Patent ID: 8910795

Claim:
A method of separating articles containing ferrous materials from articles containing non-ferrous materials comprising the steps of: placing a batch of articles containing ferrous materials and non-ferrous materials on a vibratory support; placing a set of vibratory trays in series and placing a set of magnetic members transverse to the vibratory flow of the batch of articles from tray to tray; vibrating the vibratory support to bring the batch of articles deeper into a magnetic field of a magnetic member of the set of magnetic members; magnetically capturing the articles containing ferrous materials on the magnetic member as the ferrous articles vibratory flow past the set of magnetic members while the articles containing non-ferrous materials bypass the set of magnetic members; and removing the articles containing a ferrous material from one of the set of magnetic members while maintaining the remaining magnetic members of the set of magnetic members in a magnetic grasping position to thereby allow the articles containing ferrous materials to be removed from the vibratory flow without interrupting the vibratory flow of the batch of articles.