DE1577629C3 - Device for lining container closures with a sealing compound - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for lining container closures with a sealing compound, with a nozzle for the metered introduction of a predetermined amount of the lining mixture into a closure, a container for storing a supply of the liner mix and a heating device for maintaining a thin liquid state of the same, one below the nozzle arranged lining point, a device for feeding closures this and a device for removing the lined closures from it, a heated one Hardening furnace and a conveyor belt passed through it, as well as with conveying means for receiving lined fasteners from the liner site and placing them on the conveyor belt for the purpose of their passage through the hardening furnace.

In a known device of this type (US Pat. No. 2,442,179) the lining mixture is a plurality of dispensing nozzles through a manifold using fed by pneumatic pressure. With this device, however, can be used for the purposes

ίο the sealing and corrosion protection of the container closures Lining compounds have recently been used only with considerable difficulty process that with the inevitable occasional downtime of using these devices equipped systems occur and there is a need to remove the dispensing nozzles from to free the lining mixture then solidifying in it. Further difficulties arise by the temperature drop caused in the liner mix as it passes through the dispensing nozzles.

These difficulties can be overcome by the heating, which is already occasionally used to combat them the dispensing nozzle by means of an infrared lamp cannot be resolved in a satisfactory manner, since the infrared lamp also heated the closure to be coated, so that the mass when it touches the heated closure is supplied, flows and does not take the form that they had before reaching the hardening furnace target.

A device is known for heating the container for the lining compound (USA patent 2 313 750), which is withdrawn from the bottom of the container, but with the dispensing nozzles the same difficulties mentioned above can arise.

The same observation applies to another known device (U.S. Patent

2 412 138), which is used to spray a coating material onto a plurality of crown caps, which are then fed to a hardening furnace without a sealing material being applied here will.

A device for spraying a wax coating onto the inner walls of a metal can trained container is also known (USA.-Patent 2 359 838), in which the wax in a The trough is heated and the nozzle itself, which is not heated, for applying the coating directly above the trough sits. With its opening facing down, the container is used to spray the wax coating onto its Inner walls lowered onto the nozzle. For lining container closures with a sealing compound is this known device already because of the need for a coating from below The position of the object to be coated during the application process is not suitable.

The invention is based on the object of avoiding the aforementioned difficulties occurring in the known devices for lining container closures with a sealing compound and, in particular, of providing such a device in which the temperature of the lining compound can be precisely controlled between its supply and its application inside the is possible closure cap inevitable downtime of the plant containing the device not to _r Verstopfun filling gene of the application nozzle have a solidified mass therein

and, at the same time, the possibility of quick removal of the fully lined closures is ensured remains.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in a device for lining container closures of the type specified at the beginning, solved by a heating coil surrounding the nozzle, which is connected to the heating device of the container is connected and the lining mixture within the nozzle on substantially which maintains the temperature prevailing in the lining mixture in the container, and through a cooling device acting on the strand of the conveyor belt carrying the lined closures, which is arranged behind the hardening furnace.

A simple and expedient embodiment of the device uses a jacket of the container filling liquid heating medium that circulates in the jacket and through the nozzle heating coil.

A favorable influence on the lining process in terms of what happens after the coating decisive temperature conditions can be achieved in a simple manner that the upper Run of the conveyor belt runs through the furnace and its lower run is guided under the furnace as well as being isolated therefrom with the cooled front end of the upper run connected to the closure-lining station adjoins.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawing. In this indicates

F i g. Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the closure lining device according to the invention,

F i g. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the heated nozzle;

F i g. 3 is a plan view of a number of closure lining devices; operatively disposed around the improved curing device according to the invention, and

F i g. 4 shows a vertical section through the hardening device according to FIG. 3.

In Fig. 1 and 2 is the application of the lining compound consisting of a semi-liquid sealing material shown, which is housed in a container 1, which a heating jacket 2 surrounds. This in The liquid heating medium 3 contained in the jacket 2 is supplied by means of a suitable device, for example the heating coil 4, kept at a constant temperature. The purpose of this preheating is the lining compound to impart such a consistency that it is pumped through the line 5 into the nozzle 6 and there can be injected into the closure 7. With this particular arrangement for applying the mass the nozzle is held in a stationary position by an arm 8 attached to the table 9.

The closure 7 is by means of a rotating vacuum chuck, which consists of a at the top End of a rotating and vertically up and down shaft 14 attached elastic retaining seat 10 is lifted into a position just below the end of the fixed nozzle in order to be provided with lining compound to become. The lower end of the shaft 14 is connected to an actuating device, not shown, which serves to move the shaft 14 back and forth vertically in the bushing 16. The socket 16 and consequently also the shaft 14 are rotated by the ring gear 17, which is at 19 on the Bushing 16 keyed pinion 18 drives. Thus, the shaft 14 and the sleeve 16 rotate together, wherein the shaft 14 can be moved back and forth in the socket 16 at the same time.

The actuation and drive device for the closure holding chuck is interposed by Bearing elements 22 and 23 mounted in the socket attachment 20 of a housing 21 and by means of a lock nut 24 secured. The housing 21 provided with the table 9 has a removable access panel 25 that surrounds the retaining chuck and a continuation

ίο the table surface 9 forms. Through the retaining seat 10 air is sucked in through a bore 26, the bore extending through the upper part of the shaft 14 and is in communication with a channel 27 which extends laterally through the shaft 14 runs and is connected to a wall opening 28 of the socket 16. Through the socket approach 20 of the housing 21 and the bearing 22 extends a suction pipe 29, which with the wall opening 28 of the socket 16 is in communication. A rubber seal provided at the top of the socket 16 30 causes the seal against the shaft 14 to prevent suction air losses between the bushing and the shaft to avoid.

In operation, the shaft 14 and thus the seat 10 is continuously rotated while air is sucked in through the seat so that the shutter 7 is held thereon. As the shaft 14 rotates, will they also moved in the vertical direction, so that a held on the seat 10 shutter 7 on the Level of the plate 25 also brought up under the end of the nozzle 6 in the lining position becomes, as F i g. 2 shows. The nozzle 6 works electro-pneumatically. She is electric through a number Switch operated, in time coincidence with the upward movement of the seat 10, so that a predetermined amount of the sealant in the latch retained on the seat is injected as soon as the closure has reached the nozzle. After applying the lining compound in the closure the latter is brought back to its lower position and by the Retaining chuck removed.

According to the invention, the nozzle 6 and the semi-liquid lining compound located therein are by means of of a stationary heating element, which is shown in FIG. 1 and 2 and consists of a coil of copper tubing 31, which surrounds the nozzle 6 and is connected to the container jacket 2 by two lines 11 and 12 connected is. The passage of the heating medium 3 through the coil 31 is controlled by a pump 32 causes. An electrical heating coil could also be used as an alternative solution within the scope of the invention and electrical switching devices are used. The number of turns around the The nozzle can be raised so that it is essentially completely surrounded by it, if necessary. From greater It is important that the mass 13 in the nozzle 6 is kept at the constant temperature that is required for an optimally metered exit of the mass from the nozzle opening 33. the Mass is discharged from the nozzle in a relatively cool environment, so that after its application on the closure surface any inclination of the uncured seal 34 into the top of the Flow down the closure is delayed. This results in better control of the arrangement and contour of the seal in the finished closure. Another advantage of the stationary heater

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according to the invention is the prevention of overheating of the nozzle during temporary interruptions the operation of the shutter feeder. The temperature of the mass 13 in the nozzle cannot rise higher than the temperature of the S mass in container 1, since both are through the same thing Heating medium 3 are heated so that any possibility of hardening of the mass in the nozzle is eliminated is. It should also be ensured that the immediate vicinity of the nozzle is not heated, see above that it is not necessary to use heat-resistant rubber parts and lubricants. Also exists no risk of the operating personnel during operation, maintenance and cleaning of the Device can burn.

The next step in the closure manufacturing process involves moving the lined capsules into the curing oven, as shown in FIG. 3 and 4 can be seen. In this process step it has been found to be desirable to keep the lined closure relatively cool before it enters the furnace, since here, as with the actual lining, any heat effect exerted on the closure before it enters the furnace only flows further of the mass on the closure surface with the above-mentioned undesirable result. When the closure enters the furnace, its high temperature triggers the hardening reaction, whereby the shape of the seal is made permanently unchangeable. F i g. 3 shows a typical production plant in which several lining machines 35 a, 35 b and 35 c are arranged around a main conveyor 37 which carries the lined capsules 7 into the furnace. Each of the lining machines 35 a, 35 b and 35 c is shown for the purpose of illustration with a nozzle 6 and two transfer fingers 38, which remove the lined closure from the rotating holding chuck and bring it onto a short conveyor belt 39, which carries the lined closures on the main conveyor 37 drops. The fingers 38 reciprocate horizontally in the plane of the conveyor belts 39 and in time with the vertical movement of the seat member 10 so that they approach the conveyor belt when the seat 10 is level with the conveyor belt while it is off remove from the conveyor belt when the seat 10 is above its level.

The in F i g. The arrangement shown in FIG. 4 has a hardening furnace 40 with an input 41, an output 42 and insulated ceiling and floor walls 43 and 44. Behind the furnace 40 is a cooling chamber 45 arranged with an air inlet 46 and an air outlet 47. Also in operational connection with the Oven 40 is a front pulley 48, a rear drive roller 49 and two lower guide rollers 50 and 51 arranged. The conveyor belt marked 37 consists of an open metal mesh construction, which allows a relatively free passage of air and around the rollers 48, 49, 50 and 51 is guided so that only the upper run 52 passes through the furnace 40, while the lower Trumm 53 runs under the furnace and is separated from it.

In operation, the upper run 52 of the conveyor belt 37 conveys the lined closures through the oven 40, in which the closures and the mass through the conveyor belt to the high temperature be heated, which is necessary to trigger the hardening reaction in the mass, which thereby is permanently hardened. The seals provided with the seal are then removed from the oven 40 conveyed through the inlet 46 of the cooling chamber 45 in which relatively cool air around the closures and sweeps through the conveyor belt, which significantly lowers the temperature of both. The finished closures are then discarded from the end of the tape into a container 54. The lower Trumm 53 runs back under the furnace and is isolated from it, so that the conveyor belt is on his Cools down further. Thus, at the point in time further with uncured sealant lined fasteners are placed on the front end of the upper run 52, only very much little heat is present in the conveyor belt, which with its harmful effect is transferred to the closures can be. So the use of the cool ribbon arrangement enables one to be achieved high degree of uniformity of the contour and arrangement of the seal even with several lining devices, regardless of their distance from the furnace entrance.

From the preceding description it can be seen that on the one hand the new nozzle heater to a more precise seal inspection during the actual lining process and on the other hand the new oven conveyor belt arrangement is more accurate when using multiple lining nozzles Seal inspection enabled. These two improvements result in a method of sealing Closures in which the harmful influence of heat is kept to a minimum.

1 sheet of drawings

Claims (3)

Patent claims: 1. Device for lining container closures with a sealing compound, with a Nozzle for the metered introduction of a predetermined amount of the lining mixture into a closure, a container for holding a supply of the liner mix, and a heating device to maintain a thin liquid state of the same, one below the nozzle arranged lining point, a device for supplying closures to this and a device for removing the lined closures from you, a heated curing oven and a conveyor belt passed through it, as well as with Funding for picking up lined fasteners from the liner site and laying down the same on the conveyor belt for the purpose of passing them through the hardening furnace, characterized by a heating coil (31) which surrounds the nozzle (6) and which is connected to the heating device (4) of the container (1) and the lining mixture inside the nozzle (6) to substantially the temperature prevailing in the lining mixture in the container holds, and by one on which the lined closures (7) carrying strand (53) of the Conveyor belt (27) acting cooling device (45), which is arranged behind the hardening furnace (40) is. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized by a jacket (2) of the container (1) filling liquid heating medium (3), which in the jacket (2) and through the nozzle heating coil (31) running around. 3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the. Upper run (52) of the conveyor belt (37) passes through the furnace (40) and its lower run (53) under it the furnace (40) is guided and isolated from it, the cooled front end of the upper Trumms (52) adjoins the lock-lining station.