Patent GB-907617-A (GB)
Title: Material feeding and weighing apparatus
IPC: B65B1/32
Filed: 1960-06-10
Abstract: 907,617. Weighing apparatus. OLOFSSON CORPORATION. June 10, 1960 [June 29, 1959], No. 20520/60. Class 143. [Also in Group XXX] Each of a plurality of weighing receptacles moving in an endless path receives from a supply device at a point in said path a quantity of material in excess of a predetermined weight and is subsequently vibrated under the control of a weighing device on which it is mounted to shake off sufficient material to bring its load to the predetermined weight. The appropriate feed rate from the supply device is achieved by charging it continuously by way of a speedcontrolled conveyer. General description.-Material to be weighed out in discrete batches is delivered in bulk to a trough 13 (Fig. 1), whose base is a conveyer belt 14 which is periodically advanced to deliver material by way of a weight sensitive dump shoot 16 to the elevator 11 which constitutes the conveyer feeding the supply device 12 for the weighing receptacles 64. The elevator 11 is continuously run at a rate controlled by the load present in the trough 26 of the supply device, which trough is continuously vibrated to deliver material to the receptacles 64 as they move in a rotary path beneath it. Each of the receptacles 64 is mounted on a weigh beam whose orientation controls a vibrator shaking material from the receptacle until its load reaches the predetermined weight, the material shaken off being returned by way of the shoot 13<SP>1</SP> to the trough 13. Each receptacle is subsequently tilted to discharge its load into the discharge shoot 116. Feed mechanism.-The trough 26 feeding the receptacles 64 is attached to a tubular metal cradle 29 (Fig. 2), on which is mounted a motor 28 whose shaft carries an eccentric weight. The vibration thus transmitted to the trough is isolated from a plate 31 extending below the body of the trough by butyl rubber or like resilient members 30 (see Fig. 3). The plate 31 rests on one end of a weight beam 33 whose other end actuates switches LS-2, LS-3, LS-4 which control the speed of operation of the elevator 11 charging the trough in dependence upon the weight of material in the trough and also operate warning lights should this weight fall outside an acceptable range. The speed of the elevator when the weigh beam 33 is in balance, the weight in the trough at which the beam is balanced and the inclination of the trough may all be adjusted, the first two by means of resistances in the elevator motor circuit and by movement of the counterweight 46 respectively and the third by means of the turn-buckle 39. The latter varies the length of one arm of a pivoted linkage 44 whose other arms 42, 38 are attached respectively to the beam 33 where it carries the trough and to the fixed support 36 which carries the beam fulcrum 35. A deflector 60, whose distance from the mouth of the trough may be adjusted by longitudinal movement of its tubular carrier 37, is set so as to direct the feed into the receptacles 64 as they pass beneath it (see Fig. 1A). Weighing receptacles.-Each receptacle 64 comprises a bulk compartment 65 and an openended vibratable feed-off tray 66 (Fig. 1A), the two parts of each receptacle being mounted on a weighing platform 69 the former directly and the latter through vibration isolators 73, 74. A motor-driven eccentric weight vibrator acting on each tray 66 is controlled by a switch operated by the weigh beam 81 on which the weighing platform 69 acts, which switch comprises contacts 105, 106 (Fig. 8), separated when the load in the receptacle becomes insufficient to balance a preset counter weight 93 (Fig. 7), carried by an extension 90 of the weigh beam 81. Discharge of the weighed load is by tilting of the weighing platform 69 about its pivotal connection 80 with the weighbeam 81. This tilting is achieved by rotation of a crank 86 which moves a coupling rod 84, connected to the platform 69, through a link 82. The crank 86 is turned by a shaft 109 having a mutilated bevel pinion head 110 and carried with the receptacle by the body 108 which is mounted on a rotating hub 95. A fixed horizontal disc 113 (Fig. 8), has attached to its periphery a bevel gear segment 111, disposed at the discharge position of the rotary path, so that the shaft 109 is rotated to tilt the receptacle at the required position. Normally the pinion 110, notched at 112, slides without rotation over the disc 113 but at the discharge position the disc is itself notched at 114 to allow the pinion to be rotated by the bevel gear segment. Rejection of incorrect weight batches.-Each time a receptacle receives its charge from the supply device, the making of its contacts 105, 106 which initiate its vibration also sends a current impulse to a solenoid 140 fixedly located below the path of a series of memory devices in the form of vertically guided pins 135 mounted in a flange 119 of the rotating hub 95. Each pin is normally held by a radiallyspring-urged ball 136 in a lower position from which, if the solenoid is energized when a pin passes it, the pin is raised by means of the solenoid's plunger 139. The thus raised pins 135 subsequently pass above the operating arm 142 of a switch 145 and are later reset by a fixed cam (not shown). The pin associated with a receptacle whose initial charge is under weight will however not be raised and will operate the switch 145 which is made to signal this condition so that manually or automatically-controlled rejection of the load discharged from the receptacle may be effected. Like rejection of overweight batches is also provided for in the control equipment described below. Control equipment.-The electrically - controlled operations of the system are effected by relays in control circuits, Figs. 12 and 13 (not shown), which also include means for providing a time-controlled sequence of operations in the form of a continuously-driven commutator. This comprises slip rings contacting brushes by which power to the appropriate relays is made available at the required times in the cycle of operations. A brush associated with each receptacle moves over a segmented slip ring so arranged that, during a period initiated when the associated receptacle has been charged, the brush contacts one segment of the ring and power is thereby made available to the vibrators controlled by switch contacts 105, 106. When the brush leaves this segment, the receptacle is approaching the discharge point at which the brush contacts an insulated segment over which it travels during the discharge and the refilling of the receptacle. In each of the gaps between these segments is a short segment, one of which provides the means for energizing the memory device solenoid 140 at the commencement of the feed-off period and the other of which provides a signal should the switch contacts 105, 106 remain energized, indicating an overweight batch, at the end of the feed-off period. This signal is used to provide for rejection of over weight batches as indicated above.