Patent ID: 7479135

Claim:
An automatic conveyor for conveying a medium, the conveyor having an adjustable output characteristic, wherein by operation of a suitable swelling agent an actuator based on at least one swellable polymer network is activated and triggers an automatic chain of action comprising at least one of (a) a delay time from the user initiating the conveyor to the start of the conveying, (b) a period of time within which the medium is actually conveyed, (c) a characteristic curve during conveying, (d) a volume of medium to be conveyed per unit of time, and (e) a total volume of medium to be conveyed, wherein at least one of the delay time, the period of time, the characteristic curve, the volume and the total volume can be adjusted by the user, and wherein the characteristic curve during conveying is adjustable by selectively arranging one or more of a number of serially arranged selector elements, each of said elements having at least one function bore.