US3913642A

US3913642A - Wood cutting apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3913642A
Application number: US535663A
Authority: US
Inventors: Donald C Porter
Original assignee: AIRKO Manufacturing CO
Current assignee: AIRKO Manufacturing CO
Priority date: 1974-12-23
Filing date: 1974-12-23
Publication date: 1975-10-21
Anticipated expiration: 1992-10-21

Abstract

An apparatus for cutting patterns on a wooden surface to simulate a hand-hewn surface such as might have been made with an adz. The apparatus provides for feeding, aligning and holding an elongated piece of wood for cutting a pattern on the surface and a blower-suction arrangement for removing sawdust and wood chips. A plurality of rotatable cutting blades are mounted in a rotatable casing. Each rotatable blade is mounted to cut the surface of the wood while the rotatable blade is being rotated in the rotating casing to produce a random pattern on the surface of the wood.

Description

Umted States Patent 1191 1111 3,913,642

Porter Oct. 21, 1975 [54] WOOD CUTTING APPARATUS 2,699,804 1/1955 Stal n es 144/253 F [75) In entor: Donald C- Porter Clermont Fla. 2.899.991 8/1959 whltlng l44/l5 D Asslgneei Ail'ko Manufacmling p y Primary Examz'ner-Al Lawrence Smith Clermom Assistant ExaminerRobert C. Watson [22] Filed: Dem 23, 1974 Attorney, Agent, or FirmDuckworth, Hobby & Allen [21 Appl. No: 535,663

[57] ABSTRACT [52] U S CL 144/114 144/117 144/218, An apparatus for cutting patterns on a wooden surface MUM/252 144/309 144/309 to simulate a hand-hewn surface such as might have [51] Int. IIIIII H 827C 1/00 been made with an adz. The apparatus provides for 58 Field 61 Search 144/114 R 117 R 134 R feeding aligning and ng an elongated piece of 144/134 A 137 145 A 218 wood for cutting a pattern on the surface and a blow R 5 F J A Z er-suction arrangement for removing sawdust and l wood chips. A plurality of rotatable cutting blades are [56] References Cited mounted in a rotatable casing. Each rotatable blade is UNITED STATES PA TS mounted to cut the surface of the wood while the ro- TEN tatable blade is being rotated in the rotating casing to l a gy produce a random pattern on the surface of the wood.

, aug l4 2,578,5l6 12/1951 Crow 144/253 F 29 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 Sheet 1 of) 3,913,642

US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 2 of9 3,913,642

US. Patent Oct.21, 1975 Sheet3of9 3,913,642

U.S. Patent 0.21, 1975 Sheet40f9 3,913,642

U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet6 of9 3,913,642

Sheet 7 of 9 3,913,642

US. Patent 0m. 21, 1975 a a m WNWRR 7% US. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 Sheet 9 of) 3,913,642

WOOD CUTTING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a machine for cutting a pattern in the surface of wooden members and especially for cutting the surface to resemble a handhewn surface.

In the past, various hand tools were used for converting trees into shaped lumber included saws, axes and adzes. These hand tools are of course still used but the production of lumber from logs has been taken over by machinery, such as electrical saws and planing devices for giving various finished surfaces to lumber. However, it has become popular to produce beams resembling those used in colonial and earlier times which were hand-hewn from logs having a very rough chipped-like surface. These beams have been simulated with molded, foam plastic having a wood-like surface coating but such beams typically are recognized as not being real wood.

New hybrid pine trees have been developed which grow to a usable size much more rapidly than in the past and has resulted in silva culture operations which can turn over a tree crop in fewer years and thereby increase the value of the land. Fast growing hybrid trees are especially valuable in the pulp industry for making paper, paperboard and the like but many of the fast growing hybrid trees have a larger number of knots reducing the grade of the lumber that can be produced therefrom and thereby the value of the trees.

The present invention is adapted to taking a lower grade lumber and producing a finished, saleable product which will increase the value of the lumber by the sale of a finished product which resembles a wooden hand-hewn beam surface by the cutting of a pattern in the surface of the wood and staining and assembling the wood into beams. In accordance with the present invention, lumber has first been graded and had its knot surfaces cut down or lowered approximately 3/32 of an inch to reduce the force required to trim the knot and to prevent the present apparatus from bur sting or otherwise knocking the knots out of the lumber. The lumber so prepared is fed into the wood cutting machine where it is first planed and then a hewn-type surface is cut into the surface of the lumber which may then be stained and packaged for sale through building supply outlets and lumber yards. It will of course be clear that associated machinery is utilized for trimming knots, bevelling surfaces and staining if desired for use with the accompanying apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting patterns into the surface of lumber, or the like, and has a frame with a conveyor feeding system for feeding a piece of lumber, or the like, past cutting blades. Means are provided for aligning the lumber being fed and gripping and feeding the lumber past a planer and then past the cutting blades. The cutting blades rotate on shafts riding in a casing which also rotates to produce the cutting pattern on the surface of the board. Blowers and vacuum attachments are used for removing wood chips which have been trimmed from the boards. A vertically adjustable table located beneath the cutting blades allows adjustments to the depth of the cutting by the planer and machine cutting blades.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cutaway perspective view of the lumber feeding mechanism and guides;

FIG. 7 is a cutaway perspective view of a transmission and drive for the rotable casing and cutting blades;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 88 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a cutting head and blades;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line l1ll of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the cutting head; and

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along the line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, and especially to FIGS. 1 through 4, the overall operation of the apparatus 10 is illustrated having a separate console or panel ll. Control panel 1 1 provides a series of controls 12 in a casing 13 for remotely controlling the operation of the separate portions of the machine, as well as including a master disabling switch in the event the machine becomes jammed or broken. The switches may be standard open and close type switches and may have variable voltage controls if desired. The master switch may be an interlocking relay, with a circuit using low voltage coils and may include a reversing action on the drive. The machine 10 has a base 14 having a pair of legs 15 mounted on a floor 16. The base 14 includes an outer casing enclosing the machine for safety, and has conveyors l7 and 18 mounted thereon, each conveyor having a plurality of rollers 20 with a pair of roller mountings stringers 21 for feeding lumber, or the like, into and out of the machine. Conveyor 17 has a pair of bracing members 22 for supporting the conveyor to the base 14 while the conveyor 18 has a pair of adjustable bracing 5

members

22 and 23 for additional support from the base 14. Base 14 includes an upper casing 24 which shields the transmission, cutting blades and cutting blade casing. A cutting blade casing 25 rotates inside of the casing 24 during the operation of the machine. Gripping roller 27 is power driven and roughened for engaging the board being fed into the cutters under the cutting casing 25 for feeding the board past the cutters, as well as for holding the board in position during cutting. Roller 26 is a smooth-pressure roller, supported by bell crank at each end. In addition, a pair of

guides

28 and 30 are adjustable for guiding boards of different widths and holding them in a lateral direction. A similar pair of

gripping rollers

31 and 32 are located on the opposite side of the upper casing 24 for gripping the board on the opposite side as it passes under the cutter blade casing 25. A board guide 33 is located on this side of the upper casing 24. Rollers 27 are mounted in bearings 34 to the side casing wall 35 and roller 26 is mounted in bearing 36 which is pinned at 37 to the side walls 35 and is spring loaded by spring 38 to maintain a spring pressure forcing the roller bearing 36 by means of bell crank 40 rotating on pin 37 to maintain constant pressure on the roller 26 to compress against the board passing between the

rollers

26 and 27. Bell crank 40 is threaded from the top to accomodate an adjustable vertical protrusion 42 and can be fixed by a lock nut. The vertical protrusion 42 contacts stationery stop 42 in order to space

rollers

26 and 27 slightly less than the thickness of the board to be inserted, and of sufficient height to

clear guides

28 and 30. After the protrusion 42 separates from stop 42, the full adjusted pressure of compression spring 38 is applied, but still allows easy access of a board. As shown in FIG. 2, roller 31 is mounted in the same manner as roller 27 and roller 32 is mounted in the same manner as roller 26 to provide an additional holding of the boards on the opposite side of the upper casing 24.

Rollers

27 and 31 are driven simultaneously by the same power source at an identical speed which speed is variable as will be described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4 hereinafter. The cutter blade casing 25 rotates while the cutter blades are rotating therein by the power from a motor 43 through a transmission including a chain drive 44 connected to sprocket gear 45 riding on a shaft 46 mounted in the housing 24, which rotates shaft 46 and thereby rotates sprocket 47 which operates sprocket 48 through a chain drive, driving hollow shaft 50. Shaft 50 is mounted in the casing 24 and is connected to the cutter blade casing 25 having a plurality of rotating cutter heads 51 riding on a plurality of shafts 52 located in cutter blade mounting openings 53 of the casing 25. The casing 25 includes an upper casing portion 54 splined to a lower casing portion 55 with the upper casing portion connected to a hollow shaft 56. A housing 57 encircles a portion of the cutter blade casing 25 and includes exhaust pipe 58 which may have a suction applied thereto to remove chips and sawdust following the cutting from the wood by the cutter blades 175. A three-blade planer head 60 may be mounted upon a shaft 61 and driven by a motor 62 through a V-belt 63 for maintining cutting depth of cutters 175 in relation to thickness of the board and acts as an aid in throwing chips from the cutter blade up into the housing 57 and pipe 58 for removing chips and sawduct. This system is enhanced by one or more blowers 64 driven by an electric motor 65 blowing air into the directional outputs 66 on the opposite side of the casing 25 to force chips being generated by the cutter blades 175 from y the wood passing therethrough towards the housing 57 and pipe 58 to maintain the area under the cutter blade casing 25 relatively clean of accumulated chipped wood and sawdust. An additional cleaning system 67 is mounted on anns 68 connected to the base 14 and extending over the conveyor 18 and having a housing 70 with an exhaust pipe 71 along with an electric motor 72 mounted to the housing 70 driving a belt 73 and a pulley 74 which drives a series of brushes 75 exceeding the width of maximum board width which rides over boards 76 passing from the cutting portion of the apparatus 10 to direct the chips and partially cut fibers, through the exhaust pipe 71 leaving a finished face. Rollers or casters 77 may be mounted by brackets 78 to the housing 70 or to the arms 68 if desired to maintain the height of brush 74 in relation to the board surface 76. The legs 15 of the base 14 may be mounted with bolts 81 to the concrete floor 16 if desired and may be adjusted for levelling the apparatus. However, the legs 15 and the base 14 have additional bolts 82 passing through threaded supporting mounts 83 and into supporting mounts 84. A rigid-surfaced vertically adjustable table 79 located beneath the cutter heads 51 is adjustable with bolts 82 to adjust the cutting depth of the blades 175 of cutter heads 51. In addition, the upper casing 24 is separated from the lower casing 14 by an arcuate edge 85 and has an angular slot 86 with a bolt 87 passing therethrough along with a threaded support 88 movably pinned at 90 to the casing 24 wall 91. Wall 91 is hinged to rotate on pin 89. The threaded support 88 passes through an opening in support bracket 92 and is adjusted with nuts 93 on either side of bracket 92, which may be readily adjusted to vary the angle of the entire upper casing 24 and locked in position by nuts 93 and nuts 87 along with the rotatable blade casing 25 to align the casing 25 relative to lumber passing through the machine.

Referring more specifically to the sectional view of FIG. 3, the overall operation of the apparatus 10 may be more clearly seen by board 94 being fed upon con veyor l7 rollers 20 where it will pass between the

ml lers

26 and 27 and be supported therebetween as well as laterally supported between

guides

28 and 30 and pass under the planer 61 and into the face of the cutters 175 of cutter heads 51. In this embodiment, there are four cutter heads 51 mounted in the cutter casing 25 which are rotating simultaneously with one or more blades spaced thereupon while being turned with casing 25. This spacing on each rotating blade combined with the rotation of a plurality of blades being simultaneously rotated produces a random pattern of cuts and chips from the surface of the wood being fed through the machine at variable controlled speeds thereby varying the pattern being cut by blades 175. This action is controlled by adjustment of varidrive motor 95 of FIG. 4. The board 94 will enter under the rotating case 25 and be captured by the rotating blades cutting in the direction of the board travel and as the board passes the center of the rotating case, the blades again contact the surface of the board to the same depth against the direction of travel. This eliminates the possibility of the appearance of a mechanically cut surface. The combination of these actions eliminate the appearance of a circular cutting pattern, due to the rotation of the case, as the cutting arcs appear not to be on a concentric axis. The board is then engaged by the

pinch rollers

31 and 32 on the opposite end of the cutter casing 25. The board is then fed under the sweeping brush 75 which is an independent unit, exhausting to suction unit through pipe 71. The blower 64 directs air under the casing 25 to the opposite side and enters housing 57 which is connected to suction unit by pipe 58 and aided by clockwise rotation of knives on the planer head 61. The random surface chipped board provides a surface very similar to hand-hewn boards or beams as might have been hand worked with an adz.

In FIG. 4 a variable speed electric motor 95 drives dual sprockets 98, which in turn drives chain 97, which in turn drives the sprocket mounted on shaft roller 27 also driving chain 96, which in turn drives the sprocket mounted on the shaft of roller 31. This view also illustrates additional features of the transmission which includes shaft 46 passing through transmission wall 100 into a top transmission casing 101 and being connected to a gear 102 therein which is operatively connected to a gear 103 attached to a shaft 104 for driving one shaft 104. Shaft 104 passes through the wall 100 through a hollow shaft 56. Shaft 46 is supported by

bearings

105 and 106 and is driven by motor 43 through chain 44 driving sprocket 45. This in turn drives

gear

102, 103 and shaft 104. Shaft 104 passes through shaft 56 into the chain casing 25 where it drives the plurality of cutter blades 51. Shaft 46 also rotates the sprocket 47 which in turn drives the sprocket 48 and shaft 56 which is connected directly to the chain cutter'housing 25 which rotates the housing 25. Motor 43, accordingly, rotates the cutter head 51 and the chain and cutter housing 25 simultaneously. Shaft 56 is supported by bearing 17 in the bottom plate 108 and is prevented from sliding through by the collar 110 attached to bearing 17, and similar assembly 19 under plate 108.

Bearing

17 and 19 assure vertical alignment of shaft 56. Shaft 104 is supported by the bearing 112 attached to the floor member 100. The upper chamber 1 13 holding the

gears

102 and 103 may be filled with oil, grease or the like as illustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a better understanding of the lumber supports and guides are illustrated having a fixed but adjustable guide support member 30 having a pair of bolts 1 14 and 115 for locking the guide 30 in place passing through

slots

116 and 117 allowing for various adjustments of the guide and support 30. A notched surface 118 prevents interference with the sprocket and chain 97. Guide 30 fits over the roller 27 and over a base plate 120 but does not extend over the rear roller 31 and the rear chain 96. The guide member and support 28 has a pair of arcuate ends and is movably mounted by means of a pair of

parallel arms

121 and 122 bolted to the base 120 and rotably attached to the arm 128 by

members

123 and 124. As the guide member 28 swings on the

arms

121 and 122 it is spring biased inwards by spring 125 locked between a bracket 126 and a nut and washer 127 threadedly attached to an elongated shaft 128 on which the spring rides, thereby pulling the shaft 128 against the nut 127 and pushing against the bracket 126 attached to the side wall of the frame. A stop nut 129 is adjusted to contact bracket 126 to adjust the spacing between

members

28 and 30 slightly less than the width of the board used. Shaft 128 is threaded on one end and is movably attached at the other end to a bracket 130 fixedly attached to the guide and support 28. This system allows a piece of lumber being passed under the cutting surfaces to be supported on

rollers

27 and 31 and table 120 and pushed down with rollers 26 and 32 (FIG. 2), while being held laterally by the fixed guide 30 and being spring loaded on the opposite side with the guide 28 as it passes through the cutting portion of the apparatus 10. Roller 26 and equivalent roller 32 ride on a bearing 36 attached to a rotatable arm 40 pinned at 37 with the roller shaft passing through a slot 131 in the side wall. A threaded shaft 132 is held to the bracket 41 by flanged head 133, passes through the bracket 41 and through an opening 134 of the arm 40 and has a spring 38 attached on the opposite side of the arm 40 by means of a nut 141 threaded onto the threaded shaft 132. A threaded adjustment member 42 allows adjustment of the fixed stopping position for the roller 26. The bottom roller 27 is the driving roller and is attached by members of bearings 34 to the side walls as shown in FIG. 3 and clears through an opening in side wall 14, as shown in FIG. 1, but of course can be adjusted for alignment of the roller 27 as desired. This system advantageously holds the roller from the top and bottom on both sides of the cutting blades and supports it laterally from each edge. The system is both adjustable and is spring loaded to provide for slight variations in lumber sizes and loose tolerances in the cutting operation.

Turning now to FIGS. 7 through 13, the operation of the cutting blades, transmission and rotating housing is illustrated in which a motor 43 drives a sprocket 142 driving a chain 44 to drive a toothed sprocket 45 to rotate a shaft 46 to drive both the housing 25 and the cutting heads 51. Shaft 46 drives an upper gear 102 operatively engaging a gear 103 attached to a shaft 104. Shaft 104 passes through a shaft 56 to the interior portion of the casing 25. A geared sprocket 47 is attached to shaft 46 and engages a sprocket 48 attached to a ho]- low shaft 56 which is fixedly attached to the upper chain housing 54. Thus, by the actuation of a motor 43, both

shafts

104 and 56 are driven simultaneously but at different speeds of rotation, one passing through the other. Due to the reversing action of 102 and 103, shaft 104 revolves in the opposite direction from hollow shaft 56. Shaft 56 rotates the housing 25 having an upper casing 54 and a lower casing 55 while shaft 104 passes through shaft 56 and through the top casing 54 and has toothed

sprockets

143 and 144 attached thereto. Sprocket 143 is held by thrust bearing 169 against its hub mounting and is operatively connected by a chain 145 to a pair of

sprockets

146 and 147 attached to

shafts

148 and 150. These shafts are supported by fixed

collars

151 and 152 and supported by insert bearings 181 in each case. Two

sprockets

146 and 147 and sprocket 143 are all connected by the chain 145 which has an adjustable idler gear 154 applying pressure there-against for taking up slack that might be in the chain 145. Sprocket 144 is similarly connected to geared

sprockets

155 and 156 by means of a chain 157 having an idler gear 158 to take up slack therein whereby the sprocket 144 driven by the shaft 104 will drive the

gear sprockets

155 and 156. The geared

sprockets

146, 147, 155 and 156 are all identical and run at the same RPM by a pair of Delta chain drives. The typical bearing is shown in FIG. 9 as 160. It should be noted, however, that variable speed cutter heads can be used for further changing the pattern by using

sprockets

146, 147, 155 and 156 of varying pitch diameters without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Shaft 156 is attached to shaft 162 and is attached to a bearing similar to bearing 160. Shaft 161 is attached at the bottom to a bearing 163 in the same manner as bearing 151 and 152. These shafts all pass through the top portion 153 of the bottom casing 55. The bottom casing 55 is held to the top casing 54 by means of a plurality of bolts 164. The bottom casing 55 in this embodiment has four generally rectangular sections 53 which partially enclose the cutter heads 51. Shaft 104 is attached to the

sprockets

143 and 144. To assist in assembly and repair a nut and the nuts on bolts 164 allow the lower cutter housing 55 to be removed from the machine without disturbing the drive. This allows the complete chain assembly to drop out from the upper bearings of the four corner shafts, along with 143 and 144. This avoids having to remove the complete upper assembly in order to replace cutter heads, bearings, chains and sprockets. The flanged portions of the bearings are attached to the bottom casing 55 with nuts 167 and is attached at an opening 168 in the bottom of the casing 55. Each of the geared

sprockets

155, 156, 146 and 147 pass through their respective bottom bearings through the top 153 of the bottom casing 55 as is illustrated in FIG. 9 and each has a bevelled gear 171 attached to the opposite end of the shaft which engages a second bevelled gear 172 attached to shafts 52 so that the rotation of the bevelled gears 171 will rotate the bevelled gears 172 and shafts 52 and cut ting heads 51. Rotating cutting heads 51 actually include a blade support portion 173 anchored to the shaft 52 by key 174 and has a single blade 175 and a counterbalanced weight 176 mounted on the opposite side which can be replaced with a second blade for counterbalancing. FIG. shows an alternate embodiment with two cutting blades. The blades will cut in sequence as they come around in accordance with the rotation and positioning of the housing as well as the spacing of each blade 175 during its rotation on shaft 52 and the location and speed of travel of the board. The inside cavity 177 is sealed and is filled with proper lubricant for chain drives. Grease fittings 178 are attached to cover plate on four separate housings encompassing shafts of the type of 148 and top bearings. These four cavities act as reservoirs for top bearings only. Shaft 52 pass from one cavity 180 to the other cavity 180 having bearings 182 on one side, and bearings 183 on the opposite sides thereof with a shaft locking end member 184 to hold the shaft on one side and a shaft locking member 185 to hold the shaft 52 on the opposite side next to the bevelled gear 172. Shaft 52 could also be held in position by sleeves located between cutting head 51 and easing walls 53. FIG. 10 has a second embodiment of the cutting he ad 51 having a pair of cutting blades 175 attached to the blade holding portion 51 attached to shaft 52 and having a key 174 to prevent rotation of the section 51 and the shaft 52. Blades 175 are held in the cutting head 51 by Allen head set screws, clamping blades 175 to sides of slots in the cutting head 51. Allen set screws are also threaded in the bottom of blade 175 in order to adjust the distance between the bottom of the slot in the cutter head 51 to correct the radius of the cutting edge, after regrinding to assure accurate depth of the cut.

It should be clear at this point that a wood working machine has been provided in which lumber of different sizes may be cut to give unusual and random surfaces, such as might be accomplished by a hand adz, in a rapid manner for the manufacture of beams for use in the building industry. The lumber being fed into the present apparatus would normally be treated by having each knot section cut down by a fraction of an inch so that the blades in the present apparatus will not burst knots or knock them out of the wood. The wood may also be bevelled with cuts 187 as illustrated in the board 94 of H6. 7 so that upon completion of the surfacing of the board 94 in the present apparatus it will divide into three bevelled sections which may then be assembled into a square post on three sides to resemble a larger beam. The present apparatus also is readily adaptable for various adjustments for changing the size and surface produced on the wood without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, the shape of the blades could be changed to produce a different surfacing characteristic to the lumber being treated. Accordingly, the present invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed herein since these are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for cutting patterns into wood comprising in combination:

a frame;

rotatable cutter casing means rotably supported by said frame;

a plurality of rotatable cutting blades rotably connected to said rotable cutter casing means for cutting a piece of wood during rotation of said rotatable cutter casing means to cut a varying pattern in said wood surface;

feed means supported by said frame for feeding elongated wood members past said plurality of rotatable cutting blades; and

means for holding said elongated wood members while cutting a pattern therein whereby a rough hewn surface can be cut upon a wooden surface.

2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said rotatable cutter casing means is rotatably mounted to a shaft and a second shaft passes through the shaft holding said rotatable cutter casing means, said second shaft being operatively connected to said plurality of rotatable cutting blades for rotating said blades inside said casing while said casing is rotating on said rotatable cutter casing means shaft.

3. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which a wood member feeding conveyor is mounted to said frame in juxtaposition to said rotatable cutter casing means for feeding material to said rotatable cutting blades.

4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in which a second conveyor is mounted to said frame in juxtaposition to said rotatable cutter casing means to receive members passing said cutting blades.

5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said first and second conveyor means are roller conveyors.

6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which an adjustable support table is located beneath said rotatable cutter casing and between said first and second conveyor means.

7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which said rotatable cutter casing means and said plurality of rotatable cutting blades are driven simultaneously by a single power source.

8. The apparatus in accordance with claim 7 in which each rotatable cutting blade rides on a blade holder.

9. The apparatus in accordance with claim 8 in which said rotatable cutter casing means has four rotatable blade holders mounted thereto.

10. The apparatus in accordance with claim 8 in which said rotatable cutter casing means has protective blade holder covers formed therein for mounting said cutter blade holders and cutter blades therein.

11. The apparatus in accordance in claim 8 in which each rotating blade holder is connected to said second shaft by means of a bevelled gear connected to a geared sprocket connected in turn to a sprocket attached to said second shaft by means of a sprocket chain.

12. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which chip removal means is mounted on one side of said rotatable cutter casing means and a blower is mounted on the opposite side of said rotatable cutter casing means for blowing trash through an exhaust pipe as said wood chips are cut from a wood member.

13. The apparatus in accordance with claim 12 in which a brush member is attached over the second conveyor means for brushing wooden members following cutting the surface thereof for brushing the surface of said wooden members.

14. The apparatus in accordance with claim 13 in which an exhaust pipe is mounted adjacent said brush member for directing additional wood chips and loosened material from said wooden member.

15. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which said feed means includes a powered roller for feeding an elongated wood member to said cutting blades and a pinch roller for applying pressure to a wood member between said powered roller and pinch roller to feed and hold an elongated wood member being fed to said cutting blades.

16. The apparatus in accordance with claim 15 in which a second power driven roller is located on the opposite side of said rotatable cutter casing means from said one power roller for receiving and moving an elongated wood member passing under said rotatable cutter casing means and having a top pinch roller for applying pressure to an elongated wood member between said pinch roller and power driven roller.

17. The apparatus in accordance with claim 16 in which an adjustable lateral guide member is located to direct wood members being fed from said conveyor towards said plurality of rotatable cutting blades and to support said elongated wood member on one side.

18. The apparatus in accordance with claim 17 in which a second guide and support member is located to engage the opposite side of an elongated wood member.

19. The apparatus in accordance with claim 18 in which said second guide support member is spring biased to allow the second guide member to apply pressure against one edge of an elongated wood member being fed into said rotatable cutting blades.

20. The apparatus in accordance with claim 19 in which both guide and support members have arcuate ends for directing an elongated wood member towards said plurality of rotatable cutting blades.

21. The apparatus in accordance with claim 6 in which said frame includes means for adjusting the height of said support table and conveyors relative to the rotable cutter casing means for adjusting for different sized elongated wood members.

22. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said frame means has an upper and lower frame portion adjustable relative to each other for adjusting the angle of one frame portion relative to the other.

23. The apparatus in accordance with claim 22 in which said rotatable cutter casing means is filled with lubricants.

24. The apparatus in accordance with claim 16 in which both said first and second power feeding rollers are driven simultaneously by a single drive motor.

25. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which a separate control panel provides individual controls and disabling means for said apparatus.

26. The apparatus in accordance with claim 8 in which each rotatable cutting blade holder has one cutting blade and a counter-balanced weight riding on a shaft between the walls of each blade cover in said rotatable cutter casing means.

27. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which a wood planing means is attached to said frame means on the feed side of said rotatable cutter casing means to plane wooden members prior to cutting with said rotatable cutting blades.

28. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which a single drive motor powers a first shaft having geared connections to both said rotatable cutter casing means shaft and to said shaft for driving a plurality of rotatable cutting blades for driving each of said shafts simultaneously from a single power source.

29. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which said frame includes leveling means for leveling said apparatus.

Claims

1. An apparatus for cutting patterns into wood comprising in combination: a frame; rotatable cutter casing means rotably supported by said frame; a plurality of rotatable cutting blades rotably connected to said rotable cutter casing means for cutting a piece of wood during rotation of said rotatable cutter casing means to cut a varying pattern in said wood surface; feed means supported by said frame for feeding elongated wood members past said plurality of rotatable cutting blades; and means for holding said elongated wood members while cutting a pattern therein whereby a rough hewn surface can be cut upon a wooden surface.