Thompson Scale Designs Innovative
Quad-Lane Checkweighers

(July 8, 2004) HOUSTON, TX – Thompson Scale Company, a leader in checkweighing systems, packaging machinery controls, and custom production scales, announced today the release of the TSC 350-Q Quad-Lane Small Package Checkweighers. These extremely fast and efficient checkweighers offer highly accurate package weighing, reducing shortage fines and the product giveaway issues that many packaging plants face.

The TSC 350-Q is a drag chain style checkweigher designed for in-motion weighing of rigid, semi-rigid, and stable products weighing from 5 grams to 10 kilograms. Its unique design, consisting of four sets of double chains, increases output of packaged products over an average checkweigher by weighing four times the number of items at once. The machine does this while maintaining its high level of accuracy. The checkweigher is capable of weighing up to an industry leading 1,200 units per minute, with accuracies of up to +/- 0.5 gram.

The effective design of this checkweigher addresses product handling issues and provides a solution for many production plants that send product down conveyors in sets of four at a time. Instead of a plant having to redesign their production line (and slow down production) to work with a standard checkweigher, the TSC 350-Q fits seamlessly into many diverse configurations. The reality that many plants face with a standard checkweigher is the inability to achieve total quality control by weight. The TSC 350-Q Checkweigher allows the weighment of every single item produced to fulfill quality assurance standards.

There are many innovative engineering designs that make the TSC 350-Q unique and effective. The multitasking operating system is able to switch between each weighing task and works with the analog to digital cards to distinguish between each individual weighment, combining four lines so they are able to run parallel. A single controller is able to receive, interpret, and display accurate weights from each load cell on all four lines simultaneously. This single operator interface offers quick and easy use of the four-lane checkweigher.

This checkweighing system is a simple, easy to use, rugged, yet highly accurate small package production scale. The product containers weighed may be virtually any shape or size. Examples of containers are boxes, cans, bottles, or rigid shrink-wrapped packages. Products able to run on the TSC 350-Q include paints, adhesives, insecticides, tubs of butter, bagged and boxed sugars, and fresh fruits.

“This uniquely designed checkweigher represents a major achievement for the weighing and packaging industries. The flexibility it offers provides packaging plants with new opportunities to ensure the weights and quality of all the products they manufacture,” stated Alan Vaught, Vice President of Thompson Scale.

Unlike other in-motion scales, the TSC 350-Q does not require the use of photo-eyes (in most cases) to detect the presence of a package crossing the scale. This is another unique aspect of the checkeigher. This feature eliminates the costs and problems (such as downtime, unweighed product, or incomplete weigh data) that are associated with dirty or misaligned photo-eye sensors.

These versatile checkweighers are constructed of all stainless steel components and are available in various configurations to meet specific requirements: food grade (compliant applications), washdown and corrosive applications, as well as hazardous environments up to Class I, Division 1. They also offer a wide variety of reject options as well as optional conveyors, light displays, alarms, reporting packages, communication interfaces, and Eriez® brand metal detectors.

The controllers for these checkweighers can hold 75 unique product recipes in memory and display useful information on production as each unit crosses the scale. Each controller also offers Spanish menus in full sentences for better comprehension.

The TSC 350-Q checkweigher is available now. For more information, call 713/932-9071 or visit our website at http://www.thompsonscale.com/tsc350models.htm.

Thompson Scale Company

Thompson Scale Company is a leading manufacturer of weighing systems and packaging machinery controls. Thompson Scale has provided the manufacturing industry with highly accurate and reliable weighing solutions for over 30 years. Products include in-motion checkweighers, universal filler controllers, remote digital displays, inline rejector conveyors, and filling machinery upgrades. The company offers quality equipment with training and service in support of all products. Thompson Scale systems are made in the USA and sold to manufacturing facilities around the world.

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