Claims
- 1. A truss fabrication machine comprising:a table, having a tabletop defined with a given X-axis and a transverse Y-axis; jig means on the tabletop for establishing the arrangement of manually-placed sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates at the joints therebetween for at least a single truss; a pressing unit, including an extensible and retractable pressing head, and operable to extend said head toward and onto said tabletop and to retract it; a gantry above said tabletop for carrying the pressing unit along said gantry as generally parallel to the Y-axis; track and carriage means for carrying said gantry to travel along said track and carriage means as generally parallel to the X-axis; gantry moving means for moving said gantry along said track and carriage means; pressing-unit moving means for moving said pressing unit along said gantry; actuating means for actuating said pressing unit whereby said pressing head extends to seat the connector plates into the truss members; X-axis sensing means for sensing X-axis displacement of one of the gantry or the pressing unit; Y-axis sensing means for sensing Y-axis displacement of the pressing unit; and, processing circuitry linked to at least one instruction-set storage device stored with at least one given instruction set, and having at least a RUN mode including a PAUSE mode; wherein said processing circuitry is given control over said gantry moving means, pressing-unit moving means and actuating means concurrently while in the RUN mode responding to the X-axis and Y-axis sensing means for running in accordance with the given instruction set by • coordinating movement of said gantry and pressing unit and thereby positioning the pressing unit from one given X and Y coordinate to another, succeeding X and Y coordinate, and then • actuating or not the actuating means, or pausing in the PAUSE mode sufficiently to allow a worker to remove one or more completed trusses and place back in the jig means sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates therefor for repetitive fabrication of succeeding trusses.
- 2. The truss fabrication machine of claim 1 wherein said pressing-unit moving means comprises a motor, a drive shaft, and a drive transmission for driving the pressing unit along the gantry, and, wherein said Y-axis sensing means comprises a shaft encoder for generating signals corresponding to Y-axis displacement.
- 3. The truss fabrication machine of claim 2 wherein said drive transmission comprises a chain and sprocket arrangement.
- 4. The truss fabrication machine of claim 1 wherein said X-axis sensing means comprises a photoelectric encoder mounted to one of the gantry or track and carriage means and aimed at a strip on one of the tabletop or table having photoelectric graduations allowing the photoelectric encoder to generate signals corresponding to X-axis displacement of the gantry.
- 5. The truss fabrication machine of claim 4 wherein said photoelectric graduations comprise one of a marking stripe having dark and light alternations or a series of uniform notches.
- 6. The truss fabrication machine of claim 1, wherein said processing circuitry is provided with communication paths and ports sufficient for accessing the at least one given instruction set from storage in or on any of chip memory, a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD, or from alternative other remote devices accessible through either network- or modem-interfaces.
- 7. The truss fabrication machine of claim 1, further comprising manual command means for electrically controlling the gantry moving means, pressing-unit moving means and actuating means, including a manually-operated control having electrical outputs and signal delivery means for delivering signals at said outputs representative of movement of said manual control corresponding to desired X and Y directions of movement of the gantry and pressing unit, and responsive means for responding to said signals for driving said gantry moving means and pressing unit moving means.
- 8. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 7, wherein said manually-operated control comprises a joystick having a centered neutral position, said signals having a relationship to the displacement of said joystick away from said centered neutral position.
- 9. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 8, wherein said gantry moving means further comprises an infinitely adjustable gantry valve operatively connected to at least one fluid-driven motor and a pair of proportional solenoids operatively connected to said gantry valve, and said pressing-unit moving means further comprises an infinitely adjustable pressing-unit valve operatively connected to a fluid-driven motor and a pair of proportional solenoids operatively connected to said pressing unit-valve, and wherein said signal delivery means provides said signals in response to displacements of said joystick from said neutral position for driving said proportional solenoids.
- 10. A truss fabrication machine comprising:a table, having a tabletop defined with a given X-axis and a transverse Y-axis; jig means on the tabletop for establishing the arrangement of manually-placed sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates at the joints therebetween for at least a single truss; a pressing unit including an extensible and retractable pressing head and operable to extend said head toward and onto said tabletop and to retract it; a gantry above said tabletop for carrying the pressing unit for travel along said gantry as generally parallel to the Y-axis; track and carriage means for carrying said gantry to travel along said track and carriage means as generally parallel to the X-axis; gantry moving means for moving said gantry along said track and carriage means; pressing-unit moving means for moving said pressing unit along said gantry; actuating means for actuating said pressing unit whereby said pressing head extends to seat the connector plates into the truss members; X-axis sensing means for sensing X-axis displacement of one of the gantry or the pressing unit; Y-axis sensing means for sensing Y-axis displacement of the pressing unit; computer-implemented control circuitry linked to at least one instruction-set storage device for storing at least one instruction set, and having at least RECORD and PLAYBACK modes as well as including a PAUSE mode; and, manual command means for electrically controlling the gantry moving means pressing-unit moving means and actuating means, and including a manually-operated control having electrical outputs and signal delivery means for delivering signals at said outputs representative of movement of said manual control corresponding to desired X and Y directions of movement of the gantry and pressing unit, responsive means for responding to said signals for driving said gantry moving means and pressing-unit moving means, and a manual switch for actuating the actuating means; wherein said computer-implemented control circuitry is further linked to said manual command means and the X-axis and Y-axis sensing means for recording in the RECORD mode a given instruction set corresponding to the manually-inputted movements entered by the manual command means of said gantry and pressing unit movements from one given X and Y coordinate to another, succeeding X and Y coordinate, and then associating each X and Y coordinate with an instruction to actuate the actuating means or not, or pausing in the PAUSE mode; and, wherein said computer-implemented control circuitry in the PLAYBACK mode is given control over said gantry moving means, pressing-unit moving means and actuating means concurrently while responding to the X-axis and Y-axis sensing means for playing back the given instruction set as well as including pausing in the PAUSE mode during which a worker might remove one or more completed trusses and place back in the jig means sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates therefor, for repetitive fabrication of succeeding trusses during corresponding to play backs of the given instruction set.
- 11. The truss fabrication machine of claim 10 wherein said pressing-unit moving means comprises a motor, a drive shaft, and a drive transmission for driving the pressing unit along the gantry, and, wherein said Y-axis sensing means comprises a shaft encoder for generating signals corresponding to Y-axis displacement.
- 12. The truss fabrication machine of claim 10 wherein said X-axis sensing means comprises a photoelectric encoder mounted to one of the gantry or track and carriage means and aimed at a strip on one of the tabletop or table having photoelectric graduations allowing the photoelectric encoder to generate signals corresponding to X-axis displacement of the gantry.
- 13. The truss fabrication machine of claim 10, wherein said computer-implemented control circuitry is provided with communication paths and ports sufficient for accessing other instruction sets from storage in or on any of chip memory, a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD, or from alternative other remote devices accessible through either network- or modem-interfaces.
- 14. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 10, wherein said manually-operated control comprises a joystick having a centered neutral position, said signals having a relationship to the displacement of said joystick away from said centered neutral position.
- 15. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 14, wherein said gantry moving means further comprises an infinitely adjustable gantry valve operatively connected to at least one fluid-driven motor and a pair of proportional solenoids operatively connected to said gantry valve, and said pressing-unit moving means further comprises an infinitely adjustable pressing-unit valve operatively connected to a fluid-driven motor and a pair of proportional solenoids operatively connected to said pressing unit-valve, and wherein said signal delivery means provides said signals in response to displacements of said joystick from said neutral position for driving said proportional solenoids.
- 16. A truss fabrication machine comprising:a table having a tabletop having a given X-axis and a transverse Y-axis; jig means on the tabletop for establishing positions of manually-placed sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates at the joints therebetween for at least a single truss; a pressing unit including an extensible and retractable pressing head, and operable to extend said head toward and onto said tabletop and to retract the same; a gantry above said tabletop for carrying the pressing unit for travel along said gantry as generally parallel to the Y-axis; track and carriage means for carrying said gantry to travel along said track and carriage means as generally parallel to the X-axis; gantry moving means for moving said gantry along said track and carriage means; pressing-unit moving means for moving said pressing unit along said gantry; actuating means for actuating said pressing unit whereby said pressing head extends to seat the connector plates into the truss members; X-axis sensing means for sensing X-axis displacement of one of the gantry or the pressing unit; Y-axis sensing means for sensing Y-axis displacement of the pressing unit; and, processor circuitry operative in accordance with a processor-coded profile of the diverse X- and Y-positions at which the pressing head is actuated for the fabrication of at least one truss; wherein said processing circuitry is given control over said gantry moving means, pressing-unit moving means and actuating means concurrently while responding to the X-axis and Y-axis sensing means for running a given profile by • coordinating movement of said gantry and pressing unit and thereby positioning the pressing unit from one given X and Y position to succeeding X and Y positions, and then • actuating or not the actuating means, or pausing in a standby mode following completion of the given profile sufficiently long to allow a worker to remove one or more completed trusses and place back in the jig means sets of loose pre-cut truss members and the connector plates therefor for repetitive fabrication of succeeding trusses.
- 17. The truss fabrication machine of claim 16, wherein said processing circuitry is provided with communication paths and ports sufficient for accessing other processor-coded profiles from storage in or on any of chip memory, a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD, or from alternative other remote devices accessible through either network- or modem-interfaces.
- 18. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 16, further comprising a manual command means for electrically controlling the gantry moving means, pressing-unit moving means and actuating means, and including a manually-operated control having electrical outputs and signal delivery means for delivering signals at said outputs representative of movement of said manual control corresponding to desired X and Y directions of movement of the gantry and pressing unit, responsive means for responding to said signals for driving said gantry moving means and pressing-unit moving means, and a manual switch for actuating the actuating means;wherein said processing circuitry is further linked to said manual command means and the X-axis and Y-axis sensing means for recording in a RECORD mode a profile that corresponds to the manually-inputted movements entered by the manual command means of said gantry and pressing unit movements from one given X and Y position to succeeding X and Y positions, and associating each X and Y position with an instruction to actuate the actuating means or not, or pause in standby mode; and, for allowing playback in PLAYBACK mode of said recorded profile for repetitive fabrication of succeeding trusses during corresponding to successive play backs thereof.
- 19. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 18, wherein said manually-operated control comprises one of a keypad, a keyboard, or a joystick;wherein said joystick has a centered neutral position, said signals having a relationship to the displacement of said joystick away from said centered neutral position.
- 20. A truss fabrication machine as claimed in claim 18, wherein said processing circuitry is configured with and editor for coding and editing processor-coded profiles.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION(S)
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/102,984, filed Oct. 03, 1998.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5048409 |
Schulz |
Sep 1991 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2693148 A1 |
Jan 1994 |
FR |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
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Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/102984 |
Oct 1998 |
US |