Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7413088 | Automatic conveyor slot closure Apparatus for self-clearing of clogs developed between adjacent ends of upstream and downstream conveyors adapted to carry products thereon in the course of transfer of the products past a gap defined between the conveyors. The apparatus comprises a shield disposed ... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7228972 | Short bar separation and recovery system and method A system and method are disclosed for separating and recovering short bars from full length bars in a rolling mill. The bars are initially conveyed on a run-out roller table from a shear to a transfer station where they are accumulated in a layer. The layer is trans... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7156606 | Article aligning apparatus An article aligning apparatus for aligning a plurality article tiers to be loaded into a carton. Each article tier comprises an article array delivered from an in-feed stream at an in-feed end of a packaging machine. The apparatus comprises an article conveyor for c... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7053318 | Machine for weighing and sorting pieces of fruit and the like The machine has a regular structure symmetrical with respect to a central axis and provided with limiting end faces, said structure being disposed with its horizontal axis rotatably supported on its axis of symmetry on the frame of the machine, and bearing a plurali... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7011006 | Automated board processing apparatus In preferred embodiments the invention includes a transverse board conveyor, a board extrusion portion, a marking station, a sawing portion, and a plurality of board feeding portions, all of which are controlled by a process controller. In such preferred embodiments... | 03/14/2006 |
| 7004329 | Classifying station with dynamic decision zone A classifying station for classifying a piece of wood in a wood processing plant, the classifying station including an area for an operator, a conveyor for transversely conveying pieces of wood before the area, and a console for entering classification related to a ... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6964330 | Elevated grade station drive system An elevated grade station drive system includes a plurality of conveyor sections for conveying workpieces downstream at a variable transfer speed along and between the plurality of sections according to control instructions provided by a control system. The output f... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6851559 | Analyzing and sorting of wood veneers The invention relates to a method for increasing strength and/or reducing strength variations in multi-layer wood, plywood, and the like sandwich material. The method comprises measuring wood veneers (10) for dry substance density (ρ) with high-frequency ele... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6637581 | Vertical log singulator with profiled surface This invention provides log singulators which allow for the vertical singulation of piles of logs fed from typical in-feed log decks, so that these logs may be fed individually to typical out-feed conveyors. Devices provided by this invention may be high-... | 10/28/2003 |
| 6629592 | Sort bin for lumber pieces A sort bin for unloading sorted lumber pieces on a conveyor comprises a compartment having first and second spaced-apart walls for containing the lumber pieces in a pile, an entry located at an upper portion of the compartment for introducing lumber piece... | 10/07/2003 |
| 5707204 | Stacking apparatus Stacking apparatus includes an article feeder which feeds articles, such as cut boards, to support fingers on which a stack of boards is formed. The support fingers transfer a single stack containing a predetermined number of boards down to a stack convey... | 01/13/1998 |
| 5699919 | Method and apparatus for removing bark balls from a log flow The invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing bark balls from a log flow traveling on a conveyor (3) which extends from a debarking drum (1) to a chipper (2), said conveyor (3) including a roller assembly (4) provided with an opening (5) fo... | 12/23/1997 |
| 5573121 | Veneer sorting apparatus Veneer sorting apparatus for sorting a moving stream of arbitrarily ordered full width, random width, fishtail and trash veneer pieces in response to a signal representative of a characteristic such as width. Each piece is deflected into an appropriate ou... | 11/12/1996 |
| 5524771 | Strength-grading of veneer sheets A method of enhancing the strength and of reducing strength variations of multi-layer wood, plywood or similar by measuring the density of the veneer sheets used in the production and by grading the veneer sheets accordingly. The density of the veneer she... | 06/11/1996 |
| 5507397 | Device to retrieve and discharge short bars Device to retrieve and discharge short bars, which is associated with a counting and separation zone (16) of a bar feeder (12) upstream of a station for the formation of bundles of bars, the bars (11) being substantially butted at a first side of the devi... | 04/16/1996 |
| 5400909 | Device to discard short bars Device to discard short bars shorter than a predetermined length from a plurality of bars being fed by feeder that comprise a plurality of first conveyor chains (14a) and a matching plurality of second conveyor chains (14b), on which the bars (11) are pos... | 03/28/1995 |
| 5351833 | Method for selecting wood stock to form panels of predetermined size The present invention represents a further extension of the automation of the various steps of the wood gluing process. This invention presents a method for automatically selecting and transmitting to further work stations appropriately size pieces of sto... | 10/04/1994 |
| 5165519 | Moving strip culling apparatus A culling device for a conveyance apparatus which culling device includes cross transport apparatus carrying flexible fingers which have selected strength, position and speed to cull out selected objects being conveyed. In particular, elongated objects ma... | 11/24/1992 |
| 5006225 | Method and apparatus for detecting humidity in cut lumber A method and an apparatus for automatically detecting the approximate percentage of humidity in predetermined types of lumber cut to specific lengths. A conveyor is provided for conveying individual pieces of cut lumber to a weighing station which consist... | 04/09/1991 |
| 4919273 | Apparatus for sorting metal bars by length Apparatus for sorting metal bars by length, has a conveyor on which the bars are arranged longitudinally and conveys the bars both longitudinally and laterally. The conveyor has driven rollers contacted by the bars. A pick-up device picks up and conveys l... | 04/24/1990 |
| 4908407 | Resin compositions A resin composition comprising a nylon-4,6 resin, an epoxy compound having two epoxy groups and at least one polymer selected from halogenated polystyrenes and halogenated poly-alpha-methylstyrenes, represented by the following general formula (I) ##... | 03/13/1990 |
| 4852029 | Automated material classification apparatus and method An automated method and apparatus for grading pre-cut lumber products according to selected physical properties thereof such as modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) are disclosed. A conveyor transports boards to be graded to an automat... | 07/25/1989 |
| 4850491 | Apparatus for control of a wooden article Optical fibers control the height and curvture on the perpendicular level of a number of articles on a conveyor while the articles traverse a box in which the optical fibers are placed so that the light ray is disturbed in response to the height and curva... | 07/25/1989 |
| 4832205 | Vibrator strips with increased spacing sorter An orienting and sorting device for elongate objects includes a first conveyor surface having a plurality of parallel channel-like sections into which the objects are mechanically aligned. The first conveyor surface is divided into a plurality of transver... | 05/23/1989 |
| 4815917 | Bin sorter for use in a lumber mill A bin sorter divided by vertical or inclined parallel walls into a plurality of bins, each having a bin floor which can be lowered to a lumber discharge station and a series of rotatable gates extending from the bottom of each bin wall and functioning to ... | 03/28/1989 |
| 4638440 | Feeding and data entry system for lumber trimmer In a feeding and data entry system for a lumber trimmer, the data entry zone is located upstream and substantially adjacent a lug loader. An operator reads the grader's marks when each incoming board is stopped and inputs the data into a programmable logi... | 01/20/1987 |
| 4610360 | Installation for stacking piles of lumber separated by sticks An installation for stacking piles of stick-separated sawn lumber, which includes a number of sink compartments to receive various kinds of lumber and a lumber conveyor in order to bring lumber from a loading point for unsorted lumber to the sink compartm... | 09/09/1986 |
| 4546886 | Method and apparatus for sorting elongate articles A method and apparatus for sorting elongate articles by length is disclosed. The apparatus includes a first conveyor belt, a second conveyor belt, a holding mechanism located at the discharge end of the first conveyor belt and a grasping mechanism located... | 10/15/1985 |
| 4358009 | Method and apparatus for sorting timber pieces Method and apparatus for sorting timber pieces as the same are transversely conveyed include for each timber piece, pairs of supporting members, each including a hook arm and an adjacent straight arm supported by a respective support member mounted on the... | 11/09/1982 |
| 4281953 | Vertical sort bin A sort bin having substantially vertical bin walls and a vertically movable bin floor, the floor being mounted such that it is in a predetermined and fixed inclined attitude throughout its vertical movement.... | 08/04/1981 |
| 4219120 | Method and apparatus for handling both green and dried timber lengths A method and apparatus for handling lengths of timber which are both green and dried include the feature of simultaneously conveying, by way of suitable conveyors, both the green timber and the dried timber to a given location from where the two different... | 08/26/1980 |
| 4195737 | Method and apparatus for handling elongated articles, such as pieces of timber A method and apparatus for handling elongated articles, such as elongated pieces of timber of different types, includes a plurality of compartments for receiving the articles of the different types with each compartment receiving only one type of article.... | 04/01/1980 |
| 4104156 | Detachable sling letdown apparatus for lumber sorter Coupling apparatus for facilitating disengaging sling-like elongated flexible members from the load of lumber pieces being cradled therein. The apparatus includes a pair of hooks which are selectively driven between normal and couple/uncouple positions. A... | 08/01/1978 |
| 4098407 | Lumber sorting apparatus A lumber sorter in which flexible slings define the bins for receiving sorted lumber. One end of each sling is selectively releasable from attachment to the sorter frame so as to effect release of lumber onto underlying conveyor chains. Mechanism is inclu... | 07/04/1978 |
