WOODEN FLAGSTAFF AS WELL AS A METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF

Abstract: A wooden flagstaff is composed of a plurality of long narrow starting components mutually agglutinated via flat surfaces (8), each one of which components being made of a number of end-wise interconnected wood pieces (7), e.g. boards having a limited length. At least one of the components is provided with a recess (11) extending along the entire length of the component, which recess has the purpose of forming a through air-duct (6) located in the centre of the staff, through which moisture may be evacuated from the interior of the staff. After agglutination, the components form a workpiece, which in a concluding step is turned to a complete flagstaff having the conventional, round shape.

Description: WOODEN FLAGSTAFF AS WELL AS A METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Background of the Invention In older times, flagstaffs were always manufactured of wood, more precisely by turning (in a lathe) solid logs having the same length as the completed flagstaff. An aggravating nuisance with wooden flagstaffs has, however, always been that the material has a tendency to rot. Thus, even after careful and long drying of the log material out of which the staff is made, longitudinal surface cracks arise through which moisture may penetrate into the heart of the staff and, as time goes, give rise to rot attacks, above all in the bottom portion of the staff. Therefore, wooden flagstaffs generally have a limited service life. For this reason, manufacturers and buyers have, since decades ago, to a large extent changed to flagstaffs of plastics, which have a considerably longer service life and may as well, be manufactured without distinction of longer drying or other preliminaries. Although the majority of the flagstaffs which are sold in today's modern society consist of plastic staffs, there is, however, still a certain market for wooden flagstaffs. Thus, certain categories of buyers, e.g. church administrations, local folklore societies, individual house-own- ers, etc., prefer the natural material of wood to the synthetic plastic material, in such flagstaffs that should harmonize with, for instance, wooden buildings. To ' supply this market with wooden flagstaffs is, however, troublesome for the manufacturer, not only for the reason that wood has a tendency to rot, but also for the following reason: As initially pointed out, the log materials for conventional wooden flagstaffs have to be dried during a certain time. In practice, the drying period for common sorts of wood, such as fir and pine, may amount to one year or more. This means that the manufacturer has to purchase full-length logs far before de ¬ finitive orders have arrived, inasmuch as most buyers desire delivery in a considerably shorter period of time than one year. Since the demand on wooden flagstaffs may vary most considerably from one time to another, the manufacturer has to choose between either investing considerable amounts of money in advance in the purchase of logs for long-time drying at the prospect of possible, future orders, or work with very long delivery times. None of these two alternatives is attractive, neither for the manufacturer nor for the buyer (who in the first-mentioned case is affected by high prices) . Objects and Features of the Invention The present invention aims at overcoming the above- mentioned problems. Thus, a primary object of the invention is to provide a wooden flagstaff which not only has an improved ability to resist rot attacks in comparison with conventional wooden flagstaffs, but also may be manufactured in a smooth and cost-efficient way while guaranteeing short delivery times, irrespective of large variations in demand. According to the invention, this object is attained by means of a flagstaff of the type defined in claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the flagstaff according to the invention are furthermore defined in the dependent claims 2-5. In a particular aspect, the invention also relates to a method for the manufacture of wooden flagstaffs . The features of the method according to the invention are evident from claim 6. Brief Description of the Appended Drawing In the drawing Fig 1 is a perspective view of a wooden flagstaff according to the invention, shown in a distorted scale, Fig 2 is a cross-section through a work piece for the manu- facture of the flagstaff according to fig 1, shown on an enlarged scale, Fig 3 is a partial side view of the work piece according to fig 2, and Fig 4 is a cross-section analogous to fig 2 of an alterna- tive embodiment of a flagstaff work piece. Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments of the Invention The wooden flagstaff 1 illustrated in fig 1 has, in a conventional way, a basic shape which is rotary symmetric and tapering towards a top end. More precisely, a lower portion 2 is substantially cylinder-shaped, while an upper portion 3 tapers cone-shapedly from a transition line 4 to the top end 5. In practice, the diameter of the bottom portion 2 may be ap- proximately twice as large as the diameter at the top end 5. The forming of the envelope surface of the staff takes, in practice, place by means of a specially designed lathe. Like conventional wooden flagstaffs, the cross-section measure of the staff varies depending on the length of the staff (which usually is within the range of 7-14 metres) . For instance, a 10 metre long flagstaff may have a largest diameter of 100 mm and a diameter of 50 mm at the top end. Longer flagstaffs are thicker, while shorter staffs are more slender. According to a feature being characteristic for the invention, a centrally located, through channel 6 is provided in the staff. Although the cross section shape of this channel is not of crucial importance, the same may be circular. This means that the channel becomes cylindrical having one and the same diameter along the entire length of the staff. In prac- tice, this diameter may advantageously be within the range of 15-25 mm. Reference is now made to figures 2 and 3, which schematically illustrate a first manufacturing alternative making use of wood pieces in the shape of boards or planks. In a con- ventional way, these boards are of a parallelepipedical basic shape; more precisely a flat shape, which is defined by two opposite, parallel major faces 8 and two narrower edge faces 9. The manufacture takes place in the following way. In a first step, boards having varying lengths are interconnected end-wise, preferably by agglutination. Thus, in fig 3 a finger joint 10 is exemplified between two sequential boards 7, which in practice are fed forward after each other in a manufacturing line for agglutination. When a sufficient number of boards having varying lengths have been end-jointed, the same are cut off while forming a starting component, the length of which corresponds to a desired length of the intended flagstaff (possibly with a certain excess length) . Then, a recess 11 is formed in one or more of these starting components, said recess extending along the entire length of the component. In the example in the drawing, this recess has the shape of a cross-section-wise semicircular groove, which may be made by milling. In a subsequent step, a plurality of starting compo- nents are united permanently to each other by agglutination, while forming a work piece according to fig 2. More precisely, the major faces 8 are pressure-glued against each other. Although the number of starting components may vary, it is preferred to use four components, the thickness of which are ap- proximately of the width. In the last-mentioned case, two midcomponents are provided with grooves 1, which are turned towards each other, while two outer components lacking grooves. By the fact that each groove 11 is centrally placed in each board or starting component, the channel 6 provided by the grooves will be located in the centre of the work piece, as may be seen in fig 2. In this connection, it should be pointed out that the work piece according to fig 2 has one and the same cross-section area along the entire length thereof. When the flagstaff work piece has been finished in the way described above, the flagstaff is given the final shape thereof in a concluding step. This shaping is carried out in a conventional way in a specially designed lathe operated in such a way that the flagstaff gets a cylinder-shaped bottom portion 2, as well as a cone-shapedly tapering upper portion 3. In the finished flagstaff, the through channel β serves as a ventilating duct through which moisture in the heart part of the wooden work piece may be evacuated. In this connection it should be pointed out that the channel may also be utilized for internal, hidden drawing of a flag halyard. In fig 4, an alternative embodiment is shown, in which star-sawn, i.e. cross-section-wise wedge-shaped wood pieces are used, which after end-jointing form likewise wedge- shaped starting components 12. At least three, or suitably four, such starting components are agglutinated along the flat faces 8' while forming a work piece, which in a concluding step is turned round in the way previously described. In this case, cross-section-wise curved recesses 11' are formed in connection with the originally pointed component portion, which faces the centre of the work piece. Like the semicircu- lar grooves 11, these recesses 11' together form a central channel 6 in the work piece. As may be clearly seen in figures 2 and 4, the heart- wood of the individual wood pieces is turned inwards towards the centre of the work piece. The advantages of the flagstaff according to the invention are obvious. In addition to the fact that the central air duct in the flagstaff effectively counteracts rot attacks on the heartwood in the staff, the described assembly tech- nique enables a flexible and cost-efficient manufacturing procedure, which is adapted to the needs of the market. Thus, the flagstaff manufacturer may, after receipt of an order, quickly purchase commercially available, already dried boards or wood pieces and without delay agglutinate these to a resistant work piece, which may immediately be formed with the desired measures by off-turning. Furthermore, the channel arranged for the dehumidification of the interior of the flagstaff may be made in a technically simple way, from a manufacturing point of view, by the fact that simple grooves or recesses may be formed in easily accessible surfaces of the starting components, before agglutination to a work piece being possible to lathe .

Claims: Claims 1. Wooden flagstaff having a basic shape being rotary symmetric and tapering towards a top end, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the same is composed of a plurality of long narrow starting components mutually agglutinated via flat surfaces (8, 8'), each one of said components being made of a number of wood pieces (7, 12) connected end-wise and having limited length, and of which at least one is provided with a recess (11, 11') extending along the entire length of the component, which recess has the purpose of forming a through air-duct (6) located in the centre of the staff, through which moisture may be evacuated from the interior of the staff. 2. Flagstaff according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said wood pieces consist of boards (7) having a parallelepipedical basic shape which form starting components having two major faces (8), of which at least one serves as a glue surface against an analogous major face of an adjacent starting component, and that grooves (11) are recessed in two major faces (8), turned against each other, of two agglutinated starting components, which grooves together form said air-duct ( 6) . 3. Flagstaff according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the same comprises four starting components agglutinated via said major faces (8) . 4. Flagstaff according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the heartwood of the individual wood piece (7, 12) is turned inwards towards the centre of the staff. 5. Flagstaff according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said wood pieces (12) are cross-section-wise wedge- shaped and end-jointed while forming starting components, which likewise are cross-section-wise wedge-shaped and which to a number of at least three are agglutinated along flat surfaces (8'), said recess (11') being provided in connection with each component ' s edge portion turned towards the centre of the staff. 6. Method for the manufacture of wooden flagstaffs having a basic shape being rotary symmetric and tapering towards a top end, c h a r a c t e r i z e d of the steps of a) mutually joining ends of a plurality of wood pieces (7, 12) having a limited length and at least two flat surfaces (8, 8 ' ) , while forming a number of long narrow starting components, the length of which being at least equally large as the desired length of the finished flagstaff, b) forming, in at least one of a plurality of starting compo- nents, a recess (11, 11') extending along the entire length of the component, c) permanently joining said starting components to each other by agglutination, while forming a work piece, more precisely by press agglutination of the flat surfaces (8, 8') of the components against each other, locating said recess (11, 11') in the area of the centre of the work piece, and d) turning said work piece in a conventional way while forming a ready-to-use, rotary symmetric staff in which the centrally located recess (11, 11') forms a through air-duct (6) through which air may be evacuated from the interior o ' f the staff.

Inventors: NORDING MATS, NORDING, MATS
Applicants: NORDING MATS, NORDING, MATS
Application year: 1999
Main classification: E04H12
IPC codes: B27M3, E04H12