Integrated container manufacturing system and method

An integrated system and apparatus for completely forming the body of a two-piece can in one press, including performing the operations of cupping, drawing, redrawing, bottom profiling, and trimming. The system includes the concept of performing all of the operations required to form the body of a two-piece can in one press and includes feeding the precoated stock material, either in the form of sheet or coil, through a lubricator and into a feeding apparatus which, in turn, selectively feeds sufficient quantities of the stock material into a press. The press carries the double die necessary to perform the typical blanking and cupping operation and passes the cups out of the press in two lanes onto cup conveyors which feed them back into the press whereupon the draw-redraw dies on both sides of the cup die perform the additional steps of first redraw, second redraw, bottom profile, and trimming. The formed containers are then conveyed to secondary processing stations such as beaders, testers, or palletizers. In this fashion, a complete can body can be formed cheaply and economically without the normal expense of conventional forming mechanism.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates, in general, to the forming of twopiece can bodies 
and relates, in particular, to an integrated system and apparatus for 
forming such can bodies in a single press by passing the unworked material 
into the press for certain forming operations and then out of and back 
into the same press for still further forming operations. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
Two-piece cans have achieved considerable acceptance in the food and 
beverage field. There are a number of different methods and apparatus for 
forming the cylindrical body which makes up one of the two pieces of the 
two-piece can. These various methods include drawing and ironing and 
drawing and redrawing. 
Most of the existing systems known to Applicant involve the utilization of 
a series of presses which have different tooling or die sets to perform 
the various operations required. Other systems include presses with body 
makers which iron the cylindrical body. 
For example, in a draw-redraw system and starting with flat, precoated 
stock either in sheets or in a roll or coil form, it is necessary to 
perform a number of operations. 
These operations include blanking or cutting out the basic work piece; 
cupping or initially forming the material; drawing the material; redrawing 
the material at least once; and trimming it. The existing art requires 
numerous dedicated machines that preform these operations individually. 
Thus, the conventional apparatus and systems employ a series of machines, 
each having a different tooling to perform the various functions just 
enumerated. 
While these prior art systems are, of course, satisfactory for the purposes 
for which they are designed, they are expensive for at least three 
reasons. For one thing, a plurality of expensive machines, each having 
different tooling, is required. Second, considerable floor space is 
required to accommodate the machines which are usually very substantial in 
size and weight. Third, there are sigificant energy expenses involved in 
operating these machines. Also, due to the number of machines involved, 
tooling changes, both in cost and change over time, are considerable. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It has been discovered, therefore, that a less expensive and less space 
consuming system can be provided to permit manufacturers to enter the 
two-piece can manufacturing market using a minimum amount of floor space, 
energy, and personnel while still effectively forming the metal from its 
initial state to the finished can body. 
The essence of this integrated system is the utilization of a single press 
to perform the operations which would normally be performed with two or 
more machines, and this is essentially accomplished by passing the 
material into the press for certain operations; passing it out of the 
press and onto conveyors; and then back into the same press for the 
performance of additional operations. This is in contrast to the 
conventional multiple machine arrangement. 
The system includes a single press which carries a double cup die capable 
of performing the blanking and cupping operation. Dual lane conveyors are 
associated with the press to receive the cups thus formed and return them 
to the press. 
The press is also provided with draw-redraw dies arranged on opposed sides 
of the cup die so that the draw-redraw operations can be performed on the 
cups when they are returned to the press by the conveyors. 
The cups are mechanically transferred from one draw-redraw station to 
another within the same press and are sensed at sensing stations so that 
material control is insured after each operation. 
In this way, a complete can "line" can be provided in one press with 
substantial savings of capital investment, space, and energy. 
Accordingly, production of an improved, integrated container body forming 
system becomes the principal object of this invention, with other objects 
thereof becoming more apparent upon a reading of the following brief 
specification considered and interpreted in view of the accompanying 
drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring first then to FIG. 1, it will be noted that the present system is 
capable of operation starting with precoated steel, aluminum, or other 
metal in the form of either a coil 10, two single out blanks 11, or a 
double out blank 12. It should be understood that the sytem is equally 
effective no matter what the basic source of the material and that any one 
of the sources 10, 11, or 12 could be employed. Therefore, while all three 
are illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, only one would, of course, be 
employed in any given system at any given time. 
Still referring to FIG. 1, the material may then be fed into a lubricator 
13 by know means and from the lubricator 13 into a sheet or coil feed 
mechanism 14. The lubricator and the sheet or coil feed mechanism have 
only been illustrated schematically since there are a number of such 
devices on the market and are well known to one with ordinary skill in 
this art. Thus, for example, a sheet feeding mechanism can be seen in 
Bulso et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,297. 
The raw material, or steel or aluminum, is then passed from the sheet or 
coil feed mechanism 14 into the press 20, which may be a double acting 
press of the character generally shown in Ridgeway U.S. Pat. No. 
3,902,347. It should be noted, however, that the present invention is not 
intended to be limited to any particular press design and, in fact, a 
single action press could also be employed. 
Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings for a more detailed description of one 
of the die sets which are carried in the press, it will be noted that the 
material is fed from left to right to FIG. 1, or in the direction of the 
arrow A of FIG. 2 into the die set 20a, which is a double blanking and 
cupping die and wherein the blanking and cupping operation takes place 
upon closure of the press 20. It will be noted that two parallel redraw 
dies are employed so that on any given cycle of the press two cups will be 
formed, and two cups C will be redrawn maintaining an equal distribution 
of press load. 
Referring then to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, it will be noted that the cups thus 
formed will be passed through the blanking and cupping die and pass out of 
the press in dual lanes on the cup conveyors 30,30 which will, in turn, 
pass the cups back into the press 20 in the direction of the arrows B for 
further forming operations. 
Reference is then again made to FIG. 2 wherein the remaining die sets of 
the press 20 are illustrated. Here it will be seen that the dies necessary 
for performing the remaining operations on the cups C are arranged on both 
sides of the cup die 20a. It will be noted that these include two parallel 
rows of stations along the opposed sides of the press capable of 
performing a number of operations. 
These are identical and only the left hand one of FIG. 2 will be described 
in any detail. 
Thus, as a cup C enters from one of the conveyors 30, station 21 
mechanically orients the cup for further operations. 
The cup is then mechanically transferred to station 22 which is the first 
draw station. 
Once the first draw has been performed, the container thus partially formed 
is mechanically transferred to the sensing and idling station 23 where it 
is positively mechanically positioned and sensed. Essentially, this 
sensing is intended to insure that a container is present and is undamaged 
and suitable for further operations. A negative indication will cause the 
press operation to cease pending correction of the problem. The apparatus 
for such sensing is known in the art and is not illustrated herein in 
detail. 
The drawn container is then passed to station 24, which is a redraw and 
bottom panel forming station. 
Following this, mechanical transfer means are again actuated and the 
container is transferred to another idling and sensing station 25 for 
further checking and finally the container is moved to the station 26 
which is capable of performing a third redraw and flange trim operation, 
such as shown in Bulso et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,089. It should be noted 
that the third redraw may not be required in all applications. 
It also should be noted that employing the sensing and idling stations 23 
and 25 insures precise positioning and material control. It also permits 
the material to cool between operations. 
The containers will then exit the press 20 and be passed onto the can 
conveyor 50 with the scrap ring from the trimming operation passing onto 
the scrap conveyor 60 and finally into the scrap ring box 61. 
The cans are moved along the conveyor 50 to an elevator 70 and onto a 
beader 75. Depending upon the particular type of container and its end 
use, this station is optional. 
Either directly from the elevator or from the beader 75, the cans pass on 
then to an elevator 80 and finally to a tester and palletizer 90. 
It will be appreciated that the mechanical apparatus for performing the 
method of the invention has not been illustrated in great detail at this 
point. The reason is that most of the hardware is readily available and 
known to one skilled in the art. 
What has not heretofore, however, been apparent to those skilled in the art 
is that this hardware can be assembled into a system as described in this 
invention in which a "mini-line" can be produced which permits substantial 
volumes of containers to be produced without the expense of the 
conventional line employing a multiplicity of machines. This is a saving 
both in machine expense and also in the space required to produce 
substantial numbers of containers. It is believed that it is unique to 
assemble the various apparatus in the fashion set forth herein and it is 
also believed to be unique to take a cup out of a single press and put it 
back in to be redrawn. 
This accomplishes a very efficient use of the press and of the energy 
required to drive the press, without any sacrifice in quality. There is 
also no sacrifice in quality in the control of the coating and metal 
integrity because what, in effect, is happening is that the conventional, 
gradual forming process of cupping, first redraw, second redraw, etc., is 
still being carried out although in a single press and in a much more 
compact system than has heretofore been known. 
The particular arrangement of the draw-redraw stations on both sides of the 
blanking and cupping die also insures symmetrical press loading. 
While a full and complete description of the invention has been set forth 
in accordance with the dictates of the Patent Statues, it should be 
understood that modifications can be resorted to without departing from 
the spirit hereof or the scope of the appended claims. 
Thus, while certain specific forming operations such as draw, first redraw, 
second redraw, etc., have been described, it will be understood that these 
can be varied depending upon the requirements of the specific container 
being formed.