US2815148A

US2815148A - Cap feeding apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2815148A
Application number: US306806A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl L Day; Frederick E Fauth
Original assignee: Crown Cork and Seal Co Inc
Current assignee: Crown Cork and Seal Co Inc
Priority date: 1952-08-28
Filing date: 1952-08-28
Publication date: 1957-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 1974-12-03

Description

Dec. 3, 1957 c. DAY ETAL 1 2,815,148

' CAP FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS.

ATTORNEYAS 1957 c. L. DAY ETAL I 2,815,148

' CAP FEEDING APPARATUS I Filed Aug. 28, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS:

Ryder 1307c EFjzuZ'h ATTORNEYS.

' 1 c. 1... DAY ETAL 2,815,148

CAP FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 3. INVENTORS; gar} L Dag, fipdeiy'ckEEhui'h MMJJ w ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 3, 1957 c. DAY EIAL CAP FEEDING APPARATUS 7 Shets-Sheet 4 Frpdezj Elihu-Eh, BY

Filed Aug. 28. 1952 ATTORNEYS.

Dean. 3, 1957 c. 1.. DAY ETAL 2,815,148

CAP FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VENTORS.

Qaigl L. D a y, y E ede .Eifijaui'h,

ATTORNEY-5'.

Dec. 3, 1957 v 3. L. DAY ETAL CAP FEEDING APPARATUS 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Aug. 28. 1952 I iNVlNTORS: G e 1u .Fbedezic EiFuui'h,

ATTORNEYS I 1957 C. L. DAY- EIAL 2,81

CAP FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1952 '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 A TORNEYS.

2,815,148 Patented Dec. 3, 1957 CAP FEEDING APPARATUS Carl L. Day and Frederick E. Fauth, Baltimore, Md., assignors to Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application August 28, 1952, Serial No. 306,806 16 Claims. (Cl. 221-173) The present invention relates to cap feeding apparatus and, more particularly, to apparatus for feeding caps provided with pivoted locking levers operable to firmly clamp the cap upon a container mouth.

Some difliculties heretofore have been encountered in the application of locking lever equipped caps to continuously moving containers, especially when it has been desired to so apply the caps that the locking lever of each cap will be in the same position with respect to the circumference of the container mouth.

The present invention is particularly useful in the feeding of locking lever equipped caps such as disclosed in Williams Patent No. 1,743,945, issued January 14, 1930, and Williams Patent No. 1,871,831, issued February 6, 1932.

A cap of the type disclosed in the Williams patent includes a skirt which is contractible by downward movement of a pivoted locked lever so as to enable the cap to be firmly clamped upon a container mouth. Before such a cap is applied to the container, the locking lever must be in upward or non-locking position. After the cap has been applied to the container, the locking lever will be swung downwardly and outwardly through substantially 180 so that it will extend downwardly from the cap. An apparatus for applying such caps, forcing them to sealed position, and then moving the locking levers to locking position is disclosed in Mair Patents Nos. 2,351,348 and 2,351,349, both issued June 13, 1944.

When caps of the above-mentioned type are applied to bottles which are not circular in horizontal section, for eX- ample, bottles including two diametrically opposite flat sides, or to bottles which are elliptical in cross-section, it is desirable to have the locking lever lie along a vertical line which intersects a fiat Wall of the bottle. If the locking lever of each capped bottle is positioned in this manner, the locking lever more readily can be operated by the capping machine. Even if the bottles are of round cross-section and move directly in a line to a mechanism which will move the locking levers to locking position, it is desirable to have every locking lever lie in the same plane with respect to the line along which the containers move. By this latter arrangement, all of the containers will move to the locking lever operating mechanism with their locking levers positioned in the same vertical plane with respect to the locking lever operating mechanism.

An important object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which will position or orient locking lever equipped caps so that all of the locking levers will lie in the same plane.

Difficulties heretofore have been involved in mechanically feeding locking lever equipped caps to a capping chute and it usually has been the practice to place such caps in the capping chute by hand so that their locking levers all will lie in thesame plane.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cap feeding apparatus to handle locking lever equipped caps and which is of such design and construction that the caps may be delivered thereto at random, but only caps facing in the desired direction and with their locking levers properly oriented will be moved through a chute for application to the containers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cap feeding mechanism for locking lever equipped caps which is of such construction and design as to avoid difliculties heretofore involved in the handling of such caps.

The handling oflocking lever equipped caps involves numerous difiiculties which do not arise in the manipulation of the usual skirted type of cap, whether of the crown, threaded, or lug type. Most of the difficulties naturally arise because of the presence upon the cap of a locking lever projecting upwardly from the cap skirt. As is indicated above, the present invention includes arrangements to minimize such difficulties.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification. and accompanying drawings. i

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus, the view showing the Figure 2 structure as viewed from the left. A portion of the view is in vertical axial section.

Figure 2 is anend view of the apparatus, the view looking toward Figure 1 in the plane of the arrow 2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view of the end of the apparatus which appears at the left of Figure l, the view being taken in the plane indicated by the arrow 3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1. t 1

Figure 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4. I

Figure 6 is a detail view showing an agitator included in the apparatus.

Figure 7 shows the agitator in top plan, with portions in radial section:

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail view of the cap orienting mechanism which appears on a smaller scale in the upper portion of Figure 2.

Figure 9 is an elevation of a locking lever equipped cap of the type to be handled by the present apparatus.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary vertical section of the cap feeding chute on the line 10-10 of Figure 2, Figure 10 being on an enlarged scale. Figure 10 also is a section on the line 10a-10a of Figure 11.

Figure 11 is an enlarged elevation of the portion of the cap chute illustrated in Figure 10. Figure 11 is taken looking toward Figure 10 from the right and has portions broken away.

Figures 12 and 13 are detail views finger included in Figures 10 and 11, taken at right angles to each other.

Figure 14 is a front elevation of a cap applying mechanism provided at the lower end of the cap chute.

Figure 15 is a sectional view on the line 15-15 of Figure 14.

Figure 16 is a detail-showing of the cap retaining device, the view looking toward Figure 14 from the left and,

Figure 17 is a bottom view of the Figure 16 structure.

Referring to Figure l, the apparatus of the present invention generally comprises a hopper 20 of trough-like form and which is arranged with its axis tilted so that the hopper will be inclined downwardly toward its left-hand end. Hopper 20 will be supported in this position upon of a cap pick-up the two views being a post 24 having its upper end fitted in a. supporting bracket 26 which is secured to the lower portion of the hopper. The lowermost or left-hand end of hopper 20 opens to an agitator chamber 28 having an agitator 30 rotatable therein, the agitator being of the form illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 to include a druru fal' having radial blades 32 extending therethrough. Caps placed in the hopper 28 will move by gravity into the agitator chamber 28 to be stirred by the agitator 30 moving in the direction of the arrow appearing in Figure 4. As a result, the caps will be lifted through the opening 34 in the top portion of the agitator chamber and into contact with the rotating disc 36. Disc 36 is of substantially greater diameter than the hopper and agitator chamber and is provided with a series of magnetic inserts 38 arranged adjacent its periphery in circumferential series. Therefore, caps adhering to disc 36 will be moved upwardly with the disc as indicated in Figure 8. The disc preferably will be covered with a polished, thin plate so that the disc surface to which caps adhere will be perfectly smooth.

It will be observed that the structure described above is substantially similar to that disclosed in our application for Container Sealing Apparatus, Serial No. 295,024, filed June 23, 1953, now Patent No. 2,734,672, issued February 14, 1956. However, as is hereinafter described, the present apparatus includes arrangements particularly designed for the handling of caps C of the type illustrated in Figure 9 and which include a skirted body B and a locking lever L. In somewhat more detail, the present invention includes arrangements to facilitate the movement of such caps into the agitator chamber 28 as well as the means illustrated in Figure 8 and hereinafter described to insure that the caps will be delivered to the cap chute 40 with their locking levers trailing and without jamming at the chute infeed. The present invention also includes the structures illustrated in Figures to 16 for facilitating stripping of the caps from the disc 36 and for applying the caps to the containers.

Referring now to the detail structure of the hopper 20, it will be observed from Figures 1 and 2 (the latter of which views the hopper of Figure 1 from the right and along its axis) that the hopper includes a front wall 42, including a downwardly inclined lower portion 44 which merges with a curved bottom wall 46 formed on the same radius as the rear wall 48. The right-hand or uppermost end of hopper 20 is closed by an end wall 50. The upper edges of the front wall 42, end wall 50, and rear wall 48 are defined by a flange 52 which, when the apparatus is mounted as shown in Figure 1, will lie in a horizontal plane, the bottom wall 46 then being inclined downwardly away from the end wall 50. As best shown in Figure 3, the mounting bracket 26 projects downwardly from the left-hand end of the bottom wall portion 46 at the rearward side of the hopper. As is also illustrated in Figures 1 and 4, hopper 20 may be provided with a closure 54 through which caps may be removed from the hopper. Closure 54 is hinged at its lower edge as indicated at 58 in Figure 4 and normally is latched closed by the latch 60. When closure 54 is dropped downwardly, it will serve as a chute along which caps may be removed from the hopper.

The lower end of the hopper 20 is open to the agitator housing 28, through an arcuate opening 64 shown in Figures 4 and 5 and defined between the adjacent end wall 62 of housing 28 and the edge of a plate 86 lying against wall 62. A shaft 65 is journalled in the end wall 50 and, as shown in Figure 5, in the casting forming the agitator housing 28. Within the housing 28, shaft 65 has the agitator 30 secured thereto. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the opposite end of shaft 65, outwardly of hopper 50, carries a sprocket wheel 66 normally held keyed to shaft 65 by an overload clutch device including a spring 68. If any jam occurs, spring 68 will release wheel 66 from driving engagement with shaft 65. A sprocket chain 69 drives sprocket 66 from a second wheel 70 fixed to an upper and parallel shaft 72 which extends the length of the apparatus and has the disc 36 fixed to its lower and left-hand end. Drive is imparted to the disc and the abovementioned shafts by means of a belt 74 which engages a peripheral groove in the disc and also engages a grooved driving pulley device 76 secured to the shaft of a motor 78. Motor 78 is carried by a baseplate 80 pivoted at its lower edge to a surrounding plate 82 fixed to the bracket 26. By this arrangement, the pulley device 76 will engage the belt 74 by reason of the weight of the motor. The belt 74 may be placed in any one of a number of pulley grooves to thereby drive the disc and other movable parts of the apparatus at a selected speed.

As has been stated above, caps sliding downwardly in the hopper 20 will move against the lower end wall 62 and plate 86 which form the outer wall of the agitator housing. As best shown in Figure 4, the interior of housing 28 is bounded by a circular wall 84 of slightly smaller diameter than the width of the hopper 28 to thereby conform to the radius of the arms 32 carried by agitator 30. However, as is illustrated in Figure 5, the upper righthand portion of the circular wall 84 is provided with an opening 34 and is enlarged in diameter as indicated at 85 so that caps may move upwardly out of the agitator housing 28 to contact with disc 36. As is clear from Figure 5, opening 34 is of greatest width at its lower portion 87. Caps will enter housing 28 from hopper 20 through the arcuate opening 64. As has been stated above, in the embodiment illustrated, the end wall 62 of the agitator housing 28 also includes a plate 86 which overlies the upper portion of the opening 64 to limit the arcuate length of that opening to substantially 140. The inner radial boundary of the opening 64 is defined by the arcuate edge 88 which conforms to the outer diameter of the impeller drum 31. The extreme ends of the impeller blades 32 will be closely adjacent the circular wall 84 of the agitator housing as indicated in Figure 4, though the ends of the blades may be curved as indicated in Figures 6 and 7 to recede from wall 84. The blades include V-shaped trailing extensions 32a. Caps moving into the housing through opening 64 will gather between the circular wall 84 and the agitator drum 31, being carried around with drum 31 by the arms 32 for passage through the upper opening 34. The provision of drum 31 in agitator 30 will limit the number of caps which may be present in the agitator housing 28.

Because of the locking lever L on each cap C of Figure 9, caps entering agitator housing 28 through opening 64 may tend to become nested or caught upon the edge 88 of plate 86. In order to obviate this, a stripper cam 90 is fixed to shaft 64 immediately adjacent the wall 62 but within hopper 20. Cam 90 is circular but is eccentrically mounted on the shaft 65 so that a portion 92 will project past the edge 88 of arcuate opening 64. Therefore, as shaft 65 rotates, the cam portion 92 of greatest radius will periodically move along the edge 88 to thereby remove caps from that edge.

As is best shown in the upper left-hand portion of Figure 4, agitator housing 28 includes an upwardly extending web 94 which lies adjacent disc 36 and supports a metal sheet 96 so that the latter is inclined downwardly away from the disc 36. Hence, caps which fall from the upper portion of disc 36 upon plate 96 will drop back into the hopper 20. Web 94 includes another downwardly inclined surface 98 along which caps may slide onto the upper portion of the circular wall 84 to either fall back into the agitator housing 28 through opening 34 or fall off the housing 28 and into hopper 20. A strip 97 shown in Figures 1 and 4 directs such caps toward the center of hopper 20.

As is described in said Patent No. 2,734,672, caps moved outwardly and upwardly from housing 28 through opening 34 will adhere to the magnetic inserts 38 of the disc 36 to be carried upwardly by the disc. The upper edge of disc 36 moves within an arcuate strip 100 having its lower end fixed to the agitator housing 28 and its upper end secured to a post 102 fixed to the upper and left-hand portion (Figure 2) of the agitator housing web 94. The strip 100 serves to enclose the upper portion of the edge of disc 36.

If two caps which have been moved from housing 28 become nested on a magnetic insert 38 of disc 36, the outermost cap will be removed by a stripper blade 104 secured to the strip 100 and having its inner edge spaced from the disc a suflicient distance to permit thhe upstanding locking lever L of one cap to pass beneath such edge with the disc. That is, if a second cap is lying upon the first cap, its locking lever L will strike the stripper blade 104 so that the second cap will drop.

Referring to Figure 8, it will be observed that caps C will be carried upwardly above hopper 20 and agitator housing 28 and past plate 104 by adherence to the magnetic inserts 38. The caps will adhere to the inserts at random so that their locking levers L either may be uppermost or lowermost or at any conceivable angular relation, depending upon how the cap is turned when it comes into contact with a magnetic insert. Some caps will have the edge of the skirt S (Figure 9) facing toward the disc 36 so that the locking lever will project outwardly from the disc. Other caps will have the top walls C of their bodies B and the ends of their locking levers L closest to the disc. It will be understood that the locking lever of every cap will be in the unlocked position illustrated in Figure 9 because no part of the apparatus will have such forceful contact with the caps as to change the position of the locking lever.

A guide bar 105 including a downwardly facing surface 106 is fixed to arcuate strip 100 so that surface 106 will be normal to the cap engaged surface of disc 36 and will be parallel to a line tangential of the disc. Also, surface 106 will lie on a secant of disc 36. The edge of bar 105 which faces disc 36 will be closely adjacent the disc so that no portion of a cap can get between such edge and the disc. An angle strip including a flange 107 parallel to disc 36 has its other flange 108 secured to surface 106 of bar 105, flange 107 being of such width that its lower edge 109 will be parallel to and spaced from bar surface 106 by a distance slightly greater than the overall diameter of the body B of a cap C. The surface of flange 107 which faces disc 36 is spaced from the disc by a distance only slightly greater than the height of the body B of a cap C. It will be noted from Figure 8 that the surface 106 of bar 105 is positioned slightly below the uppermost path of travel of the magnetic inserts 38.

If a cap moves upwardly with disc 36 and past the blade 104 with its top wall and the free end of its locking lever in contact with disc 36, such a cap will be removed from the disc by contact with the edge 109 of flange 107. In more detail, the cap will be unable to move under flange 107 and when the magnetic insert which is attracting the cap passes upwardly beneath and beyond guide bar 105, the cap will be freed from the 'disc.

Assume now that a cap C approaches bar 105 and flange 107 with the edge S of its skirt bearing against the disc 36, but with its locking lever L uppermost as indicated by the cap at C of Figure 8. In such case, the locking lever L will strike the lower edge 109 of flange 107, thereby preventing the cap from continuing upward movement with a magnetic insert. Therefore, as the magnetic insert moves upwardly beneath the flange, the cap will drop downwardly toward the hopper 20. If a locking lever is positioned as indicated by the cap C of Figure 8, that is, to one side but still uppermost, the body B of the cap may move beneath the flange 107 until it comes closely adjacent surface 106, when it may turn so that the locking lever will be lowermost as indicated by the cap shown at C in Figure 8. In any event, with the possible exception of caps which approach flange 107 with their locking levers directly uppermost as indicated at C, most caps which approach flange 107 with the edges of their skirts bearing upon the disc 36 will have their bodies B moved beneath flange 107 and, as the rotation of disc 36 continues,

will turn about their own axes to cause their locking levers L to be in the downward position indicated by the cap designated C It will be observed that though the magnetic inserts may move in a path which, at its highest point, is almost entirely above the surface 106 of guide bar 105, nevertheless, the magnetic attraction will cause a cap to move along with the inserts so that the edge of its body B will be held upwardly adjacent but slightly spaced from the lower surface 106 of guide bar 105. This action is due to the fact that the radius on which the magnetic inserts 38 are arranged is slightly greater than the distance between the disc axis and the surface 106. Initially, the locking lever may be in the position indicated by the cap C but the cap then will turn slightly in a counterclockwise direction as indicated by the two caps to the left of cap C in Figure 8, this clockwise turning being due to the fact that the locking lever will drag along on edge 109.

The caps moving to the left in Figure 8 beneath the flange 107' will be maintained in such position by edge 109 of flange 107 that the locking levers will be in the same horizontal plane as the infeed portion of a slot provided in the cap chute 40. The infeed portion of cap chute 40 is formed by a plate 110 supported upon the bar 94, plate 110 lying in the same plane as flange 107. The upper edge 112 of plate 110 is curved on such a radius that the highest point 114 of the edge is above the lowermost edge 109 of flange 107. Also, flange 187 is curved opposite plate 110 as indicated at 116 to substantially conform to the curvature of edge 112 and a space slightly greater than the diameter of the shank of a locking lever L is provided between edge 112 of plate 110 and the rounded edge portion 116 of flange 107. The outfeed end of the edge 112 and the outfeed end of the curved portion 116 of flange 187 are in alignment with the edges of

flanges

118 and 120 which retain caps in the guide strips 122 and 124 of cap chute 40. It will be noted from Figure 2 that the cap chute 40 curves downwardly at 125 on such radius that the chute lies inwardly of the downward path of travel of the magnetic inserts 38. In other words, once the caps have moved between plate 110 and the opposed curved edge 116 of flange 107, and thus are clear of flange 107, they no longer will be subject to the attraction of the magnetic inserts.

The action of the plate 110 and the curved edge 116 of flange 107 in orienting the caps to such position that they will move downwardly through chute 48 with their levers L at the trailing edge of the cap is as follows: As a cap moves to the left in Figure 8, with the upper portion of its skirt being pulled to the left, and its locking lever dragging in contact with the flange edge 109, the locking lever will move into abutment with the righthand or infeed end of the edge 112 of plate 118. At this instant, the magnetic insert to which the cap is adhering will move further to the left and will exert such attraction upon the uppermost portion of the cap skirt that the cap will be rotated about its own axis in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 8. In other words, the body of the cap will be drawn further to the left While the locking lever is still bearing upon the infeed portion of edge 112. When the cap has thus been rotated to such position that the cap body is entirely beneath plate 110 and the opposed portion of flange 107, the locking lever will be free to move between the

edges

112 and 116. This position is intermediate that illustrated by the position of the caps C and C in Figure 8. The cap illustrated at position C in Figure 8 is still under the attraction of a magnetic insert as well as the pressure of a cap at 0*. Because of the curvature of the

edges

112 and 116 and that of the opposing edges of the

flanges

118 and 120 of cap chute 40, the cap at C cannot turn further and must move downwardly in chute 40 with its locking lever L projecting between the edges of the

flanges

118 and 120.

If the cap chute 40 is full of caps as illustrated in Figure 8, an other cap moving against the cap shown at C may create a jam because the supposed cap cannot enter the chute. In addition, if the cap illustrated at C should be a little further to the left in Figure 8, the supposed next cap might become so engaged with cap C that it could not rotate to properly oriented position with respect to the chute 46. In order to clear any jams thus created if chute do is filled and if other caps endeavor to enter'chute 4b, the invention includes the periodically oscillated stripper arm 126 best shown in Figure 8.

Ann 226 is pivoted on a stub shaft 128 which extends through the fixed strip 1%. Arm 126 is enclosed by a wall 13d extending outwardly over guide bar 105 and the free end of bar 126 is provided with a downwardly extending finger 132 which lies closely adjacent disc 36 and is movable through a slot in guide bar 105. Arm 1% has a spring 134 connected to its free end, the opposide end of the spring being connected to a rod 136 fixed to post 94. Therefore, spring 134 normally holds arm 126 in the upward position illustrated in Figure 8. Stub shaft 123 has a lever 138 fixed thereto at the rearward side of disc 36, the position of lever 138 being best illustrated in Figure 1. At its free end, lever 138 carries a roller 140.

As is best shown in Figure 3, a cam plate 142 is fixed to the rearward face of disc 36 by means of bolts 144. Cam 142 includes a suitably curved edge 146 of such form that it will con-tact with roller Hi) to thereby move lever 13% downwardly against the action of spring 134. This downward movement of lever 138 will cause the free end of arm 126 to move downwardly, thereby causing the finger 132 to remove any caps which are adjacent a cap blocking the infeed end of the plate 110. For example, the cap illustrated in position C of Figure 8, together with any caps adhering thereto, might be removed by the descent of the finger 132. However, a cap very slightly to the left of the cap shown at C would not be contacted by finger 132 because it would be entirely within the chute.

If caps are being removed from the lower end of chute 49 at the same rate they are being fed to the chute by disc 36, no jams will occur at the infeed of the chute. However, the provision of the stripper arm 126 for actuation upon each rotation of disc 36 will clear any jams occurring by too rapid accumulation of caps at the chute infeed.

As has been. stated above, and as is illustrated in Figure 2, the cap chute 4%) curves downwardly at 125 on such radius so that the portion 14% thereof which lies in a vertical plane and which comprises the major portion of the length of the chute lies inwardly of the path of travel r of the magnetic inserts 38. Caps moving through the curved portion 125 will bear upon the surface of the disc as. However, as is illustrated in Figures 1 and it), at a point lying substantially on the horizontal line which intersects the axis of the disc the chute 40 diverges outwardly from the disc. in order that the caps will be stripped from the discs at this point, the chute includes the pick-off finger 150 illustrated in Figures to 13 and which lies in a circumferential groove 152 formed in the opposed face of disc ea. As is clear from Figure 10, caps moving downwardly in the chute and bearing against the disc will con-tact with the inclined surface 154 of finger 15d to thereby be directed outwardly from contact with disc 36 to move into the diverging portion of chute 49. As is indicated in Figure l, the extreme lower portion 156 of chute as is arranged at a very slight angle above the horizontal so that containers moving beneath this portion of the chute may remove caps therefrom in usual fashion.

The lowermost or outfeed portion 156 of the chute may be provided with retaining fingers 160 which will hold the lowermost cap against movement from the chute until the skirt of the cap is contacted by the mouth of a container. Because of the close spacing between the overhanging flanges of the chute, the locking levers L cannot move sidewise in the chute. Hence, every cap will be applied to a container with its locking lever at the trailing side of the moving container.

As is indicated in Figure 1, bottles or other containers moving beneath the outfeed end 156 of chute 40 on a conveyor will receive caps C. Then the containers may move, without turning, to an apparatus such as shown in said Mair patents and adapted to move the similarly facing locking levers to locked position.

The terminology used in the specification is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. In a cap orienting mechanism for caps including a skirted body and a skirt-carried locking lever lying normal to the cap body top wall, a disc rotatable about a central axis and including a planar surface on which the caps will be supported, a cap receiving chute positioned adjacent the disc planar surface and including side walls adapted to be engaged by diametrically opposite portions of a cap skirt, the planar face of said disc being provided with magnetic inserts arranged in circular series, means to rotate said disc to move the magnetic inserts toward the infeed end of said chute, a first guide means fixed adjacent the disc planar surface in alignment with the cap chute side wall farthest from the disc axis, a second guide means parallel to said first guide means and spaced therefrom toward the disc axis by a distance slightly greater than the diameter of a cap so that when a cap skirt is adjacent said first guide means, its locking lever will be in contact with said second guide means, said second guide means being spaced from the disc planar surface by a distance slightly greater than the height of the cap body, each side wall of said chute including an overhanging flange, the opposed edges of the flanges being spaced apart by a distance corresponding to the diameter of the locking lever of a cap, the opposed edges of the flanges at the infeed portion of the chute being in alignment with said second guide means.

2. A mechanism of the character described in claim 1 wherein the opposed edges of the chute flanges immediately beyond their infeed ends are curved convexly with respect to the disc axis.

3. In a capping apparatus, a cap hopper, a disc at one end of said hopper rotatable in a substantially vertical plane, said disc having a planar face open to said hopper and provided with magnetic inserts to which caps will adhere and arranged in a circular series of such radius as to be movable upwardly in a path above the caps in said hopper, a cap receiving stationary chute positioned upon said face of the disc in substantial alignment with an upper portion of the path of travel of the magnetic inserts to receive caps carried upwardly by the inserts, and stripper means movable across said surface of the disc and the path of travel of caps with the inserts at a point in advance of the infeed end of said chute.

4. Apparatus of the character described in claim 3 wherein said means comprises a lever movable about a pivot fixed with respect to said hopper.

5. Apparatus of the character described in claim 3 wherein said means comprises a lever movable about a pivot fixed with respect to said hopper and a cam to operate said lever is fixed to said disc.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, a cap hopper, a cap conveying disc rotatable in a substantially vertical plane, and means to move caps from the hopper and into contact with said disc including a chamber bounded by a circular wall formed on a substantially horizontal axis, one end of the circular wall being immediately adjacent the disc, a wall at the opposite end of the chamber, said last-mentioned wall having an opening therein through which caps may move into the chamber from said hopper, an agitator device within the chamber rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of said disc and said chamber, the upper portion of the circular wall of 9 said chamber being provided with an opening through which the caps may move with said disc.

7. An apparatus of the character described in claim 6 wherein said disc is provided with magentic inserts spaced in circular series and movable adjacent the upwardly facing opening in said chamber.

8. An apparatus of the character described in claim 6 wherein the opening in the last-mentioned end wall of said chamber is of arcuate form.

9. An apparatus of the character described in claim 6 wherein the opening in the last-mentioned end wall of said chamber is of arcuate form and said agitator includes a circular drum of a diameter conforming to the inner edge of the arcuate opening.

10. An apparatus of the character described in claim 6 including means rotatable with said agitator device to periodically move across the opening in said end wall.

11. An apparatus of the character described in claim 6 wherein the opening in the end wall of said chamber is of arcuate form and including a circular disc eccentrically rotatable with said agitator device to periodically move along the inner edge of the arcuate opening.

'12. A capping apparatus for skirted caps including a cap hopper, a disc at one end of said hopper rotatable in a vertical plane, said disc having a planar face movable past one end of said hopper and provided with magnetic inserts to which caps will adhere, the magnetic inserts being arranged in a circular series of such radius as to be movable upwardly in a path above the caps in said hopper, a cap receiving chute including a portion positioned upon said face of the disc and with its infeed end in alignment with the path of travel of the magnetic inserts, said chute curving downwardly in contact with said disc and inwardly of the path of travel of the inserts, said chute including a lower portion diverging outwardly from the surface of the disc, and means positioned in said chute adjacent the point of divergence to strip caps from the disc.

13. An apparatus of the character described in claim 12 wherein said stripper means is an upwardly facing pointed element, and the planar face of said disc includes a circular groove into which said element projects.

*14. In a cap orienting mechanism for caps including a skirted body and a skirt-carried locking lever lying normal to the cap top wall, a disk rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis and including a planar fa'ce provided with a circular series of magnetic elements, means to supply caps to a lower portion of said disk, a fixed cap chute having its cap receiving mouth bearing on an upper portion of said disk face and including side walls adapted to engage diametrically opposite portions of a cap skirt and a top wall provided with .a longitudinally extending opening having a width corresponding to the diameter of a cap locking lever, said magnetic elements being movable along a cap conveying path extending from said cap supply means to said ch-ute mouth, a bar member fixed in said path adjacent said chute month, said bar member including a surface parallel, opposite, and spaced from said disk face by a distance approximating the depth of a cap skirt, said bar member surface including an edge lying in said path of movement and facing the disk axis and terminating at the upper edge of the longitudinal opening of said chute top wall, and means to rotate said disk to move said magnetic elements along said path.

15. A mechanism of the character described in claim 14 wherein said bar member edge is straight and lies normal to a radius of said disk and at less distance from the disk axis than the radius of said circular series of magnetic elements.

16. A mechanism of the character described in claim 14 wherein the opposed edges of said chute top wall opening immediately adjacent the chute month are curved to be convex with respect to said disk axis, such curvature being on a radius suffi'ciently smaller than the radius of said series of magnetic elements that caps will rotate on their own axes when moving into said chute mouth.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 800,288 Fulenwider Sept. 26, 1905 962,030 Kirkegalard June 21, 1910 1,049,525 Pearson Jan. 7, 1913 1,311,892 Hey Aug. 5, 1919 1,332,279 Williams et al. Mar. 2, 1920 1,358,725 Gaynor Nov. 16, 1920 FOREIGN PATENTS 243,970 Germany Feb. 27, 1912