US3332211A

US3332211A - Cap applying apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3332211A
Application number: US420918A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stanley J Koll; John M Rocus
Original assignee: American Flange and Manufacturing Co Inc
Current assignee: American Flange and Manufacturing Co Inc
Priority date: 1964-12-24
Filing date: 1964-12-24
Publication date: 1967-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 1984-07-25

Description

y 1967 s. J. KOLL ETAL 3,332,211

CAP APPLYING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 24, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS NLEY J K044 J/m M. Focus A TORNEY July 25, 1967 5. J. KOLL ETAL CAP APPLYING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 24. 1964 J: KOLL ib/#4 M. Eaaus INVENTORS SfAM LEY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,332,211 CAP APPLYING APPARATUS Stanley J. Koll, Keansburg, N.J., and John M. Rocus, Elk Grove Village, Ill., assignors to American Flange & Manufacturing Co. Inc., New York, NY. Filed Dec. 24, 1964, Ser. No. 420,918 8 Claims. (Cl. 53353) This invention relates to apparatus for applying container closures and is particularly concerned with an improved apparatus or tool for crimping lightweight closure caps onto container necks.

This invention is particularly concerned with an improved apparatus or tool for applying lightweight closure caps by a crimping action over the openings in bottle necks and wherein the closure caps are of the type which can be destroyed and removed by hand action with out the use of any tools. Heretofore such hand removable lightweight closure caps were applied over the openings in the bottles by a spinning or rolling process. Such a process is carried out by using a spinning head having a plurality of disc-like rollers adapted to be moved radially inwardly so as to deform the depending skirt portion inwardly into sealing engagement with the bottle neck. It has been found that this spinning process not only requires a complicated apparatus but such apparatus is not readily adaptable to a bottling plant that already has non-spinning apparatus for applying standard crown seals to bottle openings by a crimping action. Additionally it has been found that the spinning process applied to this type of closure cap has some structural adverse effects due to the deforming of the metal and the hardening action imparted to the metal by the spinning rollers. All of these disadvantages of the spinning apparatus are overcome by this improved closure cap applying apparatus.

The present lightweight closure caps which provide pressure-resistant but hand destructible closing and sealing caps for the openings of bottles are provided with a scored area which extends across the top of the cap and continuously extends across the downwardly depending skirt and terminates in a tab or ear extending beyond the skirt portion. The use of a conventional closure cap crimping tool to apply such a lightweight closure cap to a bottle opening has proved unsuccessful because such tools cause a puckering of the metal in the skirt portion of the cap between the conventional crimping jaws as they move the skirt portion of the cap radially inwardly. Any puckering of the metal in the skirt portion of the closure cap is undesirable because of possible leakage in the puckered area. Additionally the metal surrounding the puckered area is weakened during the puckering and since the contents of the bottle are under some pressure the possibility exists that such a cap will be blown off. The novel closure cap applying tool described and claimed herein eliminates all of these prior objections by providing a crimping tool that seals a lightweight closure cap onto a bottle opening without crimping the metal in the cap and without the disadvantages of a spun on closure cap.

It is accordingly a principal object of this invention to provide new and improved apparatus for applying closures to containers.

Another object is to provide new and improved apparatus for crimping lightweight metal closure caps onto bottles.

Another object is to provide a closure cap crimping apparatus which eliminates pinching of the cap skirt between the crimping jaws.

A further object is to provide improved closure cap crimping apparatus having means to automatically compensate for dimensional variations in the container necks to which such caps are applied.

A further object is to provide crimping apparatus for 3,332,211 Patented July 25, 1967 applying closure caps having a scored area to containers with suflicient force to effect a pressure seal without damaging said scoring.

A still further object is to provide a closure cap crimping apparatus wherein the sealing anvil portions of each of the crimping jaws are mated on an angle.

Further and more detailed objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing proceeds.

In that drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the cap applying apparatus in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the cap applying head and associated workpiece showing the crimping jaws in open or expanded position;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but with the jaws in closed or crimping position;

FIG. 4- is a bottom plan view of the applying head alone taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and looking in 'the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4 and looking on the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 6 is a greatly enlarged vertical section, partly cut away, of a crimping jaw sealing anvil applying a cap to a container; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a pair of mated crimping jaw sealing anvils.

Considering first the cap applying apparatus of the invention as generally shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it can be seen that the principal parts thereof comprise a cap applying head generally indicated by 1, a bearing member 2 for supporting the cap applying head 1, and an actuating means 3 for moving the cap applying head into operative relationship with a cap and a bottle opening. The specific details of the cap applying head forms an important part of this invention and will be described in full detail hereinafter. However, continuing with the structural aspects of the invention, it can be seen that the cap applying head 1 is selectively moved toward and away from a bottle held stationary in alignment with said head by the actuating means 3 which comprises a conventional double acting piston and cylinder combination. The cap applying head 1 is secured in any suitable manner to the nected to an enlarged cylindrical housing 7. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 a bore 13 extends through a major portion of cylinder 6. The inner surface of the bore is partially threaded at 8 to receive the threaded end portion of a sleeve 9. A circumferential flange 10 at the lower end of sleeve 9 contacts the wall 11 when said sleeve is fully seated within cylinder 6. A pair of wrench engaging slots 12 are formed into the flange 10 from the under surface thereof to facilitate the insertion and removable of the same. Slideably received within the sleeve 9 is a spindle 15 having a collar 16 near the upper end thereof and terminating in a shank 17 of reduced diameter. Surrounding the shank 17 is a helical compression spring 18 extending between the 'collar 16 and the end wall 19 of the bore 13 and adapted to be compressed therebetween and to normally retain the collar 16 in contact with the end of sleeve 9. The lower end of spindle 15 is provided with a tapped hole 20 and a shallow bore 21. Secured to the lower end of spindle 15 by means of screw 22 is an insert member 23 having at its upper end a reduced portion 24 received within the bore 21 and terminating at its lower free end in a cap receiving nest 25. A shoulder 26 is integrally formed on the insert member 23 and has an upper surface 27 for pivotally supporting a plurality of annularly arranged jaws 28.

The lightweight cap 41 which is received within nest is best shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 as having a resilient gasket 42 therein and a pair of score lines 46 defining a tear strip 47 therebetween commencing with a gripping ear 48 and extending from the free edge 49 of the cap skirt 50 across the skirt and top cap 51. As shown in FIG. 6 the upper portion of the cap 41 is received within the nest 25 and the sidewall 43 of said nest extends downwardly a suflicient distance to be horizontally below the lowermost edge 44 of the gasket 42 after the cap is fully seated over the bottle opening. This wall 43 serves to back up the skirt 50 during the compression of the gasket 42 upon the seating of the cap 41 and prevents said skirt from bulging outwardly particularly in the area of the score lines 46.

Each of the jaws are of identical construction, except for sealing

anvils

60 and 80 which are secured thereto and which will be described in detail thereinafter. In the disclosed embodiment twelve jaws are disclosed as being spaced about the cap receiving nest 25 but that number may be varied without departing from the scope of the invention. The upper end of each jaw 28 has a recess 29 forming a seat about the supporting shoulder 26 and an oppositely formed heel 30. A cam surface 32 extends about the inner surface of the lower edge of the housing 7 which engages the heel and prevents dislodgement of the jaws from their pivotal mounting over the shoulder 27. As seen in FIG. 2 the jaws 28 are normally retained in expanded position by the engagement of wheel 30 with the cam sunface 32. An inclined cam surface 33 is formed on the lower outer surface of each jaw and is acted upon by a closing sleeve 34 consisting of a plurality of individual arcuately shaped segments 35. In the disclosed embodiment four segments of equal dimension are shown but the particular number of such segments could be varied without departing from the scope of the invention. Each segment 35 has a recess 36 formed at its upper portion for pivotally engaging the outer end of a flange 37 formed on the base of the housing 7. The lower internal surface 38 of each segment 35 is inclined at an acute angle slightly greater than that of the jaw camming surface so that downward movement of each segment 35 which comprises the closing sleeve 34 relative to the insert 23 and the cap receiving nest 25 causes the jaws 28 to be cammed radially inwardly. The inclined surface 38 of each segment 35 is retained in contact with the inclined surface 33 on the corresponding jaws 28 by means of spring 31. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, springs 31 are illustrated as four separate elements secured to each of the segments 35 by means of pins 39. A single continuous spring might also be employed for this purpose without departing from the invention.

In operation a bottle 40 is located in vertical alignment with the cap applying head 1 with a lightweight metal cap 41 loosely placed over the bottle neck opening as shown in FIG. 2. The cap applying head 1 is moved toward the cap and bottle by means of the actuating means 3. In the downward movement of the head 1 the nest 25 carried on said head receives the cap 41 and presses the cap onto the bottle opening thus tightly compressing the gasket 42 between the cap and the gasket receiving portion 56 on the bottle opening. When the resistance of the nest 25 to the downward movement of cylinder 6 exceeds the resistance of spring 18 to the upward movement of spindle 15, cylinder 6 and sleeve 9 will continue their downward movement while the spindle 15 and cap receiving nest 25 remain stationary. The resultant pressure is suificient to properly seat the cap 41 as described above. Since the pivotal bearing surface for the jaws 28 remain stationary with spindle 15 the continued downward movement of the cylinder 6 and the closing ring segments 35 will cause the jaws 28, through the camming action of the

inclined surfaces

33 and 38, to pivot radially inwardly so that sealing anvils 60 and 88 will form the cap skirt inwardly into sealing engagement with the underlying skirt receiving portion of the container lip 45. Any irregularities in the bottle neck or lip to which to which the cap is applied is automatically compensated for by the springs 31 which override the downward movement of the housing 7 for oversize bottle conditions and allow the closing segments 35 to move independently for out of round bottle conditions. A tight pressure seal having been effected the downward force on the head 1 is released allowing the shaft 6 to be displaced upwardly about the spindle 15 and in so doing the cam surfaces 32 on the interior of housing 7 contact the jaw heel 30 pivoting the jaws back to their expanded or relaxed position.

Turning now to a more detailed discussion of the jaw sealing anvils and 80, they are seen in FIG. 4 alternately arranged in an annulus and formed as separate members secured to the bottom surfaces of the jaws by screws 53 and locking pins 54. In is also contemplated that the anvil might be formed as in integral portion of the jaw 28. As shown in FIG. 7 the set of anvils 60 each include a top surface 61, a bottom surface 62, substantially vertical side surfaces 63 and

apertures

64 and 65 for reception of the screws and pins 53 and 54 respectively. The side surfaces 63 are partially cut away to provide a pair of inclined surfaces 66. As shown it can be seen that each of the inclined surfaces 66 are machined on a compound angle so as to lie in a plane forming an upward and inward approximate 45 degree angle at the leading side edge 67 of the surface 66 and tapering back outwardly to a point 68 along the juncture of top surface 61 and side surface 63 on an approximate 10 degree slant. The latter value would of course vary according to the number of jaws used to form the annulus. The line 69 thus forms the juncture between the vertical side surface 63 and the inclined surface 66. The nose of the anvil has an arcuate forming surface 70 which is defined by the angled side edges 67 and is contoured to conform to the shape of the lower lip surface 55 of the bottle opening.

The set of anvils indicated by the numeral have basically the reverse contour of the anvils 60. Each anvil 80 comprises a top surface 81, a bottom surface 82, substantially vertical side surfaces 83 and

apertures

84 and 85 for reception of the screws and pins 53 and 54 respectively. The side surfaces 83 are partially cut away to provide a pair of inclined surfaces 86 machined on a compound angle and which lie in a plane forming an upward and outward approximate 45 degree angle at the leading side edge 87 and taper back outwardly to a point 88 along the juncture of bottom surface 82 and side surface 83 thus forming a juncture line 89 between the vertical side surface 83 and the inclined surface 86. The nose of the anvil 80 has an arcuate forming surface 90 which is defined by the angled side edges 87 and like forming surface 70 and is contoured to conform to the shape of the lower lip surface 55 of the bottle opening.

As mentioned earlier a major problem that has presented itself in adapting the crimp sealing principle to lightweight tear off caps of the type herein described has been the puckering or pleating in the lower cap skirt area which has heretofore resulted from the skirt being pinched between the jaws as they contract to sealing position. This undesirable prior art condition not only detracted from the overall appearance of the cap but also seriously impaired the effectiveness of the seal as the pleat thus formed created -a potential leakage path. If a leakage path was not initially created an even more serious problem developed in that at some subsequent time a reasonable build up of internal pressure would cause these pleats to spring open and release the cap from the container. Furthermore there existed in these prior art devices a reason-able chance of one of the vertically oriented score lines formed in the cap skirt falling directly in align-ment with one of the joints between the jaws. Inasmuch as the skirt is intentionally weakened in these areas to facilitate tearing it can readily be appreciated that pinching of the metal between jaws at these points would be likely to fracture the same and result in a defective cap from the outset.

'FIG. 5 illustrates how the

anvils

60 and 80 interact to eliminate the above described puckering or pleating condition. This view shows the leading or forming surfaces of the

anvils

60 and 80 with the jaws in closed or sealing position and forming a tightly closed annulus. The inclined side surfaces 66 and 86 are in abutting relationship with the juncture of their leading

edges

67 and 87 disposed in 45 degree lines as shown. As the. jaws move progressively radially inwardly from their expanded position to their closed or sealing position, the cap skirt 50 is formed inwardly and the natural tendency of the metal skirt is to pucker or pleat in straight vertical lines. However with the juncture between the anvil edges 67 and 87 forming a 45 degree angle pinching of the metal in the joint between the jaws is eliminated since that joint now extends at an angle to the vertically oriented skirt pleats or wrinkles. The result is thus to iron out the pleats or wrinkles against the underlying bottle lip surface 55. By having the crimping jaws, or more specifically the sealing surfaces of the crimping jaws, close on an angle, it is impossible to create a vertical leakage path through pleating or pinching because the overlapping surfaces of the jaws, as viewed in FIG. 5, insure a continuous annular forming surface. Even if the joint between two adjacent ed-

ges

67 and 87 were to overlie one of the score lines 46 no damage to the cap would result since the joints and the score lines cross harmlessly at an angle.

The cap applying apparatus herein described substantially improves upon conventional prior art capping devices and makes possible the use of the crimping principle in applying lightweight metal caps to bottles and like containers where substantial internal pressures must be retained. Heretofore it has been thought necessary to employ comparatively expensive roll-on or spinning equipment to apply closures of this nature. The crimping device of this invention reverses this thought and makes it possible to effect a pressure seal on containers in an economical manner and at speeds compatible with present day automated production requirements. In addition the apparatus herein disclosed is adapted for ready conversion of standard high speed crowning equipment making production changeover to tear off convenience closures much less costly.

Other changes in and modifications of the construction and different embodiments of the invention would suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and could be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. It is accordingly intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as being illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described our invention what we claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The apparatus for applying to containers metal caps having a disc-like top, a skirt depending therearound and a gasket positioned at the juncture of said top and skirt, comprising a plurality of individual annularly arranged crimping jaws, said jaws forming an annular sealing surface, annularly arranged camming means for moving said jaws radially inwardly into sealing engagement with a container neck, said camming means including overriding means adapted to compensate for container neck diameter variations, and a downwardly opening cap receiving nest centrally located within said annulus, said nest having a central portion adapted to overlie said cap top and a depending cylindrical wall extending downwardly so as to surround substantially all of said gasket.

2. In cap applying apparatus, a sealing head including a plurality of annularly arranged crimping jaws, each of said crimping jaws including a sealing anvil having a top surface, a bottom surface, opposite side edges and an arcuate cap forming surface, means for moving said anvils radially inwardly into a closed sealing annulus, said anvil side edges having angularly disposed coacting surface portions whereby the line of juncture between adjacent jaws extends circumferentially at an acute angle with respect to the axis of said annulus.

3. In cap applying apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said surface portions are formed on a compound angle.

4. In cap applying apparatus as in claim 2, wherein said adjacent surface portions of said sealing anvils are angularly complementary.

5. In cap applying apparatus, a sealing head including a plurality of individual, annularly arranged crimping jaws, said jaws forming an annular sealing surface, a plurality of annularly arranged c amming segments for moving said jaws radially inwardly, yieldable means connecting said segments to compensate for container neck diameter variations, and a dished, downwardly opening, cap receiving nest centrally located within said jaws.

6. An apparatus for securing a closure cap to the opening of a container comprising, a plurality of sealing members, each of said sealing members providing a sealing surface which forms a portion of a complete sealing annulus, and each of said sealing surfaces being bordered by side edges extending at an acute angle to the axis of said annulus whereby circumferential overlapping of adjacent sealing surfaces is effected.

7. An apparatus for securing a closure cap to the open ing of :a container comprising, a plurality of sealing members, each of said sealing members providing a sealing surface which forms a portion of a complete sealing annulus, and the juncture of each of said adjacent sealing surfaces extending diagonally across said sealing surface at an acute angle to the axis of said annulus.

8. An apparatus for securing a closure cap to the opening of a container comprising, a plurality of sealing members, each of said sealing members having a forming surface which provides a portion of a complete sealing annulus and acutely angularly disposed coacting sidewall surface portions on each sealing member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,672,278 6/ 1928 Oslund et al 53354 XR 2,325,160 7/1943 Goodwin 53354 2,355,385 8/1944- Lowry 53--'344 XR 2,579,775 12/1951 Allen et val. 53--353 XR 3,075,331 1/196'3 Stanley 53-353 GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER JR., Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. THE APPARATUS FOR APPLYING TO CONTAINERS METAL CAPS HAVING A DISC-LIKE TOP, A SKIRT DEPENDING THEREAROUND AND A GASKET POSITION AT THE JUNCTURE OF SAID TOP AND SKIRT, COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL ANNULARLY ARRANGED CRIMPING JAWS, SAID JAWS FORMING AN ANNULAR SEALING SURFACE, ANNULARLY ARRANGED CAMMING MEANS FOR MOVING SAID JAWS RADIALLY INWARDLY INTO SEALING ENGAGEMENT WITH A CONTAINER NECK, SAID CAMMING MEANS INCLUDING OVERRIDING MEANS ADAPTED TO COMPENSATE FOR CONTAINER NECK DIAMETER VARIATIONS, AND A DOWNWARDLY OPENING CAP RECEIVING NEST CENTRALLY LOACTED WITHIN SAID ANNULUS, SAID NEST HAVING A CENTRAL PORTION ADAPTED TO OVERLIE SAID CAP TOP AND A DEPENDING CYLINDRICAL WALL EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY SO AS TO SURROUND SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF SAID GASKET.