IES20000981A2 - System for removing the trimming portions of a plastic blow-moulded bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

The trimming portion removal system is coupled to a bottle neck trimmer unit (1) provided with a vertical and rotary cutting head (5,8), and comprises a device (8) built-in under the cutting head (5,8) and provided with means (9-13) for removing a surplus dome (2b) previously trimmed from the bottle neck, and a subsystem (16-23) for collecting the successive trimmed domes (2b), that to the collection subsystem (16-23), in which a tray open (15) at the top and sliding horizontally under the head (5,8) collects it and a compressed air insufflator (16) takes it by way of a duct (19) to a hopper (22).

Description

The present invention relates to the severing of a parison blow-moulded plastic bottle and in particular to the ancillary operations out of the mould for the removal and collection of· the trimmings detached in severing.

Prior art Parison blow-moulded plastic bottles are subjected to a neck mouth severing process by which a surplus blowdome is cut off to leave an even surface at the mouth of the bottle in order to assure a tight seal with a threaded cap.

In an automatic machine for trimming off the surplus blow-dome, the bottle feed is synchronised with the surplus blow-dome cutting device, and the latter with the anchoring and alignment of the bottle neck under the cutting device, as well as with the removal of the surplus blow-dome from the cutting device. Lastly, the bottle is moved away from the cutting device and since it is intended for containing beverages, no waste piece or scrap of the trimmed surplus blow-dome should reach its interior. For this purpose the bottle neck trimming machines should be supplemented with a system of automatic removal and collection of the blow-dome after trimming by means of which the trimming portion is removed from the cutting device for transfer to a collection system, which takes it to an external trimming portion container.

US-5787772 describes a machine for trimming the neck of a bottle by means of a rotary cutting head with a blade that detaches the surplus blow-dome from the bottle and removes it afterwards by means of a vacuum attraction system above the bottle, by way of a central IE000981 passage in the head, depositing it fTE3!)S0-981 i-n a container.

Disclosure of the invention The object of the present invention is an automatic removal system for the blow-moulded plastic bottle neck surplus blow-dome, which has been previously trimmed by a cutting head in a·trimmer unit, as defined in claim 1.

The trimmed bottle blow-dome removal system according to the invention synchronizes the removal and collection of the successive trimmed blow-domes with the cutting device and with the bottle unitary feed system, these last two systems belonging to a prior patent application under the name of the same holder. The removal system ensures that none of the trimmed blowdomes ejected downwards may drop into the bottle from which it has been cut off or into the immediately following one, which will be set in place automatically under the cutting device after the displacement of the preceding bottle.

The trimmer unit incorporating the blow-dome removal system has a vertical cylindrical head provided with a cutting blade, which cuts off the whole dome first in a descending movement over the bottle neck, and in a subsequent ascending movement a holding member mounted on the actual head retains the trimmed blow-dome and then ejects the whole piece in a downward direction. The removal system also includes a collection subsystem, located between the cylindrical cutting and removal head, and a trimmer unit mechanism for positioning and aligning the bottle neck, and it collects the successive trimmed blow-domes, monitoring their passage through a collection duct in order to make sure that every blow-dome is removed from the trimmer machine. The removal system discriminates the cases of absence of a bottle under the cutting device, when the passage of a trimmed blow-dome is not detected. The trimmed blow-domes are recycled for IE000981 use as plastic material in a subsequent bo Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is the cross-sectional view of a bottle neck severing machine incorporating a trimming blow-dome removal system according to the invention.

Detained description of the preferred embodiment With reference to figure 1, there is shown a trimmer unit 1, a blow-moulded bottle or container 2 with a neck 2a positioned upwards by an individual feeder (not shown in the drawings) belonging to the trimmer unit 1, and a removal system 10 according to the invention, coupled to the trimmer unit 1. The bottle 2 has a coaxial dome 2b on the neck 2a remained after the moulding process, which has to be trimmed. The trimmer unit 1 also comprises a cam shaft 3 and a gripping mechanism 4 with two semicircular jaws 4a for securing and aligning the neck 2a, and a cylindrical vertical and rotary cutting head 5,8 which is situated under a horizontal table 7 of the trimmer unit 1. The horizontal movement of- the jaws 4a for closing them against the neck 2a and for opening them is synchronised with the action of the head 5,8 by means of the cam shaft 3.

The cutting head 5,8 comprises a cutting device 5 having a cylindrical central body 5a and a vertical plain cutting blade 6, fixed to the outside edge of the central body 5a. To sever the mouth of the neck 2a, the head 5,8 descends and the blade 6 is inserted and cuts a rim of the neck 2a. A side flat 14 on the cutting head has a shoulder that prevents the blow-dome from getting out of alignment during cutting.

The removal system 10 according to the invention comprises said rotary cutting head 5,8 having an removal device 8, and a subsystem 16-23 for collecting the IE000981 :4 successive trimmed blow-domes 2b, mounted oi|Egg^gf.rimmer unit 1 below the head 5,8.

The device 8 for detaching the trimmed blow-dome 2b from the neck, is coaxial with the cutting device 5, and comprises an expanding fork 9 which is inserted through the mouth of the dome 2b and holds it after cutting, a support disc 12 concentric with the central body 5a, which comes up against a bushing ll in the table in its upward movement, and an ejection plate 13, which comes up against the dome 2b in its downward movement prior to cutting and then ejects the cut off dome 2b secured by the fork 9b in an ascending movement. When the head 5,8 performs its ascending travel and the support disc 12 comes up against the bushing 11, the cutting device 5 continues its upward movement, and the ejector plate 13 removes the dome 2b held by the fork 9 to the collection system 16-23.

The collection subsystem 16-23 comprises a horizontally sliding collection tray 16 below the head 5,8, which has a rectangular section and is open at the top, a blow tube 17 attached laterally to the collection tray 16 in order to exert pressure and move it by means of an air cylinder 23 synchronised with the grip mechanism 4, a duct 19 for the trimmed domes 2b clasping the collection tray 16 telescopically, a funnel 20 coupled to the protruding end of the duct 19, an infrared or laser light sensor 21, which detects the passage of a dome through the funnel 20, and a hopper 22, which collects the domes 2b to deposit them in a crusher.

The blow tube 17 has a compressed air injector 18 at the free end to impel the trimmed domes 2b towards the duct 19. This is rectangular section like the tray 16 and its upper side extends above the tray 16, being fixed to the table 7 by way of vertical plain support plates 15 adjacent to the head 5,8. This prevents the dome 2b ejected from the head 5,8 from shooting upwards under the thrust of the compressed air supplied by tube 17. This upper face of the fixed duct 19 has a round centre hole IE000981 for the passage of the head 5,8 towards 2a of the bottle. By performing a back and forth movement, when the collection tray 16 moves back from the machine, it allows the head 5,8 to pass, which now descends to cut off the dome 2b, and after this cutting operation it returns to its position under the head 5,8 to collect the trimmed dome 2b before it is ejected by the head 5,8 in its ascending movement.

Claims (2)

1.- System for removing the trimming portions of a blow-moulded bottle neck, comprising: a vertical reciprocating movement cutting head, provided with a device for removing a surplus blow-dome previously trimmed from the bottle neck, wherein the removal device comprises means for retaining the trimmed blow dome on the cutting head, and means for ejecting the retained blow dome operating during a vertical movement of the cutting head; a subsystem for collecting the successive bottle neck blow-domes ejected from the cutting head, comprising a moving dome collection tray in the form of a duct situated below the cutting head, a compressed air insufflator pointing towards the inside of the collection tray to take the blown dome to a collection hopper, and a proximity sensor that detects the passage of every dome towards the collection hopper; wherein, the removal system is built into a trimmer unit, and the blow moulded bottles are fed in and positioned individually under the cutting head by a grip mechanism synchronised with the collection subsystem.

2.- The removal system of claim 1, wherein said collection tray has an opening in its upper face for the passage of the ejected dome, and performs a back and forth movement under the trimmer head impelled by the same compressed air insuflator.