US794873A - Process of making compo-board. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JULY 18, 1905.

G. S. MAYHBW.

PROCESS OF MAKING GOMPU BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1904.

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No. 794,873. I PATBNTED JULY 18, 1905.

G. S. MAYHBW. PROCESS OF MAKING GOMPO BOARD.

No. 794,878- PATENTED JULY 18, 1905. G. S. MAYHBW.

PROCESS OF MAKING COMPO BOARD.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 23, 1904.

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No. 794,878. PATENTED JULY 18,.1905. G. S. MAYHEW.

PROCESS OF MAKING OO-MPO BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 19.04.

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Wc'zwseJi' UNITED STATES Patented July is, 1905'.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE \VILLIAM MELLOR, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF MAKING COIVIPO-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.

794,873, dated July 18, 1905.

Application filed November 23,190 Serial No. 233,977.

' To all whom it may concern.- I Be it known that I, GEORGE SKAATS MAY- HEW, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 2 Basinghall avenue, in the city and county of London, England, have invented a new and useful Improved Process of Making CompoBoard, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvelU ments in the process for manufacturing compounds or composition boards.

Compounds or composition boards, com monly known in the trade as compoboards, consist, essentially, of a core or sheet [5 of wood composed of one or more layers or pieces of wood cemented together at their edges and inclosed between layers of veneer or thick paper or cardboard.

The compo-board produced by the present invention is perfectly smooth and uniformly sound, the chances of an imperfect product being practically eliminated.

My invention. is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a number of boards assembled to make a compound deal. Fig. 2 shows a similar deal formed of pieces of wood of all lengths and sizes. Fig. 3 shows a slice 0 cut from the face of the deal on the lines A B of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows three slices, such as shown in Fig. 23, joined together at their longitudinal edges. Fig. 5 shows a board as formed in the final assembling-machine from 5 pieces cut from the board shown in Fig. 4 on the lines O D, E F, the edges H and K, L and M. being joined, respectively, to form the board shown. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sec tion of an assembling-machine for forming the continuous compo-board, and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same. Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11 are detail views of certain parts of said machine; and Figs. 12 and 13 illustrate an apparatus to be used in connection with said machine for the purpose of feeding a cementing material to the compound board between the core and one or both of the facing-strips thereof.

' Referring now to the drawings, the new process is carried into effect in the following manner. In order to keep the price low, waste wood or nearly waste wood must be employed, and these pieces are of relatively small and irregular sizes both as to thick ness, length, and breadth, as shown in Fig. 2. These pieces of wood are first thoroughly dried, then smoothed, and instead of being cut into small strips are oined together into a compound deal or block, a very small quan tity of thin strong waterproofed glue size or other waterproof material being used to join them by aid of pressure. The outside edges of these pieces of wood making up the compound deal and forming the faces of said deal present the saw-surface they have when they come from the sawmill in the assembling apparatus, and when these compound deals are passed through the slicing, &e., machines in the process of forming cores they are always worked against a firm guide or back on one side when they are pressed together, and if any of the sections formed are wider than the intended thickness of the deal to be made the projecting part is removed as the compound deal leaves the assemblingmachine by means of a circular saw arrange at the end of the machine. It will be readily understood that such a compound block may be practically of any size. For instance, it may be made so thin as to render a resawing only once necessary to make two thicknesses of the thinnest board which can be made, or

it may be of any thickness that can be conveniently handled-say siX inches thick. Its width will naturally be limited in practice to the width which can be most economically cut with a band-saw. It may be of any desired length. A convenient size, however, for these blocks or deals is about three inches thick, twelve feet three inches long, and one foot wide. This size of deal is adapted for making a core for compo-boards four or six feet wide. The compound deal passes from the assembling-machine to the slicing-machine with two saw-faces and two planed 5 edges and is of accurately uniform. width, so

shown in Fig. 4. To form such a board, the

that each slice cut from its face will be of ex- I actly the same width throughout its entire length.

The deal formed from the pieces of wood as above described is thoroughly dried and then cut into thin composite boards, as shown in Fig. 3, either by slicing off one thin piece at a time from the face of the deal or else by cutting the deal into two pieces and subdividing it again into four, and so on.

By the slicing-machine the boards shown in Fig. 3 are produced on the one side sawcut and the other side planed smooth if said board is cut off from the deal one piece at a time; but if the deal is subdivided its faces are dressed smooth to enable joints to be made with as small an amount of cementing material as possible.

If the sections as shown in Fig. 3 have been cut from a compound deal one foot wide and twelve feet three inches in length, three of them joined together edge to edge will make a compound board three feet wide and twelve feet three inches in length, as

edges to be joined are coated with waterproof glue size or other waterproof cementing material and are joined together edge to edge, with the planed face down, in an assembling-machine. The thin boards are held so firmly down to the bed-plate of said assembling-machine that there can be no projection of one edge beyond the other, and so small an amount of cementing material is applied that practically no excess is forced out of the face of the board during the process of assembling. Should, however, any cementing material be forced out, it can be removed on passing through the assembling-machine by revolving brushes and dusters. The boards after being joined in the assemblingmachine are allowed to set until the glue is well hardened and finally dried.

In order to make a compo-board of the same size as that now in use in the trade-i. 0., four feet in width-these compound thin boards having a width of three feet, a length of twelve feet three inches, and possibly a slightly varying thickness are first run through a single surfacing-machine, which takes off the saw-marks from the side not already planed and smoothed and reduces the wide thin board to a uniform thickness and smoothness. The boards are then cut into lengths of forty-nine inches, (indicated by the lines C D, E F on Fig. 4,) and theboards thus formed are fed into the magazine of the final assembling-machine, hereinafter more particularly described, the edges H and K and L and M being respectively joined in said machine to make the-board forming the continuous core shown in Fig. 5.

A special feature of the above-described process is the extremely small amount of ce.

menting material requisite in consequence of the faces ofthe board or core being so perfectly smooth. Consequently the little moisture contained is readily absorbed by the highly-dried board and pa er faces without causing any damage or swe ling in the structure of the finished product.

If a heavier and more rigid board is required-for instance, in the manufacture of a very stiff partition lining or board for ceilings or for more or less fireproof divisionsa somewhat different method of assembling is necessary. In constructing this heavier board it is necessary to interpose a thick coating of cementing material between the core and one or both of the paper faces. After the cement has been fed onto the board-the latter passes between grooved rollers, which form the cementing material on the faces of the board into ridges or rows corresponding with the grooves of the rollers, while the intervening spaces correspond to the projecting parts of the rollers. These ridges or rows of cement are leveled by the paper orlining rollers when the board passes between them and receives its upper and lower faces of paper, said cement being squeezed out over the whole surface of the paper and firmly pressed upon the core to an amount corresponding to the setting of said lining-rollers and the quality of the cementing material.

Although in the foregoing specification mention has been made exclusively of paper as a facing material for compo-boards, other sheet fabrics may be employed, or even sheets of metal-such as thin sheet lead, tin or other foil, or thin steelmay be rolled on and cemented to the core in the manner above described. The surface or surfaces of the board may also be covered with veneer, or paper and veneer, or paper and metal, or with veneer and metal, or with metal alone, as aforesaid, one particularly useful form having a metal sheet between the wooden core and the paper faces. Such a construction possesses for certain purposes very special advantages over any construction of board at present known.

Among the various advantages of the new process for the manufacture of these goods may be mentioned the avoiding of strains in the finished article, which are usually caused by the irregular distribution of the cement and its moisture. Owing to the smoothness of the surface and the better joining thereof, a very small quantity of cement is needful, and a thoroughly-dried material can take up the moisture thereby introduced without causing swelling of the materials, whereas in the present" construction of compo-boards the damp cement not only frequently causes the wooden slat or piece to twist, but renders the paper faces soft and pliable and less able to hold the wood in position.

The material from which the wood is cut may be of a much cheaper quality than now used in compo-boards, because knotty or broken pieces can all be Worked up without difficulty. Hence the great expense of handling, sorting, and trimming of the slats is avoided. Further, any-sized sheets can be made with almost equal facility, and especially the thickness of the core can be varied within a much wider range.

By the new process boards as thin as onesixteenth of an inch or as thick as an inch or upward can be made with equal facility, the only practical difference being the time re quired for the cement to set after passing the rollers. If desirable, the wood employed may be previously fireproofed or waterproofed, or both, before being formed into the compound board.

A machine for assembling the sections or parts formed by cutting the compound plank shown in Fig. 4 into three sections will now be described, reference being had to Figs. 6 to 13, inclusive, illustrating said machine. The boards 1 cut from the said compound plank are fed into the magazine 2 of the assenibling-machine one above the other, said magazine being preferably arranged with an adjustable opening 66. Fresh boards are added continuously at the top as the bottom ones are successively pushed forward against the edge of the previous board by the double reciprocating clutch-frame or pusher 48 49, which works in guides 4 and is operated by clutch mechanism driven from the main driving shaft 5 in the following manner. The main driving-shaft 5 has mounted thereon a fixed gear-wheel 6, engaging with and driving a loose wheel 32, which preferably turns half a revolution to every revolution of the wheel 6. The wheel 32 carries a cam 33, which engages on every revolution with an arm 34, pivoted at 35 and connected to and operating an arm 36, connected to a pivoted arm 37, to which is attached the sliding clutch 65, mounted on a shaft 38 to rotate therewith. On the shaft 38 are mounted two loose bevel- wheels 39 and 40, gearing with a fixed bevel-wheel 41, arranged at the end of the above-mentioned driving-shaft 5. On said shaft 38 a fixed gear-wheel 42 is arranged, said gear-wheel engaging with a fixed gear-wheel 43, arranged at the inner end of the shaft 44, parallel to a continuation of the abovemen tioned shaft 38. On the reversely-rotating shafts 38 and 44 gear- wheels 45 and 46 are mounted, said gear-wheels engaging with racks 47, arranged on the lower surfaces of the alternately-acting clutches or pushers 48 49, provided with pushing claws or projections 51, pressed up by springs, which yield under the weight of the boards in the magazine 2 when the pushers are retracted. The operation of the above-described mechan ism is as follows: When the cam 33 on the gear-wheel 32 pushes the pivoted lever 34 outward against the spring 50, the abovementioned clutch is brought into such a position as to lock the bevel-wheel 40 to the shaft 38, so that said shaft is driven by means of the .main shaft 5 and its bevelwheel 41, thereby moving the pusher 48 in one direction and driving the pusher 49 in the other direction through the gear-wheel 43 and the oppositely-rotating shaft 44. When, however, the said cam 33 is not in engagement with the lever-arm 34, the spring 50 pulls said lever-arm inward and operates the above-mentioned clutch to lock the bevelwheel 39 to the shaft 38, thereby causing said shaft to be driven in the opposite direction by the main shaft 5 through its bevelwheel 41, and so causing the pushers 48 and 49 also to move, respectively, in the opposite directions to the directions in which they moved when the shaft 38 was locked to the bevel-wheel 40. By this arrangement I am enabled to get a continuous forward drive for the planks or boards passing from the magazine.

The machine preferably comprises a gluewiper 8, carried by an arm 7 and operated from the pusher-frames through a connection 9 in such a manner that just before each of the boards 1 is pushed forward from the magazine 2 said wiper will rise from the gluetank 10, so as to apply a small amount of glue or other suitable adhesive to the front edge of the board, and as the pusher comes forward the connection 9 is so arranged that it will permit the arm 7 to fall to allow the board to be pushed forward between the upper and lower guides 11, which are formed as a grid, as will be understood from Figs. 7, 8, and 9. A series of wheels 60, driven in any suitable manner, are arranged in front of the wiper, as shown, and are adapted to engage with the upper surface of the board and carry it forward between the guides 11. A clutch or back-stop 12 is arranged inside the abovementioned upper guides 11, said, clutch or back-stop being preferably in the form of a wire brush or the like pressing against the surface of said board and allowing it to pass forward, but not to return. Mounted on said guides I arrange upper and lower dust-fans 13, (see Fig. 6,) adapted to pick up sawdust from the reeeptacl es 14 and dust it over the newlymade glue joints formed between the boards in the said assembling-machine. In front of said fans I arrange a top and bottom series of brushes 15, staggered in order to cover the whole surface of the board, as shown in Fig. 7, and adapted to carry the compo-board core through the machine and to brush. off the superfluous glue which has been formed at the joints of the boards, the said glue having been previously dusted by the abovementioned sawdust-fans. The brushes 15 are inclosed in a casing 67, to which. is supplied hot air to dry the newly-made joints of the board or core and to carry off through the exhaust-opening 68 the sawdust and glue which has been removed by the brushes.

In front of the cleaning-brushes I arrange upper and lower paste-tanks 16, from which a coating of paste or cement is conveyed to the board passing through the machine by means of brushes 1?, adapted to pick up the cement from the rollers immersed in the tanks 16. Beyond the paste-tanks I arrange upper and lower blanketed pressing-rollers 18, suitably heated and adapted, respectively, to press against and spread a lining of paper or other suitable covering on the upper and lower faces of the board, the paper or covering being fed from the rolls 20 over the guiding-rollers 21 to the aforementioned pressingrollers 18. The above-described pressingrollers rotate at the same speed as the board and assist the progress thereof.

It will be readily understood that as the whole weight of the top roller bears on the compo-board as it passes through the machine and presses it against the lower roller the top and bottom paper or other coverings are pressed firmly against the board. The resulting core or finished board 19 coming from the said pressing-rollers can be trimmed at the edges and cut into lengths and further dealt with as needful.

A special feature of the above-described process is the extremely small amount of cementing material requisite in consequence of the faces of the board or core being so perfectly smooth. Consequently the little moisture contained is readily absorbed by the highly-dried board and paper faces without causing any damage by swelling in the structure of the finished product.

If a heavier and more rigid board is requiredfor instance, in the manufacture of a very stiff partition lining or board for ceilings or for more or less fireproof divisionsa somewhat different method of assembling is necessary. In constructing this heavier board it is necessary to interpose a thick coating of cementing material between the core and one or both of the paper faces. An apparatus for carrying out this process is shown in Figs. 12 and 13, in which the thick paste or cementing material is fed onto the board from I upper and lower cementtanks 27 through spouts 31. The tanks are joined by a common funnel 28, through which the paste is introduced. At the end of the tanks plungers 29 are arranged, adapted to come forward and force the paste out through the spouts 31 in said tanks against the upper and lower faces of the board. After the paste has been fed onto the board the latter passes between grooved rollers 26, which form the cementing material on the faces of the board into ridges or rows corresponding with the grooves of the rollers,while the intervening spaces correspond to the projecting parts of the rollers. These ridges or rows of cement are leveled by the pressingrollers when the board passes between them and receives its upper and lower faces of paper, said cement being squeezed out over the whole surface of the paper and firmly pressed upon the core to an amount corresponding to the setting of said lining-rollers and the quality of the cementing material.

What I claim is- 1. l The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals form pieces of wood, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinaledges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form acontinuous sheet of any desired length, applying adhesive material to both faces of said continuous sheet, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material over both adhesive faces of the continuous sheet, and subjecting the lined continuous sheet to pressure so that all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

2. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of wood of small and irregular sizes, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, applying adhesive material to both faces of said continuous sheet, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material over both. adhesive faces of the continuous sheet, and subjecting the lined continuous sheet to pressure so that all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

3. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of wood, cutting said.

deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, and joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, substantially as described.

4. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of wood of small and irregular sizes, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, and joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, substantially as described.

5. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of wood cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any,de sired length, applying adhesive material to both faces of said continuous sheet, applying a lining or facing to both adhesive sides or faces of said sheet, and then subjecting the lined or faced continuous sheet to pressure so that the elements or layers thereof are firmly squeezed together.

6. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of Wood of small and ir regular sizes, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a comound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, applying adhesive material to both faces of said continuous sheet, applying a lining or facing to both adhesive sides or faces of said sheet, and then subjecting the lined or faced continuous sheet to pressure so that the elements or layers thereof are firmly squeezed together.

7. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of Wood, cutting said deals into thin boards, oining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board sections from, said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, feeding a thick layer of fire and Water proof cement on both faces of said continuous sheet, forming said fire and Water proof cement into ridges, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material on both faces of said continuous sheet over the ridges of fire and Water proof cement, and subjecting the lined continuous sheet to pressure so that the fire and Water proof cement is squeezed out evenly between said linings and sheet over the Whole surface of both and all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

S. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of Wood of small and irregular sizes, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board,joining said boardsections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, feeding a thick layer of fire and Water proof cement on both faces of said continuous sheet forming said fire and Water proof cement into ridges, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material on both faces of said continuous sheet over the ridges of fire and Water proof cement, and subjecting the lined continuous sheet to pressure so that the fire and Water proof cement is squeezed out evenly between said linings and sheet over the Whole surface of both and. all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

9. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets, consisting in building up deals from pieces of Wood, cutting said deals into thin boards, joining a plurality of said thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal board-sections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any de-' sired length, feeding a thick layer of fire and Water proof cement on one face of said continuous sheet, forming said fire and Water proof cement into ridges, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material on both faces of said continuous sheet over the ridges of fire and Water proof cement and subjecting said lined or faced continuous sheet to pressure so that the fire and Water proof cement is squeezed out evenly between said lining and sheet and over the Whole surface of both and all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

10. The process of producing compo-board in continuous sheets consisting in building up deals from pieces of Wood of small and irregular sizes, cutting said deals into thin boards along their longitudinal edges to form a compound board, cutting equal boardsections from said compound board, joining said board-sections at their edges to form a continuous sheet of any desired length, feeding a thick layer of fire and Water proof cement on one face of said continuous sheet, forming said fire and Water proof cement into ridges, spreading a lining or facing of suitable material on both faces of said continuous sheet over the ridges of fire and Water proof cement, and subjecting said lined or faced continuous sheet to pressure so that the fire and Waterproof cement is squeezed out evenly between said lining and sheet and over the Whole surface of both and all are firmly pressed together, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE SKAATS MAYHElV.

Witnesses:

LEoNARD E. HAYNEs, ARTHUR V. STEPHENS.

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