Frank L Morris

US Patent:

53614950, Nov 8, 1994

Filed:

Nov 5, 1992

Appl. No.:

7/972123

Inventors:

Stoddard H. Pyle - Corvallis OR
Frank P. Morris - Woodinville WA

International Classification:

B23P 1904
B30B 1300

US Classification:

2989731

Abstract:

A roof truss fabrication method and apparatus are disclosed in which multiple parallel guideways, or tracks, are laid out along the X axis in an X-Y coordinate system. Multiple pressing stands are mounted for movement on the tracks. A head portion of each stand is movable on its stand along the Y axis and may also be pivoted about a vertical reference axis. Each stand is driven along its track, and the drive means is coupled to a position indicator which gives a digital readout of the X coordinate position of the stand on its truck. Similarly, a drive means for each head is coupled to a position indicator which gives a digital readout of the Y coordinate position of the head. The stands and heads may be manually driven or driven through stepper or servo motors controlled remotely by computer to position each stand and head at predetermined X and Y coordinates of the system. The predetermined coordinates for each stand and head can be determined during the truss design, which is usually performed using computer software that can be readily modified to provide such coordinates.