High speed batch counting apparatus

Apparatus for separating pieces moving along a conveyor line at a known conveyance speed with substantially equal spacings between pieces into batches of a known piece count, comprising, means selectively removing from said line between batch counts of pieces passing along the line at least one piece to identify the batches by an increased spacing between successive pieces along said line, batching means for handling batches of said pieces, a detector responsive to detect the successive batches, and means responsive during said increased spacing between pieces flowing along the conveyor line operable to separate successive batches for handling by said batching means thereby increasing count accuracy without miscounts.

The method of increasing processing speed of batching counters operable from a flow of pieces along a conveying line terminating in batching separator equipment, comprising the steps of,

• maintaining the flow speed of pieces along said conveying line,
• removing selected pieces from said line at a position before the flow of pieces reach said batching equipment to identify successive batches by a detectable different spacing gap between adjacent pieces, and
• operating said batching equipment synchronously with the gaps between successive batches to process individual batches.

Batch apparatus for precisely counting out an exact predetermined number of pieces flowing along a line of moving pieces wherein the average repetition flow rate of the pieces is increased by conveying a continuously moving stream of pieces to a periodically operable batcher at a predetermined speed higher than the speed batcher can handle, comprising in combination, a piece counter counting pieces flowing along said stream, and means responsive to the piece counter selectively removing pieces from the line while they are flowing before they reach the batching apparatus to decrease the repetition rate of flowing pieces and provide a time gap between pieces, and means operating the batcher during the time gap to remove batches of pieces from the line thereby effectively reducing the flow rate only during batcher operation times while maintaining the average flow speed of the pieces at an optimum level.

Batching apparatus for counting out batches of pieces flowing along a stream of continuously moving pieces including batch separating means receiving a counted number of pieces from said stream, means producing a greater gap separation between pieces of two successive batches in said stream at a position before the stream enters said batch separating means and means operable during said gap actuating said batch separating means.