GB333938A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for sorting apples, eggs or other suitable articles - Google Patents

Abstract

333,938. Hodgins, R. D. Scoble-. May 23, 1929. Sorting by weighing. -In an apparatus for sorting apples, eggs, or other suitable articles, the articles are fed on to a plurality of pivotally mounted weighing trays or the like adapted to be rotated in a predetermined path, the trays co-acting with a plurality of gates pivotally mounted on a stationary platform co-axial with the axis about which the traps rotate, the gates being permitted to open to allow the trays to turn about their pivots to release or deflect the articles when they overcome or balance a force tending to maintain the gates in a closed position. The articles to be sorted are carried from a hopper 9, Fig. 1, by means of an endless belt 10, perforated to reject undersized articles, and are deposited on rotating screw-shaped rollers arranged longitudinally on a table 12. The rollers whilst feeding the articles formed cause them to rotate and facilitate the inspection of their surfaces. The articles are delivered by the rollers to a pair of conveyers 13, 14 each delivering to a constantlydriven compartmented drum 19, Fig. 3, which in turn delivers to the compartments of a loose placing drum 20. Below the placing drum is a series of pivoted trays 24 carried by a constantlyrotating vertical shaft. As each tray passes the placing drum 20 a lug 22 on the tray rotates the drum and receives an articles therefrom. A finger 26, Fig. 4, projecting from the tray slides along the surface of a stationary disc 27 provided with a series of pivoted gates 30. The gates are counterbalanced by levers 31 carrying weights 33 or samples of the articles being tested. If the article on the tray 24 is sufficiently heavy the gate descends under the pressure of the finger 26 and the article is tipped into a compartment below, the tipping action being retarded by a cam surface 41. Lighter articles are carried to the succeeding gates for further testing and the lightest articles are tipped off when the finger 26 arrives at a gap 35. A cam surface restores the trays to their upper positions. In a modification, the gates 30 open upwardly and the fingers on the trays are arranged to press upwardly against the under side of the disc 27. Instead of the duplicate arrangement of trays shown in Fig. 1, a single arrangement may be provided, or the two sets of rotating trays may be arranged concentrically of one another and two such arrangements may be arranged side by side after the manner shown in Fig. 1. Specification 328,512 is referred to.