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:
Jan. 08, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 06, 2000
Yoshiyuki Kondo, Nagoya, JP;
Takeshi Kondo, Chiryu, JP;
Fuji Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd., Chiryu, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for arranging and supplying a plurality of objects, the apparatus including a hopper which stores the objects in bulk and which has a funnelform bottom surface at least a portion of which extends in a reference direction inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, a chute which includes an end portion extending, from a lowest portion of the hopper, substantially parallel to the reference direction, and which causes the objects arranged in an array to be moved, a discharging-promoting member which is provided in a vicinity of the end portion of the chute, which is movable substantially parallel to the reference direction, and which promotes discharging of the objects from the hopper to the chute while arranging the objects into the array, and a drive device which reciprocates, relative to the chute, the discharging-promoting member between an advanced position where an end portion of the discharging-promoting member projects into the hopper and a retracted position away from the advanced position.