Patent US 4,026,414

Inspection apparatus for detecting defects in the rim of bottles or containers includes a light sensing head made up of a mosaic of thirty to forty light sensors in the form of circular ring sectors supported on a platen and arranged around a central aperture. The sensing head is located above the bottles and inspects the bottles as they are conveyed through the inspection zone. A light source provides a beam through the central aperture which floods the mouth of the bottle with the light being reflected upwardly from the bottle rim to the various sensors which simultaneously sense light reflected from the entire bottle rim. The light sensor outputs are individually monitored and circuitry is provided to activate a bottle sorting device when an amplified output signal from any of the cells varies a predetermined amount from a normal signal value. The large number of sensors and individual monitoring of these devices provides a high sensitivity for accurate detection of flaws or defects in the rim of the bottle.