Patent ID: 6778680
Filing Date: 2004-08-17
Classification: B27L,Y10T

Abstract:
An apparatus for detecting markings previously formed on opposite end faces of a wood block which has an axial length and is to be placed in a rotary veneer lathe having a pair of spindles, comprising:a pair of movable support members for supporting the block in such orientation that the axial length of the block extends across a direction in which said support members are moved; drive means for independently and controllably moving said support members from a first detecting station through a second detecting station to a third station; first and second pairs of image sensor means, the image sensor means of the first pair having lenses disposed so as to face the opposite end faces of the block positioned at the first detecting station and image pickup devices on which images of the markings through the lenses thereof are produced, the image sensor means of the second pair having lenses disposed so as to face said end faces of the block positioned at the second detecting station and image pickup devices on which images of the marking through the lenses thereof are produced, and the lenses of the image sensor means of the first pair having a focal length smaller than that of the lenses of the image sensor means of the second pair; image processing means connected to each of said image sensor means for determining displacement of the image of the marking produced on the image pickup device of each image sensor means with respect to a predetermined reference point on said each image pickup device; and control means receiving information of the marking image displacement from said image processing means and operable to compute, based on information of the displacement of the marking images produced on the image pickup devices of the image sensor means of the first pair, distances and the directions of movement of the respective support members necessary for the markings on the block at the first detecting station to move to positions corresponding to the reference points on the image pickup devices of the image sensor means of the second pair and then to generate signals which causes said drive means to move said support members independently for the computed distance in the computed direction toward the second detecting station, said control means being operable also to compute, on the basis of information of the displacement of the marking images produced on the image pickup devices of the image sensor means of the second pair, the distances and the directions of movement of the respective support members necessary for the markings on the block at the second detecting station to move to predetermined positions at the third station and then to generate signals which causes said drive means to move said support members independently for the computed distance in the computed direction toward the third station, whereby at the third station the block is set with longitudinal axis thereof defined by the markings extending in parallel to axes of the spindles of the rotary veneer lathe.