US2683531A - Orienting hopper - Google Patents

Description

July 13, 1954 s. c. BAEHR ORIENTING HOPPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1952 INVENTOR.

- SYLVESTER C. BAEHR ATTORNEY) Patented July 13, 1954 ORIENTING HOPPER Sylvester C. Baehr, Cheektowaga, N. Y., assignor to Wiesner-Rapp Company, Inc., Buffalo, N'. Y.

Application January 15, 1952, Serial No. 266,577

3 Claims.

The invention relates in general to hoppers, and more particularly to hoppers and sorting devices of the type designed for feeding irregularly shaped objects, such, for instance, as the bars or segments of commutators of electric motors or generators.

In handling irregularly shaped objects such as commutator bars, it is necessary that the articles be discharged from the hopper in the same relative positions. In the case of commutator bars, which are of wedge or segmental shape in lateral cross section, it is desirable that the wider portions of the bars be disposed in the same relative positions as they are being discharged from the hopper.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a hopper of simple and inexpensive design which will assure uniform delivery of the articles each disposed in the same relative position.

Another object is to provide for the discharge or relief of articles that have become wedged or jammed in the entrance of the feed chute extending from the hopper.

Moreover, the device is provided with a light spring at the entrance end of the chute which will permit articles that are misaligned and have become wedged to tilt sidewise and be discharged from the upper end of the chute before entering the passageway thereof.

Th above objects and advantages have been accomplished by the device shown in the accompanying drawing, of which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of the device with portions thereof broken away for clearness of illustration;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing portions of the device;

Fig. i is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation. of the device;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of the hopper wheel showing one of the articles in correct position within the slot thereof and is taken on line V-V of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing one of the articles incorrectly positioned in one of the wheel slots; and,

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line VII-VII of Fig. 4, showing The wheel is provided with a forwardly extending casing l4 which has a flange I5 extending in wardly at an angle, thereby providing a magezine for initially receiving the article in disarranged condition. The working face it of the wheel is inclined backwardly from a vertical plane whereby the articles are urged against the face of the wheel by gravity as the wheel is rotated. The wheel I0 is formed on its forwardly extending face with a series of radially arranged slots 28. Since the device is designed primarily for feeding commutator bars which are tapered or wedge-shaped in cross section, the bottom of each of the slots 20 is inclined in cross section so that an article which is properly arranged in the slot will have its top surface substantially flush with the face it of the wheel ready to be fed to the chute 2! as shown in Fig. 5. Any article which is incorrectly positioned will be prevented from passing into the chute as clearly shown in Fig. 6. As shown in these two views, the article 22 is correctly positioned, whereas the article 23 is incorrectly positioned and is therefore prevented from passing into the chute by means to be hereinafter described.

The wheel 19 is formed with a central opening 2 3 within which is mounted a stationary core 25. This core is formed with a stud 26 which passes through the shaft H of the wheel and is stationarily secured in the standard l3. The wheel it which is mounted upon the stud 25 is driven by means of a pair of bevel gears 39, one of which carries a drive shaft 3!. As the wheel is rotated, the articles in the magazine are agitated and a number of them are dropped into the moving slots of the wheel, as clearly shown in the drawings and are carried thereby up to a position near the vertical centerline of the device where those that are properly positioned will be discharged by gravity and dropped into the chute 2!.

In order to segregate the incorrectly positioned articles from those which are correctly disposed, a selector plate 32 is arranged adjacent the face of the hopper wheel Ill and is arcshapecl in form so as to conform substantially to the opening 2t thereof.

The inner edge of this selector plate extends into the central opening i l of the wheel so as to prevent the passage of the articles out of the slots until each slot has reached a position near the top of the wheel. The plate is formed at this point with a cut away portion forming a passageway 33 which preferably extends to the end of the plate. The top surface of this passageway lies in substantially the same plane as the face !6 of the wheel so that the bars occupying the proper positions within the slots will be free to pass through the plate passageway while those occupying the reverse positions will contact the plate and be carried around to the end thereof, whereupon they will be dropped back into the magazine.

The advance end of the selector plate extends around toward the direction of rotation of the wheel a sufiicient distance to interrupt and support all of the articles which may be carried by the adjacent slots and urged by gravity toward the center of the wheel. .These articles will be carried around by the wheel until the slot holding them reaches the passageway in the plate whereupon they will be dropped into the chute if correctly positioned.

A support 34 for the chute 2| is carried by the core of the device and the upper end of the chute is secured thereto as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The chute is formed with a slot 35 throughout its length for the passage of the articles, and the slot is preferably covered by means of a cover plate 36. A slot is formed along one edge of the cover plate whereby the position of the articles may be observed and through which they may be fed manually, if so desired, by the insertion of a tool.

The upper end of the chute is provided with a lip 4| in the form of a plate 42 which is of sufficient width to support the articles as they are being discharged from the wheel slots. At one side of the late there is a guide block 43 which has a tapered or inclined surface 44 for providing a wall at one side for guiding articles into the mouth of the chute. The opposite side of this plate is unobstructed and a reject spring 45 is carried by the chute and is arranged near the bottom of this unobstructed side of the plate. Any misaligned article will not rest against the spring which is relatively light and such article will be pushed laterally oif of the plate by the next successive article and fall back into the magazine. In Fig. 4, a number of misaligned articles are shown in approximately the position occupied prior to being discharged. The chute channel is somewhat wider than the width of the articles. In order to further prevent the possibility of clogging the chute by incorrectly fed articles, an inclined deflector flange 46 is provided at the upper end of the chute cover plate 35, whereby should two articles ride one upon another, as shown in Fig. '7, the top article, shown in dot and dash lines, will be tilted and fall into the magazine.

Since the articles being handled by the device are of copper, it is preferable, in order to perpetuate the smooth operation of the device, that the surfaces of the wheel as well as the surfaces of the chute which are contacted by the articles be chrome plated and polished so as to avoid the accumulation of copper dust upon the surfaces which retards the smooth action of the device.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that when the hopper wheel is set in motion and the magazine has been supplied with a number of articles, the article in disarranged condition will be agitated and will find resting places within the passing grooves or slots of the wheel. These articles will, therefore, be longitudinally positioned in the correct direction when the point of discharge into the chute is reached, but obvious- 1y, they will not all be correctly positioned laterally. As they are carried up in the slots and as they approach the vertical position, gravity will cause them to be moved down in the slots until their lower ends contact the selector plate 32. The articles will be held in position against the selector plate until each of the slots has reached the central position where they come into registration with the selector plate passageway 33, whereupon all correctly positioned articles like that shown at 22 in Fig. 5 will fall by gravity through this passageway, and normally these articles will slide down the chute plate into the mouth of the chute and be conducted thereby to the machine which is to receive them. Obviously, all incorrectly positioned articles like the article 23 of Fig. 6 will be prevented from passing under the outer surface of the passageway 33 of the deflector plate but will contact the upper surface thereof and be carried around to the end of the plate where they will be discharged and dropped again into the magazine. Any articles which reach the chute lip plate in misalignment like those shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 4 will be pushed laterally of! the plate at its free edge and be dropped into the magazine where they will subsequently be picked up again by the wheel. It will thus be clear that all articles which pass from the wheel into the chute will be correctly positioned, and that should any of the articles become disarranged before passing into the mouth of the chute, they will be readily ejected by the next article which passes through the passageway of the deflector plate.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a hopper for receiving irregularly shaped articles, and a feeder for discharging said articles in predetermined attitudes therefrom, said hopper including a rotatably mounted hopper wheel having its working face inclined backwardly from a vertical plane, pickup means carried by said wheel for engaging articles in disarranged relation when disposed in the bottom of the hopper and for conveying them to an elevated gravity feed position, said feeder comprising selector means disposed adjacent said gravity feed position and formed with a passageway of fixed shape to selectively receive and to pass articles presented thereto by said wheel in a predetermined attitude, a chute communicating with said selector means for receiving and for feeding said articles in said predetermined attitude, the chute having a passageway of a width greater than the width of the articles, a guide blocl; having an inclined surface at one side of the entrance end to the chute and having a height slightly greater than the height of the adjacent wall of the chute, an opening in the side wall of the chute opposite the block, and a relatively light spring projecting into the opening in the side wall for guiding the articles into the chute, the spring being flexible under pressure exerted by a misguided article to permit it to be discharged through an opening in the side wall.

2. In combination, a hopper for receiving irregularly shaped articles, and a feeder for discharging said articles in predetermined attitudes therefrom, said hopper including a rotatably mounted hopper wheel having its working face inclined backwardly from a vertical plane, pick up means carried by said wheel for engaging articles in disarranged relation when disposed in the bottom of the hopper and for conveying them to an elevated gravity feed position, said feeder comprising selector means disposed adjacent said gravity feed position and formed with a passageway of fixed shape to selectively receive and to pass articles presented thereto by said wheel in a predetermined attitude, a chute communicating with said selector means for receiving and for feeding said articles in said predetermined attitude, the Chute having a passageway of a width greater than the width of the articles, a discharge opening in the side Wall of the chute at the entrance end thereof, a cover plate disposed on top of the chute at the entrance end thereof to define the upper surface of the chute passageway, and an inclined deflector flange formed at the advance edge of the plate to guide misaligned articles through the discharge opening of the chute.

3. In combination, a hopper for receiving irregularly shaped articles, and a feeder for discharging said articles in predetermined attitudes therefrom, hopper including a. rotatably mounted hopper Wheel having its working face inclined backwardly from a vertical plane, pickup means carried by said wheel for engaging articles in disarranged relation when disposed in the bottom of the hopper and for conveying them to an elevated gravity feed position, said feeder comprising selector means disposed adjacent said gravity feed position and formed with a passageway of fixed shape to selectively receive and to pass articles presented thereto by said Wheel in a predetermined attitude, a chute communicating with said selector means for receiving and for feeding said articles in said predetermined attitude, the chute having a passageway of a Width greater than the width of the articles, a guide block having an inclined surface at one side of the entrance end to the chute, an opening in the side wall of the chute opposite the block, a cover plate disposed on top of the chute at the entrance end thereof to define the top surface of the passageway, an inclined deflector flange extending upwardly from the entrance edge of the plate, the guide block being of such height that it extends substantially to the top of the deflector flange, and a relatively light spring projecting into the opening in the side wall of the chute for guiding articles into the chute, the spring being flexible under pressure exerted by a misguided article to permit it to be discharged through the opening in the side Wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,060,182 Dellaree Nov. 10, 1936 2,433,096 Davis Dec. 23, 1947 2,554,788 Merchant May 29, 1951

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