Patent ID: 8220657

Claim:
A unit for transporting products and for checking the products during transport, the unit comprising: a hopper ( 3 , 3 a ) for containing a mass of products ( 1 ) in bulk; conveying means ( 5 , 6 ) for feeding said products ( 1 ) coming out of said hopper ( 3 ) along a predetermined path (P); a station (SR), situated downstream of said conveying means ( 5 , 6 ) for receiving the products ( 1 ); a checking station (SC) for checking said products ( 1 ), situated along said path (P) upstream of said station (SR), said checking station (SC) including optical means ( 7 ) for checking each product ( 1 ), to determine if each said product is either acceptable or rejectable by identifying determined physical features of each said product ( 1 ) and for counting the acceptable products passing to said station (SR); a processing device; said optical means sending reference signals to the processing device (E) connected to the optical means ( 7 ), the processing device using the reference signals to determine whether or not each said product is accepted or rejected; said conveying means ( 5 , 6 ) including first vibrating conveying means ( 51 , 52 , 53 ) consisting of vibrating planes, and second conveying means ( 6 ) situated at said checking station (SC) between said first vibrating conveying means ( 51 , 52 , 53 ) and said station (SR); product holding means ( 65 ) associated with said second conveying means ( 6 ) for holding each single product so as to form on said second conveying means ( 6 ), a series of single spaced apart products ( 1 ), moving forward to said station (SR) along a part of said path (P), said second conveying means ( 6 ) including a drum ( 6 ) rotating continuously, which moves said series of single spaced apart products ( 1 ) to said station (SR) along a curved portion of said path (P), a whole peripheral surface of said drum ( 6 ) having a plurality of grooves ( 64 ), each groove having lateral walls ( 64 a , 64 b ) and a bottom, the lateral walls of each groove converging toward the bottom of each groove in order to receive said products therein; a plurality of holding means ( 65 ), each holding means connecting to pairs of channels ( 66 ), each of said holding means ( 65 ) and each said pair of channels ( 66 ) communicating between pairs of holes in each of said grooves ( 64 ) and a suction source, such that each hole connects through a pair of channels ( 66 ) to two adjacent holding means ( 65 ), said pairs of holes having openings close to each other for holding said products ( 1 ) on the surface of said drum by aspiration, said checking station checking said products held on said drum as each individual product passes by the optical means as the drum is rotated.