EP0105114A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Apparatus for spinning fruit for sorting thereof
Assignee: Pennwalt Corp
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Filing: 1983-07-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-07-28
Abstract
Abstract @ Conveyor rollers of singulators ride upon a passive spin track causing the rollers to rotate and fruit carried thereon to rotate in accordance therewith such that the rotational axes of the fruit, typically lemons, having a length to diameter ratio in excess of 1, orient themselves substantially perpendicularly to the direction of travel of the singulators along their axes of symmetry while so rotating. Downstream, the rollers contact a rotating spin-accelerating belt to increase speed of rotation of the rollers and oriented fruit thereon in order to permit optical scanning devices to scan a much larger percentage of the fruit surface areas. Oblong fruit would tend to flip off the conveyor rollers at high spin rates if not previously oriented, and are basically unstable at these high spin rates. Consequently, the high spin rate is mechanically designed to continue for the shortest duration.
Inventors
- 👤 George A Mills
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 05:58
CPC Classifications
B; B07; B07C; B07C5/00; B07C5/34; B07C5/342; B65; B65G; B65G2201/00; B65G2201/02; B65G2201/0202; B65G2201/0211
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
168 words
Sorting apparatus for articles comprising a continuous conveyor for transporting said articles including a plurality of spaced roller means, orientation means for rotating said articles on said roller means to provide lowest moments of inertia to said articles while rotating on axes of rotation thereof to provide oriented articles, said axes of rotation being substantially perpendicular to direction of travel of said conveyor, spin-accelerator means downstream said orientation means cooperating with said roller means for increasing rotational speed of said articles while oriented to cause upper surfaces of said spin-accelerated articles to move in same direction as said conveyor and opposite to direction of movement of upper surfaces of said articles by said orientation means, means for illuminating said articles while spinning and moving on said conveyor to cause said articles to be illuminated, means for scanning said illuminated articles i for generation of signals responsive thereto, means responsive to said signals for controlling disposition of said scanned articles, and other means for introducing articles onto said conveyor.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
168 words
Sorting apparatus for articles comprising a continuous conveyor for transporting said articles including a plurality of spaced roller means, orientation means for rotating said articles on said roller means to provide lowest moments of inertia to said articles while rotating on axes of rotation thereof to provide oriented articles, said axes of rotation being substantially perpendicular to direction of travel of said conveyor, spin-accelerator means downstream said orientation means cooperating with said roller means for increasing rotational speed of said articles while oriented to cause upper surfaces of said spin-accelerated articles to move in same direction as said conveyor and opposite to direction of movement of upper surfaces of said articles by said orientation means, means for illuminating said articles while spinning and moving on said conveyor to cause said articles to be illuminated, means for scanning said illuminated articles i for generation of signals responsive thereto, means responsive to said signals for controlling disposition of said scanned articles, and other means for introducing articles onto said conveyor.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said articles have a length to diameter ratio greater than 1 and said rotation axes coincide with axes of symmetry of said articles.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
36 words
Apparatus of claim 1 wherein disposition of said scanned articles include ejection of a portion thereof and wherein articles not so ejected are further sorted and graded in accordance with known fruit sorting and grading procedures.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said conveyor is driven by chains and said roller means are conveyor rollers rotatably mounted to said chains.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
9 words
Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said articles are fruit.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
10 words
Apparatus of claim 5 wherein said fruit are citrus fruits.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus of claim 6 wherein said citrus fruits are lemons and said axes of rotation of said lemons after orientation thereof by said orientation means are stem axes.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
Apparatus of claim 7 wherein axes of rotation of said conveyor rollers are transverse to direction of travel of said conveyor.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
Apparatus of claim 8 wherein each of said conveyor rollers is provided with a central necked-down portion.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
40 words
Apparatus of claim 9 wherein said orientation means comprises a passive spin track supported below said conveyor rollers, said rollers engaging said passive spin track and riding thereon to rotate said rollers as said rollers are transported by said chains.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
37 words
Apparatus of claim 10 wherein said spin track engages a sufficient number of said rollers to cause fruit thereon to orient themselves in accordance with their lowest moments of inertia while rotating on said axes of rotation.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus of claim 11 wherein said passive spin track engages said necked-down portion of said rollers.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus of claim 12 wherein said spin-accelerator means comprises a spin-up belt rotating below and in engagement with rollers traveling beneath said means for illuminating and scanning.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus of claim 13 wherein said rotating spin-up belt engages necked-down portions of said rollers.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
18 words
Apparatus of claim 13 wherein said rotating spin-up belt is caused to rotate by motor and pulley means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus of claim 14 wherein said rotating spin-up belt causes fruit to rotate approximately 12 to 6 times faster than said passive spin track.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus of claim 16 wherein said rotating spin-up belt provides a major portion of surface area of each fruit to be scanned by said means for scanning.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
39 words
Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sorting apparatus includes a plurality of parallel disposed continuous conveyors, said illuminating and scanning means for each conveyor protected by a housing, each of said housings being staggered along said plurality of conveyors.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
18 words
Apparatus of claim 18 wherein said means for illuminating comprises illuminators generating visible, ultra-violet or infra-red light radiation.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
14 words
Apparatus of claim 18 wherein said means for scanning comprises a line scanning camera.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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