Patent ID: 9309077
Filing Date: 2016-04-12
CPC Classification: B23Q,B65H

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for receiving and positioning veneers fed by a conveyor belt to a position, the apparatus comprising: grippers for gripping the veneers, at least one gripper being disposed on each side of the feeding direction center line of the veneer and the grippers being configured to be independently movable with respect to each other in the feeding direction; and detection means for detecting one of a location and a position of the veneers on the conveyor belt, wherein the detection means communicate with the grippers and comprise at least a camera, and wherein the grippers are arranged to reciprocate in the feeding direction of the veneers to grip each successive veneer on its leading edge side and to align the leading edge side of the veneer by independent movement of the grippers on each side of the feeding direction center line in the feeding direction, for the veneer to correspond to the position of the veneer in the veneer assembly, in response to information provided by the camera; wherein the apparatus comprises rails located on both sides of the center line, extending in the feeding direction of the veneers, along which rails the grippers are arranged to move, and that on each rail is formed a first gripper and a second gripper, the first gripper being disposed on a side of the rail, and the second gripper being disposed on an opposing side of the rail, while the grippers are arranged to move in opposite directions so that while one of the first and second gripper is gripping the veneer and moving the veneer forward in the feeding direction, the other gripper on the opposing side of the rail moves in the opposite direction in order to be ready to receive the next veneer.