GB1476784A - Silverware feeder and sorter construction - Google Patents

Abstract

1476784 Silverware sorter AVANT INDUSTRIES INC 19 June 1974 [20 June 1973] 27138/74 Heading B2H [Also in Division B8] In an apparatus for sorting silverware including knives, forks and spoons, means for feeding the silverware to a sorting bed 42, Figs. 1 and 3, comprises a hopper 10 for collecting the silverware in bulk amounts, means 16 for discharging the silverware from the hopper, a trough 30 for receiving the silverware discharged from the hopper, and an impact surface 36 positioned so that silverware discharged from the trough falls on to the surface and is spread substantially evenly over it upon impact. The hopper 10 is mounted on resilient supports 14 and is vibrated by a vibrator 16 to cause the silverware to move to its discharge end. The hopper is grooved over the whole or part of its bottom. The trough 30 is mounted on flexible members 32 and vibrated by a vibrator 34. The impact surface 36 is provided by a plate supported by side panels 28 of a grooved conveyor bed 38 mounted on flexible members 40 and vibrated by a vibrator 39. The silverware on the impact surface is thus delivered on to the bed 38 and is discharged through slots 37 therein onto the grooved sorting bed 42 which is supported on flexible members 46 and vibrated by a vibrator 44. Deflector members 35 on the bed 38 serve to align the silverware longitudinally in the grooves of the bed. A pan 83 supported on the apparatus frame above the bed 42 receives from the bed 38 any overflow of silverware which has not passed through the slots 37 and which is manually transferred back to the hopper 10 for recycling. Alternatively, the pan 83 could be supported by braces 47 to vibrate with the bed 42 and the overflow would then discharge into a container 96 which also receives overflow from the bed 42. The bottom of the bed 42 is formed with series of interconnected slots 52, 62, 64 and 66, Figs. 6 and 8, which are of such shape and width as to allow forks 54, knives 56, small spoons 58 and large spoons 60 respectively to fall through them in succession into separate beds 68, 70, 72 and 74. The latter are provided with slots which allow the silverware to be deposited in respective collecting containers 82 with their working ends upwardly. The containers 82 may be in the form of baskets insertable in a dish-washing machine. The different beds may be made of extruded, moulded or formed parts which have a suitable cross-section on defining grooves between their sides and which are assembled together to constitute a bed.