Patent ID: 8020724

Claim:
A singulating device, comprising: a housing; a removable hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper being connectable to said housing; an RFID tag carried by said hopper; an RFID tag reader carried by said housing; a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereto, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber; a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc; a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc; a counting device; and means responsive to said counting device for removing items from said singulating disc; wherein said singulating disc includes a hollow disc having a plurality of retractable paddles extendable from said periphery, each of said paddles having an actuating device extending through an opening in a face of said singulating disc, and a cam positioned to interface with each of said actuating devices during a portion of rotation of said singulating disc such that each of said devices moves along said opening in a first direction to cause its respective paddle to extend beyond said periphery, and to move along said opening in a second direction opposite to said first direction to cause said paddle to retract as said device rides along said cam.