Apparatus for selecting and supplying capsules or like round articles of deformable material to the feed hopper of machines for handling these articles

An apparatus for selecting and supplying elongate round articles of a deformable material to a device for handling said articles comprising:

• a support base;
• a hopper mounted on said base for receiving a supply of said articles;
• a rotatable hollow drum removably mounted on a horizontal shaft mounted on said base, said drum having a peripheral shell mounted between an endwall and an end ring of said drum, said end ring being disposed adjacent said hopper for the communication therewith of the interior of said drum, said endwall being held in place on said drum by a knob threaded into said shaft, said endwall being removable from said drum for providing access to the interior thereof for the removal of unselected damaged articles and for the removal of said drum from said shaft for replacement thereof by another drum having openings of another size for selecting articles of another size;
• a plurality of openings formed in the peripheral shell of said drum and arranged in axial rows lying in a staggered relationship with one another, the inner ends of said openings tapering outwardly;
• an upright flight conveyor disposed tangentially to said drum and provided at the upper end thereof with a chute for discharge into said device for handling said articles;
• a trough provided beneath said drum extending along a portion of the periphery thereof for collecting the articles passed through said openings and feeding same into said conveyor;
• and
• means for driving said drum and said conveyor in the same direction.