Patent GB-196307-A (GB)
Title: Sorting machine
IPC: B07C5/342
Filed: 1921-10-17
Abstract: 196,307. Marks, E. C. R., (Photometric Products Corporation). Oct. 17, 1921. Light radiations, control of apparatus by.-A machine for sorting cigars or other articles according to their shade or colour consists of a hopper, from the lower end of which the articles are lifted one at a time by carriers slidably mounted on a plate receiving a step-by-step rotary movement, the article being carried to a position where a beam of light falls on a fixed area thereof. The reflected beam impinges on a photoelectric cell in series with a measuring instrument, the end of the pointer of which moves over a series of contacts so as to close one of a number of electric circuits to determine the circumferential position at which the article is discharged from the carrier into a shoot. The direction in which the shoot points is also determined bv these means to obtain a further selection. The machine is driven from a main shaft 21 rotating through bevel gearing 24, 25, Fig. 3, a cam-carrying plate 27. The plate 39 bearing the article carriers 40 is given a step-by-step rotary movement by a shaft 38 and Geneva wheel mechanism 36, the gearing being arranged so as to produce a single step-movement for each revolution of the plate 27. The article carriers 40 are mounted radially on the plate 39 by two rods 60, 62 slidable therein, and each are formed of a number of fingers 50, being pivoted at 46 and maintained in a horizontal position by a spring catch 53. Articles to be sorted are fed one bv one from the hopper 67 to a gutter 83 formed of a number of fingers between which the fingers 50 can pass. A false bottom 77 in the hopper is reciprocated rapidly to prevent clogging. Circular cam faces 112, 113, Figs. 3 and 12, carried by the plate 27 and thus given a complete revolution for each step-movement of the carriers, are adapted to raise inclined track surfaces 120, 124, 128 slidably mounted in the frame of the machine, so that each article carrier, when it reaches this circumferential position in its step-movement, is raised by these surfaces to lift an article from the gutter 83 and afterwards to raise the article in position so that a fixed area of it is exposed to a beam of light from a lamp 132, Fig. 8. The reflected light from the article passes up the tube 68 and impinges on a photoelectric cell 69. The effect produced on the cell, which varies according to the colour of the article, is transmitted to the needle 141 of a measuring instrument 142, Fig. 16, the end 143 of which completes the circuit between one pair of a series of contacts 144, 145, the contacts 145 being arranged in groups of three 145<1>, 145<11>, 145<111>, Fig. 17. One of a series of electromagnets 150 then becomes energized and actuates rods 158, 160, Fig. 13, to raise one of a radial series of vertical rods 163, the rod raised corresponding to the electromagnet energized. A radial series of rods corresponding to each carrier is provided, each series being mounted in a casting 166 carried by the plate 39, Figs. 3 and 13. The raised rod 163 engages, during its rotation with the plate 39, one of a series of cam faces 172, Fig. 4, carried on spring-controlled sliding plates 173 mounted on a fixed plate 41, Figs. 3 and 4, and causes the plate 173, corresponding to the cam face engaged, to be moved outward radially. In this position, the plate 173 releases the catch 53, Fig. 3, and causes the article carrier to be titled by gravity so as to discharge the article to a pivoted shoot 180 rotating with each carrier. The shoot 180 points in one of three directions according to which one of each group of contacts 145<1>, 145<11>, 145<111> is in operation, and which electromagnet 154, 155 is energized and so tilts the article into one of three bins for each circumferential position at which the article might be discharged from its carrier. A fixed plate 177, Fig. 4, tilts all the carriers having articles outside the range of colours for which the machine is set, and which are not tilted by the means described. Cams 176, 178, Figs. 4 and 10, fixed to the frame restore the rods 163 and carriers 40 respectively to their normal positions before they again pass under the shoot 83 of the hopper. The contacts 145 are carried by a sliding block 146 which is moved to grip the end 143 of the instrument pointer between the contacts 144, 145 when it has taken up its position, the main circuit being automatically opened and closed while it is thus gripped.