GB236662A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for hermetically closuring or sealing cans and similar containers by soldering or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

236,662. Page, F. H. April 11, 1924. Sterilizing milk &c.- In apparatus ior hermetically sealing condensed milk tins or other containers in vacuo or in a gas such as carbonic acid or nitrogen, of the type in which the tins are automaticallv and continuously fed to and discharged from a vacuum &c. chamber, containing a revolving carrier and a rotary electric soldering-iron, by rotary inlet and discharge valves, the valves are of conical formation, the rotor having a flexible driving connection comprising sockets and pins and also a bore of larger diameter than its shaft so that the rotor is automatically adjusted relatively to the casing so as to ensure a tight working fit. The tins are placed in pockets 79 in a conical valve 69 which is rotated in a similarly shaped casing 68 having an inlet and outlet and provided with flanges 67 with packing gaskets 88 so that it may be hinged to the casing 2 of the vacuum chamber 3 to form a door and secured thereto by latches 89. The tins are transferred therefrom to a rotatable pocketed table 18 which presents then after traversing a long path to a soldering iron 48, and then to a finger 63 by which they are removed to a second rotating valve which ejects them on to a conveyer. The drive is communicated by chain gear to a chain wheel 8 which is connected by a spring-pressed clutch 12 to a shaft 9 so that the clutch may slip in the event of any of the driven parts binding. The shaft 9 drives through worm gear a shaft 15 which is connected by spur gear to the shafts 70 of the valves, which are suspended from and vertically adjustable in the covers 74. The drive from the shafts 70 to the valves is communicated by pins 72 engaging sockets 77 in the valves, the bore 78 of the valves being of greater diameter than the shafts so that they may centre themselves in the casing. The pockets have bell-crank ejectors 80 which are normally held in the position shown by spring-pressed plungers 82 and are operated by cams 85 on the cover. The table 18 is rotated by spur gear 16, 17 and is surrounded bv an adjustable retaining band 66. The soldering iron moves in a vertical elliptical path and also oscillates in an arc concentric with the path of the tins so that it is gradually moved downwardly into contact with the tin. travels therewith when it strikes the same and is gradually raised therefrom. When soldering in a gas, the tins are first transferred from a valve A<x>, Fig. 15, to a vacuum chamber 3<x>, are then transferred by a valve A‹ to the gas chamber 3‹, and from thence are ejected through a valve B<x>.