As shown in
FIG. 25
, a veneer sheet loading device is provided on lateral side of the dryer adjacent to the feed rolls
105
, which includes an arm
113
reciprocally swingable about a pivot
111
and having at one end thereof a pusher
109
. The arm
113
is normally located in its inoperative position as indicated by solid line and swingable by means of any suitable actuator such as pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder to its operative positions
109
a
and
109
b
indicated by phantom lines, respectively. Though not shown in
FIG. 25
, a similar device including an arm
113
and its related parts is located on the opposite side of the dryer in a symmetrical relation with respect to longitudinal center line (not shown) of the dryer. These two loading devices on opposite sides of the apparatus are operable in a synchronous manner for placing an undried veneer sheet to a predetermined position within the apparatus and also moving a dried veneer sheet partially out of the apparatus, as will be explained below.
In operation, a sheet of green veneer
115
is conveyed by the feed rolls
105
toward the dryer and inserted between the hot plates
101
,
103
. Movement of the veneer sheet
115
is stopped when the trailing end of the sheet
115
has just moved past the feed rolls
105
as shown in
FIGS. 24
,
25
and, therefore, conveying action of the rolls
105
is imparted to the veneer sheet
115
no more. As shown in
FIGS. 24
,
25
, the veneer sheet
105
is partially inserted between the hot plates
101
,
103
with part of its trailing end portion lying outside the hot plates
101
,
103
. Subsequently, the loading devices are actuated simultaneously to swing the arms
113
inward, or counter clockwise direction as seen in
FIG. 25
for the arm
113
illustrated in FIG.
25
and opposite direction for the similar arm
113
(not shown) located on the opposite side of the dryer. By so doing, the pushers
109
are swung into contact with the trailing end of the veneer sheet
105
, then moving the sheet along the upper surface of the stationary hot plate
101
. The arms
113
are turned until the pushers
109
reach position
109
a,
where the veneer sheet
115
lies well within the working area or the longitudinal extension of the hot plates
101
,
103
as shown in FIG.
26
. After the veneer sheet
115
is thus positioned in place between the hot plates
101
,
103
, the arms
113
are swung back to their original position shown in
FIG. 25
, and the upper hot plate
103
is lowered as indicated by arrow in
FIG. 26
to press and heat the veneer sheet for a predetermined length of time for drying.
After drying of the veneer sheet
115
has been completed, the upper hot plate
103
is elevated as shown in FIG.
27
and the arms
113
are swung again then to position
19
b
to move the dried veneer sheet
115
from the position of
FIG. 26
to a position shown in
FIG. 27
where the leading end of the sheet
115
can be caught and held by the delivery rolls
107
. Thus, the dried veneer sheet
155
is conveyed by the delivery rolls
107
out of the dryer to any subsequent working station (not shown).
As understood by those skilled in the art, the presence of the sheet loading equipment inevitably complicates the veneer dryer and hence increases its manufacturing cost. Furthermore, addition of such devices require troublesome maintenance and therefore additional cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a method of transferring a sheet such as wood veneer sheet through a working apparatus which dispenses with the above-described veneer sheet loading equipment or similar devices.
According to the invention, a working apparatus in which a method of the invention is performed has a working area with a dimension L
1
as measured along the direction in which the sheet is transferred, while a sheet to be transferred through the working apparatus has a dimension L
2
, as measured along the same direction, which is smaller than the dimension L
1
. The working apparatus includes feed means in the form of rotatable rolls disposed adjacent to one end of the working area and capable of moving the sheet partially or incompletely into the working area with part of the trailing end portion of the sheet lying outside the working area and delivery means such as rotatable rolls disposed adjacent to the opposite end of the working area of the working apparatus for removing the sheet therefrom.
In such working apparatus, a first sheet is moved by the feed means partially into the working area. Then, a second sheet is moved by the feed means into abutment of the leading end thereof with the trailing end of its preceding first sheet and moved further thereby to cause the second sheet to push its preceding first sheet to a predetermined position within the working area. When this position has been reached by the first sheet, the feed means is stopped and then reversed to move back the second sheet out of the working area. After the first sheet has been thus positioned in place within the working area of the apparatus and the succeeding sheet has been moved clear of the working area, the apparatus is operated to work the first sheet, for example, by pressing. The feed means is activated again to move the second sheet i
Huynh Louis K.
Meinan Machinery Works Inc.
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
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