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. 05, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1995
Peter J Dragotta, Wayne, NJ (US);
M.W. Technologies, Inc., Elmwood Park, NJ (US);
Abstract
A conveying system for tablet inspection is provided. The conveying system includes a hopper assembly for feeding tablets to a conveyor at a controlled rate. The conveyor includes a pair of conveyor belts surrounding a plenum that communicates with a vacuum pump. The conveyor belts are parallel to one another and are spaced a distance for efficiently supporting a tablet thereon. An uprighter is disposed between the hopper assembly and the conveyor to rotate the tablets into an upright condition supported on an edge. The tablets are stably held in the upright position by the vacuum pump and are moved rapidly in their upright condition by the rotatably driven conveyor belts. The upright orientation of the tablets permits the opposed sides of each tablet to be electro-optically inspected for defects without repositioning the tablets and without changing the direction of movement.