Patent ID: 7328558
Filing Date: 2008-02-12
Classification: B65C

Abstract:
1. A container filling plant for filling containers with a filling material, said container filling plant comprising: a plurality of container handling machines comprising at least a filling machine and a closing machine; said filling machine being configured and disposed to fill empty containers with a filling material; said filling machine comprising at least one filling device being configured and disposed to fill containers with a filling material upon the containers being in said filling machine; said closing machine being configured and disposed to close filled containers; said closing machine comprising at least one closing device being configured and disposed to close filled containers upon the filled containers being in said closing machine; an information adding station being configured to add information to containers, such as, bottles and cans; and said information adding station comprising: a moving device being configured and disposed to accept closed, filled containers from said closing machine and to move closed, filled containers in said information adding station; a plurality of supports, each being configured and disposed to support a container; each support comprising an adiusting arrangement being configured and disposed to adjust its corresponding support, to permit adjustment of the position of a container supported by said corresponding support; a first module comprising a first sensor being configured and disposed to output signals representative of the actual position of a container disposed by a corresponding support, upon said corresponding support being disposed in a predetermined position with respect to said first module; an arrangement being configured and disposed: at least one second module being configured to add information to a container disposed in a desired position by a corresponding support; each of said modules comprising a first coupling structure; said container information adding station comprising at least one second coupling structure; each first coupling structure being configured to be connectable to and to be disconnectable from at least one of said at least one second coupling structure; each said at least one second coupling structure being configured and disposed to receive output signals related to said first sensor to adjust a support and the container supported thereby to a corrected desired position; each of said modules being configured, upon connection to a second coupling structure, to be disposed in a predetermined location with respect to moving containers supported by said supports; a transfer arrangement being configured and disposed to accept closed, filled, information-added containers from said moving device of said information adding station to move closed, filled, information-added containers out of said information adding station; said at least one module comprising an image capturing device configured to capture the image of at least a portion of a container; said image capturing device comprises a camera; said at least one module comprises an arrangement to provide light; said at least one module comprises an inspection module; and said inspection module comprises at least one sensor to sense the position of a label; said container filling plant comprises a removal unit for removing incorrectly labeled containers; and the deviation of the actual position of the label from its desired position is utilized to at least one of: influence the labeling process and disrupt the labeling process.