Container counter
OwnerDonald W. Schuttinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A container counter for counting elongated objects such as empty beverage cans including a hopper for receiving objects to be counted, a plurality of chutes located below and communicating with the hopper for conveying objects out of the hopper, and an oscillating grid positioned above the chutes to assist objects in becoming properly oriented to pass out of the hopper and into the chutes. A sensing device is mounted on each chute to detect a passing object and emit a signal. A summer is connected to the sensing devices to sum the signals and display a total count.
Claims16
A container counter for counting elongated objects such as empty beverage cans, each of which has generally the same width and is longer than it is wide, comprising:
- a hopper for receiving objects to be counted;
- a plurality of generally vertical chutes located below said hopper for conveying objects out of said hopper, each of said chutes having an upper, open end communicating with said hopper and a lower, open end, each of said chutes shaped to permit objects to pass therethrough and to prohibit two objects from passing side-by-side therethrough;
- means operably mounted between said hopper and said chutes for assisting in orienting said objects into a generally lengthwise, vertical position as said objects pass from said hopper into said chutes;
- and
- counting means operably connected to said chutes for counting objects passing through said chutes.
A container counter for counting elongated objects such as empty beverage cans, each of which has generally the same width and a length greater than its width, comprising:
- a hopper having upper and lower ends for receiving objects to be counted;
- a plurality of closely adjacent generally vertical chutes located below said hopper for conveying objects out of said hopper, each of said chutes having an upper, open end communicating with said hopper and a lower, open end, each of said chutes tapering inwardly from said upper, open end to said lower, open end, said cross section at said chute upper, open end having dimensions greater than said object width but less than both the shortest object length and double said object width, the sum of the areas of said chute upper, open ends being generally the same as the area of said hopper lower end;
- a shaker grid between said hopper and said chutes, said grid having an elongated plate mounted to either said hopper or said chutes, and a plurality of ribs extending generally perpendicularly from either side of said plate so that the openings in said grid are of generally the same size as and aligned with said chute upper, open ends;
- means for vibrating said grid;
- a plurality of sensors, one of which is operably mounted on each of said chutes for detecting objects passing through said chutes and emitting a signal for each object;
- a summer electrically connected to said sensors for summing said signals to obtain a total count;
- and
- a display for displaying said total count.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.