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:
Sep. 21, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 12, 1997
Werner H Schmitt, Falls Church, VA (US);
Hoppmann Corporation, Chantilly, VA (US);
Abstract
A parts feeding, presenting and/or orienting apparatus is provided having a rotatable disc for receiving parts from a hopper. The parts can slide from the disc onto a curved section of a conveyor or onto a linear section of conveyor or other discharge device. The rotatable disc can be vertically reciprocated and can have a plurality of ridges in order to preorient the parts. A downstream qualifier can return misoriented parts to the hopper for recirculation of the parts. The apparatus can operate from a slow to a fast speed. A robotic device can be used downstream of the qualifier and a return path can be provided in order to recirculate all parts, if so desired.