Patent ID: 8322951

Claim:
Apparatus for extracting and delivering articles in charges of a predetermined uniform size from a mass of the articles comprising: a. a vacuum implement adapted for picking up articles in charges of a predetermined size from the mass of the articles and depositing the charges at a selected location comprising a head at the forward end thereof for receiving a charge of the articles, the implement head having a mouth at a forward end thereof, an article-collecting chamber extending rearwardly from the mouth to a rearward end of the chamber, the chamber being of a size to hold a charge of the predetermined size, a vent at the rearward end of the article-collecting chamber and an air permeable barrier over the vent, the barrier having openings small enough to preclude passage through the vent of the articles, b. at least one vacuum generator; c. a conduit exterior to the implement chamber that extends from the vent of the chamber to the vacuum generator and provides air flow communication between the chamber and the vacuum generator; d. means for relieving the vacuum in the chamber to cause an article charge in the implement to drop from the mouth of the chamber; e. a receptacle at the selected location for receiving the charge, the receptacle being adapted to receive the charge dropped from the implement mouth when the implement is positioned at the selected location with the mouth above the receptacle.