Vibrating separator
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
InventorsDon H. Lenker, Dennis F. Nascimento
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for separating objects of different shapes or sizes is described. A vibrating conveyor belt is equipped with upwardly projecting fingers spaced at intervals to entrap therein objects of a particular size or shape and convey them in the direction of the movement of the belt and to simultaneously support objects of another shape or size on the ends of the fingers and to convey them by vibration in a direction different from the movement of the belt, thereby separating the objects.
Claims4
A vibrating separator to separate objects of different sizes and shapes, comprising:
- (a) a frame;
- (b) a second frame supported by said first frame;
- (c) flexible support means attached to said first frame and supporting said second frame;
- (d) a conveyor belt mounted on said second frame;
- (e) upwardly projecting fingers attached to said belt and spaced at intervals to entrap objects of a particular size and shape and convey them in the direction of the movement of the belt and to support objects of a different size and shape on the surface of the fingers and convey them by vibration in a direction different from the movement of the belt to separate the entrapped and vibrated objects;
- (f) means attached to said second frame for vibrating said belt and said fingers;
- and
- (g) means attached to said first frame for moving said conveyor belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.