The Buschman Company

James D Habegger

Timothy L Lansberry

John T Martin

A sensor for detecting the presence of lightweight objects being conveyed on a conveyor of the type having conveyor rollers. Each conveyor roller is rotatively mounted on a shaft fixed between the conveyor side frames. A selected conveyor shaft has non-rotatively mounted thereon a pair of fulcrum bearings, each located between a conveyor side frame and the adjacent end of the roller mounted on the selected shaft. A pair of sensor arms are provided, each rockably mounted on one of the fulcrum bearings. The sensor arms are substantially identical elongated members having upper ends joined by a shaft on which a plurality of sensor rollers are rotatively mounted. The sensor arms are rockable between a normal position wherein the sensor rollers are elevated above the adjacent conveyor rollers, and a fully depressed position wherein the uppermost surface of the sensor rollers are co-planar with the uppermost surface of the adjacent conveyor rollers. An adjustable balance spring balances the sensor arms and rollers to their normal positions. A two-state switching device is mounted on one of the conveyor side frames and is maintained in a first state by the adjacent one of the sensor arms in its normal position, and is released to its second state by the same sensor arm when the same sensor arm is shifted toward its fully depressed position.

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Loveland, OH, United States of America

James D Habegger