Abstract: A gravity-feed chute-rack storage system is provided with at least two pairs of longitudinal chute-rack rails in the form of two chute-rack pipes sheathed in a plastic resin material having good sliding properties to form a chute-rack unit. Rail supporting members on at least the front and rear sides among the front, intermediate and rear sides of the chute-rack unit are coupled together with at least one vertical coupling member. Further, a vibrator is fitted to any one of the rail supporting members so as to help stock smoothly slide thereon by transmitting vibrations from the vibrator to each chute-rack rail efficiently via the vertical coupling member and the respective rail supporting members. Accordingly, stock efficiency is made improvable without reducing work efficiency as a result of wasteful moves on the part of workers.

Abstract: An apparatus for aligning electronic component chips includes an aligning passage for guiding a plurality of electronic component chips which are in an aligned state along a prescribed direction, and a chamber communicated with the aligning passage for storing the plurality of electronic component chips. A blowing passage is provided near an inlet of the aligning passage for introducing compressed air from the outside. An upper wall surface defining the space is provided by a displaceable movable block, the displacement of the movable block upward is driven by the compressed air introduced from the blowing passage, and displacement downward is driven by natural gravity. Therefore, by the intermittent introduction of the compressed air, the movable block reciprocates up and down so that a space between the upper and lower wall surfaces of the space is widened and narrowed.

Abstract: A dispensing chute comprised of a plurality of slidable telescopically fitted sections for conveying materials from the discharge end of a drum of a mixer truck to a point remote from the vehicle. The chute sections are structured of interlocking open metal frames having replaceable plastic liners removably affixed in the interior of each frame. Dovetail shaped guide and support tracks connecting one chute section to another are also individually removable from the chute section. One end of each chute section has removable flexible wipers which scrape clean the surface of the next chute during the retraction mode. Retraction and extension of the chute sections relative to each other is power operated through the use of attached hydraulic rams controllable through switching to actuate electric solenoid valves.

Abstract: Bulk material that is difficult to feed, such as glass fibers, is fed from a storage bin into a feeding chute driven by a vibratory drive which vibrates the chute in a longitudinal direction of the chute, that is, in the feed advance direction of the chute. The chute may be a so-called loss-in-weight feeding chute. In order to assure a uniform, constant material flow without any bunching and without any gaps in the flow for an accurate feeding, the material flow is exposed or influenced by a further vibration effective in a direction substantially across the feed advance direction. For the purpose a vibrator with vibrating elements extending in the feed advance direction vibrates in the cross-direction. These vibrating elements are so located that they can make the material flow through the chute more uniform.

Abstract: A sluice box has an open box frame formed from a plurality of welded beams. A trough having an arcuate transverse cross section is suspended in an inclined fashion within the frame by a plurality of chains. A low end of the trough has an end wall with a central aperture which serves as a sand drain. A transversely extending water overflow drain channel is disposed adjacent the low end trough wall. The bottom of the trough is provided with a series of spaced transverse ridges. A variable speed motor having a rotary output shaft with an eccentric weight and a cooling fan is secured to a bottom exterior surface of the trough, adjacent the low end wall, and serves to vibrate the trough. A second variable speed motor is utilized in conjunction with a pitman wheel and arm for reciprocating the trough from side to side. A pair of arcuate levers are pivotally mounted to the frame on opposite sides of the trough.

Abstract: A pick and place machine having an electronic component feed device is described. The feed device feeds electronic components to various pick up locations with such high positional accuracy that alignment jaws on the pick up head are not necessary. Elevated tracks run parallel to a printed circuit board conveyor belt. These elevated tracks support an arm which in turn supports the electronic component pick up head. The feed device is positioned under the elevated tracks so that an operator can replenish the supply of electronic components in the feed device without reaching over the tract.

Abstract: A parts dispenser apparatus for fungible parts such as seeds, powder, manufactured parts and the like. A feed hopper is positioned to feed parts to the area of a downwardly inclined trough which is pivoted at a fixed end and driven at the discharge end with a horizontal reciprocating motion. The combined effect of gravity and horizontal reciprocating motion causes the parts to align in the bottom of the trough and discharge one-by-one at the discharge end of the trough. An adjustable eccentric permits control of the reciprocation.

Abstract: An apparatus for filling packaging boxes with flat, angular articles, includes an intermediate container accommodating the articles in a random pile; a charging hopper introducing the articles into the packaging boxes; and a conveying arrangement delivering the articles from the intermediate container into the charging hopper. The conveying arrangement has a first aligner including a plurality of serially arranged troughs each having side walls and a bottom wall defining a channel. The channels formed in the troughs are serially connected to form a continuous conveying track having an outlet end. The channels include an aligning arrangement for turning the articles, advancing thereon in a flow, into an at least approximately parallel orientation by the time they arrive to the outlet end of the conveying track.

Abstract: A device for preventing a substrate from jamming in a copier includes a guide member that directs a substrate from a substrate supply tray to a photosensitive member. The guide member is adapted to be vibrated by a vibration generator in order to prevent substrates passing through the guide member from jamming.

Abstract: A feed apparatus in which a feed chute upstanding with its four sides surrounded, and opened at its top and bottom ends is vibratably supported and a vibrator is provided for applying vibration to the feed chute to thereby enable discharge of articles fed from the top end opening of the feed chute substantially at a given density from the bottom end opening and the flow of the articles discharged from the bottom end opening is divided with respect to length for feeding of the articles in the form of blocks, each of a fixed quantity. According to this apparatus, the fixed quantity feed of articles can be obtained, with simplicity in structure and accuracy, in the situation where the articles are packed and divided in fixed quantities.

Abstract: A cooking apparatus is provided comprising a hopper for storing raw or precooked foodstuffs; metering means constructed and arranged to meter by weight a predetermined quantity of foodstuffs received from the hopper, a vibratory conveyor operable to promote the movement of foodstuffs from the hopper to the metering means by gravity; a cooking medium; and a cooking container displaceable between a first position in which the container receives foodstuffs from the metering means, a second position in which the foodstuffs in the cooking container are placed in the cooking medium and a third position in which the foodstuffs may be dispensed.

Abstract: A vibration assisted sluice is constructed with a plurality of trough sections connected end to end and supported above the earth. Each of the sections is yieldably supported so that the individual trough can vibrate to assist in moving the material in the trough. The ends joining one trough with another are vibrationally isolated so that each trough is free to move in its own vibrational mode, independent of adjacent troughs and the support system.

Abstract: This disclosure relates to a discharge chute for granular material which is associated with an apparatus wherein the apparatus is vibrated with the vibrations also being imparted to the discharge chute. It has been found that in such instances, the capacity of the discharge chute may be greatly increased by providing more than one sloping wall while at the same time not increasing the overall height of the discharge chute. Further, when the angle of the sloping wall above the sloping bottom wall is increased, the capacity of that wall is greatly increased.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for uniformly spreading a flowing stream of dry solids, which may include solid particles and lumps of varying sizes, with minimal segregation, which utilizes an adjustable dam having a curved crest for forming in the flowing stream a mass of solids in the shape of a segment of a cone, over the surface of which the stream is spread from a relatively narrow stream at the apex of the cone to a relatively wide stream at the base of the cone, and including a mechanism for adjusting the dam to vary the degree of transverse arc curvature of the spreading surface. As an alternative, the spreading surface may be formed by a series of elongated, adjustable bars.

Abstract: A vibrator operated by a fluid medium under pressure for the purpose of imparting vibration to a working platform carrying the material being handled. The vibrator comprises a base, a forward stroke chamber formed by a continuous seal situated on the side of said base facing the working platform, and a striker mounted on said seal of the forward stroke chamber and adapted to interact with the working platform under the action of the fluid medium for the purpose of imparting vibration to said working platform. The vibrator also comprises a reverse stroke chamber formed by an additional continuous seal situated on the side of the striker facing the working platform and connected to the source of the fluid medium.

Abstract: A cement mixture is mixed or agitated in a hopper by rotary blades and is fed through a feed duct or chute normally imparted with vibrations from a vibrator to cement mixture receiving pockets in a rotary disk. The cement mixture in the pocket brought to an unloading position is forced to be discharged through a discharge pipe under the force of the air under pressure admitted into the pocket through a blow pipe. Since the feed duct or chute is normally vibrated, even a highly viscous cement mixture containing water can be fed through the feed duct or chute into the pockets of the rotary disk in a stable manner so that the cement mixture may be prevented from bridging across the pockets of the rotary disk, thereby not dropping into them.

Abstract: Kernel corn is dried by piercing the pericarp prior to drying. Apparatus for doing this comprises means to feed the kernels in uniformly oriented relation to a needle cylinder with a stripping comb. The kernels are resiliently pressed against the needle cylinder by a resilient surface which may be either on a cylinder or an endless belt. Orientation of the kernels may be effected either between that endless belt and another endless belt, or else in a vibrating chute.

Abstract: A device for feeding axial lead electrical components is disclosed. The device consists of a magnetic feed bin which is constructed to produce a magnetic field that suspends the components in the bin and moves them towards a pick-up wheel. The pick-up wheel is constructed of nonmagnetic material and has magnets embedded therein which hold the components in slots in the periphery of the wheel. A cylindrical shaft having a flat surface on it is positioned under the input end of a shelf which supports the feed bin. A cam, which is driven in synchronism with the feed wheel, cooperates with a cam follower that is mounted on a lever arm. The lever arm is secured to the shaft that has the flat on it so that the input end of the magnetic feed bin is periodically rocked up and down to prevent bunching of the components in the feed bin in order to insure proper sequential feeding of the components from the bin to the magnetic pick-up wheel.