and a feeder drive assembly 25 the master controller 200 may receive input signals from one or more discrete sensors including a feeder load sensor 26 a saw load sensor 86 a topper load sensor 76 for an element driven by a motor a load sensor may be installed such that it senses the amperage on the motor a higher amperage may indicate an excessive drain on the motor which in turn may indicate an excessive load similarly a lower amperage may indicate a reduced or minimum load on the motor in one embodiment of the present invention the feeder load sensor 26 saw load sensor 86 and topper load sensor 76 are connected to the feeder drive assembly 25 saw drive assembly 85 and topper drive assembly 75 respectively and configured to sense the load on the respective motors if the load sensed exceeds a set maximum the load sensor sends a fault signal to the master controller 200 a master controller 200 may be programmed with rules to execute in response to any variety of conditions or modes including normal fault emergency slow pause or any combination of such modes also for example any variety of situations may represent a fault condition different situations may be programmed in the master controller 200 by writing instructions according to the logic rules governing the controller fault conditions may include jammed equipment an undesirable object such as metal in the incoming flow an overloaded.