Abstract: A sorting machine is disclosed based on a procedure utilizing standard length pulses initiated by the sensing of the leading edge of a sensed product and rejecting a defective product based on sensing where its trailing edge is or should be if covered up by a successive overlapping product. Such detection allows for rejecting products that are either too long or too short. The detection of the trailing edge location also is employed for the activation of a reject mechanism operated on a fixed delay from the occurrence of a defect signal for whatever reason produced from the sensing of a product in the product stream.

Abstract: A sorting machine is disclosed in which the viewing window is electro-optically observed using an array of photodetectors, each observing a photo site or pixel of the viewing window. Such detection allows for normalizing by photo site viewing to individually account for background and photodetector sensitivity differences from photo site to photo site. Such detection also provides for detecting a series of defects existing for each photo side and, thus, rejecting products that have a larger than acceptable number of successively detected defective photo sites. Also disclosed is a circuit for rejecting a defective product based on sensing where its trailing edge is or should be if covered up by a successive overlapping product. Such detection also allows for rejecting products that are either too long or too short. All of this is done by digital processing resulting from the digitizing permitted by photo site detection.

Abstract: An iterative and continuous normalizer for ensuring that the ejector rate of the slave channels in a fungible product sorter are operating at the same rate as a channel selected as the master channel. A distributed trip level value applied to a master channel comparator results in a rate of ejection of non-standard products that are counted to a predetermined count, at which time a master channel counter output is produced. In similar fashion, a slave channel output is produced; however, the comparator in the slave channel operates to an adjusted trip level value, which is the distributed trip level value adjusted by a multiplying factor. This multiplying factor is produced by a multiplier controlled by an up/down counter, in turn controlled up or down by whether the slave channel counter output or master channel counter output arrives first.