GB600074A - Improvements in machines for capping milk bottles - Google Patents

Abstract

600,074. Capping bottles. ENOCK, A. G. May 3, 1946, No. 6972/45. [Class 125(ii)] In a milk bottle capping machine of the type in which the caps are withdrawn from a magazine by a suction head and transferred to the bottle mouth for sealing thereover, skirted caps stacked in detachable magazines are withdrawn therefrom by a suction head and transferred pneumatically to a position above the bottle mouth, the caps in the magazine being fed upwards by a plunger carried by a spindle raised by friction grips engaging the spindle, movement being transmitted to the friction grips through a vertical rod connected at its lower end through levers to the grips. The invention is shown applied to a rotary machine provided with three bottle receiving pedestals A mounted on a rotary table A6 which also carries a. central pedestal A7 rotating therewith. The pedestal A7 supports a carrier C5 for the three capping heads C, the machine having a single capping position into which each pedestal A and its corresponding head C is rotated in turn. The skirted caps I are stacked in a detachable magazine D on a plunger D<1> adapted to be moved upwards as the supply of caps diminishes. A cap is transferred from the magazine to the capping position as the machine rotates to bring a head C into position for capping by a suction head E<1> controlled by a slide E carrying rollers e engaging cam tracks E2 mounted on the carrier C<5>. The upper end of the slide E carries a transverse shaft j<1> which engages the forked end of one arm of a lever J<1> which carries an arm J connected to a slide j adapted, as the slide E and suction head E<1> are raised, to be moved over the mouth of the magazine. As a bottle B approaches the capping position, the slide E and suction head El are raised and simultaneously the bottle contacts a lever G, Fig. 3, on a vertical shaft g to cause this shaft to rotate and open a piston valve g<3> in the vacuum cylinder G<1> and so apply suction to the head El through the pipe e4, Fig. 5. The suction applied to the head E<1> raises a cap 1 from the magazine D and a brush or brushes, Figs 8 and 9 (not shown), may be provided to engage the skirt of the cap as it leaves the magazine and so prevent more than one cap being lifted at a time. On a capping head C reaching the position to receive a cap, an arm A<2> on a sleeve M carried by the pedestal A7 contacts the arms G<2> of the lever G and moves same so as to close the valve g<3>, thereby shutting off the vacuum and allowing the cap in the head El to drop on to the slide j which, as previously described, has been moved over the mouth of the magazine. A jet of compressed air from a nozzle L then blows the cap through a chute 11 into a recess l<2> in the capping head. The skirt of the cap is then moulded around the mouth of the bottle by the depression of a resilient ring C<4> by a member C3, itself depressed by a plunger C<1> through a ball C2. As the magazine D is emptied, the spindle D<2> of the plunger D<1> is gradually raised by a pair of friction grips K, Fig. 7, pivoted together at k<6> and to a stationary crosshead K<1> at k<7>. In operation, the left hand grip K is raised by a catch lever k connected to one end of a link k<1> itself connected to the lower end of a rod J<2>, the upper end of which is connected to the arm of the lever J<1>, Fig. 5, remote from that which engages the transverse shaft j<1> on the vertically movable slide E. As the rod J<2> is raised, a roller k<8> at the upper end of catch k presses against an inclined stop k<9> and the catch is thereby disengaged from the left hand grip K and the pressure of the grips on the spindle D<2> is released thus permitting the spindle and its plunger to remain stationary during the further movement of the rod J<2>. The plunger and spindle are prevented from falling by adjustable friction pads k<2> on a rod k<5> passing through a slotted cylinder k3 and through a disc screwed on the lower end of the spindle D2.