Patent ID: 7849893

Claim:
A floating caterpillar feeder adapted for moving a workpiece on a worktable of a wood processing machine in a feeding direction, the feeder comprising: a housing unit having a bottom edge adapted to be adjacent to the worktable; a driving unit disposed on said housing unit and including a motor, two pairs of sprockets disposed respectively at two opposite sides of said housing unit and rotatable by said motor, and two chains trained respectively on the pairs of said sprockets, each of said chains having a plurality of links; and a plurality of feeding units connected between said chains and arranged along each of said chains, each of said feeding units including: two mounting members connected respectively and fixedly to two corresponding ones of said links of said chains, a pair of parallel horizontal inner and outer rods connected fixedly between said mounting members, a plurality of parallel pushing plates sleeved on said inner and outer rods, each of said pushing plates being movable along said bottom edge and having inner and outer holes engaging respectively said inner and outer rods so as to allow a corresponding one of said pushing plates to move relative to said inner and outer rods in an inner-to-outer direction, and a pushing portion movable along with said chains to project from said bottom edge when a corresponding one of said pushing plates moves along said bottom edge, a plurality of spacers arranged alternately with said pushing plates, and a plurality of resilient members each biasing a corresponding one of said pushing plates to project outwardly from said bottom edge when the corresponding one of said pushing plates moves along said bottom edge.