GB1342309A - Segregation unit - Google Patents

Abstract

1342309 Sorting by weighing; sorting by gauging AMF Inc 24 Jan 1972 [3 Feb 1971] 3786/71 Headings G1M and G1W Uniformly shaped articles, e.g. cigarettes, to be sorted according to a parameter such as weight, diameter, length, or density, pass singly in succession to means 12 which measures the parameter and emits a signal dependent on the magnitude of the parameter, each article then being transferred to a ramp having doors 50, a respective actuator 52 being operable to open one of the doors 50 dependent on the emitted signal to allow the article to pass through the ramp. The apparatus illustrated separates cigarettes into six weight categories, and counts the number in each category. Each cigarette passes from a hopper 11, via an adjustable width throat having one adjustable wall (30) Fig. 3 (not shown), and a cam-operated gate (33), to the pan 41 of a weigher of the type described in Specification 982091 which produces an electrical signal proportional to weight. A photo-cell 73 detects the cigarette and activates a circuit by which an appropriate one of counters 16-21 is advanced, one counter being for each weight category as measured by the weigher. Arms 42 lift the weighed cigarette from the pan 41 to the top of the ramp, adjacent a gate 55 having an actuator 56. The gate 55 holds the cigarette momentarily to straighten it prior to release down the ramp. Dependent on which door 50 has been opened by the weight signal, the cigarette falls down a labyrinth passage on to a respective one of conveyers 64-69 for transfer to a bin 15. A modified conveyer system Figs 11, 12, (not shown) feeds the cigarettes into the bottoms of the bins.