Cylinder singulator apparatus and system

A cylinder singulator apparatus for singulating a plurality of jumbled products into a plurality of singulated products so each product thereof may be further processed in a processing area of a product conveying and/or sorting system, said apparatus comprising:

• a product transfer area at a first end of said apparatus, said product transfer area structured and arranged to receive the plurality of jumbled products, said product transfer area having one or more infeed delivery plates;
• a product delivery area at a second end of said apparatus, said product delivery area structured and arranged to deliver the plurality of singulated products to the processing area;
• a singulation area disposed between said product transfer area and said product delivery area, said singulation area having a plurality of cylindrical assemblies between said first end and said second end of said apparatus so as to define one or more pairs of adjacent cylindrical assemblies, each of said cylindrical assemblies having a cylindrical member and a shaft attached to or integral with said cylindrical member, each of said pair of adjacent cylindrical assemblies being linearly aligned to define a valley that is sized and configured to receive the plurality of jumbled products and for said cylindrical members of said pair of adjacent cylindrical assemblies to rotatably engage each of the products to singulate and separate the products to produce the plurality of singulated products and to move the plurality of singulated products along a singulation path to said product delivery area, each of said one or more infeed delivery plates configured to direct the jumbled product to one or more valleys between said pair of adjacent cylindrical assemblies;
• and
• a rotating mechanism operatively connected to said shaft of each of said cylindrical assemblies so as to rotate each of said cylindrical assemblies, said rotating mechanism having a rotation producing device configured to produce rotating motion and one or more rotating devices operatively interconnecting said rotation producing device and said shaft of each of said cylindrical assemblies so as to rotate said cylindrical assemblies upon rotation of said rotating producing device.

A system for singulating and separating a plurality of jumbled products into a plurality of singulated products so each product thereof may be further processed, said system comprising:

• a conveyor assembly with a conveyor defining a product receiving area for receiving the plurality of jumbled products;
• a processing area for processing the plurality of singulated products;
• and
• a singulator apparatus disposed between said conveyor assembly and said processing area, said singulator apparatus having a product transfer area at a first end of said apparatus, a product delivery area at a second end of said apparatus, a singulation area disposed between said product transfer area and said product delivery area and a rotating mechanism associated with said singulation area, said product transfer area structured and arranged to receive the plurality of jumbled products from said conveyor assembly, said product delivery area structured and arranged to deliver the plurality of singulated products to said processing area, said singulation area having plurality of cylindrical assemblies between said first end and said second end of said apparatus that define one or more pairs of adjacent cylindrical assemblies, each of said cylindrical assemblies having a cylindrical member, each of said pair of adjacent cylindrical assemblies being linearly aligned to define a valley that is sized and configured to receive the plurality of jumbled products and for said cylindrical members of said pair of adjacent cylindrical assemblies to rotatably engage each of the products to singulate and separate the products to produce the plurality of singulated products and to move the plurality of singulated products along a singulation path to said product delivery area, said rotating mechanism operatively connected to each of said cylindrical assemblies so as to rotate said cylindrical assemblies, said rotating mechanism having a rotation producing device configured to produce rotating motion and one or more rotating devices operatively interconnecting said rotation producing device and said cylindrical assemblies so as to rotate one or more of said cylindrical assemblies upon rotation of said rotating producing device.