WO2003046839A1

WO2003046839A1 - A method for quality classification of different materials

Info

Publication number: WO2003046839A1
Application number: PCT/SE2002/002092
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roland Petersson
Original assignee: Roland Petersson
Priority date: 2001-11-28
Filing date: 2002-11-18
Publication date: 2003-06-05
Also published as: SE518557C2; AU2002353694A1; SE0103988L

Abstract

The present invention refers to a method for quality classification of different materials such as beams, tubes, sheet units, details of different kinds, and also foodstuffs, which materials are manufactured by wood, plastic, metal, carton, nutritive substances or combinations of these materials, by providing the material with at least one quality mark, which is placed on at least one place on the material somewhere in the manufacturing chain, when the material is manufactured. The material somewhere in the manufacturing chain is provided with at least one secret code, which is sent to and/or is documented in at least one code register (5) together with information about what the quality mark includes or means, which secret code in the code register (5) confirms if the quality mark created during the quality classification is false or genuine.

Description

A method for quality classification of different materials

The present invention refers to a method for classification of different materials, which decreases the risk of falsification of a quality marked material such as wood, metal, plastic, foodstuffs but preferable timber, which has been provided with quality marks somewhere in a manufacturing chain after having been broken up from timber into planking and boards to different qualities and dimensions, by applying a secret code onto the surface of the broken up timber, which can confirm its quality and other information when the code is solved , which can be found in a code register, whereby a falsification of said quality mark on the broken up timber is made difficult or prevented.

On the market today existing methods of this type take place use a classification and quality marking of the material, preferable the broken up timber in applying a visible quality mark somewhere on the surface of the broken up timber. In a rational sawmill a classification takes place more or less automatic by a measuring equipment, which measures strength and dimensions. This information is written out by aid of a marking equipment, preferable an inkjet writer or by aid of a colour spraying from nozzles or by stamping colour from stamp pads, so that the quality mark is applied on the surface of the broken up timber. This can also be made by using another method. The quality marking consists of predetermined known letter- and numeral combinations, which can be recognized by those skilled in the art and which are used preferable in sawmills after given rules, e.g. EU-rules, so that the broken up timber receives its quality mark, which shows and guarantee certain information about its quality, its manufacturing place in the form of a logotype, its manufacturing class, its strength class, if the timber is not marked, its standard, its moisture quota, its kind of wood, the licence number of the manufacturer and sometimes also the dimension of the timber. Higher qualities of the broken up timber stand more loading and therefore can be used as structure material in e.g. roof trusses. Timber of bad quality is cheaper than the higher quality and cannot be used as structure material. The quality marks are placed on the surfaces of the planking and/or boards, so that these after further machining can be cut off or planed off, so that the quality mark disappears from a large part of the timber. Such a timber, which has a lower quality has a lower price and can be sold with or without intension as a timber having higher quality, whereby this timber can be used as a structure material and therefore not stand the required load and thus cause serious accidents. Further, the customer which is intended to buy the broken up timber will not always be guaranteed the correct quality, since a quality mark can be counterfeited, since a fraudulent proceeding of the quality marking gives a larger economic profit without that a large risk exists that the counterfeiter is revealed, since it is almost impossible to be quite sure about that a quality mark is genuine.

An object with the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks existing with the method mentioned above, so that it is simple to control if the quality mark of the material/broken up timber is genuine in providing the same with a secret code, which can confirm the originality of the quality mark.

Thanks to the present invention a method has now been provided which makes it easy to control that the quality mark is genuine, so that the quality of the material, preferable of the broken up timber, corresponds to the quality mark. A visible secret code is applied on at least one place on the surface of broken up timber, preferably when the timber is measured and quality classified by a measurement equipment and/or by skilled personal, whereby the timber is quality marked. The secret code is applied preferably on one short side of each planking/ board by a marking equipment. The secret code is created preferably by a hazard generator or is created in some other way. Thereafter it has electronically been sent away to a computer, in which a code register is present or the secret code has been manually filed in a manual code register. The person having access to the code register can get information about what the secret code means, i.e. to what the broken up timber once has been classified to as the quality of the timber, its manufacturing place in the form of a logotype, its manufacturing class, its strength class, if the timber is not marked, its standard, its moisture quota, its kind of wood, the licence number of the manufacturer and sometimes also the dimension of the timber and furthermore the manufacturing point of time. The secret code is chosen so that the person machining said broken up timber is not able to solve its meaning. A new machining process requires a new quality classification, which gives a new secret code. The secret code is changed continuosly at different manufacturing point of times during the quality marking, so that also these can be read from the secret code. The secret code includes a number of letters and/or numerals, a line code or other graphic formations, which are visable somewhere on the surface of the broken up timber, preferable together with the quality mark on the gable end of the planking/board. During the quality marking a predetermined amount of the broken up timber e.g. each planking/board or each bundle of planking/boards receives the same secret code if they have the same quality and dimension, manufacturing place and manufacturing point of time. This code is in this case stored in the code register, which can be manually saved as documentation on paper and/or stored in one or more local computers and/or in a main computer. The code register can only be reached by predetermined persons, which control the originality of the quality mark. In a preferred embodiment example of the invention a hazard generator is used, which randomly creates the secret codes, which are stored in a computer together with a belonging quality mark. This occurs preferably during the very quality calssificating. This computor is connected via internet to a main computor. The computor is sending the secret codes to the main computor for creating the code register in the main computor, which is placed at a controlling authority, e.g. an official authority, so that the secret codes together with the information about the meaning of the secret codes. Selected control persons having access to the secret codes of the register, can solve the secret codes placed on the surface of the broken up timber, so that they can control that the codes on the broken up timber correspond to the secret code in the code register. This can be done by a spot test or continuosly anywhere after that the broken up timber has received its secret code and its quality mark. If the secret code cannot be verified, the quality mark is not corrrect, whereby the same in this case is a falsification. Then the control persons can by aid of a control equipment in the form of an optical reader or the like read the secret code on the broken up timber, whereby the control equipment is in contact with the code register during the work of the controller or when the same contacts via internet or any other communication the main computer in order to acheive quick answers about the originality of the quality mark. The security can be further increased against falsification if the marking equipment and/or the control equipment is sealed, whereby an undue handling is made difficult. Then the quality marking cannot be made by unauthorized persons. In an alternative embodiment example of the invention the code register is owned locally e.g a sawmill, so that it is stored in a computer for internal control, so that the customers of the sawmill can ask there about information regarding the quality marking of the timber. The most important advantages of the invention are in other words that a metod has been provided which make a falsification more difficult of quality marks and that the originality of the quality mark rapidly and easily can be checked, so that a correct quality of the broken up timber in much higher extent than before can be guaranteed. The risk for accidents is further decreased owing to that worse qualities cannot be used as structure timber in the same extent as before. The invention described above can of course also be used for other materials than broken up timber such as beams, tubes, sheet units, details of different kinds, which are maunfactured of plastic, metal, carton or combinations of these materials in order to check that the quality mark corresponds to the secret code in the code register. The invention can of course also be used on foodstuffs.

The invention will now be described in more detail below with the aid of a preferred embodiment example with reference to the accompanying drawing, on which

Fig. 1 shows a flux circuit over how the metod occurs in a first variant according to the invention.

As can be seen closer from the embodiment example of the invention illustrated in fig. 1, a flux circuit is shown according to which timber is broken up in a first step into planking and boards. A measuring equipment 1 quality classifies the broken up timber in a second step, when a computor 2 by aid of a hazard generator 3 randomly creates secret codes, which are placed somewhere on a surface of the broken up timber by a marking equipment 7, whereby the quality marking takes place in a third step.

The computor 2 is connected via internet or another communication to a central or main computor 4, where a code register 5 is located, in which the secret codes are stored together with the information of the quality mark about the broken up timber. In a forth step a control takes place of the quality mark by reading the secret code on the broken up timber by aid of a measuring equipment 6, which via internet or in any other way is connected to the code register 5 in the main computor 4.

Claims

1. A method for quality classification of different materials such as beams, tubes, sheet units, details of different kinds, and also foodstuffs, which materials are manufactured by wood, plastic, metal, carton, nutritive substances or combinations of these materials, by providing the material with at least one quality mark, which is placed on at least one place on the material somewhere in a manufacturing chain, when the material is manufactured, characterized in that the material somewhere in the manufacturing chain is provided with at least one secret code, which is sent to and/or is documented in at least one code register (5) together with information about what the quality mark includes or means, which secret code in the code register (5) confirms if the quality mark created during the quality classification is false or genuine.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the material consists of broken up timber, which during the manufacturing chain has been divided into pieces from timber into planking and/or boards of different qualities and/or dimensions.

3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the timber is divided during a first step into planking and/or boards, whereby a measuring equipment (1) quality classifies the broken up timber in a second step, when a computer (2) by aid of a hazard generator (3) randomly creates the secret codes, which are placed onto the broken up timber by a marking equipment (7) in a third step.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the computor (2) is connected to internet or by another communication to a main computor (4), where the code register (5) is and to which the secret code is sent from the computor (2) to the main computor (4), whereby the secret codes are stored together with information which the broken up timber has been quality classified to in the code register (5), whereby a control of the originality of the quality mark can take place in a forth step by reading the secret code on the broken up timber and comparing the same with the secret code in the code register (5).

5. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the secret code is read by a measuring equipment (6), which has contact with the code register (5).

6. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the code register (5) is stored in at least one of the following ways and/or places, such as documentation in a manual code register, in the computor (2) or in the main computor (4) .

7. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secret code contains at least some of the following information about the material or the quality of the broken up timber, manufacturing place in the form of a logotype, its manufacturing class, its strength class, if the timber is unmarked, its standard, its moisture quota, its kind of wood, the licence number of the manufacturer, the dimension of the timber and manufacturing point of time.

8. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secret code is changed continuously at different manufacturing points of time.

9. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secret code includes at least some of the following graphic formations such as a number of letters, numerals, a line code.

10. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the quality mark and/or the secret code is applied onto the gable end of the planking/ board.

11. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secret code is applied onto the broken up timber on e.g. each planking/board, each bundle of planking/boards having the same quality and dimension, manufacturing place, manufacturing point of time.

12. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that a controlling authority, e.g. an official authority receives and stores the secret codes together with the information about what the secret codes mean, so that only these controllers have access to the secret codes of the register.

3. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the marking equipment (7) and/or the control equipment are sealed, so that an undue handling is made more difficult.