GB1394348A - Loading apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1394348 Automatic control L F LIND 26 July 1973 35630/73 Heading G3N Articles are selectively loaded into different containers by the use of a shifting memory advancing the memory of an article to be loaded in synchronism with movement of the article along a path in combination with a stationary memory holding a signal indicative of the intended loading of the article. As shown, cartons of eggs to be graded are fed along a path 10 and transferred row by row by a vacuum unit 11 to a feed chute 12 of a screw conveyor 13. The emptied cartons are stacked in a pile 14, an egg remaining in a carton being sensed by a photo-electric device 15 and a warning bell or light activated or the path feed stopped. The eggs are fed by a chute 12 to a screw conveyor 13 and pass through an inspection box 16 to a weighing station 17. The weight of each egg is digitally recorded in a shifting memory of an electronic unit 18, the stepping of which is synchronized with the egg-movement by the actuation of reedswitches 27 by a permanent magnet 26 on a disc 25 mounted on an extension of the screw conveyor shaft. The eggs are allotted to one of three grades and fed to an empty pocket of the appropriate carton 20, 21, 22 through a trap-door (not shown), of a delivery means 19, selected by the electronic unit 18 in response to the information in the shifting memory and the updated information in a stationary memory relating to the occupation status of the carton. Facilities are provided in the electronic device 18 whereby new cartons 20-22 are brought into use, and reject eggs discharged via a chute 24. The electronic unit 18 is embodied by a shifting memory employing D-type bistable devices and an egg grade discriminator employing AND-gates.