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. 26, 1993
Filed:
Jun. 02, 1992
William J Wilson, Holland, PA (US);
The Langston Corporation, Cherry Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A method and a system for counting irregularly shaped articles that are being moved along a path into and out of a machine. A microprocessor is responsive to three external devices with the first device being located at the input stage of the machine and detecting the leading and the trailing edges of the articles being moved into the machine and respectively generating start and stop events to the microprocessor. The second device is a distance sensing means used to determine the length of each of the articles being moved. The third device detects the movement of the articles in their formed state, such as a box, out of the machine. The microprocessor in response to the first occurring start event initiates the counting of the incremental changes from the distance sensing means and terminates the counting in response to the first occurring stop event. The accumulated count is then decremented by one incremental change so as to serve as a reference length used to compare against each of the subsequent articles. The microprocessor in response to the second occurring start event initiates the counting of the incremental changes from the distance sensing means and counts such until the amount of the incremental changes corresponds to the reference length whereupon the occurrence of the exit signal from the device at the output stage causes the count of the articles to be incremented.