Apparatus for sorting articles
AssigneeShuffle Master, Inc.
InventorsPeter Wolfgang De Raedt, Ludo De Meutter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device for sorting disks or disk-like members of different identities (e.g., roulette chips) that ejects the disks from a receptacle by means of a rotating wheel with numerous wells, such as multi-chip storage compartments. Ejection of an article from the numerous wells is achieved by an ejector lever making contact with an activated solenoid thus forcing the article at the bottom of the well, in conjunction with the momentum of the rotating wheel, into a receiving space. The disks in the receiving spaces are continually replaced by newly arriving disks, which force the previously positioned disks upwards into a column.
Claims20
An apparatus for receiving and sorting disks having a parameter, the parameter of each disk having one of a plurality of values, comprising:
- a frame;
- a wheel having at least one well for receiving a disk, the wheel being rotatably supported by the frame;
- a motor coupled to the wheel for controllably rotating the wheel about an axis;
- a disk sensor positioned relative to a rotational path of the at least one well, the disk sensor for sensing the value of the parameter of a disk received in the at least one well and responsively generating a parameter value signal as a function of the value;
- a collecting device positioned relative to the wheel, the collecting device having at least first and second collectors for receiving disks;
- an ejector comprising a solenoid supported by the frame and in association with each of the at least first and second collectors, and an ejector lever pivotally coupled to the wheel proximate the at least one well and selectively operable by extension of a plunger of the solenoid in response to an eject signal;
- and
- a controller coupled to the disk sensor and the ejector, the controller for receiving the parameter value signal and responsively sending the eject signal to the ejector to eject a disk from the at least one well into the first collector when the parameter value signal has a first value and for sending an eject signal to the ejector to eject a disk from the at least one well into the second collector when the parameter value signal has a second value.
An apparatus for sorting disks, comprising:
- a wheel comprising at least one well configured to receive a disk;
- a motor coupled to the wheel and configured to rotate the wheel about an axis;
- a disk sensor positioned relative to a rotational path of the at least one well to sense a value of a parameter of a disk in the at least one well, the disk sensor configured to generate a parameter value signal as a function of the value;
- a collecting device positioned relative to the wheel comprising at least a first collector and a second collector for receiving a disk from the at least one well;
- at least one ejector lever coupled to the wheel proximate the at least one well and configured to selectively pivot in a plane parallel to a bottom surface of the wheel to eject a disk from the well upon activation of a solenoid in response to an eject signal;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the disk sensor and the ejector to receive the parameter value signal and to send the eject signal to eject a disk from the at least one well into one of the first collector and the second collector according to the parameter value signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.