Abstract: A fiber or chip board is made by first forming a mixture of a binder and particles having a relatively low moisture content that is substantially less than a relatively high moisture content that a finished board should have. This mixture is deposited as a mat on a movable substrate so that the mat is substantially at ambient temperature and has the relatively low moisture content. Then the mat is preheated with steam to raise its temperature and to increase its moisture content to the predetermined relatively high moisture content. The thus preheated mat, whose moisture content has been corrected, is then simultaneously heated and compressed to form it into a board.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming a particle mat for the production of particleboard has a transport belt having a stretch moving in a longitudinal transport direction and forming a deposition surface in turn defining a floor of a deposition space, a dispenser upwardly delimiting the space and including a dispensing roller for depositing particles as a mat in the space on the longitudinal moving deposition surface, a pair of transversely spaced and longitudinally extending upper guides extending in the space generally at the dispenser, and a pair of transversely spaced and longitudinally extending lower guides extending in the space underneath the respective upper guides and generally at the deposition surface. A pair of longitudinally extending, continuous, and transversely spaced flexible sheets each extend the full longitudinal length of the deposition space and have an inner edge secured to one of the guides of a respective one of the pairs of guides and an outer edge.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming a mat of comminuted material for the production of pressed board comprises a conveyor belt forming a transport path and a receiving surface for the mat and a plurality of spreading machines spaced apart along the band for depositing respective layers of comminuted material on the surface to form the mat. Each of the spreading machines has a feeder for feeding the comminuted material to a roller grate for depositing the comminuted material in a respective layer with longitudinal orientation of the comminuted material in the direction of movement of the belt. At least one of the machines is provided with a transverse orienter between the roller grate and the belt for imparting a transverse orientation to the comminuted material deposited on the belt. The orienter is shiftable between a position wherein it is interposed between the roller grate of the belt and a position in which it is offset from the interposed position.

Abstract: A mat-forming apparatus, especially for the production of particle board, comprises a conveyor grate disposed above a layer-carrying surface, e.g. a conveyor, and below a feeder for scattering the particles onto the surface through the travelling grate. According to the invention, the lower pass of the conveyor grate is displaceable in the same direction as the receiving conveyor and is inclined upwardly away from the receiving conveyor in the direction of displacement thereof at an acute angle, this lower pass forming an inclined plane.

Abstract: A large rectangular plate is subdivided into small rectangular sections in a system wherein the plate is fed stepwise in a main direction through an upstream shear while the downstream end portion of the plate is seized immediately downstream of the shear with each advanced step. Between the advanced steps the end portions are sheared off and then displaced in the main direction to the upstream end of a conveyor where they are deposited one after the other. The conveyor displaces the sheared-off end portions until each one is positioned above a respective aligner spaced apart in the main direction. The conveyor lowers these sections onto the aligners and the aligners then align them perfectly perpendicular to the main direction. The aligned and sheared-off end portions are then pushed jointly in a transverse direction perpendicular to the main direction stepwise to a downstream shear while they are supported and pneumatically seized at their downstream ends immediately downstream of the downstream shear.

Abstract: A mat of elongated particles is formed on a horizontal and horizontally displaceable conveyor by a spreading head having an array of parallel interdigitated disks forming longitudinally elongated spaces and rotatable about coplanar axes above the conveyor. The conveyor is continuously displaced in a longitudinal transport direction and generally perpendicular to these axes underneath the spreading head. Elongated particles are fed onto the array of disks while these disks are rotated so that the particles are deposited onto the conveyor as a mat having underneath the array a generally planar upper mat surface forming with the conveyor a deposition angle. The array is supported so that the plane of its axes lies in an acute angle to the upper mat surface.

Abstract: A mat of elongated particles is formed on a horizontal and horizontally displaceable conveyor by a spreading head having an array of parallel interdigitated disks forming longitudinally elongated spaces and rotatable about a coplanar axis above the conveyor. The conveyor is continuously displaced in a longitudinal transport direction and generally perpendicular to these axes underneath the spreading head. Elongated particles are fed onto the array of disks while these disks are rotated so that the particles are deposited onto the conveyor as a mat having underneath the array a generally planar upper mat surface forming with the conveyor a deposition angle. The array is supported so that the plane of its axes lies in an acute angle to the upper mat surface.

Abstract: A layer-forming apparatus for making particle-board mats comprises a spreading head adapted to deposit particulate matter upon a mat-forming surface. The distributing head comprises an array of mutually parallel interdigitated disk rollers with the interfitting disks defining progressively increasing interstitial spaces as the particles move from one side of the roller array to the other side thereof.

Abstract: A layer-forming apparatus, particularly for the preparation of particle-board mats adapted to be compressed with heating in a platen or other press to form a coherent structure generally known as particle board, comprises a dispensing unit for metering the particulate matter onto a conveyor to form the layer and, between the dispensing unit and the conveyor, a classifying device for separating fine particles from coarser particles. The conveyor feeds a head which spreads the particles from the layer on a receiving surface. The receiving surface carries the mat and the head is designed to deposit the coarser particles of the layer from the conveyor either before or after the fine particles so that the fine particles form a facing zone on the bottom and/or top of the mat.