Patents Assigned to Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20020062876
    Abstract: A veneer dehydrating apparatus which has a pair of rotatable dehydrating roll assemblies disposed one above the other and having their axes extending parallel to each other, at least one of which is positively driven. The paired roll assemblies includes a first roll assembly having formed on the peripheral surface thereof a number of tooth-like projections extending radially outward from the peripheral surface and a second roll assembly having a steel core shaft which is clad with covering of elastic material such as urethane rubber with a predetermined thickness. The axes of the roll assemblies are spaced radially to form a clearance or a nip between the peripheral surfaces thereof which is smaller than the thickness of the veneer sheet to be dehydrated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2001
    Publication date: May 30, 2002
    Applicant: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.,
    Inventor: Yoshinori Koba
  • Patent number: 6363845
    Abstract: According to a method of transferring a sheet through a working apparatus, a first sheet is moved by feed rolls partially into a working area of the working apparatus, which is followed by moving a second sheet by the same feed rolls to allow the leading end of the second sheet to be brought into abutment with the trailing end of its preceding first sheet and then to push the first sheet to a predetermined position within the working area. After the first sheet is thus placed and the second sheet is moved back out of the working area, the apparatus is operated to work the first sheet, for example, by pressing. The second sheet is moved forward into abutment with the trailing end of the worked first sheet and moved further while pushing the first sheet toward delivery rolls of the apparatus, which then removes the first sheet out of the working area of the apparatus. Such steps of operation is repeated to transfer a series of sheets successively through the working apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2002
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Noriyuki Honda
  • Patent number: 6357496
    Abstract: A veneer lathe comprising a piercing roller and a guiding member for producing a veneer which is free from piercing scars. A third rotational shaft (25) is raised from the position where the piercing projections (27a) of the piercing rolls (27) are pierced into the outer peripheral wall of the log (3) to a position which enables the distance between the tip end of the piercing projections (27a) and the backing plate (5a), the concave portion (4) and the guide member (6) to become larger than the thickness of the veneer (T1), and then, the third rotational shaft (25) is moved away from the log (3) up to a position which makes the piercing projections (27a) impossible to pierce the outer peripheral wall of the log (3), after which the log (3) is rotated to perform the cutting by means of knife (5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Masaru Koike
  • Patent number: 6305448
    Abstract: To make coincide cutting centers of two end surfaces of raw wood with the axis of spindles of a veneer lathe, at least two axial corrections which are performed in a state in which the raw wood is held by centering spindles are required. Conventional apparatuses suffer from too complicated structures and enlargement of the cost because of the complicated structures. A correction operation of an axial direction of correction operations in the two axial directions is performed such that only a movable centering spindle is moved in a direction intersecting a direction in which holding arms are extended/contracted. Another correction operation in another axial direction is performed by extending/contracting the holding arms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Takashi Ota, Tsuyoshi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 6289953
    Abstract: An apparatus for splitting a wood board into two separate sheets, comprising a pair of parallel drive shafts rotatable in the opposite directions, a series of toothed wheels fixed on each of the drive shafts at a predetermined spaced interval, each toothed wheel having on the circumferential periphery thereof a number of teeth incisingly engageable with the board, the toothed wheels on one of the drive shafts being disposed radially in alignment with the toothed wheels on the other drive shaft, respectively, a knife having a cutting edge positioned and directed to split the board from end to end into two separate sheets. The tip end portions of the teeth of each two radially aligned toothed wheels is formed to be positioned in an offset relation in the axial direction of the drive shafts by forming the tip end portion to have at least one surface which is bevel or oblique with respect to a plane extending radially of the toothed wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2001
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Katsuji Hasegawa
  • Publication number: 20010016050
    Abstract: A peeler block is formed previously on its opposite end faces with markings the centers of which define an optimum axis about which the block should be rotated for achieving maximum yield in peeling veneer from the block in a rotary veneer lathe. An apparatus is disclosed herein which is designed to detecting such markings at two different detecting stations and finally positioning the block such that its optimum axis is set parallel to the axes of spindles of a rotary veneer lathe is disclosed. At the first station, the markings are detected by a first pair of image sensors such as CCD cameras having lenses with a short focal length hence wide-angle viewing capability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2001
    Publication date: August 23, 2001
    Applicant: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Masaru Koike
  • Patent number: 6247511
    Abstract: A rotatable roll is provided under a planing cylinder rotating at a fixed position. A front feed unit and a rear feed unit having an upper and a lower roll for gripping the plate are provided upstream and downstream of the planing cylinder with respect to the feed direction of the plate. A front movable body and a rear movable body having an upper and a lower roll for gripping the plate member are provided between the planing cylinder and the front feed unit and between the planing cylinder and the rear feed unit. The upper and lower rolls of the front and rear movable bodies are forcibly moved up and down. The plate member is supported at three points and deflected downward to prevent floating of the plate during cutting and to prevent the formation of depressions in the plate near its front and rear ends during cutting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2001
    Assignees: Taihei Machinery Works, Ltd., Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Koji Maeda, Kazuhiro Otani, Tomio Izumi, Junji Tsuji, Katsuji Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi Fukui, Kenichi Hiraiwa
  • Patent number: 6206061
    Abstract: A nose bar device for a veneer lathe which is equipped with a knife carriage movable toward and away from a log from which a veneer sheet is cut, and a knife mounted on the knife carriage and having at the tip end thereof a cutting edge extending horizontally across the direction in which the knife carriage is moved. The lathe further includes a plurality of nose bars juxtaposed along the cutting edge of the knife and mounted to a block which forms a part the knife carriage and is adapted to be movable independently of the knife carriage. Each nose bar has at the lower end thereof a pressure edge located adjacent to the cutting edge of the knife for pressing against the log periphery adjacent to the knife cutting edge. There is provided a mechanism for independently adjustably moving the pressure edge of at least one of the nose bars toward and away from the cutting edge of the knife.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Masaru Koike
  • Patent number: 6176282
    Abstract: A pair of centering spindles are disposed away from cutting spindles and movably in the direction of Z or parallel with the axial center line of cutting spindles. A plurality of log center detecting means are disposed along the Z direction in relative to a log chucked by the centering spindles. A pair of holding members are mounted movably in the directions of X, Z, and Y including components orthogonally intersecting the X and Z. By way of controlling means, the centering spindle holding a log is caused to rotate at least one revolution thereby enabling the log center detecting means to determine each position of axial center which is assumed to constitute the axial centers at both end faces of the log, the virtual line passing through every positions of axial centers in Z direction is aligned with the Y, and the holding members are moved in the Z direction to hold the log, after which the chucking of log by the centering spindles are released.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2001
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Shunichi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6173918
    Abstract: A veneer reeling apparatus for winding a veneer sheet around a freely rotatable take-up reel into a veneer roll. Veneer sheet is transferred by a plurality of spaced conveyer belts extending below the take-up reel. The take-up reel is removably supported by movable reel carriages for movement therewith toward and away from the conveyer belts. Each belts is urged toward the take-up reel to be kept in resiliently pressing contact with veneer roll for friction driving. There is provided a detector for monitoring an increment in diameter of the veneer roll during reeling operation and generating a signal in response to the detection of a predetermined amount of increment in the roll diameter and for detecting the force with which a roll member presses against the veneer roll and for generating a signal upon detection of a predetermined force in response to an increase in diameter of the veneer roll.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2001
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Masaru Koike, Yukinobu Kuno
  • Patent number: 6112786
    Abstract: When scarfing the end portion of a plate-like material with irregular deformations or undulations, such as distortions, undulations and warps, the undulations are successively corrected flat and the flattened end portion is scarfed by a rotary cutter to form a highly precise scarfed surface. When the end portion of the plate-like material 3 is scarfed by the rotary cutter 5, the pressing member 11 presses, while the cutting operation proceeds, at least a part of the surface of at least that portion of the plate-like material 3 which is to be cut away as a chip 17 at a position near the blades 5b of the rotary cutter 5 on a downstream side of the rotary cutter with respect to a rotary cutter movement direction, the surface of the plate-like material 3 pressed by the pressing member 11 being opposite the other surface held in contact with the cutter receiving table 7.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2000
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Otsuka, Kiichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6089297
    Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of bonding veneers without problems in manufacturing process even if logs, which causes disorder of veneers after dried are used. The veneer bonding apparatus for bonding veneers to each other comprises: a bonding face machining device for machining both end portions of a veneer to be bonded to bonding faces; a bonding agent applying device for applying bonding agent to at least one bonding face of the machined bonding faces; an adjusting device for adjusting a front end bonding face of a succeeding veneer to a rear end bonding face of a preceding veneer such that a face side of the preceding veneer with the applied bonding agent and a backside of the succeeding veneer with the applied bonding agent are flush with each other; and a pressurizing device for pressurizing the adjusted bonding faces to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2000
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Norio Shibagaki, Teruo Fujie, Kenichi Hiraiwa, Masanori Nagai, Kiichi Yamamoto, Matsunaga Tsuruta, Mikio Tsutsui, Katsuhito Okada, Takayuki Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 6013152
    Abstract: An unseasoned veneer bonding method and an apparatus therefor capable of bonding unseasoned veneers to each other without being affected by the moisture content of the unseasoned veneers and with ease. The unseasoned veneer bonding method comprising the steps of: machining an end portion of at least one unseasoned veneer of unseasoned veneers with prescribed thickness to be bonded to form a portion thinner than the prescribed thickness; overlapping the thinner portion of the one unseasoned and an end portion of the other unseasoned veneer to each other through thermosetting bonding agent; and press-contacting a heating body to at least the thinner portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Katsuji Hasegawa, Norio Shibagaki, Tokuro Nakabayashi
  • Patent number: 6007659
    Abstract: A method for preparing a laminate including pressing a heater against the upper and lower surfaces of a veneer during which an inner portion of the veneer in the thickness direction is dried to the smallest extend then the surfaces so that a water content of the inner portion is kept higher than that of the surfaces, dividing the veneer in terms of its thickness into two counter veneers, placing a ligneous board between the counter veneers using an adhesive so that the surfaces resulting from the diving are disposed as outer surfaces, and pressing a heater against the outer surfaces to effect bonding of the counter veneers and the ligneous board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1999
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Katsuji Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 5988558
    Abstract: A veneer reeling apparatus for winding a veneer sheet into a veneer roll comprising a freely rotatable take-up reel around which the veneer sheet is wound into the veneer roll, and an array of spaced conveyer belts extending below the take-up reel for advancing the veneer sheet toward the take-up reel. Veneer sheet is transferred by the plurality conveyer belts which include two groups of such belts and extending below the take-up reel. Air cylinder is provided for each belt to provide a first force to urge the belt toward the take-up reel so as to keep the belt in resiliently pressing contact with the veneer roll. The air cylinders are operable to changeably provide the first force to one group of belts and a second force, which is smaller than the first force, to the other group of belts, and vice versa. A control is provided to effect alternate changing between the first and second pressures in the first and second groups of belts whenever the belts have moved a predetermined distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Masaru Koike, Yukinobu Kuno
  • Patent number: 5971045
    Abstract: A veneer lathe comprising a knife (2) for peeling a log (1), which is secured rotatably to a knife stock, and a roller bar (3) disposed to press a circumferential surface of the log (1) at an upstream side, in relative to said knife (2), of a rotational direction of the log (1). The roller bar (3) has a diameter of not more than 30 mm, and is provided on the circumferential surface thereof with a large number of projections (5) whose height is not higher than the circumferential surface of the roller bar (3). The roller bar (3) is sustained in a sliding bearing (9) and adapted to receive a rotational force from a driving source. The roller bar (3) functions not only as a pressure bar but also as a power transmitting media to rotate the log (1), thereby preventing the generation of lathe check of veneer to be produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Kenzo Watanabe
  • Patent number: 5927360
    Abstract: A centerless rotary veneer lathe comprises a slidable backup device which is disposed on the opposite side of a peeler log from a knife carriage of the lathe. The backup device has a pair rotatable rolls located one above the other with the axes thereof extending in parallel to the axis of the log. The paired rolls are disposed such that the axes of such two rolls are spaced at substantially the same distance from an imaginary line extending perpendicularly to the axis of the log and in parallel to the direction in which the backup device is moved. In operation of the veneer lathe with the rolls set in contact with the log periphery, the knife carriage and the backup device are moved synchronously at such a variable controlled rate that causes peeling of veneer with a predetermined thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Kazuya Kawai
  • Patent number: 5875710
    Abstract: A veneer-pressing apparatus comprising a pressing device provided with at least three pressing bodies disposed movably from a non-pressing position where the pressing bodies are vertically spaced apart from each other to a pressing position where the pressing bodies are close to each other; endless belts each adapted to be intermittently moved in a direction opposite to that of the neighboring endless belt, thereby forming a forward transfer passage between a pair of facing surfaces of the neighboring endless belts and a backward transfer passage which is opposite in transferring direction to the forward transfer passage; and a pressing member which is capable of rendering the pressing bodies provided with the endless belt to move from a non-pressing position to a pressing position to press a veneer with a predetermined pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Noriyuki Honda, Yukio Abe, Makoto Isobe
  • Patent number: 5848483
    Abstract: A veneer drying apparatus comprises a pair of upper and lower hot plates connected to a heating unit and a plurality of steam escape grooves formed in the opposing press surfaces of the upper and lower hot plates. The apparatus further comprises intermittently driven endless belts and driving and driven rollers on the unloading and loading ends, respectively, of the lower hot plate. The endless belts are trained over the driving and driven rollers for transferring veneer P over the upper surface of the lower hot plate. Each endless belt has numerous apertures formed in the entire surface thereof in a regular pattern. The driving rollers have numerous protrusions formed on the periphery thereof for engaging in the apertures formed in the endless belts. The endless belts are smoothly driven by rotation of the driving rollers due to the protrusion-aperture engagement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1998
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Noriyuki Honda, Yukio Abe, Makoto Isobe
  • Patent number: D421704
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2000
    Assignee: Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Katsuji Hasegawa