JPH0583451B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of handling equipment, and more particularly to equipment for moving items from one line, such as a conveyor line, to a delivery area, such as a second conveyor line. related to the field of

In various aspects of the processing and packaging industry, such as food and beverage processing and packaging, automatically sorting and moving only certain items from one conveyor to a second conveyor based on their quantitative or qualitative characteristics. This has become desirable. As a specific illustration, US Pat. No. 3,009,572 discloses various embodiments of an apparatus for sorting items. The device presented therein is a device specifically designed to separate or sort items according to their weight categories, and to remove items from a stream of items that exceed or fall below the limits of a predetermined weight range. be. The device uses a particularly wide conveyor-like device with a plurality of conveyor slides that pass the weighed items from another conveyor. This slide is normally located in the center of the device and is guided by suitable guide means so as to be centrally located at the end of the conveyor-like device. However, if an item is too heavy, the slide carrying the item will first be deflected in a first direction from the center to a specific location along its transport path, at which point the slide will be forced into a conveyor-like structure. picking up fixed guide means for further guiding and moving the slide to the first side of the conveyor-like device for delivery to the first side of the distal end of the slide; On the other hand, if a particular item is too light, the slide will be deflected at its control point towards the second side of the conveyor-like device, where an additional fixed slide will be placed on the second side of the conveyor-like device at its end. guiding the slide towards a second side of the conveyor-like device for delivering items adjacent to the side of the conveyor-like device; By doing so, at the end of the device, the appropriate weight, overload,
and items that are underweight will be separated. All slides are then returned to their central position by suitable fixed guide means before the articles to be sorted arrive.

US Pat. No. 2,936,059 discloses a fully automatic device for handling curved items. The device includes a slide that works similarly, but rather than a slide on which the items to be sorted are placed.
The slide of the 2936059 patent protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor carrying the items to be transported,
and when extended, it contacts the side of the item and slides it off the conveyor and onto other equipment. The device of US Pat. No. 3,471,012 is very similar to the two patents mentioned above, having the lateral conveyance characteristics of the 2936059 patent and the single article selective conveyance characteristics of the 3009572 patent.

An advantage of the general type of conveyor or sorter of the three patents mentioned above is that the items that are traveling on the conveyor but that must be removed are located by the drive at a specific point along the path of the item. U.S. patent no.
3,270,881 and 3,133,640, in which the movement of the goods is carried out very quickly, whereas the movement of the goods from a given path to a second path is of a certain length. The point is that it is achieved over a process (therefore, it takes a certain amount of time). The longer transport times of devices such as those disclosed in the 3471012, 2936059, and 3009572 patents allow for more careful handling of the items being transported when handling fragile items such as glass bottles. It will be an advantage. Instead, such equipment can be easily transported.
This means that you can increase the speed,
This means that they can generally achieve higher speeds than equipment that cannot be roughly transported. However, the device of patent 3471012 also
The device of the 3009572 patent also operates at particularly high speeds, since the selective actuation of the extrusion members is performed by a driver whose actuation requires a significant amount of time compared to the frequency with which extrusion members are encountered in such high-speed machines. Not suitable for

From one conveyor or conveyor-like device,
An improved sorter for selective conveyance of items to a delivery area, such as a second conveyor, is based on one or more signals relating to all items so conveyed. This device uses another conveyor-like device moving generally parallel to the conveyor carrying the items to be conveyed, and that conveyor-like device has a plurality of conveyor-like devices oriented approximately perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor-like device. a pusher member which is moved between an extended position over a conveyor carrying the items to be moved and a normal retracted position so as to move the items therefrom to a delivery device by means of guiding means; Can be slid. Each extrusion member is normally placed in a retracted position unless specifically driven to the extended position, and the extended extrusion member is then moved from the extended position to the retracted position by contacting the fixed cam surface. Follow the cycle to. The apparatus includes means for knowing the relative position along the conveyor of the article to be moved and the nearest pusher member, where one pusher member is extended into contact with the center of the article to be sorted or , or 2
A separate member can be extended to contact each side of the item to be sorted.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-3, the basic mechanical assembly of the present invention can be seen. FIG. 1 is a side view of the main assembly, while FIGS. 2 and 3 are lines 2-2 and 3 of FIG. 1, respectively.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line -3. In FIG. 2, a plurality of containers, let's say bottles 20,
is traveling on the conveyor 22 from left to right in the drawing. In a typical application, bottles 20 typically come onto conveyor 22 from some inspection means 24, such as a fill level inspector, who inspects each bottle to ensure that it has been filled correctly at a previous processing location. Therefore, in order to make the following description specific and to facilitate understanding of the illustrative examples, the bottle 20
comes from a certain testing means 24, some of the bottles are in a failing condition, and the bottle 20
Assume that it must be transferred from conveyor 22 to conveyor 26 as shown at A. In this regard, typical inspection means, such as fill level inspectors, inspect each bottle at a fixed inspection point on the conveyor system and determine whether the bottle passes or fails before it actually leaves the inspection point. Therefore, for each rejected bottle 20, i.e. each bottle 20 that must be transferred from conveyor 22 to conveyor 26, an electrical signal indicative of rejection is sent from inspection means 24 to ensure that the bottle is still on the conveyor line. Received while within range.

The apparatus of the invention consists of a chassis or frame 28 mounted on legs 30 so as to be free to stand beside the conveyor 22.
Axles 32 and 34 (see Figure 3) are bearings 3
6 on the frame 28, an axle 34 is extended through one of the bearings 36 and has a sprocket 38 mounted thereon to be driven by a chain 42 from a third axle 40. Chain 42 is driven from axle 40 through a clutch assembly 44 rather than being driven directly by a sprocket on axle 40. As will be seen, this provides the ability to rapidly remove the drive from axle 40 to axle 34 and remove the axle 34 and all mechanisms that were being driven via brake 45 without stopping axle 40. It gives you the ability to stop. In this regard, axle 40
is preferably driven directly from the conveyor 22 in order to remain synchronized with the conveyor regardless of its speed.

Mounted on each axle 32 and 34 is a pair of sprockets 46 and 48. What is installed on the sprocket is
A pair of hollow bottle and roller type chains 50 and 52, the top span of each chain being:
It is located slightly above the top of the conveyor 22 in the illustrated embodiment. Chain 50 and 52
is a relatively heavy chain, approximately 1 1/4 inch (32
mm) with a central pivot pin. Extending through the pin itself is a solid pin that extends across the assembly to be common to the two chains. In this way,
There are a plurality of pins 54 extending through each of the chains and bridging the separation therebetween approximately every 1 1/4 inches (32 mm) along the length of the chain. These pins can also be seen in FIG. 4, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG.

Adjacent to one end of each pin 54 and mounted adjacent to the pair of pins is a fixed slide block 56 which is held in place with respect to the pin by snap rings on each side of the slide block. (See, for example, Figure 4). As can be seen in Figures 1 and 2 (as well as in the other drawings), the fixed slide
The blocks 56 are alternately offset so that each pin can pass through two separate fixed slide blocks, or in other words, each link of the chain can be supported by a fixed slide block. Ru. (These sliding blocks are fixed so that they do not move or slip along the length of the pin 54, but of course so that they travel with the chain when driven by the drive described above.) In a preferred embodiment, this sliding block is made of a self-lubricating synthetic resin, such as Delrin, in which the pins can rotate slightly as the chain passes around the sprocket. ) It can also be seen in Figure 4, and 5- in Figure 4.
5, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5, is the movable slide block 58. These slide blocks are
It spans the space between two adjacent rods 54 and slides in contact with the rods over a span of slightly less than 180 degrees so that a movable slide block can be positioned between each pair of rods 54 as shown. There is. Each movable slide block has an extruded rod 60 pressed into it;
The pusher rod slides through a hole in its mating stationary slide block 56 so that when in the position shown in FIG. Then, it is arranged above the upper surface of the conveyor 22.
The end of each side of each pusher member 60 is connected to a container on the conveyor 22 to keep items sorted when the pusher member is extended, as illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. A suitable rubber or rubber-like cap 62 is provided for contact with items such as 20. In addition, each movable slide block 58 has a downwardly projecting pin 64 press-fit therein to provide a basis for control of the pusher members in the apparatus, as will be discussed in more detail below. From now on, we will simply call it pin, but pin 64 is
A pin with a small Delrin wheel or rollers thereon is desirable to reduce function and fatigue.

The rubber tip 62 is shown in the drawings as having a generally short cylindrical profile for simplicity. However, it is desirable that this chip has a shape as shown in FIG. As shown, the tip is characterized by having a fairly wide surface 63, a relatively small neck 65, and a cylindrical portion 67 for pushing into the distal end of the push rod 60. Each tip has an exhaust hole to prevent it from acting like a suction cup on moving items. In this form, the neck 65 can be bent and rotated so that the surface 63 can better come into close contact with the surface of the article being pressed.

Referring again to FIG. 3, this time a cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1, further details of the mechanical structure can be seen. The drawing in Figure 3 shows pin 6.
4 is viewed from just below the upper run of the chain to reveal the fixed guide means for.
Of course, what is also visible in this drawing is the lower span of the fixed slide block 56 and the pin 6.
The lower span of the movable sliding block 58 with 4. The running of pins 64 or chains for the upper span would also normally be visible in the cross-sectional view in the drawing of FIG. 3, but they have been omitted except for the pins representing the extended extrusion members.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, this embodiment includes three pin guide members, a lower guide member 66, an upper extension guide member 68, and an upper retraction guide member 70, which limit the extension of the initial extension of the pusher member. I'm here. The lower guide member 66 has a bent end 72 that catches and removes the pins 64 on any movable slide blocks that for some reason overextend during the lower or return travel of the pusher member. Return the movable slide block to the predetermined slightly extended position. In this manner, the lower movable slide block 58 generally
The pins 64 are either left in an unextended position, as shown in FIG. The pusher member and pin are extended a little as defined by the lower guide member 66, whereupon the pin 64 touches the front edge 7 of the upper extension guide member 68 to receive the guide member.
6, and the guide member forces the rear edge 78 of the upper extension guide member 68 into an extended position of the pusher member. Extension of the extrusion member in this manner is further illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4. After leaving the trailing edge 78 of the upper extension guide member, the pins on the movable slide blocks of the extended pusher members move around the sprocket at the end of the conveyor-like device in which the chain supporting the pusher members moves. Before turning and advancing, it comes into contact with the upper retraction guide member 70 so that the pusher member can be retracted. The relative position of upper extension guide member 68 and its leading edge 76, as well as lower guide member 66, is perhaps best seen in FIG. The relative positions of the extrusion member, frame 28, and other parts can also be seen in FIG.

Referring now again to FIG. 4, some details of the driver driving the initial extension of pusher member 60 can be seen. In particular, a small air cylinder 80
is located below the lower run of the conveyor-like device, which has a driver rod 82 with a cleat 84, and when the driver is activated, as particularly illustrated in FIG. It extends upwardly into contact with one of the movable slide blocks 58. Low pressure air is supplied to the driver by a solenoid valve triggered by a microprocessor controller, which will be described below.

Before further explaining the operation of the driver 80,
At this point, note the typical dynamic characteristics of the driver, whether it is an air powered driver such as driver 80, a solenoid driver, a solenoid valve controlled pressure or vacuum driver, or other typical driver. It is worthwhile to find out. If, at the beginning of actuation of the driver, a constant force is exerted on the movable member, the movable member will be accelerated at a constant rate from a fully driven position to a fully driven position. Therefore, at the beginning of this hypothetical driver, the speed of the movable member increases linearly over time from zero to the maximum speed at which the driven position is reached. The travel distance at any point between an undriven position and a driven position is proportional to the square of the time from the beginning of the drive, and only a quarter of the drive movement is required at the beginning of the drive time. The remaining three-quarters of the movement is performed during the remaining half of the drive time. In a real driver, the force increases with time, with less than 20% of the driver's movement occurring during the first half of the drive time and more than 80% during the second half of the drive time. This often happens. As a specific illustration, when a drive voltage is first applied to the coil of a solenoid driver, the current in the coil increases to the point where the magnetic force exceeds the force of the return spring before any movement of the driver occurs. It should be. Even after that point, the magnetic field continues to increase with time, so that the acceleration of the movable member is not constant during the drive time, but rather is effectively To increase. Typical delays caused by the inductance of the solenoid actuator and the mechanism of movement of the moving member result in a value of 10 to 20 msec or more in the actuation time of the solenoid actuator, the first part of which is , generally considered to be a pure delay, with the effective part of the motion occurring towards the end of the required drive time. A typical solenoid actuator release is
Just as the magnetic field holding the movable member in the latched position does not break down instantaneously, acceleration of the movable member to the unlatched position as a result of the return spring will occur only if the magnetic field is too strong. It typically increases over time as it slowly breaks down.

A somewhat similar effect occurs in air-powered drives, since the pressure within the drive cannot instantaneously increase to the maximum drive pressure at the beginning of drive. clearly,
Air-powered devices must also be controlled by some air supply control device, such as a solenoid valve, each of which imparts its dynamic effect to the overall combination. From the foregoing discussion, it can be seen that in all events, a typical driver's response to a drive command approaches a pure time delay plus the time for effective movement of the driver to occur. With these characteristics in mind, reference is made to FIGS. 5 and 8. In these drawings,
In this embodiment, drivers 80 and 81 are particularly
Then, I realized that there were actually two drivers. Additionally, similar to cleat 86 coupled to the driver rod of driver 81, cleat 84 coupled to the driver rod of driver 80 is connected to return spring 88.
and notice that it can rotate against a force of 90.
This arrangement has many unique advantages as discussed below.

FIG. 6 shows a view similar to FIG. 4, but in this view the driver 80 is shown in the drive position. Cleat 84 is therefore one of the movable slide blocks 58,
Specifically, it contacts the slide block 58a and moves it to the left;
6 to meet the pin 64a. This is also illustrated in FIG. 7, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG.
From these two drawings and FIG. 9, it can be seen that the frame structure 28 provides sufficient spacing for the somewhat extended extruded rod, guide member 66, and that this spacing is achieved by limiting its initial extension. I notice that

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when actuated, cleat 84 intercepts the path of the next undeflected movable slide block 58 and before the leading edge of the next slide block reaches the cleat position. Unless returned to the undriven position shown in FIG. 4, the cleat will collide with the next sliding block. One of the advantages of the deflectable cleat 84 in this manner is illustrated in FIG. In particular, in this figure, the movable slide block 58a has deflected, but the driver has not yet fully returned to the non-driving position, so that the cleat 84
is considered to be in contact with the leading edge of the slide block 58b. In this way, as shown, the cleat can be deflected out of the way to prevent damage to all parts of the mechanism. On a low speed machine, a cleat 84 condition such as that illustrated in FIG. This is a general result. In this way, measures are taken to protect against minor problems that escalate into more serious problems.

Deflectable cleats are intentionally used in high speed machines to overcome the drive time limitations of the drive itself. In particular, in FIGS. 5 and 8, two drivers, here drivers 80 and 81, are illustrated. For ease of control, these drivers are preferably separated by many times the spacing between bars 54, and even more preferably by an odd number of sliding blocks 58 between them. In this arrangement, each of the drivers 80 and 81 is used to deflect an alternate pusher bar assembly, where each pusher bar assembly is driven at maximum, yet each driver is at least one of the speeds of the overall device. You only have to drive at half speed. In that regard, for such high speed applications, each driver is desirably controlled to eliminate the effects of the constant time delay characteristics of the drivers mentioned above, especially in modern It is desirable to begin the drive cycle some time before the arrival of the slide bar assembly, which is extended by an amount that depends on the operating speed.

As an additional safety feature, in the event of misplacement of the pusher bar assembly, means are provided to shut down the device in order to repair the malfunction and avoid damage to the device. In particular, a narrow roller or wheel 92 is supported on a drive lever 94 of a switch 96 which can be actuated to drive clutch 44 and brake 45 (FIG. 3) to rapidly stop the mechanism. It is. wheel 92
are directly aligned with the leading edge 76 of the upper extension guide member 68 . Therefore, if for some reason one of the pusher bar assemblies is initially extended by a small amount by the driver, or for some other reason, its pin 64
If this would result in blocking the distal end 76 of the guide member 68 and damaging the device, each pin must first be connected to the wheel 9 to drive the switch 96.
2 and before the pin reaches the end of the guide member 68, the device is stopped. In this way,
Again, faults are detected promptly and repaired before equipment is damaged as a result of the fault occurring.

Now, referring to Figures 10 and 11,
The electronic parts of the device can be seen. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the apparatus includes a single board computer 100, in a particularly preferred embodiment an ISBC manufactured and sold by Intel Corporation.
Controlled by 80/04 single board computer under program control. The circuit illustrated in detail in FIG.
1, inlet 02, and inlet 03.
The specific pin names of the J1 connector for these three inlets are listed in the Intel product catalog for this computer. For this computer, inlets 01 and 02 are 8-bit I/O inlets, while inlet 03 is a 6-bit I/O inlet.
Please note that this is the entrance. In this particular circuit that will be described, inlet 01 is used as an input inlet, while inlets 02 and 03 are used as output inlets for the computer.

In this preferred embodiment, the electronics have been modified to allow for future expansion of capabilities according to the particular application of the device. Thus, as shown herein, within this embodiment, 12 separate inputs are used, although fewer are actually used with the specific devices disclosed in FIGS. 1 through 9. Capabilities are provided for receiving and acting on signals. Each of the 12 input signals or channels uses an input interface, a typical circuit of which is illustrated in FIG. The J2 connector shown therein is for connecting to the respective signal source for each channel. By way of specific illustration, as is clear from the previous description of the exemplary embodiment, one of the inputs of this embodiment is a fail signal from the inspection location. The input for a typical input interface is coupled to a current regulator 104 via a transistor 102, which is specifically an LM334 manufactured by National Semiconductor, which combines transistor 102, current regulator 104, and resistor 106. Current regulation is independent of a fairly wide range of input voltages on connector J2, providing a nearly constant current to the optical emitter of opto-isolator 108. The output of the opto-isolator is on line 112 which is the logic inverse of the control signal applied to connector J2 by a pull resistor 110 coupled to a 5 volt power supply.
Along with the output above, it is made to conform to TTL. By using a combination of current regulators and opto-isolators, TTL-compliant signals can be electrically isolated from the input signal source, and can also be connected directly to almost any signal source without the need for interfacing. The result is one that responds to an input signal with a voltage of . In the preferred embodiment, an input voltage range of 4 to 40 volts DC was achieved with the circuit of FIG.

Each of the 12 outputs of the interface in Figure 12 is
The Schmitt triggers 114 are coupled to the respective input terminals of a set of six Schmitt triggers 114.
The trigger causes buffering, re-inversion, and hysteresis in the 12 signals. The output of the Schmitt trigger is 3 in a set of 6.
are coupled to the input terminals of state driver 116;
Eight of the twelve signals are activated by the activation signal Activation 6 on line 118 and the remaining four signals are activated by the activation signal Activation 7 on line 120. Thus, upon receiving the energization signal on line 118, the eight outputs of the three-state driver are coupled to the eight lines of inlet 01 of the single-board computer 100, while the energization signal on line 120 The signals couple the remaining four three-state drivers to the four lines of inlet 01.

In this preferred embodiment, only 6 of the 12 input channels are used, with the remaining 6 reserved for future expansion if needed. The six channels used include four fail signal channels (not all four need to be used for every device), a trigger input, and a position latch input channel. These signals are referred to as REJA, REJB, and REJB, respectively, in this book.
Identified as REJC, REJD, TRIG and POS.

Referring now again to FIG. 10, six separate 8
Deep switch in position 120, 122, 12
Notice that there are 4, 126, 128, and 130. These dip switches are each connected in parallel by an input line 132.
By grounding the input line of each dip switch, the state of the switch is set to
It can be prepared by a computer via 1. Therefore, 4 of the 8 bits at the output of inlet 02 are coupled to one of the 16 decoders 134, and the first 6 of the decoded outputs are connected to the 6 dips.
It is buffered by six amplifiers 136 to produce six enable signals for the switch. A computer's input/output line has a pull resistance when used as an input line, so the dip switch is energized by pulling its input low. Furthermore, since the diodes 125 prevent coupling between the switches, the condition of the components in all dip switches can be tested by the computer without being affected by any other switches. Three of the remaining outputs of the decoder 134 are used as the activation signals on lines 118 and 120 (FIG. 11), in particular all activation 6 and activation 7, and as the position latch signal POSLTH for its function. is planned to be explained from now on.

One of the four lines at inlet 02 is connected to pin 18 of the 74LSI54 decoder 134 for decoder control.
and 19, while the remaining three are buffered through amplifiers 138, 140, and 142 and used to control VMOSFETs 144, 146, and 149, respectively;
VMOSFETs 144 and 146 are solenoid
Solenoid valves are used to control valves 150 and 152, respectively, which in turn control drivers 80 and 81 (see FIGS. 5 and 8 for illustration). The solenoid valve itself has one line connected to the +24 volt power supply, and the VMOSFET has the effect of grounding the other line to operate the solenoid valve. Diodes 154 and 1
56 (and also 158 if a third driver is used) is used to switch off the VMOSFET and suppress the induced pulses so that induced voltage shocks do not damage the circuit.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the entrance 03 is
There are two bits that control LEDs 160 and 162, and they can be used to indicate status or other parameters or conditions within the device. The other four bits of this input are added to one of eight decoders 164, three of which are added as encoded signals and the fourth bit creates eight decoded signals. Applied as energizing signals, these signals are each buffered by a retriggerable one shot 166 that drives an additional display LED 168. In the examples described herein, these LEDs are:
It has not yet been used for specific display purposes, although it can easily be implemented for local or remote display if any particular application becomes desirable.

Before describing the remainder of FIG. 10, it is important to note that in this preferred embodiment of the invention, by sensing the position of the pusher member, and in particular the position of pin 64,
It must be pointed out that there are two photodetectors shown in FIG. 3 that sense the . One of these sensors, in particular sensor 170, is used to sense the leading edge of each pin and, as will be seen, the driver is activated to properly pick up and move the selected pusher bar assembly. used to determine when. The other sensor, specifically sensor 182, will detect when a fail signal is received.
Either the pusher is central to the item to be sorted, so that the items are correctly sorted by a single pusher, or the items are successfully and reliably sorted by the extension of two adjacent pushers. The condition of the pusher members is then checked to see if they are correctly positioned on either side of the center of the item. Of course, other types of position sensing sensors may also be used if desired, such as, by way of example, an axle encoder mounted on one of the sprocket axles or otherwise synchronized to the movement of the conveyor system. Ru.

The output signal of sensor 180 is used as the trigger signal TRIG, previously referenced as one of the inputs of the input interface circuit typically illustrated in FIG. The output of sensor 182 is used as the previously referenced position signal POS and is also applied as an input to one of the input interface circuits. The TTL compatible signals are REJA, REJB,
REJC, REJD, and POS, which further include double D flip-flops 184 and 186.
REJA, REJB, REJC,
and REJD are applied thereto as clock inputs and the signal POS as a D input. flip-flop
The Q output of the flop is
Inlet 01 (computer 1
00 (inlet used as input inlet). In fact, light sensor 1
Position signal as a result of correct positioning of 82
POS is a signal that alternates between high and low states indicating whether a single pusher bar or two pusher bars are to be driven to effect the sorting of a particular item on the conveyor; And when any of the four fail signals is received, flip-flop 1
Effectively time is recorded at either 84 or 186. After receiving one of the fail signals, the state of the flip-flop changes to the position latch output.
It is read through tri-state driver 188 by energizing the driver through POSLTH and reading the state of the tri-state driver output on the input inlet line (inlet 01).

Having so far described the details of the electronic mechanism and its operation, in order to better integrate the functions and mutual cooperation of the various assemblies so far described in detail, we will now describe a general survey of the operation of the device. . The six dip switches DSW0 through DSW5 provide manual programming means for entering various device characteristics and commands to suit any particular facility. As illustrated in Figure 10a,
Each dip switch is coupled in parallel to inlet 01 of computer 100, and each switch is connected in series with a suitable coupling device to prevent the settings of one switch from feeding back to the other switches. (the diode is the 10th
(Illustrated in Figure a). deep switch
DSW0 is the desired delay time between the time of receipt of the reject signal REJA on channel A and the desired time of actuation of the driver to begin movement of the one or more pusher bar assemblies. has a DELAY representing A. The desired delay count is expressed as a binary number by
This binary number represents the number of pins 64 for the delay. The dip switches DSW1 to DSW3 similarly represent the delay time of the additional channels B to D, ie, the failure signals REJB, REJC, and REJD. In this way, one of the unique features of the invention is achieved. In particular, by processing multiple reject signals, each having a manually settable delay time, the apparatus of the present invention allows the inspected item to be processed according to the invention in response to one (or more) of the reject signals. When the item arrives at the machine, it responds to a rejection signal from any of the upstream sorting machines in the series to move the item. As a result, as each item is conveyed on the conveyor 22, a plurality of successive pass/fail judgments can be made for each item, and one of the moving devices of the present invention can handle all rejected items. Can be physically removed.

Dip switch DSW4 sets the transform register output byte to allow the user to select the type of rod that best suits his or her particular line. Position 1 of this switch means that this switch is
When set to ON and the rod is driven, the first
control the available rods. On the other hand, position 2 is
Controls the next rod after the first available rod.
Positions 3 through 8 control the next six rods. In this manner, the apparatus of the present invention can, by way of example, 6 packages, or other fairly longitudinally elongated items, be used when a number of suitably timed rods are extended to properly dislodge such items from the conveyor. Can be used to sort items other than individual containers, such as items.

There are two exceptions to the above switch settings for dip switch DSW4. In particular, if all switches in this deep switch
When set to the OFF position, only the first available rod is actuated. On the other hand, if only the first switch is ON and all other switches are OFF, the sensors 101 and 103 (see Figures 3 and 9) photoelectrically detect the passage of pin 64, respectively. Depending on the relative position of the container with respect to the rods as sensed by ), either the first and second enable rods are both actuated, or only the second enable rod is actuated. In this regard, the sensors 101 and 103 are offset to opposite sides by the same distance as the pin spacing so as to alternately sense the passage of the pins.
One of these sensors uses the previously mentioned trigger signal
TRIG is used to generate the TRIG, while another sensor, also mentioned earlier, indicates the position of the pin and thereby the position of the pusher bar assembly at the moment each fail signal is received. Used to generate a position latch signal.

Finally, dip switch DSW5 is called a device control switch. Position 1 is set to ON for two solenoid machines, and for one solenoid machine, i.e. a machine that does not have both drivers 80 and 81, but only one such driver. About OFF
is set to The two solenoid machines can be set to operate in one solenoid mode and will operate at half speed if one of the solenoids fails for any reason.

At the moment a reject signal is received, the position of the rod relative to the item to be sorted indicated by the reject signal is obtained from a photoelectric device generating a position latch signal. This signal is latched at the time of sorting and sends the address to entrance 02,
The data is then read into the computer by inputting it to the input port 01. Based on this information,
With the dip switch set as described above, the device is used to push rejected items off the main conveyor as they progress from the reject location to the sorting conveyor. be in full working condition.

In order to push the items to be sorted off the conveyor, the device is arranged so that one pusher bar is directly in line with the items, or two pusher bars are extended that push on either side of the items to ensure correct sorting. One mode of operation is the extension of one or two pusher bars assembled, depending on whether the sorter bar is used for sorting the articles, or the various types upstream of the sorter. It can be seen from the foregoing that a very versatile type of selector has been described that is capable of receiving any one of a number of reject signals from a location. With a very simple control of the device, three or more extrusion bars sort the articles so that they can be used to sort the articles in a longer longitudinal range on the conveyor carrying the articles to be sorted. be extended for.

One very important aspect of the invention has been mentioned, although it has not yet been explained in detail. In particular, common driver time delays were discussed and the value of using two drivers was recognized in that they allow faster operation than the capability of a single driver. This speed capability is further enhanced by proper control of the drivers under program control of a single board computer. In particular, as previously mentioned in connection with the description of dip switches DSW0 through DSW3, the time between the time of receipt of the respective fail signal and the time of initiation of movement of any of the pusher bar assemblies by the driver. These switches represent the desired time delay. In this aspect of the invention, in practice, the time delay for each channel is relative to the first of the pusher bar assemblies or series of pusher bar assemblies to be driven by either driver 80 or 81. Point A
(See Figure 5) before a particular pin 64 arrives at
It is chosen to be a binary number equal to the number of pins 64 passing through such a reference point somewhat upstream of the driver 81. The computer itself is then at reference point A
The program is preferably programmed to allow for the additional delay that must be added depending on whether driver 80 or 81 is to be used to initiate movement of the pusher bar assembly located at . By way of illustration, when operating at low speeds, if driver 81 is the driver that initiates movement of the pusher bar assembly at reference point A, an additional two-pin delay is applied by the computer before driver 81 is driven. is added. If instead, driver 80 were to initiate movement of the pusher bar assembly, an additional delay of 6 pins rather than 2 pins would be added by the computer. But most importantly, this computer is able to compensate for the fixed delay time of the solenoid valve and driver combination described earlier, while no effective movement of the driver has yet occurred. By monitoring the repetition rate of the signal on one of the photoelectric sensors 101 and 103, it is programmed to ascertain the current operating speed of the machine. By way of example, as the speed of the machine increases, the delay applied by the computer on pin 2 for driver 81 and pin 6 for driver 80 becomes somewhat less, so that a high speed machine may be somewhat later than desired. Contrary to this expectation, effective movement of the respective drivers as a whole takes place at just the right time. At a particular speed, the fixed time delay of the present driver arrangement represents a conveyor movement equal to half the distance between adjacent pins 64. Therefore, a constant time delay at that particular speed of the device represents a position delay of one-half the spacing of the pusher bar assembly. Therefore, the computer drives the driver 80
and 81, by advancing the firing of the solenoid valves that control the
firing a solenoid valve that controls driver 81 to retard by 1 1/2 pins, and firing a solenoid valve that controls driver 80 to retard by 5 1/2 pins rather than 6 pins; This delay can be easily created by Since the advance of the ignition timing is normally directly proportional to the speed of the device, the calculation for advancing the ignition is
It is clear that it is relatively simple. However, if necessary, use more complex calculations or
Alternatively, the ignition progress can be reviewed in a more complex way by either pre-calculating a fixed lookup table and checking the progress based on the latest speed. Therefore, no matter which method is used, the computer automatically adjusts the driver's time delay characteristics by gradually advancing the driver's start time (i.e., decreasing the amount of delay) as speed increases. Can be corrected. In this regard, the extension guide 68 initially contacts the item being removed from the conveyor at a relatively low speed and accelerates rapidly at first and then de-accelerates smoothly, so that it initially has minimal impact. It is desirable to contact the item, rapidly remove the item from the conveyor 22, and decelerate the item to avoid overshooting the item over or against the side of the reject conveyor 26.

A novel and unique sorting and conveying apparatus has been described herein that is capable of particularly high speeds for smooth sorting and conveying of items based on one or more input signals.
A program for the operation of the described apparatus is attached hereto as Exhibit 1. Although the apparatus has been described in terms of its preferred embodiment, various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that anything can be done without departing from the scope.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a side view of the mechanical structure of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. The cross-sectional view taken along the line, Figure 4, is 4-4 in Figure 2.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 4; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG.
7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the driver 80.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 5 illustrating alternative operation of sensor 101 and 81.
and 103, particularly figures 10a and 10b illustrating a typical method of mounting the sensor 103.
11 is a circuit diagram illustrating a portion of a single board computer interface circuit; FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram illustrating a portion of a single board computer input circuit; FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram illustrating a portion of a single board computer input circuit. A circuit diagram illustrating a typical input interface circuit, and FIG. 13, illustrates a preferred form of rubber tip or cap 62 for the extrusion member. 42... Chain, 60... Extruded rod member or extruded bar, 66... Lower guide member, 6
8... Upper extension guide member, 70... Upper retraction guide member, 80... Small air cylinder or driver,
81... Driver, 100... Single board computer, 101, 103... Sensor, 120, 12
2,124,126,128,130... dip switch, 170,182... light sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A continuous chain means for organizing adjacent to a flow of goods moving in a fixed direction, a part of which is movable in a direction substantially parallel to the flow of goods. , the chain means extends into the stream of articles so as to contact and displace any particular article from the stream of articles, and the chain means selectively projects in a direction generally perpendicular to the chain means. a second means for driving the continuous chain means at a linear velocity approximately the same as the flow of articles; and a second means for driving the continuous chain means at a linear velocity approximately the same as the flow of articles; and a position of the conveying means when the article removal signal is generated. control the vehicles such that when a particular item reaches the vehicle, one or two of the vehicles extend to engage and remove the particular item from the stream of items. and third means extending one of the conveying means when the conveying means contacts approximately the center of a particular item for removal from the flow of items; If one conveying means cannot be extended to contact approximately the center of a particular item, then two conveying means are extended so as to contact that particular item on either side of the center, and further said third means is responsive to at least one electrical control signal indicative of a particular item to be removed from the item stream, and prior to elongation of the conveying means, for removing the particular item associated with the control signal from the item stream; A selective conveying device comprising delay means for each said control signal for delaying receipt of said control signal for a fixed period of time and for delaying extension of said conveying device by a predetermined amount of travel of said chain means. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said delay means is a manually variable means. 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrical control signal comprises a plurality of control signals. 4. The delay means for each of the electrical control signals comprises:
4. The device of claim 3 which is a manual variable means. 5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means responsive to the speed of said continuous chain means to reduce the amount of delay of said delay means as speed increases. 6. The device of claim 1, including means for contacting the next successive conveyance means when in the at least partially driven condition. 7. said third means comprises at least two drives, any of which can be used to partially extend the conveying means, said control means furthermore comprising at least two drives; 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device is means for generating a driver control signal to control whether the device is used to partially extend every particular vehicle. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the number of drivers is two, and the control means is means for generating a driver control signal to drive the drivers substantially alternately. 9. Claim 1 further comprising means therefor for stopping said second means in the event that any of said conveying means becomes erroneously positioned and is about to collide with said guiding means. equipment.