Automation system for a mixing and dispensing apparatus

An automated mixing and dispensing apparatus for making shingles comprising:

• a plurality of silos each holding a single specific color of granite granules therein and each silo having an output port, a slide gate damper for selectively releasing granite granules through the output port, and a proportion gate to control the amount of granite granules released from the silo;
• a conveyor running below the output ports of the silos onto which granite granules released from the silos falls and is mixed with granite granules concurrently released from other silos;
• means for controlling each slide gate damper and proportion gate and thereby mixing granite granules on the conveyor in accordance with a selected formula;
• means for stopping the apparatus and sounding an alarm if any of the slide gate dampers or proportion gates are not set to the proper position;
• a plurality of bins having input ports;
• a rotatable lazy susan having a sleeve for dispensing the mixture of granite granules into any one of the bins through its respective input port;
• means for transporting the mixture of granite granules from said conveyor to the lazy susan;
• means for aligning the sleeve of the lazy susan with the input port for a selected bin to transport a mixture of granite granules to the selected bin;
• means for indicating when the bin being filled has sufficient granite granules to make a run of shingles and for stopping the mixing of granite granules for that bin;
• means for dispensing the granite granules held in each of the bins onto an asphalt-coated fiberglass mat in a specified pattern;
• means for causing the correct formulation of colors of granite granules to fall onto the conveyor, be transporteod to the lazy susan, and enter the appropriate bin;
• and
• programmable means for controlling the apparatus so that after one bin is filled, the slide gate dampers and proportion gates are adjusted and the mixing of granite granules according to a specified formula for another bin is begun, and this process is repeated to fill a plurality of bins with a plurality of mixtures of granite granules, each mixture being held in a separate bin, and then the means for dispensing the granite granules onto the fiberglass mat is activated to make shingles of a specified shade.