GB1384152A - Cap feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1384152 Feeding aerosol caps from irregular assemblage in a hopper to regular flow in a shoot; pneumatic conveying PNEUMATIC SCALE CORP 5 Oct 1972 46062/72 Headings BSA and B8S Aerosol caps (not shown) having a cylindrical body portion from which a reduced diameter stem coaxially extends, are deposited in a heap in a hopper 12 which is mounted at an inclination to the horizontal. The caps fall into cylindrical recesses 108 which are formed around the periphery of a member 14, which is mounted for continuous rotation in the hopper 12. The caps are carried round and upwards, and those which are not located stem upwards in respective recesses, 108 are blown back into the heap by air jets 128, 140, (Fig. 4) and 138 (Fig. 7), or are deflected into the heap by the action of members 130, 148, 152, and 160 (Fig. 2). A cam ring 112 acts on followers 120 which are respectively slidably mounted in the recesses 108. By this means the caps are lifted progressively upwards, and eventually out from the recesses 108. A deflecting member 150, a member 154 (see also Fig. 9), a member 158, and members 159 and 160 act in succession on the caps to turn them over into a position in which the axis of each cap lies radially relative to the direction of rotation with the stem pointing inwards. The caps are now conveyed onwards by the action of an air jet 166 (Fig. 10) carried by a bracket 168 (Fig. 2) and enter between members 182 and 188 (Fig. 13A) which form the beginning of a discharge path 162. The cross-section of this path is shown in Fig. 14, the body of the cap being disposed between guide rails 178 and 184 and the stem between rails 180 and 186. The stem rests on a turned over portion 192 of the rail 186. The caps are projected into the path 162 by the action of air jets 207 (Fig. 13A), 213 (Fig. 13C) and 215 (Fig. 13D). The caps are projected onwards along the path 162 by air jets issuing from a conduit 204 (Fig. 14). A gap is formed in the members 184 and 188 so that any caps which have their stems missing, are pushed out of the stream through the gap by the action of a spring (216) (Fig. 15, not shown). The caps remaining in the path 162 are turned through a right angle by the action of a helical guide section (218). If the hopper is loaded with too many caps, they deflect a member 224 (Fig. 2) which operates to switch off the drive of the member 14. A photo electric device 220 (Fig. 13A) also operates to shut off the machine if it detects an absence of regular flow of the caps.