Lumber sorting and accumulating mechanisms

Claim 1

LUMBER SORTING MECHANISM FOR SEGREGATING UNITS OF SAWN LUMBER DELIVERED THERETO IN RANDOM SEQUENCE AS TO DIMENSION AND GRADE, SAID MECHANISM COMPRISING UNIT DELIVERY MEANS INCLUDING A GRADE POSITIONING DECK WHEREIN UNITS ARE OFFSET A GRADE RELATED EXTENT LATERALLY OF THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF THE UNITS, A SORTER STAGE INCLUDING ENDLESS CONVEYOR MEANS, A SERIES OF LATERALLY ARRANGED SETS OF LUMBER CARRYING HANGERS DEPENDING FROM SAID CONVEYOR MEANS, SAID HANGERS BEING ARRANGED ON SAID CONVEYOR MEANS SO AS TO PRESENT SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL LUMBER SUPPORTING SURFACES AND A REARWARDLY OPEN CONFIGURATION WHEN SAID HANGERS ARE COURSING THE LOWER PATH OF TRAVEL OF SAID CONVEYOR MEANS, CONVEYOR MEANS DEPOSITING UNITS ON SAID HANGERS, AND SORTING MEANS COURSED BY SAID HANGERS AND COMPRISING VARIOUSLY DISPOSED SETS OF SORTING ARMS PIVOTALLY MOVABLE AT OPERATIONALLY FIXED POINTS ABOVE THE LUMBER SUPPORTING SURFACES OF SAID LUMBER CARRYING HANGERS, EACH SUCH SORTING ARM BEING MOUNTED FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT AND BALANCED TO FLOAT IN SUPERPOSED CONTACT WITH LUMBER UNITS CARRIED BY SAID HANGERS, EACH OF SAID SORTING ARMS HAVING A RECESSED AREA IN THE LUMBER CONTACTING SURFACE THEREOF PARTLY DEFINED BY A HOOK AND DIMENSIONED TO SPAN A LUMBER UNIT OF A PARTICULAR WIDTH TO DROP DOWN ON AND NEST OVER SAME, THE SAID HOOK WITH THE SORTING ARM IN SUCH NESTING POSITION SERVING TO LATCH ONTO THE LUMBER UNIT AND REMOVE IT FROM SUPPORTED POSITION ON ITS SET OF HANGERS, SAID SORTING MEANS FURTHER COMPRISING A SERIES OF GRADE ARMS, POSITIONED LATERALLY OF THE PATH OF TRAVEL OF SAID UNITS THROUGH THE SORTING MEANS AT POSITIONS TO GAUGE THE LENGTH DIMENSION AND THE EXTENT OF LATERAL OFFSET OF THE UNITS OCCASIONED IN SAID GRADE POSITIONING DECK, AND TO RAISE AND DISABLE THE ASSOCIATED SORTING ARMS UNLESS A UNIT IS OF A PARTICULAR LENGTH DIMENSION AND GRADE.