A weighing system for weighing particulate material such as powders, granules and the like, and particularly particulate foodstuffs. The system includes: a weighing device (9); a vibrator unit (11); a transfer receptacle (7) having an opening; a robotic arm (5) arranged to move the transfer receptacle (7); and a control system (13) arranged to control the robotic arm (5) and the vibrator unit (11); wherein the transfer receptacle (7) is arranged to receive a quantity of the particulate material through the opening; the control system (13) is arranged to actuate the robotic arm (5) to move the transfer receptacle adjacent the weighing device (9), and to actuate the vibrator unit (11) to vibrate the transfer receptacle (7) thereby causing particulate material located in the transfer receptacle (7) to dispense from the transfer receptacle onto the weighing device (9).

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel conveying device with which it is possible to easily adjust a conveying amount of articles in a trough using a restricting plate, and a combination weighing apparatus having the conveying device. A conveying device to convey articles in a trough has a restricting plate to restrict a flow of the articles in the trough and the angle at which the restricting plate faces the articles is variable. With this configuration, there is no need to prepare a plurality of restricting plates that have different shapes and materials or to exchange such a plurality of restricting plates in the same manner as in a conventional device because the conveying amount in the trough can be adjusted merely by varying the angle at which the restricting plate faces the articles.

The feed plate and beam stabilizer for a granular material weighing system are components used with granular material weighing systems, such as those used for filling cartridges with gunpowder. The feed plate is a circular plate disposed within a hopper of a granular material trickler. The circular plate is spaced apart from the bottom of the hopper by a plurality of substantially L-shaped members, which are used to impart movement to granular material contained in the granular material trickler when the circular plate is driven to rotate. The beam stabilizer includes a stabilizing wire connected to a lever arm for selectively contacting a beam of a beam balance of a granular material weighing system. The stabilizing wire makes contact with the beam to provide additional dampening to the beam to cease oscillation thereof following discharge of granular material into the weighing pan of the granular material weighing system.

A method and system is provided for generating batches of food pieces, and includes: conveying incoming food objects through at least one cutting device, where the at least one cutting device is configured to cut the incoming food objects into plurality of food pieces according to at least one first cutting rule, conveying the resulting plurality of cut food pieces to at least one batching system where at least one batch is generated fulfilling at least one first criterion including at least one first weight target. The at least one first cutting rule is selected in accordance to the at least one first weight target such that the resulting weight distribution of the plurality of food pieces entering the batching system fulfils at least one first pre-defined weight target distribution adapted to the at least one first weight target.

A drive device (125) is adapted for use in combination with a weighing balance (100). The drive device has a receiving unit (130), an insertion unit (U) and a locking unit (140). The receiving unit is configured to receive the insertion unit. The locking unit is movable between a locking position, in which the insertion unit is constrained from movement, and an unlocking position, in which the movement is not constrained. The locking unit is coupled to the receiving unit in a biasing manner to predispose the locking unit into the locking position. The locking unit is slidably engaged with the receiving unit to allow the locking unit to slide relative to the receiving unit when an external force is applied to move the locking unit into the unlocking position.

A food processing system and a method for processing and batching food items conveyed by a conveyor means where the batches fulfil at least one target criteria including at least one weight target, including a first weight determining means for determining the weight of incoming food items, a batching system, a food item separation device positioned downstream in relation to the first weight determining means and upstream in relation to the batching system, and a control system for controlling the batching system and the food item separation device. The controlling including, repeatedly: monitoring the weight of the incoming food items, determining, based on the weight of the incoming food items, a prospect indicator indicating the prospect to meet the target criteria for the batches such that each batch fulfils the at least one target criteria, and comparing if the prospect indicator fulfils a pre-defined criteria.

A weighing system for weighing particulate material such as powders, granules and the like, and particularly particulate foodstuffs. The system includes: a weighing device (9); a vibrator unit (11); a transfer receptacle (7) having an opening; a robotic arm (5) arranged to move the transfer receptacle (7); and a control system (13) arranged to control the robotic arm (5) and the vibrator unit (11); wherein the transfer receptacle (7) is arranged to receive a quantity of the particulate material through the opening; the control system (13) is arranged to actuate the robotic arm (5) to move the transfer receptacle adjacent the weighing device (9), and to actuate the vibrator unit (11) to vibrate the transfer receptacle (7) thereby causing particulate material located in the transfer receptacle (7) to dispense from the transfer receptacle onto the weighing device (9).

A weighing apparatus for a filling line for filling containers of pharmaceutical, medical, food products and the like includes a weighing unit and a suction unit designed to generate a suction air flow directed and adjusted in such a way as to affect in a controllable manner the value of a weight detected by the weighing unit.

A combination weighing device includes: a conveyance unit; a plurality of first hoppers each receiving the article; a plurality of second hoppers detachably provided on a downstream side of the plurality of first hoppers, and each receiving the article; a weighing unit weighing the article held in each of the plurality of second hoppers; and a control unit performing combination calculation and discharging the article from the second hopper corresponding to the combination. The control unit performs combination calculation based on a weighing value corresponding to mass of the article held in each of the plurality of second hopper, and continues combination calculation based on a weighing value corresponding to mass of the article held in each of the second hoppers other than a part of the second hoppers in a state in which the part of the plurality of second hoppers has been removed.

A granule-dosing system for plastics processing machines including a weighing container removably retained in an operating position on a framework; a plurality of supply containers having outlets which are connected to an inlet of the weighing container via dosing mechanisms; a mixer with an inlet which is connected to an outlet of the weighing container; and a safety switch and a control device designed to switch off the dosing mechanisms and/or the mixer when the safety switch emits a switch-off signal, wherein the weighing container is configured such that, in the operating position, it blocks access to the dosing mechanisms and/or to the inlet of the mixer, and the safety switch is arranged on the framework such that it emits the switch-off signal when the weighing container is removed from the operating position.