US1181913A - Bottle-washer. - Google Patents

Description

c. A. MILLER.

BOTTLE WASHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 29. 1915- L 1L9 13 11 Patented May 2,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET I mihwssrs C. A. MILLER.

BOTTLE WASHER. APPLICATION FILED MAY29,19I5.

Patented May 2,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. A MILLER.

BOTTLE WASHER.

APPLlCATiON man MAY 29, 1915.

Patentadi May 2,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W M W. W

V Stateof YB i C is: a

RIJES A. MILLER, F BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOB, TU MILLER. MANUFACTUR- OF BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA, A CORPORATION" 015 GEORGIA.

BOTTLE-WASHE.

iters.

To all 'lbiliOWI/it. may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. Mmrnn, a

Bainbrid e, in the county of Decatur and eorgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Washers; and I do hereby declare the following to be .a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to washing apparatus, and more especially tomachines for washing bottles; and the object of thesame is to improve the form of spray wheel employed in machines of this character and adapt it for use in conjunction with a bottle carrier consisting of an endless belt having bottle holding cups thereon.

In an elaborated type of my machine a group or battery of several spray wheels is housed within a casing or hood, and the bottle carrier passed through and around the same so that the'bottles are washed; and a group or battery of several spray wheels is housed within another hood, and the carrier led through and alongside the same so that the washed bottles may be rinsed-thus completing the washing operation at one passage of the bottles through the entire machine.

Broadly speaking, this has been done before,

but' I find that the washing and rinsing operations are more thoroughly performed by the use of the spray wheel hereinafter more fully described. a

r Several embodiments of this invention are set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying draw- 'ings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of a simple type of this machine employing a bottle carrier consisting of a belt having a double series of cups, and showing a single hood containing a pair of spray wheels which are rotated intermittently by the cups striking against the teeth of the wheels. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective fragmentary detail of one of said spray wheels. Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective detail of one ofthe links of the chain belt, showing the cup as formed as a part thereof. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing two single spray wheels and .a double carrier belt Wound around them. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail taken on about the line 6-6 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May a, rare.

of-Fig. 5, omitting details of the chain. Fig. 7 is a plan view diagrammatically illustrating the arrangement of a battery of spray wheels within one hood, a battery of double spray Wheels within another hood, and a double carrier belt moving through both batteries. Fig. 8 is a perspective detail partly broken away and in section, showing a double spray wheel; Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 are diagrammatic details to be referred to hereinafter.

In most any form of my invention a stand or table 1 of the proper dimensions will be provided with" upright hearings or spindles on which will be mounted the several wheels yet to be described. In Figs. 1 and 2 'an ordinary sprocket wheel 2 is journaled on one of these spindles 3 and a driving sprocket wheel I is carried by the upper end of the other spindle which is here shown as a shaft 5 driven by worm and gear connections 6 from a suitable source of power here indicated as a wheel 7. At a proper point or points on the table. casings or hoods 8 will cover the spray wheels yet tobe described and when the spindles of the same are hollow or tubular, suitable pipes 9 will be led to them i so that they may be supplied with a caustic solution'hot or cold forwashing purposes, or with clean fresh water for rinsing purposes. IIence these pipes must lead from proper sources of supply, and they will" be provided with hand valves and other de tails not necessary to described.

The bottles to be washed are manually placed in and taken from a carrier which is in the nature of an endless chain belt moving over and along said table, around said sprocketwheels 2 and 4: and alongside its spray wheels; and by preference this belt is made up of links 10 as seen in Fig. 4, one link having a cup 11 on its rightside and the next link a similar cup on its left side, and each cup having a book 12 which engages the bend 13 of the next link.

No claim is made in this case to the details of the bottle carrying or holding cup, and it need not be described further than to say that it is tubular and upright, preferably flared a little at its upper end as indicated at 14 so as to, admit the shoulder of the bottle neck, and open at its lower end as indicated at 15 so that the mouth of an inverted bottle will readily receive the jets described below. In the simpler type of machine shown on Sheet 1 of the drawings, this carrier is a single endless belt passing around two ordinary sprocket wheels and driven by one of them, and the spray wheels mounted within the hood 8 will stand one on the outside and one on the inside of the belt so that both series of cups will be treated. Obviously the jets thrown by these spray wheels may be used for washing purposes or rinsing purposes. Fig. 5 shows how such a belt may be passed around a spray wheel and thence partly around another; and Flg. 7 shows how it may be passed through a battery of such spray wheels and thence through a second battery. I do not wish to be limited in this respect, as the particular disposition of the various units will depend upon the size of the plant, the number of bottles to be handled, and the character of the liquid to be em loyed.

Sne object of the presentinvention is the provision of a peculiar form of spray wheel for injecting washing or rinsing water through the cups into the bottles. This spray wheel may be single or double, ac-

cording to its need, and the single type employed in 2 is best shown in detail in Fig. 3. Herein the numeral 20 designates the hub from which radiate spokes 21 to a ring-shaped body 22, and the teeth 23 are shown as rising rigidly from the body mid-way between the spokes. In the body opposite each spoke is an upright jet opening or nozzle 24, and a conduit in the shape of a passage 25 leads from this jet opening radially inward through the spoke and has its inner end 26 opening into the bore of the hub. The bearing or spindle for this wheel will be substantially the same as that illustrated in Fig. 6. Its body 27 is tubular as shown, preferably shouldered as at 28 so that the hub may rest-thereon, and its reduced upper end is provided with a radial port 29 standing at such height above the shoulder that the inner'ends 26 of the various passages will'register with this portas the wheel revolves. The water pipe 9 communicates with the bore of this spindle,

and therefore water will flow through it and out the port 29, out'through any passage 25 which registers therewith, and up through its respective jet opening 24. As the belt moves in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, the cups 11 pass into the spaces between the upstanding teeth 23, and

- the spray wheel is rotated as rapidly as the cups move along; and as and while each passage registers with the port 29, a jet of water will be thrown upward into the bottle which at that time is passing over the corresponding jet opening 24. One such spray wheel in Fig. 2 treats the outside series of cups, and the other the inside series. This same general construction is adapted to another form of single spray wheel as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. In the former view the left wheel has a hub 30 and spokes 31 like the one above described, and at the outer ends of said spokes is an annular body 32 carrying an upstanding sinuous rim whose outward pro ections constitute the teeth 33 and whose inward projections constitute the spaces between said teeth. The wheels shown at the right of Fig. 5 and in section in Fig. 6 are precisely the same excepting that each wheel has a solid body instead of spokes and the body 32 is provided with radial passages 35, the same as is shown in section passing through a spoke at the left of Fig. 5. The inner ends 36 of these passages stand opposite the, port or'ports 29 in the spindle 27. As the belt will ordinarily pass for a considerable distance around said wheel (rather than alongside of it as shown in Fig. 2) there may be several ports 29, or the port may be made of sector shape as seen at 290 in Figs. 5 and 10.

What might be called a double spray wheel best seen in Fig. 8 is constructed on .Inuch the same principle as the single wheel shown in Fig. 6, with the exception that here the body 42 is hollow or made in upper and lower walls between which is a space 45 constituting a conduit which extends all around the wheel, and this conduit opens at 46 into the bore of the hub 40. The sinuous rim rises from the upper wall of the body and makes the teeth 43 and the spaces between them, and said upper wall is pierced with a series of jet openings 44 directed upward into said spaces, and a second series 44 directed upward at points immediately outside the teeth 43. In other words, this spray wheel carries a double set of jet openings, and by preference all these openings are in constant communication through the inner end 46 of the conduit or channel 45 with the bore of the hub, and therefore with the source of water supply. This wheel is intended usually for use where the belt having a double series of cups passes around it. In Fig. 7, however, I have shown a battery of these double wheels and a double belt passing around them and in a serpentine course through the battery. Also this View showsa battery of four single spray wheels, and the same belt passing between them. The double wheels may be located in one hood 8 and supplied with washing water which flows constantly upward through all the jet openings 44 and 44, and the single wheels may be located in another hood 8 and supplied with fresh water for rinsing purposes. Figs. 9 to 12 are employed to show diagrammatically how the port 29 leading radially from the bore of the spindle 27 may be so disposed that the several passages 25 or 35 will communicate with it successively, or if this port is widened as shown at 290 two or three of 130 magma the passages will simultaneously communicate with 1t. The inner ends of the passages are connected in pairs as shown at 350 in Fig. 11, so that when port 29 communicates with either the Water is fed to both passages. This segmental communication between passages may be carried around within the hub as shown at 450 in Fig. 12, so that all the passages 35 are in communication with each other, and then whether there were one port or more in the spindle, the water would be supplied to all the passages the same as if they were all united in a wide conduit or channel as seen in section in Fig. 8. These views will be sufficient to illustrate how the engineer may adapt the idea to the plant being erected.

The use of bottle washing machines is so well known as to need no detail description here. But whichever form of spray wheel is employed, and whether the carrier leads along one side ofit or more or less completely around it there isa certain distance throughout which the paths of the jets and the cups are coincident. In the operation of the machine a bottle is automatically conveyed by the carrier to a spray wheel which may be said to have moving nozzles, the cup passes between the teeth on this wheel and the bottle is centered directly over one ofthese nozzles, in this position they move in coincident paths alongside or partially around the wheel, and simultaneously the water is adall till

mitted throughthe channel or passa e and jetted into the bottle. A little arther along, and in some cases quite some distance farther around the wheel, the carrier leads .away from it, and the cup and bottle come automatically out of engagement with the wheel, but not before the flow of water has been cut ofi'. Another feature of the present invention is the fact that a bottle once placed in a cup on the carrier remains there until it 1s removed, and in th1s posltion it might pass several times around the machine and through the casing or hood and over the spray wheel therein. This gives the oper ator the privilege of leaving a bottle in its cup if it should need a second or even a third washing. 3

What I claim is:

1. In a bottle washing machine, the combination with a rotary washer-having an annulaibody with outer and inner rings of nozzles discharging jets upward; of an endless moving .carrier part of whose path overlies said body, and two series of cups onthe carrier spaced to register with the nozzles for conveying inverted bottles past the washer with their mouths over said jets and washing them repeatedly until removed.

2. The combination with a belt carrying a 3. The combination with a belt, and a series of bottle cups carried thereon; of a spray wheel comprising a sinuous rim forming teeth and spaces, a hollow body underlying said rim, its upper wall being provided with jet openings in said spaces adapted to aline with the cups, and a hub mounted on an upright axis and provided with an openbetweenits bore and the interior of said 3- 4. The combination with a belt and two series of bottle cups carried on opposite sides thereof in staggered relation to each other;

ofa spray wheel comprising a sinuous rim forming its teeth and spaces, a hollow body underlyin said rim and extending beyond the teeth, 1ts upper wall being provided with jet openings in said spaces and opposite said teeth and adapted to aline with both series of cups, and a hub mounted on an upright axis .and provided with an opening between its bore and the interior of said body.

5. In a bottle washer, the combination with a belt, and two series of bottle cupscar- 'ried on opposite sides thereof; of a spray wheel comprising a sinuous rim forming its teeth and spaces, a hollow body underlying said rim and extending beyond the teeth, its

upper wall being provided with jet openings adapted to aline with both series of cups, and a hub provided with an opening communicating with the interior of said body; and an upright hollow spindle on which the hub is journaled and having a radial port adapted to register with said opening.

6. In a bottle washing machine, the combination'with a bottle carrier composed of an endless belt having two series of bottle cups disposed thereon in staggered relation to each other; of a group of spray wheels around which said belt is led, another group of spray wheels past which said belt is led, and independent hoods inclosing said groups, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. MILLER.

Witnesses:

M. H. NUssBAUM, G. L. WALKER.

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