GB1246794A - Sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,246,794. Selective signalling. G. D. PETERS & CO. Ltd. 18 Oct., 1968 [21 July, 1967], No. 33719/67. Heading G4H. Articles on a conveyer are sorted in accordance with their weight or price by digitizing a signal derived from a weighing station and stepping each digitized signal along a series of registers, associated with sorting gates, in synchronism with the movement of the articles along the conveyer, coincidence circuits controlling the operation of the sorting gates in accordance with the result of a comparison of the digitized signal in the corresponding register with a preset value. The output 2 of a strain gauge representing the weight of an article is applied to a circuit 1 where it is integrated over a fixed time interval following that in which the first overshoot occurs. A potentiometer 7 is preset to the price per unit weight and gives an output 8 representative of the price of the article. The digitizing circuit comprises a comparator 9, clock generator 14, counter 15 and a feedback D/A converter 17. When gate 16 closes at the end of a digitizing operation or detection of an overweight article by gate 21, a shift pulse is generated at 23 to transfer the counter 15 contents to a first buffer stage 24. A magnetic proximity switch detects an article as it leaves the weighing station and causes shifting of the digitized signals along successive buffer stages 24 and successive sorting gate registers.