US3771652A - Device for counting floating products - Google Patents

Device for counting floating products Download PDF

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Publication number
US3771652A
US3771652A US00223478A US3771652DA US3771652A US 3771652 A US3771652 A US 3771652A US 00223478 A US00223478 A US 00223478A US 3771652D A US3771652D A US 3771652DA US 3771652 A US3771652 A US 3771652A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
trough
products
barriers
elements
area
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Expired - Lifetime
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US00223478A
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English (en)
Inventor
C Rousselie
P Lacharlotte
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S I C A ROMANJORI
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S I C A ROMANJORI
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B25/00—Packaging other articles presenting special problems
    • B65B25/02—Packaging agricultural or horticultural products
    • B65B25/04—Packaging fruit or vegetables
    • B65B25/045—Packaging fruit or vegetables by flotation means
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A device for determining the quantity of products, notably'fruits, traveling by buoyancy in a trough in which a water circulation is maintained comprises two groups of retractable barrier elements disposed across the flow path upstream and downstream of the trough, respectively, and adapted temporarily to prevent any movement of the products carried along by the fluid stream. These elements define with the walls of the trough a buoyancy area adapted to receive a predetermined amount of floating products.
  • Devices of this character are used notably but not exc lusively in plants for sorting and grading fruits, wherein the fruits are entrained by buoyancy at least from a sorting and grading station to a filling station whereat the products are gathered in cases or crates adapted to be palletized, or in any other suitable storage or packaging units.
  • At least one of these groups of retractable elements preferably the upstream barrier, is adapted to be moved in the axial or longitudinal direction of the trough to permit the necessary adjustment of the buoyancy area as a function of the estimated capacity of the storage or packaging unit to which the predetermined quantity of fruits or other products is to be delivered,
  • FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are diagrammatic side-elevational and axial sectional views showing three successive phases in the operation embodying the counting device of this invention
  • FIG. 4 drawn to a larger scale, is a similar sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of FIG. 5 to show a specific construction of a retractable barrier according to our invention; and a FIG. 5 is a plan view of the barrier shown in FIG. 4.
  • the reference numeral 2 designates a trough or gutter in which a continuous stream of fluid, notably a water stream 3 with or without additives, is maintained by suitable means (not shown).
  • the device according to this invention comprises essentially two groups of retractable elements forming barriers or gates, namely an upstream gate 4 and a downstream gate 5. These gates 4 and 5 are disposed at right angles to the water level and with a predetermined relative spacing. Between these gates 4, 5 and the longitudinal walls 2a of trough 2 a buoyancy area 6 is thus formed.
  • the downstream gate 5 is closed.
  • the fruits 7 delivered for example from a sorting and grading station (not shown) and traveling by buoyancy on the water stream 3 accumulate against the downstream gate 5 and then gradually cover the entire buoyancy area 6.
  • the upstream gate 4 is moved to its closed position as shown in FIG. 2.
  • the storage or packaging unit such as a case or'crate adapted to be palletized, isbrouglit to the filling station (not shown) located downstream of the device, the downstream gate 5 is raised to permit the delivery to that station of the predetermined quantity of fruits retained in the device, as illustrated in FIG. 3.
  • At least one of the two retractable barriers is arranged to permit the adjustment of its longitudinal position in relation to the other barrier.
  • the extent of the buoyancy area can be modified as desired for adjusting the quantity of fruits or other products to be counted or metered by the device, according to the capacity of the storage or handling unit, or as a function of the size or grade of the fruits or other articles.
  • each group of retractable barrier elements comprises a grid (FIG. 4) curved in the transverse direction and secured substantially at right angles to the lower ends of a pair of lateral arms 12 that are fixedly secured at their other ends to a horizontal shaft 13.
  • This shaft 13 extending across and overlying the trough 2, is journaled in the upper portion of a pair of parallel vertical uprights 14 of a fixed frame structure.
  • Shaft 13 is rigid with one end of an arm 15 having its other end pivotally connected to the piston rod 16 of a pneumatic or hydraulic actuator having its cylinder 17 rigidly mounted on a cross member 18.
  • this cross member 18 is rigidly connected through longitudinal arms 19 to the top of uprights 14.
  • the grid 10 In the unblocking position illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 4, the grid 10 is substantially parallel and close to the bottom of trough 2. In this position the grid 10 cannot specifically interfere with the flow of fruits 7 floating on the surface 6 of the body of water circulating in the trough 2.
  • each grid 10 is jurtaposed with a false bottom 22 parallel to, and somewhat spaced from, the actual bottom of trough 2.
  • This false bottom 22 may advantageously consist of a grid having bars disposed at the same relative spacing as, and interleaved with, those of grid 10.
  • the downstream portion 22a of this false bottom 22 Is aligned with the teeth of grid 10 and acts as a stop member which, in combination with grid 10, limits the permissible downward movement of the fruits retained thereby.
  • the device according to this invention is intended more particularly for determining the quantity of fruits to be delivered into a storage or packaging unit, this device may also be used in many other applications, notably for determining the exact quantity of any other products adapted to be transferred by flotation from one place to another.
  • a device for metering quantities of floatable products comprising:
  • a trough traversed by a unidirectionally flowing body of liquid; an upstream barrier and a downstream barrier retractably disposed in said trough at spaced-apart location for selectively blocking the movement of products floating on said body of liquid, said barriers giving passage to the liquid in a blocking position and being removable therefrom into an unblocking position in which the movement of said products with the liquid is unobstructed; and
  • actuating means for said barrrier alternately operable to admit some of said products into an area of said trough bounded by said barriers, in a quantity sufficient to cover said area, and for subsequently discharging the quantity so admitted before admitting further products into said area.
  • each of said barriers comprises a set of transversely spaced elements jointly swingable about a horizontal pivotal axis above said trough, said elements lying substantially horizontally below said axis near the trough bottom in said unblocking position and passing inclinedly through the liquid level in said unblocking position.
  • said trough is provided with an elevated false bottom spaced from said trough bottom, said false bottom extending into the swing path of at least one of said barriers and having gaps giving clearance to the elements thereof fdr enabling the barrier to swing past said false bottom into said unblocking position.
  • said false bottom comprises a grid with transversely spaced bars extending in longitudinal direction of said trough, said bars being interleaved with said elements.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Agronomy & Crop Science (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
  • Apparatuses For Bulk Treatment Of Fruits And Vegetables And Apparatuses For Preparing Feeds (AREA)
  • Packaging Of Special Articles (AREA)
US00223478A 1971-02-16 1972-02-04 Device for counting floating products Expired - Lifetime US3771652A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR7106559A FR2125239B1 (enExample) 1971-02-16 1971-02-16

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3771652A true US3771652A (en) 1973-11-13

Family

ID=9072501

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US00223478A Expired - Lifetime US3771652A (en) 1971-02-16 1972-02-04 Device for counting floating products

Country Status (9)

Country Link
US (1) US3771652A (enExample)
BE (1) BE778866A (enExample)
CA (1) CA965035A (enExample)
DE (1) DE2206797A1 (enExample)
ES (1) ES399642A1 (enExample)
FR (1) FR2125239B1 (enExample)
GB (1) GB1325287A (enExample)
IT (1) IT947584B (enExample)
NL (1) NL7202056A (enExample)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4009726A (en) * 1974-10-07 1977-03-01 Ab Hammars Mekaniska Verkstad Device for elongate soaking basins
ES2113253A1 (es) * 1994-06-03 1998-04-16 Santos Y Tamain S L Instalacion para manipulados y empaquetados de platanos.
CN105381864A (zh) * 2015-12-10 2016-03-09 重庆和术堂生物科技有限公司 用于瓶盖的升降式定向分选装置

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2304057B (en) * 1995-08-09 1999-04-28 Kodak Ltd Washing of dispersion noodles

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US417351A (en) * 1889-12-17 Wash-tub
US1635414A (en) * 1926-06-12 1927-07-12 Frederick W Hirst Flow regulator
US3319639A (en) * 1965-07-21 1967-05-16 Fmc Corp Article accumulating and feeding apparatus

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2159619A (en) * 1935-10-02 1939-05-23 Fmc Corp Fruit and other product washing machine
FR1511134A (fr) * 1966-12-16 1968-01-26 Dispositif de chargement de caisses avec des fruits flottants dans l'eau

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US417351A (en) * 1889-12-17 Wash-tub
US1635414A (en) * 1926-06-12 1927-07-12 Frederick W Hirst Flow regulator
US3319639A (en) * 1965-07-21 1967-05-16 Fmc Corp Article accumulating and feeding apparatus

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4009726A (en) * 1974-10-07 1977-03-01 Ab Hammars Mekaniska Verkstad Device for elongate soaking basins
ES2113253A1 (es) * 1994-06-03 1998-04-16 Santos Y Tamain S L Instalacion para manipulados y empaquetados de platanos.
ES2128910A1 (es) * 1994-06-03 1999-05-16 Santos Y Tamain S L Primer certificado de adicion a la patente n- 9401263/6 por instalacion para manipulados y empaquetados de platanos.
CN105381864A (zh) * 2015-12-10 2016-03-09 重庆和术堂生物科技有限公司 用于瓶盖的升降式定向分选装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2125239A1 (enExample) 1972-09-29
ES399642A1 (es) 1974-11-01
IT947584B (it) 1973-05-30
GB1325287A (en) 1973-08-01
BE778866A (fr) 1972-05-30
CA965035A (en) 1975-03-25
DE2206797A1 (de) 1972-10-05
NL7202056A (enExample) 1972-08-18
FR2125239B1 (enExample) 1976-03-19

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