US3796243A

US3796243A - Veneer slicer machine

Info

Publication number: US3796243A
Application number: US00243368A
Authority: US
Inventors: S Komaki
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-04-12
Filing date: 1972-04-12
Publication date: 1974-03-12
Anticipated expiration: 1991-03-12

Abstract

A veneer slicer machine and method for slicing thin veneer strips from dry wood including a support body, a bench unit carried by the body and selectively movable vertically along the body for supporting the wood to be sliced, a drive unit for selectively moving the wood across the bench unit along a prescribed path, and a vibrator slicer assembly carried by the bench unit for slicing the veneer strips from the wood as it is moved across the bench unit by the drive unit. The slicer assembly includes a U-shaped yoke pivoted on the bench unit with a thin cutting blade carried between the projecting ends of the legs of the yoke under tension and positioned to engage the wood as it is moved across the bench unit. A vibrator drive is connected to the yoke for rapidly pivoting it back and forth to cause the cutting blade to slice the veneer strip from the wood. The method of the invention includes moving a piece of wood along a prescribed path, engaging the wood with a cutting blade, and rapidly moving the cutting blade generally lengthwise to slice a veneer strip from the wood.

Description

United States Patent I 1.

Komaki [451 Mar. 12, 1974 1 VENEER SLICER MACHINE [76] Inventor: Saiji Komaki, 1 Naga Yoshi-cho,

Kagoshima 890, Japan [22] Filed: Apr. 12, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 243,368

Primary Examiner-Donald R. Schran [5.7] ABSTRACT A veneer slicer machine and method for slicing thin veneer strips from dry wood including a support body, a bench unit carried by the body and selectively movable vertically along the body for supporting the wood to be sliced, a drive unit for selectively moving the wood across the bench unit along a prescribed path, and a vibrator slicer assembly carried by the bench unit for slicing the veneer strips from the wood as it is moved across the bench unit by the drive unit. The slicer assembly includes a U-shaped yoke pivoted on the bench unit with a thin cutting blade carried between the projecting ends of the legs of the yoke under tension and positioned to engage the wood as it is moved across the bench unit. A vibrator drive is connected to the yoke for rapidly pivoting it back and forth to cause the cutting blade to slice the veneer strip from the wood.

The method of the invention includes moving a piece of wood along a prescribed path, engaging the wood with a cutting blade, and rapidly moving the cutting blade generally lengthwise to slice a veneer strip from the wood.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU MAR 12 874 sum 1 0F 3 PAIENTEDIARIZ I974 3796243 SHEET 2 (If 3 PATENTEDIAR 12 m4 SHEET 3 BF 3 .54 lLll/l/IA nQAQAQA/ VENEER SLICER MACHIN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Because certain varieties of timber as well as those of good quality have become difficult to obtain, they have become precious. This has led to the slicing of this precious timber into thin sheets or veneer so that the thusly formed veneer can be glued to a base material to form pillars or panels which appear to be made of the precious timer yet are economical to produce.

Conventionally, the raw precious timber is soaked in water to soften the wood fibers and is then fed to a conventional slicing machine which slices off a continuous sheet of material from the periphery of the timber as the timber is rotated about its longitudinal axis. The timber must be soaked to prevent the sliced sheet from cracking or splitting. Because the conventional slicing machine is unable to slice a finished sheet of material from the timber, the sliced sheet is thicker than the finished veneer made therefrom is to be. The thusly sliced sheet is then dried and subsequently finished to form the thin veneer by a subsequent finishing operation such as sanding.

As is readily apparent, this wastes a significant portion of the precious timber as the sheet is finished into a veneer. Moreover, the soaking and drying operations are time consuming and the subsequently required finishing operation increases the production cost appreciably.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other problems and disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome by the invention disclosed herein by providing a slicing method and apparatus which are capable of slicing thin sheets of material from precious timber without soaking the timber. Moreover, because the sliced sheets are inherently finished on one side thereof as an incident of the slicing operation, additional subsequent finishing steps are not required.

The apparatus of the invention includes generally a support table, drive means for moving the precious timber along the support table, a slicer protruding above the plane of the support table and engagable with the timber thereon and vibrator means for rapidly reciprocating the blade generally lengthwise to slice veneer from the timber as it is driven across the support table.

The method of the invention includes passing a piece of timber along a prescribed path, positioning a slicer blade to engage the timber as it moves along the path and rapidly vibrating the blade generally lengthwise to slice veneer form the timber as it moves along the path.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the blade mounting mechanism of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 55 in FIG. 4; and,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 66 in FIG. 3.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose specific embodiments of the invention, however, it is to be understood that the inventive concept is not limited thereto since it may be embodied in other forms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the slicer machine 10 includes generally a support body 11, a bench unit 12 selectively movable vertically along body 1 1 for supporting thetimber T to be sliced, a drive unit 14 mounted on top of body 1 1 for driving the timber T across bench unit 12 along a prescribed path P, and a vibrator slicer assembly 15 carried by bench unit 12 for slicing veneer strips from the timber T as it is moved across the bench unit 12.

The support body 11 has a base 16 and an upstanding stanchion 18 extending upwardly from base 16. The forwardly facing edges of stanchion 18 are provided with a pair of vertically extending parallel guide rails 19 which slidably support the bench unit 12.

The bench unit 12 includes a U-shaped undercarriage 20 provided with vertically extending guideways 21 on the back side thereof which slidably engage the guide rails 19 to movably support the bench unit 12 therefrom. -A conventional height adjustment mechanism 22 extending between base 16 and the bottom of undercarriage 20 selectively positions the undercarriage 20 and thus bench unit 12 vertically along the guide rails 19. A handle 24 is provided on the undercarriage 20 and connected to the mechanism 22 through a conventional angle drive 25 to raise and lower the bench unit 12 as handle 24 is rotated in known manner.

A support bed 26 for supporting the timber T for slic ing is carried on the top of the forwardly projecting legs of undercarriage 20. The bed 26 has an entry section 28 as seen on the right in FIGS. 1 and 2 and an exit section 29 as seen on the left. The

sections

28 and 29 are spaced apart to provide an opening 30 to receive the slicer assembly 15. The entry section 28 defines an upwardly facing support surface 31 lying in a horizontal plane P and the exit section 29 defines an upwardly facing support surface 32 lying in a horizontal plane P The

surfaces

31 and 32 are transversely aligned under path P and plane P is parallel with and spaced above the plane P equal to the thickness of the veneer strip which is removed from timber T as will become apparent.

The entry section 28 is slidably mounted on an incline 23 provided on the leg of the undercarriage 20 with a height adjustment mechanism 27 of known construction connecting section 28 with undercarriage 20. The height adjustment mechanism 27 positions the section 28 along incline 23 to raise or lower the surface 31 and vary the thickness of the veneer strip sliced from the timber as will become apparent.

The slicer assembly 15 as best seen in FIGS. 3-6 includes a blade support unit 40 which is pivotally mounted on top on one of the legs of undercarriage 20 in the opening 30. and a vibrator drive 41 mounted on 42 pivots about an axis A, perpendicular to path P and generally vertically aligned therewith. Legs 46 of yoke 42 are integral with opposite ends of central web 45 and extends therefrom toward the entry end of the machine on opposite sides of the entry section 28 so that the upper surface of yoke 42 isgenerally parallel to plane P The near leg 46 of yoke 42 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with an integral extension 48 on the projecting end thereof for connection to the vibrator drive 41 as will be explained.

A blade assembly 50 is carried in upwardly openin cutouts 49 in legs 46 adjacent their projecting ends. Assembly 50 includes a thin slicing blade 51 extending between legs 46, a pair of

blade clamping blocks

52 and 54 engaging the blade 51 ateach end thereof which fit within cutouts 49, a pair of locking plates 55 associated with each pair of

clamping blocks

52 and 54, and a pair of tensioning plates 56 positioned on the outside of legs 46 to tension blade 51.

The bottom clamping blocks 52 are slidably received in cutouts 49 and support blade 51 on their upper surfaces so that the cutting edge 59 is parallel to the plane P The top clamping blocks 54 are secured to the bottom blocks 52 by bolts 62 to clamp the blade 51 between the lower surfaces of blocks 52 and the upper surfaces of blocks 54 as the bolts 62 are tightened. It will be noted from FIG. 6 that the bottom blocks 54 are wider than blocks 56 to provide projecting shoulders 64 on opposite sides of blade 51 at opposite ends thereof.

The locking plates 55 are connected to the legs 46 of yoke 42 forwardly and rearwardly of blade 51 by bolts 65 so that plates 55 engage shoulders 64 of blocks 52 and abut the forwardly and rearwardly extending ends of top blocks 54 to positively locate blade 51. The tensioning plates 56 are larger than the cutouts 49 and define a pair of apertures 66 which slidably receive the threaded tensioning studs 61 therethrough. Nuts 68 are screwed on studs 61 to cause the plates 56 to bear on the outside of legs 46 and apply a tension to the blade 51. Thus, the blade 51 will be tightly held between legs 49 and fixed with respect to yoke 42 so that it is movable along an arcuate path P as the yoke 42 is pivoted as will become more apparent.

The vibrator drive 41 includes a drive motor 70 having its drive shaft connected to a stub shaft 71 through a conventional belt and pulley arrangement 72. The

motor 70 is mounted on a base plate 74 and the shaft 71 is rotatably journalled in a bearing 75 also mounted on base plate 74. The base plate 74 is secured to the leg of undercarriage independently of yoke 42 and entry section 28. The upper end of shaft 71 is provided with an eccentric cam 76 rotatable therewith. A link 78 is pinned to cam 76 and the projecting end of extension 48 so that as motor 70 rotates the shaft 71, the yoke 42 will be pivoted back and forth to move blade 51 along path P, with the cutting edge 59 moving in a plane parallel to plane P to slice a veneer strip from the timber T.

The drive unit 14 is carried by the upper end of stanchion l8 and projects forwardly thereof to overlie the bed 26 as seen in FIG. 2. The drive unit 14 includes an endless drive belt 80 movably mounted around support rolls 81 so that its lower flight is vertically aligned with bed 26 and is parallel toplane P A motor (not shown) moves the lower flight of belt 80 from right to left as seen in FIG. 2 to engage the upper surface of the timber T and drive it across bed 26.

OPERATION handle 24 of the height adjusting mechanism 22 is then manipulated until the entry section 28 and timber T thereon is moved up under drive belt 80. Prior to this, the handle of the cutting thickness adjustment mechanism 27 has been manipulated to move the entry section 28 until the plane of the slicing blade 51 is such that its cutting edge 59 lies a prescribed distance (1 above the plane P of the surface 31 as best seen in FIG. I

6. The thickness of the veneer strip V which will be sliced from the timber T will be equal to the distance d. The drive motor of the vibrator drive 41 is then started so that the yoke 42 is rapidly pivoted back and forth on shaft 44 and the cutting edge 59 ofblade 51 is moving along path P. It will be noted that path P imparts a motion to the cutting edge 59 which has a component p parallel to the cutting edge 59 and a component toward and away from the cutting edge 59. It will also be noted that the component parallel or lengthwise along the cutting edge 59 is greater than the component perpendicular and toward and away from the cutting edge 59. This gives aslicing action to the cutting edge 59 as will become apparent.

Next the motor in the. drive unit 14 is started to drive the timber T toward the blade 51 so that the cutting edge 59 engages the leading edge of the timber T and slices the veneer strip V therefrom. The oscillating action of the upper edge of the blade 51 serves to polish and finish the newly-formed surface S on the timber T as a result of the slicing of the'strip V therefrom. The surface on the top of the strip V as seen in the figures or the newly formed back surface S" of the strip is slightly rougher than the finished that the surface S had which is now the lower or previously formed surface of strip V. Since it is only necessary to finish one surface of the veneer strip'"V, it will be seen that the thusly produced strip V is immediately ready for use without fur-' ther processing. Moreover, it will be seen that the polishing or finishing action of the upper surface of the blade 51 on the newly created lower surface of the timber T prepares that surface for the next slicing operation so that one surface of the veneer is always finished and ready for use. While the position of the entry section 28 of bed 26 may be adjusted to selectively adjust the thickness of the veneer strip V, it has been found that an adjustment which produces a veneer strip V of any thickness less than 12mm. or 0.433 inches is satisfactory. The blade is a thin member so that the greater thickness of material may be sliced from the timber T without creating a sufficiently great curvature in the exiting strip V to cause it to crack.

The movement of blade 51 performs better the faster the yoke 42 is pivoted. It has been found that reciprocation of blade 51 at a speed of more than 3008,000 cycles per minute performs satisfactory with a speed of 7,500 cycles per minute to more than 8,000 cycles per minute preferred. Also, it will be seen that the distance through which blade 51 is moved is very small such that the movement is more of a vibratory movement than a normally thought of translating movement.

I claim:

1. A machine for slicing a thin strip of wood from a piece of timber having a flat surface including:

support bed means for supporting said piece of timber from said flat surface;

drive means for selectively moving said piece of timber across said support bed means along a prescribed path;

a cutting blade assembly including a slicing blade supported at its opposite ends on opposite sides of said flat surface and having a cutting edge engagable with said piece of timber on said support bed means so that said cutting edge is generally parallel with said flat surface, and pivoted about an axis normal to said flat surface and intersecting said flat surface, said blade further having a flat side extending across its width to said cutting edge; and,

vibrator means for rapidly moving said cutting edge back and forth along an arcuate path about said axis parallel to said flat surface to slice a veneer strip from said timber as said drive means moves said timber across said support bed means.

2. The machine of claim 1 further including means for selectively adjusting the distance between said flat surface of said piece of timber and said cutting edge to selectively vary the thickness of the veneer strip sliced from said timber.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein said vibrator means moves said cutting edge along said arcuate path parallel to said flat surface so that said cutting edge has one component of movement lengthwise along said cutting edge and another component of movement toward and away from said cutting edge.

4. The machine of claim 3 wherein said one component of movement lengthwise of said cutting edge is greater than said another component of movement toward and away from said cutting edge.

5. The machine of claim 3 wherein said support bed means defines a transverse opening therein; wherein said cutting blade assembly includes a U-shaped yoke pivotally mounted within said opening about said axis said slicing blade mounted between the projectings ends of the legs of said yoke and defining said cutting edge thereon; and, wherein said vibrator means in operatively connected to said yoke to pivot said yoke about said axis and thus move said cutting edge along said arcuate path.

6. The machine of claim 5 further including height adjustment means for selectively adjusting the distance between said drive means and said support bed means.

7. The machine of claim 5 further including tensioning means for selectively maintaining tension within said cutting blade.

Claims

1. A machine for slicing a thin strip of wood from a piece of timber having a flat surface including: support bed means for supporting said piece of timber from said flat surface; drive means for selectively moving said piece of timber across said support bed means along a prescribed path; a cutting blade assembly including a slicing blade supported at its opposite ends on opposIte sides of said flat surface and having a cutting edge engagable with said piece of timber on said support bed means so that said cutting edge is generally parallel with said flat surface, and pivoted about an axis normal to said flat surface and intersecting said flat surface, said blade further having a flat side extending across its width to said cutting edge; and, vibrator means for rapidly moving said cutting edge back and forth along an arcuate path about said axis parallel to said flat surface to slice a veneer strip from said timber as said drive means moves said timber across said support bed means.