US3096603A - Automatic counting machine for screws, nails and similar articles - Google Patents

Description

July 9, 1963 P. CHIAIA AUTOMATIC commune MACHINE FOR SCREWS 3,096,603 NAILS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1960 Nv vm July 9, 1963 P. CHIAIA 3,096,603

AUTOMATIC COUNTING MACHINE FOR SCREWS, NAILS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed April 25, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 uvvE/vm a IBM dw 'a July 9, 1963 P. CHIAIA 3,096,603

AUTOMATIC COUNTING MACHINE FOR SCREWS, NAILS .AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed April 25, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,096,603 AUTOMATIC COUNTING MACHINE FOR SCREWS, NAILS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Paolo Chiaia, Ing. A. Giambrocono, Via Durini 4, Milan, Italy Filed Apr. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 24,569 9 Claims. (Cl. 53-78) This invention has reference to an automatic machine for counting and boxing screws or similar articles, the sale of which is regulated by number rather than by weight. It is well-known that screws and similar articles are offered for sale in packets containing a predetermined number, for instance one gross, thereof. However, for economical reasons, the articles are not counted separately, but are merely weighed, proceeding on the assumption that the number of articles charged into any one box is of a predetermined value whenever the weight of the charged box is equal to that of a box containing the same number of articles which have been counted. In other words, the arithmetical process is substituted by the comparatively simpler process of weighing. When this procedure is adopted, it may not infrequently occur that the number of articles actually charged into a box falls below the predetermined number, and as a result people prefer (in order expressly to avoid complaints), subsequent to charging the boxes to the desired weight, to add a few extra articles to each box. So far as the producer is concerned, this procedure is somewhat uneconomical, since each box sold contains a larger number of articles than the stated figure.

The principal object of the present invention is the removal of this objection by providing and using a machine which precludes the possibility of miscalculations; that is to say, a machine which will prevent the boxing of a number of articles in excess of or less than a predetermined number.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a machine designed primarily and expressly for mechanised industry and which is operated by purely mechanical means in that electrical apparatus, for instance electromagnets, photo-electric cells, and such-like are excluded. In accordance with the said invention, an automatic boxing machine equipped with a counting device is characterised in that each individual screw or similar article to be boxed is so impelled by at least one transporter, preferably a peripherally indented drum, that, during the course of its transportation, the screw establishes a connection between a driving element and the countingdevice, and that such connection, which is established by each of the several articles, results in the articles being counted, the transporter being immobilized whenever a predetermined number of articles has been counted and discharged to a box.

Preferably the transporter drum receives one article at a time in each of its peripheral indents which are spaced apart around the drum circumference; as each article is being transported it comes into contact with and actuates an intermediate drive-transmitting unit which is coupled to and is adapted to operate the counting device; the connection between the driving element and the counting device is instigated and established by each article in succession, until the requisite number of articles has been counted, after which the counting device puts the transporter drum out of commission until such time as a box into which the counted articles have been discharged, has been replaced by an empty box.

In order to forestall and prevent a breakdown of the transporter drum or drums and/ or the operation of the said drum or drums as a result of any incomplete introduction of an article into a peripheral indent, the drum or drums may be driven through a shifting-jaw clutch 3,096,603 Patented July 9, 1963 having mainly trapezodial surfiaces, which clutch disengages automatically when rotation of the or either transmitter drum is prevented or resisted.

Further, in order to prevent any of the articles being damaged while establishing the connection between the driving element and the counting device, the said article may be impinged upon one of the points of a primary star wheel included in the drive transmitting unit, which point projects into the path of travel of the article but is removable from the said path by a small angular movement of the star wheel; during this angular movement one of the points of a secondary star wheel included in the drive transmitting unit may be inserted into the path of, and be actuated by, the driving element to operate the counting device.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and carried into practice, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the operative parts of an automatic machine for boxing screws.

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic elevation of the counting device and of mechanism for intermittently feeding forwards both full and empty boxes.

FIGURE 3 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow III, FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic plan of the transporter drums of the machine, looking in the direction of the arrow IV, FIGURE 1.

FIGURES Sa-Se are, respectively, diagrammatic elevations showing the sequence of operation of the means which instigate the temporary immobilization of the transporter drums and the intermittant forward feed of the boxes.

FIGURES 6a and 6b are, respectively, diagrammatic plans of a transporter drum and its associated driving element immediately afiter a screw'has engaged a drum indent, and

FIGURES 7a and 7b and 8a and 8b are plans similar to those of FIGURES 6a and 6brespectively, but showing the drum :and driving element in two successively later stages in an operational cycle of the machine.

With the assistance of any suitable known feeding means, (not shown) the screws 1 and/or other articles which it is intended to box, are delivered in a well-ordered arrangement, into two parallel and inclined runways 2, in which the screws are held vertically by their heads and down which the said screws slide consecutively towards a twin transporter comprising two drums 3 and 4. Each drum is fast upon a corresponding one of two shafts 5 which are rotated about their axes by a motor (not shown). At equi-distant intervals around its circumference, each drum is formed with four indents 6 each of which is adapted to receive one of the screws from the corresponding runway. The two drums are so staggered relatively to one another that the axes of their shafts 5 are located in a plane which is inclined at 45 to the runways 2. The screws, dropping into the drum indents, are transported in the directions of the arrows (FIGURE 1) towards a correspondingly primary star-shaped wheel 7, which is level with and of which one of its points penetrates into, a circumferential groove 9 surrounding the corresponding drum. As each screw is being transported in one of the indents, its shank comes into contact with the groove-penetrating point of the corresponding primary star wheel, whereupon the wheel is rotated to cause the next adjacent point to enter the groove, after traveling beyond the wheel, the screw reaches a V-shaped extractor -8 and its head abuts and rides along one arm of the said extractor thereby effecting the unloading of the screw from the drum into a chute 10 down which it falls into a box .11 that is waiting to be filled. The gentle rotation imparted to the star wheel 7 by the screw, effects the ensuing rotation of a shaft 12 and simultaneously the rota tion of a secondary star wheel 13 which, like the wheel 7, is fast upon the shaft 12. The said secondary star wheel is shaped and arranged in such a manner that, as each screw enters an indent in the corresponding transporter drum, the extremities of two of its points (see FIGURE 6b) contact the periphery of one of four lobes of a camshaped driving element 14 which is rotated continuously and serves the purpose of assuring a further angular forward step of all elements mounted on the shaft 12, and amongst these there is included a drum having a system of four identical cam slots (described in more detail hereinafter) in its periphery in order to impart a given angular movement to a cog-wheel '19.

The relative positions of the transporter drums, of the star wheels 7, '13 and of the driving cam 14 are shown in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8. FIGURES 6a and 6b indicate a screw 1 introduced into an indent 6 and preparatory to coming into contact with the corresponding primary star wheel 7, so that the secondary star wheel 13 is stationary in its initial position although the cam-shaped driving element 14 continues its rotation. Immediately the screw 1 comes into contact with the point of the primary star wheel (see FIGURES 7a and 7b) which is penetrating into the groove 9, the screw effects the displacement of the wheel in the arrowed direction, so that the shaft 12 and the secondary star wheel are turned and one of the two points which, previously were in contact with a lobe of the driving element, is moved into the path of travel of and is impinged by the next adjacent lobe; hence, the driving element continues the rotation of the star wheels and shaft by transplanting them into the positions illustrated in FIGURES 8a and 8b, in which the surface 13a of the adjacent point of the secondary star wheel comes into cont-act with the outer surface of the said next adjacent lobe of the driving element, whereby the latter acts as a stop and prevents the shaft 12 moving on through inertia. In this position (see FIGURE 8a) a further point of the primary star wheel penetrates into the circumferential groove of the transporter drum ready to be displaced by the following screw .1, preparatory to a repetition of the rnodus operandi just described. Expressed in few words, the impingement of the screws successively with the primary star wheel merely serves the purpose of initiating the movement of the shaft, which movement is thereupon continued by the driving element 14. Thus the screws encounter no resistance that could conceivably damage them.

The rotary movement transmitted to the secondary star wheel 13 by the driving element 14 is transmitted to the drum 15 which is also fast on the shaft 1-2. The drum 15 has four cam grooves in its periphery and each groove has a central part 16 which is located in a plane at right angles to the axis of the said shaft and is flanked by two helically shaped parts '17 and 18 opening respectively to the top and bottom of the drum (see FIGURE 1): the grooves 16, 17, 18 are adapted to engage in succession a tooth of the cog wheel 19' so that the wheel is rotated through an angle corresponding to the pitch of its teeth each time one tooth is engaged and traversed by one of the grooves. The said drum 15 has as many grooves as the secondary star wheel has points, and it effects the rotation of the cog-wheel 19 each time the secondary star wheel is turned first by a drum-supported screw and then by the driving element. The arrangement and shape ofeach cam groove 16, 17, 18 is such that the first phase of each rotary movement of the shaft 12, that is to say the move ment effected by impact of a screw 1 with a point of the primary star wheel 7, occurs when the central part 16 of the groove is engaging a tooth of the cog-wheel; that is to say, when there is no appreciable resistance to the rotation of the shaft. The second phase of each rotary movement of the shaft which is instigated by the subsequent engagement of a lobe of the driving element \14 with a point of the secondary star wheel, occurs when the trailing downwardly inclined part 18 of the groove is engaging a tooth of the cog-Wheel. In this way, the screw-initiated rotary movement of the shaft is not transferred to the cogwheel '19 or to the counting mechanism, so that the screw is not subjected to any injurious stresses. Moreover, the cog-wheel is stationary each time one of its teeth is engaged by a groove part 116 and whilst the said part is traveling over the tooth so that the wheel is stationary during the first phase of each intermittent rotary movement of the shaft. It is to be noted that the two transporter drums 2 and 4 are arranged in such a manner that their primary star wheels 7 cannot be actuated simultaneously.

In case the machine comprises only one transporter drum, then the cog-wheel could transmit drive direct to the counting device, but for that purpose it would require to be provided with a number of teeth equal to the predetermined number of screws to be charged into each box. In such cases the cog-wheel could be constructed like the toothed counting wheel 23 referred to below. But since, and this for very glaring construction reasons, provision must be made for two transporter drums, it has been seen fit to arrange for a mechanism which gives due consideration to the transportations effected by both drums, and which transmits the drum movements to the wheel 23, which latter transmits drive direct to the counting device (not shown). The aforementioned mechanism comprises a differential 25 (see FIGURE 2) including the cog-wheels 19 which respectively co-operate with, and are driven by, the cam drums 15 on the shafts 12. Each cog-wheel 19 is connected with, and is concentric to, a corresponding crown wheel 26, and both are mounted on and are rotatable relatively to a shaft 22, on a radial projection 27 of which a conical sun wheel 28, meshing with the crown wheels, is journalled. By this arrangement the sun wheel 28, and with it the shaft 22, is caused to rotate by every rotary movement imparted to one of the cog-wheels: a pinion 21 fast on the shaft 22, transfers each rotary movement of the said shaft to the counting wheel 23. In the main the differential has the effect of totalizing the intermittant rotary movements imparted to the two cog-wheels 19 by the respective drums 15, and of transmitting such movements to the counting-wheel 23. At the end of every complete revolution of the counting Wheel, corresponding to the boxing of the predetermined number of screws, it is desirable that the machine should come to a stop so as to permit replacement of the box 11 into which the screws have been charged and which is located below the discharge end of the chute 10, by a fresh and empty box. For this purpose an eccentric aperture 29 is formed in the counting wheel 23; this aperture is covered up by a slide 30 mounted on and rotatable about the shaft 24 of the counting wheel; a tension spring 32 connected between the slideand the counting wheel 23, urges the slide into contact with a peg 31 on the said wheel to locate the slide in its aperture-covering position. A feeler stud 33 provided on an arm 34 projecting radially from and fast upon a shaft 35, operates in conjunction with the aperture 29 in the manner illustrated in FIGURES 5a-5e. In FIGURE 5a, the counting wheel 23 is shown in a position wherein the slide 30 is covering the aperture and is displaced from the feeler stud whereas the stud is urged into contact with the lateral surface of the counting wheel by a tension spring 36 (see FIGURE 1) acting on the stud through a locking. arm 37, a shaft 36 and an arm 33 on which the said stud is provided.

As the counting wheel is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in FIGURES 5a-5e, the spring 32 holds the slide 30 in contact with the peg 31 so that the slide rotates with the wheel. Eventually, and as the counting wheel is about to reach the end of one complete revolution, the slide contacts (see FIGURE 5b) the feeler stud so that the slide ceases to rotate with the wheel; consequently, the aperture 29 moves beyond the slide and into register with the feeler stud (see FIGURE 5c) whereupon the stud enters the aperture under the action of the spring 36 permitting a rotary movement of the shaft 35 in the direction of arrow K, FIGURE 2, which causes the feeler stud to enter the aperture.

The entry of the stud 33 into the aperture 29 re sults in an angular movement of the stud carrying arm 34 and a corresponding rotary movement of the shaft 35 and angular movement of the locking arm 37. The said locking arm has a nose 38 projecting later-ally of its free end and the said angular movement enables the nose to engage between two adjacent teeth 40 on the periphery of a toothed locking wheel 39 fast upon the motor driven shaft 5, thereby terminating the rotation of the shaft. Meshing pinions 41 which are respectively fast upon the two shafts 5, ensure that both shafts are rotated in unison and their rotation is terminated simultaneously.

Drive to the motor driven shaft 5 from the motor shaft 42, is transmitted from a shifting-jaw clutch 43; the clutch comprises a driving disc which is fast upon the motor shaft 42 and is provided with an annular system of trapezoidal projections each of which engages in a complementary pocket or recess in the adjacent face of the driven disc of the clutch. The driven disc is held against rotation relatively to the motor driven shaft 5, but mounted to slide lengthwise of the shaft 42 away from the driving disc, against the action of a compression spring 45. Hence, when the rotation of the motor driven shaft 5 is terminated by the engagement of the nose 38 between two adjacent teeth 40, the projections of the driving clutch plate ride out of the respective depressions in the driven clutch plate While the latter is displaced along the driven shaft against the action of the spring 45 thereby permitting relative rotation between the motor and the motor driven shafts 42 and 45.

An arm 46, which is also fast upon the shaft 35, projects radially from the said shaft and one end of the rod 48 is articulated, by a coupling 47, to the vicinity of its free end; the rod (see FIGURE 3) projects laterally of the arm 46 and its opposite end is journalled upon an eccentric pin provided on and projecting laterally from a friction disc 49 (composed of fibrous or other friction material) journalled upon a stub axle 50 provided on the frame of the machine. The friction disc 49 is co-planar with the circumferential groove of a drive disc 52 and is of such a radius that it is adapted to enter the said circumferential groove and be driven by the drive disc 52. However, an arcuate recess 51 is formed in the periphery of the frictiondisc 49 and, before the feeler stud 33 enters the aperture in the counting Wheel, this recess is (as shown in FIGURE 3) located adjacent the periphery of the drive disc 52 so that the rotation of the latter does not rotate the disc 49.

Upon entry of the feeler stud into the counting wheel aperture, the consequent rotary movement of the shaft 35 swings the arm 46 to displace the rod 48 in the direction of the arrow Z shown in FIGURE 3; consequently the rod turns the friction disc 49 a suflicient distance to enable the periphery of the disc 49 at one end of the arcuate recess 51, to enter and be gripped Within the groove of the rotating drive disc 52 so that the disc 49 is turned through a complete revolution and the recess 51 is returned to the position shown in FIGURE 3. The rotation of the friction disc 49 first continues the displacement of the rod 48 in the direction of the arrow Z and then displaces it in the reverse direction through a sufficient distance to turn the shaft 35 (in the opposite direction to the arrow K) through a sufficient distance to remove the feeler stud from the counting Wheel aperture and to disengage the nose 38 from the wheel 39; hence the rotation of the shaft 24 and of the counting wheel 23 is recommenced. Further, as the feeler stud is withdrawn from the counting wheel aperture, the tension spring 32 turns 6 the slide 30 about the shaft 24 into re-abutment with the peg 31, thereby reclosing the aperture (see FIGURE 5d).

The entrance of the feeler stud into the counting wheel aperture, takes place at the end of a complete revolution of the wheel when the predetermined number of screws has been charged into the box 11 and the cycle of operations of the machine is recommenced as the stud is withdrawn from the aperture.

The drive disc 52 is fixed to and concentrically of a pinion 53 which is fast upon a shaft 54 (see FIGURE 1) rotated continuously by meshing Worm Wheels 55 of which one is fast upon the said shaft 54 and the other is fast upon the motor shaft 42 so that the drive disc 52 is rotated continuously.

The angular movement imparted to the arm 46 by the entrance of the feeler stud into the counting wheel aperture, also actuates a jack mechanism 60, so as to displace a conveyor belt 62 provided with a system of spaced arms 63; the conveyor arms extend above a track 64 and the box 11 which has been charged with the predetermined number of screws, and empty boxes 11a are supported on the track, each between two adjacent arms. Hence, the operation of the jack mechanism by the angular movement of the arm 46 moves the boxes along the track through a distance suflicient to remove the charged box from below the discharge end of the chute 10 and to bring an empty box into position for receiving the predetermined number of screws during the next cycle of operations of the machine.

The track 64 has an opening formed therein immediately below the discharge end of the chute and a box-supporting plate 65 is located in and fills the said opening. The plate is carried by and fixed upon a rod 67 which is connected to the chute and is adapted to be vibrated longitudinally by any suitable vibrator (for example a rotating turntable contacting and adapted to vibrate an arm fixed to the rod 67) so as to shake the plate and chute thereby ensuring that, as each screw is extracted from an indent in either of the transporter drums 3, 4, it travels down the chute and into the box 11 and the screws in the box are caused to occupy a minimum volume.

Since the modus operandi of the machine has, so far, been describe-d in terms of the passage of the screws from the runways 2 to the box 11, it would now appear to be appropriate to look rather closely at the behaviour of the machine in the event of a breakdown of the transporter drums 3 and 4 which would prevent them from being rotated, and/ or in the event of the clogging of either runway, the screws are prevented from reaching the said drums which would then tend to rotate without screws in the indents 6 thereof. In both events, the consequence would be identical because the primary star wheels 7 would remain stationary and therefore the shaft 12, the cammed driving element 13 and the drum 15 would not be rotated. The inevitable consequence would be that the counting mechanism 20 would not be operated. Therefore, anymiscalculation'in counting the number of screws charged into the box 11 is prevented.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic machine for counting screws and similar articles comprising a rotatable drum with a series of peripherally spaced indents, each receiving only one article, a drive for rotating said drum, stationary discharge means for removing each article from the respective indent after said drum has rotated through an angle and for discharging the removed article towards an out let, coupling means interposed in the arcuate path of the article transported by said rotatable drum so that a temporary driving connection between said drum and said coupling means is established, a counting device to count the articles transported by said drum, and means connecting said counting device with said coupling means I? so that said counting device is temporarily coupled with said drive through said coupling means as the article impinges said coupling means in such a manner that said counting device is actuated whenever a transported article engages one of said coupling means.

2. An automatic machine according to claim 1, wherein said rotatable drum is peripherally grooved and said coupling means includes a star Wheel one point of which entering in said groove so to be impinged by the transported article thus establishing a temporary connection between the drive and the counting device.

3. An automatic machine for counting screws, nails and similar articles comprising a drive, a rotatable drum transporter rotated continuously by said drive and being peripherally recessed at spaced intervals, each of said recesses being adapted to receive only one article, inlet means to introduce an article in one of said recesses, outlet and discharge means to remove the articles transported by said drum in said recesses, said inlet means and said outlet means being peripherally spaced along said drum, the articles transported by said drum thus traveling along an arcuate path of movement, a geared wheel connected with said rotatable drum to rotate with the latter, star wheel means interfering in the arcuate path of movement of the transported articles so that a temporary driving connection between said drum and said star wheel is established, a geared wheel connected with said star wheel means, said latter geared wheel engaging the first geared wheel to be angularly displaced therewith through a limited angle of rotation as an article transported by said rotatable drum impinges the points of said star wheel means, motion transmitting means connected with said latter geared wheel and said star wheel to rotate therewith, and counting means driven by said motion transmitting means for counting each angular displacement of said star wheel and of said latter geared wheel caused by articles impinging upon said star wheel means in such a manner that said counting device is actuated whenever a transported article engages one of said coupling means.

4. An automatic machine for counting screws, nails and similar articles comprising two rotatable drums peripherally recessed at spaced intervals, each recess being adapted to receive and transport only one article, conveying means associated with each of said drums for conveying said articles in a lined up manner to said drums, outlet and discharge means for removing the articles transported by said drums in said recesses, motor means to rotate said drums, said drums being mutually dephased, coupling means for each drum interfering in the path of movement of the transported articles so that a temporary driving connection between said drum and said coupling means is established, a counting device, and means connecting said coupling means with said counting device, each of the said coupling means establishing a drive connection between the respective rotating drum and said counting device in such a manner that said counting device is actuated whenever a transported article engages one of said coupling means.

5. A machine for counting articles and comprising, in combination, a rotary first member having a set of circumferentially spaced holding means for receiving articles; drive means for rotating said first member with said articles; a turnable second member having a plurality of projections and being located in close proximity to said first member and to said holding means so as to be located in the path of movement of the articles in said holding means and to be successively engaged by the articles in such a manner that said second member is angularly displaced a selected angle when any one of said projections is engaged by an article; a first coupling wheel driven by said drive means, and a second coupling wheel connected to said second member for turning movement, said first and second coupling wheels having a plurality of relative positions in which they are disconnected from each other, and a plurality of coupling positions in which they are coupled to each other, said second member turning said second coupling wheel from any of said disconnected positions to a coupling position when being angularly displaced said selected angle, and said first coupling wheel turning said second coupling wheel in said coupling position through an additional selected angle so that said second coupling wheel is turned to the next following disconnected position; and counter means operatively connected to said second coupling wheel and actuated under the control of said second member to count the displacements of said second member and thereby said articles in such a manner that said counter means is driven by said drive means through said first and second coupling wheels while said second member only initiates the actuation of said counter means.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 5 including means for locking said first member against rotation when said second coupling wheel and said first coupling wheel are in said disconnected position; and including a slip clutch means connecting said drive means with said first member.

7. A machine for counting articles and comprising, in combination, a rotary first member having a set of circumferentially spaced holding means for receiving articles; drive means for rotating said first member with said articles; a turnable second member having a plurality of projections and being located in close proximity to said first member and to said holding means so as to be located in the path of movement of the articles in said holding means and to be successively engaged by the articles in such a manner that said second member is angularly displaced a selected angle when any one of said projections is engaged by an article; a first coupling wheel driven by said drive means, and a second coupling wheel connected to said second member for turning movement, said first and second coupling wheels having a plurality of relative positions in which they are disconnected from each other, and a plurality of coupling positions in which they are coupled to each other, said second member turning said second coupling wheel from any of said disconnected positions to a coupling position when being angularly dislaced said selected angle, and said first coupling wheel turning said second coupling wheel in said coupling position through an additional selected angle so that said second coupling Wheel is turned to the next following disconnected position; counter means; and transmission means connecting said second coupling wheel with said counter means and including a cam wheel having a plurality of circumferentially and axially extending cam tracks respectively correlated with said projections of said second member, and a cog wheel meshing with said cam tracks, said cam tracks having track portions extending in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said cam wheel, said cog wheel engaging said track portions when said projections are engaged by said articles so that no force is transmitted through the articles to said counter means and said counter means is actuated by said second counter wheel under the control of said second member to count the displacements of said second member and thereby said articles.

8. A machine for counting articles and comprising, in combination, a rotary first member having a set of circumferentially spaced holding means for receiving articles; drive means for rotating said first member with said articles; a turnable second member having a plurality of projections and being located in close proximity to said first member and to said holding means so as to be located in the path of movement of the articles in said holding means and to be successively engaged by the articles in such a manner that said second member is angularly displaced a selected angle when any one of said projections is engaged by an article; counter means actuated under the control of said second member to count the displacements of said second member and thereby said articles, said counter means including a counter wheel performing a single revolution for a selected number of articles transported by said first member, said counter wheel having an opening; sensing means sliding on said counter wheel for sensing said opening and thereby each revolution of said counter wheel; and locking means for locking said second member against rotation and being operated by said sensing means.

9. A machine for counting articles comprising two rotary drums, each drum having a set of circumferentially spaced holding means for receiving articles; feeding means for supplying articles to said holding means; discharging means for removing articles transported by said drum; drive means for rotating said drums so that said holding means of said two drums alternately arrive at said discharging means; rotary star wheel means for each of said drums located in the path of movement of the articles transported by the respective drum so that a temporary driving connection between said drum and said star wheel means is established; a counting device; and means connecting said star wheel means with said counting device References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 660,086 Camp Oct. 16, 1900 1,737,877 Crosby et al. Dec. 3, 1929 2,515,965 Nurnberg July 18, 1950 2,679,849 Buchholz June 1, 1954 2,792,031 Batchelder May 14, 1957 2,812,137 Curtis et a1 Nov. 5, 1957 2,864,215 Hillman Dec. 16, 1958 2,909,016 Sherrill Oct. 20, 1959

Claims (1)

1. AN AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR COUNTING SCREWS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES COMPRISING A ROTATABLE DRUM WITH A SERIES OF PERIPHERALLY SPACED INDENTS, EACH RECEIVING ONLY ONE ARTICLE, A DRIVE FOR ROTATING SAID DRUM, STATIONARY DISCHARGE MEANS FOR REMOVING EACH ARTICLE FROM THE RESPECTIVE INDENT AFTER SAID DRUM HAS ROTATED THROUGH AN ANGLE AND FOR DISCHARGING THE REMOVED ARTICLE TOWARDS AN OUTLET, COUPLING MEANS INTERPOSED IN THE ARCUATE PATH OF THE ARTICLE TRANSPORTED BY SAID ROTATABLE DRUM SO THAT A TEMPORARY DRIVING CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID DRUM AND SAID COUPLING MEANS IS ESTABLISHED, A COUNTING DEVICE TO COUNT THE ARTICLES TRANSPORTED BY SAID DRUM, AND MEANS CONNECTING SAID COUNTING DEVICE WITH SAID COUPLING MEANS SO THAT SAID COUNTING DEVICE IS TEMPORARILY COUPLED WITH SAID DRIVE THROUGH SAID COUPLING MEANS AS THE ARTICLE IMPINGES SAID COUPLING MEANS IN SUCH A MANNER THAT SAID COUNTING DEVICE IS ACTUATED WHENEVER A TRANSPORTED ARTICLE ENGAGES ONE OF SAID COUPLING MEANS.

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