Patent GB-733778-A (GB)
Title: A new or improved machine for delivering predetermined quantities of articles
Inventor: ELLENS SAMUEL HORACE
IPC: B65G47/14
Filed: 1951-08-15
Abstract: 733,778. Counting-apparatus. G. K. N. GROUP SERVICES, Ltd. Aug. 15, 1952 [Aug. 15, 1951; Jan. 11, 1952], Nos. 19200/51 and 851/52. Class 106 (1). [Also in Group XL (b)] A batching machine comprising means for feeding articles in a row one behind the other through a counting station at which is provided a detection device responsive to the passage of a predetermined number of articles is characterized in that at or beyond the counting station is provided batchseparating means comprising in combination a receiving member having a plurality of receiving stations for said articles, movably supported at the delivery side of the counting station, and driven to present its receiving stations in turn to the articles whereby approximate batching is attained, and a deflector element or elements controlled jointly by retention means and a potential deflecting force arranged to establish same in equilibrium, the retention means being operatively connected with the detection device in such a manner as to be rendered inoperative when the detection device responds, whereby the or each deflector element is released at the appropriate time to move along its path and directs at least the last article of a batch or at least first article of the next succeeding batch into respective receiving stations in or on said receiving member. The invention is described as applied to a machine for counting and batching screws. The screws are conveyed by a known form of conveyer, Fig. 1, not shown, to the end 77, Figs. 2 and 3, of a primary guideway 19 comprising angled frame members' 76, 77, Fig. 5, supported on a base 80 to form a trackway 25. The guideway 19 is constantly vibrated by a vibrator so that the screws pass longitudinally along the track 25 to the secondary guideway 20 formed by vertical frame members 82, 83 defining the trackway 26, Fig. 3. The screws which have assumed a vertical orientation in the trackway 25 enter the trackway 26 and pass therealong but the others are shed into shoots 28, Fig. 2, and fed back to the initial conveyer. As the screws leave the secondary guideway 20 one by one they pass into a trackway 31, Fig. 7, which after an initial horizontal part slopes tangentially to a roller 32. The roller 32 comprises side plates 72 and a felt pad 71 and is carried by a pair of arms 65 so as to be adjustable towards and away from the trackway 31 to form an entry throat 33. The roller 32 is rotated at an adjustable speed by an electric motor and serves to accelerate, space and orientate the screws in the guideway 31 just in advance of the counting station including a light source 30, Fig. 8, the beam from which traverses the guideway 31 to a photo-cell 29. The receiver comprises a plate 41, Fig. 7, which is connected by an adjustable friction clutch to a shaft 42 continuously driven through a gear-box 44, Fig. 2, by an electric motor 45 and which has a series of angularly-spaced apertures 52, Figs. 7 and 8, separated by radial partitions 53 to each of which is secured a spring metal flap 36. Below the apertures 52 on a platform 55 are removable receptacles 54 for the screws. The plate 41 is normally prevented from rotation by the engagement of a latch 38, Fig. 8, with the flap 36 which is adjacent the guideway 31. The latched flap 36 is bent against an adjacent stop 57 and so stressed, the screws then passing from the guideway 31 through the adjacent opening 52 to the corresponding receptacle 54. When the appropriate number of screws has been registered by the counting device the latch 38, which is attached to the armature 60 of an electromagnet 59, is released from the flap 36 which moves across the path of the screws so deflecting the first screw of the succeeding batch into the next receptacle, the plate 44 being rotated until the next flap 36 is latched by the latch 38. Specifications 722,016, [Group XXX], and 733,849 are referred to.