Patent ID: 6884956

Claim:
A color-based sorting apparatus in which it is determined whether grains to be sorted which are being moved along a predetermined transference path, are defective or not based on a color of each of the grains, and when it is determined that one of the grains is defective, the defective grain is sorted out, said apparatus comprising: a material supplying device disposed at a side of a starting end of the transference path and provided so as to discharge and supply the grains stored therein; a color detecting device disposed at a downstream side of said material supplying device and detecting a color of each of the grains passing through a setting region; a sorting processing section disposed at a downstream side of said color detecting device and operating to change a transference path for defective grains; a control device, which determines whether each of the grains to be sorted is defective or not based on a detection signal from said color detecting device, and when it is determined that one of the grains is defective, said control device activating said sorting processing section; and a feeding roll disposed between said material supplying device and said color detecting device and rotating around an axial line thereof to cause the grains to be sorted, which are supplied from said material supplying device aligned in an axial direction, to freely fall down toward said color detecting device wherein a rotational speed of said feeding roll is adjustable.