Patent ID: 6991012

Claim:
An apparatus for sawing a workpiece into parts of desired dimensions where the workpiece has non-uniform original dimensions comprising: a transport conveyor for moving the workpiece along a path through a plurality or stations; said plurality of stations including a workpiece scanning station including sensing means for sensing the dimensions of the workpiece and processing means associated with said sensing means for analyzing the sensed dimensions provided by said sensing means and providing an apparatus control instruction; a chipping stations downstream of said scanning station including a pair of chipping heads mounted in laterally opposed relation on either side of said path on lateral translation means for selectively controllable independent lateral translation of said chipping heads relative to said transport conveyor; a cutting station including a cutting tool movable relative to said transport conveyor to vary the position of said cutting tool relative to a workpiece being carried by said transport conveyor past said cutting tool and along said path; means for independently actuating said lateral translation means with said processing means controlling actuation of said means for independently actuating said lateral translation means in accordance with said apparatus control instructions; means for moving said cutting tool relative to said path with said processing means controlling actuation of said means for moving said cutting tool in accordance with said apparatus control instruction, said cutting tool being rotationally movable about a pivot axis relative to said path, wherein each chipping head of said pair of chipping heads is independently and actively laterally translatable so that at least one of said chipping heads is laterally translatable inwardly and outwardly relative to a workpiece when between said pair of chipping heads so as to recover a side board from a portion of the workpiece having a diameter larger than adjacent portions of the workpiece, wherein said cutting tool includes a gangsaw, and wherein said gang saw is pivotally movable relative to said transport conveyor to vary the position of said gang saw relative to a workpiece being carried by said transport conveyor past said gang saw and along said path, and wherein said apparatus further comprises means for moving said gang saw with said processing means controlling actuation of said means for moving said gang saw in accordance with said apparatus control instructions, and wherein said pair of chipping heads and said gang saw are mounted on a support frame for simultaneous pivotable movement of said pair of chipping heads and said gang saw whereby said pair of chipping heads and said gang saw are both commonly pivotally moveable relative to said transport conveyor to vary the position of both said pair of chipping heads and said gang saw relative to the workpiece being carried by said transport conveyor and along said path.