Combinatorial weighing apparatus

A combinatorial weighing apparatus, having a plurality of juxtaposed weighing machines each of which is provided with a scale, for weighing articles supplied to the weighing machine scales, selecting the combination of articles that gives a total weight equal or closest to a preset target weight, and discharging the articles so selected. The apparatus includes a carry-in conveyor disposed alongside the juxtaposed weighing machines for continuously delivering vessels, filled with a suitable quantity of articles, from a filling station to a selective transfer station, transfer means for selectively transferring the filled vessels on the carry-in conveyor from the conveyor to the scales of individual ones of the weighing machines, a discharge conveyor for retaining and conveying filled vessels received selectively from the weighing machine scales and for discharging the articles from the vessels, and means for pushing the emptied vessels carried on the discharge conveyor from the discharge conveyor onto the filling station of the carry-in conveyor. The transfer means includes transfer cylinders of a number equal to the number of weighing machines, wherein transfer cylinders corresponding to weighing machines belonging to the selected combination are actuated to transfer vessels from the carry-in conveyor to the weighing machine scales and, at the same time, to transfer the vessels already placed on the weighing machine scales from the scales to the discharge conveyor by pushing them with the vessels transferred from the carry-in conveyor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a combination computing-type automatic weighing 
apparatus in which a plurality of weighing machines are supplied with 
articles that do not lend themselves to easy distribution because of a 
comparatively high degree of adherability. The articles, such as meats, 
pickles, dried fish and other "sticky" produce, are fed to the weighing 
machines through a series of vessels which enable smooth distribution. 
An automatic weighing system which is known in the art relies upon a 
combination computing function. The system performs a weighing operation 
by weighing articles which have been supplied to a plurality of weighing 
machines, selecting the combination of articles which give a total weight 
equal or closest to a preset target weight, discharging the selected 
articles from the system, and then supplying the emptied weighing machines 
with a fresh batch of articles. The above sequence describes one weighing 
cycle which is repeated as often as required. Unlike the older weighing 
apparatus which weighs articles on a single weighing machine while 
controlling the supply of articles to that weighing machine, the 
combinatorial automatic weighing system features great accuracy and 
excellent operability and enables articles to be weighed out to a preset 
weight value in a short period of time. 
With the combinatorial weighing system the articles are discharged from the 
weighing machines in the selected combination, as mentioned above. In 
concurrence with the discharge operation it is necessary to supply the 
emptied weighing machines with fresh batches of articles while these 
articles are distributed or dispersed from a specific location. 
Conventionally, the distributive supply of the articles from the specific 
location is accomplished by means of a trough or dispersing bowl. Either 
of these expedients is sufficiently functional and improves the 
operability and efficiency of the automatic weighing apparatus, but the 
articles which they can handle effectively are limited to bulky, easily 
separable items which can be dispersed and introduced into the weighing 
machines because of their ability to move freely. Products such as 
pickles, meats and dried fish tend to adhere to one another and are 
difficult to disperse, making it difficult to supply the weighing machines 
smoothly with the trough or dispersing bowl arrangement. 
When dealing with such "sticky" articles, therefore, it is conventional 
practice for the operator to disperse the articles manually among a 
plurality of weighing hoppers or weighing scales which are associated with 
the weighing machines, after which the articles selected by the 
combination computing process are discharged from the system manually by 
the operator. However, since the combination of hoppers or scales selected 
each time will usually differ, the locations of the hoppers or scales 
serviced by the operator will constantly change, making the operator's 
task troublesome and complex. This is especially the case when the 
weighing system occupies a large area because of the size or spacing of 
the hoppers or scales, which will depend upon the size of the individual 
weighing mechanisms and the size of the articles. Efficiency suffers when 
it is required that the operator load and unload randomly selected 
weighing machines which are spread over a wide area. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a 
combinatorial weighing apparatus for combinatorially weighing articles 
which are difficult to disperse because of a high degree of adherability. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus in which vessels accommodating articles are arrayed 
alongside respective ones of a plurality of equally spaced-apart weighing 
machines, and which operates by discharging vessels together with their 
articles from selected ones of the weighing machines, supplying these 
selected weighing machines afresh with vessels containing articles, 
emptying at a predetermined location the articles from those vessels which 
have been discharged from the weighing machines, and returning the emptied 
vessels to a location where they are resupplied with articles. 
Yet another object of the preset invention is to provide a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus in which articles are introduced into vessels at a 
fixed supply location and emptied from the vessels automatically. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus in which vessels at a point remote from the weighing 
machines can be cleaned to improve measuring accuracy by eliminating 
errors caused by articles or residua attaching to the vessels. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus in which weighing machines can be supplied with 
prescribed vessels without vessels interfering with one another. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus in which weighing machines are not acted upon by 
transversely directed forces when they are supplied with vessels, and in 
which a zero adjustment can be carried out in a simple manner. 
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the 
following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings 
in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts 
throughout the figures thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Reference will first be had to FIG. 1 to describe a combinatorial weighing 
apparatus according to the present invention. The apparatus includes a 
weighing station 1 having a plurality of juxtaposed weighing machines 3, 3 
. . . , each of which is provided with a weighing scale 2. The weighing 
machines are arranged along a straight line and are spaced apart from one 
another by a suitable distance Vessels 4 are provided, each accommodating 
a suitable quantity of article 5. The vessels 4 are so shaped as to permit 
easy loading and unloading of the articles. According to the present 
invention, the articles 5 are carried into the weighing station 1, weighed 
by the weighing machines 3, and discharged from the weighing station to a 
discharge conveyor 9, which will be described below, all through the 
intermediary of the vessels 4. Further, the articles contained in the 
discharged vessels are subsequently emptied from the vessels at a 
predetermined location. A conveyor 6 for carrying in the charged vessels 
4, which conveyor will be referred to as a "carry-in" conveyor 
hereinafter, is arranged alongside the weighing station 1 in a parallel 
relationship therewith, and may comprise a belt conveyor whose conveying 
surface has an excellent slip property, or a roller-type conveyor. The 
conveyor 6 is adapted to carry in a multiplicity of the filled vessels 4 
from a filling station a, where the vessels 4 receive the articles 5, to a 
selective transfer area b where vessels are selectively introduced into 
the weighing station 1. The front end of the carry-in conveyor 6 is 
provided with an upwardly projecting stopper 7 for stopping the filled 
vessels 4 delivered successively by the conveyor 6, whereby the vessels 4 
are lined up in a stand-by condition alongside the weighing station 1. A 
photoelectric switch 8 for sensing the vessels 4 carried in by the 
conveyor 7 is disposed at the rearmost portion of the selective transfer 
area b on the side thereof facing the conveyor 7. When the photoelectric 
switch 8 senses vessels for a period of time in excess of a certain fixed 
time period, this is interpreted as indicating that the number of vessels 
4 lined up in a stand-by condition in the selective transfer area b is 
equal to the number of weighing machines 3 of the weighing station 1. A 
signal indicative of this fact is delivered to a control unit, which is 
not shown. A discharge conveyor 9 is disposed along the other side of the 
weighing station 1, so that the weighing station 1 is interposed between 
the conveyors 7, 9 extending in parallel on either side thereof. The 
discharge conveyor 9 may comprise an endless circulating belt conveyor or 
the like, and has a conveying surface which is divided transversely by 
elongate engaging projections 11 into sections 11 which conform to the 
vessel width. The discharge conveyor 9 thus is adapted to convey the 
vessels 4, with each vessel being retained in one of the sections 11. The 
engaging projections 10 function to retain the vessels 4 on the conveyor 9 
in such a manner that the vessels can be moved transversely on the 
conveyor surface in a direction perpendicular to the direction of 
conveyance. Owing to the engaging projections 10, the vessels 4 can be 
conveyed without falling off the conveyor 9, allowing them to be inverted 
at the point where the conveyor changes direction as it circulates. The 
vessels 4 inverted in this manner discharge their contents into a suitable 
receptacle, and continue to be conveyed even when empty. The discharge 
conveyor 9 is operated at a predetermined time in such a manner that the 
number of sections 11 moved at one time will be equal to the number of 
weighing machines 3 in the weighing station 1. 
A transfer mechanism 12 is disposed along the selective charging area b at 
the side of the carry-in conveyor 6, and includes transfer cylinders 13 of 
a number equal to the number of weighing machines 3. The charging 
cylinders 13 are arrayed at the sides of the vessels 4 which are standing 
by in the selective charging area b, each cylinder 13 being aligned with a 
corresponding vessel 4. The transfer mechanism 12 is adapted to project 
any of the cylinders 13 into the space over the carry-in conveyor 6 so as 
to push the corresponding vessels 4 onto the scales 2 of the weighing 
machines 3 that have been selected by a combination computing unit, not 
shown. A pushing mechanism 14 is disposed on that side of the discharge 
conveyor 9 opposite the weighing station 1, at the point where the surface 
of the circulating conveyor returns to the upward facing condition. When 
an empty vessel 4 upstream of the pushing mechanism 14 is detected by 
suitable means, the pushing mechanism 14 is actuated to push the detected 
vessel 4 forwardly in order to return it to the filling station a of the 
carry-in conveyor 6. 
The scales 2 of the weighing machines 3 are disposed at a level slightly 
below that of the carry-in conveyor 6 to smoothen and quicken the 
introduction of the vessels 4 onto the scales 2 from the carry-in conveyor 
6. A slope or incline is preferably provided between the conveyor 6 and 
scales 2 to facilitate the transfer. A separating mechanism (not shown) is 
provided between the carry-in conveyor 6 and weighing station 1 to 
separate the vessels 4 from one another as they stand-by on the conveyor 
6, thereby preventing the vessels 4 from interfering with one another when 
they are placed on the scales 2. 
The apparatus is so arranged that the empty vessels 4 conveyed by the 
conveyor 9 are washed and dried while they are in the inverted attitude on 
the bottom side of the conveyor. 
In operation, vessels 4 filled with a suitable quantity of the articles 5 
are placed sequentially on the carry-in conveyor 6, or empty vessels 4 
already in place on the conveyor are filled with a suitable quantity of 
the articles 5 and conveyed successively to the selective transfer area b. 
The movement of the first vessel 4 is stopped at the front end of the 
carry-in conveyor 6 by the stopper 7, with subsequent vessels 4 abutting 
against their immediately preceding neighbors and coming to rest one after 
another in the selective transfer area b to assume a standby condition. 
When the filled vessels 4 carried in by the conveyor 6 are detected by the 
photoelectric switch 8 for a period of time in excess of a predetermined 
time period, a signal is produced to active the transfer mechanism 12. The 
latter pushes the vessels 4 onto the corresponding scales 2 of the 
weighing machines 3 in such a manner that the vessels do not interfere 
with one another, each vessel being separated from its neighbors. At the 
initial stage of operation all of the transfer cylinders 13 are activated, 
thereby transfering all of the vessels 4 from the conveyor 6 to the scales 
2 of all the weighing machines 3. The transfer cylinders 13 are retracted 
to their original positions following the transfer, whereupon another 
series of filled vessels 4 is carried in to the selective transfer area b 
to assume the stand-by condition, this being accomplished by repeating the 
operation described above. 
When the scales 2 receive the vessels 4, the weighing machines 3 perform a 
weighing operation and send the measured values to an electronic computing 
unit (not shown). The computing unit computes combinations on the basis of 
all received weight values and selects the combination of articles (or, 
more correctly, the weighing machines 3 holding these articles) whose sum 
is equal or closest to a set target weight. When this so-called "best" 
combination has been selected, the computing unit causes the transfer 
cylinders 13 to selectively transfer vessels 4 from the conveyor 6 to the 
scales 2 of those weighing machines 3 making up the best combination. The 
vessels 4 transferred in this manner abut against the vessels 4 carried by 
the scales 2 of the selected weighing machines 3 and push the vessels 4 
onto the corresponding sections 11 of the discharge conveyor 9, where the 
vessels are retained. Upon the conclusion of the transfer operation 
performed by the transfer mechanism 12, the discharge conveyor 9 is 
activated and moved by a number of sections 11 equal to the number of 
weighing machines 3. The vessels 4, still retained by the conveyor 9, thus 
are inverted at the point where the direction of conveyance is reversed 
and are caused to spill their articles 5 into an automatic packaging 
machine, a receptacle or the like. 
In the selective transfer area b where spaces form because of the vessels 4 
transferred to the weighing station 1, newly filled vessels 4 are carried 
in by the conveyor 6 to fill the spaces and advance the remaining vessels 
immediately after the transfer cylinders 13 are retracted. This restores 
the vessels 4 in the selective transfer area b to the required number and 
sets the stage for the next transfer operation. 
After the required number of vessels 4 are restored to the selective 
transfer station b and this is detected by the photoelectric switch 8, the 
weighing station 1 executes the next combinatorial weighing operation. In 
doing so, use is made of the previously measured weight values of the 
articles in those of the vessels 4 remaining on the weighing scales 2 that 
were not selected by the immediately preceding combinatorial weighing 
operation. The electronic computing unit computes combinations based on 
these already known weight values and on the weight values of articles 5 
provided by the weighing machines 3 to which the vessels 4 have just been 
newly transferred. As before, the computing unit selects the combination 
of weights whose sum is equal or closest to the set target weight, vessels 
4 are transferred to the weighing machines 3 belonging to the best 
combination, the selected vessels 4 are discharged onto the conveyor 9 
from these weighing machines 3, and the articles 5 are spilled out of the 
vessels 4 at a predetermined location. 
Empty vessels 4 from which the articles 5 have been discharged continue to 
be retained by the discharge conveyor 9 and, at some point in the course 
of conveyance, are washed out before being conveyed back to the upward 
facing side of the conveyor. When a vessel 4 arrives at this point, the 
pushing mechanism 14 is activated at the appropriate time to push the 
empty vessel 4 back onto the carry-in conveyor 6 in the filling station a. 
This is performed in successive fashion for each arriving empty vessel 4. 
The empty vessels 4 returned to the filling station a in this manner each 
receive a new supply of the articles 5. 
The foregoing operations are repeated continuously to compute weight 
combinations, thereby providing a steady supply of articles in batches, 
the total weight of each batch being that which is equal or closest to the 
preset weight. 
In the above-described weighing operation, the weighing machines 3 measure 
the weight of the vessels 4 along with the weight of the articles 5. 
Accordingly, the arrangement is such that the weight values sent to the 
electronic computing unit are those which result from subtracting vessel 
weight from total measured weight. 
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate different embodiments of a vessel 4. As shown in 
FIG. 2, the vessel 4 is a frustoconical member having a circular bottom 4a 
and a cylindrically shaped cavity 4b for receiving the articles. The 
bottom 4a and side surface of the vessel 4 meet at an acute angle and form 
an engaging portion 4c which engages with a pair of the elongate engaging 
projections 10 of the discharge conveyor 9 (FIG. 1) when the vessel 4 is 
transferred to the discharge conveyor 9 from the weighing station 1. More 
specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the elongate engaging projections 10 of 
the discharge conveyor 9 are V-shaped and retain the vessel 4 on both 
sides thereof by mating with the engaging portion 4c at the base of the 
vessel. Thus the vessel 4 can be conveyed without falling off the conveyor 
9, even when the vessel is inverted. On the other hand, the vessel 4 can 
be transferred to the conveyor and discharged therefrom by sliding the 
vessel perpendicular to the direction of conveyance, that is, by moving it 
along the elongate engaging projections 10 on either side thereof. 
The vessel 4 shown in FIG. 3 is basically cylindrical in shape and has a 
flange 4f formed integrally on the bottom 4e of a cylindrical cavity 4d 
for receiving the articles. The flange 4f, which serves the same purpose 
as the engaging portion 4c shown in FIG. 2, mates with the elongate 
engaging projections 10 formed on the discharge conveyor 9. In this case 
the elongate engaging projections 10 are T-shaped, as depicted in FIG. 5. 
In FIGS. 6 and 7, the vessels 4 of the type described above have their 
bottoms 4a, 4e provided with roughened or serrated inner surfaces 4g, 4h, 
respectively. This reduces the area of surface contact between the 
articles and the bottom surface of the article receiving cavity, so that 
even articles with a high degree of adherability can be discharged from 
the vessel without adhering to the bottom surface thereof. 
FIG. 8 illustrates a combinatorial weighing apparatus which uses vessels of 
the type shown in FIG. 2. The apparatus operates in entirely the same 
manner as the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. 
FIG. 9 is a plan view showing another embodiment of a combinatorial 
weighing apparatus according to the present invention. Portions similar to 
those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by like reference characters. The 
arrangement differs from that of FIG. 1 in the following aspects: (1) the 
weighing station 1 has a sector shape or circular configuration, with the 
carry-in conveyor 6 and discharge conveyor 9 being similarly configured 
and arranged along the inner and outer sides of the weighing station 1, 
respectively; (2) a cradle 101 is supported above the weighing machines 3 
to administer the delivery and receipt of the vessels 4; and (3) means are 
provided for magnetically attracting the vessels 4, said means comprising 
a magnetic body 4m mounted on the bottom of each vessel 4, and parmanent 
magnets which will be described later, provided on the discharge conveyor 
9. 
The cradle 101, shown in greater detail in FIGS. 10 and 11, is supported 
above the weighing station 1 and is movable vertically to deliver and 
receive vessels 4 and from the scales 2 of the weighing machines 3. The 
cradle 101 comprises rails 101a, 101b (the latter shown in FIG. 9) which 
are curved to match the sector or circular shape of the weighing station 
1, coupling plates 101c, 101c for coupling the rails 101a, 101b together 
at the ends thereof, pairs of upstanding partitions 101d, 101d affixed to 
and bridging the rails 101a, 101b, each pair being spaced apart from its 
neighbors by a distance slightly greater than the width of a vessel 4, 
horizontally extending supporting plates 101e affixed to each pair of 
partitions 101d, 101d, windows 101f (FIG. 9) delimited by the rails 101a, 
101b and neighboring supporting plates 101e, 101e, each window 101f being 
large enough to permit the passage therethrough of a corresponding scale 
2, but small to prevent a vessel 4 from falling therethrough, and elevator 
cylinders 101g, 101g. The partitions 101d serve to guide the vessels 4 
when the vessels are received from the carry-in conveyor 6 and transferred 
to the discharge conveyor 9, and those partitions 101d that face each 
other across the intervening window 101f are arranged to lie in parallel 
with each other. The cradle 101 is supported at either end by the elevator 
cylinders 101g, 101g and can be raised and lowered by these cylinders. 
In operation, the cradle 101 ordinarily is positioned above the scales 2, 
as shown in FIG. 10. The supporting plates 101e support the vessels 4 
which have been transferred from the carry-in conveyor 6 in the manner 
described hereinabove. When the cradle 101 is lowered by the elevator 
cylinders 101g, the scales 2 of the weighing machines 3 pass through the 
windows 101f and receive the vessels 4 from the supporting plates 101e, as 
depicted in FIG. 11, so that the weighing machines may weigh the vessels 
and their contents. Following the weighing operation the cradle 101 is 
raised by the elevator cylinders 101g so that the vessels 4 are 
transferred from the scales 2 back to the supporting plates 101e. It 
should be noted that the cradle 101 when in the elevated position will be 
approximately flush with the carry-in and discharge conveyors 6, 9. 
The discharge conveyor 9 is provided with means for retaining, by means of 
magnetic attraction, the vessels 4 received from the weighing machines 3. 
As shown in FIG. 12, the discharge conveyor 9 includes a belt 9b stretched 
between two magnetic pulleys 9a, 9a which have an attracting function. The 
belt 9b has a permanent magnetic strip 9c, of a length equal to that of 
the weighing station 1, supported so as to underlie its upper segment. The 
belt also has a permanent magnetic strip 9d supported so as to overlay it 
lower segment, the strip 9d extending from one pulley 9a to the other. 
Accordingly, vessels 4 transferred to the discharge conveyor 9 are 
conveyed on the belt 9b by the magnetic attraction of the strip 9c, left 
pulley 9a, strip 9d and right pulley 9a, in the order mentioned. As the 
belt 9b travels, therefore, the vessels 4 are carried along thereby, 
inverted at the left-hand end of the conveyor to discharge their contents, 
and returned empty to the top of the conveyor at the left-hand side 
thereof whereby they are no longer subject to magnetic attraction. Means 
can be provided to wash the vessels after they are emptied before their 
return to the top of the conveyor. 
In the operation of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 through 11, vessels 4 
filled with a suitable quantity of the articles 5 are placed one after 
another on the filling station a of the carry-in conveyor 6, or empty 
vessels 4 already in place on the carry-in conveyor are filled with a 
suitable quantity of the articles and conveyed successively to the 
selective transfer area b. The movement of the first vessel is stopped in 
the selective transfer area b by the stopper 7, with subsequent vessels 4 
abutting against their immediately preceding neighbors and coming to rest 
one after another in the selective transfer area to assume a stand-by 
condition. When the filled vessels 4 carried in by the conveyor 6 are 
detected by the photoelectric switch 8 for a period of time in excess of a 
predetermined time period, a signal is produced to extend the elevator 
cylinders 101g, whereby the cradle 101 is elevated to its stand-by 
position above the weighing station 1, and to activate the transfer 
mechanism 12, whereby the vessels 4 standing by in the selective transfer 
area b are pushed onto the supporting plates 101e of the cradle 101 while 
being guided by the partitions 101d. The vessels 4 come to rest over the 
windows 101f while supported by the supporting plates 101e. At the initial 
stage of the weighing operation all of the transfer cylinders 13 are 
activated, thereby transferring all of the vessels 4 from the carry-in 
conveyor 6 to the cradle 101 where the vessels are supported over the 
corresponding windows 101f. When this has been accomplished the elevator 
cylinders 101g are retracted to lower the cradle 101, allowing the scales 
2 to pass through the windows 101f and receive the vessels 4 supported 
over the windows by the supporting plates 101e. Meanwhile, the transfer 
cylinders 13 are retracted to their original positions following the 
transfer, whereupon the carry-in conveyor 6 carries in another series of 
filled vessels 4 to assume the stand-by condition. 
When scales 2 receives the vessels 4 from the cradle 101, the weighing 
machines 3 perform a weighing operation and send the measured values to 
the electronic computing unit, which is not shown. The computing unit 
computs combinations on the basis of all received weight values and 
selects the combination of articles (namely the weighing machines holding 
these articles) whose sum is equal or closest to a set target weight. When 
this best combination has been selected, the elevator cylinders 101g are 
extended to raise the cradle 101, so that the vessels 4 are lifted from 
the scales 2 by the supporting plates 101e and supported thereby. 
Thereafter the computing unit causes the transfer cylinders 13, which 
correspond to the selected weighing machines 3, to selectively transfer 
vessels 4 from the transfer station b of the carry-in conveyor 6 to the 
supporting plates 101e of the cradle 101 overlying the weighing machines 
3. The vessels transferred in this manner abut against the vessels 
supported over the selected weighing machines and push these vessels onto 
the discharge conveyor 9. 
In the selective transfer area b where spaces form because of the vessels 4 
transferred to the cradle 101 over the weighing station, newly filled 
vessels 4 from the filling station a are carried in by the conveyor 6 to 
fill the spaces and advance the remaining vessels immediately after the 
transfer cylinders 13 are retracted. This restores the vessels 4 in the 
selective transfer area b to the required number and sets the stage for 
the next transfer operation. 
The vessels 4 discharged from the weighing station are retained 
magnetically by the discharge conveyor 9 which conveys the vessels, 
inverts them to discharge their contents and then returns them empty to 
the top of the conveyor where they abut against a stopper 9e and are 
brought to rest. The empty vessels 4 are pushed back onto the carry-in 
conveyor 6 successively by the pushing mechanism 14 where they are 
replenished with articles 5 in order to take part in subsequent 
combinatorial weighing operations. 
When the selective transfer area b is replenished with the filled vessels 4 
and this fact is detected by the photoelectric switch 8, the elevator 
cylinders 109g are retracted to lower the cradle 101, whereby the vessels 
4 supported on the supporting plates 101e are set upon the scales 2 of the 
weighing machines 3, which now perform the next weighing operation. In the 
weighing operation, use is made of the previously measured weight values 
of the articles in those of the vessels 4 remaining on the weighing 
machines 3 that were not selected by the immediately preceding 
combinatorial weighing operation. The electronic computing unit computes 
combinations based on these already known weight values and on the weight 
values of articles provided by the weighing machines 3 to which the 
vessels 4 have just been newly transferred. As before, the computing unit 
selects the combination of weights whose sum is equal or closest to the 
set target weight, vessels 4 are transferred to the weighing machines 3 
belonging to the best combination, the selected vessels 4 are discharged 
onto the conveyor 9, and the articles are spilled out of the vessels 4 at 
a predetermined location. 
The foregoing operations are repeated continuously to compute weight 
combinations, thereby providing a steady supply of articles in batches, 
the total weight of each batch that which is equal or closest to the 
preset weight. 
In transferring the vessels 4 from the carry-in conveyor 6 to the scales 2 
of the weighing machines 3 and then from the scales to the discharge 
conveyor 9, the vessels are temporarily deposited on the cradle 101 which 
is standing by above the weighing machines 3, and the cradle is lowered to 
place the vessels on the scales 2 and then raised to lift the vessels off 
the scales. Accordingly, only vertical loads act upon the weighing 
machines 3, assuring that they will not be adversely affected by 
transverse loads and allowing them to stabilize in a short period of time. 
Moreover, since the cradle 101 for delivering and receiving the vessels 4 
has a sector-like or circular configuration, the partitions 101d, which 
guide the vessels 4 when the latter are moved, radiate outwardly from the 
center of the sector or circle. The vessel-receiving entrances to the 
spaces between the partitions 101d on the carry-in conveyor side therefore 
are comparatively close to one another, whereas the vessel-discharging 
exit from the spaces between the partitions on the discharge conveyor side 
are somewhat further apart from one another. The vessels 4 on the cradle 
101 are thus caused to separate from one another as they are moved along 
the partitions 101d, so that adjacent vessels 4 will not contact and 
interfere with each other on the scales 2. This eliminates a major cause 
of weighing error. 
As illustrated and described hereinabove, the present invention includes a 
carry-in conveyor for continuously supplying vessels filled with articles, 
a transfer mechanism for pushing articles individually onto weighing 
machines from a transfer location on the carry-in conveyor, a discharge 
conveyor for retaining and conveying vessels received from the weighing 
machines and for discharging the articles from the vessels at a 
predetermined location, and a pushing mechanism for pushing the empty 
vessels back onto a filling station, provided on the carry-in conveyor, 
from the discharge conveyor. Such an arrangement makes it possible to 
selectively introduce articles such as pickles or dried meat that are 
difficult to introduce automatically. According to the invention, such 
articles need only be fed into the containers at a predetermined location, 
enabling an improvement in operability. Furthermore, it is also possible 
to wash the empty vessels at a point remote from the weighing station to 
remove clinging articles or residua, thereby eliminating a source of error 
in order to improve weighing accuracy. 
Since the carry-in conveyor, weighing station and discharge conveyor can be 
arranged in sector-like or circular form, vessels transferred from the 
carry-in conveyor to the weighing station and thence to the discharge 
conveyor separate naturally from one another without relying upon a 
special separating mechanism. Vessels transferred to the weighing machines 
are separated from one another in a reliable manner and will not contact 
and interfere with one another on the weighing machines, thereby 
eliminating another source of weighing error. Also, in delivering the 
filled vessels to the scales during a weighing operation, the vessels 
first are deposited on the cradle standing by above the weighing station, 
and then the cradle is lowered to a point below the scales to place the 
vessels on corresponding ones of the scales. Accordingly, each scale is 
acted upon solely by a vertical load; there is no laterally directed force 
applied to cause detrimental oscillation of the corresponding weighing 
machine. The result is improved weighing accuracy and increased weighing 
speed, the latter because the weighing machines stabilize in a shorter 
time. In addition, since the cradle is activated for each weighing cycle 
and adapted to lift all of the vessels from the scales at one time, the 
weighing machines are unloaded each weighing cycle and are free to be 
zero-adjusted at such time. This greatly facilitates the zero-adjustment 
operation and permits combinatorial weighing to resume immediately upon 
the completion of the zero-adjustment, thereby enhancing operability 
markedly. Since the cradle has a sector-like or circular configuration, 
moreover, the partitions which serve to guide the vessels radiate 
outwardly from the center of the sector or circle and, hence, cause the 
vessels to separate from one another as they are moved from the carry-in 
conveyor to the cradle above the weighing machines, without requiring the 
provision of a special separating mechanism. When the vessels are 
deposited on adjacent weighing machines, therefore, they will not contact 
and interfere with each other and cause a faulty weighing operation. 
Dispensing with a special separating mechanism simplifies the structure of 
the overall apparatus. 
As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention 
can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to 
be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific 
embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.