Automatic weighing apparatus

Claim 2

A combinatorial weighing apparatus for automatically weighing articles, comprising: a plurality of collecting buckets for collecting the articles, adapted to be advanced along a path having an advancing direction; a plurality of weighing heads, arranged on a diagonal row with respect to the advancing direction of the path, for receiving batches of the articles, obtaining weight values of the batches of articles received, computing weight combinations on the basis of the weight values of the batches of articles, selecting a combination of batches of articles having a total weight equal or closest to a set weight, and discharging the selected batches of articles; and a plurality of groups of discharge buckets, each group of discharge buckets corresponding to one of the weighing heads, being arranged in a row, and extending from the corresponding one of the weighing heads to the path in a direction substantially perpendicular to the advancing direction of the path, the number of discharge buckets in each row increasing by one in the advancing direction of the path so as to determine the angle of the diagonal row of weighing heads with respect to the advancing direction of the path, the discharge buckets being adapted to move along the rows from the weighing heads to the path in synchronization with the advance of the collecting buckets so that the discharge buckets receive batches of articles from the weighing heads and discharge the batches of articles into the collecting buckets and so that each collecting bucket receives a selected combination of batches of articles.

Claim 3

A combinatorial weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the discharge buckets is adapted to invert so as to discharge the batches of articles received by the discharge bucket into one of the collecting buckets.

Claim 4

A combinatorial weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each row of discharge buckets has a downstream end adjacent to the path, further comprising a plurality of chutes, the number of chutes corresponding to the number of rows, each chute being disposed between the downstream end of a corresponding row and the path so as to guide the batches of articles discharged from the most downstream discharge bucket into the collecting buckets.

Claim 5

A combinatorial weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said weighing heads includes a feeder, a weighing machine and a weighing hopper associated with the weighing machine.

Claim 6

A combinatorial weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each group of discharge buckets travels along a row in a circulating fashion.

Claim 7

A combinatorial weighing apparatus for automatically weighing articles, comprising: segmented collecting means having a plurality of segments for collecting batches of articles, adapted to be transported along a path having a transporting direction; a plurality of segmented transporting rows, each segmented transporting row having an upstream end, a downstream end and a plurality of segments, the downstream end of each transporting row being adjacent to the path, the transporting rows being substantially parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to the transporting direction of the path, each transporting row having a length defined by the number of segments in the transporting row, the number of segments in at least some of said rows increasing along the length of the row in the transporting direction of the path, said transporting rows being transportable toward the path in synchronization with the transporting of the segmented collecting means; and a plurality of weighing heads, the number of weighing heads corresponding to the number of transporting rows, each weighing head being disposed at the upstream end of a corresponding transporting row, the weighing heads receiving batches of articles, obtaining weight values of the batches of articles, computing weight combinations on the basis of the weight values of the batches of articles, selecting a combination of batches of articles having a total weight equal or closest to a set weight, and discharging the selected combination of batches of articles onto segments of corresponding transporting rows so that each segment of the segmented collecting means collects a selected combination of articles.

Claim 8

A combinatorial weighing apparatus for automatically weighing articles, comprising: segmented collecting means having a plurality of segments for collecting batches of articles, adapted to be transported along a path having a transporting direction; a plurality of segmented transporting rows, each segmented transporting row having an upstream end, a downstream end and a plurality of segments, the downstream end of each transporting row being adjacent to the path, the transporting rows being substantially parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to the transporting direction of the path, each transporting row having a length defined by the number of segments in the transporting row, the number of segments in at least some of said rows increasing along the length of the row in the transporting direction of the path, said transporting rows being transportable toward the path in synchronization with the transporting of the segmented collecting means; and a plurality of weighing heads, the number of weighing heads corresponding to the number of transporting rows, each weighing head being disposed at the upstream end of a corresponding transporting row, the weighing heads receiving batches of articles, obtaining weight values of the batches of articles, computing weight combinations on the basis of the weight values of the batches of articles, selecting a combination of batches of articles having a total weight equal or closest to a set weight, and discharging the selected combination of batches of articles onto segments of corresponding transporting rows so that each segment of the segmented collecting means collects a selected combination of articles.