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EP0789634A4 - Article grading apparatus - Google Patents

Article grading apparatus

Info

Publication number
EP0789634A4
EP0789634A4 EP95937231A EP95937231A EP0789634A4 EP 0789634 A4 EP0789634 A4 EP 0789634A4 EP 95937231 A EP95937231 A EP 95937231A EP 95937231 A EP95937231 A EP 95937231A EP 0789634 A4 EP0789634 A4 EP 0789634A4
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
conveyor
stream
article
articles
singulating
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP95937231A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0789634B1 (en
EP0789634A1 (en
Inventor
Hamish Alexander Nigel Kennedy
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Horticultural Automation Ltd
Original Assignee
Horticultural Automation Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Horticultural Automation Ltd filed Critical Horticultural Automation Ltd
Publication of EP0789634A1 publication Critical patent/EP0789634A1/en
Publication of EP0789634A4 publication Critical patent/EP0789634A4/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0789634B1 publication Critical patent/EP0789634B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/34—Sorting according to other particular properties
    • B07C5/342—Sorting according to other particular properties according to optical properties, e.g. colour
    • B07C5/3422—Sorting according to other particular properties according to optical properties, e.g. colour using video scanning devices, e.g. TV-cameras
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/36—Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B07C5/361—Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
  • Vending Machines For Individual Products (AREA)
  • Control Of Conveyors (AREA)
  • Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
  • Discharge Of Articles From Conveyors (AREA)

Abstract

An article grading conveyor has a multi-stream singulating conveyor (4) carrying and advancing articles to be graded to a discharge zone (3). Articles from the discharge zone (3) are received onto a single stream grading conveyor (1). Optical scanning of the articles is undertaken by a scanner (15) scanning a zone (10) of the singulating conveyor (4), to determine a physical attribute of each article. Means are provided to associate the scanned attribute of each article from the singulating conveyor (4) with its subsequent position on the single stream grading conveyor (1). A multi-stream singulator having at least two streams of cup, at least one stream of cups being a partial cup in advance of the other streams so that the items are discharged non-simultaneously is also disclosed.
EP95937231A 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Singulator as well as apparatus and method for grading articles Expired - Lifetime EP0789634B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NZ26483594 1994-11-01
NZ26483594 1994-11-01
PCT/NZ1995/000113 WO1996013340A1 (en) 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Article grading apparatus

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0789634A1 EP0789634A1 (en) 1997-08-20
EP0789634A4 true EP0789634A4 (en) 1999-01-27
EP0789634B1 EP0789634B1 (en) 2001-09-26

Family

ID=19924998

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95937231A Expired - Lifetime EP0789634B1 (en) 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Singulator as well as apparatus and method for grading articles

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0789634B1 (en)
AT (1) ATE206080T1 (en)
AU (1) AU703594B2 (en)
DE (1) DE69522952D1 (en)
ES (1) ES2164782T3 (en)
WO (1) WO1996013340A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ES2123422B1 (en) * 1996-07-03 1999-08-16 Amaducci Romana PROCEDURE AND DEVICE FOR CHROMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTS.
JP2001225029A (en) * 2000-02-18 2001-08-21 Hiroshi Maeda Transport equipment for online internal quality inspection
DE102010015839A1 (en) † 2010-04-20 2011-10-20 Bizerba Gmbh & Co. Kg Control procedure for a line unifier
EP2711701B1 (en) 2012-09-21 2018-06-13 Wipotec Wiege- und Positioniersysteme GmbH Method for transillumination of products

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4106628A (en) * 1976-02-20 1978-08-15 Warkentin Aaron J Sorter for fruit and the like
EP0230583A2 (en) * 1986-01-29 1987-08-05 Pennwalt Corporation Apparatus for spinning fruit for sorting thereof
US4717026A (en) * 1986-04-03 1988-01-05 Golden Aluminum Company Container scanning and accounting device
EP0513501A1 (en) * 1991-05-14 1992-11-19 Elpatronic Ag Method and device for treatment, in particular for testing and/or encoding, of plastic bottles or of that kind

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1212120A (en) * 1968-12-31 1970-11-11 Sphere Invest Ltd Position memory system
AU534616B2 (en) * 1977-12-16 1984-02-09 Ikanui Farms Ltd. Conveying articles into single file
US4482061A (en) * 1978-11-24 1984-11-13 Durand-Wayland, Inc. Apparatus and process for sorting articles
US4254877A (en) * 1979-11-05 1981-03-10 Fmc Corporation Weight sizing apparatus
GB8432340D0 (en) * 1984-12-21 1985-02-06 British Res Agricult Eng Singulator
US5086909A (en) * 1988-09-23 1992-02-11 Powell Machinery, Inc. Gentle handling of fruit during weight sizing and other operations
US5170880A (en) * 1991-04-17 1992-12-15 Agri-Tech, Incorporated Soft drop singulating device
US5339963A (en) * 1992-03-06 1994-08-23 Agri-Tech, Incorporated Method and apparatus for sorting objects by color
JP3327703B2 (en) * 1993-10-19 2002-09-24 マグネティック セパレイション システムズ インコーポレイテッド Classification device for uneven heterogeneous materials

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4106628A (en) * 1976-02-20 1978-08-15 Warkentin Aaron J Sorter for fruit and the like
EP0230583A2 (en) * 1986-01-29 1987-08-05 Pennwalt Corporation Apparatus for spinning fruit for sorting thereof
US4717026A (en) * 1986-04-03 1988-01-05 Golden Aluminum Company Container scanning and accounting device
EP0513501A1 (en) * 1991-05-14 1992-11-19 Elpatronic Ag Method and device for treatment, in particular for testing and/or encoding, of plastic bottles or of that kind

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO1996013340A1 (en) 1996-05-09
ATE206080T1 (en) 2001-10-15
EP0789634B1 (en) 2001-09-26
DE69522952D1 (en) 2001-10-31
EP0789634A1 (en) 1997-08-20
ES2164782T3 (en) 2002-03-01
AU703594B2 (en) 1999-03-25
AU3939495A (en) 1996-05-23

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