Inspection apparatus
AssigneeGallaher Limited
InventorsPaul S. Fisher, Robert W. McLoughlin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a cigarette tipping machine an apparatus for monitoring the size and position of cork patches (12) comprises a rotary knife (13) which cooperates with the surface of a rotary drum (11) to cut a strip (10) of material into a series of spaced patches (12). At the instant of cut a generator (15) produces a reference signal and when the leading edge of a patch passes an optical detecting head (14) a patch signal is produced. The reference and patch signals are processed in a circuit (16) and a fault signal is produced if the delay between the two pulses is outside an acceptable range.
Claims5
An inspection apparatus for monitoring patches of material, said apparatus comprising a conveyor for a series of spaced cut patches, a knife adapted to cooperate with said conveyor surface to cut patches from a strip of material fed to said conveyor, a reference signal generator adapted to produce a reference signal representing the time at which said knife performs a cutting operation, a detector unit mounted adjacent to said conveyor downstream of said knife by a distance greater than the largest expected patch length, and adapted to produce a patch signal representing the time at which the leading edge of each of said patches reaches said detector unit, and means for determining whether the delay between said reference signal and said patch signal falls within acceptable limits and for producing an output indicative thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.