US2650748A - Cap lifting machine - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 1, 1953 E. c. BENNETT ETAL 2,650,743

CAP LIFTING MACHINE Filed May 19, 1947 FNVENTOR EwREw c. BENNETT CHARLES POWEL Patented Sept. 1, 1953 CAP LIFTING MACHINE Eldred 0. Bennett and Charles Powell, Detroit, Mich., assignors to Sterling Drug Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application May 19, 1947, Serial No. 748,990

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a cap lifting machine whereby a loosely fitted cover may be automatically removed from a container while said container is being transported by a conveyor.

In handling many chemicals, foods and pharmaceuticals, it is of prime importance to maintain the most sanitary conditions possible. Such sanitary conditions require the elimination of every possible human contact and its resultant contamination wherever practicable. According- 1y, it is customary in commercial practice, where said materials must be placed in suitable containers, such as glass bottles, to sterilize said bottles, which are covered with convenient, slidably fitting caps. Often, however, this said sterilization operation is of limited value because said caps are usually removed manually at a point immediately ahead of the filling station thereby exposing not only the containers, but also the filling apparatus, to contamination by the operator who is removing said caps.

Persons acquainted with container filling apparatus will recognize at once the desirability for having a completely automatic cap lifting machine which can be synchronized to cooperate with conveyor means and particularly with an endless belt type of conveyor.

Consequently, a major object of this invention is to provide a cap lifting machine which will automatically remove loosely fitted covers from over the mouths of containers.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cap lifting machine as aforesaid Whose operation can be readily synchronized with that of an endless belt type of conveyor system.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cap lifting machine as aforesaid whereby contamination of sterilized containers is positively prevented prior to the operation in which said containers are filled.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent to persons familiar with this type of equipment upon referring to the accompanying drawings and upon reading the following specifications.

In order to meet those objects and purposes .set forth above as well as others incidental thereto and associated therewith, I have provided a cap lifting machine comprising a longitudinally split, two part body member which is spaced from and held at an inclination with respect to a supporting platform.

Said supporting platform preferably includes a conveyor means for the purpose-of transporting the containers with loosely fitting covers over their mouths.

Said caplifting machine is so positioned with respect to said conveyor that the containers carried thereon are obliged to pass between the lower ends of the said two portions of said inclined body member, whereupon said covers are engaged by a pair of laterally opposed, lifting belts, one supported in each portion of said body member. The speed of movement of said lifting belts is controlled so that the horizontal component thereof is equal to the movement of the conveyor.

A chute may be associated with the high end of said inclined, two part body member into which said covers are automatically dropped when the opposed lifting belts reach their turning points at the said high end of the body member.

Construction For one preferred, but by no means the only, embodiment of the invention herein described, attention is directed to the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of the cap lifting machine to which this invention relates.

Figure 2 is a top plan, partially broken view of said cap lifting machine, showing the operating gears in phantom.

Figure 3 is an end view of said cap lifting device.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 2.

For convenience in the hereinafter following description, directions and parts of the apparatus will be referred to as upper and lower. This will assume the apparatus to be positioned in its normal condition of use. The terms outward and "centerward will also be used and these will refer to directions away from and toward the geometric center of the machine. These terms are intended for purposes of convenience in reference and are not limting.

The body member to of the preferred embodiment of said cap lifting machine illustrated in Figure 1 may be held in an angular disposition with respect to any suitable conventional conveyor means, such as the belt II, by means of the support rods If in a manner hereinafter described in detail. As shown in Figure 2, said body member H1 is comprised of a pair of substantially similar and parallel channel members which shall hereinafter be referred to as the driven side channel member is and drive side channel member [4. Said channel members may be adjustably held and spaced as desired with respect to each other in any convenient, conventional and suitable manner such as, for example, by means of the adjusting bar I5 and the base plate It.

Said adjusting bar I5 may be secured adjacent to its one extremity to the top flange I! of the said drive side channel member is near to the lower end thereof in any suitable manner such as welding, riveting or bolting. A slotted opening [8, longitudinally disposed with respect to said adjusting bar 15, is provided adjacent to the other extremity thereof for slidable association with an adjusting bolt I9 which is secured to the top flange 23 of the driven side channel member if near to the lower end thereof.

The said base plate l6 may preferably, but not necessarily, be provided with slotted bolt holes, not shown, by means of which said base plate is adjustably secured to the bottom flanges 25 and 26 of the said channel members [3 and I4, respectively. Said base plate may be as long or as short as required to provide adequate strength, and for other purposes hereinafter disclosed.

A driven pulley wheel 21 of any conventional type is afiixed to and rotatable with a driven pulley shaft 28 which extends between and throughout the longitudinally slotted openings 29 in the said top and bottom flanges ll and 25, respectively, of the drive side channel member i4, adjacent to the upper end thereof. Said pulley shaft 28 is rotatably supported at its extremities within the bearings 36 which are adjustably secured to said top and bottom flanges I1 and 26.

A driving pulley wheel 3 I, preferably identical with said pulley wheel 22', is aihxed to and rotatable with a driving pulley shaft 32 which extends through and is rotatably supported within suitable openings in the said top and bottom flanges Ill, and 25, respectively, of the drive side channel member [4, and adjacent to the lower ends thereof. The upper extremity of said driving pulley shaft 32 extends through the top flange ll of said drive side channel I4 so that it may be properly engaged by and rotatable with a primary driven gear 33 whose function will be disclosed hereinafter.

Said driven pulley 21 and said driving pulley 3! are mutually and operably engaged by a 1ifting belt 34 which may be made of any suitable material such as reinforced, soft rubber. The said pulley shafts 23 and 32 are so positioned with respect to the free edges 35 of the flanges I! and 25 of the said drive side channel member 14 that a space 31 is provided between the inside surface 3'6 of that portion of said lifting belt 34, lying outside of the drive side channel member, and a plane defined by said free edges 35 of the said flanges I? and 25.

In this particular embodiment of the invention, and as illustrated in Figures 2 and 4, the

said space 31 is sufficient to permit the insertion of an appropriate guide member 38, herein shown as a U-shaped piece of sheet metal, which preferably fits over the open side of said drive side channel member [4 between said pulley wheels 2'! and 2-! and is of such length and strength as may be required for purposes hereinafter disclosed in detail.

The said guide member 38 may be adjustably and removably secured to said top flange I! by means such as screws 39, and is adjustably secured between said bottom flange 26 and the base plate [6 by means of the bolts attaching said base plate 13 to said bottom flange 25.

The above description, although referring specifically to the construction of the drive side portion 44 of the said body member I!) which is supported upon the drive side channel member I4, applies in substance to the driven side portion 45 of the said body member II) which is supported upon the driven side channel member l3, and the said portions 44 and 45 are substantially mirror images of each other.

Therefore, it may be briefly stated that a driven shaft 46 and driving shaft 4'! rotatable with and secured to a pair of pulley wheels 48 and 49, re-

.4 spectively, which are preferably identical to the said pulley wheels 21 and 3|, are rotatable within and extend through suitable openings in the said . flanges 20 and 25 of the said driven side channel members [3, one adjacent to each end thereof. As aforesaid with respect to the said drive side portion 44, the upper pulley shaft 43 is adjustable longitudinally of said driven side channel member l3 and rotatably supported within a pair of adjustable bearings 50, whereas the lower pulley shaft 47 extends through the top flange 20 for proper engagement by and rotation with a secondary driven gear 5|.

Said pulley wheels 48 and 49 are mutually engaged by a lifting belt 52, preferably identical with the first named lifting belt 34, in such manner that a space 53, approximately equivalent to the space 31, is provided between the said lifting belt 52 and the edges of the flanges 20 and 25. The U-shaped, sheet metal guide member 54 is advantageously identical to the guide member 38 and lies between its respective lifting belt 52 and the edges of the driven side channel member E3 in a manner similar thereto. Said guide member 54 may be secured to said channel member E3 in the same manner as said guide member 38 is secured to said channel member 14.

For the purposes of the particular embodiment of the invention to which this description relates, the mutually engaged primary and secondary driven gears 33 and 5|, respectively, are identical in diameter, conventional in structure and selectable in size so that the distance between the longitudinally opposed, substantially parallel portions of the lifting belts 34 and 52 may be varied as desired by appropriate choice of gear size.

A drive shaft bracket 51, which may be a portion of a structural channel as illustrated in Figure 3, is provided with suitable openings in its upper and lower flanges for rotatable support of the upper drive shaft section 58 and is adjustably secured to the web side of the drive side channel member l4 near the lower end thereof in any suitable manner, such as by bolting. A conventional drive gear 59, which may be similar in diameter to said driven gears 33 and 5%, is secured to and rotatable with the upper extremity of the upper drive shaft section 53 so that said drive gear operably engages said primary driven gear 33. Said upper drive shaft section 58 may be associated, by means of any conventional, con venient universal joint 60, with a lower drive shaft section 6| which may in turn be driven by any suitable means, not shown, such as an electric motor.

A pair of suitable support brackets 62, appearing in Figure 1 as steel blocks, are attached to said web side of said drive side channel member I4 in any suitable manner, such as by bolting or welding, and provided with vertical openings for slidable reception of, and adjustable securement to, said support rods l2. Said support rods 12 may be anchored to an appropriate base, such as the counter 63 which flanks the longitudinal edges of said conveyor belt II, by means of any convenient, conventional, metal post lock connections 64.

The body member I0 of said cap lifting machine is preferably, but not necessarily, equipped with a discharge chute 65, which may be fabricated from any appropriate material, such as sheet metal, and which may be of any size, length or shape depending upon the particular application of the cap lifting machine. Preferably, and as viewed in Figures 1 and one extremity of assume said chute 6.5 is removably secured, as by bolting, beneath the upper end of said bod-y member to for reception of said covers as they are released by the moving belts 34 and 52. Additional support means such as the support arm 5'6, adj.ustably secured to a support rod I25, may be provided as desired to steady the lower portion of said dis.- charge chute 65.

An end piece 66, which may be fabricated from suitable material, such as sheet metal, and which may be secured to said drive side channel member M by means such as a screw 51:, advantageously extends across the upper open ends of said channel members t3: and i4; thereby enclosing them.

For illustrative purposes only, said conveyor elt l l is shown as supported by a conveyor belt ed as which extends between and may be inte- -.ral with, or secured to, said flanking counters 63. S conveyor belt H is also illustratively shown as conveying a plurality oi bottles 69 individually covered by sanitary caps 10, between guiderails ll.

fhe lower edge of said base plate l6 terminates at such a point spaced from a line connectinglthe centers of the lower pulleys 3'! and 49 that at a normal angle of operation, such as 30 with respect to the horizontal, bottles with their caps removed will pass under said edge without interference with same. The upper edge of said base member He terminates at a point spaced slightly downwardly from the line connecting the centers of the uppermost pulleys 21 and 4-8 but only sufficiently so that caps being dropped at and beyond line will not strike said base plate. Said e plate is, however, as long as possible within limits of permitting the bottles to pass under p lss the upper edge thereof in order to minimize the possibility of dirt falling into the uncapped bottles as pointed out hereinafter.

Adjustments body member ID must first be adjusted to such height above the conveyor belt II that the caps in of the bottles 69 will be engaged by and between the two lifting belts 34 and 52 at a point with respect to said body member 40 approximately between said driving pulleys 3i and 49.

When such height adjustment is made and said 'nember H) is inclined at a normal slope of a 30 degrees to the horizontal, the bottles, their having been removed, will pass under the lower edge of said base plate 16 without inter ierence.

The drive side portion 44 and driven side portion :35 are then laterally adjusted with respect to each other by means of the adjusting bar l5 and the base plate It so that the adjacent parallel portions of the belts 34 and 52 will be correctly spaced from each other throughout their leng is for positive and sustained engagement of said caps ill.

The said lifting belts 34 and 52 are maintained at the proper tension by adjusting the driven pulleys 2'! and t8 and their respective shafts 28 and 28, longitudinally with respect to said body member it within the slotted openings 29, and by means of the adjustable bearings 30 and 50.

Said guide members 38 and 54 are adjusted, laterally with respect to the channel members 14 =nd l3, respectively, so that they slidably engage, nd provide back support for, the inside surfaces the belts 3t and 52 without impeding them during their normal movement.

Since the body member H3? is inclined to the conveyor bed, suitable adjustment, must, be made in the speed of said belts 34 and 52 whereby the horizontal component thereof will be substantiallyequal to the speed of the conveyor belt ll. Such relative equality in the horizontal speeds is necessary becausethecap H3 is engaged both by the neck of the bottle and by the belts 3d and 52 of the cap lifting machine during. an appreciable period of time in the cap removing operation.

The speeds of each of the lifting belts and 52 will be identical which may be accomplished by selecting the gears 33. and 5'! with identical diameters and the same number of teeth.

Operation In operation, the sterilized containers, herein referred to iliustrativel-y as bottles iii), covered with sterile, loosely fitting caps it, are fed by said conventional conveyor belt it towards said cap lifting machine. The manner in which said bottles are sterilized and/or placed upon said conveyor belt H is of no consequence insofar as this invention is concerned and, therefore, will not. be described.

Said drive gear which is driven through the driveshaft sections 5.8 and iii in any convenient manner engages and drives said primary driven gear 33, which gear inturn engages and drives said secondary driven gear 5E. The pair of driving pulleys 3! and d9. rotatable with said primary driven gear 33 and secondary driven gear 5|, respectively, actuate the said lifting belts t t and respectively.

When a bottle as reaches the point where its neck passes between the drive pulleys 3i and d?! in the lower end of said body member iii, as illus trated in Figure 2, the cap it is gripped by the opposing belts 3d and As the conveyor belt continues to transport said bottle in a rightwardly direction, as appearing in Figure 1 said cap is gradually lifted from said bottle neck. Said bottle is then conveyed to the next station on the conveyor system which, for example, may be a bottle fillin station.

Each cap is thus removed from each bottle, as it passes between the lower ends of the two portions M and d5 of said body member Ii Said caps are carried by said belts to the upper end of said body member is where, upon the turning of said belts away from each other, the caps are released and dropped into the said discharge chute 65 provided therefore.

It will be observed that the guide members 3 3 and 54, by preventing the belts 3d and 52, respectively, from being deflected laterally away from each other by the caps Ell which they are convey ing, provide additional assurance that said caps Iii will be positively engaged by said lifting belts 34 and 52.

It will be apparent that the base plate iii not only provides means for lateral adjustment between said drive side portion M and driven side portion 45 but also catches particles of foreign matter which may be disturbed by the moving parts of the body member is or might be rubbed off the belts by the caps, and which might otherwise fall into the open bottles.

Although the above mentioned drawings and description apply to one particular preferred embodiment of the invention, it is not my intention, implied or otherwise, to eliminate other variations or modifications which do not depart from the scope of the invention unless specifically stated to the contrary in the hereinafter appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for removing caps from bottles moving in single file, the combination comprising: an elongated base plate; a pair of U-shaped channel members affixed on the opposite longitudinal edges of said base plate with the open .sides of said U-sections respectively facing each other; a pair of pulleys within each of said U- shaped channel members arranged in a common plane parallel to said base plate and a belt around each of said pairs of pulleys, and each of said pulleys so positioned with respect to the free edges of the flanges of said U-shaped members that said belts will each extend slightly beyond said respective free edges; means rendering one of said U-shaped channel members adjustable toward and away from the other U-shaped member; gear means driving said pulleys so that adjacent courses of said belts travel in a common direction and at the same speed with respect to each other; means adaptable for mounting said device adjacent said row of bottles and for supporting same directly over said bottles and at a substantial angle in a vertical plane with re spect to the horizontal one end of said device being positioned adjacent the upper ends of said bottles and the other end of said device being positioned substantially higher than said one end and one of said pulleys Within each U-shaped channel member being positioned adjacent said other end of said device; said base plate terminating at said other end of said device at a point intermediate the centerward half of said last named pulleys and a chute positioned underneath and between said last named pulleys for catching and deliverin to other means caps reaching the end of said belts and dropping between said U-shaped channel members.

2. The device defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided also a further pair of U-shaped guide members oppositely facing with respect to each other and respectively embracing the flanges of each of said U-shaped channel members, the web of said U-shaped guide members being positioned between each of said respective pairs of pulleys and under the portion of each belt extending therebetween, whereby to provide a positive backing for the adjacent courses of said belts.

ELDRED C. BENNETT. CHARLES POWELL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,086,631 Weaver Feb. 10, 1914 1,119,204 Van Houten Dec. 1, 1914 1,600,383 Ahlskog Sept. 21, 1926 1,811,201 Kleinberg June 23, 1931 1,907,900 Tevander May 9, 1933 2,187,101 Schneider Jan. 10, 1940 2,379,090 Le Beau June 26, 1945 2,380,193 Scott July 10, 1945 2,421,515 McNamara et a1. June 3, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 489,457 Great Britain July 27, 1938

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