GB1421035A - Apparatus and method for pressure testing of containers - Google Patents

Abstract

1421035 Conveying bottles GLASS CONTAINERS CORP 2 Feb 1973 5382/73 Heading B8A [Also in Divisions G1 and G4] In a bottle testing machine, bottles are fed to a testing turret by means of a conveyer 2 having spring mounted guide rails 3, 3<SP>1</SP>, a worm gear 4 having spring mounted guide rails 5 and 6, and a star wheel 8, and are removed from the turret by a star wheel 12 and a conveyer 2 having spring mounted guide rails 16, 16<SP>1</SP>, leaking bottles being pushed on to a subsidiary conveyer 19 by a pusher 18. The turret comprises a support 44 mounted on a drive shaft 32 protected against broken glass by tubes 37, 38. A series of cells C is provided around the periphery of the turret, each cell being adapted to carry a bottle from star wheel 8 to star wheel 12, the bottle being pressure tested and optionally leak tested while being carried round by the turret. Each cell comprises a top wall 46, a rear wall 45, vertically movable side walls 47 a trap door base 48 and fixed base supports 66, 66<SP>1</SP>. The radially outward side of each cell is closed by a shield 28 except at a window in the shield adjacent star wheels 8, 12. Each side walls 47 normally rests on the base supports 66, 66<SP>1</SP>, but is raised adjacent the window to allow passage of the star wheels by means of a cam roller 59 running in a cam track 58, each wall being guided by means of a peg engaging grooves in adjacent rear walls 45 (Fig. 3, not shown). Each rear wall includes an arrangement of baffles 87 filled with copper wool to muffle the sound of an exploding bottle. The trap door base 48 is supported by links 71, 75 and is held in the closed position by a cam surface 43 in the vicinity of star wheels 8, 12. Away from the star wheels a spring 81 biases the trap door to the open position, but the links 71, 75 are such that the force exerted on the trap door by the pressure testing head 53 through the bottle maintains the trap door in the closed position. When a bottle bursts, the trap door is operated by spring 81, and the broken glass falls on to the bottom 35, 36 to be removed through door 25.