CA1172665A - Dispensing means for dragee-like material, such as sweets or equivalent - Google Patents

Dispensing means for dragee-like material, such as sweets or equivalent

Info

Publication number
CA1172665A
CA1172665A CA000363500A CA363500A CA1172665A CA 1172665 A CA1172665 A CA 1172665A CA 000363500 A CA000363500 A CA 000363500A CA 363500 A CA363500 A CA 363500A CA 1172665 A CA1172665 A CA 1172665A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
goods
groove
microprocessor
passing
cylinders
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000363500A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Iikka Alasalmi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Rettig-Strengberg & Co Oy AB GmbH
Original Assignee
Rettig-Strengberg & Co Oy AB GmbH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Rettig-Strengberg & Co Oy AB GmbH filed Critical Rettig-Strengberg & Co Oy AB GmbH
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1172665A publication Critical patent/CA1172665A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65BMACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B57/00Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices
    • B65B57/20Applications of counting devices for controlling the feed of articles
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65BMACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/10Feeding, e.g. conveying, single articles
    • B65B35/26Feeding, e.g. conveying, single articles by rotary conveyors

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Feeding Of Articles To Conveyors (AREA)
  • Medical Preparation Storing Or Oral Administration Devices (AREA)
  • Branching, Merging, And Special Transfer Between Conveyors (AREA)
  • Apparatuses For Bulk Treatment Of Fruits And Vegetables And Apparatuses For Preparing Feeds (AREA)
  • Basic Packing Technique (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE:
Apparatus for dispensing drag?e-like goods one by one and in predetermined quantities. The apparatus has a pair of parallel inclined cylinders defining therebetween a goods receiving groove and rotatable in opposite directions outwardly when viewed from above.
The goods are discharged into a bin at the lower end of the groove. A control and counting unit includes an optical counting head at the lower end of the groove reacting to the passing goods and a microprocessor, connected to the counting head, suitable to count the number of such passing goods. A recycling system includes a collector for receiving goods and a compressed air nozzle operatively connected to the microprocessor and operable to blow air on the passing goods and force them into the collector after one of the predetermined quantities of goods has been counted by the microprocessor.

Description

1! ~ 7266 ~

The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing dragee-like goods such as sweets or the like. Its operation is based on the count made of a number of goods dispensed and, for the purpose of optical counting of the goods, the lat-ter must be dis~
posed so as to flow in alignment one by one with sufficient spacing therebetween for identification of individual goods.
Apparatuses are known in the prior art which 10. are based on the determination of either the value or the weight of the goods The difficulty with the apparatus based on volume is that it is inaccurate when it comes to dragee-like material. Moreover, providing for the adjustment of predetermined quantities is difficult. As to the apparatuses based on weight, the difficulty is in the impairment of the dispensing accuracy when the speed is increased.
In order to avoid the above difficulties, counter means have been developed which afford better ; 20 dispensing accuracy as counting of the number of goods yields a result which is sufficiently accurate. However, the drawback is that they impose requirements on the shape and on the homogeneity of the goods to be dispensed.
~;~ An object of the present invention lies in the elimination of the aforementioned difficulties. More : specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing dragee-like goods one by one from a bulk supply and in predetermined quantities, apparatus of the type comprising a cylinder unit having at least one pair of parallel cylinders inclined downwardly from the bulk supply and disposed side by side to define a goods ~: receiving groove therebetween having an upper end and a lower end, the cylinders being mounted for rotation in opposite directions outwardly when viewed from above into the groove, the goods being fed into the groove upper end -~ 172665 and being discharged from the groove lower end into receiving means whereby such goods fl.ow along the groove in spaced alignment to fall freely into said receiving means one by one. With an apparatus of this type, it is possible to dispense exactly the right number of goods regardless of the shape of the goods or even the size which may vary quite considerably. Another advantage with this type of apparatus is that the capacity may be increased by adding other cylinder units in parallel with the aforementioned drum unit.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus of the above type is characterized by the provision of a bypass system, past the cylinder unit, which provides for cutting off the normal supply of goods after a predetermined number of them has been dispensed. By means of such bypass system,-the goods coming from the cyl-inder unit can be recycled during the time that the above-~ mentioned receiving means are replaced.
; More specifically, the invention lies in the provision of an apparatus of the above type which ischaracterized by the provision of:
- a control and counting unit including an . optical counting head disposed at the lower end of the groove, upstream of the receiving means, so as to react to the goods passing thereby one by one, and a micro-: processor suitable to count the number of the passing goods, the optical counting head being operatively con-nected to the microprocessor;
- a recycling system including a collector suitable to receive goods from the groove and compressed air means having an air nozzle disposed downstream of the optical counting head, the compressed air means being : operatively connected to the microprocessor for actuation of the air nozzle to allow the air nozzle to blow air on the passing goods and force thcm into the . ,~ .

~ ~ 72~65 recycling system collector after one of the pre-determined quantity of goods has been counted by the microprocessor.
Preferably, the inclination o the cylinders is adjus-table whereby to suit various qualities of goods. This is made possible because the cylinders can be made to rotate at a speed which is adjusted to meet the requirements of the quality of the goods being ~ dispensed.
Also, the control and counting unit and recycling system in accordance with the invention allows adjusting the goods dispensing ra-te at a maximum.
` An embodimen-t of the invention will now be described with reference to the appended drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is an elevation view of an apparatus made according to the invention, and Figure 2 is an end elevation of the apparatus, viewed from the arrow A of Figure l.
Referring to the drawings, there is shown a dispensing apparatus having a cylinder unit l mounted on a frame 2 in an inclined position of which the angle is adjustable. A feed unit 3 has a feed chute 4 so disposed that it is possible to discharge goods in between cylinders 5 and 6 making up a cylinder unit 1, there being more than one such cylinder unit, if need be, as shown in Figure 2. The apparatus fur-ther comprises a control and guiding unit 7 having an optical counting head 8 trained on the goods falling from between the ~ ad~acently disposed parallel cylinders 5 and 6 which `~ 30 define therebetween a groove into which the goods fall from the feed chute 4. Likewise trained on passing goods is a compressed air noz~le 9 of a compressed air means which is part of a recycling system including a collector 10 suitable to receive goods from the afore-mentioned groove. The apparatus further comprises a } 172~65 receiving means having a bin ll or other storage means in which a prede-termined quantity of goods is collected.
The cylinders 5 and 6 are mounted on shafts for rotation provided by a belt connection (not shown) to a drive motor 12. The size of the cylinders is not limited in any way. Thus, for the handling of goods having less than 20 mm in diameter, the diameter of the drums may for instance be 100 mm while thelr length would be 600 mm. Likewise, the speed of rotation of the drums is not fixed and in the above example it could for instance be 1300 r.p.m. The groove between the cylinders, however, has to be smaller than the smallest diameter of the goods to be dispensed and the cylinders have to rotate in opposite directions outward when viewed from above, in the direction s shown in Figure 1. This groove must of course be sufficiently closed at the bottom to prevent goods from falling between the cylinders.
The feed unit 3 includes a hopper 13 intended to contain a bulk supply of goods to be dispensed.
Beneath it is the vibrated feed chute 4, aforesaid.
The control and counting unit 7 comprises as many counting heads as there are cylinder unitssuch as unit 1 and a microprocessor 14 as well as a control panel 15. The bypass or recycling system includes a collector 10 suitable to receive goods from the groove and compress air means having an air nozzle 9. A
receiving means which normally receive the goods coming from the cylinder unit 1 may for instance be made up of several revolving funnels which feed into hoppers of a packagin~ machine.
The apparatus described above operates as follows.
The goods to be dispensed are introduced in the groove between the cylinders 5 and 6 from the feed chute 4 which has received the goods from the hopper 13 ~.' ~ 1726~5 of the feed unit 3. The feed ra-te can be adjusted by adjusting -the outflow aperture of the hopper 13 or adjusting the vibration of the feed chute 4. While rolling or sliding downward in the gxoove between the cylinders 5 and 6, the goods position themselves in alignment in a single line or string. The spacing between the goods and the moving speed of the string depend on the speed of rotation of the cylinders and their inclination as well as the rate of feed from the feed chute 4. The string or single line formation is - produced in the groove between the cylinders 5 and 6 as a result of accelerated velocity of the goods, from the time when each good falls from the chute 4 over the cylinders 5, 6 and it is influenced by the rotational movement of the cylinders and by the movement of the goods downwardly along the incline.
Coun-ting of the goods is achieved past the cyl-inderunit 1. The counting process is the one responsible for setting the flow for goods of a predetermined kind.
The optical counting head 8 reacts to the goods passing by and the microprocessor 14 collects the information thus received in a counter thereof. When the latter counter is filled, the processor 14 actuates -the compressed air nozzle 9 to open position during a prerequisite delay time period. The compressed air je-t from the nozzle 9 deflects the goods into the collector 10 of the recycling system rather than in the bin 11 of the receiving means.
The microprocessor 14 closes the air nozzle 9 when it becomes possible to supply another predetermined quantity, that is when an empty bin 11 has been placed into position.
The microprocessor 14 of the control and counting unit 7 may also be used to control the feed rate of the goods so as to optimize the feed, thus minimizing the quantity of goods being recycled.

I 1 7~6~

It is possible to set various star-ting values in the microprocessor, depending on the behaviour of the goods, on dosage quantities e-tc. Thus, one and the same apparatus may be used with ease in dispensing many different types of goods. It is implied, of course, that dispensing can be based on the number o~ pieces.
The efficiency of the apparatus may be increased by increasing the feed rate and by making the cylinders 5, 6 more steeply sloping, within the capacity of reaction of the counting head 8. The capaci-ty may also be increased by mounting a plurality of parallel cylinder units and controlling the number of goods passing through them.

' ~

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. An apparatus for dispensing drag?e-like goods one by one from a bulk supply and in predetermined quantities, apparatus of the type comprising a cylinder unit having at least one pair of parallel cylinders inclined downwardly from said bulk supply and disposed side by side to define a goods receiving groove there-between having an upper end and a lower end, said cylinders being mounted for rotation in opposite directions out-wardly when viewed from above into said groove, said goods being fed into, said groove upper end and being discharged from said groove lower end into receiving means, whereby said goods flow along said groove in spaced alignment to fall freely into said receiving means one by one, the improvement therewith comprising:
- a control and counting unit including an optical counting head disposed at the lower end of said groove, upstream of said receiving means, so as to react to said goods passing thereby one by one, and a micro-processor suitable to count the number of said passing goods, said optical counting head being operatively con-nected to said microprocessor;
- a recycling system including a collector suitable to receive goods from said groove and compressed air means having an air nozzle disposed downstream of said optical counting head, said compressed air means being operatively connected to said microprocessor for actuation of said air nozzle to allow said air nozzle to blow air on said passing goods and force them into said recycling system collector after one of said pre-determined quantities of goods has been counted by said microprocessor.
CA000363500A 1979-10-30 1980-10-29 Dispensing means for dragee-like material, such as sweets or equivalent Expired CA1172665A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FI793394 1979-10-30
FI793394A FI58464C (en) 1979-10-30 1979-10-30 DOSERING REQUIREMENT FOR MATERIAL SAOSOM SOETSAKER ELLER MOTSVARANDE

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1172665A true CA1172665A (en) 1984-08-14

Family

ID=8513001

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000363500A Expired CA1172665A (en) 1979-10-30 1980-10-29 Dispensing means for dragee-like material, such as sweets or equivalent

Country Status (17)

Country Link
JP (1) JPS5689260A (en)
AR (1) AR223247A1 (en)
AT (1) AT370283B (en)
AU (1) AU537809B2 (en)
BE (1) BE885915A (en)
BR (1) BR8006917A (en)
CA (1) CA1172665A (en)
DE (1) DE3040744A1 (en)
DK (1) DK458080A (en)
ES (1) ES496381A0 (en)
FI (1) FI58464C (en)
FR (1) FR2468505A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2085831B (en)
IT (1) IT1133528B (en)
NL (1) NL8005906A (en)
SE (1) SE8007566L (en)
YU (1) YU272180A (en)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5997234A (en) * 1997-04-29 1999-12-07 Ebara Solar, Inc. Silicon feed system
USD640473S1 (en) 2009-03-10 2011-06-28 The Procter & Gamble Company Paper product
USD632896S1 (en) 2009-03-10 2011-02-22 The Procter & Gamble Company Paper product
CN108820377B (en) * 2018-05-10 2023-11-03 苏州双荣橡塑有限公司 Automatic counting device of rubber coating wheel
CN110745311A (en) * 2019-10-18 2020-02-04 上海派可瑞包装设备有限公司 Modular tablet counting machine

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2468505B3 (en) 1983-08-12
FI58464C (en) 1981-02-10
AU537809B2 (en) 1984-07-12
SE8007566L (en) 1981-05-01
YU272180A (en) 1983-06-30
BE885915A (en) 1981-02-16
DK458080A (en) 1981-05-01
GB2085831A (en) 1982-05-06
JPS5689260A (en) 1981-07-20
IT1133528B (en) 1986-07-09
DE3040744A1 (en) 1981-05-14
IT8012697A0 (en) 1980-10-24
ATA515580A (en) 1982-08-15
GB2085831B (en) 1983-08-10
AT370283B (en) 1983-03-10
FR2468505A1 (en) 1981-05-08
ES8106861A1 (en) 1981-10-01
AU6366680A (en) 1981-05-07
BR8006917A (en) 1981-05-05
AR223247A1 (en) 1981-07-31
ES496381A0 (en) 1981-10-01
NL8005906A (en) 1981-06-01
FI58464B (en) 1980-10-31

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US5469973A (en) Sorting optically different solid masses
EP0911130B1 (en) A blender
DE3346145C2 (en) Measuring device for the continuous determination of the throughput of material flows
US7439455B2 (en) Measuring catalyst(s) for filling reactor tubes in reactor vessels
US4573801A (en) Apparatus for producing a gas solid two phase flow jet having a constant mass or volume flow rate and predetermined velocity
KR20040039317A (en) Shingle granule valve and method of depositing granules onto a moving substrate
US6186194B1 (en) Process and device for bagging a certain number of grains in each sack
US5240118A (en) High-speed tablet sorting machine
CA1126230A (en) Preparation and crushing tool
JPS59203482A (en) Quantitative feeder of fibrous material
CA1172665A (en) Dispensing means for dragee-like material, such as sweets or equivalent
US4426753A (en) Apparatus for opening and cleaning cotton waste
EP0143346B1 (en) Long size measuring apparatus
DE2947414C2 (en) Measuring device for recording the conveying rate of a bulk material flow
JPS5894379A (en) Distributor apparatus of strand forming machine for producing smoking product
US3945814A (en) Apparatus for feeding particles of glass into crucibles for extrusion of glass filaments
CN209337030U (en) A kind of crops subpackage apparatus
JPH0217300Y2 (en)
US4478262A (en) Apparatus for filling portions of loose material into packaging containers
US2111921A (en) Automatic weighing apparatus
EP3661714A1 (en) Apparatus for feeding single grains to a processing machine, in particular an injection molding machine
US6383562B1 (en) Method and plant for the preparation of granulated materials such as feedstuff pellets sprayed with additives
US4590364A (en) Container counting apparatus
JPH06229816A (en) Combined weighing instrument
JPH10104035A (en) Pellet measuring device and controller for dished granulator

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
MKEX Expiry