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:
May. 31, 1994
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1991
Stephen L Moksnes, Whitewater, WI (US);
Jayant Sharma, Racine, WI (US);
Ronald D Olson, West Allis, WI (US);
Ronald S Tump, Whitewater, WI (US);
James M Kocher, Fort Atkinson, WI (US);
Terrance J Pausch, Brookfield, WI (US);
Accurate, Inc., Whitewater, WI (US);
Abstract
A material feeder for dispensing batches of material which includes a refrigerated enclosure, a material feeder, a feeder drive arrangement, a scale and a controller. The feeder is housed within the refrigerated enclosure, and is removably coupled to the drive arrangement such that the complete feeder arrangement which is exposed to the material (e.g., foodstuffs such as shredded cheese) may be removed from the enclosure for cleaning at a location separate from the enclosure such as a dishwasher. The scale is connected to a container which catches the material dispensed by the feeder and produces a weight signal such is applied to the control unit. The control unit operates the drive unit which rotates a plurality of feed screws in the feeder at two speeds. In particular, the feed screws are driven at a first speed to dispense material at a high rate until a first weight of material is dispensed into the container, and a second speed is used to rotate the feed screws just prior to obtaining the desired weight in the container. This two speed arrangement prevents undesirably overshooting the desired weight for the material to be dispensed in the container. Upon reaching the set point weight, the drive unit is turned off by the control unit.