GB777929A - Improvements in or relating to bottling machines - Google Patents

Abstract

777,929. Bottling. SNELLING (LONDON), Ltd., L. C. Sept. 1, 1954 [Sept. 10, 1953], No. 25059/53. Class 125(2). [Also in Group XVIII] Relates to filling valves for bottling machines in which a measured quantity of liquid is withdrawn from a reservoir 1 and discharged into the bottle, the filling being effected under counter-pressure and the various valves being actuated by relative movement between the bottle and the reservoir. Each valve, Fig. 1, comprises a mounting 2 in which slides a tube 5 having a depending extension 10 entering a bottle and provided with discharge orifices 12. An abutment 8 provided with a gasket 24 is fixed on the tube 10 and the tubes 5 and 10 are urged downwards by a spring 9. Slidably mounted on the tube 10 is a bottle bell 14 suspended from a piston 20 slidable on tube 10, the bell being urged downwardly by a spring 25. The tube 5 is extended upwardly by a tube 40 having a downwardly turned end 47 abutting a gasket 46. fixed to the upper side of mounting 2 is a container 30 communicating with the gas space of the reservoir through a tube 31 and with the liquid space through orifices 32 closed by valves 33. Normally a gasket 15 in the bell 14 closes the orifices 12. In operation a bottle is moved upwardly relative to the reservoir and contacts the bell 14 which is raised to clear the orifices 12. Carbon dioxide can then flow from the reservoir through a needle valve 43 and down tubes 40, 5 and 10 to displace air from the bottle while the bell and piston are moved up on the tube 10 until the piston top meets the gasket 24. The bell and its cylinder 18 are then moved up on the piston 20 compressing the spring 25 and then the tubes 40, 5 and 10 are moved up against the spring 9. During this motion, the end 47 of tube 40 is first lifted off gasket 46 and counter-pressure flows down tubes 40, 5 and 10 into the bottle. Further upward movement causes arms 34 on tube 40 to close valves 33 and then an aperture 6 in tube 5 enters the container 30 and liquid from the latter flows down tubes 5 and 10 into the bottle. Displaced gas passes up a narrow tube 48 and through end 47 into the reservoir. As the bottle is lowered, aperture 6 passes into the mounting 2 and then valves 33 open by gravity and the container 30 fills again. Next the cylinder 18 moves down relative to piston 20 so that the headspace of the bottle snifts into the chamber formed thereby. Finally gasket 15 closes the orifices 12. The liquid flows into container 30 until its level in tube 31 equals the level in the reservoir. By changing the level in the reservoir, the measured quantity may be altered. In a filling machine, Figs. 2 and 4, a feed conveyer 209 feeds a line of bottles spaced by a star wheel 211 in front of a pusher bar 212 which is moved by hydraulic cylinders 214 to push the bottles on to supports 202. A line of filling heads 204 and a reservoir 205 carrying them are then lowered on to the bottles, the weight being enough to operate the filling valves and to depress the supports against springs 208. The reservoir and heads are then raised again and the pusher bar 212 is moved to the right, Fig. 2, by a hydraulic cylinder 216 to clear succeeding bottles fed by conveyer 209. Bar 212 is then moved outwardly by cylinders 214 and then to the left again to its original position. The filled bottles are pushed on to a discharge conveyer 210 by the empty bottles advanced by bar 212 at the start of the next cycle, The reservoir is lowered by hydraulic cylinders 218 and all the parts are synchronized. According to the Provisional Specification the measuring containers are dispensed with. Specification 777,930 is referred to.