The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 18, 1983
Filed:
Mar. 27, 1981
James V Motsinger, Austin, TX (US);
Ramsey Engineering Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for monitoring and indicating the amount of material at a given level in a plurality of hoppers or bins includes a detector for sensing and indicating the build-up of the material on the side walls of the hoppers. A sensor positioned at each hopper senses the amount of material at the given level and generates a pulsed output signal which is accumulated over a predetermined time interval to represent the amount of the material at the given level in the hopper. The value of the accumulated output signal is compared with the values of first and second reference signals to generate 'full' and 'not full' indications respectively. Typically, the indications are a continuous 'not full' light when the hopper is empty, a flashing 'not full' light as the hopper is filled, a continuous 'full' light when the hopper is full, and a flashing 'full' light as the hopper is emptied. If there is a significant material build-up on the sides of the hopper, either the continuous 'full' light will remain on or the flashing 'full' light will remain on to indicate that a material build-up condition exists when the hopper is emptied.