GB773094A - Automatic tube weighing and classifying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

773,094. Endless conveyers. OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS CO. Jan. 25, 1955. No. 2178/55. Class 78 (1). [Also in Group XVIII] An endless conveyer, for an apparatus for sorting articles by weight, comprises two parallel chains 18, Fig. 1, driven at a constant speed by a motor M, through a gear-box 25, chains 25a, 27, and a sprocket-wheel 28, the latter being on the same shaft as one of the sprocket-wheels 18a:- 18d of chains 18. The chains carry lugs 30, and the articles, such as glass tubes, are kept clear of the chains by rails 31, 32, 33. At the weighing station W, rail gaps 40, Fig. 3, allow the tubes to fall on to supports 58 for weighing and classification by a unit housed in casing 67 ; whereafter short rail sections 42 are raised to replace the tubes on rails 31. The sections 42 are actuated by a cam 45 which is rotated on a shaft 26 driven by motor M; the cam co-operates with a follower 48 on a spring-loaded arm 47, the movement of the latter being communicated to sections 42 through conventional linkage 50, 51, 53, 54 55, 56, 43, so that a tube is weighed and replaced on rail 31 before the next lug reaches gaps 40, at which time sections 42 are again lowered to allow the succeeding tube to fall on to supports 58. The tubes are discharged to racks 103, Fig. 4, by pairs of fingers 100, the level of discharge depending on the weight classification of the tube in question; normally-retracted fingers 100 are actuated, through linkage 115, 52, 117, 118, by movement of spring-loaded arms 111, having followers 113 cooperating with a series of cams 110 on shaft 26. In operation, fingers 100 are not actuated unless their corresponding arms 111 are released by their respective spring-loaded latches 120, the latter being controlled by solenoids 96; the weighing operation results in one or more electronic tubes conducting to energize one of a series of time delay devices, which in turn energize one of the solenoids 96, when an appropriate time interval has elapsed to allow the weighed tube to reach the correct discharge level.