Automatic sorter

A sorter for separating generally cylindrical aluminum beverage cans from paper material, items larger than cans and material thicker than paper material comprising a plurality of generally horizontally disposed, parallel, adjacent, cylindrical rollers to form an upwardly facing surface to receive mixed paper material and aluminum beverage cans at one end of the rollers, the other end of said rollers discharging cans therefrom, means rotatably driving said rollers, each of said rollers including a spiral rib on the exterior surface thereof for gripping paper material and moving it downwardly between adjacent rollers, said ribs engaging the external, curved surfaces of the aluminum beverage cans and items larger than cans and moving the cans and larger items toward the discharge ends of the rollers and engaging and moving the beverage cans longitudinally of the rollers and off discharge ends thereof, means conveying the aluminum cans from the discharge ends of the rollers and means conveying the paper material from under the rollers, said rollers including a plurality of adjacent upper rollers supported for rotation about axes oriented generally in the same plane and a plurality of adjacent lower rollers supported for rotation about axes oriented in the same plane disposed below the axes of the upper rollers, said upper rollers being mounted for resilient movement away from a normal position to enable the space between adjacent upper rollers and between the upper rollers and adjacent lower rollers to be enlarged for passage of material thicker than paper material, and a kicker brush adjacent the discharge ends of the rollers with the kicker brush being spaced above the rollers to enable aluminum cans to pass under the kicker brush, said kicker brush engaging items larger than cans to move them upwardly and back toward the other ends of the rollers, an arcuately curved deflector plate receiving the items and guiding them over the top of the kicker brush onto a conveyor and rotatable fingers overlying the rollers in spaced relation to the brush to engage the items to assist in moving such items toward the brush.

A sorter for separating generally cylindrical aluminum beverage cans from paper material, items larger than cans and material thicker than paper material comprising a plurality of generally horizontally disposed, parallel, adjacent, cylindrical rollers to form an upwardly facing surface to receive mixed paper material and aluminum beverage cans at one end of the rollers, the other end of said rollers discharging cans therefrom, means rotatably driving said rollers, each of said rollers including a spiral rib on the exterior surface thereof for gripping paper material and moving it downwardly between adjacent rollers, said ribs engaging the external, curved surfaces of the aluminum beverage cans and items larger than cans and moving the cans and larger items toward the discharge ends of the rollers and engaging and moving the beverage cans longitudinally of the rollers and off discharge ends thereof, means conveying the aluminum cans from the discharge ends of the rollers and means conveying the paper material from under the rollers, said rollers including a plurality of adjacent upper rollers supported for rotation about axes oriented generally in the same plane and a plurality of adjacent lower rollers supported for rotation about axes oriented in the same plane disposed below the axes of the upper rollers, said upper rollers being mounted for resilient movement away from a normal position to enable the space between adjacent upper rollers and between the upper rollers and adjacent lower rollers to be enlarged for passage of material thicker than paper material, and means adjacent the ends of the rollers from which the aluminum beverage cans are discharged for picking up items larger than cans and discharging them at a point different from the conveying means for aluminum cans.