US2169226A - Method of marking lump materials - Google Patents

Description

J. A. CORMACK METHOD OF MARKING LUMP MATERIALS Aug. 15, 1939.

Original Filed March 22, 19:57

John BY INVENTOR. A. Cormack Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES John A. Cormack, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor of one-half to Carl W. Schuchardt, Milwaukee,

Wis.

Application March 22, 1937, Serial No. 132,341 Renewed June 25, 1938 7 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved method of marking coal, crushed stone, or like lump materials for the purpose of identification.

Coal, crushed stone, and the like are ordinar- 5 ily sold in bulk without wrapping or packaging and are therefore difiicult of identification in ordinary channels of trade. Yet in. many instances it is important to the producer or processor of such goods, to the distributor or retailer,

l and particularly to the consumer, that provision be made for readily distinguishing the goods of one from like goods of another, because the difference in quality of such goods from different sources or processed by different processes are in 15 many instances not readily apparent.

Efforts heretofore made to distinguish such materials by marking have not proven satisfactory or commercially feasible, due not only to dimculties encountered because of the physical 20 nature of the goods, but also because of the costs heretofore involved and the relatively low price at which such goods are ordinarily sold.

An object of the present invention is to provide an effective, yet inexpensive method of 25 marking coal and other like lump materials in a manner to afford ready and permanent identification of the mass and segregated portions thereof throughout ordinary channels of trade. This I accomplish by applying, and preferably 30 adhesively fixing to the mass, an identifying medium in strip form which, during subsequent shifting or handling of the mass, becomes torn into fragments and distributed throughout the mass by natural movement of the lumps within 35 the mass.

Other more specific objects and advantages will appear, expressed or implied, from the following description of a novel method which I have employed in practicing the present inven- 40 tion.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of apparatus for applying an identifying medium to coal in accordance with the present invention.

45 Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary face view of the identifying medium shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a View of a lump of coal with an identifying medium attached thereto.

50 The method illustrated consists in affixing to a mass of coal one or more strips ll! of paper or the like which is colored, printed, or otherwise marked to render the same distinctive. Each identifying strip is applied in a manner to cause 55 it to adhere to the individual lumps with which PATENT OFFICE it contacts, and is preferably readily torn so that natural movement between the lumps, during subsequent shifting or handling of the mass, effects separation of the strip into fragments and distribution of the latter throughout the mass. 5 In this instance each strip shown is perforated, as at H, to render it readily separable into individual labels [2.

In carrying out the method, the material is preferably conveyed, by any appropriate means, past or below a suitable strip-applying apparatus.

In this instance the conveyor shown is in the form of an inclined chute I3 which may constitute the breaker chute of a coal mine, a loading chute, or the like; and the strip-applying apparatus shown includes a strip-applying roller l4 suspended above the chute and pressed by gravity or otherwise against the coal as the latter passes therebeneath. A plurality of strips ID are shown, each supplied from an appropriate source, such as a roll l5, and each directed beneath the roller [4 into contact with the coal. The roller 14 is preferably formed of soft flexible material, such as soft rubber, so as to readily conform to the irregular contour presented by the lumps of coal and thereby effect intimate contact of the strips I0 against the coal.

An appropriate adhesive is preferably employed to secure the strips to the coal. This adhesive may be applied in any desired manner. In the method selected for illustration, the adhesive is applied to each strip, rather than to the coal, and for that purpose the strips 10 are shown passing over an adhesive applying roller l6 mounted to dip into a glue pot I! in a conventional manner. In some instances, however, gummed strips may be employed which are merely moistened by the roller I6.

As the coal moves past the roller 14, the strip I0 is applied to the top of the mass, and the adhesive causes it to adhere to some of the uppermost lumps of the mass. As the coal moves further, natural shifting of the mass causes the strip ID to tear apart, leaving the fragments l2 affixed to some of the lumps. By further movement of the coal, during subsequent handling, these marked lumps become mixed throughout the mass, and serve to identify the mass or a portion thereof.

It is not contemplated that every fragment of the strip will remain attached to a lump of coal, nor that the fragments will adhere securely to the lumps throughout their length; it is suflicient, however, that some of the fragments of the paper adhere to the coal lumps sufliciently so that the identifying fragment will be carried with the lump throughout its subsequent handling. Nor is it contemplated that every lump of coal will carry a fragment of the strip; if in any given amount of coal there are a certain proportion of lumps carrying the identifying fragments, it will be sufiicient to identify the mass.

Various changes may be made in the embodiment of the present invention hereinabove specifically described without departing from or sacrificing the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of marking lump material which consists in applying a distinctive breakable medium to a mass of such material, afiixing said medium to a plurality of lumps contained in said mass, and separating and distributing portions of said medium throughout said mass by relative movement of said lumps within the mass.

2. The method of marking lump material which consists in applying a distinctive tearable strip to a mass of such material, adhesively afiixing said strip to a plurality of lumps contained in said mass, and separating and distributing portions of said strip throughout said mass by relative movement of said lumps within the mass.

3. The method of marking a mass of lump material which consists in adhesively affixing a distinctive strip to a plurality of lumps contained in the mass, and separating said strip into fragments by relative movement of said lumps with in the mass.

4. The method of marking a mass of lump material which consists in adhesively aflixing a distinctive perforated strip to a plurality of lumps contained in the mass, and separating said strip into fragments by relative movement of the lumps within the mass.

5. The method of marking a mass of lump material which consists in adhesively aflixing portions of a distinctive strip at random to some of the lumps contained in said mass, and distributing portions of said strip throughout the mass by relative movement of lumps within the mass.

6. The method of marking lump material which consists in feeding a distinctive identifying sheet material onto a mass of such lump material, adhesively affixing portions of said sheet material to a plurality of lumps contained in said mass, and distributing portions of said sheet material throughout said mass by relative movement of lumps within the mass.

'7. The method of marking lump material which consists in feeding distinctive labels onto a mass of such lump material, adhesively afiixing said distinctive labels to a plurality of lumps contained in said mass, and distributing said distinctive labels throughout said mass by relative movement of lumps within the mass.

JOHN A. CORMACK.

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