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:
Nov. 26, 1985
Filed:
May. 25, 1983
Wolf A von Lersner, Cherry Hill, NJ (US);
Edward W Cheeseman, Cherry Hill, NJ (US);
Thomas K Simpson, Merchantville, NJ (US);
George R Weaver, Maple Shade, NJ (US);
Campbell Soup Company, Camden, NJ (US);
Abstract
A system for verifying that the proper ingredient-containing transport containers have been assembled at a particular soup-blending kettle, in which a hole-coded metal key is permanently affixed to each container and provided with an array of machine-readable holes corresponding to a number unique to each container. At the ingredient-dispensing station, a key-reader reads out the identifying number of the container and transmits it to that kettle station to which the container is to be delivered. The transport container is then delivered to the kettle station, where the key code is again machine read; the container number thus read out at the kettle station is compared with that previously transmitted from the ingredient-dispensing station, and if they both represent the same number then the proper container has been delivered to the kettle station and its contents are dumped into the kettle. To prevent dumping of ingredients of a 'wrong' container, the container can be locked at the dispensing station and only unlocked at the kettle station in response to a control signal indicative of identity between the remotely-read key and the key read at the kettle occurs. In other cases an unlocked transport container is delivered onto an automatic dumper, which is enabled only in response to an indication by the control signal that the proper container is present.