Divided valve

An arrangement havign a closing member for filling mouthpiece of a filling machine for filling material of a pasty up to a chunky or lumpy consistency, whereby during the filling packaging containers are stepwise moved underneath the filling mouthpiece. When the filling material is very tough and hardens rapidly, it is desirable that the heap-like remanent tip Z of the filling material, which remains after the filling operation,is disposed in the middle of each packaging container. This achieved by means of a closing member that includes two identical oppositely rotatably movable cylinders, each one of which is provided with a rectangular recess. These recesses extend to each one of the cylinders in such a way that a disc-shaped base portion and a shank remain, which shank has a circular segment-shaped cross-section. The cylinders are mounted in a bore which is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the filling mouthpiece and are mutually coaxially arranged and are positioned in such a way that the shank of one cylinder extends into the recess of the other cylinder. The cylinders move jointly and in synchronization with the packaging container therepast and are actuated for achieving an opening and closing motion. In the open position the inner sides of the shanks align with the filling channel of the filling mouthpiece. In the closed position the edges of the shanks precisely meet at the longtiduinal aixis of the filling mouthpiece and thereby pinch off the filling material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to an arrangement for a closing member for a filling 
mouth of a filling machine. 
The invention relates to an arrangement in which a closing member for a 
filling mouth having a filling channel in a filling machine for pastry 
and/or lumpy material of the food industry, such as butter, margarine, 
gourmet salads, mayonnaise and similar food products. The arrangement of 
the invention is provided with a bore which is perpendicularly disposed 
with respect to the filling axis of the filling mouth in which the closing 
member is rotatably mounted. 
Such closing members generally form the lower end of the filling 
mouthpiece, below which the packaging container, for example a cup, is 
moved laterally on a transportation band in synchronization with the 
operation of the machine. (See, for example, West-German published patent 
application Nos. DE 30 02 009 and 23 59 522). As soon as a packaging 
container has come to a stillstand, the closing member is opened for the 
purpose of permitting the filling material to pass therethrough and 
thereby to fill the container. After the filling process has been 
terminated, the closing member seals itself and the transportation band 
advances one operative step until the next empty packaging container is 
presented in confrontational relationship to the filling mouthpiece. The 
opening and closing of the closing member is effected by means of cam 
discs or by means of piston cylinder units that operate with pressurized 
air via a rod linkage in synchronization with the containers that are 
advanced therepast. 
It is known to use filling mouthpieces in filling machines for filling 
material having pasty and up to lumpy consistency which are provided with 
a so-called "stop cock" as a closing member. Filling mouthpieces of the 
afore-described type are provided with filling channels through the 
geometric center of which there extends a filling axis. By means of this 
filling channel the filling material of pasty up to chunky or lumpy 
consistency can be transported. There is provided in the filling 
mouthpiece a bore that extends laterally to the filling axis. This bore 
forms the housing for the stop cock in which the aforementioned cock is 
rotatably mounted. The cock proper includes a bore which extends 
transversely to its longitudinal axis. This bore coincides, insofar as its 
size is concerned, to the diameter of the filling channel of the filling 
piece and is arranged in such a way that it is in alignment with the 
filling channel. When such alignment is present, the closing member is 
opened and the filling material can flow therethrough into the packaging 
container. The closing member is then closed when the cock is turned 
90.degree.. In this position the bore of the cock is disposed transversely 
to the filling channel and the imperforate portion of the cylindrical 
surface of the cock seals against the bore wall of the cock housing. 
Such a closing member fulfills in most cases its purpose. However, by means 
of its closing movement, as a result of the rotational motion of the cock, 
the outwardly flowing filling material is displaced at the end of the 
sealing process to that edge of the filling channel which is disposed in 
the rotational direction, in which the opening which is being closed, 
becomes first of all continuously smaller and finally disappears 
completely. As a result of such closing operation there is formed at the 
edge of the packaging container a displaced tip of remanent pasty filling 
material which forms a heap or tip like protrusion at the edge of the 
container on the upper surface of the filling material. It has been 
attempted to avoid this phenomenon by means of an eccentric stop position 
of the packaging container relative to the filling mouthpiece to thereby 
displace the remanent filling material tip away from the edge of the 
container. These attempts of improving the arrangement did not achieve the 
desired results because during the beginning of the filling process a 
filling material heaping at the container edge was observed. In particular 
when the filling material is very tough or solidifies after the filling 
operation a smoothing out of the filling material's upper surface can 
later on no longer occur. Such a filling material heaping at the container 
edge is to be avoided because of the possible contacting of the filling 
material on the container edge is to be avoided for aesthetic reasons 
alone. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention has as its object to provide an arrangement with a closing 
member of the afore-described type so that the filling material is located 
in the middle of the packaging container and at the end of the filling 
process the unavoidable remanent tip or heap of the pasty filling material 
is made smaller and is located as closely as possible in the middle of the 
packaging container. 
In order for the closing container to function in the desired manner, the 
dimensions of the circularly shaped base portion thereof, the height of 
the circular segment in crosssection of the shanks and the length of the 
shanks are advantageously dimensioned. In a modified embodiment of the 
invention the cylinders are mounted on support trunnions and pivot-levers 
and are rotatably oppositely driven in such a way that for purposes of 
obtaining an open position, respectively a closed position, during the 
same intervals the same angular movements are traversed. In the closed 
position the edges of the shanks, which in cross-section are circularly 
segment-shaped, contact each other precisely at the filling axis. 
All of the afore-mentioned inventive features assure that the unavoidable 
tip of the filling material remains as small as possible, because the 
filling material, as a result of the rapid mutual movement towards each 
other of the shank edges is quasi instantaneously cut off; the remanent 
tip of the filling material in addition thereto is, as desired, located in 
the middle of the packaging containers, because the edges of the shanks 
meet exactly each other at the filling axis. 
A double lever having identical arms is provided which via a rod-linkage 
and lifting lever, drives the pair of cylinders of the arrangement. 
Thereby, without any large input, the identical yet opposite movement of 
the cylinders is attained. The double lever for driving the cylinders 
possesses a suitable drive, preferably a cam with a cam follower, whereby 
in a simple manner the opening and closing movement of the cylinder is 
synchronized with the movement of the packaging container underneath the 
filling mouthpiece. 
In a further embodiment of the invention a plurality of closing members, 
mounted one behind the other, are jointly driven via a further linkage. 
Such an arrangement is advantageous because additional control and drive 
mechanisms can be dispensed with while the filing capacity is, however, 
multiplied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 the packaging container 1 is stepwisely 
advanced by means of a transportation chain 2 in the direction of the 
arrow P1 and arrives under a filling mouthpiece 4. The packaging container 
1 is mounted in a holder 3 which is connected to the transportation chain 
2 and thereby is held securely in an operative position. A closing member 
of the filling mouthpiece 4 opens at the instant when the packaging 
container 1 has reached a standstill position immediately underneath the 
filling mouthpiece 4 and closes after having delivered a dosed amount of 
filling material which ends the filling process. Thereafter, the next 
packaging container is moved in a stepwise synchronized manner underneath 
the filling mouthpiece 4. 
The filling mouthpiece 4 is secured to the lower end of a filling pipe 5. 
The filling pipe 5 extends with its upper end to a non-illustrated storage 
container for the filling material. The storage container, filling pipe 5 
and filling mouthpiece 4 jointly form the essential parts of a filling 
arrangement in a filling machine of the afore-described type. A filling 
axis 6 extends concentrically and coaxially with respect to the filling 
pipe 5 and the therefrom downwardly extending filling mouthpiece 4. The 
latter includes a filling channel of preferably square cross-section; the 
length of each side of the square corresponds about to the bore diameter 
of the filling pipe 5. The filling axis 6 thus forms the geometric center 
of the square. In the filling mouthpiece 4 there is provided, 
perpendicularly to the filling axis 6, a bore for receiving a closing 
member. This bore has a larger diameter than the bore diameter of the 
filling pipe 5. The closing member itself consists essentially of two 
identical cylinders 7, 8, each one of which is provided with a rectangular 
recess, which extends through the cylinder so that a disc-like base 
portion 9 and a shank portion 10, which has a circular segmented-shaped 
cross-section, remains. FIG. 4 illustrates in detail such a cylinder 7 or 
8 with its recess. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the base portion 9 has an 
axial height which is about 1/6 to 1/4 of the cylinder diameter. The 
height of the circular segmented shaped crosssection is about half the 
difference between the diameter of the cylinder and the width of the 
flowthrough cross-section of the filling channel of the filling pipe 5. 
The length of the shank position 10 corresponds about to the width of the 
filling channel. 
In the bore for the closing member, the cylinders 7, 8 are mutually 
disposed in such a way that at all times the shank 10 of the cylinder 7 
extends into the recess of the cylinder 8, respectively the shank 10 of 
the cylinder 8 extends into the recess of the cylinder 7. The cylinders 7, 
8 are rotatably mounted and are driven by a double-armed lever 14, the 
arms of which are identical. The driving by means of the double-armed 
lever 14 is effected via the trunnion pin 11, the driving lever 12 and the 
rod 13. The double lever 14 receives its driving energy from a suitable 
driving mechanism, preferably by means of a cam-disc 18, in the cam path 
of which a roller 20 is guidingly mounted. The roller 20 is seated on a 
bolt which is reciprocally guided in a straight slot 19 and which is 
connected to the rodlinkage 21. The so-formed drive linkage transfers a 
reciprocatory movement to the rod-linkage 21. The control of the drive is 
provided in such a way that at the instant when a packaging container is 
positioned underneath the filling mouthpiece 4, the closing member 7, 8 is 
opened. In this instant the inner side of the shank 10 aligns with the 
inner side of the filling mouthpiece 4. Such open position is illustrated 
in FIG. 1. 
After the filling process has been completed, the aforementioned driving 
arrangement for the cylinder 7, 8 are moved in the direction of the arrows 
P2, P3 towards each other, so that the lower edges K of the shanks 10 meet 
exactly at the filling axis 6. Such a closed position is illustrated in 
FIG. 2. The so-constructed closing member provides a central filling of a 
packaging container 1 and moreover ensures that the remanent tip Z remains 
in the middle of the packaging container. The application of a 
double-lever 14 with identical arms in conjunction with the rod-linkage 13 
as driving means ensures an identical-opposite motion of the cylinder 7, 
8. 
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a further embodiment of the invention, wherein two 
identical closing members are mounted one behind the other. The closing 
member of a second filling mouthpiece 17 is driven by the closing member 
of the first mouthpiece via a rod-linkage 15 and a control lever 16. In 
such an arrangement the additional control elements can be dispensed with 
and the filling output capacity be doubled. It is, of course, understood 
that more than two identical closing members can be arranged in a similar 
manner which would correspondingly increase the savings of the machine 
elements and the filling output capacity of the arrangement. 
Although a limited number of embodiments of the invention have been 
illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing 
specification, it is to be especially understood that various changes, 
such as in the relative dimensions of the parts, materials used, and the 
like, as well as the suggested manner of use of the apparatus of the 
invention, may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope 
of the invention, as will now be apparent to those skilled in the art.