Bottle recognition apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR RECOGNIZING ONE OR MORE TYPES OF BOTTLES FROM AMONG A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF BOTTLES, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: AN INSPECTION POSITION HAVING MEANS FOR GENERATING A FIRST LIGHT BEAM, CHOPPER MEANS FOR CHOPPING SAID BEAM AT A DELATIVELY HIGH RATE, AND A FIRST PHOTO-SENSITIVE DEVICE POSITIONED TO RECEIVE SAID CHOPPED LIGHT BEAM FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL PULSES IN RESPONSE THERETO; MEANS FOR MOVING SAID BOTTLES SO THAT THE BODY PORTIONS OF SAID BOTTLES PASS SUCCESSIVELY THROUGH SAID CHOPPED LIGHT BEAM TO MODULATE SAID BEAM, SAID BOTTLES MOVING AT A SPEED SUCH AS TO PERMIT A PLURALITY OF MODULATED LIGHT PULSES TO BE RECEIVED BY SAID PHOTO-SENSITIVE DEVICE FOR EACH BOTTLE; A SENSING CIRCUIT COMPRISING AN A.-C. AMPLIFIER AND A D.-C. RESTORER; MEANS FOR APPLYING THE OUTPUT OF SAID PHOTO-SENSITIVE DEVICE TO SAID SENSING CIRCUIT FOR DEVELOPING MODULATED OUTPUT SIGNALS WHICH VARY BETWEEN A DARK LEVEL BASE REFERENCE CORRESPONDING TO THE LIGHT RECEIVED WHEN SAID BEAM IS CUT OFF BY SAID CHOPPER MEANS AND A VALUE WHICH VARIES IN AMPLITUDE, ACCORDING TO THE MAGNITUDE OF THE LIGHT PULSES RECEIVING BY SAID PHOTO-SENSITIVE DEVICE WHEN SAID LIGHT PASSES THROUGH SAID CHOPPER MEANS; A DELAY SYSTEM COMPRISING A SECOND LIGHT MODULATED OUTPUT SIGNALS REACH FULL AMPLITUDE BEFORE BEING SAMPLED, SAID DELAY SYSTEM COMPRISING A SECOND LIGHT BEAM OUT OF THE PATH OF SAID BOTTLES, MEANS UTILIZING SAID CHOPPER MEANS FOR CHOPPING SAID SECOND BEAM IN FIXED TIME DELAY RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHOPPING OF SAID FIRST BEAM, A SECOND PHOTO-SENSITIVE DEVICE FOR RECEIVING SAID CHOPPED SECOND LIGHT BEAM, AND MEANS FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL SAMPLING PULSES OF SUBSTANTIALLY FIXED AMPLITUDE IN RESPONSE THERETO; COMPARATOR MEANS HAVING REFERENCE SIGNALS APPLIED THERETO; MEANS FOR APPLYING TO SAID COMPARATOR MEANS SAID MODULATED OUTPUT SIGNALS OF SAID SENSING CIRCUIT AND ALSO SAID ELECTRICAL SAMPLING PULSES