GB2116771A - Tubular plate filling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

On a tubular plate filling machine for the automatic production of tubular plates for lead accumulators, comprising a metering pump for injecting paste-like active mass through nozzles into the annular space between the tubular sheaths and the grid cores of a tubular plate disposed in a holder, there is provided, for the particular purpose of being able to also fill very long tubular plates with paste-like active mass, a store for tubular plates stacked therein and fitted with a feed device by means of which a respective tubular plate can be slid on to a swivel table (23, 24) disposed adjacent thereto. The tubular plate held on the swivel table is swivelled from its horizontal position into a vertical position below the nozzles (28) through which the paste-like active mass is injected. For this purpose, the nozzles are disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner. In the conveying direction behind the swivel table there are firstly a device for pressing-on base frame strips, then a welding station for welding the base-frame end strips to the sheaths, then a draining station, a weighing and control station, and finally a plate buffer store. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tubular plate filling machine The invention relates to a tubular plate filling machine for the automatic production of boxtype plates for lead accumulators, comprising a metering pump for injecting paste-like active mass through nozzles into the annular space between the tubular sheaths (covering tubes) and the grid cores of a tubular plate disposed in a holder.

A device is known from DE-AS 22 43 377 for filling the insulating electrolyte-permeable covering tubes which concentrically surround the adjacent lead cores of the box-like plates of lead accumulators by injecting paste-like active mass, consisting of a preparation container for the suspension, a metering pump located directly thereunder and connected by way of a sieve, an instantly openable valve member, a distributor with a plurality of nozzle orifices which can be mounted either in or over the ends of the tubes, and a holder for the covering tubes to be filled. In the known device, a disadvantage is that the active mass tends when in the paste feed hopper to segregate, so that different densities occur, which are noticed in the finished tubular plate to such an extent that the individual plate weights differ from each other.This means that different quantities of active mass and consequently capacity are present, and the individually produced batteries are not equivalent to each other. A particular drawback is that by virtue of the filling device, plates of different weights occur in the same battery, so that the danger exists of overloading the weakest plate, thus leading to premature battery failure.

A further drawback in the case of the known device is that the filling operation itself is carried out with the unfilled tubular plate in a horizontal position in the machine. For this reason, the length of plate which can be filled is limited, even when using especially high pressures, and it is impossible to fill long tubular plates (e.g. of 2 m length). Moreover, the high pressures which have to be used favour the undesirable squeezing-out of water from the suspension, so that quality differences occur over the length of the tube.

In the known filling device, after carrying out the injection operation, it is necessary to slide the base frame strip on to the tubular plate by hand. This is an operation which is very difficult to carry out and correspondingly costly, because the base frame strip must both centrally receive the lead cores of each individual tube with an exact fit, and they must also be inserted by way of their corresponding appendices into the tubes themselves. The lead core which necessarily projects from each individual tube in this system prevents automation of the operation. Consequently, the subsequent washing, weighing and buffer-storage must be disadvantageously also carried out separately.In order to prevent incrustations forming in the totally open machine system, cleaning operations and service work must be carried out, these being labourintensive, leading to loss of active mass, and causing shut-downs.

In consideration of this state of the art, the object of the invention is to provide a fully automatically operating tubular plate filling machine which obviates the aforesaid drawbacks, and by means of which even very long tubular plates can be filled with pastelike active mass in a simple and qualitatively reproducible manner, and made complete.

The object is attained according to the invention in that on a store for.unfilled tubular plates which are stacked therein, there is disposed a feed device by means of which a respective tubular plate can be slid on to an adjacently disposed swivel table on which the retained tubular plate can be swivelled from its horizontal position into a vertical position below the nozzles, the nozzles being disposed so that they can be raised and lowered, and there being disposed in the conveying direction behind the swivel table firstly a device for pressing-on base frame strips, then a welding station for welding the base frame strips to the tubular plate sheaths, then a dripping station, a weighting and control station, and finally a plate buffer store.

The overall concept according to the invention therefore consists of a store in which unfilled tubular plates are disposed in layers one on the other, and which by passing through six series-disposed stations each tubular plate is filled with active mass, it is then sealed by means of a base frame end strip, the base frame end strip is then welded to the sheaths, the wet plate is given the possibility of draining, it is then weighed and is slid into a plate buffer store. In this respect, during each cycle six plates are simultaneously conveyed into the respective next station of the tubular plate filling machine. When the conveying terminates, the operations described heretofore take place simultaneously in the individual stations. High productivity is attained by means of the fully automatic operating procedure.By filling the individual tubular plates in a perpendicular position, the pastelike active mss can be injected free of any shrink holes even in the case of very long plates, and the danger of metering errors is reduced. The plate weight of each individual plate is controlled fully automatically, and the facility is provided for the machine to shut down on metering errors. Because of the fully automatic operating procedure, the tubular plate filling machine according to the invention can be enclosed, so that in asociation with a closed paste conveying system it can be constructed in an environmentally accept able manner.

A machine frame with three planes disposed spaced-apart one above the other is desirably provided, of which the middle plane is the operating plane, and on which the individual stations of the system are formed, with the auxiliary machine units being distributed on the other two planes. This allows overall an extremely compact machine to be attained, and the transportation between the individual stations to be constructionally simplified.

The tubular plate store comprises an outlet slot which faces the swivel table and is disposed in the operating plane, there being disposed perpendicular at both ends of it guide strips in the form of wedge-shaped axially mobile square-section bars, which serve for the reliable centering and guiding of the plate movement on to the swivel table.

The plate feed from the store is accomplished by means of a pneumatically operated slider which can be moved forwards and backwards.

The swivel table consists preferably of two table plates which are mobile relative to each other and disposed one above the other, are held in the machine frame such that they can swivel, and can be moved by means of a pneumatic cylinder from the horizontal position into a vertical position below the nozzles.

The table plates are desirably covered on their inner surfaces with silicon rubber mats which are shaped to correspond to the tubular plate and serve both for reliable retention of the plate and for preventing water escaping from the covering tubes with paste particles floating in it. The avoidance of material loss and escape of liquid also favours the object of being able to fill longer tubes with paste-like active mass without the addition of flowing aids.

The relative movement of the table plates is preferably carried out by means of corresponding fixed parallelogram levers, which are connected to a pneumatic cylinder. In addition, the upper table plate can be provided on both sides with rows of screws for increasing the retention of the tubular plates, in particular against displacement when in the vertical position. This is noticeable because on applying the lowerable nozzles, a vertical force is exerted on the retained tubular plate. The same force is noticeable when raising the nozzles at the end of the injection operation.

For the purposes of uniform movability, the nozzles themselves are disposed on a nozzle bar which is connected by flexible hoses to the piston pump. The stroke and time of operation of the cylinder pertaining to the piston pump are adjustable in order to be able to fill very differing plate sizes in a simple manner. During the suction stroke of the piston pump, a rotary sieve operates in order to prevent blockages, and is disposed in the line leading to the paste mixer. The movement of the nozzle bar is effected by means of a connected compressed air cylinder.

A likewise very advantageous innovation of the automatic tubular plate machine according to the invention consists of the fact that a store for base frame end strips is disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the machine frame above the operating plane, and when in its lower position a push-on device is operationally associated with it. The push-on device desirably consists of a plate which is disposed in a swivel-mounted manner behind the store, and a compressed air cylinder disposed below the operating plane and connected to the automatic control system in order to operate the plate. The plate is provided with a row of ejection pins, so that the respective most lower base frame end strip in the store can be pushed on to the paste-filled tubular plate fully automatically in a simple manner.In the next operating station, the base frame end strips are then welded to the sheaths of the tubular plates, preferably by means of an ultrasonic welding apparatus, which is disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the machine frame, and is connected for this purpose to a compressed air cylinder.

As the necessary draining of the tubular plates filled in this manner is successfully carried out in a vertical position, in a desirable embodiment of the tubular plate filling machine according to the invention, it is proposed to provide a corresponding turning device. This consists of a swivel-mounted table plate which holds the plate laid horizontally thereon, and on operation by means of a pneumatic cylinder moves it into a vertical position in which it is held in the machine frame by its plate lugs. Preferably, in the table plate there is provided an oblong hole through which a plate slider which can be moved forwards and backwards parallel to the operating plane passes, and is mobile by means of its own pneumatic cylinder. The plate slider moves the plate out of the swivel range after it has been brought into the upright position.

Conveying into the weighing and control station is carried out with the end of a gripper bar. The plate lugs are disposed therein on shaped members which are connected by way of a linkage to a weighing machine. This checks whether the actual weight lies within the set tolerances, and allows the next automatic start to take place.

The conveying system provides for simultaneous conveying operations of the tubular plates lying in the longitudinal stations to the next respective processing station, so that a continuous procedure takes place in the form of an automatic cycle. The conveying system consists substantially of two gripper bars which are disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the operating plane of the machine frame parallel and spaced-apart from each other, and their recesses hold the plate lugs for conveying purposes. The gripper bars are moved axially forwards and backwards by means of a connected pneumatic cylinder.

The raising and lowering is preferably carried out by parallel-disposed rotatable round rods comprising pins by means of which the rotational movement of the rods can be transmitted to the gripper bars by way of engaging blocks so that a lifting movement takes place thereat. The engaging blocks, to which the gripper bars are fixed, can be connected by flat steel bars to the opposing round rods. Two parallel-disposed angular thrust pieces are connected to the flat steel bars by screws which are adjustable in height.

The angular thrust pieces participate in the lifting and axial movement of the gripper bars.

The downwardly bent arms of the angular thrust pieces effect the conveying of the plates into the buffer storage station.

All drive means such as pneumatic cylinders are connected into an integrated control unit, and their operation is sequentially synchronised during the cycle.

Further details, characteristics and advantages of the tubular plate filling machine according to the invention will be apparent from the description given hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the single figure represents a perspective view of the overall machine.

The illustrated tubular plate filling machine consists overall of seven operating stations which operate in the machine frame on the middle operating plane, the auxiliary units being disposed above or below the middle operating plane of the machine frame according to the device concerned. The first operating station is a supply store I which is filled with about 30 unfilled tubular pltes stacked one on the other. The tubular plates consist of the grid with lead cores, over which tubular sheaths of electrolyte-permeable material are slid.

The next operating station is the filling station II, in which the annular spaces between the lead cores and sheaths of each tubular plate are filled with paste-like active mass by means of an injection operation.

After this, the base frame end strips are pushed on to the tubular plates in the strip push-on station Ill, and these become sealed thereby at the bottom.

The seal is ensured in the subsequent welding station IV by means of an ultrasonic welding apparatus. This is followed by the draining station V, the weighing and control station Vl, and the plate buffer storage station VII. Seven plates are simultaneously handled during each cycle, and are then fed from station to station.

The conveying system provided for this is described at the end of the description.

The machine frame consists of square-section beams 56, which are welded together to form three support planes for the individual parts of the device, the central being the operating plane. This is substantially formed from two square-section beams 57, 58 disposed spaced-apart parallel to each other.

On the side shown to the right in the drawing, these support a box-shaped plate store 21, in which unfilled tubular plates, not shown, are stacked one above the other. The lowest tubular plate is shown by dashed lines on the drawing. The plate store 21 is provided in a position facing the adjacently disposed swivel table with a lot 22, through which a respective tubular plate can be slid out. This conveying operation is effected by the pneumatic cylinder 19 which is disposed below the operating plane, and to which a store blade 20 disposed in the operating plane is fixed, its front end being adapted to the shape of the grid, and which pushes the respective most lower tubular plate out of the plate store 21 through the slot 22 into the swivel table gap 25 formed by table plates 23 and 24 which are disposed facing each other.

Wedge-shaped inclined square-section bars 26 are fitted in front of the gap in the plate store 21, in order to centre the plate pockets.

As the suspension lugs 13 which project beyond the overall dimensions of the plate pocket pass by, the square-section bars 26 rise, and then fall again after the passing.

The swivel table formed by the table plates 23 and 24 is shaped in such a manner as to retain the inserted tubular plates. For this purpose, the table plates 23 and 24 are connected together by means of parallelogram levers 59 and are connected to a pneumatic cylinder 60. This moves the table plates 23 and 24 together, these being provided on their inner surfaces with shaped silicon rubber mats which tightly enclose the tubular plate disposed therebetween. After this, the swivel table is swivelled into the upright position in accordance with the arrow on the drawing by means of a pneumatic cylinder 27. It then lies below a nozzle bar 28.

The nozzle bar comprises a number of nozzles equal to the number of pockets, and connected by means of flexible hoses 31 to a reciprocating pump 30. The nozzle bar 28 can be raised and lowered by means of a pneumatic cylinder disposed above but not shown on the drawing. After lowering the nozzle bar 28 into the open tube ends of the plate, the cylinder 29 pertaining to the reciprocating pump pumps paste-like active mass by way of the reciprocating pump 30 through the flexible hoses 31 into the tubular plate pockets 32. The stroke of the cylinder 29 can be exactly set by means of a hexagonal nut 33 and a spacer tube 34, so that it can be adapted to different plate sizes. After a time period which can likewise be set, the cylinder 29 travels back. During this suction stroke, a rotary sieve 35 integrated into the feed line to the paste mixer operates.Ready prepared paste of the required viscosity is fed from the mixer to the rotary sieve 35.

In this upright filling position, an axial force is exerted on the clamped tubular plate by virtue of the pushing-in and pulling-out of the nozzle bar. In order to lock the plate against displacement, screws 36 are provided in the table plate 24, which slide behind the grid so that the plate cannot slide downwards. The further provided screws 37 comprise points which when pressed between the tube crosssections prevent the plate from rising when the nozzle bar moves upwards.

After the nozzle bar has travelled upwards, the pneumatic cylinder 27 again pulls the swivel table into the horizontal position, and the tubular plate, which is freed on opening the table plates 23 and 24, is slid out into the next station. In this, a store 38 for base frame end strips which are stacked one above the other is fixed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the machine frame above the operating plane. The formation of the store 38 is such that the base frame end strips located therein are exactly guided laterally so that they slide under the force of gravity. The most lower strip lies on pins 39. After lowering the store 38 by means of a pneumatic cylinder 40, the respective most lower strip lies exactly in front of the pocket end of the filled tubular plate 41.A plate 43 is swivel-suspended on the store, and is provided lowerly with a row of ejection pins 44, and on it when in the lowered position there acts a pneumatic cylinder 42 which is not shown on the drawing.

This pushes against the plates 43, so that the pins 44 push the bottom base frame end strip out of the store, and force it firmly on to the end of the plate. As can be seen, the pins 44 are disposed slightly above the retention pins 39, and are able to penetrate the store. The pneumatic cylinders 42 and 40 move back into their initial position one after the other.

The tubular plate filled in this manner is then moved along the operating plane into the operating station IV, in which an ultrasonic welding apparatus 46 is fixed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the upper region of the machine frame. The movement is effected by means of a pneumatic cylinder 45, which in order to effect the welding operation lowers the ultrasonic welding apparatus 46 until it is in the correct position for welding the base frame end strip to the plate sheaths. The pneumatic cylinder then returns to its initial position.

Drainage of the tubular plate takes place in station V. In order to effect this, it is moved by means of a turning device from its horizontal position into a vertical position. For this purpose, a table 50 is fixed to the machine frame in the operating plane so that it can swivel in the direction of the arrow, the swivel movement being effected by means of a pneumatic cylinder 49. A plate slider 47 passes through an oblong hole 61 in the table 50, and can move axially by means of a pneumatic cylinder 48. In station V, on starting, the plate slider 47 is moved by means of the pneumatic cylinder 48 towards the right on the drawing. On conveying the tubular plates towards the left, the pneumatic cylinder 49 raises the table 50, and immediately lowers it again when the plates have reached their new stations.In this manner, the plate 51 disposed thereon is moved from its horizontal position into a vertical position, and can drain on its way to the next station Vl, i.e. the weight and control station.

In station Vl, the filled plate is weighed. For this purpose, shaped pieces 15, on which the suspension lugs lie, are connected by a linkage 52 to a weighing machine 53. The weighing machine checks whether the actual weight lies within the set limits 54, and only then allows the next automatic start to take place.

The stored plates can then be removed from station VII.

The conveying system is so formed that in order to convey plates of different lengths, only the fixing of the fork head of the cylinder 19 in station I has to be changed. This gives great flexibility, because in order to changeover for example to shorter types of plates, only two bolts 55 have to be re-inserted into those holes 62 which correspond to the respective plate length.

When the automatic cycle is started, round rods 3 disposed parallel to and on the inside of the beams 57 and 58 are slid towards the right by means of a bracket under the action of a pneumatic cylinder 1 at the left hand end of the machine frame. Gripper bars 7 are connected to the round rods by way of engaging blocks 4 and 5 and flat steel bars 6, and are also disposed likewise on the inside of and parallel to the beams 57 and 58 just above the operating plane of the machine frame.

During the feed operation, a pneumatic cylinder 8 rotates the round rods 3, so that by means of pins 9 fixed to the round rods 3, the engaging blocks 5 and the gripper bars 7 fixed thereto are raised. Angular thrust pieces 11 are connected to the conveying system by means of height-adjustable screws 10, and are also raised during the described cycle.

When the pneumatic cylinder 1 has moved completely outwards, the gripper bars 7 are lowered by means of the pneumatic cylinder 8, and the claws 12 formed therein grip over the lugs 13 of the tubular plates lying in the individual stations. When the cyinder 1 undergoes its return stroke, six plates are simultaneously conveyed into the respective next station. As the screws 10 are not rigidly connected to the flat steel bars 6, during the return stroke the angular thrust pieces 11 can be raised by means of the rod 16 and shaped plate 17 over the plate suspended from the weighing station, whereas the flat steel bars 6 remain lowered.

The tubular plate 14 suspended in the draining station V is not conveyed by means of claws, but by means of the end of the plate slider 47. Further conveying into the buffer storage station is effected by means of the angular thrust pieces 11, which are kept raised by means of the rods 16 and shaped plates 17 until the weighing station 15 has been passed. After lowering the rods 16, the angular pieces 11 slide the weighed plate into the plate buffer store 18.

All movements are coordinated, and are operationally linked to each other by means of a central control system. When the pneumatic cylinder 19 has again withdrawn into its initial position, all the described operations in the individual stations cease. After all operations have ceased, the gripper bars 7 rise, and the machine again attains its rest position.

Overall, by means of the automatic tubular plate filling machine a high productivity is possible, with high versatility by being able to change-over to different types of plates. The machine is easily serviceable, and produces a constant quality of box-type plate by virtue of the filling without shrink holes, and a uniform filled weight. This is ensured by a 100% control in the automatic weighing and control station. If required, it is also possible to further facilitate the filling of the paste by knocking, shaking, vibrating or striking with ultrasonic waves. Finally, the machine operates with high profitability and productivity.

Claims (26)

1. A tubular plate filling machine for the automatic production of tubular plates for lead accumulators, comprising a metering pump for injecting paste-like active mass through nozzles into the annular space between the tubular sheaths and the grid cores of a tubular plate disposed in a holder, characterised in that on a store (21) for unfilled tubular plates which are stacked therein, there is disposed a feed device (20) by means of which a respective tubular plate can be slid on to an adjacently disposed swivel table (24, 25) on which the retained tubular plate can be swivelled from its horizontal position into a vertical position below the nozzles (28), the nozzles (28) being disposed so that they can be raised and lowered, and there being disposed in the conveying direction behind the swivel table firstly a device for pressing-on base frame strips (station Ill), then a welding station (IV) for welding base frame strips to the sheaths, then a draining station (station V), a weighing and control station (station VI), and finally a plate buffer store.

2. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that a machine frame (56) is provided with three planes disposed spaced-apart one above the other, of which the middle plane is the operating plane, and on which the individual stations (I-VII) of the systems are formed, with the auxiliary machine units being distributed on the other two planes.

3. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the tubular plate store (21) comprises an outlet slot (22) which faces the swivel table (23, 24) and is disposed in the operating plane, there being disposed perpendicular at both ends of it guide strips (26, 27) in the form of wedge-shaped bevelled axially mobile square-section bars, and in that the plate feed from the store (21) is accomplished by means of a pneumatically operated slider (20) which can be moved forwards and backwards.

4. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the swivel table (23, 24) is formed from two table plates (23, 24) which are mobile relative to each other and disposed one above the other, are held in the machine frame (56) such that they can swivel, and can be moved by means of a pneumatic cylinder (27) from the horizontal position into a vertical position below the nozzles (28).

5. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the table plates (23, 24) are covered on their inner surfaces with silicon rubber mats which are shaped to correspond to the tubular plate.

6. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claims 4 and 5, characterised in that the table plates (23, 24) are connected together by means of parallelogram levers (59) which for opening and closing purposes are connected to a pneumatic cylinder (60).

7. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the upper table plate (24) is provided on both sides with rows of screws (36, 37) in order to retain the tubular plate.

8. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the nozzles (28) are disposed on a nozzle bar which is connected by flexible hoses (31) to the piston pump (30).

9. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that the stroke and operating time of the cylinder (29) pertaining to the piston pump (30) can be adjusted.

10. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claims 8 and 9, characterised in that during the suction stroke of the piston pump (30) there operates a rotary sieve (35) which is disposed in the line to the paste mixer.

11. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 8 to 10, characterised in that the nozzle bar can be raised and lowered by means of a compressed air cylin der.

12. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 11, characterised in that a store (38) for base frame end strips is disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner in the machine frame (56) above the operating plane, and when in its lower position a push-on device is operationally associated with it.

13. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 12, characterised in that the push-on device consists of a plate (43) which is disposed in a swivel-mounted manner behind the store (38), and a pneumatic cylinder (42) disposed below the operating plane and connected to the automatic control system in order to operate the plate (43).

14. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 12, characterised in that the plate (43) is provided with a row of ejection pins (44).

15. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 14, characterised in that in the machine frame (56) there is disposed in a raisable and lowerable manner above the operating plane an ultrasonic welding apparatus (46) with which base frame end strips and sheaths can be welded together.

16. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 15, characterised in that the welding apparatus (46) can be raised and lowered by means of a pneumatic cylinder (45).

17. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 16, characterised in that the draining station (V) is provided with a device for moving the horizontally lying tubular plates into a vertical position.

18. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 17, characterised in that the turning device consists of a swivel-mounted table plate (50) with which a pneumatic cylinder (48) engages.

19. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claims 17 and 18, characterised in that a plate slider (47) mobile forwards and backwards parallel to the operating plane passes through an oblong hole (61) in the table plate (50), and can be operated by a pneumatic cylinder (49).

20. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 19, characterised in that in the weighing and control station (6) there are disposed shaped members (15) on which the suspension lugs lie, and which are connected by way of a linkage (52) to a weighing machine (53).

21. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 20, characterised in that the operating plane of the machine frame is formed substantially from two frame beams (57, 58) disposed spaced-apart from each other, and between which there is disposed a conveying device which feeds the tubular plates from the second to the seventh operating station, and consists of raisable and lowerable axially mobile gripper bars (7).

22. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 21, characterised in that the gripper bars (7) are raisable and lowerable by means of rotatable round rods (3) disposed parallel thereto, and comprising pins (9) which transfer the rotary movement to entraining blocks (4, 5) which are disposed on the gripper bars (7).

23. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in claim 22, characterised in that the entraining blocks (5) are connected transversely to each other by means of flat steel bars (6), of which the lifting movement can be transferred to angular thrust pieces (11) which lie thereon and are firmly connected thereto, and undertake the cyclic conveying of the plates into the buffer storage station.

24. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 23, characterised in that the conveying system can be operated by means of a pneumatic cylinder (1).

25. A tubular plate filling machine as claimed in one of claims 1 to 24, characterised in that all drives and operating sequences are functionally linked together by- means of an electric control unit.

26. A plate filling machine substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.