IES61772B2

IES61772B2 - Improvements relating to containers

Info

Publication number: IES61772B2
Authority: IE
Inventors: Roderick Alastair Lyons; Brian O'hara; John Bartley Coonan
Original assignee: Cumberland Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 1993-08-03
Filing date: 1993-08-03
Publication date: 1994-11-30
Also published as: GB2280658A; GB9401195D0; BE1006236A6; IES930584A2; GB2280658B

Abstract

A liquid container having two separate compartments defined by sub-containers, eg bottles 11, 12, is manufactured by applying adhesive to a joint face of at least one of the sub-containers, pressing the complementary joint faces together and curing the adhesive. The sub-containers are placed on a carriage 32 with a pusher (44, Figure 4) to align associated vertical faces of the sub-containers, the carriage being moved upwardly by a ram to engage neck portions of the sub-containers in an alignment head 50. A brace 22 issuing from a magazine 60 is used to clamp the aligned sub-containers together during curing of the adhesive in an oven. Screening doors (70, Figure 2) may be provided.

Description

This invention relates to containers and in particular to a process apparatus for producing a beverage container formed by composite bottle, comprising two separate compartments defined by sub-containers formed separately and subsequently bonded together.

According to the invention there is provided a process for producing a liquid container having two separate compartments defined by sub-containers bonded together to form the container, including the steps : applying adhesive to a joint face of at least one of the sub-containers; pressing complementary joint faces of the two subcontainers together; aligning the two sub-containers; clamping the sub-containers in the aligned position; and curing the adhesive at a preset temperature for a preset drying period.

In one embodiment of the invention the two sub-containers are aligned by aligning two or more surface portions of the two sub-containers .

In another embodiment alignment of the sub-containers is carried out by aligning associated vertical surfaces on each sub-container and by aligning associated horizontal surfaces on each sub-container.

In a further embodiment the process includes the step of clamping the sub-containers together by mounting a brace around an exterior of the sub-containers.

In another aspect the invention provides apparatus for 5 carrying out the process as will be hereinafter described.

Preferably the apparatus includes a device for correctly aligning the sub-containers and subsequently clamping the sub-containers together.

In another aspect the invention provide,s a liquid 10 container whenever produced by the process according to the invention.

The invention will be more clearly understood by the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying 15 drawings, in which : Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a process for producing a beverage container according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a front perspective view of an apparatus used 20 in the process for aligning an associated pair of bottles to form the beverage container; Fig. 3 is a front partially sectioned elevational view of the apparatus; Fig. 4 is a side partially sectioned elevational view 25 of the apparatus; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the apparatus in another working position,and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a brace used in the process .

Referring to the drawings a process and apparatus according to the invention will be described for preparing a beverage container 10 comprising an associated pair of adhesively bottles 11,12. Each of the bottles 11,12 has one flat end face 13,14 by which they are joined together.

At a gluing station 15 glue is applied to an end face 13,14 of one of the bottles 11,12 and the end faces 13,14 of the bottles 11,12 are brought together. The bottles 11,12 are then correctly aligned in an alignment apparatus described in more detail later. when in alignment, a brace 22 (See Fig. 6) is mounted around an outside of the bottles 11,12 to securely clamp the bottles 11,12 together 15 in alignment. The brace 22 has a body 23 with a central cut-out slot 24 for reception of the bottles 11,12.

Arcuate end portions 25 of the slot 24 engage outer end walls of the bottles 11,12 to press the bottles 11,12 firmly together. It will be noted that each inner side face 27 of the slot 24 is recessed to accommodate any irregularities in the front and rear faces of the bottles 11,12.

The clamped bottles 11,12 are then passed through an oven to cure the resin adhesive thus firmly bonding the bottles 25 11,12 together to form the beverage container 10. The oven comprises a heating tunnel through which a conveyor carries the clamped bottles 11,12 for a period typically of between ten and fifteen minutes to cure the resin. At an outlet end of the oven, there is provided a cooler 30 having fans to blow ambient air over the heated containers to cool the containers 10.

When the containers 10 are discharged from the cooler, the brace 22 is removed and each container 10 is delivered to a packing station.

The apparatus 20 for aligning the two bottles 11,12 to form the container 10 will now be described in more detail with reference to Figs. 2 to 5. The apparatus 20 comprises a support frame 30. A bottle carriage 32 is vertically movable on the support frame 30 and has a pair of spaced-apart downwardly depending guide rails 33 which 10 slidably engage complementary guide holes 34 in the frame . A ram 35 mounted on the frame 30 engages in underside of the carriage 32 for raising and lowering the carriage 32 on the frame 30.

The carriage 32 has a base 38 with upstanding walls on the 15 base, namely a front wall 39 a rear wall 40 and side walls 41. A ram 43 mounted on an inner face of the rear wall 40 carries a pusher block 44 for urging bottles 11,12 mounted on the carriage 32 against an inner face of the front wall for alignment of vertical front faces of the bottles 11,12. It will be noted that a pair of spring loaded plates 47,48 (Fig. 3) are mounted on the base 38 of the carriage 32, one plate 47,48 being associated with each bottle 11,12 to accommodate some relative displacement of the bottles 11,12 for alignment purposes. A top alignment 25 head 50 for the bottles 11,12 is mounted on the frame 30 above the carriage 32. The top alignment head 50 has a stepped recess 51 having a shoulder 52 for engagement with and alignment of horizontal upper surfaces 53,54 at a neck 55,56 of each bottle 11,12.

Also mounted on the frame 30 above the carriage 32 is a magazine 60 carrying a number of the braces 22. The braces 22 are gravity fed from the magazine 60 into a carrier 65 which is slidably mounted in tracks 66 on the frame 30. The carrier 65 is slidably movable on. the tracks 66 by means of a ram 67 between a retracted position below the magazine 60 (Fig. 4) and an extended position (Fig. 5) in which the brace 22 is held below the 5 alignment head 50 for mounting the brace 22 on the bottles 11,12.

In use, a pair of bottles 11,12 to which glue has been applied are mounted in the carriage 32 and the ram 43 is operated to urge the bottles 11,12 against the front wall 10 39 of the carriage 32 for alignment of front faces of the bottles 11,12. Simultaneously, the carrier 65 supporting a brace 22 is advanced to the extended position shown in Fig. 5. Then the carriage 32 is raised by means of the ram 35 such that the bottles 11,12 pass through the 15 opening 24 in the brace 22 and the upper surfaces 53,54 at the necks 55,56 of the bottles 11,12 engage against the shoulder 52 within the alignment head 50, thus bringing them into alignment. As the bottles 11,12 engage against the shoulder 52 they also wedge into engagement with the 20 brace 22 to securely clamp the bottles 11,12 in an aligned position. The carriage 32 is then retracted to the lowered position from which the clamped bottles 11,12 are removed. The carrier 65 also retracts under the magazine 60 for reception of another brace 22.

It will be noted that a pair of screening doors 70 are mounted on the frame 30 for enclosure of the carriage 32 during movement of the carriage 32. Switches 72 on the frame 30 are engageable by the doors 70 in the closed position for movement of the carriage 32. When the doors 70 are open the switches 72 are also in an open position thus preventing movement of the carriage 32.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described which may vary in both construction and detail.

Claims

1. A process for producing a liquid container having two separate compartments defined by subcontainers bonded together to form the container, including the steps : applying adhesive to a joint face of at least one of the sub-containers; pressing complementary joint faces of the two sub-containers together; aligning the two sub-containers; clamping the sub-containers in the aligned position by mounting a brace around an exterior of the sub-containers,- and curing the adhesive.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the two sub-containers are aligned by aligning two or more surface portions of the two sub-containers, and preferably associated surfaces on each subcontainer are aligned to align the sub-containers, and preferably the aligned surfaces include associated vertical surfaces on each subcontainer, and preferably the aligned surfaces include associated horizontal surfaces on each sub-container, and preferably the aligned surfaces include associated neck portions on each subcontainer.

3. - 8 A process for producing a liquid container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4. A liquid container whenever produced by a process as claimed in any preceding claim.

5. Apparatus for aligning and clamping sub-containers to form a container by a process as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, the apparatus comprising: a support frame for supporting two subcontainers to be aligned and clamped; a container carriage for aligning associated vertical surfaces of the sub-containers; means for aligning associated neck portions of the sub-containers; a brace for clamping the aligned subcontainers ; means for raising and lowering the container carriage; and means for moving a brace into alignment with the sub-containers on raising of the container carriage.