Claims:WE CLAIM:
01. A sorting system 100 for a tiny objects including precious stones and gems comprising a sieving method, characterized in that the sorting system 100 has
- a modular sieving arrangement 200 comprising
o A stack of sieving chambers 210 having a holder 220, a top cup 230, a top lid 240, and one or more middle cups 250,
o An extendible lid 270 having an engulfing internal profile 271 complementary to an external profile of the top lid 240, a rotatable shaft 272, and a disposing means 273, and
o A sieving mechanism 300 having a receiving arrangement 280, a first geared motor assembly 310, and a dislodging arrangement 360;
- a measurement and control system 400 comprising
o a first motor speed control and a second motor speed control,
o a process time control and a process display cluster 410,
o a direct weight measurement system 420, and
o an impact weight measurement system 440; and
- and a noise control and protection arrangement 500;
wherein
the stack of sieving chambers is secured in the sieving mechanism 300 by the extendible lid 270, the stack of sieving chambers rotates with a cyclically repeated impact Force Fimp 291 imposed thereon, the tiny objects experience a cyclically varying downward force 294a, 294b, 294c, 294d, 204a 294b, 294c, 294d and a cyclically varying upward force 295a, 295b, 295c, 295d, 205a 295b, 295c, 295d, in the backdrop of a gravitational force, the tiny objects pass through a plurality of graded sieve plates 260, the tiny object stuck in any hole 261 of the graded sieving plates gets dislodged due to the cyclically varying upward force 295a, 295b, 295c, 295d, 205a 295b, 295c, 295d, and the cyclically varying downward force 294a, 294b, 294c, 294d, 204a 294b, 294c, 294d.
02. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the stack of sieving chambers 210 comprises a holder 220, a top cup 230, a top lid 240 and one or more middle cups 250; wherein the top cup 230 has a uniform relief width 232, the middle cup 250 has a uniform seat width 222 and a uniform relief width 232; wherein a shift dimension 242 which is a sideward axial shift is possible in any middle cup 250 consequent to an impact force Fimp 291, and a scaler arithmetical difference between the uniform seat width 222 and the uniform relief width 232.
03. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the graded sieve plate 260 is a graded first sieve plate 260a provided in a top cup 230, while each middle cup 250 is provided a further graded sieve plates 260b, 260c,….
04. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the rotatable shaft 272 of the extendible lid 270 is an extendable shaft.
05. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the rotatable shaft 272 of the extendible lid 270 is a spring-loaded telescopic shaft.
06. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the dislodging arrangement 360 comprises a cyclic push force device 330 having a crank shaft 340 disposed with a plurality of connector links 350 and a plurality of pusher devices 380, disposed on a second geared motor assembly 320 via a crank shaft coupler 370.
07. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 06, wherein the pusher device 380 has at its far end an impact means 382, which is a replaceable non-metallic material like a hard engineering plastic.
08. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the direct weight measurement system 420 comprises a load cell assembly 421 and a rotary raising and lowering engagement 422 wherein the raising and lowering mechanism 422 is a cam operated arrangement 424, driven by a knob 423, the knob 423 being operable from the front panel 511 of the noise control and protection arrangement 500; the direct weight measurement system 420 is disposed below the receiving arrangement 280, The knob 423 of the direct weight measurement system 420 raises and thereby activates the load cell 421 to get a gross weight, a tare weight and consequently a net weight of tiny objects.
09. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the impact weight measurement system 440 comprises a plurality of load cell assemblies 441, each corresponding to a middle cup 250, wherein consequent to the impact force Fimp 291, and the scaler arithmetical difference between the uniform seat width 222 and the uniform relief width 232, the axial shift in corresponding middle cup 250 by the shift dimension 242 causes the corresponding load cell 441 to record an impact force value which directly corresponds to a weight of the corresponding middle cup 250 including the tiny objects therein.
10. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 09, wherein tiny objects have their weight changing during a sorting process and consequently the measure of impact force Fimp 291 recorded by the load cell 441 changes continuously, wherein an audio and or a visual indication is generated when a measure of the weight displayed becomes consistent and the first geared motor assembly 310 as well as the second geared motor assembly 320 is issued a stop command.
11. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 09, wherein the noise control and protection arrangement 500 comprises an IP6X enclosure with noise absorption lining provided therein, wherein a front panel 511 bears the display and control equipment while a top hinged cover 510 facilitates disposition of the extendible lid 270.
12. The sorting system 100 as claimed in claim 01, wherein the crank shaft 340 of the dislodging arrangement 360 caters to two or more stacks of sieving chambers 210.
, Description:Form 2
The Patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules 2003

Complete Specification
(See section 10 and rule 13)

Title of the Invention:

CLOGGING-FREE SORTING SYSTEM
FOR TINY PRECIOUS STONES AND GEMS

Applicant: ROBRO SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED
Nationality: Indian
Address: 404 Commerce House
7 Race Course Road
Indore - 452003
Madhya Pradesh, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sorting system for precious stones and gems and particularly a sorting machine for clogging-free sieving of tiny gems and precious stones.
.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Diamonds obtained from nature vary in size, appearance and outer finish. After great deal of human and machine intervention, the diamonds are given the required shape and glitter facilitating surfaces. Some of the known man-made popular shapes are Point cut, Rose cut, Mazanin cut, Old European cut and so on. While these shapes are well defined, finished diamonds widely vary in size since minimal material is cut away to obtain required shape.
Consequently, diamonds are then required to be segregated as per their sizes by a practical and feasible method of sieving. Besides manual sieving and sorting, there are attempts to mechanize objects segregation. JP2010069354A and JP2010069354A disclose gravity based vibration assisted systems, which are most common.
Specific to diamonds, the utility model CN202343441U discloses a diamond sieving machine, which comprises a table. A sieve disc is arranged on the table and located on a sieve disc base plate. A lifting mechanism, a vibration mechanism and a fluctuation motion mechanism are arranged on the table. The utility model CN204769518U discloses a rectilinear vibrating screen based precious stone sorting, including a support frame on which is installed the sieve case, a vibrating motor installed in the lower part.
Particularly in the case of tiny diamond and precious stones, the variation in size is miniscule, and if used unsorted, the look and appearance of the jewelry where slightly unequal diamonds and precious stones are used, is compromised.

OBJECTIVES
The objective is to invent a system for sorting tiny diamonds and precious stones.
Another objective is to invent a sorting system that can sort diamonds with slight size difference.
Yet another objective is to invent a sorting system that accounts for diamonds before and after sorting.
Yet another objective is to invent a sorting system that takes minimum time in sorting.
Yet another objective is to invent a sorting system that takes time in accordance with quantity and required precision of sorting.
Yet another objective is to invent a sorting system that is noise free.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a sorting system comprising a modular sieving arrangement, a measurement and control system and a noise control and protection arrangement. The modular sieving arrangement comprises of a stack of sieving chambers, an extendible lid, and a sieving mechanism.
The stack of sieving chambers comprises at least a holder, a top cup, a top lid. The stack of sieving chambers further comprises one or more middle cups. The bottom cup has an inner peripheral seat of a uniform seat width. At the bottom surface of the bottom cup are provided a plurality of lower engaging projections. The top lid has a plurality of upper engaging projections. The top cup has an outer peripheral relief of a uniform relief width. The middle cup has the inner peripheral seat of a uniform seat width; and an outer peripheral relief of a uniform relief width. The bottom cup, the top cup as well as the middle cup have an outer diameter.
The top cup is provided with a graded first sieve plate while each middle cup is provided a further graded sieve plates.
Let us take an illustration: To sort diamonds in three sizes between 1.3mm diameter and 1.5mm. Let us deploy the stack of sieving chamber having three middle cups, wherein
- the graded first sieve plate having holes of diameter 1.45mm disposed in the top cup,
- the graded second sieve plate having holes of diameter 1.40mm disposed in the middle cup immediately there below, and
- the graded third sieve plate having holes of diameter 1.35mm disposed in the middle cup there below.
Diamonds of the most common cut are shown passing through a graded sieve plate. It is apparent that diamonds being a multi-dimensional symmetric entity would attempt to pass in different possible orientations through holes of the graded sieve plate. Advantage is taken of the knowledge that a linear measure of pavilion depth of the diamond is less than 50 percent of a linear measure of a diamond diameter. Consequently, irrespective of any orientation at which the diamonds enter the holes of the graded sieve plate, the diamonds get sorted with respect to the linear measure of the diamond diameter.
The dislodging arrangement is an inventive arrangement to prevent as well as free the diamonds from getting stuck in the holes of the graded sieve plate.
The crank shaft has a plurality of cranking positions, angularly staggered by an equal angle and linearly staggered corresponding to a number and height of the middle cup. In the preferred embodiment, there are four cranking positions staggered by 90° obtained as 360°/4. A first end of each connector link is axially connected at each cranking position while a second end of corresponding connector link is axially connected to a pusher device. At a far end of the pusher device is disposed an impact means to deliver an impact hit to hard metallic surface. The impact means is a non-metallic material like a hard engineering plastic disposed at the far end. The impact means is replaceable. The crank shaft is connected to the second geared motor assembly by the crank shaft couplet to form the dislodging arrangement.
When the stack of sieving chambers is secured in the sieving mechanism by the extendible lid, then the stack of sieving chambers rotates while the top cup and the middle cups are applied with a cyclically repeated impact Force Fimp. Consequently, the diamonds experience a cyclically varying downward force and a cyclically varying upward force, in the backdrop of the gravitational force. Diamonds pass through graded sieving plates consequently. Any diamond getting stuck in any hole gets dislodged due to cyclic upward and downward force.
The direct weight measurement system is a modular unit disposed below the receiving arrangement. The knob of the direct weight measurement system raises and thereby activates the load cell to get a gross weight, a tare weight and consequently a net weight of diamonds.
The impact weight measurement system comprises a plurality of load cell assemblies, interacting with the stack of sieving chambers. Consequent to the cyclic impact force Fimp by, and the scaler arithmetical difference between the uniform seat width and the uniform relief width, the axial shift in corresponding middle cup by the shift dimension causes the corresponding load cell to record an impact force value which directly corresponds to a weight of the corresponding middle cup including the diamonds therein. Arithmetically, an oversimplified expression to understand this known expression is:
Fimp = mg + mv2/2
As the diamonds continuously get sieved, the weight of the diamonds keeps changing and so shall be the measure of impact force Fimp recorded by the load cell. Once the measure displayed becomes consistent, like a reading of any digital thermometer, an audio and or visual indication is generated and the first motor as well as the second geared motor is issued a stop command.
The noise control and protection arrangement comprises an enclosure, preferably IP6X with noise absorption lining provided therein. A front panel bears the display and control equipment while a top hinged cover facilitates disposition of the extendible lid.
The clogging-free sorting system for tiny precious stones and gems is described herein above considering the most popular shape of diamonds, however the invention is not limited thereto and effective for gems and precious stones as well as other tiny materials needing sorting. The present invention is equally applicable to sortable material of all sizes though described here for tiny objects including diamonds and precious stones since this specific industrial application gets most benefitted with saving of time and theft prevention by avoiding manual weighing and sorting methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a perspective view of constituents of a Clogging-free sorting system as per present invention.
Figure 2 is a generic view of a modular sieving arrangement.
Figure 3A is a front view of a stack of sieving chambers.
Figure 3B is a sectional front view of a bottom cup.
Figure 3C is a perspective view of the bottom cup.
Figure 3D is a sectional front view of a top lid.
Figure 3E is a front view of the top cup having an outer peripheral relief.
Figure 3F is a front view of a middle cup having inner peripheral seat and an outer peripheral relief.
Figure 3G is a bottom view of the top cup with a graded sieve plate.
Figure 4A is a top view showing a diamonds passing through the graded sieve plate.
Figure 4B and 4C shows the diamonds passing through holes of the graded sieve plate.
Figure 4D shows depth and diameter of the diamond.
Figure 5A is a sectional front view of an extendable top lid.
Figure 5B is an exploded view of the extendable lid.
Figure 5C shows an extendible lid on top lid.
Figure 6A is a generic view of a sieving mechanism.
Figure 6B is a sectional front view of the bottom cup showing receiving
arrangement.
Figure 7A - 7C shows a dislodging arrangement comprising of a cyclic push
force device.
Figure 8A- 8F is the stack of sieving chambers secured in the sieving mechanism.
Figure 9 is a back view of the sorting system with a measurement and control
system.
Figure 10A is a bottom view of a load cell assembly.
Figure 10B and 10C is a side view of the weight measurement system having
load cell assembly.
Figure 10D is a front view of the sorting system showing a knob to operate the
front panel.
Figure 11 is a staggered view of the impact weight measurement system
comprising of a plurality of load cell assemblies showing cyclic impact force.
Figure 12 is a top view of a crank shaft of the dislodging arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention shall now be described with accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that present invention can have several embodiments and present description and drawings should not be construed to limit the potential and scope of the invention in any manner.
Figure 1, the present invention is a sorting system 100 comprising a modular sieving arrangement 200, a measurement and control system 400 and a noise control and protection arrangement 500.
Figure 2, the modular sieving arrangement 200 comprises
- A stack of sieving chambers 210
- An extendible lid 270
- A sieving mechanism 300
Figure 3A-3G, the stack of sieving chambers 210 comprises at least a holder 220, a top cup 230, a top lid 240. The stack of sieving chambers further comprises one or more middle cups 250.
The bottom cup 220 has an inner peripheral seat 221 of a uniform seat width 222. At the bottom surface of the bottom cup 220 are provided a plurality of lower engaging projections 223. The bottom cup has an outer diameter 225.
The top lid 240 has a plurality of upper engaging projections 243.
The top cup 230 has an outer peripheral relief 231 of a uniform relief width 232.
The middle cup 250 has the inner peripheral seat 221 of a uniform seat width 222; and an outer peripheral relief 231 of a uniform relief width 232.
The bottom cup, the top cup as well as the middle cup have an outer diameter 225.
A shift dimension 242 is an axial shift possible in any middle cup 250 and such middle cup 250 is sideward movable by the shift dimension 242; consequent to an impact force Fimp 291, and a scaler arithmetical difference between the uniform seat width 222 and the uniform relief width 232.
The top cup 230 is provided with a graded first sieve plate 260a while each middle cup 250 is provided a further graded sieve plates 260b, 260c,… and a graded sieve plate is referenced as 260.
Let us take an illustration: To sort diamonds in three sizes between 1.3mm diameter and 1.5mm. Let us deploy the stack of sieving chamber having three middle cups, wherein
- the graded first sieve plate 260a having holes of diameter 1.45mm disposed in the top cup 230,
- the graded second sieve plate 260b having holes of diameter 1.40mm disposed in the middle cup immediately there below, and
- the graded third sieve plate 260c having holes of diameter 1.35mm disposed in the middle cup there below.
Figure 4A-4D, a diamonds 110 of the most common cut are shown passing through a graded sieve plate 260. It is apparent that diamonds 110 being a multi-dimensional symmetric entity would attempt to pass in different possible orientations through a holes 261 of the graded sieve plate. Advantage is taken of the knowledge that a linear measure of pavilion depth 202 of the diamond 110 is less than 50 percent of a linear measure of a diamond diameter 201. Consequently, irrespective of any orientation at which the diamonds 110 enter the holes 261 of the graded sieve plate 260, the diamonds get sorted with respect to the linear measure of the diamond diameter 201.
The variation in the linear measure of the pavilion depth 202 does NOT get sorted, however, this variation does not materially affect the appearance of jewelry.
Figure 5A-5C, the extendible lid 270 has
- an engulfing internal profile 271 complementary to an external profile of the top lid 240,
- a rotatable shaft 272
- a disposing means 273
The rotatable shaft 272 in another embodiment is an extendable shaft. The rotatable shaft 272 in yet another embodiment is a spring-loaded telescopic shaft.
In the referred embodiment, the extendible lid 270 is rotatably disposed on a top hinged cover 510 of the noise control and protection arrangement 500.
Figure 6A, 6B, the sieving mechanism 300 comprises:
(1) a receiving arrangement 280
(2) a first geared motor assembly 310
(3) a dislodging arrangement 360
The receiving arrangement 280 has an engulfing internal profile 281 complementary to an external profile of a bottom side of the bottom cup 220 to accommodate the bottom cup 220 particularly with plurality of lower engaging projections 223. A connecting means 288 is adapted to get connected to the first geared motor assembly 310.
Figure 7A-7C, the dislodging arrangement 360 is an inventive arrangement to prevent as well as free the diamonds 110 from getting stuck in the holes of the graded sieve plate 260. The dislodging arrangement 360 comprises a
- a cyclic push force device 330
- a second geared motor assembly 320
The cyclic push force device 330 has a
- a crank shaft 340 having a plurality of connector links 350 and a plurality of pusher devices 360
- a crank shaft coupler 370
The crank shaft 340 has a plurality of cranking positions 341, angularly staggered by an equal angle and linearly staggered corresponding to a number and height of the middle cup. In the preferred embodiment, there are four cranking positions staggered by 90° obtained as 360°/4. A first end 351 of each connector link 350 is axially connected at each cranking position 341 while a second end 352 of corresponding connector link 350 is axially connected to a pusher device 360. At a far end 361 of the pusher device is disposed an impact means 362 to deliver an impact hit to hard metallic surface. The impact means 362 is a non-metallic material like a hard engineering plastic disposed at the far end 361. The impact means 362 is replaceable. The crank shaft 340 is connected to the second geared motor assembly 320 by the crank shaft couplet 370 to form the dislodging arrangement 360.
Figure 8A-8F, when the stack of sieving chambers is secured in the sieving mechanism 300 by the extendible lid 270, then the stack of sieving chambers rotates while the top cup and the middle cups are applied with a cyclically repeated impact Force Fimp 291. Consequently, the diamonds experience a cyclically varying downward force 294a, 294b, 294c, 294d, 294a, 294b, 294c, 294d,…and a cyclically varying upward force 295a, 295b, 295c, 295d, 295a, 295b, 295c, 295d,….in the backdrop of the gravitational force. Diamonds 110 pass through graded sieving plates consequently. Any diamond 110 getting stuck in any hole 261 gets dislodged due to cyclic upward and downward force.
Figure 9, the measurement and control system 400 comprises
- a first motor speed control
- a second motor speed control
- a process time control and a process display cluster 410
- a direct weight measurement system 420
- an impact weight measurement 440

Figure 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D the direct weight measurement system 420 comprises
- a load cell assembly 421
- a rotary raising and lowering engagement 422. In a preferred embodiment, the raising and lowering mechanism 422 is a cam operated arrangement 424, driven by a knob 423, the knob 423 being operable from the front panel 511 of the noise control and protection arrangement 500.
The direct weight measurement system 420 is a modular unit disposed below the receiving arrangement 280. The knob 423 of the direct weight measurement system 420 raises and thereby activates the load cell 421 to get a gross weight, a tare weight and consequently a net weight of diamonds 110.
Figure 11, the impact weight measurement system 440 comprises a plurality of load cell assemblies 441, interacting with the stack of sieving chambers 210. Consequent to the cyclic impact force Fimp 291 by, and the scaler arithmetical difference between the uniform seat width 222 and the uniform relief width 232, the axial shift in corresponding middle cup 250 by the shift dimension 242 causes the corresponding load cell to record an impact force value which directly corresponds to a weight of the corresponding middle cup 250 including the diamonds 110 therein. Arithmetically, an oversimplified expression to understand this known expression is:
Fimp = mg + mv2/2

Where
Fimp – a measure of impact force recorded by the load cell assembly
m – a mass of the middle cup including diamonds therein
v – a velocity of movement of the middle cup
The velocity v of the middle cup = function (axial shift, rpm of the crank shaft)
As the diamonds continuously get sieved, the weight of the diamonds keeps changing and so shall be the measure of impact force Fimp recorded by the load cell. Once the measure displayed becomes consistent, like a reading of any digital thermometer, an audio and or visual indication is generated and the first motor as well as the second geared motor is issued a stop command.
The noise control and protection arrangement 500 comprises an enclosure, preferably IP6X with noise absorption lining provided therein. A front panel 511 bears the display and control equipment while a top hinged cover facilitates disposition of the extendible lid.
The clogging-free sorting system for tiny precious stones and gems is described herein above considering the most popular shape of diamonds 110, however the invention is not limited thereto and effective for gems and precious stones as well as other tiny materials needing sorting. The present invention is equally applicable to sortable material of all sizes though described here for tiny objects including diamonds and precious stones since this specific industrial application gets most benefitted with saving of time and theft prevention by avoiding manual weighing and sorting methods.
Figure 12 as another variation, the crank shaft 340 of the dislodging arrangement 360 caters to two or more stacks of sieving chambers 210.