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AssigneeSociete Franco-Europeenne de Material pour l'Industrie Alimentaire "F.E.M.I.A" France
InventorsJoseph Coppolani, Leon Vandernotte
Estimating the term…
An adjustment assembly is provided for a sorting machine for elongate articles, e.g. string beans, for adjusting the inter-bar spacing between the alternating fixed and movable bars of the rotary drum thereof, and is operative when the parts of the sorting machine are in motion. The movable bars are mounted for displacement in radial slots in peaked elements extending outwardly of the drum. Springs are run around pulleys mounted on the movable bars for urging the movable bars toward a limit position in their slots. An inclined cam member is associated with each movable bar and has a camming surface cooperating with a cam followers slidably mounted on its movable bar. Forked slide control members control the sliding of the cam followers along their movable bars and are received in grooves of pairs of adjacent cam followers. All the slide control members are moved in unison by an adjustment ring mounted independent of the rotary drum and parallel to the axis thereof.
In a sorting machine for elongate articles in which fixed and movable bars are disposed alternately around a rotary drum having a bearing flange, an adjustment assembly for adjusting the spacing between said fixed and movable bars, said adjustment assembly being operative when said sorting machine is in operation and including parts with radial slots accommodating said movable bars for sliding displacement therein, means for displacing said movable bars in said slots comprising cam members associated with said movable bars and inclined with respect to the axis of the drum, means mounting said cam members on the bearing flange of the drum, cam followers freely slidably mounted on said movable bars, resilient return means constantly urging said cam followers in contact with said cam members and in a direction corresponding to a limit position of said movable bars in said radial slots, slide control members for controlling the sliding of said cam followers along said movable bars, and means independent of the rotation of the drum for displacing said slide control members in unison, parallel to the axis of the drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.