GB473366A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for coating cans or like containers - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for internally coating cans or like containers comprises a tank for the coating material, a continuously movable conveyer disposed within the tank and formed to convey the cans in an inverted position, and means movable with the conveyer and operating on the cans in succession to flood the interior of the inverted cans with coating material from the tank, the excess material being permitted to drain from the cans during their passage on the conveyer through the tank. <PICT:0473366/III/1> <PICT:0473366/III/2> <PICT:0473366/III/3> <PICT:0473366/III/4> <PICT:0473366/III/5> <PICT:0473366/III/6> The apparatus shown comprises a turret section 1 and a draining section 3. The turret 4, 5, 6 may be rotated by a motor 19, or, when the motor circuit is broken, by the hand wheel 26, and is formed with a series of segmental pockets 41 to accommodate the cans which are to be coated. A ring 44, 52, forming part of the turret, supports the can conveyer which consists of blocks 46 pivotally connected by posts 47, the latter, besides extending upwards, also extending downwards to be engaged by recesses 45 in the turret ring. The segmental tank 29, 30 is heated, e.g. by steam, so that the thermo-plastic coating material is maintained in liquid form. Each of a series of guided nozzles or coating pipes 49, carried by the turret, is reciprocated vertically by contact of the roller 54 with the cam 55 and, an upward movement, passes through openings 48, 58 in the ring 44, and conveyer block 46 respectively, and into the can 38 which is centred by guide fingers 59. An arcuate manifold 65, supplied by a pump 108 and provided with a relief valve 117, is yieldingly forced upwards against the underface of the ring 42, by springs 74, and a ported valve rod 79 allows coating liquid to flow from the manifold to the nozzle, only when a can has depressed the rod 79 and the nozzle has been raised into the can. The cans enter the machine, by a canway 94, by gravity, and are guided on to the conveyer and positioned between the travelling posts 47 and within the pockets 41 of the turret. The canway 94 is provided with pivoted gates 96, 99, the latter operating to stop the machine in case <PICT:0473366/III/7> of a jam. When a can approaches the end 94a of the rail 94, it moves underneath a cam bar 103 and is thus forced downwardly to depress a valve rod 79 and allow coating liquid to pass to a nozzle 49, the can being positioned by the fingers 59. The cam bar 103 has a movable section 105 to allow of removal of a can for inspection, the coating supply to the particular nozzle then being automatically cut off. A heated draining section 123, 124 is in communication with the tank of the turret section, and the internally coated cans are guided therethrough in a circuitous path, the conveyer passing around idle sprocket discs 138, and are finally raised from the fingers 59 and ejected from the machine by curved rails 143. A steam-heated and heat-insulated main supply tank 148 contains a pump 151 delivering to the tank of the turret section, which latter includes an adjustable overflow pipe 155. Thermostats 160, 161 may be provided to ensure that the machine will not be started until the coating material in the main tank and in the turret tank is at the correct temperature.