GB1234773A - Improvements in apparatus for use in filling internally sterile containers with sterile liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

1,234,773. Filling sterilized containers. REED CORRUGATED CASES Ltd. 22 Aug., 1968 [24 May, 1967], No. 24094/67. Heading B8C. A container comprising a sealed inner polyethylene film bag, which has been internally sterilized by irradiation and is located within an outer casing of sheet cardboard or corrugated board, is filled by inserting a flattened sealed flexible inlet tube thereof, e.g. of nylon, into a supporting conduit wherein the tube is sealed by clamping means, a sealed outer end of the tube is severed by a cutter and, after opening the end of the severed tube, a filling nozzle is then enaged therewithin and, after sterilizing the inlet end of the tube, e.g. by pressurized steam delivered from the nozzle, the clamping means is released and the container filled, e.g. with sterile milk, from the nozzle, whereafter the inlet tube is heat sealed and is then severed. In a preferred embodiment, the inlet tube 7 is supported during filling by a block 4, which is vertically reciprocable into engagement with the filling nozzle 11, within a bore 5 whereof the supporting conduit, comprising a cylindrical rubber sleeve 6, is provided. The tube clamping means comprises pneumatically actuated jaws 8 which act on the sleeve 6, the resulting transverse extension whereof is accommodated within an enlarged portion 9 of the bore 5. The tube 7 is fed in collapsed condition into the bore 5 by a guide shoe 21 provided with an inturned tube engaging flange (22), Fig. 4 (not shown), whereby the initial flattened configuration of the tube 7 is transformed into a semicircular configuration with the concave surface thereof symmetrically aligned towards a cutter blade 15 which, together with an anvil 16, is carried by the block 4 for reciprocation by pneumatic means into tube cutting engagement. During the cutting operation, the tube 7 is supported in the upper portion of bore 5 by suction applied to orifices 14 of tube 6 around the circumference thereof, and the tube 5 is thereafter opened for engagement with the nozzle 11 by additionally applying an air blast from a jet 20 carried by the cutter carriage 17, After sterilizing and filling the container, the heat sealing and severing, preferably between spaced heat seals, is performed by means (not shown) located beneath the block 4, and the system is then flushed with water delivered through the steam inlet tube in the nozzle 11. In alternative embodiments the rubber tube 6 may extend only over the region of the clamps 8; the suction means for supporting and holding the tube open adjacent the filling nozzle may comprise relatively movable devices mounted for movement with or independently of the cutter means and which also perform the tube opening function; the tube may be opened by adhesion to the cutter means, e.g. if the tube has a natural electrostatic charge opposite to that of the blade and/or anvil; opening of the semicircular tube configuration may be facilitated by end flaps provided by a pair of converging cuts extending from the open end of the tube and which are made by the cutter; the cutter blade which severs the tube may be flat, pointed, or curved and may also act on the convex side of the flattened semicircular tube configuration; the sterilizing steam may be vented to the interior of the container.