Chip feeder and chip feeding system

Abstract

A chip feeder for feeding chips stored in bulk in a case thereof, one by one, from a chip-supply portion thereof, the chip feeder including a partition plate which parts an inner space of the case into a plurality of rooms, the partition plate having an opening which extends in a direction intersecting a horizontal plane and which communicates the respective rooms on both sides of the partition plate, with each other, a movable partition member which extends across the opening of the partition plate and which is movable relative to the opening in the direction intersecting the horizontal plane, and a movable-partition-member control device which controls the movable partition member so that a lower portion of the movable partition member sinks in an upper portion of a mass of the chips stored in bulk in the case and an upper portion of the movable partition member projects upward from the mass of the chips.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.