Weighing scales – Weigher responsive material control – Discharge valve or gate
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-02
2001-02-13
Gibson, Randy W. (Department: 2859)
Weighing scales
Weigher responsive material control
Discharge valve or gate
C177S108000, C177S025180, C251S303000, C222S504000, C222S556000, C414S519000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06188029
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a weighing apparatus wherein hoppers for receiving and discharging articles to be weighed can easily detachably mounted on the body of the weighing apparatus.
BACKGROUND ART
A combinational weighing apparatus generally used for automatically weighing, for example, various articles is provided with a plurality of weighing hoppers and is so configured as to perform a weighing of the articles which have been dispersedly supplied onto those weighing hoppers, as to perform a combinational calculatiion based on the weights measured by those weighing hoppers, as to subsequently determine a combination of combined sums which may fall within a permissible range with respect to a target weight, and as to discharge the articles only from one of the weighing hoppers which has given the combination so that an aggregation of the articles of a total weight falling within the permissible range. This type of weighing appratus may have a pool hopper disposed immediately above each of the weighing hoppers so that when the articles to be weighed are discharged from the weighing hoppers, articles to be weighed, which participate in the subsequent combination, can be immediately discharged from the pool hoppers onto the weighing hoppers.
As indicated above, this type of weighing apparatus is provided with a plurality of hoppers and, in such case, a hopper generally called a gated-type hopper is employed for each hopper. This gated-type hopper comprises, for example, a hopper body having a top opening upwardly and a bottom formed with a discharge port, and a gate for selectively opening and closing the discharge port at said bottom and is so configured that articles to be weighed which have been supplied through the top opening of the hopper body can be discharged from the bottom discharge port by selectively opening and closing the gate.
The selective opening and closure of the gate in the gated-type hopper of the type discussed above has hitherto been carried out by operating a link member fitted unitarily on the side of the hopper. In other words, the Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 7-6502, for example, discloses the structure comprising a motor as a drive source, a cam mounted on a rotary shaft of the motor, an operating lever protruding outwardly from a side surface of the body of the weighing apparatus and drivingly associated with rotation of the cam so as to undergo a rocking motion, all provided on the side of the weighing apparatus, and a link member provided on the side of the hopper and connected with a gate. This hopper is fitted to the body of the weighing apparatus with the operating lever engaged with the link member so that the link member can be operated in response to the rocking motion of the operating lever to thereby selectively open and close the gate of the hopper. Also, the Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 6-58328, for example, discloses the structure in which there is provided a push rod capable of being selectively advanced and retracted from the side of the body of the weighing apparatus so that a link member provided on the side of the hopper and connected with the gate can be operated by this push rod to selectively open and close the gate.
However, in those prior art weighing apparatuses, although the drive motor and the operating lever or the push rod are provided on the side of the weighing apparatus, the link member operated by the operating lever or the push rod to selectively open and close the gate and a spring for biasing the gate towards a closed position are provided on the side of the hopper. Therefore, there have been problems in that not only does the entire structure of the hopper tend to become complicated, requiring time-consuming jobs of a routine inspection, a routine cleaning or detaching and mounting of the hopper to the body of the weighing apparatus, but also the number of component parts is increased accompanied by possible separation or loss of small component parts such as screws and the biasing spring. Also, where the structure is employed in which neither the link member nor the spring member is provided on the side of the hopper, the necessity of use of a lock means has arisen to lock the gate in the closed position so that the gate will not open during closure of the gate by the effect of the weight of the articles to be weighed that have been supplied to the hopper.
The present invention has been devised to substantially eliminate the above discussed problems and is intended to provide a weighing apparatus wherein the structure of the hopper is simplified to thereby improve the workability in detachment relative to the body of the weighing apparatus, the maintenance and the cleanliness, and wherein a mechanism for inhibiting the opening of the gate during closure of the gate is realized in a drive device on the side of the body of the weighing apparatus with a simple structure.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above discussed problem, a weighing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a hopper including a hopper body having an upper portion opening and a lower portion provided with a discharge opening and a gate drivingly provided in the hopper body for selectively opening and closing the discharge opening, and an apparatus body on which the hopper are detachably mounted, a drive device being provided on the apparatus body B for driving the gate of the hopper to selectively open and close the discharge openings of the hopper body. Said drive device includes a drive source, a transmission mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the drive source, and an operating member adapted to be driven by the driving force so transmitted by the transmission mechanism, said gate of the hopper being provided with engagement portion engageable with the operating member, said gate undergoing a rocking motion together with the engagement portion by the drive of the operating member to selectively open and close the discharge opening of the hopper. The transmission mechanism includes a spring for applying a biasing force to the operating member to cause the latter to operate in one of opening and closing directions of the gate and a converting mechanism for converting the driving force of the drive source into a power with which the operating member can operate in the other direction against the biasing force, said transmission mechanism, when the gate close the discharge opening of the hopper, preventing the operating member from being driven by an external force from a gate side to open the discharge opening.
According to the weighing apparatus of the present invention, in place of a link member of a complicated structure hitherto provided on the side of the hoppers and having a relatively large number of component parts, the gate of the hopper is provided with an engagement portion engageable with the operating member and rockable together with the gate, that is, an engagement portion which does not require a complicated structure such as the link member which has relatively rockable portions and, when the operating member is driven, the gate undergoes a rocking motion together with this engagement portion to thereby selectively open and close the discharge opening of the hopper and, therefore, the structure of the hopper can be simplified. As a result thereof, a job of mounting or detaching to or from the weighing apparatus body, the maintenance and the cleaning performance of the hopper can be improved.
Also, since when the gate is in position to close the discharge opening of the hopper body, the discharge opening will not be opened by an external force from the gate side, the possibility of the gate being opened under the influence of the weight of the articles to be weighed which have been supplied into the hopper can be avoided to thereby eliminate the inconvenience associated with fall of some of the articles to be weighed.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the drive source and the transmission mechanism of
Kimura Takashi
Miyamoto Hideshi
Gibson Randy W.
Hogan & Hartson LLP
Ishida Co. Ltd.
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