GB681804A - Improvements in vacuum filling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

681,804. Packing; bottling. PNEUMATIC SCALE CORPORATION, Ltd. Dec. 14, 1948 [March 26, 1948], No. 32338/48. Classes 94(i) and 125(ii) A vacuum operated filling machine includes a filling head 10 provided with a suction opening 12, Fig. 1, 122, Fig. 6, adapted for connection to a source of suction 16 and with a material inlet 14, Fig. 1, 124, Fig. 6, adapted for connection to a supply 26, Fig. 1, of fluent solid material, 128, Fig. 6, of liquid, means 47 for supporting a container in filling position with the aforesaid suction and material inlet opening in communication with the interior of the container, means engaging the lateral surface or surfaces of the mouth of the container below the upper end thereof for sealing the container against the filling head to permit the container to be evacuated and material to be drawn into the container through the material inlet opening by such vacuum, said sealing means including a plurality of plunger members 57 each having a resilient container-engaging member 50 in engagement therewith, and means including a cam 68 for actuating said plunger members to move said resilient container-engaging members into sealing engagement with the container, and control means 24 for controlling the operation of the vacuum. Side walls 32 depending from the filling head form, together with the container support 47 in its raised position, a suction chamber 30 to which suction may be applied, through a line 92, so that a vacuum externally of the container walls prevents them from collapsing. The line from the suction opening 12, Fig. 1, in the filling head leads through an overflow chamber 20 and a screen 37, and that from the suction opening 122, Fig. 6, in the filling head through an overflow chamber 132 and trap 134. In a modification of the embodiment of Fig. 1, a screen is provided on the filling head over the entrance to the suction opening 12. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91, comprises also a modification, Fig. 4a (Cancelled) wherein the sealing means comprises an inflatable annular rubber tube 140 fitted within an annular channel 142 in the lateral surface of the filling head 10 to engage the internal surface of the container. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.