A method and apparatus is disclosed for use in weighing products having circular or oval footprint configurations. A conveyor having a pair of parallel conveyor elements arranged to underengage the footprint only adjacent the periphery thereof transports the products one at a time across a planar surface of a weigh pan or scale device. The surface of the weigh pan is shaped and the transverse spacing between the conveyor elements is adjustable in order to permit lengths of the surface of the weigh pan engaged by the conveyor elements to be selected to correspond essentially to dimensions of differently sized products to be weighed.

A method and apparatus for testing a batch of containers to determine if the containers have been filled with product to the proper volume with the apparatus including a conveyor for moving empty containers from a first location to a second location, a filling head for filling a batch of individual containers, a checkweigh platform for receiving a batch of individual empty containers from the conveying line and individually weighing each of the containers in both the empty condition and the filled condition and a robotic arm for transporting the containers to and from the conveying line and within the checkweighing station.

A measuring apparatus includes a measuring conveyor measuring a weight of an article during transportation, a feed conveyor, a discharge conveyor, and a central conveyor extending in a transporting direction through the measuring conveyor. In a first transfer area where the article is transferred from the feed conveyor to the measuring conveyor and in a second transfer area where the article is transferred from the measuring conveyor to the discharge conveyor, level portions of a transporting surface of the central conveyor are located at the same level as that of the measuring conveyor. In a measuring area where the measuring conveyor is located, the lower portion of the transporting surface of the central conveyor is shifted downward from that of the measuring conveyor. The measuring apparatus can stably transport the article, suppress vibrations during transfer to and from a measuring conveyor, and improve the measuring accuracy.

A mechanism for weighing articles including a continuous thread screw conveyor for moving articles to be weighed across a weigh pan in combination with a motor for first driving the conveyor in an article transport direction through an angle of 360.degree.+.alpha..degree. and then driving the conveyor in a reverse direction through an angle of .alpha..degree. to remove the conveyor from frictional engagement with the article, during each article weighing operation.

A method and apparatus is disclosed for use in weighing products having circular or oval footprint or an outwardly projecting flange. A conveyor having a pair of parallel conveyor elements arranged to underengage the footprint or flange only adjacent the periphery thereof transports the products one at a time across a weigh pan or scale device, whose length in the direction of conveyor movement is selected as the lowest value required to achieve a desired settle time for the weigh pan. Preferably, the length of the weigh pan is chosen to be essentially equal to the diameter of products to be weighed.