US2073964A - Bottle stopping machine - Google Patents

Description

March 16, 1937. L'VM oss 2,073,964

BOTTLE STOPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 16, 1937. M 055 BOTTLE STOPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 VJ 7 4 r7 March 16, 1937. M F s 2,073,964

BOTTLE STOPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 16, 1937. L. M. FOSS BOTTLE STOPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1954 4 shegts -sheet 4 y 17% @zuzzzzzfi .term corks,

Patented Mar. 16, 1937 NT OFFICE BOTTLE STOPPING MACHINE Laurence M. Foss, Wakefield, one-half to Paul K. Guillow,

Application August 31,

22 Claims.

The subject matter to which this invention relates is that of automatic means for setting stoppers in bottles and analogous containers; including the steps ofdelivering stoppers from a random mass, arranging them in order with a prescribed end foremost, placing them in position to enter the months of the bottles, and forcing or driving them into such mouths. The objects which I have accomplished by the invention include that of providing novel simplified and efilcient automatic means for performing these acts; condensing in a minimum space provisions for seting a maximum number 'of stoppers in a single operation; limiting the pressure under which the stoppers are inserted under normal conditions While at the same time insuring sufficient driven advance to avoid obstruction to the orderly operation of the machine; when stoppers of tapered form are usecl, insuring that all will be brought to the driving points with relatively the same end foremost; and. providing other useful features which are described in the following specification and claimed in the appended claims.

The machine shown here for illustration of the invention is hand operated to the extent that the initial power is supplied by the muscular force of an operator, and the container for bottles to be stopped is shifted step by step also by the operator; but otherwise the operations are wholly automatic, and it is within my contemplation to apply automatic mechanical power also and to feed the bottle container automatically.

For convenience the stoppers will be generally designated in the following description by the but without intending to imply thereby that the invention is in any way limited to dealing with stoppers made of cork rather than those made of any other suitable material. Also it is to be understood that the following detailed description of a specificmachine is not to be construed as limiting my protection to the details so described or as excluding any machine, combination, or sub-combination having substantially equivalent characteristics of cooperative structure, function and result.

In the drawings furnished herewith,-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a bottle stopping machine illustrating the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the carrier for the bottles tobe corked, showing also in perspective a box which may be filled with such bottles and placed in the carrier; 7

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine omitting some of the operating parts for clearer iilus- Mass, assignor of Wakefield, Mass.

1934, Serial No. 742,255 (c1. 226--92) tration of those which are shown; the omitted parts being clearly disclosedin other figures;

Fig. 4 is a detail verticalsection on line 44 of Fig. 3, somewhat enlarged in scale;

Fig. 5 is a detail horizontal section taken on 5 line .'-5 of Fig. 4 and shown on a still larger scale;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary partial side elevation and partial vertical section showing the operating mechanism in one position;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary view of parts of the same mechanism in a different position;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional plan on line 8- 8 of Fig. 7 j

Fig. 9 is a vertical section taken on line 9-9 of Fig.3;

Figs. 10 and 11 are fragmentary views similar to Fig. 9 but showing the cork feeding and driving means in diiferent positions;

Figs. 12 and 13 are fragmentary horizontal sections taken on lines l2l2 and l3--.l3 respectively of Fig. 9.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever theyoccur in all the figures.

The framework of the machine is shown as consisting of a base I5 from the rear part of which, at opposite sides, rise, posts l6 and IT which support the hopper l 8, and from more forward points of which, at opposite sides, risestandards l9 and 20 by which other operating parts are supported. '30 Braces, not shown in these drawings, extend from the base to the standards [9 and 20, and from the latter to the posts l6 and I1, and from each post to the other. The standards are also braced transversely by an operating shaft 2|, a cross beam 22 which provides guideways for the corkdriving plungers, and a crossbeam 23 which provides a rest for the corks during a step of their feeding progress into driving position. A yoke consisting of a cross .bar,24 and. arms 25,. 26 is 4 also part of the frame and its arms areconnected rigidly to the uprights l9 and 120 respectively.

The bottles to be corked are placed in a carrier 27 which rests on thebase l5 and is movable thereon from front to rear between the uprights i9 and 20 in the space beneath cross beam 23. This carrier has four upright walls defining a rectangular space within which a box 28 loaded with bottles 29 to be corked may be placed. Preferably the front wall 30 of the carrier is hinged or pivoted to the bottom so that it may be tipped downward for convenience in placement andremoval of the loaded boxes 28. It is additionally coupled to theend walls of the carrier by springs 3| which normally hold it upright .soJa'stocon- 5 fine the box of bottles, with the ends of a rod 32, to which the springs are hooked, abutting against the adjacent edges of the end walls.

Parallel ribs 33 on the bottom of the carrier enter 5 grooves which extend forwardly and rearwardly in the machine base for guiding the carrier; and

lips 34, 35 at the sides of the base overlap flanges 36, 31 respectively on the ends of the carrier to prevent the latter from being raised in the course of its progress beneath the cork drivers.

A handle 38 on the front wall 30 assists the operator in advancing the carrier.

The supply of corks to be driven is thrown into the hopper at random. One of the functions of the machine is to'deliver the corks from the hopper in orderly arrangement to the extent that they are delivered and forwarded end foremost. An inclined chute 39 registers with the opening between the two inclined bottom walls of the hopper and has a passageway, or preferably a number of passageways side by side for parallel streams of corks, the dimensions of which are such as to permit free travel of the corks endwise and to prevent tipping of the corks. In other words, the width, in both transverse dimensions, of such passage or passages is greater than the largest diameter of the corks and less than their length.

Rolls and 4|, are mounted at opposite sides 30 of the entrance to the chute and protrude partly into the hopper above such entrance. They are keyed to parallel shafts 42 and 43 which have trunnion bearings in plates 44 secured to opposite ends of the hopper. These rolls are circumferentially grooved in planes perpendicular to their axes, and the grooves of the two rolls are registered at opposite sides of each passageway. Each of the spaces embraced by adjacent grooves of the two rolls is enough larger than the largest diameter of the corks to permit any cork of which the axis is nearly vertical to fall through it, but not wide enough to permit passage of a cork sidewise in such a position as would block the passageway in the chute.

The rolls are oscillated with each cork driving operation of the machine by an arm 45 applied to shaft 42, and from which motion is transmitted to shaft 43 by arms 45, 41 on the respective shafts and a link 48. Arm 45 is connected by a link or connecting rod 49 with a crank arm 50 pivoted to the post l6 and rigidly attached to a pinion 5|. A rack 52 meshes with pinion 5i and is carried by a bar 53 which is pivoted to an arm 54. The latter arm and an operating 55 handle 55 are both secured to the operating shaft 2!, by which the cork drivers, as well as other moving parts of the machine, later described, are

operated.

Each cork driving action of the machine is per- 0 formed by depression of the handle 55 to approximately the position shown in Fig. 1, after which the handle is raised, either manually by the operator with the aid of a spring 56, or by thespring alone. These movements of the handle cause the rolls 4!! and 4| to be partially rotated in unison back and forth, through the transmission connections described. An important fact to be noted is that both rolls turn in the same direction (i. e., clockwise or counter-clockwise) at the same time, whereby the linear motions of the points nearest to one another on their line of centers always occur in relatively opposite directions. This avoids any forcible feeding effect on the corks, such as would occur if the contiguous sides 75 of the rolls were moved downward at the same time; but instead, jostles the corks which rest on the rolls and tends to tilt into an upright position any corks which lodge across the intervening space with their opposite ends resting on the two rolls. The corks which are thus tilted, and those which happen to fall endwise into the grooves of the rolls, pass freely through such grooves and enter the passageways of the chute 39 with their axes all lengthwise of the passageways and substantially alined with one another. They are thus delivered in large enough numbers to furnish an adequate continuous supply for the driving means. And the corks are prevented from lodging crosswise in the chute and blocking the passageways therein.

This machine is designed for setting a number of stoppers simultaneously in a row of bottles. As shown, the box 28 is designed to hold a gross of bottles in nine rows of sixteen each; wherefore the rolls have sixteen grooves, the chute sixteen passageways, and there are a like number of drivers and associated magazines and intermediate instruments of transferal. The principles of the invention may, however, be embodied in a machine having any number of such elements from one upward.

While there may be a separate chute for each of the parallel streams of corks delivered to the hopper, I prefer to make them all as a unit structure with common front and rear walls and intermediate partitions, such partitions being shown at 51 in Fig. 3. The upper extremity of the chute is provided with fingers 58 (Figs. 4 and 5) which occupy extension grooves 59 of the two rolls, such extension grooves leading inward from the innermost points of the circularly curved grooves, first described, which deliver the corks.

Magazines 60 receive the corks delivered from the lower end of the chute, and hold them in single columns. Their lower ends terminate at a distance, somewhat greater than the height of one cork but less than the combined heights of two, above the cross beam or shelf 23 beneath which the bottle carrier is placed.

Cork drivers 5| are arranged parallel to the magazines, each directly in front of one of the latter. They are guided, to reciprocate lengthwise in guideways in the cross beam 22, and travel between substantially the positions shown in Figs. 10 and 11, passing through apertures 62 in the shelf 23. They are so actuated by oscillation of the operating shaft 25, the movements of which are transmitted to a beam 63 by arms 54 secured to the shaft near its opposite ends, and links 65 pivoted to said arms and to the ends of the beam; such arms and links being preferably so arranged as to constitute toggle linkages.

Extensions of the drivers pass slidably through the beam E33 and have adjustable nuts 66 resting on the upper side of the beam, whereby the drivers are positively raised, while a spring 61 surrounds each driver, being confined between a shoulder 58 thereon and the under side of the beam. The spring transmits the driving thrust and limits the intensity of such thrust so as to avoid danger of bursting the bottle, except under unusual conditions. By adjustment of the nuts 66, the limit of movement of the drivers, and the intensity of the pressure applied by their springs, may be varied somewhat.

It may occasionally happen that an oversized cork might fail to pass through the opening 62 or to enter the alined bottle far enough to clear the shelf 23 under the pressure of the spring of the driver acting on it. To prevent possible injury to the machine, or interruption of its rapid and orderly performance, I have provided an auxiliary propeller for the drivers, which is positive in its action and comes into actionafter 1.5 a lost motion suflicient for the normal action of the springs has been taken up. This auxiliary propeller is a beam 69 connected to the beam 63 by straps or braces l0, and carried thereby in a position above the extremities of the driver extensions. A space H is provided between the beam 69 and the drivers wide enough to permit the yield and play of the springs for accommodating the normal variation in diameters of corks and of bottle mouths; so as, for example, to prevent excessive bursting stress when a large cork happens to enter a small bottle mouth, within the normal range. But abnormal conditions of size or hardness of the stopper, diameter of bottle mouth, etc. may obstruct the driver beyond the power of its spring to advance it, in which case the beam 69 comes to bear on the obstructed driver and gives it a positive advancing thrust.

The spring 56 previously mentioned is con nected at its lower end by a hook E3 to the beam '53, and its upper end is anchored to the yoke 24 of the frame. This spring is strong enough to hold the drivers in their raised position, and preferably to raise them, and correspondingly move the operating shaft and parts connected therewith, when the operating handle 55- is released after having been depressed.

The corks pass by gravity freely through the magazines, and the lowest one of each column rests on the shelf 23 with its upper end below the lower extremity of the magazine. A feeder M advancesthe bottom corks from beneath the mag azine into alinement with the several drivers. The feeder is a beam which rests on the shelf 23 and is coupled at its ends by pivots T5 with O levers l6 and TI which hang from pivots 5'8 on thestandards l9 and 20 respectively. Each of these levers is engaged with a link 79 by means of a pin 80 on the lever contained in a slot 8! in the link, while the link in turn is connected 5 to one of the armsb i by a pivot 82. The arrangement of the links is such that they cause a positive retraction of the feeder to the position shown in Figs. 1, 9, 11 and 12 when the drivers are advanced, and leave the feeder free to be moved forward in performing its feeding function when the drivers are raised. A spring 83 connected to a rigid cross bar 84 of the frame structure by a hook 85, and to the feeder M by a finger 86, advances the feeder into substantially the position shown in Fig. when the drivers are raised. The corks thus advanced are arrested by a stop Si in line with the drivers and directly above the holes 82. They may be held by the grip of the feeder and stop until advanced they are prevented from'falling through the holes 62 by the tapering formation of the holes. The diameter of the holes in the top side of the shelf islarge'enough to admit the cork, but that at the under side of the shelf is smaller than the largest diameter of the corks, whereby thrust of the drivers is necessary to propel the corks all the way through. 3 V 0 It will be noted in Fig. 13 that the lower ends of the magazines have a somewhat staggered arrangement. They are so arranged because the bottles which this machine is designed to stop have a maximum width of mouth-being in fact cylinders with no contraction whatever at their by the drivers, but when released from such grip,

mouths and being backed closely side by side in the carrier. The center. distances between the "corks alined with such bottles are thus less than the center distances between adjacent magazines required for the free passage of the corks, wherefore thelower ends of the magazines are staggered to the extent needed to bring their centers into front torear alinement with the centers of corks-one by one from the outlet end of the chute and deposits them in the upper end of the magazines, at the same time reversing those which happen to pass large end foremost into and through the chute.

Such transferrer comprises pins or fingers 88 protruding rearwardly from a bar 89 which is hung by arms 9|] from'the side arms 25, 26, of the frame yoke. The location of the bar 89 and the positions, direction and length of the fingers 88 with respect thereto are such that such fingers travel between the position shown in Fig. 6, where they are mainly withdrawn from above the magazines, and their extremities are near the forward entrance lips 90 of the magazines, and the position shown in Figs. 7 and 8 in which their extremities are close to the bottom wall 9| of the chute and in the same planes with the walls 5'! which bound the sides of the chute passageways. A spring 92 is connected to a lug 93 on the cross member 24 of the frame yoke, and acts on the bar tion of Fig. '7, where it is arrested by a stop 94 on the frame member 25 which overlaps theadjacent suspension arm 90 of bar 89. Movement of the transf-errer bar into the position of Fig. 6 is accomplished by the operating handle 55 which carries a pin 95 extending laterally so as to engage the edge of an angular arm 96 secured to the nearer suspension arm 90 of the transferrer. Said pin is mounted in a stud 91 on the operating arm.

While the transfer fingers 88 are centrally alined with the side walls of the chute passageways, they are at the same time wider than the thickness of such walls, enoughto make the spaces between them slightly narrower than the diameter of the larger ends of the corks, but wider than the diameter of the corks at their center of gravity. Thus when the corks are allowed to emerge from the chute, the fingers being then in the position of Figs. 7 and 8, they do not fall between the fingers but are caught by the latter at diametrically opposite points near their large ends, and they swing about such points of engagement by gravity into a suspended upright position. A cork which emerges from the chute large end foremost then swings-in clockwise rotation (with respect to Figs. 6 and '7), from a position substantially that shown at a by dotted lines in Fig. '7 tothe position shown at b in the same figure. But if it emerges small end foremost, it turns counter-clockwise through a smaller angle to approximately the same position b. Over each of A fea- 89 tending always to place the latter in the posi- I the-spaces between the fingers eXtendsa-guard '98, the purpose of which is to prevent the corks from bouncing out of these spaces.

When the transfer fingers pass to the position of Fig. 6, the suspended corks engage the inclined forward mouth walls of the several magazines and are dislodged from the fingers, falling thence into the magazines.

The corks are prevented from falling from the chute, and are released one at a time from each passageway, by an escapement consisting of a guard 99 and stop fingers I00. The guard may be made as a plat-e secured to a pivot rod IOI, the ends of which are journaled in lugs I02 suitably located to hold the plate back of the rear or lower wall of the chute. This guard plate has a series of tabs I03 (or permissibly a continuous lip) turned up to obstruct the outlets of the passageways when in the position of Fig. 6, and retractable to the position of Fig. 7, whereby they release the endmost corks. An arm I04 is rigidly secured to the pivot rod and is engaged with a spring I05, one end of which is anchored to the side of the chute at I06 and the other end to said arm at I01. The connecting point I01 is placed at one side or the other of the line of centers of pivot IOI and spring anchorage I06 according as the guard is in one or the other of the positions shown in Figs. 6 and 7 respectively, whereby the spring tends to hold the guard in either of these positions, and to continue its movement thereto from the other positions after passing the dead point. The guard is withdrawn from the obstructing position by the rise of operating handle 55, the pin thereon then striking the bent down end I08 of a rod I09 which is pivoted at I I0 to arm I04 and passes through a guide block I II on the frame member 25, by which it is supported. It is brought into the obstructing position, or moved far enough toward that position for such movement to be completed by spring I05, by means of a wiper H2 carried by a rod II3 which is secured to the transferrer bar and protrudes to the rear thereof. The shape of this wiper is shown best in Fig. 3. It extends laterally from the rod H3 and its extremity is carried to a point where it will engage and move the guard as described.

The stop fingers I00 are preferably made of strips of resilient metal, one for each of the stopper passageways, the extremities of which are bent downward and pass through holes in the front wall of the chute, positioned to engage the next to endmost stopper. These fingers are all secured to a rod I I4 which is mounted in lugs 6 I5 above the upper or front Wall of the chute. An operating arm H8 is secured to rod IM, and is connected with the chute structure by a spring Ill which tends to hold the fingers in the obstructing position shown in Flg. 7. The arm is also connected to one of the suspension arms 90 of the transferrer bar by a link H0, of which the connection to the arm is made by a pin M0 on the arm entering the slot I20 in the link. When the transferrer is moved forward by depression of the operating arm 55, link H8 causes the stop fingers I00 to be raised; but when the transferrer moves to the rear, spring IIl brings the stop fingers down into engagement with the corks. Slot I20 permits the spring thus to act immediately the transferrer moves to the rear, and also permits movement of the transferrer through a greater distance than that needed for operation of the stop fingers, without moving the latter through a correspondingly wide range.

The movements of the various instruments of the machine, thus described, are so correlated that with every down stroke of the operating handle,--

(a) Corks previously placed in driving position are set in the bottle mouths;

(b) The feeder I4 is retracted preparatory to placing a second row of corks in driving position;

(0) The corks previously delivered to the transfer fingers are discharged into the magazines;

((1) The obstructor 90 is placed so as to prevent discharge of corks from the chute;

(e) The stop fingers i00 are withdrawn to permit the corks to slide forward and downward until arrested by the obstructor; and

(f) The corks in the hopper are jostled and some of them permitted to enter the upper end of the chute.

When the operating handle is thereafter raised, or the retracting spring 56 permitted to operate,

(9) The drivers are retracted;

(b) The feeder i4 is advanced by its spring to place a new lot of corks in driving position;

(i) The transfer fingers are brought up to the end of the chute;

(7') The stop fingers I00 are brought down to hold the next to endmost corks in the chute;

(k) The obstructor 99 is withdrawn whereby the lowest cork in each passageway is allowed to slide on to the adjacent transfer fingers and pendulate to the upright position small end downward; and

(Z) The delivery rolls of the hopper are again caused to jostle and release corks.

It will be noted that with each driving cycle there is a delivery of one cork from each magazine and a transfer of one cork to each magazine from the chute, so that the rate of delivery from the chute is the same as the driving rate. But there is no such measured delivery from the hopper; on the contrary, the delivery rolls thereof are given a double action which tends to deliver more corks than are required to feed the drivers, and hence to keep the chute passageways always full.

The bottle carrier is moved step by step from front to rear in time with the operations previously described, each step bringing a row of open bottles into line with the drivers. To aid the operator in alining the bottles with the drivers, a pawl i2I is pivoted to the base and is spring pressed into engagement with one of the flanges (as the flange 3'!) of the carrier. Notches designed for entrance of the toe of the pawl are formed in this flange and are located so as to register with the pawl when the rows of bottles are respectively alined with the drivers. The notches and pawl are inclined at one side at least so as to permit disengagement by thrust applied to the carrier.

When all the bottles have been stopped, the pawl is pulled clear, the carrier slid forward and opened, and a box loaded with open bottles is substituted for the box of stopped bottles.

As previously intimated, the protection which I claim herein extends to all substantially equivalent variations, modifications of, and substitu- 6 tions for, the specific devices and mechanical elements here shown, whether applied to a machine having a single set of operating instruments or a gang machine having any number of such instruments, and whether the power for operating the machine is the muscular force of an operator or automatic. I realize that many changes of design from that here shown may be made without departing from the principles of the invention.

1 What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1'. In a machine of the character described, a hopper having an outlet, rolls mounted at opposite sides of said outlet having grooves opposite shorter than the length of such articles, and

means for turning said rolls, both in the same direction of angular rotation, whereby they tend to tilt into an upright position stoppers lying across such space and in contact at their opposite ends with the two rolls.-

3; In a bottle stopping machine, a hopper adapted to contain tapered stoppers having a bottom outlet, rolls mounted at opposite sides of such outlet and grooved in registering zones so that the profiles of the zones in the common axial plane of the rolls define a substantially circular space larger in diameter than the stoppers but less than the length of the stoppers, means for turning the rolls simultaneously in the same direction of angular rotation for turning stoppers which rest upon them crosswise into axial alinement with such space, and a chute having a passageway registering with said space and adapted to receive stoppers therefrom in orderly arrangement end to end.

4. In a bottle stopping machine, a hopper adapted to contain tapered stoppers having a bottom outlet, rolls mounted at opposite sides of such outlet and grooved in registering zones so that the profiles of the zones in the common axial plane of the rolls define a substantially circular space larger in diameterthan the stoppers but less than the length of the stoppers, means for turning the rolls simultaneously in the same direction of angular rotation for turning stoppers which rest upon them crosswise into axial alinement with such space, a chute having a passageway registering with said space and adapted to receive stoppers therefromin orderly arrangement end to end, an escapement mechanism at the lower end of said chute, means for operating said escapement to liberate stoppers one by one from the chute, and a transfer means adapted to receive the stoppers so liberated and having provisions for reversing those which are liberated with the large end foremost.

5. The combination with a chute adapted to contain a line of conical stoppers end to end, and

Fin which some of the stoppers may be located with the larger endiforemost, of escape means for releasing stoppers one by one from the discharge end of the chute, a pair of fingers adjacent to such discharge end arranged to admit i the discharged stoppers between them and ::spaced apart by a distance less than the largest :diameterof the stoppers butgreater than the diameter at their center of gravity, whereby stoppers delivered thereto are caused to pendulateinto an upright position with the small end downward, and means for removing the stoppers from said fingers.

6. A bottle stopping machine comprising a hopper for stoppers, a chute leading from said hopper, means for delivering stoppers from the hopper into the chute in end to end alinement, a magazine adjacent to the discharge end of the chute, a transferrer between the chute and magazine operable to receive stoppers from the chute, and deliver them into the magazine, and escapement means cooperating with the chute in time with the action of said transferrer for discharging limited numbers of the stoppers thereto.

7. The combination with a magazine for tapered stoppers adapted to confine such stoppers in end to end alinement, of a hopper adapted to contain such stoppers in a random mass, a chute having a passageway adapted to contain stoppers in end to end alinement, means for delivering stoppers endwise and successively from the hopper into said chute, an escapement for releasing stoppers in limited numbers from the chute and a transferrer-movable bodily from receiving position at the escapement to delivering position at the magazine; said transferrer embodying means for turning the stoppers so that when delivered to the magazine corresponding ends of all point in the same direction.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination with an upright magazine open at the upper end and adapted to contain a column of stoppers end to end, a chute adapted to contain a line of stoppers end to end and to permit gravity progress of such stoppers, a hopper in which stoppers may be placed in a random mass, means for delivering stoppers from the hopper to the chute successively in endwise alinement, an escapement mechanism at the lower end of the chute operable to release stoppers one by one therefrom, transfer means in positionadjacent to the discharge end of the chute for receiving the stoppers so delivered, means for moving the transfer means from said position to deliver such stoppers into the magazine, and return the transferrer, and operating mechanism for saidescape means and transfer means organized to operate them in correlated sequence with one another.

9. In a machine of the character set forth in claim 8, the construction of the transfer means with an open interior space adapted to pass the major portion of the length of a tapered stopper, and having limit elements spaced so as to arrest such a stopper by engaging it at opposite side points near the large end.

10. In a machine of the character set forth in claim 8, the construction of the transfer means whereby it is adapted to deliver without reversal to the magazine stoppers which are released small end foremost from the chute, and to reverse.

those stoppers which are so released with the large end foremost.

11. In a machine of the character described, a chute extending at an inclination downward toward its lower end and constructed to containtapered stoppers in end to end alinement, a magazine having its entrance end near and below the lower end of the chute, a transferrer comprising a bar and a pair of substantially' parallel fingers protruding from said bar'in 3,}

generally horizontal direction, means for moving the bar to bring the fingers into approximate alinement with the lateral walls of the chute at the lower parts thereof, and also to withdraw them from the mouth of the magazine across ,a bounding lip. of such mouth, escapement means for delivering stoppers from the chute, and means for operating said escapement means and the transferrer in timed relation such as to reso near their 6 lease stoppers when the transferrer fingers are in the before described position near the chute. 12. In a machine as set forth in claim 11, the transferrer fingers spaced apart from one another by a distance less than the largest diameter of tapered corks of a given size, but greater than the diameter at the center of gravity of such corks, whereby to catch the corks at points large ends that they will assume by gravity a suspended position with their smaller ends downward.

13. A bottle stopping machine comprising a bottle support, a rest for stoppers having an aperture through which a stopper may be passed into the mouth of a bottle on said support alined with said aperture, a driver arranged and guided to travel back and forth through said aperture, a resiliently yieldable propeller for said driver, and an auxiliary propeller arranged with capacity for lost motion relatively to the driver organized to apply a positive thrust thereto at the end of such lost motion.

14. A bottle stopping machine comprising a stopper driver, a propeller for said driver havin a lost motion connection therewith, means for advancing and retracting said propeller, a spring interposed between the propeller and driver in position to apply the advancing thrust of the propeller thereto, and an auxiliary propeller in position to apply a positive advancing thrust to the driver when the spring has yielded a given distance.

15. The combination with a receiver adapted to contain tapered stoppers in a column with smaller ends downward, and a chute adapted to contain stoppers in alinement with either end foremost and being inclined for gravity feed of the stoppers, of a transferrer placed in a receiving position adjacent to the lower end of said chute and having parallel fingers protruding toward the end of the chute in substantial register with the side walls thereof and being spaced apart by a distance less than the largest diameter of the stoppers but greater than the diameter at their center of gravity, whereby to sus pend by its larger end any stopper received from the chute and means for moving the transferrer across the upper end of the magazine in a path which causes the stopper to be arrested and removed by the lip of the magazine so that it drops into the magazine.

16. The combination set forth in claim 15 and in which'the transferrer moving means is organized to shift the transferrer back and forth between its receiving and discharging positions, with escapement means in association with the chute operated in time with the transferrer moving means torelease the lowermost stopper and retain the other stoppers in the chute when the transferrer is in its receiving position.

17. In a machine of the character described, a

hopper adapted to contain a random mass of tapered stoppers, a chute extending downwardly from the bottom of the hopper and having intermediate partitions dividing it into parallel passageways for stoppers in end to end alinement, a transferrer movable from a position adjacent to the lower end of said chute to a more remote position, said transferrer having fingers which are in substantial register with the side walls of thev chute passageways when the transferrer is in its position near the chute, said fingers having such width that the spaces between them are narrower than the largest diameter of the stoppers but wider than the diameter at the center of gravity of the stoppers, whereby stoppers released from the several passageways are received into the contiguousspaces between: the fingers and are suspended by engagement of their larger ends with the fingers, means for moving the transferrer away fromthe chute andback to receiving position, and a row of magazines'having open upper ends beneath the patlrirr which the transferrer thus travels, said magazines having lips located to arrest and wipe the stoppers-from; the transferrer as the latter moves away from the chute. V

18. A stopper handling means comprising a hopper adapted to contain a random mass of tapered stoppers, a chute extending downwardly from the bottom of the hopper and having an in-' clined lower end portion and intermediate partitions dividing it into passageways with dimensions greater than the largest diameter but less than the length of the stoppers, and a transferrer adapted to receive stoppers from. said passageways and to right those stoppers which emerge with the large end foremost; said transferrer comprising a carrier member and fingers projecting from said member in registry with the side walls of the chute passageways but so formed that the spaces between them are narrower than the largest diameter of the stoppers while being wider than the diameter at the center of gravity of the stoppers.

19. In a stopper handling apparatus, a chute adapted to contain tapered stoppers in end to end alinement in which the stoppers may be contained with either end foremost, said chute having an inclined lower delivery end, and a transferrer comprising a suspended bar adapted to swing toward and away from the lower end of the chute and having fingers projecting toward the chute and spaced apart from one another by a distance and greater than the diameter at the center of gravity of the stoppers, such spaces being in register with the chute when the transferrer is brought adjacent to the chute, whereby to repend them by their larger end, and a magazine having an open upper end below the path of the transferrer fingers, with a rising lip in position to arrest and wipe the suspended stopper from the fingers in the course of travel of the trans-- ferrer away from the chute.

20. A bottle stopping machine comprising a hopper, a chute leading from the bottom of the hopper, oscillative rolls at opposite sides of the junction between the chute and hopper for jostling articles in the nature of corks contained in the hopper and causing them to pass endwise into the chute, a magazine, a transferrer for carrying stoppers one by one from the chute to the magazine, a driver for propelling stoppers into bottles, a feeder for transferring stoppers one by one from the bottom of the magazine into line with the driver, mechanism for operating said driver, feeder and transferrer to act respectively upon one stopper in each cycle of the machine,

less than the largest diameter of the stoppers [/40 ceive stoppers delivered from the chute and sus- 17-45 parallel to one another, and a single feeder for advancing stoppers simultaneously from beneath all of the magazine into alinement with the several drivers.

22. A bottle stopping machine as set forth in claim 21, and comprising further a chute having passageways equal in number to the magazines for conveying stoppers to delivery points adjacent to the several magazines, and a transferrer orangized and operated to carry stoppers from said passageways and deliver them simul- 10 taneously into the several magazines.

LAURENCE M. FOSS.

Images