JPH1133495A - Sorter of eggs and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sorter for eggs, etc., capable of immediately dealing with the change in sorting standards and eliminating the degradation in a working rate by the change. SOLUTION: The sorter 1 comprises a weight meter 3 which detects the weights of pimentos 2 as articles to be sorted, a transporting means 4 which transports the pimentos 2 detected by this weight meter 3, plural collecting means 5a to 5d which are disposed along this transporting means 4, a setting means 6 which is capable of setting the weights of the pimentos 2 to be collected to each of these collecting means 5a to 5d, transfer means 7a to 7d which transfer the pimentos 2 transported by the transporting means 4 to the collecting means 5a to 5d and a controller 8 which, in the arrival of the pimentos 2 transported by the transporting means 4 near to the one collecting means among the plural collecting means 5a to 5d, compares the weight detected by the weight meter 3 of the arrived pimentos 2 and the weight set in the setting means 6 as the pimentos to be gathered to the one collecting means and operate the transfer means in correspondence to the one collecting means among the transfer means 7a to 7d in accordance with the results of the comparison.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorting device for sorting vegetables such as chicken eggs, peppers or tomatoes, fruits such as apples, and Japanese or Western confectionery, for example, for one package.

[0002]

Various sorters of this kind have already been proposed. For example, in one conventional sorter for eggs, first, the weight of the eggs to be sorted is weighed, and the weighed eggs are collected. By specifying which weight category belongs, the gathering place of the eggs is determined first by the identified weight category, and the gathering place thus determined is transferred in advance by the transport device, When the eggs arrive at the gathering location where the weight categories are gathered, the eggs are transferred from the transport device to the gathering location, and the eggs are sorted for each weight category.

[0003] By the way, if the gathering place is determined first based on the weight division of the eggs to be sorted as described above,
For example, when changing the upper limit or lower limit of the weight category that is the sorting criterion during the sorting operation, the sorting for the weight category after this change will not be performed for the eggs whose gathering place has already been determined. To avoid this, once the supply of eggs to be sorted is stopped, sorting is performed for all eggs for which the gathering locations have already been determined in the old weight category, and the equipment is stopped to change the weight category. Need to be done.

[0004] However, it is extremely difficult to temporarily stop the above-described apparatus with this type of apparatus that requires a large amount and high-speed processing, and when the upper limit or the lower limit of the weight classification is frequently changed, for example, There is a possibility that the operability of the device will be extremely reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a chicken egg or the like which can immediately respond to a change in selection criteria and can prevent a decrease in the mobility due to the change. An object of the present invention is to provide a sorting device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for sorting eggs or the like according to the present invention, comprising: detecting means for detecting physical properties of articles such as eggs to be sorted; and conveying means for conveying the articles detected by the detecting means. A plurality of gathering means arranged along the transporting means, setting means capable of setting physical properties of articles to be gathered in each of the gathering means, and transferring the articles transported by the transporting means to the gathering means When the article conveyed by the conveying means arrives near one of the plurality of collecting means, the physical property detected by the detecting means for the arriving article and the one A control device is provided for comparing the physical property set by the setting means to be collected by the collecting means and activating the transfer means based on the comparison result.

[0007] In addition to the comparison result, the above-described control device may operate the transfer means based on the collection state of the articles of the collection means. In this case, the collection state may include the total weight and the total number. One set unit (one packaging unit) consisting of at least one of the above.

The setting means may be adapted to set at least one of the total weight and the total number as one set unit. Alternatively, or together with this, the physical means detected by the detecting means may be set. It may be possible to set up to the minimum unit of the property. As setting means,
In one example, it can be embodied by a large number of switches that can be operated by the operator, but is not necessarily limited to this. For example, a predetermined section is displayed on a CRT display screen, and setting is performed using a keyboard. May be embodied.

The detecting means includes a detector capable of detecting at least one of weight, size, shape, color, and sugar content. In this case, the setting means includes a physical property as a physical property. Correspondingly, weight, size, shape, color or sugar content or a combination thereof can be set.

The apparatus for sorting eggs and the like according to the present invention also includes a detecting means for detecting the weight of the articles such as eggs to be sorted, a conveying means for conveying the articles detected by the detecting means,
A plurality of collecting means arranged along the conveying means, setting means capable of setting a target total weight as a set of articles to be collected in each of the collecting means, and an article conveyed by the conveying means; Transfer means for transferring to the means, and when the article conveyed by the conveyance means arrives near one of the plurality of collecting means, the weight detected by the arriving article detection means and the weight A control device that operates the transfer means so that the articles having the target total weight are gathered in the one gathering means, based on the target total weight set by the setting means as what should be gathered in the gathering means. I have it.

In the present sorting apparatus for eggs and the like, the setting means can set the weight range of each article to be collected in one collecting means in addition to the target total weight as one collecting unit. Good.

[0012] The at least one collecting means may include at least one of an endless belt and a plurality of buckets connected to each other. There may be.

In one aspect of the present invention, the conveying means includes an endless belt on which the articles detected by the detecting means are placed, and at least one collecting means has the articles from the conveying means placed thereon. The transfer means includes a transfer device for transferring the articles on the endless belt of the conveying means onto the endless belt of the collecting means.

In another aspect of the invention, the transporting means comprises a plurality of interconnected buckets, each receiving an article detected by the detecting means, wherein at least one collecting means comprises an endless belt or The transfer means comprises a plurality of buckets connected to one another, and the transition means comprises an ejector for discharging the articles in the bucket of the transport means onto or into the endless belt of the collecting means.

Preferred examples of the conveying means include a belt conveyor having an endless belt or a bucket conveyor having endlessly connected buckets arranged in one or more rows as described above. In any case, the articles to be sorted may be accommodated in a protective container or the like and transported by the transport unit. The detecting means is usually provided at the upstream end of the conveying means. Alternatively, the detecting means may be arranged so as to detect the physical property of the article being conveyed by the conveying means at a specific position.

As the transfer means, a transfer device which slides and pushes out the articles on the transport means from the transport means in the lateral direction and transfers them to the collecting means also lifts the articles on the transport means from the transport means and lifts the articles. A transfer device that transfers articles by placing them on the collecting means may be used. As such a transfer device, a transfer robot can be exemplified.
Further, as another transfer means, for example, an ejector using gravity that opens the bottom of the bucket of the bucket conveyor, drops the article being conveyed downward therefrom, and inputs and transfers it to the collecting means may be used.

The articles to be sorted by the sorting apparatus of the present invention include, as exemplified above, vegetables such as chicken eggs, peppers and tomatoes, fruits such as apples, and articles such as Japanese and Western confections, but are not necessarily limited to these. Instead, they may be other processed foods, agricultural products, or marine products, or may be an aggregate of small articles in which a plurality of small articles are put in one bag or the like.

The apparatus for sorting eggs and the like according to the present invention further comprises a detecting means for detecting physical properties of the articles such as eggs to be sorted, a conveying means for conveying the articles detected by the detecting means, A plurality of collecting means arranged along the means, setting means capable of setting physical properties of articles to be collected in each of the collecting means, and an article conveyed by the conveying means being one of the plurality of collecting means. When arriving near the collecting means, the physical property detected by the detecting means of the arriving article is compared with the physical property set by the setting means to be collected by the one collecting means. It has a control device and display means for displaying a result of comparison between the control devices.

The above-mentioned sorting apparatus may further comprise a display means for displaying the physical properties of the article conveyed by the conveying means by moving the physical property in accordance with the conveyance of the article.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. The present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS.
Is the physical properties of pepper 2 as an item to be sorted,
In this example, a weighing scale 3 as a detecting means for detecting weight, a conveying means 4 for conveying the peppers 2 detected by the weighing scale 3, and a plurality of collecting means 5 arranged along the conveying means 4
a to 5d (hereinafter, these may be collectively described as a collecting means 5), and setting means 6 capable of setting a weight as a physical property of the pepper 2 to be collected in each of the collecting means 5a to 5d; Transfer means 7a to 7d for transferring the peppers 2 transported by the transport means 4 to the collecting means 5a to 5d (hereinafter, these may be collectively described as the transfer means 7), and peppers transported by the transport means 4 When 2 arrives at one of the plurality of collecting means 5a to 5d, for example, near the collecting means 5a, the weight detected by the weighing device 3 of the arriving pepper 2 and the one collecting means 5a The weights set in the setting means 6 as those to be collected are compared with each other, and based on the result of the comparison, one of the transfer means 7a to 7d corresponds to one of the collecting means 5a. And a control device 8 for operating the shifting unit 7a that.

The weighing machine 3 of this embodiment includes an endless belt 10 provided at an upstream end of the conveying means 4.
Green peppers 2 placed on the endless belt 10 one by one
Is detected and supplied to the upstream end of the conveying means 4 by running the endless belt 10. In this example, the weight can be measured up to about 10 ^-1 g. .

The transporting means 4 includes an endless belt 12 sectioned in the traveling direction A.
The green peppers 2 are supplied one by one from the weighing scale 3 to the respective sections one after another on the upstream side, and the peppers 2 placed thereon are moved by the traveling.
The sheet is conveyed toward the collecting means 5a to 5d.

Each of the collecting means 5a to 5d is provided with an endless belt 13a to 13b partitioned in the traveling direction B.
(Hereinafter, these may be collectively described as an endless belt 13).
The peppers 2 having a target total weight, which is a set unit, are collected in each section 13b. In this example, the number of the aggregation units 5a to 5d is the same as the number of types of aggregation units that can be set by the setting unit 6, and four aggregation units are provided.

The setting means 6 comprises four sections based on weight:
That is, there are so-called digital switches 21 to 28 which can set arbitrary numerical values for the four weight divisions X1, X2, X3 and X4, and switches 29 to 36 which can set “above” or “below”. In the illustrated example, the weight category X1 is 20.0 g or more and less than 30.0 g corresponding to the S size, and the weight category X2 is 30.0 g or more and less than 41.1 g corresponding to the M size. X3
40.0 g or more and less than 50.0 g corresponding to the L size and 50.0 g or more and 60.0 g as the weight category X4
Is set by digital switches 21 to 28 and switches 29 to 36, respectively. As described above, the setting unit 6 of the present embodiment can set the minimum unit of the weight detected by the weighing scale 3, that is, the weight up to the order of 10 ^-1 g.

The setting means 6 further includes a weight section X for the collecting units Ya to Yd for each of the collecting means 5a to 5d.
1, X2, X3, and X4 are provided with digital switches 41 to 44, each of which can be set to an arbitrary number. In the illustrated example, a weight unit X1 is set for the collecting unit Ya to the collecting means 5a. 5 for the weight division X2 and 0 for the other weight divisions X3 and X4.
For the set unit Yb to the collecting means 5b, 4 pieces for the weight section X2 and 0 for the other weight sections X1, X3 and X4, and for the set unit Yc to the collecting means 5c.
3 for the weight division X3, 0 for the other weight divisions X1, X2 and X4, and 10 for the weight unit X4 for the collection unit Yd to the collecting means 5d. The digital switches 41 to 44 set 0 pieces for each of the other weight divisions X1 to X3.

Therefore, in the illustrated example, the total weight of the collecting means 5a is 130.0 g or more and 1
It is possible to select five peppers 2 of the weight division X1 and one pepper 2 of the weight division X2 so as to be less than 91.1 g and to collect them as one set unit by the collecting means 5b.
It is possible to select four peppers 2 of the weight division X2 and to collect them as one set unit so that the total weight is 120.0 g or more and less than 164.4 g. It is possible to select three peppers 2 of the weight category X3 and to collect them as one set unit so that the total weight becomes 120.0 g or more and less than 150.0 g. The collecting means 5d has a total weight of 500.0 g or more and 600. This means that ten peppers 2 in the weight section X4 are selected and collected as one set unit so that the weight is less than 0 g.

The weight categories X1, X2, X3 and X4
In addition to the digital switches 41 to 44 that can arbitrarily set the number for each of them, a digital switch that can arbitrarily set the upper limit and the lower limit of the total weight is provided, and the upper limit set by the digital switch And the lower limit value is set to the set unit Ya to Yd for each of the set means 5a to 5d.
As the target total weight.

Each of the transition means 7a to 7d includes a push rod 51 and an air cylinder device 53 for moving the push rod 52 forward and backward. Of the green pepper 2 in the lateral direction, and the green pepper 2
5d is transferred onto the corresponding endless belts 13a to 13d.

A control device 8, which can be embodied by a computer or the like, receives the detected weight from the weighing scale 3 and the set value from the setting means 6, and detects a traveling amount of the endless belt 12 (not shown). , And the above-described operation and the operation described in more detail below are executed according to a control program stored in advance.

In the sorting apparatus 1 described above, the bell peppers 2 are weighed one by one by the weight scale 3, and the weighed peppers 2 are
It is supplied to each section of the endless belt 12 one by one. Weight scale 3
The weight of the pepper 2, for example, 22.5 g, detected in step (1) is stored in the storage device of the control device 8 as it is in relation to the mounting position of the endless belt 12.

The weight is detected and the endless belt 12
When the pepper 2 conveyed in the direction first arrives near the collecting means 5a, the control device 8 sets the weight of the pepper 2 and the setting means 6 to be collected with respect to the collecting means 5a. By comparing the weights of the weight sections X1 and X2, the weight of the pepper 2 is the weight of the weight section X1 or X2, for example, 22.5 g, and the pepper 2 of the weight sections X1 and X2 is In a case where the number set in the setting means 6 has not yet been collected in the section of the endless belt 13a that is currently being collected, when the peppers 2 pass through the front surface of the push rod 51 of the transfer means 7a, the transfer means 7a The air cylinder device 53 is operated to move the pepper 2 from the endless belt 12 to the section where the endless belt 13a is currently gathered by the push rod 51.

The weight of the pepper 2 is the weight category X1.
And the weight of X2, for example, 45.5 g, or the weight of the pepper 2 is the weight category X1 or X2.
Although the weight of the green pepper 2 is 22.5 g, the number of the green peppers 2 of the weight division X1 or X2 to which the weight of the green pepper 2 belongs is already set in the section of the endless belt 13a in the current collection. In this case, the control device 8 does not operate the air cylinder device 53 of the shifting means 7a, and causes the pepper 2 to pass through the front surface of the push rod 51 as it is. In this case, the control device 8 repeats the above operation for the pepper 2 when it arrives near the collecting means 5b. When the peppers 2 are not also collected in the collecting means 5b, the same applies to the following, and the control device 8 repeats the above operation when the peppers 2 arrive near the collecting means 5 further downstream.

Incidentally, even after passing through the last endless belt 13d without being collected by any of the collecting means 5a to 5d,
The peppers 2 remaining on the endless belt 12 may be discharged from the downstream end of the endless belt 12 and used again for sorting, or may be removed from the sorting together with peppers weighing less than 20.0 g or 60.0 g or more. May be treated as one.

The control device 8 performs the above operation on the peppers 2 which are successively supplied to the upstream end of the endless belt 12 and whose weight is detected, and sets the setting means in one of the sections of the endless belts 13a to 13d. 6, the corresponding collecting means 5 is operated so that the endless belt 13 having the section where the target total weight of the peppers 2 is collected runs in the B direction. Let it.
That is, for example, the control device 8 includes five pieces of the peppers 2 in the weight section X1 set by the setting means 6 and the weight section X.
When one of the two peppers 2 is pushed out to one section of the endless belt 13a by the transfer means 7a, the endless belt 13a
Is operated by one section so that the collecting means 5a is operated, and the other collecting means 5b to 5d are similarly operated.
The number of the peppers 2 in the corresponding section set by the setting means 6 is gathered in the gathering means 5b to 5d, so that the corresponding endless belts 13b to 13d are run by one section, and the new peppers 2 to be selected are separated. Make it collectable by the next section.

In the above sorting apparatus 1, each of the collecting means 5a to 5a
In order to compare the weight of the pepper 2 detected by the weighing scale 3 with the weight set in the setting means 6 at the time of arrival near 5d, for example, the value of the upper limit or the lower limit of one of the weight categories of the setting means 6 Is changed, it is possible to immediately and accurately compare the changed weight division with the weight of the pepper 2 arriving near the collecting means 5 immediately after the change. Therefore, in the sorting device 1, it is not necessary to stop the device and change the weight classification, and the peppers 2 to be sorted and collected are eliminated.
Can quickly respond to changes in weight category.

In the above example, 40.0 g or more and 41.1 g
Is set in common for the weight divisions X2 and X3, but for peppers 2 having a weight within this common range, the control means 8 applies a weight to the first pepper 2 It is assumed that the bell pepper 2 belongs to the category X2, the bell pepper 2 belongs to the weight category X3, and the third bell pepper 2 belongs to the weight category X2.
May be operated so as to be alternately gathered in the corresponding gathering means 5.

In the set units Ya and Yb, one and four peppers 2 of the weight division X2 are set in common. In this case, first, one pepper in the set unit Ya is set. 2 are collected in the collecting means 5a, and then four peppers 2 are continuously collected in the collecting means 5b for the collecting unit Yb. Each time 2 is obtained, this may be alternately collected in the collecting means 5a and 5b,
Further, one of the peppers 2 of the weight division X2 is preferentially collected by the collecting means 5a, and the subsequent four peppers of the weight division X2 is preferentially collected by the collecting means 5b. Thereafter, the above operation may be repeated so as to be alternately assembled in the corresponding assembling means 5 corresponding to the commonly set number ratio.

As described above, the digital switches 41 to 4
In addition to the above, when a digital switch capable of setting an upper limit value and a lower limit value of the total weight is provided and the upper limit value and the lower limit value are set as the target total weight, the pepper 2 of the weight category X1 is used.
May not be selected as the unit of the set unit Ya, and the unselected peppers 2 are discharged from the downstream end of the endless belt 12 as described above.

When a plurality of green peppers 2 are selected for a specific set unit, it is not necessary to select each of the green peppers 2 as described above. For example, a combination calculation may be performed, and a plurality of peppers 2 having a target total weight may be selected.

The peppers 2 in a unit of collection assembled in each section of the assembling means 5a to 5d are packed as one package by an operator or a bagging robot. In addition, the endless belt 1
A box for packaging or a bag for packaging may be placed or supported in each of the sections 3a to 13d, and the peppers 2 in a unit may be successively assembled directly on the box or bag.

In the above example, the conveying means 4 is embodied by a single row of endless belts 12. Instead, the conveying means 4 is constituted by a plurality of rows of endless belts 12 arranged side by side. A weighing scale 3 is arranged correspondingly, and the peppers 2 measured from each weighing scale 3 are conveyed by each endless belt 12, and the endless belts 12 in a plurality of rows collect from the collecting means 5a to 5d.
The peppers 2 may be collected on the corresponding endless belts 13a to 13d of 5d.

The setting means 6 performs four divisions based on weight, that is, four weight divisions X1, X2, X3 and X.
4 can be set, but instead or together with this, for example, the divisions based on the size, for example, the three divisions X5, X6 and X7 of large, medium and small are numerically represented, for example, as the magnitude 5.0 cm x 5.0 cm or 25.00
It may be configured to be set as the cm ^2. When the setting means 6 is configured to be able to set the size divisions X5, X6 and X7, as the detecting means, a television camera or the like is juxtaposed with the endless belt 10, and the endless belt 10
Image of the peppers 2 being transported by the camera.
It is preferable to detect the size of the pepper 2 such as 3 cm × 5.5 cm.

When the traveling speed of the endless belt 12 of the conveying means 4 is faster than the traveling speed of the endless belt 13 of the collecting means 5, the traveling of the endless belt 13 of the collecting means 5 for one section does not occur. In this case, when the new peppers 2 are pushed out to the running endless belt 13 for only one section, a new pepper 2 to be gathered at the endless belt 13 is obtained. There is a possibility that new peppers 2 cannot always be gathered in the section. To avoid this, the traveling of the endless belt 12 is temporarily stopped, and after the endless belt 13 of the collecting means 5 is traveled and stopped by one section, the new pepper 2 is pushed out to a new section, Thereafter, the endless belt 12 may be run, or such bell peppers 2 may not be collected, and may be temporarily discharged from the downstream end of the endless belt 12, collectively collected, and then re-established.
It may be supplied to a weighing scale 3 provided at the upstream end of the weighing machine 2.

Further, the above-mentioned sorting apparatus 1 is provided with Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 8-28.
Display means for displaying the weight of the pepper 2 conveyed by the conveyance means 4 as described in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 9192;
Display means for displaying the comparison result of the control device, for example, turning on / off the green lamp or turning on / off the red lamp, or displaying characters such as “match”, “take out” or “mismatch”, “pass”, etc. On the other hand, the transfer means 7 may be omitted. By providing a display means for displaying such a comparison result, it is possible to manually sort on the basis of the display of the display means, which is particularly preferable for sorting easily fragile fruits and the like.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a sorting apparatus for eggs and the like, which can immediately respond to a change in the sorting criterion and can prevent a decrease in the operability due to the change.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a setting unit of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a setting unit of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sorting device of eggs etc. 3 Weight scale 4 Transportation means 5 Assembly means 6 Setting means 7 Transfer means 8 Control means

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A detecting means for detecting physical properties of an article such as a chicken egg to be sorted, a conveying means for conveying the article detected by the detecting means, and a plurality of sets arranged along the conveying means. Means, setting means for setting the physical properties of the articles to be collected in each of the collecting means,
When the article conveyed by the conveying means is shifted to the collecting means, and the article conveyed by the conveying means arrives near one of the plurality of collecting means,
The physical property detected by the arriving article detecting means is compared with the physical property set by the setting means as the one to be collected by the one collecting means, and the transfer means is determined based on the comparison result. A sorting device for eggs or the like, comprising a control device to be operated. 2. The sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the control device activates the transfer means based on the collection state of the articles of the collection means in addition to the comparison result. 3. The sorting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the set state is a set unit including at least one of a total weight and a total number. 4. The sorting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the setting means can set at least one of a total weight and a total number as one set unit. 5. The sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit can set up to a minimum unit of the physical property detected by the detecting unit. 6. The detecting means includes a detector capable of detecting at least one of weight, size, shape, color, and sugar content, and the setting means includes weight, physical property,
The apparatus for sorting eggs and the like according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a size, a shape, a color, a sugar content, or a combination thereof can be set. 7. A detecting means for detecting the weight of an article such as a chicken egg to be sorted, a transporting means for transporting the article detected by the detecting means, and a plurality of collecting means arranged along the transporting means. Setting means capable of setting a target total weight as a unit of collection of articles to be collected in each of the collection means, transfer means for shifting the articles conveyed by the conveyance means to the collection means, and conveyance by the conveyance means When the article arrives near one of the plurality of gathering means, the weight detected by the arriving article detecting means and the weight to be gathered by the one gathering means are set by the setting means. And a control device for operating the transfer means so that the articles having the target total weight are collected in the one collecting means based on the target total weight. Etc. sorting equipment. 8. The sorting device according to claim 7, wherein the article is an aggregate of small articles. 9. The setting means can set a weight range of each article to be collected in one collecting means in addition to the target total weight as one collecting unit.
A sorting device according to claim 1. 10. The sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the articles are housed in a protective container. 11. The apparatus for sorting eggs and the like according to claim 1, wherein at least one collecting means includes at least one of an endless belt and a plurality of buckets connected to each other. . 12. The conveyance means includes an endless belt on which articles detected by the detection means are placed, and at least one collecting means includes an endless belt on which articles from the conveyance means are placed. The egg or the like according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the transfer means includes a transfer device for transferring an article on the endless belt of the transport means onto the endless belt of the collecting means. Sorting equipment. 13. A detecting means for detecting a physical property of an article such as a chicken egg to be sorted, a conveying means for conveying the article detected by the detecting means, and a plurality of sets arranged along the conveying means. Means, setting means capable of setting the physical properties of the articles to be collected in each of the collecting means, and when the articles conveyed by the conveying means arrive near one of the plurality of collecting means. A control device for comparing the physical property detected by the arriving article detecting means with the physical property set by the setting means as a thing to be collected by the one collecting means, and a comparison result of the control device And a display means for displaying the egg.