Patent ID: 8104604

Claim:
A lumber transfer system for transferring pieces of lumber along a conveying path, the lumber transfer system comprising: a feeding conveyor having a conveying surface for receiving the pieces of lumber in a substantially transverse orientation with respect to the conveying path, and for conveying the pieces of lumber therealong toward an exit, the feeding conveyor further defining a detection corridor oriented substantially transversely with respect to the conveying path; detectors being spaced apart along the detection corridor of the feeding conveyor, each detector being used for locally monitoring a lumber presence and for producing a corresponding detection signal; blocking fingers located in proximity to the detectors and spaced apart transversely along the conveying surface, each of the blocking fingers being independently operable between a blocking configuration for locally blocking the pieces of lumber and an unblocking configuration for locally conveying the pieces of lumber; and a controller having: input devices, each of the input devices being operatively connected to one of the detectors for receiving the corresponding detection signal; and output devices, each of the output devices being operatively connected to one of the blocking fingers for transmitting an independent control signal to a corresponding one of the blocking fingers in response to a detection signal of an associated detector, to move said corresponding one of the blocking fingers in the unblocking configuration when the lumber presence is locally detected and in the blocking configuration when the lumber presence is locally undetected.