Machine with automatic transport of articles

Claim 1

An automatic article transport machine, in particular a packaging machine, wherein individual like compartments are moved on a conveyor along a conveyor path subdivided into unit lengths, which are each associated with one compartment, past various processing stations, a certain article being present in some compartments, said article having one of two characteristics, either a characteristic corresponding to a certain norm or a characteristic differing from the certain norm, whereas some other compartments are empty; said machine comprising: a clock associated with the conveyor which transmits a clock signal to a characteristic shift register associated with the conveyor path on advance of the conveyor by one unit length, and thereby shifts the information contained in the characteristic shift register on by one storage unit; a characteristic detection apparatus which is provided in the vicinity of the start of the conveyor path, said apparatus being connected to the input of the characteristic shift register and detects that one of said two characteristics of each article which the article moving past said apparatus possesses, and transmits a corresponding electrical characteristic signal which is input into the storage unit of the characteristic shift register being associated with said article; and an article sorting apparatus arranged at a downstream position of the conveyor path, the article sorting apparatus being connected to the characteristic shift register and, at the instant an article moves past, receives the associated characteristic signal from the associated storage unit of the characteristic shift register and correspondingly sorts the relevant article; a presence shift register, controlled by the clock, being provided in parallel with the characteristic shift register and has one storage unit for each compartment; a presence signal being input into the associated storage unit of the presence shift register in the presence of an article moving past the characteristic detection apparatus whereas an absence signal is input into said storage unit if the compartment is empty; and an article presence detection apparatus arranged along the conveyor path at the location of the article sorting apparatus and connected to a logic circuit which transmits a fault signal when the determination made by the presence detection apparatus differs from the content of the associated storage unit of the presence shift register, the output signal of the presence detection apparatus being applied to the input of a comparison shift register which is shifted in synchronism with the conveyor; at least one of a plurality of storage units associated with one another, of the presence shift register and of the comparison shift register being applied to a comparison circuit which checks the contents of said at least one storage unit of the presence shift register and of the comparison shift register for coincidence and transmits an error signal if coincidence fails to be present.