FR2516434A1 - MACHINE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SHINGLES - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Device for splitting pieces of wood (9) in order to form laths by means of a blade (1) which is mounted on a support (2) and moved mechanically in a reciprocating manner, the said blade being also pivotable about an axis (3) which is adjacent to the cutting edge and substantially parallel to the latter, characterised in that the said blade (1), which is mounted pivotably on the support about the axis adjacent to and substantially parallel to its cutting edge, has an axis of articulation (3) which merges with the line of intersection between the plane of the flat surface (5) having the smaller width and that plane (15) of the blade face which is adjacent to this flat surface, in that the said blade has a substantially parallelepipedic rectangular flattenend form, its cutting edge being in the form of a dihedron situated along one of the long sides of the rectangle, in that the bisecting plane of the dihedron forming the cutting edge combines with the centre plane (7) to form such an angle that one of the flat surfaces (6) of the dihedron has a width distinctly greater than that of the other flat surface (5).

Description

The subject of the present invention is a machine intended to manufacture

shingles from

  pieces of wood such as logs.

It is recalled that shingles are

  slats of wood intended to cover in the manner of

  roofs or walls of houses; this method of recovery is very old and very effective, both from the point of view of the sealing it provides, and from the point of view of thermal insulation, that from the point of view of its longevity it is recalled however that the above-mentioned excellent characteristics of this material are obtained only if the wood fibers constituting the shingle are directed in the

direction of the slope.

  Thus, the oldest known way of making shingles was to cut strips of wood or slats into a log; in this way, the fibers of the wood were practically not interrupted all along the lamella; in the event of warping of the lamella, however, it could be straightened with the ax

  without much prejudice for the quality of the shingle.

  It has been proposed more recently to manufacture shingles from boards obtained

  by sawing and then by folding This method of manufacture

  shingles of very rigorous dimensions and appearance

  flattering when new; we realize, on the experience

  In fact, shingles made in this way deteriorate rapidly enough for this rapid deterioration, which seems to be due to the fact that the wood fibers have been cut, thus allowing

  the flow of water in the bundles of fibers.

  There are still known devices for splitting logs generally intended for heating, in which an ax-shaped blade or wedge-shaped

  is mechanically moved alternately at a

  latively low allowing manual positioning of the log below the blade; applied to manufacturing

  shingles, this device has no

  manual manufacturing die that the advantage of a fatigue economy, the cost of production remaining just as prohibitive

  that of the entirely manual process.

The present invention is

  intended to provide a self-replicating machine

  the old process and to obtain bar-

  the same quality with a considerable lowering of the cost compared to the manual process. According to the present invention, a device for splitting wood pieces to form shingles by means of an alternatively mechanically moved blade is most generally characterized in that said blade is pivotally mounted on a

  support, around an axis close to its cutting edge and

  parallel to this one; this pivoting mounting of the blade seems to be at the origin of the proper operation of the machine, or device, of the invention; in fact during previous tests, a fixed blade mounted on a translatable carriage led to inadvertent bursting of the piece of wood

to debit.

  Preferably said blade has a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, its cutting edge being in the form of a dihedral located along one of the long sides of the rectangle; preferably the edge of the dihedron constituting the cutting edge is located approximately between the median plane of the thickness of the blade and the plane of one of the faces thereof; preferably also the bisecting plane of the dihedral forms with the median plane an angle such that one of the facets of the dihedron has a width much greater than that

on the other side.

  According to a very important feature of the present invention, the axis of articulation of the blade is, more precisely, coincidental or very close to the line of intersection of the plane of the facet of smaller width.

  with the plane of the face of the blade adjacent to this facet.

  More preferably the pivoting of the blade is limited by two adjustable stop positions, and the blade is biased slightly towards the so-called first stop position located on the side of the facet

of greater width.

  More preferably the blade is articulated at each of its ends on said support and the

  support is itself animated by a translational movement rec-

  alternating tiligne direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting edge of the blade; it will be ensured that the means for adjusting the first stop position make it possible to adjust this position so that the facet of smaller width is parallel to the plane of translation of the blade support.

Advantageously, a device

  tif of the invention further comprises a gripping member of the pieces of wood splitting, said member being essentially constituted by a pair of jaws for biting into the opposite edges of the piece and to present it

  end facing the blade, the meaning of the wood fibers being

  parallel to the translation plane of the blade.

Following a particular form

  embodiment of a device of the invention as hereinafter

  described above, the plane of translation is a horizontal plane, the gripping member is located above the plane of translation, the smaller width facet being located above the facet of greater width, the slight bias of the Blade is a downward strain resulting from its own weight. It should be noted that both the strength

  solicitation of the blade, or its weight in the particular case

  the above mentioned, the respective width of the edge facets, the thickness of the blade, as well as its width must be defined by tests according to the characteristics of the wood used, namely the essence, the age, the dryness, etc. The present invention will be better

  understood and details will arise from the description of the

  tion which will be made in connection with the figures of the attached plates, a schematic example and a particular embodiment, attached plates in which: FIG 1 is an illustration

  schematic perspective of the essential organs of a

of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a schematic section

  in elevation of a particular embodiment of the machine of the invention, FIG. 3 is a view from above of the same,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view

  spective of a blade support carriage of the machine of the preceding figures,

Fig. 5 is a partial section

  the elevation thereof, fig 6 is a partial plan view of the same, and

FIG. 7 is a schematic section

  in elevation of a second embodiment, this

  view similar to that of fig 2.

In FIG. 1, there is shown

  a blade 1 of substantially elongated rectangular shape,

  halfway down its length to highlight its profile; the blade 1 is articulated at each of its ends on a support 2 of which are visible only parts 2 ', and 2 "adjacent to the hinge axis 3 of the blade, the hinge pin 3 is close to the cutting edge 4 of the blade and parallel to it, the articulation of the blade, which will be described later details, allows the blade to rotate

around axis 3.

The blade 1 is cut in a

  rectangular plate, or flattened parallelepiped,

  with appropriate steel; the cutting edge of the blade is

  constituted by the edge of a dihedron formed by facets

  lower 5 and lower 6; the facet 5 has a width 1 substantially smaller than the width L of the facet 6; the

  cutting edge 4 or edge of the dihedral facets is located lightly

  above the median plane 7 of the blade; the plane bisection

  of the dihedron, materialized by the bisector 8, is inclined

  on the median plane 7 so as to give the facets the dis-

aforementioned proportion.

  The blade, through its

  port, is driven in an alternating translational movement back and forth shown by the arrows 10; this movement

16434

  in a plane, called a turning plan, perpendicular to

  to the cutting edge 4 of the blade; such a plan is materialized by the mixed lines 11; FIG. 1 also shows a piece of wood 9 in the shape of a log held in a fixed position by means of jaws such as 12 making at each of its ends, the log is positioned so that its bottom face 13 is located at a distance h below the charring plane; the turning plan determines on the edge of the log the impact line of the cutting edge of the blade and the distance h will be, after splitting,

  the thickness of the wood slat constituting the draft of a shingle.

  Thanks to its mobility in pivoting the blade can follow the wood fibers which are generally parallel to the plane of translation, or turning, of the blade This pivoting nature of the blade appears to be one of the reasons for the proper functioning of the device of the However, an additional condition is required, namely that the axis of articulation 3 of the blade on its support 4 must be as close as possible to the line 14 of intersection of the plane of the facet 5 and the upper face. 15 of the blade;

  in the case of the figure, the axis is optimally confused

from with line 14.

The blade 1 is held in pivots

  between two stop positions, respectively, a first

  first lower stop position 16 and upper 17; these abutment positions are adjustable using means which will be described later; the stop 16 is adjusted to such

  so that the upper facet 5 of the cutting edge is sensitive-

  parallel to the turning plan which is in the case of the figure a horizontal plane; in this particular case, the cantilevered weight of the blade with respect to its pivot axis will be used to serve as a permanent biasing of the blade towards its lower stop position. Thus before

  the impact of the cutting edge on the log, the plane of the facet

  5 of the cutting edge will be approximately parallel to

wood fiber from log 9.

  FIGS. 2 and 3 show respectively in elevation and in plan a machine implementing the principles of operation described with the preceding figures. Such a machine essentially consists of a frame 20 supporting positioning members 21.

  and maintenance of logs such as 9, training

  22 of a slide carriage 23 which can reciprocate in the upper longitudinal members 24 of the frame, a pair of connecting rods 25 connecting large wheels 26 to the carriage 23 via a transverse bar 27, a conveyor belt 28, slats of split wood and a receiving hopper 29 slats; the means for positioning and holding the logs are constituted by a mast 30 along which can move under the action of a jack 31, a vise 32 for clamping logs by a pair of antagonistic jaws

  such as 12 under the action of a jack 34; the vertical shift

  cal of the vice 32 takes place step by step according to a pneumatic alogic command, the height of a step corresponding to the thickness h of a batten Automatic supply means in

  Jaw logs may be provided.

  22 consist essentially of a motor 40 pulleys multipliers 41, 42, large wheels 26 and

  pulleys 43 drive the carpet.

  FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show in more detail the slide carriage. It is firstly noted that it is mainly formed of a

  couple of flanges 30 and 31 integral with the transverse bar

  the 27 at the end of which are articulated the rods The outer faces of the flanges are provided with a double set of rollers 32 for guiding the rolling of the carriage on rails 33 fixed inside the upper longitudinal members 24 of the frame; centering rollers 34 mounted on the flanges perform the centering of the carriage between the rails. The blade 1 is supported by the flanges of the carriage, (similar to the elements 2 'and 2 "of the

  1) by means of a pair of supports 36 comprising

  each of them a groove 37 in which the blade is engaged

  at its extremities; each support 36 is articulated by means of

  mediate a ring 38 (or a ball bearing) on the flange that supports it; each support further comprises at the rear of the groove 37 a set screw 39 allowing

  to adjust the position of the blade in the groove of such

  As the line 14 (FIG. 1, edge of the upper facet) coincides with the axis of articulation of the support on the flange, such an adjustment is necessary to compensate for the loss of tension.

  the blade after regrinding.

In fig 5 more particularly

  It will be noted that the abovementioned upper and lower abutment positions are determined by means of a filament rod 40 integral with a flange; the ends of the rod are provided with rubber tips such as 41; as shown in FIG. 5, the blade 1 is in the lower stop position; if under the effect of the impact against the log, for example, the blade 1 had to pivot upwards, an extension arm 42 secured to the support 36 would abut against the endpiece 41 and the blade would then be in position

said upper stop.

  FIG. 7 shows a device similar to that of the preceding figures in FIG.

  which the blade is working in a greening plan

  The various parts of this machine have been assigned the reference numerals assigned to the like members of the machine of the preceding figures; we notice that in this case

  the rods 25 'push the arm 27' in direction

  9 'instead of pulling it as in the previous case It will also be noted that, in the absence of gravity, the blade is urged into a lower stop position by a small

  spring not shown in the figures.

  Although it was described how during a first impact of the blade against the log it was split along the fibers of the wood, to give birth to a batten, and how the log was translated parallel to itself to present a second line of impact and give birth to a next batten, it will be noted that one can also control the translation of the log after several back and forth blade; by doing so in cases where the log is gnarled or the wood fibers are not for other reasons substantially parallel to the axis of the log, we will perform a kind of

  flattening in one or more passes, equivalent to

  manual drafting of a slat; experience has shown that planing, or folding,

  practiced with the machines of the invention is in general

  sufficient to provide slats of substantially constant thickness and not detrimental to the quality of

  these to form shingles.

  Finally, it should be noted that, without departing from the scope of the invention, the means for moving the carriage, instead of being mechanical means by connecting rods could be hydraulic or pneumatic means and that the means for holding and advancing the logs could be mechanical means for example by screws; in a general view,

  it should be understood that the present invention is not limited by

  to the embodiments described above or represented but that its scope is defined by its general characteristics

  as stated above.

Claims (2)

R E V E N D I C A T IO N S   1. Device for splitting pieces of wood in order   to form shingles, by means of a blade molt mechanical-   alternatively, characterized in that said blade is pivotally mounted on a support, about an axis close to its cutting edge and substantially parallel thereto; 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said blade has a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, its cutting edge being in the form of a dihedral located along one of the long sides of the rectangle; 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the edge of the dihedron   the cutting edge is located approximately between   median plane of the thickness of the blade and the plane of one of the faces of that   this; 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the bisecting plane of the dihedral forms with the median plane an angle such that one of the facets of the dihedron has a width substantially greater than that of the other facet; 5 Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the pivoting of the blade is limited by two adjustable stop positions, in that the blade is biased slightly towards the position, said first,   stop located on the side of the larger facet   geur; 6. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said blade is articulated at each of its ends on said support, and in that said support is animated   m of a reciprocating rectilinear movement direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting edge of the blade;   7. Device according to claims 5 and 6, characterized   in that the means for adjusting the first stop position make it possible to adjust this position in such a way that the facet of smaller width is parallel to the plane of translation of the blade support; 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that it further comprises a gripping member of the pieces of wood to be split, said member being essentially constituted by a pair of jaws for biting into the opposite edges of the piece and to present the latter end facing the blade, the direction of the wood fibers being generally parallel to the translation plane of the blade; 9. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the translation plane is a horizontal plane, in that the gripping member is located above the translation plane, the smaller width facet being located above the plane of translation. the facet of greater width, in that the slight bias of the blade is a downward bias resulting from its own weight; 10. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the axis of articulation of the blade is, more precisely, coincident with'the line of intersection of the plane of the facet of smaller width with the plane of the face of the blade adjacent to this facet.