Patent GB-544478-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for testing, sorting or grading articles
IPC: B07C5/06
Filed: 1940-07-13
Abstract: 544,478. Testing, gauging and grading cigarettes, cartridge cases &c. RUAU, F. F., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. July 13, 1940, Nos. 11672 and 17732. [Class 106 (ii)] [Also in Group VI] Relates to apparatus for testing, sorting or grading articles, for example testing cigarettes for soft ends, or testing the length of cartridge cases or the thickness of flat plates, and consists in employing a magnet, and an armature which is moved from a stop to an extent determined by the softness or size of the article so that the armature if moved to within a pre-determined distance from a pole of the magnet is attracted thereto. As shown in Fig. 1, cigarettes from a cigarette making machine are fed as described in Specification 517,103, [Group VI], by a rotating deflector 2 to pairs of resilient arms 4, 5 mounted on a rotating carrier 6, each pair of arms holding a cigarette by axial pressure against its ends. The arms 4 pass between the poles of a magnet 10. If the cigarette is satisfactory the arm 4 is attracted by one pole of the magnet to a path lying on the near side of a fixed cam 18 and the cigarette is discharged to a catcher band 21 by the spreading of the arms; if the cigarette is defective (that is soft ended or short) the arm 4 remains on the opposite side of the cam 18 and, on further rotation, the gripping arms 4, 5 are opened by cams 23 and the cigarette rolls down a guide 28 to a waste box. The position of the magnet may be adjusted by a screw 12. In a modification for gauging the lengths of cartridge cases, the cases 30, Fig. 4, are fed by a transfer device 32 successively from a magazine to a gauging position 50, A member 52 on a reciprocating bar 53 resiliently presses the case against a fixed abutment 51. The position of the bar is thus controlled by the length of the case and a magnet 57 fixed to the bar is correspondingly adjusted opposite to two flexible armatures 59, 60, Fig. 6, mounted on a rotating shaft 33 so as to pass between the poles of the magnet. The armatures are resilently pressed in opposite directions into contact with adjusting screws 61. If the cartridge case is of allowable length the armatures, on passing between the poles of the magnet remain against their adjusting screws and the case is delivered by a second transfer device 32A to a collecting receptacle or, if provided, to a further gauging position for performing a somewhat similar operation. If the case is too short or too long, one or other of the rotating armatures 59, 60 is attracted by the magnet in an axial direction to unlatch a corresponding spring- pressed bolt 73 or 74, thereby allowing one or other of two flaps 63, 64 to fall and drop the defective case into a " short or "long" collecting receptacle. Cam mechanism resets the bolts and flaps. In a further modification, Fig. 8, for gauging the thickness of flat pieces, the magnet 127 is secured to a shaft 121 rotatable by a handle 164 or by mechanical means. Two resilient armatures 135, 136 capable of opposite movement from stop screws 138, 139 extend between the poles 140 of the magnet from an arm 115 pivoted on a leaf spring 112 and raised by a cam preparatory to a gauging operation. A feeler 110 is carried by the arm 115. The flat piece to be tested is placed on a slidable table 111 and pushed beneath the feeler 110 (or beneath an intermediate extension 161). On rotation of the handle 164 the feeler descends upon the flat piece. If the thickness of the piece is outside the tolerance allowed, the armatures 135, 136 are sufficiently displaced from their central position to cause one or other of them during rotation of the magnet, to be moved by magnetic attraction into the path of one or other of two pawls 141 (one only shown) rotating with the magnet. The tripping of the pawl by the attracted armature causes a " plus " or " minus " sign to be displayed. In the various embodiments described above undesirable magnetism of the armature may be avoided by causing the armature to pass through a second magnetic field of reverse polarity, or by using magnets energized by alternating current.