GB875577A - Improvements in and relating to automatic machines for the return of empty bottles - Google Patents

Abstract

875,577. Article-delivery apparatus. WIEGANDT, K., and WIEGANDT, W. Jan. 22, 1960 [June 3, 1959], No. 2361/60. Class 27 A machine for receiving empty bottles on which a deposit has been paid comprises a conveyer 15 movable between a fixed upper position in which the bottle is received and a lower end position dependent on how full the collecting chamber is, and a device 24 for testing the dimensions of inserted bottles and, if the bottle is correct, bringing the conveyer and a deposit return device into operation. The conveyer, in its upper position, is held tilted upwardly by latches 19 engaging a pin 17 and is raised and lowered on slides 8 by a belt 10 wound on a motor-driven pulley 12 or passing over a small idler pulley to a motor-driven pulley arranged conveniently in the casing. In use, the customer opens a closure in the casing and places the bottle on the conveyer, the bottle setting spring-loaded feelers 24 arranged along its length so that a circuit is prepared through sets of contacts 25, 26. When the closure is closed, it is locked and the motor drives the pulley 12 so that the belt unwinds and allows the conveyer to descend under gravity. At the same time the deposit return device is operated. When a lever 20 on the conveyer reaches the bottom of the container or the top of the pile of bottles already in the container, the latches 19 are released and the conveyer tilts downwardly to deposit the bottle. The belt continues to unwind from the pulley 12 until it is fully unwound, when it winds up again in the opposite direction and takes the conveyer up with it. Rollers 29 on the conveyer engage cam surfaces 33 to tilt the conveyer back into receiving position and re-engage the latches 19 and the polarity of the motor is changed so that when it is next switched on it runs in the opposite direction and first of all unwinds the belt. Subsequently, the closure is unlocked to allow insertion of the next bottle. The electrically-operated parts may alternatively be operated by mechanical means. A bottle-receiving machine is also described in which an endless chain carrying a number of bottle compartments runs over sprocket wheels at the top of a casing and hangs freely down from the sprockets.