Patent ID: 7198077

Claim:
An apparatus for automatically proportioning-out predetermined quantities of different products and automatically discharging the predetermined quantities into individual chambers of multiple-chamber containers that are to be filled by the apparatus; comprising: a frame; a mounting plate supported by said frame; a measuring and dispensing device carried by said mounting plate, including a bottom plate supported by said mounting plate, said bottom plate having a top and a bottom surface, said bottom plate top surface being smooth, a plurality of bottom plate apertures formed in said bottom plate at a container filling location and in a pattern such that the bottom plate apertures can be aligned with each of the individual chambers of the multiple-chamber dispensing container to be filled by the apparatus, a top plate mounted on and spaced above a distance from said bottom plate, said top plate having top and bottom surfaces, said top plate bottom surface being smooth and parallel to said bottom plate smooth upper surface, a number of top plate apertures formed in said top plate, the number of top plate apertures being the same number as the plurality of bottom plate apertures, the top plate apertures being not aligned with any of the bottom plate apertures, a pair of shuttle members extending between said smooth upper and bottom surfaces and having shuttle apertures formed therein that extend from the smooth upper and bottom surfaces, the pair of shuttles being mounted to be reciprocated between a first location at which the shuttle apertures are aligned with the top plate apertures and second location at which the shuttle apertures are aligned with the bottom plate apertures, a mechanism for reciprocating the pair of shuttles; a conveyor supported by said frame for transporting multiple-chamber containers, that are to be filled by the apparatus, to the container filling location; a conveyor drive mechanism; a sensing mechanism for recognizing multiple-chamber containers on the conveyor; and an apparatus control system for receiving signals from said sensing mechanism and stopping the conveyor with a multiple-chamber container at the container filling location, the apparatus control system also energizes the mechanism for reciprocating the pair of shuttles in response to receiving the signal that the multiple-chamber container has been recognized, the apparatus control system is programmed to energize the conveyor drive mechanism to initiate a new cycle at a predetermined time after the conveyor was stopped.