Joining method and apparatus of single veneer piece

Abstract

This invention provides joining methods of single veneer piece and a joining apparatus, which can produce more efficient, and effective joining process than the conventional method and apparatus produce. In the process of carrying a single veneer piece (T) in the orthogonal direction against the joining edge (Te) on the conveyor, the joining edges of the preceding and succeeding single veneer pieces come close together, the adhesive material (Sd) is supplied to the clearance between the joining edges, and then the adhesion enhancing action is supplied to the said adhesive material (Sd) to join each single veneer piece (T) successively. The adhesion enhancing action can be applied within the adhesion enhancing section as indicated by lines (Z 1 ) and (Z 2 ), provided on the farther side from the edge approaching position (U) via an adhesion enhancing component ( 6 ) to move back and forth at any time while the single veneer piece (T) is being carried or such a motion is halted. And such adhesive enhancing action is applied first to the adhesive material (Sd) which has been supplied for adhering the joining edge positioned on the farthest side in a carrying direction all the time.

1. A method of joining veneers, in which a number of veneers to be joined are sequentially carried with intervals therebetween in a perpendicular direction to joining edges of the veneers such that said veneers are fed to pass a predetermined edge approaching position, each veneer having an upstream end edge and a downstream end edge, said veneers including a given veneer and preceding veneers on the downstream side of said given veneer, said method including the steps of:
 halting said feed of the veneers the moment when the upstream end edge of said given veneer reaches said predetermined edge approaching position, said veneers further including a succeeding veneer on the upstream of said predetermined edge approaching position;  
 resuming the feed of said veneers when the downstream end edge of said succeeding veneer reaches said predetermined edge approaching position to abut against the upstream end edge of said given veneer;  
 halting the feed of said veneers when the upstream end edge of said succeeding veneer reaches said predetermined edge approaching position;  
 repeating the preceding steps whenever a further succeeding veneer is fed from the upstream side of said edge approaching position such that a group of such veneers having joining edges of adjoining veneers kept in close abutment against each other are subjected to an alternate halt and resumption of the feed;  
 supplying an appropriate amount of adhesive material to a limited area between the joining edges of said adjoining veneers or on part of at least either one of upper and lower sides of the respective veneers at an appropriate period from the time when any one of said veneers starts to be carried from upstream of said predetermined edge approaching position to the time when the respective adjoining veneers are brought into the close abutment ; and  
 applying an adhesion enhancing action to said adhesive material on each member of the group of veneers by adhesion enhancing means, wherein at least said step of applying the adhesion enhancing action is performed in an adhesion enhancing zone having a predetermined length and established on the downstream side of said edge approaching position, said adhesion enhancing means is moved to a position due above said joining edges of the adjoining veneers kept in close abutment against each other to come into synchronization with the feed and the halt thereof of said group of veneers to keep a positional relationship corresponding to said adhesive material for a predetermined period whether said group of veneers are being in motion or at a halt, said adhesion enhancing action is performed first on said joining edges of the adjoining veneers kept in close abutment against each other and thereafter, by moving said adhesion enhancing means in an upstream direction to work on next upstream ones sequentially, whereby said adhesion enhancing action is capable of being performed both while said veneers are being fed and the feed thereof is halted, wherein the veneers to be joined have different dimensions.  
 
     
     
       2. A method of joining veneers as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein said supply of the adhesive material is performed on the upstream of the edge approaching position. 
     
     
       3. A method of joining veneers as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein said supply of the adhesive material is performed after the joining edge of adjoining veneers are brought into a close abutment with each other. 
     
     
       4. A method of joining veneers as set forth in  claim 3 , wherein said supply of the adhesive material and said adhesion enhancing action are performed simultaneously. 
     
     
       5. A veneer joining apparatus, comprising:
 a veneer carrying-in means ( 1 ,  1 a) sequentially carrying a number of veneers to be joined in a direction perpendicular to the joining edges (Te) at intervals to an edge approaching position (U, U 1 );  
 a veneer carrying-out means ( 3 ,  15 ) to discharge said veneers from said edge approaching position;  
 a distance measuring member ( 2 a) to measure a feed distance of a veneer to be fed from said veneer carrying-in means to said veneer carrying-out means;  
 an edge detection device ( 9 ) to detect that either of upstream and downstream joining edges of a veneer has reached said edge approaching position (U, U 1 );  
 an adhesive material supply member ( 4 ,  17 ) adapted to supply an adhesive material to at least one of said upstream and downstream joining edges of the veneer in an appropriate amount and intensively on either of the upstream and downstream sides of said edge approaching position (U, U 1 );  
 adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) adapted to reciprocate within a limited range downstream of said edge approaching position in synchronization with said carrying-out means to allow said veneer to run and halt for adhesion enhancing action and out of synchronization with said carrying-out means to allow said veneer to run and halt before or after said adhesion enhancing action; and  
 a controller ( 10 , 18 ) adapted to operate in response to signals from said distance measuring member ( 2 a) and said edge detection device ( 9 );  
 in which the upstream joining edge of a veneer being carried into said carrying-out means reaches said edge approaching position to be detected by said edge detection device ( 9 ) to issue a first signal such that said carrying-out means allows said veneer to be halted in response to said first signal and then, the downstream joining edge of a succeeding veneer being carried in by said carrying-in means ( 1 ,  1 a) reaches said edge approaching position (U) to be detected by said edge detection device ( 9 ) to issue a second signal such that said carrying-out means allows the veneer and the succeeding veneer to run such that a group of veneers downstream of said edge approaching position are maintained in a close abutment with one another every time said upstream and downstream joining edges of the veneers are detected by said edge detection device ( 9 );  
 said edge detection device being adapted to detect either one of the upstream and downstream joining edges of the veneers to issue the signals to cause said adhesive material supplying member ( 4 ,  17 ) to supply the adhesive material onto said either one of the upstream and downstream joining edges of a single veneer on the upstream side of said edge approaching position (U, U 1 ) and on the downstream side of said edge approaching position (U, U 1 ) to cause said adhesive material supplying member ( 4 ,  17 ) to supply the adhesive material onto an area between the joining edges of adjoining veneers or part of a limited area on at least either one of upper and lower sides of the respective veneers;  
 said adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) being moved, when said adhesive materials are determined to have sequentially reached said limited range by said signals from said edge detection device ( 9 ) and said distance measuring member ( 2 a), to a position corresponding to said adhesive materials in synchronization of the running and halting operation of said carrying-out conveyor and operated to perform the adhesion enhancing action when said veneers are in motion;  
 said adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) being moved to a position corresponding to said adhesive materials in synchronization of the halting and running operation of said carrying-out conveyor to perform the adhesion enhancing action when said carrying-out conveyor is at a halt such that said adhesion enhancing action at said corresponding position is maintained for a predetermined period, said adhesion enhancing action being performed on the adhesive material at the most downstream position.  
 
     
     
       6. A veneer joining apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein said adhesive material supply member ( 4 ,  17 ) and said adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) are adapted to integrally run in a veneer feeding direction and halt, said controller ( 10 ,  18 ) operating such that the carrying-out means is run until the upstream joining edge of a carried-out veneer is detected to have reached said edge approaching position (U, U 1 ) by said edge detection device ( 9 ) to issue a first detection signal in response to which said carrying-out means allows said carried-out veneer to be halted;
 the downstream edge of a carried-in veneer carried in by said carrying-in conveyor being detected to have reached said edge approaching position (U, U 1 ) to issue a second detection signal in response to which said carrying-out means allows said carried-out veneer to run again such that veneers on downstream side of the edge approaching position are grouped with adjoining veneers maintained in close abutment with one another, the joining edges of said adjoining veneers being detected to sequentially reach said limited range on the basis of said first and second detection signals from said edge detection device ( 9 ) and the feed distance obtained by said distance measuring member ( 2 a);  
 said adhesive material supply member ( 4 ,  17 ) and said adhesion enhancing means being moved to a position corresponding to the adjoining edges of the veneers and operated to perform the adhesive material supply and the adhesion enhancing action simultaneously onto a limited range of either of the upper and lower side of each veneer in synchronization with the carrying-out means while said carrying-out means allows the veneers to be in motion;  
 said adhesive material supply member ( 4 ,  17 ) and said adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) stopping said adhesion supply action and said adhesion enhancing action after maintaining said corresponding position for the predetermined time; said adhesive material supply member ( 4 ,  17 ) and said adhesion enhancing means (C, C 1 ) being controlled to perform said movement to said corresponding position from a downstream position to an upstream position.  
 
     
     
       7. A veneer joining apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein said carrying-in conveyor and said carrying-out means are comprised of:
 an anvil roll ( 19 ) adapted to feed veneers in a direction perpendicular to joining edges thereof;  
 upstream conveyor means ( 21 ) provided upstream of said anvil roll ( 19 ) to supply veneers to said anvil roll;  
 intermittent conveyor members ( 31 ,  31 a) holding veneers tightly from above and below to carry the veneers intermittently and adapted to rotate between a raised position and lowered position about a rotation axis located at a position spaced by a predetermined distance on the downstream side of an upstream edge of the veneer, said intermittent conveyor members having a distance measuring device ( 32 ) to detect a veneer feed distance;  
 a cutting blade ( 22 ) provided reciprocally movable toward and away from said anvil roll ( 19 );  
 an open-and-close classifier ( 27 ) provided downstream of said anvil roll ( 19 ) in parallel to an upstream end of said intermittent conveyor ( 31 ,  31 a) and adapted to rotate about a rotation axis at a distance from a tip thereof pointing to an upstream direction to take a raised position to close communication with said anvil roll and a lower position to open communication with said anvil roll and also adapted to sustain both positions;  
 a veneer detection device ( 25 ,  26 ,  26 a) provided upstream of said anvil roll to detect a border line between the utilizable portion and unnecessary portion of the veneer carried on the upstream conveyor means;  
 said adhesive material supply member ( 17 ) and said adhesion enhancing member (C, C 1 ) being adapted to integrally run and halt in the limited area in a feed path constituted by said intermittent conveyor member ( 31 ,  31 a);  
 said upstream conveyor means ( 21 ) and said anvil roll being run, said intermittent conveyor members ( 31 ,  31 a) being halted, said intermittent conveyor members and said open-and-close classifier ( 27 ) integrally taking the raised position at upstream end thereof;  
 said veneer detection device ( 25 ,  26 ,  26 a) detecting said border line at the downstream end portion of said veneer carried on the upstream conveyor means ( 21 );  
 said running of the upstream conveyor means ( 21 ) and the anvil roll ( 19 ) being halted upon said detection of said border line, said cutting blade ( 22 ) being reciprocally moved;  
 said intermittent conveyor members ( 31 ,  31 a) and said open-and-close classifier ( 27 ) being integrally rotated at upstream ends thereof to take the lowered position;  
 said upstream conveyor means ( 21 ), said anvil roll ( 19 ) and said intermittent conveyor members ( 31 ,  31 a) being started to run;  
 said veneer detection device ( 25 ,  26 ,  26 a) detecting a border line in said veneer at an upstream end thereof;  
 said upstream conveyor means, said anvil roll and said intermittent conveyor members being adapted to be halted in response to said detection of the border line;  
 said cutting blade being reciprocated before said intermittent conveyor members and said open-and-close classifier being rotated to take a raised position at upstream ends thereof to standby;  
 said upstream conveyor means and said anvil roll being run;  
 said intermittent conveyor members being adapted to hold veneers having unnecessary parts cut off with the joining edges of adjoining veneers maintained in a close abutment with each other by controlling such that sequentially succeeding veneers fed by said upstream conveyor means have downstream and upstream border lines thereof detected by said veneer detection device;  
 said edges of the respective veneers in close abutment being detected upon sequentially reaching said limited area by a signal from said distance measuring instrument ( 32 ) detecting said adhesive material supply member and said adhesion enhancing means being fed to, in case said intermittent conveyor member is in motion, to a position corresponding to said edges of the veneers to supply adhesive materials and perform said adhesion enhancing action in synchronization with said intermittent conveyor members being run and halted, and in case said intermittent conveyor member is being halted, to said position corresponding to said edges of the veneers to supply adhesive materials and perform said adhesion enhancing action in synchronization with said intermittent conveyor members being halted and run for a predetermined period; and  
 said adhesive material supply members and said adhesion enhancing members being moved to said corresponding positions to apply adhesive materials and perform adhesion enhancing actions on an adhesive material at the most downstream position for sequentially fed veneers within said limited area.