×

Article monitoring system with printing capability

  • US 4,783,655 A
  • Filed: 03/24/1986
  • Issued: 11/08/1988
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1984
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

1. Apparatus for storing and monitoring articles and maintaining a record of the articles, said apparatus comprising:

  • a plurality of article holders each holding one article and each having a unique identification code which identifies the article held thereby;

    a storage member having a plurality of discrete storage locations for the articles, each storage location having a unique address and each storage location being adapted to receive and store the article holders one at a time;

    means for accepting and recording valid user codes assigned to authorized users;

    means for polling said storage locations to determine and update the identification code of the article holder at each locationan indicator on said storage member for each storage location, each indicator having an energized condition and a deenergized condition;

    means for accepting coded requests corresponding to the identification codes of the article holders when the coded requests are accompanied by a valid user code;

    means for energizing the indicator which corresponds to the storage location of each article holder whose identification code corresponds to an accepted coded request, thereby indicating the storage location of the article holder to which each coded request corresponds if the article holder is present on the storage member;

    means for recording the user code accepted at the time each article holder is removed from the storage member;

    means for displaying the user code accepted at the time an article holder was removed from the storage member if the article holder is not present on the storage member thereby identifying the user responsible for removing the article holder from the storage member;

    printing means selectively operable to print a written record of the user codes accepted at the time one or more selected articles were removed from the storage member; and

    means for weighing and recording the weight of each article holder before its removal from the storage member and prior to its return to the storage member, thereby recording the weight of material removed from the article holder while it was removed from the storage member.

View all claims
  • 1 Assignment
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×