Method and apparatus of cavity identification of mold of origin of a glass container

Abstract

A system is disclosed for determining which of a plurality of molds produced a particular container. A specific concentric ring code is molded into the bottom of each container as it is produced. This code is defined by absence or presence of rings at possible ring positions. No rings are formed in adjacent positions. The containers are then passed by a reading station, where light whose intensity is proportional to the angle of incidence is projected onto the bottom of the container. The variation of intensity of light reflected to a particular point is used to determine the position of the rings on the container and suitable electronics may then decode the ring position to determine the container code, thus permitting identification of the mold which produced each container.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.