US3207308A - Apparatus for feeding and testing rod-like articles - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 21, 1965 w. J, EM 3,207,308

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES Filed July 22, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 lNVE/VTOR A TTOR/VE 7'5 Sept. 21, 1965 w. J. KEMP 3,207,308

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES Filed July 22, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 MMQKW Sept. 21, 1965 W. J. KEMP APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES Filed July 22, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVEA/TOR 15 M1752 M J12 A TTOR NE 7'5 W. J. KEMP Sept. 21, 1965 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 22, 1963 INVENTO/Z A TTORNE )3 United States Patent 3,207,308 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES William Joseph Kemp, Deptford, London, England, as-

signor to Molins Machine Company Limited, London, England, a British company Filed July 22, 1963, Ser. No. 296,633 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 27, 1962, 28,961/ 62 7 Claims. (Cl. 209-89) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to apparatus for feeding rod-like articles, such as cigarettes, for example in packing mechanism.

In packing cigarettes, it is normally the practice to arrange cigarettes into batches, each containing a desired number of cigarettes, in parallel arrangement, in a desired number of rows, to wrap each batch in foil, and then to insert the wrapped batch into a packet. It sometimes happens that, during the arrangement of the cigarettes into batches, a batch containing less than the desired number of cigarettes is formed, and it is clearly desirable that such a batch should be detected and rejected. Accordingly, packing mechanism for cigarettes frequently includes detector mechanism for detecting such batches, and an example of such detector mechanism is disclosed in British patent specification No. 745,236.

In one example of cigarette-packing mechanism, cigarettes are supplied to a hopper having a box-like compartment with an outlet at its base which is sub-divided by substantially vertical partitions to provide slots, each wide enough for a single cigarette to pass down. Such hoppers are commonly known as vane hoppers, the partitions being called vanes, and, for convenience, these expressions will be used herein. Cigarettes fed to the vane hopper fall laterally between the vanes and are guided to form horizontal rows of parallel cigarettes at the bottom of the hopper, a substantially horizontal support plate being provided beneath the hopper to support the cigarettes, and side walls of the hopper confining the cigarettes laterally. A reciprocating pusher periodically pushes a batch of cigarettes, comprising, for example, two rows, from the bottom of the hopper, moving the cigarettes in the batch axially across the support plate and into a compartment of an intermittently rotating turret, the compartment being shaped to accommodate and hold the batch of cigarettes in two parallel rows. The turret then rotates a distance to place a further compartment opposite the hopper, and to convey the said batch to a testing position at which detector mechanism, such as that disclosed in the above-mentioned specification, tests the batch to detect whether it contains the desired number of cigarettes. While the batch is being tested a further batch is pushed into the said further compartment. The turret then rotates again and the tested batch is conveyed to a position at which the rows of cigarettes are again horizontal, and the batch is pushed from the compartment by a pusher, by means of which it is conveyed along a bed to further mechanism for Wrapping it in foil and inserting it into a packet. The turret may have, for example, eight compartments, its intermittent rotation being such that while it is stationary, one batch is pushed into a compartment, while a further batch is tested, and while a yet further batch is ejected from its compartment. Rejector means, responsive to the operation of the detector means, is provided to reject any unacceptable batches at some convenient stage during the operation of the packing mechanism.

It is an object of the invention to provide means whereby testing of cigarettes (or like rod-like articles) occurs while they are still in the hopper, thus eliminating an additional testing station such as in the example referred to 3,207,308 Patented Sept. 21, 1965 above. For this purpose the invention provides apparatus for feeding rod-like articles such as cigarettes, including a hopper to receive the articles and in which they form a stack, remover means operative periodically to remove a batch of articles from the bottom of the hopper, a testing device associated with the hopper, said device being arranged periodically to effect a testing operation on articles in the hopper to ascertain whether a selected part of the hopper contains a full complement of satisfactory articles, such complement containing at least as many articles as are required in a full batch, and rejector-means responsive to said device and arranged to reject batches indicated by the testing device to be defective.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device whether each batch of articles consists of at least one row which has been tested twice while in the hopper, and for this purpose the invention provides an arrangement by which the number of rows tested in the hopper is a multiple of the number of rows in a batch to be removed from the hopper. By this arrangement, if any row is found defective, not only the batch containing that row will be rejected, but also the batch immediately preceding it and the batch immediately following it.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevation, partly in section, of part of cigarette packing mechanism,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of part of the apparatus shown in FIGURES l and 2,

FIGURE 4 shows a modification, and

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view showing means for rejecting batches of cigarettes.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, the apparatus includes a vane hopper, indicated generally by the reference I, having a box-like compartment defined by walls 2 (only part of which are shown in FIGURE 1), and an outlet at the base of the compartment defined by slightly inclined side walls 3 bolted to a back plate 4. The outlet defined by the walls 3 is sub-divided by four substantially vertical vanes 5 to provide five spots, each wide enough for a single cigarette to pass down, the vanes 5 also being attached to the back plate 4, and the two outer vanes sloping slightly inwardly from their upper ends. Positioned beneath the hopper are two substantially vertical guide walls 6, which form extensions to the side walls 3, and which are bolted to a horizontal bed 7.

Cigarettes supplied to the box-like compartment of the hopper are contained therein in substantially parallel, horizontal arrangement, and fall laterally downwardly through th slots defined by the walls 3 and vanes 5, with their axes substantially perpendicular to the plane of FIG- URE 1. Rotatable elements 8 assist in guiding the cigarettes into the slots. Cigarettes, thus falling in five columns, are received between the guide walls 6, and confined laterally thereby to form a stack comprising horizontal rows, each containing five cigarettes C, the stack being supported by the bed 7.

In FIGURE 1, only seven rows of cigarettes are shown, but in practice, while the apparatus is operating, cigarettes are contained in the hopper to a level above the elements 8 so that there is a constant supply of cigarettes to the stack between the walls 6.

Detector means, to be more fully described later, are arranged at a testing position to act on cigarettes in a group comprising four rows, the lowest of which is spaced from the bed 7 by the bottom three rows of the stack. The detector means includes a plurality of independently movable plungers 9, shown in section in FIGURE 1, adapted to engage the ends of the cigarettes in the group, and to detect whether a row in the group contains less than five rods, or contains a cigarette which is unacceptable by reason of its end being too soft, in a manner to be described later.

Movable support rods 10, shown in section in FIGURE 1, are arranged to be inserted into the stack beneath the third row of cigarettes from the bottom of the stack, to support the cigarettes above that level while the detector means is operating.

A longitudinal slot 11 is provided in the bed 7. Referring now also to FIGURE 2., a series of pushers 12 are carried by members 13 connected to an endless movable conveyor chain 13a, The pushers 12 move along and above the bed 7, the members 13 travelling through the slot 11, and the pushers are shaped to engage the bottom two rows of cigarettes C in the stack. Thus the pushers move from right to left as viewed in FIGURE 2, and push the cigarettes contained in the bottom two rows of the stack axially along the bed 7.

The operation of the apparatus so far described is as follows:

Cigarettes supplied to the hopper 1 fall between the vanes and form a stack between the walls 6. The rods are inserted and the detector means operate. During the detecting operation a pusher 12 engages a batch of cigarettes, comprising the two bottom rows of the stack, and pushes the batch along the bed 7, which is provided with side walls (not shown) to retain the cigarettes in the batch in two-row arrangement. While the batch is being removed from the stack, the cigarettes above it remain supported by the rods 10. After the detecting operation the rods 10 are withdrawn to allow the cigarettes in the stack to fall a distance corresponding to the height of the batch removed, i.e. a distance corresponding to two rows. A further group of cigarettes is thus positioned for testing, the lower two rows of the group being the top two rows of the group previously tested, and a further batch of cigarettes is positioned at the bottom of the stack for removal therefrom. The detecting and removal operation is thus continuously repeated, the spacing of the pushers 12 along the conveyor chain 13a and the speed of the latter being such that the pushers operate in timed relationship with the detector means, i.e. so that a pusher 12 removes a batch of cigarettes from the bottom of the stack while the detector means is acting on a group.

It will be appreciated that by testing a group comprising a number of rows which is a multiple of the number of rows contained in a batch, each row of cigarettes is tested more than once. Thus, in the present arrangement, the group being tested comprises four rows and each batch removed comprises two rows, so that each row of cigarettes in the stack is tested twice prior to its removal from the stack.

The batches of cigarettes removed from the stack are conveyed by the pushers 12 to further mechanism for wrapping each batch in foil and inserting it into a packet.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, which show the detector means, and first to FIGURE 2, the detector means includes two detector assemblies, indicated generally by the reference 14, positioned one on either side of the stack to act on both ends of the cigarettes contained in the four-row group,

Each assembly 14 comprises twenty, independently movable plungers 9, mounted in, and passing through holes in the front wall 15 of a support 16. The plungers 9 are arranged in four horizontal rows of five, to correspond to the positions of the cigarettes in the group to be tested. Each plunger 9 has a narrow shaft 17 which passes through a hole 18a in a plate 18 across the support 16, and through a hole in the back wall 19 of the support 16. A collar 20 is fixed on each shaft 17 and a spring 21 lies between the collar 20 and the wall 19 to urge the collar against the plate 18, i.e. to urge the plunger 9 to its position relative to the support 16 shown in FIGURE 2. In FIG- URE 2, part of the support 16 has been broken away in the left hand detector assembly, and a spring 21 is shown only on the shaft 17 of the plunger which can be seen inside the broken away portion, but it is to be understood that springs 21 are provided in association with all the plungers 9.

Electrical contacts are made to the plate 18, and to each of the collars 20 on the shafts 17 so that while any one of the plungers 9 is in its position shown in FIG- URE 2, the electrical circuit is closed. However, when all the plungers 9 in the left-hand detector assembly in FIGURE 2 move to the left as viewed in that figure, so that there is no electrical contact between the collars 20 and the plate 18, the electrical circuit is open.

The assemblies 14 are thus similar to the detector mechanism disclosed in British patent specification No. 745,236, but in the present arrangement movement of all the plungers relatively to their support opens the electrical circuit, whereas in the arrangement described in the above mentioned specification, movement of all the plungers relatively to their support closes an electrical circuit. It will be appreciated, however, that, if desired, the assemblies could be arranged so that movement of all the plungers closes a circuit, and so that, if one or more plungers fails to be moved relatively to its support, the circuit is opened.

Between the plate 18 and the wall 15 is a block 23 of insulating material, which is provided with holes to accommodate the plungers 9. A plate 24, also provided with holes, is carried on the front of the support 16, and the support rods 10 are carried on the support 16, to project from it.

The operation of the detector means is as follows:

The two detector assemblies 14 are simultaneously moved inwardly towards each other by means to be described later, so that the support rods 10 are inserted into the stack as previously described. The plungers 9 engage the ends of the cigarettes in the group and the assemblies 14- are moved inwardly until the ends of the cigarettes abut the plates 24.

As the assemblies move inwardly the plungers 9 which are engaging cigarettes are moved relatively to the supports 16 against the action of the springs 21 by the counter pressure exerted by each cigarette on its engaging plunger, thus moving the collars 20 away from the plate 18 to break electrical contact therewith. Thus, if the group being tested comprises a full complement of acceptable cigarettes, all the plungers 9 will be moved relatively to their respective supports 16 to open the electrical circuit through the plate 18.

If, on the other hand, the group being tested contains less than the desired number (i.e., twenty) of cigarettes, or contains a cigarette which is unacceptable by reason of its end being too soft, so that it is unable to exert sulficient counter pressure against the action of a spring 21, at least one of the plungers 9, which is positioned to engage the faulty or missing cigarette, will not be moved relatively to its support 16 and its collar 20 will remain in contact with the plate 18, so that the electrical circuit is closed.

The electrical connections to the plate 18 and collars 20 are connected to timed rejector means (not shown) which, responsively to the operation of the detector means, automatically reject the batch of cigarettes containing the faulty cigarette or cigarettes, or containing a row having less than five cigarettes, after the batch has been removed from the bottom of the stack.

For example, the plate 18 may be divided so that each horizontal row of five pushers 9 is arranged to operate a separate electrical circuit, whereby when a faulty or missing cigarette is detected, the unacceptable row of cigarettes can be determined and the rejector means can be arranged to reject the batch containing the unacceptable row. As an alternative example, the twenty plungers 9 in one assembly 14 may be arranged to operate one elecand can run along the upper guide 26 of each pair.

trical circuit so that, since each row of cigarettes is tested twice, when an unacceptable row is in the group, the circuit will be completed on two consecutive operations of the detector means. Referring to FIGURE 1, the present arrangement three rows of cigarettes lie in the stack beneath the group being tested, so that the bottom row of the group becomes the top row of a two-row batch which is removed from the stack. Thus, when all twenty plungers 9 operate a single circuit, the rejector means are arranged to reject two consecutive batches. This ensures that the unacceptable row of cigarettes is rejected, and further that the two rows adjacent the unacceptable row in the stack (in which the cigarettes may have become disarranged on account of a missing cigarette in the unacceptable row) are also rejected.

Referring also now to FIGURE 3, which illustrates in plan mechanism for moving the assemblies 14, and in which, for clarity, the hopper has been omitted, each assembly 14 is carried on a horizontal bar 25 to which the support 16 is attached. Each of the two bars 25 can move along and between two pairs of spaced horizontal guides 26 (see also FIGURE 2), which are arranged parallel to the cigarettes in the stack. Two pairs of guide rollers 27, mounted on crosspieces 28, are connected to each bar 25 Two springs 29 are connected to the bars 25 to urge the latter towards each other. Rotatable earns 30, mounted in fixed brackets 31, are engaged by cam-following rollers 32 mounted on arms 33 connected to each end of the bars 25.

As the cams 30 rotate, the bars 25 are moved alternately towards and away from each other by the combined action of the cams 30 and spring 29, their movement being guided by the rollers 27 running along the guides 26, so that the bars 25 remain parallel to each other. Thus the detector assemblies 14, carried by the bars 25, are alternately moved towards and away from the stack of cigarettes to carry out detecting operations. The cams 30 rotate in timed relationship with the movement of the conveyor chain carrying the pushers 12 so that the detector means and pushers operate in timed relationship as previously described.

A modified arrangement is illustrated in FIGURE 4, which corresponds generally to the lower right-hand part of FIGURE 2. In this modification the support rods are omitted, and the cigarettes are supported, instead, by projections 40 which engage and partially penetrate the end faces of the cigarettes in the row directly above the batch which is to be removed by a pusher 12. These projections 40 are formed on members 41 which are fixed to the ends of the plungers 9 of the lowermost row of plungers. The plate 24, which is fixed to the support 16 by studs (not shown)'registers only with the three upper rows of plungers 9 instead of with four rows as in the construction already described. It will be understood that the construction shown in FIGURE 4 is duplicated on the opposite side of the device, i.e. at the left-hand side of FIG- URE 2.

When the supports 16 are moved inwardly, the plungers 9 in the three top rows engage the ends of the cigarettes and test them as already described. However, the plungers of the bottom row act only as yielding carriers of the members 41 and therefore do not perform any testing operation. Thus according to this construction only three rows of cigarettes are tested at a time.

FIGURE 5 shows diagrammatically an arrangement, including part of a cigarette packing machine, illustrating means for rejecting batches of cigarettes in response to the testing operation. The left-hand part of this figure shows diagrammatically the arrangement fully illustrated in FIGURE 2, but looking at the opposite side of the machine. When the supports 16 move inwardly and the plungers 9 engage the ends of the cigarettes, if the group being tested comprises a full complement of acceptable cigarettes, all the collars 20 will move away from the plates 18, as already explained, thus breaking electrical contact therewith. If, however, one of the plungers does not move relatively to its support 16, its collar 20 remains in contact with the plate 18, maintaining electrical contact. The plates 18 are electrically connected to a write head 50 associated with a rotating delay drum 51 having displaceable pins 52. Failure of one or more of the plungers 9 to break contact with its plate 18 actuates the head 50 to displace a pin 52. That pin, after a predetermined delay while the drum 51 continues to rotate, reaches a read head positioned at 53, which receives a signal from the pin and transmits it to a solenoid 54, thereby actuating the solenoid to cause movement of a pivoted catch 55.

The catch 55 is movable into and away from a position at which it can intercept an abutment 56 on a lever 57 which is periodically rocked anti-clockwise (as viewed in FIGURE 5) by a cam 58 and then clockwise by a spring 59. The lever 57 carries at its upper end a plunger 60.

The pushers 12 push successive batches of cigarettes along the machine bed through a station 61 at which they move against a piece of foil, cut from a web 62, in known manner, so that as a batch continues to move, the foil is folded into U form about it. The batch then moves through the usual folders 62 which form the side folds, and then moves into a pocket in a rotatable drum 63.

The lever 57 is normally held against clockwise swinging movement by engagement of the catch 55 with the abutment 56. However, when a signal is transmitted, via the delay drum 51, to the solenoid 54, as a result of the detecting operation detecting the absence of a cigarette from a row, or a defective cigarette, the catch 55 is moved to the position shown and the plunger 60 is free to move forward. The plunger is offset from the track along which the batches are pushed by the pushers 12, and is positioned and timed to move through a pocket in the drum 63 after the pocket has received a batch of cigarettes and moved out of line with the track. Accordingly when the plunger is operated it pushes a batch out of its pocket and the batch thus ejected falls into any suitable receptacle positioned to receive it.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for feeding rod-like articles such as cigarettes, including a stationary hopper to receive the articles and in which they form a stack, remover-means operative periodically to remove a batch of articles from the bottom of the stack at a discharge position at the bottom of the hopper, a testing device associated with the hopper, said device being operative periodically to effect a testing operation on articles in the hopper to ascertain whether a selected part of the hopper contains a full complement of satisfactory articles, such complement containing at least as many articles as are required in a full batch, and rejector-means including a delay device, said rejector-means being responsive to said testing device and operative to reject batches, indicated by the testing device to be defective, at a desired time after the batch has been fed from the hopper.

2. Apparatus for feeding rod-like articles such as cigarettes, including a stationary hopper to receive the articles and in which they form a stack, remover-means operative periodically to remove a batch of articles from the bottom of the stack at a discharge position at the bottom of the hopper, a testing device associated with the hopper, said device being operative periodically to efiect a testing operation on articles in the hopper to ascertain whether a selected part of the hopper contains a full cornplement of satisfactory articles, such complement containing a multiple of the number of articles required in a full batch, whereby each batch is tested more than once, and rejector-means responsive to said device and operative to reject batches indicated by the testing device to be defective.

3. Apparatus for feeding rod-like articles such as cigarettes, including a stationary hopper to receive the articles as a stack consisting of substantially horizontal rows superimposed on one another and each containing the same number of articles, a discharge station at the bottom of the hopper, means operative periodically to feed from the bottom of the stack at said discharge station a batch of articles consisting of at least one complete row, a testing device associated with the hopper positioned above said discharge station, and including a number of rows of feeler elements in excess of the number of rows of articles in a batch fed from the hopper, said rows of feeler elements being poistioned to be registrable with a corresponding number of rows of articles in the hopper above said discharge station, and further including means to move the said feeler elements to press yieldingly against the ends of the articles with which they are in register, to detect missing articles, rejector-means responsive to the operation of the testing device to reject batches found defective by the testing operation, after such batches have been fed from the hopper, and a delay device to delay operation of the rejector-means.

4. Apparatus for feeding and testing rod-like articles such as cigarettes, comprising a hopper to contain articles in superimposed rows, a discharge station at the bottom of said hopper, discharge means operative at said discharge station to remove successive batches of articles from the bottom of the hopper, a source of supply of said articles located above said hopper to maintain a constant supply of articles to the hopper so that articles move downwardly through the hopper after each said batch has been discharged therefrom, a testing station in said hopper above the level of said discharge station, a testing device at said testing station operative after each discharge of a batch from the hopper to effect a testing operation on articles contained in a part of the hopper above said discharge station, and rejector-means responsive to said testing device and operative to reject batches indicated by the testing device to be defective.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the test ing device includes a number of rows of feeler elements which is a multiple of the number of rows of articles in a batch fed from the hopper, whereby each said batch is tested at least twice before leaving the hopper.

6. Cigarette-feeding apparatus including s stationary hopper to receive cigarettes as a stack arranged in horizontal rows, a detector station in said hopper, a detector device at the level of said detector station and including a movable carrier having yieldingly and individually mounted thereon a set of feeler elements arranged in a plurality of horizontal rows corresponding to a like number of rows of cigarettes in the hopper, and located adjacent the hopper, means to move said carrier periodically towards the hopper so as to urge the said feeler elements into yielding engagement with the ends of cigarettes in the hopper, the detector device including means to detect excess movement of a feeler element with the carrier as the latter moves towards the hopper, support means to support the rows of cigarettes in register with the rows of feeler elements while the latter are being moved into engagement with cigarettes, a discharge station in said hopper below the level of said detector station, means to remove periodically from the hopper at said detector station, a batch, consisting of at least one row of cigarettes located at the bottom of the hopper beneath the rows being supported by the support means, and rejector means responsive to said detector device to reject unsatisfactory batches of cigarettes.

7. Cigarette-feeding apparatus including a stationary hopper to receive cigarettes as a stack arranged in horizontal rows, support means operative periodically at a level above the bottom of the hopper to support cigarettes above said level, means operative periodically to remove from the hopper a batch of cigarettes beneath said level, means to withdraw the support means after each said batch has been removed, to allow further cigarettes to move down beneath said level, a detector device adjacent the hopper above said level and including a plurality of rows of individually yieldable feeler elements corresponding to a like number of rows of cigarettes in the hopper, means to move said feeler elements into engagement with ends of cigarettes in the hopper above said level to detect the presence of a row of cigarettes not containing a full complement of satisfactory cigarettes, the said detector device being operative in timed relationship with the means to remove batches and at times when the support means are operative, and including a number of rows of feeler elements which is a multiple of the number of rows of cigarettes in a batch removed from the hopper, whereby each said batch is subjected to at least two successive detecting operations, and rejector means to reject unsatisfactory batches which have been removed from the hopper, the rejector means being operative in response to signals from the detector device to reject any batch which includes a row of cigarettes found by the detector device not to contain a full complement of satisfactory cigarettes.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,972,657 9/34 Kidd 209-- 1,977,239 10/ 34 Molias 209-89 X 2,008,870 7/35 Little 20980 2,617,528 11/52 Moore. 3,116,478 12/63 Powell 209-90 X FOREIGN PATENTS 260,150 10/26 Great Britain. 784,579 10/57 Great Britain.

M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Primary Examiner.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. 4. APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND TESTING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES SUCH AS CIGARETTES, COMPRISING A HOOPPER TO CONTAIN ARTICLES IN SUPERIMPOSED ROWS, A DISCHARGE STATION AT THE BOTTOM OF SAID HOOPER, DISCHARGE MEANS OPERATIVE AT SAID DISCHARGE STATION TO REMOVE SUCCESSIVE BATCHES OF ARTICLES FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HOPPER, A SOURCE OF SUPPLY OF SAID ARTICLES LOCTED ABOVE SAID HOPPER TO MAINTAIN A CONSTANT SUPPLY OF ARTICLES TO THE HOPPER AFTER EACH SAID MOVE DOWNWARDLY THROUGH THE HOPPER AFTER EACH SAID BATCH HAS BEEN DISCHARGE THEREFROM, A TESTING STATION IN SAID HOPPER ABOVE THE LEVEL OF SAID DISCHARGE STATION, A TESTING DEVICE AT SAID TESTING STATION OPERATIVE AFTER EACH DISCHARGE OF A BATCH FROM THE HOPPER TO EFFECT A TESTING OPERATION ON ARTICLES CONTAINED IN A PART OF THE HOPPER ABOVE SAID DISCHARGE STATION, AND REJECTOR-MENS RESPONSIVE TO SAID TESTING DEVICE AND OPERATIVE TO REJECT BATCHES INDICATED BY THE TESTING DEVICE TO BE DEFECTIVE.

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