US2624443A - Weighing and feed device having volume and dribble feed - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 6, 1953 J. P. VOLLER 2,524,443

WEIGHING AND FEED DEVICE HAVING VOLUME AND DRIBBLE FEED Filed Feb. 2, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN TOR. dame-s F? VOLL ER Jan. 6, 1953 J. P. VOLLER 2,624,443

WEIGHING AND FEED DEVICE HAV I NG VOLUME. AND DRIBBLE FEED Filed Feb. 2, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. d/q MES P. VOLLEB g w wm-mu fiirrore/vz s J. P. VOLLER Jan. 6, 1953" WEIGHING AND FEED DEVICE HAVING VOLUME AND DRIBBLE FEED Filed Feb. 2. 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 HTroEws xs Patented Jan. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE VVEIGHING AND FEED DEVICE HAVING VOLUME AND DRIBBLE FEED James PfVoller, Fresno, Oalii, assignor to'Su'n- Maid Raisin Growers of California, Fresno, Caliil, a cooperative association oi'California Application February 2, 1343, Serial No. 5,823

(Cl. Hid-39) This invention relates'to a feed device for automatically feeding a'predetermine'd weight of material into cartons or containers and has for its objects the provision of improved apparatus for quickly and accurately'weighing batches of material and for successively discharging the wei hed material into successivelypositioned containers, the steps of delivering the material for weighing, the weighingthe discharging of the weighed material and'the positioning of the containers and removal of the filled containers being automatic.

While the present apparatus'is found to be particularly suitable for accurate and rapid weighing of small discretebodies of dried fruit, such as raisins'its application to other materials will be obvious.

'In the filling or containers with raisins by methods and apparatus heretofore employed, it

has been found that from about fifteen to twe'ntyu live per cent of the cartons are or incorrect weight and whenthese cartons are underweight it has meant that they must be opened, more raisins inserted, and then rescaled. If the weight toogreat, the packer has the option of absorbing the loss and permitting the cartons to go out or opening the cartons and removing the excess raisins and then rescaling the cartons.

Most methods heretofore suggested have contemplated a main feed and a dribble feed utilizing endless belt conveyors or the like in which one belt continuously discharges a relatively large volume of material pe' minute until about the right weight is reached, and'then such belt stops and the dribble feed continues to discharge a .lesser volume per minute until the weight hopper indicates that substantially the desired weight is in the hopper. Special movable discharge gates open and close for discharging the material and for restoring the hoppers that are used to holding position. While these devices have been 'found to be fairly satisfactory where relatively large particles of material are Weighed, they have not been found suitable for such light small articles as raisins.

With the present invention it hasbeen found that the weights are considerably more uniform and that only about from one per cent to five per cent of the cartons are of incorrect weight,

thereby materially reducing the cost involved in packing where cartons must be opened and rethrough the apparatus with'the electrical circuit Sr! and conventional electrical elements,-such asan actuating motor, switches, solenoids, etc, being diagrammatically indicated. Also the'container conveyor is semi-diagrammatically indicated.

Fig. 2 is a part sectional, part elevational view of the device of Fig. 1' as seen at right angles to the latter.

Fig. 3 is a schematic View of theelectr-ical oicuit and parts therein.

In detail, the raisins to be fed to the present device are delivered thereto through a vertical conduit I in which there is a downwardly swinging element 2 that is-held down in-the position shown in Fig. 1 as long as thereis a head of raisins in the discharge end of the conduit. Pivot 3 of this element 2 may be rotatable with movement of the gate'and is connected with a radially extending arm t carrying a conventional mercury switch 5 that is in an electrical circuit that includes a magnetic or electrically actuatable clutch 8 is a drive connection betweenthe device and a motor II.

The movement or" the mercury switch 5 is simultaneous with the swinging of the element 2, and the arm has an extension -9 that-is at the other side of pivot 3, which extension has a Weight H3 thereon that constitutes gravity means for swinging the switch up for opening the circuit when no material is in the-conduit.

Motor I I is continuous in operation butmay'be stopped in the usual manner by a hand'switch or in any other suitable and desired manner.

Assuming that material is in the conduit I and the clutch 3 is energized, the said material will be fed against the uppermost sides of a pair of rotary drum-like conveyors I2, 13 that are in coaxial side by side'rlation on a common shaft It. The conveyor I2is rotatable on shaft but conveyor I3 is keyed to the shaft for rotation therewith.

The conveyor I2 may be'terzned the volume feed conveyor, while conveyor I3 may becalled the dribble feed conveyor.

Volume feed conveyor I2 is formed witha'plurality of radially outwardly opening pockets l5, each of which 'is adapted to hold say approximately 90% of the desired weight of raisinsto'be placed in. containers lothat areatthe lowerportion or the device.

From the above, it will be seen that when one of the pockets I5 is'uppermostit will befilledwith raisins, there being side walls I! (Fig. 1) in downward extension of conduit to'direct'the into only the uppermost pocket in'the volume feed conveyor.

Also raisins from the conduit and between walls ll will be in engagement with the peripheral uppermost surfaceof the dribble feed conveyor I3. Said surfacedoesnot have p ockets therein like conveyor I 2, and the dribble feed conveyor is quite thin or narrow relative to the width of the volume feed conveyor. Said peripheral surface of the dribble feed conveyor may have slight projections I8 thereon and the lower edge of the wall I! in the direction of rotation of the conveyors (which is counterclockwise as seen in Fig. 1) will clear the peripheral surface of the dribble feed conveyor by only about the thickness of a raisin, which is about the degree the projections I6 extend from the surface of the dribble feed conveyor. Thus, upon rotation of conveyor I3 counterclockwise, only a few raisins in a thin layer of narrow width will be moved from between walls I! for discharge.

A gear reduction box I9 may be connected with the motor II and the driven shaft of said box is connected with shaft I4 of the conveyors by said motor clutch 8. A solenoid 2| may be in said circuit 6, 1 as the electrical means for moving the actual clutch element.

Secured to stationary frame of the device is an annular member 26 that is concentric with the conveyors I2, I3 and adjacent the end of conveyor I2 that is opposite conveyor I3.

This member 26 may carry several solenoids 27 thereon (only one being shown in the diagrammatic view Fig. 3), each of which solenoids is pivotally connected with a lever 28. These levers 26 are normally held against stops 23 by springs 33', in which position said levers extend substantially radially inwardly from member 26 to which they are pivoted at one of their ends. Stops 29 may also be formed integrally with member 26.

Keyed on shaft I4 at the same side of volume pawls 3I extends at opposite ends thereof past the pivot 32 that secures each pawl to conveyor I2. One end of each pawl is formed with a tooth 33 that is adapted to engage a tooth of the gear when the tooth end of the pawl is swung toward the gear and each pawl tends to be yieldably swung on its pivot so said tooth will engage said gear teeth by a torsion spring 34 (Fig. l).

The end of each pawl opposite tooth 33 has a cam surface 35 that is tangential to a circle concentric with the member 26 when the tooth on each pawl engages one of the teeth of gear 36. The path of travel of these cam surfaces, when the conveyor I2 is rotated counterclockwise as seen in Fig. 1, is such that the said surfaces will simultaneously strike the radially inwardly projecting ends of the levers 28 to swing said pawls toward the solenoids, thereby releasing teeth 33 from the teeth of gear 36 and also stopping rota tion of conveyor I2 in a position in which one of its pockets I 5 is in exactly the right position for filling with raisins. The solenoids are, of course, de-energized at the time the levers function as stop members for the conveyor I2.

Until the levers 28 are pulled by the solenoids 21 away from the pawls 3I and toward said solenoids (which frees the pawls and prevents their fouling by said levers when the springs 34 force teeth 33 into engagement with the teeth on gear 30) the conveyor I2 will remain stationary. However, the instant solenoids 2'! are actuated, the teeth 33 will engage the teeth of the continuously rotating gear 30 and the conveyor will be rotated counterclockwise until the pawl surfaces 35 strike the outer ends of lever 28 As shown in Fig. 1, there are three pockets in conveyor I2 and three solenoids and three pawls. As will later be explained, the conveyor I2 will make only one-third of a revolution each time the pawl teeth 33 engage gear 30. This onethird revolution is sufilcient to move the previously filled pocket I5 to a position in which its contents will be emptied by gravity.

After the material in a pocket I5 is discharged, the dribble feed conveyor I3 will continue to revolve and to carry raisins to a discharge point located at substantially the same place as that of the pockets I5. This will continue until the motor clutch 8 is disengaged. However, when solenoid 2I or any other electrical means in a magnetic clutch for actuating the same is energized, the motor clutch will be disengaged and everything on shaft I4 will stop.

Below the discharge side of conveyors I2, I3 is a balanced hopper 40 that is supported on a rotatable shaft 4!. This hopper 46 has three radially outwardly opening compartments 62 therein, and when any one of these is uppermost it is in exactly the right position to receive the raisins or material discharged from both of the conveyors I2, I3.

A ratchet wheel 63 is secured to the hopper 63, which wheel has three equally spaced teeth 35. One of these is adapted to be engaged by pawl 65 that is pivotally secured on a radially upwardly projecting arm having a weight 5? at its upper end. Arm 46 is rotatable on shaft 2! and has a downward extension 48 that is pivotally secured at its lower end to one end of an extension 49 of a solenoid core in solenoid 59.

The hopper 40 itself has vertical circular ends 5I, one of which may have three equally spaced recesses 52 therein for frictional engagement with a spring urged pin 53 (Fig. 1) carried by one of the sides 54 of a funnel-like chute 55 into the enlarged upper end of which the hopper is adapted to discharge its load.

When the pin 53 is in one of the recesses 52, the uppermost compartment 42 is in a position to receive all of the material discharged from conveyors I2, I3. However, upon actuation of solenoid 56, the extension 43 will be rotated on shaft AI causing the arm 66 and pawl 45 to be rotated counterclockwise with the result that as soon as the weight of material in the uppermost compartment moves slightly in a counterclockwise direction gravity will cause its continued movement to discharge position in which the contents of said compartment will pass into the fun nel chute 55, the lower end of which is in or di reotly over a carton I6 on conveyor 56, which carton will receive the full contents of the compartment.

The rotation of the hopper will stop, then the next recess in the end 5| comes to the spring urged pin 53. Arm 46 is automatically returned by influence of weight 47 when the solenoid 53 is ole-energized.

In practice, a gate means 57 may be in the feed conduit I at a level above the element 2, which gate means may be connected in any suitable manner with electrical means, such as a solenoid 58 for closing the conduit as long as a predetermined amount of material is moving past said element 2.

This solenoid may be in a circuit 63 that is connected with the main lead in Wires SI, 62. A switch 63 may be in said circuit 66 actuated by extension 3 of switch 5 for energizing said solenoid when the element 2 is in a closed position.

Thus an excessive head of material will not be in the lower end of the conduit, but only a head determined by the force applied by it on element 2. As soon as this force decreases a predetermined amount, and the arm 9 swings down, the switch 63 is broken and gate means 51 opens, but as soon as the switch 63 is closed, the gate 51 is closed.

The bearings 64 of balance hopper 40 may be supported on a knife edge 65 that is on the outer end of a balance arm 66 fulcrumed at 61. The other end of arm 66 may actuate a switch 68 for closing contacts 69, 10 in an electrical circuit, one wire H connecting contact 10 with the lead-in wire 62 with which wire 6 of switch 5 also connects.

When there is no weight in hopper 40, the switch 68 is open but when a predetermined weight is in said hopper (the uppermost compartment) the switch will break the circuit.

A sprocket chain 12 may connect sprocket 13 at one of the pulley shafts of conveyor 56 with a sprocket 14 connected with the gear conveyor 12. Thus upon each actuation of conveyor l2 the conveyor 56 will be advanced to bring an empty carton under the discharge funnel 55.

The contact 69 of switch 68 is connected by a wire 15 with one terminal of solenoid 50 and also with relay I6. Said relay is also connected by wire 11 with one of the terminals of each of the solenoids 21 that release pawls 3|. The other terminals of solenoids 21 are connected by wires 18 with the other terminal of solenoid 50. Also a wire 19 connects the other terminal of relay 16 with wire '15 that extends from contact 69.

The armature or switch arm 80 of relay 16 has one contact 81 connected with wire I that extends to switch 5 while the other contact 82 is connected by a wire 83 with one terminal of solenoid 2| (motor clutch). The other terminal of solenoid 2| is connected by a wire 84 with lead in wire BI.

In the device as shown in the drawings, the teeth 33 of pawls 3| are held disengaged from the teeth of gear by levers 28, the solenoids 21 being de-energized. Solenoid 50 is also de-energized. However, the motor clutch 8 (or its solenoid 2 i) is energized and switch 5 is closed, which means that material is being fed to the volume and dribble conveyors. The dribble conveyor is rotating and feeding raisins to the balance hopper but the volume conveyor is stationary and cannot move until the solenoids 21 are energized.

To start the operation, this energizing of solenoids 21 may be done manually by closing switch,

68 or the dribble feed conveyor may be permitted to fill the uppermost compartment in hopper 40 to the desired weight. Assuming the latter is the method used, as soon as the desired weight is in the hopper, the same will swing downwardly, whereupon switch 68 will be closed, thereby energizing relay (6 which will break the motor clutch circuit stopping the dribble feed conveyor and energizing solenoid 50, which will dump the hopper 40. Also the circuit to the solenoids 21 will be closed whereupon the pawls 31 will be released and teeth 33 will engage the teeth in gear 30.

Actuation of solenoid will result in an empty compartment coming under the volume and dribble feed conveyors preparatory to receiving a fresh load.

As soon as the hopper 4D has discharged its load, the switch 68 will again be broken, thereby de-energizing relay 16 and solenoids 21, and at the same time closing the switch 80 in lines 83,

I for energizing the motor clutch solenoid 2i, whereupon both the volume and dribble feed conveyors will be actuated, but the volume conveyor will only revolve until the pawls 3| engage levers 28 when it will be stopped. However, this is suihcient to dump the contents of the uppermost recess 15 into the feed hopper and to position the next recess for receiving a new load.

In the meantime the dribble feed continues to feed material into the hopper until the desired weight is in the latter and then the above described cycle is repeated.

It is thought obvious that certain changes may be made in the device as described above without departing from the invention. It is to be understood, therefore, that the precise detailed description and drawings are not to be considered as limitations on the invention. They are merely intended to be illustrative of a preferred form.

I claim:

In a feed device, a first drum-like conveyor and a second drum-like conveyor coaxial therewith and closely alongside the former, the axial width of said first conveyor being substantially greater than the axial width of said second conveyor, said first conveyor having radially outwardly opening pockets therein for respectively receiving a predetermined weight of uniform discrete bodies when each pocket is directed upwardly and said second conveyor having a peripheral surface the uppermost side of which is adapted to carry a single layer of said bodies only, means for restricting said latter surface to so carrying said single layer for downward discharge of bodies therefrom by gravity upon rotation of said second conveyor, power means for rotating said conveyors, a balanced hopper below said conveyors positioned for receiving said bodies from each of said conveyors, means supporting said hopper for downward movement upon a predetermined weight being in said hopper, means actuated by said downward movement for rotating said first conveyor a fraction only of a revolution for each such movement to cause successive discharge of material from each pocket separately, separate means actuated by said downward movement for stopping rotation of said second conveyor, said separate means including a solenoid in an electrical circuit and a clutch actuated by said solenoid for disengaging the power means from said second conveyor, said means for rotating said first conveyor comprising a constantly rotating member coaxial with said conveyor, a movable element carried by said first conveyor and engageable with said rotating member for rotating said first conveyor, a solenoid operatively connected with said element for disconnecting the latter from said member after said fraction of a rotation of said first conveyor.

JAMES P. VOLLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 570,302 Richards Oct. 27, 1896 924,570 Mulloy June 8, 1909 1,115,633 Wellman Nov. 3, 1914 1,259,836 Close Mar. 19, 1918 1,489,676 Smith et a1 Apr. 8, 1924 1,580,746 McKeighan Apr. 13, 1926 2,141,296 Ferguson Dec. 27, 1938 2,177,997 Ripley Oct. 31, 1939

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