Bottle sorting apparatus having selective discharge channels

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR RECOGNIZING AND DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN TWO TYPES OF BOTTLES HAVING DIFFERENT LIGHT TRANSMISSIVE PROPERTIES, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: FIRST MEANS FOR GENERATING A FIRST LIGHT BEAM; FIRST PHOTOSENSITIVE MEANS POSITIONED TO RECEIVE SAID FIRST LIGHT BEAM FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS IN RESPONSE TO VARIATIONS IN SAID BEAM; AN ELECTRONIC COMPARATOR HAVING A REFERENCE BIAS APPLIED THERETO AND ADAPTED TO BE PLACED IN ONE STATE OR THE OTHER, SAID COMPARATOR HAVING FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUITS FOR DEVELOPING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL ON SAID FIRST OUTPUT CIRCUIT WHEN SAID COMPARATOR IS IN SAID ONE STATE AND DEVELOPING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL ON SAID SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUIT WHEN SAID COMPARATOR IS IN ITS OTHER STATE; A CONTROL FLIP-FLOP; MEANS CONNECTING BOTH SAID FIRST OUTPUT CIRCUIT AND SAID SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID COMPARATOR TO THE INPUT OF SAID CONTROL FLIP-FLOP; A MANUAL CONTROL SWITCH HAVING INTERRELATED SWITCH MEANS IN SAID FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUITS OF SAID COMPARATOR, SAID SWITCH HAVING TWO POSITIONS IN ONE OF WHICH SAID SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUIT IS OPEN AND SAID FIRST OUTPUT CIRCUIT IS CLOSED, AND IN THE OTHER OF WHICH SAID SECOND OUTPUT CIRCUIT IS CLOSED AND SAID FIRST OUTPUT CIRCUIT IS OPEN; MEANS FOR COUPLING THE OUTPUT OF SAID FIRST PHOTOSENSITIVE MEANS TO THE INPUT OF SAID COMPARATOR TO PLACE SAID COMPARATOR IN SAID ONE STATE OR THE OTHER; AND CONVEYOR MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING BOTTLES TO BE RECOGNIZED THROUGH SAID FIRST LIGHT BEAM FOR DEVELOPING RECOGNITION SIGNALS AT THE OUTPUT OF SAID CONTROL FLIP-FLOP ACCORDING TO THE CONDITION OF SAID CONTROL SWITCH IN RESPONSE TO THE PASSAGE THROUGH SAID BEAM OF ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID TWO TYPES OF BOTTLES.