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:
Dec. 21, 1993
Filed:
Aug. 24, 1992
John M Low, Hertford, GB;
Sortex Limited, London, GB;
Abstract
A sorting machine comprising a transparent tube (16); a material supply member (15) from which material, which is to be sorted into desired and undesired portions, may pass through the transparent tube (16); a light-detector (20) disposed externally of the transparent tube (16) for receiving light from material passing through the latter; a discriminator (21), controlled by the light-detector (20), for discriminating between the desired and undesired portions; a separator (22), controlled by the discriminator (21), for separating the material which has been passed through the transparent tube (16) into the desired and undesired portions; a cleaning member (32); and a movement effecting device (36) for moving the cleaning member (32) against the wall of the transparent tube (16) characterized in that the cleaning member (16) forms part of a cleaning-calibration member (31) which is used in the calibration of the discriminator (21); and there is an actuator (30) operable so that each one of the material supply member (15) and the cleaning-calibration member (31) is at times disposed in an operative position while the other member is in an inoperative position.