US2398747A - Bottle transferring and carrying apparatus - Google Patents

Description

April 16, 1946. c. D. KEITH ET AL BOTTLE TRANSFERRING AND CARRYING APPARATUS FiledOct. 17, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 16, 1946. c. D. KEITH ET AL 2,398,747

' BOTTLE 'I'RANSFERRING AND"QARRYING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 17, 1944 2 SheetsSheet 2' Patented Apr. 16, 1946 l UNITED STATE Borne NSFER Claude 1). KeithgvLake Mahopa,

RING

5 PATENT o FicE Joseph E. 0?Brien,'fEnglewood-, and gSoren Made ,n I

s n :B r nfia ds N. J., assignors and Court .Order to Irene M; Keith,

, higtratrixnfsaid Claude Keith, deceased v g I 7 Application October "17, 1944',

seminarians;

This invention -relates to improvements *in bot- .tle-transferring and carrying apparatus and particularly to apparatus ,or devices y-fpr-the lifting and carrying or transferring of cylindricalnecked bottles having upper portions or tops provided with round surfaced; outwardly projecting ribs or bulbs arranged adjacent 'tothe top or capped ends thereof,

One of the objects ofthis invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive and easily-operable and transferring er carrying such bottles,' pr'efer ably in aggregated groupsfrom one pointto another, as for example, from conveyors or turntable on which in bottling plants, bottles are agi- 10 apparatus capableof speedy operation for lifting gregatedto a bottle-carrying case or frorn-abotthe-carrying case to a washing machine.

' Another object of our invention is, in a device of the character -specified,"-to provide for speedy operation by employing bottle-engaging members which are manually closable on'rthe necks of the bottles and automatically-releasable 'through spring operation by contact or engagement ofthe bottoms of the bottles with a support '01- the like, the engaging members being so arranged that the bottles, uponclosute of the engaging members, will hang by'g-ravity in the bottle-engaging members and the :weight of the bottles may be utilized to retain the bottle engaging members in closed positionfland to suspend the "bottles in V I to engage and shift- .20

the apparatus until automatically released, as'

aforesaid.

Another object of our invention-is to provide means, inra device of the character-specified to position the bottles vertically in relation to-an engaging device andmeans to space ibottlesaggregatediin contact with each other and move thesame into transverse alignment with the positioning.devicelormeans.

l'fitill another object of our invention is to provicle for speedy operation ahy "utilizing spring means fornormally pressing'the bottle-engaging members intoppenpcsitionand fQr-autcmatically el a ing said ibottleeen agingimembers'when-lthe weight ot-the bottles removed jthereiromby set- 3 tz t-h bo t s down .on-a s i ahleisupport l n t er obje t bi our invention. :is, device of the lcharacterlspecified, to provide in conne n th: normally-10pmb ttle ngasin plates at sin le manually-actuated means and, preferably a finger or thumb-actuatedlmeniber for m ving all of said jawsintoclosedpos ti n in cooperation with a handle ,on thedbas'e member adapted to "lift said "base member andthe bottles therein from their support and leave them hangmember or members to release the bottles,

ing-mem'bers in tops simultaneously the bottles and the removal of the weight thereof with the aboveobjects in view;

x in the drawingsz ingby gravity as aforesaid rin :saidtbOttle-engagingmembersg s l V Still another object of our invention .is torpreduce apparatus embodying a in base :member having bottle-positioning openings arranged in axially-aligned rows'rboth longitudinally and transversely and a bottle-spacer:device cooperating therewith composed of downwardly-tapered cu.- neiform partitions arranged "between s c longitudinal and transverse rows pfbottIG-Pbsitioning openings, such partitions [preferably defining beheath each bottle=positioning ripening -a =cavity, 0f square configuratienrhaving outwardly divergent .wallszmeeting 9301110171161 atl aagi-ven line below such ppeningsand having -pointed portions adapt- "her to rcause ispeedy operation and opening by automatically-opening spring means of said engaging member or members to release the -bottle with the setting down-of from said gripping member or members.

together a with other objects which will hereinafter appear, our invention comprises-the combination of elements and. arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically pecified; illustrated in the d'ravvfin s and pointed out in the l appended claims. l

Fig; ;1 he view in perspective i e bottletrans f er and rrying apparatus showing our engagmg members in wideopen position and the tops of bottles extending through some of the openings before movement of the, manually-actuated plungerto close the gripper members on the bot- (tl be 'k tgen as thels n t n Q m 12 is anjillustrative fragmentary view showing: insection a single opening of bottle-transfer device jwlth the plunger and engaging members partly closed or depressed, the position of the bottle necks being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a broader view along the same lines as Fig. 2 showing the position of the parts in fully-engaged position; 1

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of shown in Figs. 1 to 3;

the apparatus Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view similar I to Fig. 2 showing in full lines a bottle neck and.

just prior to com.-

in section an engaging-member pletion of the engaging movement thereof;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view similar to'-Fig'.'5

showing the gripper member position; '7

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective showing in locked position our manually-releasable springactuated means for automatically locking the in final engaging gripper members against movement by the auto-,

matic opening means;

Fig. 8 is'a view similarto Fig. 7 ofthe locking means in open position to disengage the ,bottle tops; and 1 Fig. 9 is a horizontalsection through the automatic locking means and: adjacent mounting parts illustrated inFigs. 7 and 8.

Referring now to these drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of our invention, I indicates a unit of our bottle-transferring and'carrying apparatus comprising a base-mem- I beror base-plate H havinga series of circular bottle-receiving openings I2 preferably of fixed size, area an'd"po'sition.' As "illustrated, the bottle-receiving openings'are arranged in rows of any suitable number of such openings and our .9

preferred embodiment shows two parallel rows, each comprising three of such openings to accommodate, transfer and carry six bottles, and aha'n'dle I0 is mounted between the two rows to extend substantially along the longitudinalcenter line of the base-member II. V

Bottle-engaging members I3, I3".are pivotally mounted at one longitudinal edge on the base member and havepivotal axes extending longitudinally of the base plate and adjacent to edge portions of said rows of openings to cause the oppositeedges to be movable and to overhang such openings. Such members I3, I3 are arranged to move pivotally from a closed position in abutment with and parallel to said plate II to an open position inclined at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees (45) to-the base plate and vice versa. The inclination of said jmembers in open position will not only permit free movement of bottles projected through the bottle-receiving opening I2 to extend upwardly above said bottle-engaging members. but will in the receiving or filling operation: of the device assistin guiding bottles into proper vertical position. The pivotal movement of i these engagingv members fromopen to closed positions will cause the movable edges of such members to extend over edges are adapted when such members are moved into closed position parallel to the plate II, to engage-the tops of bottlesprojected therethro-ugh,

j through such bottle-receiving openings, whereby toward and away from a longitudinal center line diametrically bisecting the circular openings of a row of such bottle-receiving openings II. Each of the members I3, I3 are provided in axial alignmentgandconcentric with the bottle-receivingopenings of the base-plate II with arcuate bottle-top hugging-portions so as to produce a hugging or encircling engagement between said movable edge portions of the bottle-engaging members and the necks of the bottles projected .the area'of contact between the bottle-'neck and the'bottle-engagin'g member is increased and a ,moved into open, inclined position tighter engagement between the bottle-neck and said bottle-engaging member is produced than would be the case if the arcuate hugging portions were omitted,

In the preferred embodiment of our invention illustrated, two pairs of such bottle-engaging members are employed to cooperate with two rows'of bottle-receiving openings, and each pair is provided with a suitable number of pairs of arcuate bottle-top hugging portions to accommodate the number of bottles which it is desired to handle bythe device, and as shown, we have provided three pairs of bottle-top hugging-portions to accommodate six bottles.

While arcuate hugging-portions .in' the plane of the engaging member encircle and hug the necks of the bottles, it is desirable, in order to procure astill tighter grip and a steadying of the bottle in the apparatus, to provide such hugging portions with collars,;and, in the embodiment shown, we have provided deep collars I4 and I5 which not only encirclethe bottle neck but form checks which mm between the surface of the bottle-engaging members and the lower edge of the bulb or head b] of-thev bottle B.

I Inthe embodiment illustrated, the bottle-ena i g members are-provided with rolled or folded pivoted-edges I 3a, I31), I30 and I36; and pivot pins 29 disposedat the opposite ends of these folded edges are mounted to move pivot- 1 ally in apertures in angle-bars 30 mounted transversely at the opposite ends of the base member or plate I I and suitably connected thereto..

In said preferred embodiment, the pairs of pivoted engaging-members I3, I3 are normally automatically, and are retained in such open, inclined position to free the receiving opening during the loadin or positioning of the bottles within the bottlereceiving openingsof the base member II. As

illustrated, leach pairof the said members are automatically moved'andpressed into such open inclined position by a pair of spring-pressed plungers 20, 2I which as shown, passithrough the and obstruct said openings, and these movable -a spiralspring' 22' mounted base plate and in the embodiment illustrated are fixedly mountedv upon a transverse yoke member I'lgwhichis mounted to reciprocate on a fixed .rod I8- disposed below" the base plate- I I. Each yoke I 1 rests upon and is normally forced upwardly 'against the under s'urface of database plate by on thefixed rod I8 which, as shown, isfastened at its upper end in the base plate I'I, extends downwardly through said yoke-member to permit reciprocating movement of said yoke thereon and has at its opposite end a spring-abutment member 2| for the spring 22. i

" .Th handle I 0', as, shown, has mounted thereon at the, front end' thereof, a manually-actuated closingmechanism which also serves to limit the opening movement of the engaging members, and

for this purpose, we provide a reciprocating closing-member comprising afyo'ke 23 mounted at its middle portion in vertical slots 26 formed in a tubular or hollow-leg Illa of the handle l and having fixed arms 21, disposed transversely at opposite sides of said slots 26 extending over the bottle-top engaging members l3, l3 to engage and depress or move the movable or free edges of such engaging members when the yoke is moved downwardly in the vertical slot 26 and also to limit the upward opening movement of said movable edges of such engaging-members by the springs. r

The yoke member 23 is movable downwardly manually and for this purpose, we mountin the hollow-leg Ifla of the handle member ID a plunger member or rod 21 which extends upwardly from the yoke 23, passes through an opening in the top of the leg Illa and is provided atits top end with an operating button 28.

. Pressure bythe finger of the user on the button 28will move theyoke downwardly in said vertical slot 26 and will depress or close the movable edges of the bottle-top engaging members against the action-of the opening springs 22.

In the operation of the device so far described,

a series of bottles are aggregated or grouped on a suitable support, and when our device is pressed down over six of such bottles; the tops pass through the bottle-top receiving opening in the base plate and extend upwardly a proper distance therethrough. The user thereupon by a manual operation presses the button 28 upon the plunger 21 which in turn depresses the yoke 23 so that the arms 24 thereof engage and move the movable or free edges of the bottle-"top engaging member about their pivots into closed position in which the arcuate, concentric, engaging-portions will pass beneath the bulb b and the bottle below the same. Now, upon lifting of the transfer or carrier apparatus while the engaging members are in closed position the bottles will drop or move downwardly slightly and then said bulb b will contact said arcuate engaging portions and will be hung or suspended thereon. The weight of such bottles will completely counter-act and overcome the pressure of the opening springs and the bottles may be carried or moved by the apparatus while they are thus suspended.

Speed of operation of a device of this character is highly important and engagement of a series of bottles at the top-portions by a mere downward movement of the device over the same and pressure of the finger on the button 28 will enable an instantaneous and positive engagement of the bottles and upon a lifting of the device by the contact the neck of ing members.

to remove the weight thereof ifrom the movable I edges of the engaging members, whereupon these 22 to release the bottles. a In some'cases it. is desirable upon manual depression of the plunger to positively lock the bottles in engaged position, and forthis purpose we provide aspr'ingqaressed locking member or lever which is pivotally mounted upon the wall of the handle andpreferably is mounted in a bearing-bracket 42,:connected to said wall by screws 43. Saidbracket 421s provided with a mounting member or arm 44 spaced from the wall of the tubular handle portion 10a and having a screw -45which serves as a pivot on which the springpressed locking member 46 is mounted to swing into "and out of engagement with the yoke "member 24. Y

a As :fllustrated, the pivoted locking lever .46 is provided at its upper end with a finger-engaging releasing portion 48 and the lower end or heel t-liereofis adapted to be moved pivotally about the screw pivot I l'5-,'in' themounting arm :34. In said preferred'embodiment shown; we provide aflat spring 41 connected at its; upper end to the inner wall of the bracket and having afree lower end adapted to press the lever .46 outwardly or rearwardly :of the device and into resilient contact withtherside face of one of the arms 24 of theyoke 23 so thatupon the lowering or depression .ofsaid yoke, the heel of the lever will automatically move into locking position. over said yoke. When, therefore; the yoke is depressed manually by pressure 'on-thefibutton 2B; the heel of the lever 45 will automatically moveover said yoke arm to retain it and the movable edges ofthe engagingmembers in such depressed position and thus to keep the bottles 'lockedin position by said engag- In this locking arrangement, neither the weight of the bottles nor manual pressure on the button or knob 28 is relied upon to overcome the ower of the continuously-operat- I releasing of the locking member 46 from the yoke handle, the bottles may then be transferred to any suitable support and instantaneously released.

If desired, of course, the finger may beheld on.

the button 28 and the engaging member kept in depressed position until the user places the bottles on a suitable support or in a suitable container, whereupon a mere removal :of the finger and the relief from the weight of the bottles by setting the same down on saidsupport, will immediately cause the engaging members .tobe automatically swung into open position so that the device may be instantly removed from the tops of the bottles.

If, however, the pressure ,of the finger of the user be removed from the button 28 immediately after engagement of the bottles and the apparatus is simultaneously lifted .to suspend such bottles as above indicated, a release of the bottles may be instantaneously and automatically effected by a mere setting down of the bottles on a support 23, and we shave therefore provided the locking member 46 with a finger-engaging portion 48 for the releasing of the bottles and this releasing memberis positioned in adjacency to the operating button or knob 28, for engaging the bottles.

As above indicated, the inclined bottle-engaging'members guide the tops of bottleswhen projected through the bottle-receiving openings, and we also preferably/provide :means" to separate bottles; when aggregated or grouped on a suitable support or arranged in adjacent lines by a mere 5 downward movement of the device over the same simultaneously to. guide the tops of such bottles into'the bottle-receiving openings in the base member, and in the preferred embodiment of our invention illustrated We provide beneath the base member a bottle-guiding grill 3| preferably-comprising a single piece formed in any suitable manner, as for example by a casting operating, by welding the parts or otherwise and is com posed as a series of cuneiform portions 33, 34, 35,

36, 31, 38, 39, 40 and 4| (see-Figs. 1 and 4) arrranged longitudinally and transversely'todefine a series of openings of truncated pyramidaleconfiguration, the top portions of whichvopenings are aligned and concentric with the bottle-receiving openings in the base member so that in effect, each of the circular openings in the base-member is inscribed within the outline of the top end of the pyramidal openings in the grill. .The said cuneiform members .of the grill' arej extended downwardly a sufiicient distance to engage the cone-shaped necks of the bottles, and in ,view of the cuneiform conformation and the'pyramidal openings, we are enabled by a mere downward movement of the device'over the tops of the bottles to separate bottles that are arranged closely-adjacent to each other in groups or aggregations and to space the same in our apparatus for subsequent delivery and deposit to honeycomb cases or to washing-machine channels or the like. In the form of our invention illustrated, the grill is connected at its middle portion to the basemember or plate by the bolts 50 (which also conmeets the handle I thereto) and at its ends is connected to the base plate by screws 5L 'The operation of the device will be apparent from the above description.

It is noted, however, that the device is useful with or without a'grill and when a grill is employed in a'device of the character specifiedjit becomes unitary with or a part of-the base- .member and its openings and the fixed walls thereof are preferably employed to position the bottles for subsequent engagement by the engagin members, whereas if the grill be omitted the circular openings [2 would then function as bottle-positioning openings.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In bottle-transferring and carrying apparatus, the combination of a; rigid movable base member having a plurality of bottle-positioning openings provided with fixed walls for initially positioning in said base member the tops of bottles projected through said openings, a bottle-topengaging member movably mounted on said base member and having opening and closing movements over said bottle-positioning openings to engage and release bottles positioned in said openings, said bottle-engaging member being adapted in closed-position to engage and retain in said base member the necks of bottles passing through said bottle-positioning openings and in open position to release and disengage said bottles from said base member, spring mechanism for normally pressing said bottle-engaging member to open position to permit free ingress of the bottl necks, and a manually-actuated device engagable with said bottle-engaging member to move the same to bottle engaging position against the action of said sprin mechanism, whereby; upon a lifting of the base member while said members are engaged, a gravity hanging-engagement of said bottles is produced that is automatically releasable upon engagement of the bottoms of the bottles with a support. V

2. In bottle-transferring and carrying apparatus, the combination of a rigid movable base member comprising a substantially flat plate having a plurality of circular bottle-positioning openings arranged in two parallel rows and provided with fixed walls for initially positioning in said base member the tops of bottles projected through said openings, a pair of bottle-engaging members hingedly mounted between said parallel rows of bottle-positioning openings to swing in opposite direction above said openings and having opening and closing movements upwardly and downwardly in a vertical arcuate path above said openings, said bottle-engaging members havin arcuate jaw portions positioned coaxially over said circular bottle-positioning openings and being adapted in the closed position of said engaging members to engage and retain in said base member the necks of bottles passing through said openings and in open position to release and disengage said bottles from said base member, spring mechanism for normally pressing said bottle-engaging member to open position to permit free ingress of the bottle necks and a manuallyactuated closing device conjointly engageable with said bottle-engaging members to move the same to bottle-engaging position against the action of said spring mechanism, whereby upon a lifting of the base member, while said bottle-engaging members are engaged, a gravity hanging engagement of the two rows of bottles is produced that is retained bythe weight of the bottles during the carrying thereof and is automatically released When the bottles are placed upon a support.

3. In bottle-transferring and carrying apparatus, the combination of'a rigid movable base membercomprising a substantially fiat plate hav ing a plurality. of circular bottle-positioning 0penings" arranged in two parallel rows and provided with fixed walls for initially positioning in said base member the tops of bottles projected through said openings, a pair of bottle-engaging members hingedly mounted between said parallel rows of bottle-positionin openings to swing in opposite direction above said openings and having opening and closing movements upwardly and downwardly in a vertical arcuate path above said openings, said bottle-engaging members having arcuate jaw portions positioned coaxially over said circu1ar position of said engaging members to engage and retain in said base member the necks of bottles passing through said openings and in open position to release and disengage said bottles from said base member, spring mechanism for normally pressing said bottle-engaging member to open position to permit free ingress of the bottle necks, a manually-actuated closing device conjointly engageable with said bottle-engagin members to move the same to bottle-engaging position against the action of said spring mechanism, whereby upon a lifting of the base member, while said bottle-engaging members are engaged, a gravity hanging engagement of the two rows of bottles is produced that is retained by the weight of the bottles during the carrying thereof and is automatically released when the bottles are placed upon a support and a handle mounted on said base member adjacent to said manually-actuated device to enable immediate lifting of the base member upon manual actuation of said closing device.

4. In bottle-transferring and carrying apparatus, the combination of a rigid movable base member comprising a substantially fiat plate having a plurality of bottle-positioning openings provided with fixed walls for initially positioning in said base member the tops of bottles projected through said openings, a bottle-engaging member movably mounted on said base member and having opening and closing movements over said bottle-positioning openings to engage and release b ottlespositioned in said openings, said bottleengaging member being adapted in closed Dosiand downwardly in a vertical arcuate path above tion to engage and retain in said base member the necks of bottles passing through said bcttle positioning openings and in open position to release and disengage said bottles from said base member, spring mechanism fornormally pressing said bottle-engaging member to open position to permit free ingress of the bottle necks; and a manually-actuated device engageable with said bottle-engaging member to move the same to bottle-engaging position against the action of said spring mecehanism, and a manually-releasable locking member automatically movable to lock and retain said bottle-engaging members in bottle-engaging position against the action of said opening spring mechanism.

5. In bottle-transferring and carrying apparatus, the combination of a rigid movable base member comprising a substantially flat plate having a plurality of circular bottle-positioning Openings provided with fixed walls for initiallyposiioning in said base member the tops of bottles projected through said openings, a bottle-engaging member hingedly mounted on said base member above said bottle-positioning openings and having opening and closing movements upwardly extending below the bottle positioning-openings. therein and composed ofclownwardly-extending longitudinal and transverse partitions arranged to provide bottle-guiding openings disposed below the bottle-positioning openings of the base plate, said partitions being of cuneiform shapeand disposed to produce bottle-guiding openings of pyramidal configuration, said bottle guidin openings being axially aligned with and circumscribed about the circular bottle-positioning openings in the base member.

CLAUDE D. KEITH.

JOSEPH F. OBRIEN. SOREN MADSEN.

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