Feed hopper with baffle plates

Details Feed hopper with baffle plates Feed hopper with baffle plates

2000-02-15

2002-05-21

Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor system having a gravity conveyor section

Gravity discharge material holder is source of supply,...

C198S530000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06390280

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to feed hoppers for bulk items and especially to feed hoppers for feeding pellet-like items to a conveyor in a controlled manner.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the manufacture of many pharmaceutical products such as pills or lozenges, candies such as “MIM's®” and small mechanical parts, it is often desirable to imprint a trademark, indicia or other information or intelligence on each item. These products share a common characteristic in that they are all pellet-like, being small, often round or rounded, oval, bulbous, cylindrical or polygonal in shape. Examples of pellet-like items are pills, lozenges, capsules, tablets and caplets.
Imprinting indicia on a series of pellet-like items is conveniently accomplished by a machine which receives a large number of items in bulk, typically from a feed hopper or bin, orients the items to a uniform relative orientation, conveys the oriented items to a printing unit wherein the indicia are applied to each item and discharges the items for subsequent packaging. U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,689 to Ackley is a typical example of a pellet-marking machine which performs the steps outlined above. Pellet-like items, seen in
FIG. 2
of the '689 patent, designated “P”, are loaded in bulk into the feed hopper
22
where the items are received by a rotating drum or cylinder roll
23
. The drum has a multiplicity of concavities or recesses
33
in its outwardly facing surface formed in accordance with the shape and size of the pellet-like items being processed. The items P are received into the concavities
33
as the drum rotates clockwise beneath hopper
22
, retained in the concavities by cylindrical retainer surface
50
as the drum rotates and released to an endless conveyor
24
located beneath the drum, the conveyor having a multiplicity of individual carrier bars
110
. Carrier bars
110
have corresponding concavities matching the concavities
33
in drum
23
, and conveyor
24
is synchronized with drum
23
so that the matching concavities on the drum and the conveyor line up as the drum rotates clockwise and the conveyor circulates counterclockwise. Items P drop from concavities
33
in drum
23
into the matching concavities in the endless conveyor
24
once the items are clear of retaining surface
50
. The pellet-like items P are then conveyed to a printing roller
27
which has ink laden images of the indicia or intelligence to be imprinted on the items circumferentially arrayed on its peripheral surface. Printing roller
27
rotates clockwise in synchronization with endless conveyor
24
and contacts the pellet-like items P as they pass beneath the printing roller
27
, applying the ink laden image to each pellet-like item. After passing beneath printing roller
27
the pellet-like items P are discharged from conveyor
24
as the conveyor rounds its drive sprocket and the carrier bars
110
are momentarily vertically oriented.
Using a rotating drum to effect the orderly transfer of pellet-like items from the feed hopper to the conveyor avoids overburdening the conveyor with the weight of all of the items in the feed hopper, as the drum bears this weight. However, the rotating drum has numerous disadvantages. The drum is an expensive and massive part of the machine which must be strong enough to withstand the weight of the items in the feed hopper. This increases the machine cost and weight. The drum is a moving part, the rotation of which must be synchronized with the conveyor motion, thus, increasing the machine complexity. Close tolerances must be maintained between the drum and the retaining surface to keep the items in place, and pellet-like items which are not properly seated within the cavities tend to be pinched and crushed between the drum and the surface due to the close tolerances. This is especially messy when liquid filled capsules are being processed, because the liquid from crushed capsules contaminates the drum surface and coats capsules contacted by the drum unless the machine is shut down and the liquid cleaned up. This results in significant machine down time and unacceptable loss of product throughput. Furthermore, the drum inherently limits the speed at which the machine can process items, because the drum itself cannot rotate above a critical speed at which the pellet-like items either fail to seat properly within the cavities or are flung outwardly from the hopper under the centrifugal acceleration of the spinning drum.
Clearly, it is, therefore, perceived that there is need for an improved machine for processing pellet-like items which eliminates the aforementioned disadvantages inherent in the drum machine yet provides for the orderly transfer of pellet-like items from the feed hopper to the conveyor without placing the bulk of the weight of the items directly on the conveyor.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a feed hopper adapted to receive a multiplicity of pellet-like items and discharge the items on a movable conveyor. Preferably, the feed hopper comprises a chamber enclosed by a plurality of side walls, the chamber having a top opening for receiving the pellet-like items and a bottom opening positioned overlying the conveyor. According to the invention, a plurality of baffle plates are arranged within the chamber in spaced relationship one above another. The baffle plates extend partially across chamber to deflect the pellet-like items along an indirect path from the top opening to the conveyor. When pellet-like items are introduced into the hopper through the top opening, they impact on at least one of the baffle plates. The baffle plates impede the flow of the pellet-like items through the hopper before they land on the conveyor. One of the chamber side walls is arranged substantially transversely to the direction of motion of the conveyor, the one side wall having an opening positioned adjacent to the conveyor. When the conveyor moves, the pellet-like items on the conveyor are discharged from the chamber through the opening.
The feed hopper preferably has first and second oppositely arranged side walls disposed transversely to the direction of motion of the conveyor, one of the side walls having the above mentioned opening through which the pellet-like items are discharged. At least one baffle plate is positioned within the chamber with a first edge adjacent to the first side wall and a second edge arranged distally to the first edge and extending toward the second, opposite side wall. At least another baffle plate is arranged having a first edge adjacent to the second side wall and a second edge arranged distally to the first edge and extending toward the first side wall. Both baffle plates are inclined at an angle by arranging the second edge at a lower level than the first edge for each respective baffle plate.
The two baffle plates described above are preferably arranged vertically adjacent one above another, with no other baffle plates in between. One of the baffle plates is movable between an open position in spaced relation to the other baffle plate, and a closed position wherein the second edge of the one baffle plate is contiguous with the second edge of the other baffle plate thereby closing off the chamber and preventing movement of the pellet-like items through the hopper to the conveyor. In the preferred embodiment, the lower of the two baffle plates is rotatably movable between the open and closed positions to effect the closure of the chamber, and this movable baffle plate is positioned lowermost of all the baffle plates within the chamber.
As noted above, it is desirable not to overload the conveyor with an excessive amount of pellet-like items. The conveyor is not designed to bear the full weight of product which can be loaded into the hopper. Therefore, it is convenient to associate with the hopper a means for measuring the quantity of the pellet-like items received on the conveyor and a means for moving the first baffle plate between the open and the closed positions, and a means for controlling the moving

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