David K Locke

US Patent:

20180147607, May 31, 2018

Filed:

Nov 28, 2016

Appl. No.:

15/361929

Inventors:

- Grevenbroich, DE
- Austin TX, US
Karl COMTOIS - Austin TX, US
David LOCKE - Austin TX, US

International Classification:

B07C 5/342
G01N 21/63

Abstract:

A system () for analyzing and sorting material () including a feeder () for transporting at least one piece of material along a feeding surface () towards and onto an upper portion () of a chute (), a sorting device (), a laser device (), a spectrometer () configured to detect an emission from the piece of material and to produce an output signal corresponding to the emission, and a controller device configured to receive the output signal and to operate the sorting device. The laser device and the spectrometer are both provided on a level below the feeding surface. Also, the laser device is configured to produce a laser beam that can be incident on the piece of material when the piece of material is at least partially protruding from the chute or has fallen off from the chute via the lower edge of the chute and is airborne.