Patent ID: 7832452

Claim:
An apparatus for breaking-off an exceeding portion of a lath used to separate pieces of lumber in a bundle carried on a conveyor extending in front of the apparatus, the exceeding portion extending beyond the periphery of the bundle, the apparatus comprising: an external cage, said external cage having a front open face, and an internal cage having a skeleton framework mounted to the external cage and displaceable relative to the external cage between a retracted position and an extended position in which the internal cage projects forwardly from said front open lace of said external cage, a vertical chain member carried at a front face of said skeleton framework, a motor for driving said chain member, and a plurality of lath breaking paddles substantially uniformly distributed along said chain member, the lath breaking paddles projecting substantially at right angles from the chain, member, a bundle localization aid projecting from the skeleton framework forwardly beyond the lath breaking paddles to stop the skeleton framework at an appropriate distance from the bundle carried on a conveyor in front of the apparatus for allowing said lath breaking paddles to strike and break-off the exceeding portion of the lath used to separate pieces of lumber in a bundle, the exceeding portion extending beyond the periphery of the bundle, and an actuator for displacing the skeleton framework of the internal cage towards the bundle until the bundle localization aid engages the bundle, thereby positioning said skeleton framework in said extended position with the lath breaking paddles extending forwardly out of the front open face of the external cage.