APPARATUS FOR FILLING VISCOUS MATERIAL

Abstract: Apparatus for filling a proper container with a highly viscous fluid substance comprises a tank 31 for receiving the fluid substance of high viscosity; a communicating means provided with a means for discharging the substance at a constant flow rate and communicating with the tank; a filling nozzle 37 connected to the discharge side of the communicating means and disposed so that a downward oriented discharge outlet 60 thereof is positioned just above a path of a conveyor for transporting containers C; an arm 36 having an upper portion and a lower portion and to which the filling nozzle 37 provided with a spool 61 is mounted on the lower portion thereof; a horizontal shaft 35 supporting the arm in a freely rotatable and reversible manner at the upper portion thereof; and a means for vibrating the arm on the horizontal axis serving as the vibration center. This filling device makes it possible to fill the container with a fluid substance having a high viscosity as smooth as possible without filling the container to overflowing since it is provided with a mechanism for vibrating the nozzle for filling the container with the substance.

Description: The present invention relates to apparatus for filling viscous materials, for example apparatus for filling a container with a fluid substance having a high viscosity, such as curry roux. US-A-4 019 547 (Ross) discloses a method of filling cans with vegetable or fruit using a vertical length of tube in which the vegetable or fruit is continuously charged to the top. The vegetable or fruit is compacted under gravity as it falls to the bottom. Predetermined volumes of the vegetable or fruit are delivered from the bottom of the tube to the cans. The tube is continuously shaken vertically to assist movement of the vegetable or fruit down the tube. In the field of, for example the food industry, there occurs the need to fill containers such as paper packs, plastic cups and bottles with a rather viscous substance. For this purpose, there have been proposed various methods therefor. For instance, as shown in Figure 8 of the accompanying drawings, the aforementioned fluid substance (W) having a viscosity of, for instance, not less than 10,000 cps has conventionally been charged in a container through a single nozzle (N). However, in such a case, the container is filled with the fluid substance to overflowing, which makes it impossible to properly seal the container with a cover and such method requires the use of a means for flattening the substance charged to the container. In addition, a method in which a plurality of nozzles (N) are used for filling a container with the substance, as shown in Figure 9 of the accompanying drawings, has been put into practical use in order to solve the foregoing problem. However, this method is still insufficient to completely eliminate such a drawback. In order to make the fluid substance filled in a container more smoother, it seems to be most effective to vibrate the container. To do this, there has conventionally been proposed a method in which a compressed air flow is intermittently directed to the bottom of a container during filling it with a highly viscous substance. However, this method suffers from various problems to be solved, such as first, the intermittent discharge of the compressed air is effected by the switching (on-off) operation of an electromagnetic valve. Furthermore, such a valve has insuffient durability. Secondly, a hygiene problem is caused depending on the quality of the compressed air used. Even if the quality thereof is good, the compressed air disturbs the conditions of atmospheric air, which leads to the occurrence of other hygiene problems such as the contamination of the substance to be filled in a container by various dusts. US-A-3 817 300 (Donnet) discloses apparatus for filling a container with a highly viscous fluid substance, which comprises a tank for receiving the highly viscous fluid substance; a communicating means provided with a means for discharging the fluid substance and communicating with the tank; and a filling nozzle connected to the discharge side of the communicating means and disposed so that a downwardly oriented discharge outlet thereof is positioned just above a path of a conveyor for transporting containers. The nozzle is lowered vertically into the vessel to be filled and, when the desired quantity of liquid has been charged to the vessel, the nozzle is raised vertically and the liquid remaining in the nozzle is sucked back. The invention is characterised by an arm having an upper portion and a lower portion, the filling nozzle being mounted on the lower portion of the arm; the arm being movable about a horizontal axis in a freely rotatable and reversible manner at the upper portion thereof; and a means for oscillating the arm on the horizontal axis. In the accompanying drawings: Figures 1 to 5 show apparatus for filling a container with a highly viscous substance; Figure 1 being a vertical sectional view thereof, Figure 2 being an elevational view, Figure 3 being a sectional view taken along the line III-III of Figure 2, Figure 4 being a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 2 and Figure 5 being a sectional view taken along the line V-V of Figure 2; Figures 6 and 7 show schematic views of the whole of a packaging machine, Figure 6 being a plan view thereof and Figure 7 being a side view thereof; Figure 8 and 9 are diagrams illustrating the filling operations of conventional devices; and Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating the filling operations of the device. A packaging machine is provided with a slat-conveyor 11 as shown in Figures 6 and 7 which schematically illustrate it as a whole. The terms "before", "front" or "ahead" herein mean the direction along which containers are transported by the conveyor on the basis of the transporting direction along which the conveyor moves (the direction towards the right hand side of Figures 6 and 7) while the terms "behind", "rear" or "back" herein mean the direction opposite to the foregoing direction. In addition, the directions "right" and "left" are herein defined with respect to the direction "before", "front" or "ahead". A device 12 for transporting containers is disposed at the starting point of the transporting path along which the slat-conveyor 11 moves and, behind the slat-conveyor, there are disposed a series of devices comprising, in order, a filling device 13, a levelling device 14, a capping device 15 and a device 16 for sealing the cap. Moreover, a belt conveyor 17 is disposed before the slat-conveyor 11, having a transporting path which extends towards the left hand side from a position before the slat-conveyor as the starting point and a container exchanging device 18 is placed and extends from the end point of the path of the slat-conveyor 11 to the starting end of the path of the belt conveyor 17. Among the foregoing devices, an explanation of those except for the slat-conveyor 11, the filling device 13 and the levelling device 14 is not necessary and is omitted for the sake of simplicity. The slat-conveyor 11 is shown in Figures 1 and 2 and is provided with a pair of right and left endless chains 21 which are disposed parallel to each other and move in a cycle in a vertical plane and a large number of slats 22 extending therebetween and fixed thereto. Six holes 23 having an approximately ellipsoidal cross section are formed on each of the slats 22 along its longitudinal direction so that the major axis of the ellipsoid coincides with the longitudinal direction of the slats 22. Rims of dish-like containers C are received and supported by the slats at the periphery of the holes. In this connection, the chain 21 is intermittently driven. As shown in Figures 1 to 5, the filling device 13 comprises two tanks 31 for containing fluid substances disposed above the slat-conveyor 11 and with its right and left sides in a parallel relation; six cylinders 34 for filling the containers with the substance, each including a piston 33 therein and each three of the cylinders being connected to, at the bottom, either one of the tanks 31 through a vertical connecting tube 32; six nozzles 37 for filling the containers with the substance, each of them being connected to and supported, so as to be able to freely oscillate, by each of the cylinders 34 through a horizontal shaft 35 and an arm 36; and a means to oscillate the arm 36 on the horizontal shaft 35. An outlet tube 38 is mounted on the bottom wall of each tank 31, which is provided with a device for maintaining the internal pressure thereof (not shown), and the upper end of the connecting tube 32 communicates with this outlet tube. A spool valve 39 for opening and shutting the internal passage of the tube is disposed in the middle of the connecting tube 32. The spool valve 39 is disposed so as to be perpendicular to the connecting tube 32 and it consists of a cylindrical housing 40 extending in the front and rear directions and a spool 42 provided with a vertical communicating passage 41 which is contained within the housing 40 and which serves to communicate the upper and lower ends of the connecting tube with each other. The spool 42 has a rod 43 projecting towards the front direction and to the front end thereof is connected a rod 44 which goes back and forth by the action of a means not shown. A hot water jacket 45 is provided for preventing the fluid substance from solidifying which encompasses approximately the whole housing 40 and a part of the connecting tube 32 downwardly projecting through the housing 40. The cylinder 34 for filling the container with the fluid substance is composed of a side wall 46 extending in both the front and rear directions and parallel to the housing 40 of the spool valve 39; and an end wall 47 which closes the front end of the side wall. An inlet 48 is upwardly disposed on the side wall 46 at the front end thereof and it is connected to the lower end of the connecting tube 32. In the vicinity of the lower portion of the end wall 47, there is provided an outlet 49 having a size smaller than that of the inlet 48. The piston 33 has a rod 50 projecting backward and to the rear end of the rod is connected a rod 51 which goes back and forth by the action of a means not shown. The horizontal shaft 35 extends in both the front and rear directions and is secured, at the rear end thereof, to the end wall 47 of the filling cylinder 34 so as to close the outlet 49 of the cylinder. The horizontal shaft has holes 52 axially formed, having closed bottoms and extending toward the front direction from the rear end of the shaft and holes 53 radially formed, extending downwardly from the front end of the shaft, and the opening at the rear end of the axially formed holes 52 opens into the outlet 49. The arm 36 also serves as a conduit for transporting the fluid substance from the filling cylinders 34 to the filling nozzles 37 and is comprised of a vertical upper tube 54 and an L-shaped (side view) lower tube 55 which communicate with each other. A cylindrical part 56 is disposed at the upper end of the upper tube 54, and surrounds a major portion of the outer surface of the horizontal shaft 35 inclusive of the periphery of the opening of the radially formed holes 53. A hot water jacket 57 is disposed so as to enclose the whole of the upper tube 54 including the cylindrical part 56. On the outer surface of the hot water jacket 57, there is provided a convex projection 58 engaging the concave recess of a connecting bar 66. The filling nozzle 37 has a cylindrical shape, an inlet tube 59 is disposed at the back near the lower end of the outer periphery of the nozzle and the inlet tube is connected to the end of the lower tube 55 of the arm 36. The inner surface of the filling nozzle 37 has a uniform diameter and is smooth even at the discharge opening 60 positioned at the lower end thereof. A spool 61 is inserted into the nozzle. The surface of the nozzle and the spool which are in slidable contact with each other are made of ceramics. At the upper end of the filling nozzle 37 there is a cylindrical housing 62, the nozzle 37 and housing 62 being arranged in a straight line. At the upper end of the housing 62, a fluid pressure cylinder 63 is disposed so as to close the opening of the housing. The piston rod 64 thereof extends within the housing 62 and is connected to the upper end of the spool 61 through a connecting member 65. The means for oscillating the nozzles 37 comprises the horizontal connecting bar 66, which connects the arms 36, and a fluid pressure cylinder 70 provided with a piston rod 69 connected to the left end portion (in Figure 2, right end portion) of the connecting bar 66 through a pair of male and female connecting members 67 and 68. At the lower edge of the connecting bar 66, there are formed, along the length thereof, 6 concave recesses 71 engaging the nozzles at constant intervals equal to that between the nozzles 37. Each of these concave recesses 71 is engaged with each of the corresponding convex projections 58. As shown in Figure 5 in more detail, a convex part 72 is formed on the male connecting member 67 and a concave part 73 is formed on the female connecting member 68. A connecting pin 74 passes through the male and female connecting members while engaging the convex part 72 with the concave part 73. The connecting pin 74 is freely inserted in and withdrawn from the both connecting members 67 and 68 and, therefore, both the connecting members 67 and 68 may be freely engaged or disengaged by inserting therein or withdrawing therefrom, the connecting pin. As seen from Figure 2, the piston rod 69 of the fluid pressure cylinder 70 projects towards not only to the right hand direction but also to the left hand direction out of the fluid pressure cylinder 70. A cylindrical male screw member 75 is screwed at the end of the cylinder 70 and a cylindrical female screw member 76 is screwed on the male member. The female screw member 76 serves as a stopper for the piston rod 69. Thus the stroke distance during back and forth movement of the rod 69 is controlled by bringing the member 76 into contact with the end wall of the fluid pressure cylinder 70. For this reason, it becomes possible to adjust the magnitude of the oscillation angle of the nozzle 37 as will be described below in more detail. The fluid pressure cylinder 70 is suspended from a sliding plate 79 through a bracket 78. Both front and rear edge portions of the sliding plate 79 are supported by a guide member 81 having an open channel cross section, which is bolted to a mounting plate 80 as shown in Figure 4 in more detail. An upwardly projecting portion 82 is disposed on the center of the left edge of the sliding plate 79 and a thumb bolt 83 is disposed with its shank extending freely through the projection 82. Another projection 84 is also disposed at the left end of the mounting plate 80 so as to face the projection 82 and the thumb bolt 83 is screwed into a threaded hole 85 extending through the projection 84. Moreover, a hole 86 is formed through the mounting plate 80 and the male threaded portion 88 of a lever 87 for locking is inserted through the hole 86. The male threaded portion 88 is also screwed into a threaded hole 89 formed through the sliding plate 79. The sliding plate 79 moves to and fro in both the right and left directions together with the fluid pressure cylinder 70 by loosening the lever 87 and rotating the thumb bolt 83. According to this operation, the size of the angle within which the nozzles 37 oscillate may be controlled as will be explained hereunder. The operation for filling a container with a fluid substance having a high viscosity will now be explained. First of all, it is assumed that, as is shown in Figure 1, the spool valve 39 is in the open position, that the piston 33 of the filling cylinder 34 is in its inner most position, that the spool 61 of the filling nozzle 37 is in its lower position and that the discharge opening 60 of the nozzle is closed. As the piston 33 is withdrawn, a fixed amount of the fluid substance is sucked into the cylinder 34 from the tank 31. Then, the piston 33 moves forward while the spool valve 39 is moved to the closed position and the discharge opening 60 of the filling nozzle 37 is opened, causing the fluid substance in the cylinder 34 to flow into the filling nozzle 37 through the horizontal shaft 35 and the interior of the arm 36 and then the substance is discharged through the discharge opening 60. At this stage, the piston rod 69 of the fluid pressure cylinder 70 is projected from its retracted state to swing the nozzle 37 from the state inclined towards the left direction to the state inclined towards the right direction as depicted in Figure 2 in dotted line. The magnitude and the range of the oscillation stroke of the nozzles is controlled as explained above and, in this respect, the filling nozzles 37 swing so that the discharge opening 60 of the nozzle crosses over the container C from the right side to the left side while the opening faces the container C. As a result, the fluid substance is charged in the container C without causing any excess heaping although it is not completely flattened, as shown in Figure 10. Thus, after the completion of the filling operation, the piston rod 69 of the fluid pressure cylinder 70 returns to its retracted state and the filling nozzles 37 swing in the direction opposite to that mentioned above, while below the nozzle 37 the container C filled with the fluid substance is replaced with an empty container C and the former is transported to the next stage such as that for sealing the container. At this stage, the aforementioned steps are repeated so that the filling cylinder 34 is refilled with the fluid substance supplied from the tank 31.

Claims: Apparatus for filling a container with a highly viscous fluid substance, comprising a tank (31) for receiving the highly viscous fluid substance; a communicating means provided with a means for discharging the fluid substance and communicating with the tank; and a filling nozzle (37) connected to the discharge side of the communicating means and disposed so that a downwardly oriented discharge outlet (60) thereof is positioned just above a path of a conveyor (11) for transporting containers (C); characterised by an arm (36) having an upper portion (54) and a lower portion (55), the filling nozzle (37) being mounted on the lower portion of the arm; the arm (36) being movable about a horizontal axis in a freely rotatable and reversible manner at the upper portion thereof; and a means for oscillating the arm about the horizontal axis. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the means for discharging the fluid substance comprises an opening and closing device (39, 42) and a cylinder-piston device (33, 34). Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the arm (36) is provided with a hot water jacket (57). Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the tank (31) is provided with a device for maintaining the internal pressure thereof. Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the nozzle (37) for filling the container with the fluid substance is provided with a spool (61) and both the nozzle and the spool have surfaces which slidably come into contact with each other and are formed from ceramic materials.

Inventors: IUCHI, TETSUYA, NOBUTA, MASAO
Applicants: HOUSE FOOD INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65B3
IPC codes: B65B1, B65B3