Abstract:
A machine for filling and crimping tubular vials is provided, which includes a horizontally mobile conveyor for moving the filled and crimped vials and discharging the same towards an outlet station. The carousel includes vertical through-holes defining cavities for the vials. The machine includes a ramp provided under the carousel on which the lower ends of the vials bear. The ramp includes a horizontal portion followed by an inclined portion for the partial descent of the vials before discharging the latter towards the outlet station. The he machine further includes a curved rail having a vertical end connected to the lower end of the inclined portion and another end leading horizontally into the outlet station. The machine can be used for packaging wine in tubular vials.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention concerns a machine for the automated filling of tubular vials with wine and for fitting and crimping a capsule closing the opening at the top of these vials once they have been filled. 
         [0003]    2. Brief Discussion of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Packaging wine in tubular vials having a volume between 50 and 100 milliliters enables promotion or tasting of samples of wine at a competitive cost. 
         [0005]    Such vials are made of glass, and are of generally tubular shape comprising a thread around their mouth. The metal capsule crimped around their threaded mouth constitutes a metal screw cap. 
         [0006]    To limit oxidation of the wine that such vials contain, it is necessary for the small volume of these vials that is not filled with wine to contain an inert gas such as nitrogen, which complicates packaging. 
         [0007]    Thus packaging necessitates filling the vials with wine, ensuring that the volume not filled with wine is filled with inert gas, applying a capsule to the end of each vial without expelling the inert gas, and crimping that capsule. 
         [0008]    Moreover, the necessity to package some wines at the winery in order to indicate the corresponding appellation on the vial constitutes an additional constraint on the packaging method. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The object of the invention is therefore a machine for packaging wine in tubular vials that is sufficiently compact to be transportable in a van. 
         [0010]    To this end, the invention provides a machine for filling and crimping tubular vials, including a carousel for moving each tubular vial sequentially from one fixed station to another in order successively to fill it, cap its mouth with a capsule and crimp that capsule, this carousel including vertical through-holes constituting housings in which the tubular vials are vertically engaged, the machine including a fixed ramp situated under the carousel, each tubular vial placed in a housing having its lower end bearing on this ramp, and wherein this ramp has the shape of a portion of a ring so that each crimped vial is evacuated from the carousel automatically by the effect of gravity as soon as it is moved beyond an outlet end of this ramp. 
         [0011]    With this architecture, the processed vials are extracted vertically from the carousel, which reduces the overall size of the machine, and this extraction necessitates no additional mechanism, which significantly simplifies the machine. 
         [0012]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above in which the ramp includes a horizontal portion followed by a portion inclined relative to the horizontal to cause partial descent of the tubular vials before evacuation. 
         [0013]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above further including a curved guide rail having a vertical end connected to the lower end of the inclined portion of the ramp and the other end of which discharges horizontally into a fixed outlet station. 
         [0014]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above in which the curved guide rail lies in a plane perpendicular to the direction of conveying the tubular vials. 
         [0015]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above including a fixed member for loading tubular vials into the housings of the carousel, this loading member including a hole for engagement of the tubular vials in vertical alignment with the holes of the carousel, and a boom having its upper end situated in vertical alignment with this hole, the upper end of the boom being separated from the hole by a distance greater than the length of the tubular vials, and wherein this upper end carries a lug or finger the lower end of which is separated from the hole by a distance less than the length of the tubular vials. 
         [0016]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above including a filling station, a station for routing and capsules and capping the upper end of the tubular vials with them, and a station for crimping these capsules, spaced from each other along the conveyor, and a fixed inert atmosphere enclosure around a portion of the conveyor at the level of the capping station, 
         [0017]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above in which the filling station includes means for releasing in the direction of the vial a jet of the filling product that is surrounded by a sheath of inert gas, and wherein the fixed inert atmosphere enclosure has a tubular vial inlet end that is juxtaposed to the filling station. 
         [0018]    The invention also concerns a machine as defined above in which the capping station includes, in the fixed inert atmosphere enclosure, means for blowing an inert gas for inerting each capsule before capping a vial with it. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing the filling machine of the invention as a whole with its supporting structure; 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the filling machine of the invention as a whole without its supporting structure; 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the vial charging member equipping the introduction station represented on its own; 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing the tubular vial charging station during engagement of a vial; 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a lateral view in section of the capping station in the machine of the invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a plan view showing the inert atmosphere corridor and the carousel of the machine of the invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 7  is a lateral view showing the descent of the tubular vials at the level of the inclined portion of the ramp in the machine of the invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 8  is a plan view of the machine of the invention showing the carousel, the guide rail and the fixed outlet station. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0027]    The machine  1  of the invention shown in  FIG. 1  includes a frame  2  including a supporting structure  3  constituted of assembled beams delimiting a parallelepiped-shaped enclosure carrying in its internal space a horizontal support plate  4 . 
         [0028]    This support plate  4  carries on the one hand a mobile conveyor member which here is a carousel  7  and on the other hand a set fixed of actuators and equipments  6  for filling the vials and fitting and crimping a capsule onto the filled vials. 
         [0029]    The carousel  7 , which is mobile in rotation about a vertical axis, includes a circular ring  8  including a series of housings  9  taking the form of holes passing vertically through this ring and regularly spaced from each other. 
         [0030]    Each hole  9  has an inside diameter slightly greater than the outside diameter of the tubular vials to be filled, to constitute a housing into which such a vial may be introduced.  FIGS. 1 and 2  show one such vial  11  engaged in one of the housings  9  of the carousel  7 . 
         [0031]    The height of the ring  8  is less than the length of the tubular vials  11  to be filled. For example, the height of the ring is approximately 15 centimeters while the total length of the tubular vials  11  is 20 centimeters. 
         [0032]    In addition to this rotary carousel  7 , the support plate  4  carries a ramp  12  that is generally ring shaped and is situated under the carousel  7 , facing the housings  9 . A tubular vial  11  engaged in a housing  9  thus has its lower end bearing on this ramp  12 , and this lower end slides on the surface of this ramp when the carousel turns. 
         [0033]    In the example shown in the figures, this ramp  12  includes a horizontal portion  13  extending along the lower face of the ring  8  over approximately ⅝ of its circumference and an inclined portion  14  that extends the horizontal portion over approximately ⅛ of a turn, also being situated facing the housings  9  of the ring  8 . 
         [0034]    The inclined portion  14  of the ramp  12  discharges into an upper end of an outlet rail  16 . The upper end of the rail  16  is oriented vertically and its lower end is oriented horizontally to discharge into an outlet station  17  receiving the filled and crimped vials. 
         [0035]    As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , this outlet rail  16  has a curved general shape subtending a quarter-circle and lies in a plane that is radial relative to the rotation axis of the carousel; it has a U-shaped section. 
         [0036]    The vials  11  to be filled and crimped are loaded one after the other into the housings  9  of the ring  8  by an operator situated at a fixed loading station  18  that is situated substantially outside the enclosure delimited by the parallelepiped-shaped support structure  3 . 
         [0037]    In concrete terms, the carousel  8  is offset so that part of its ring  9  projects laterally from the parallelepiped-shaped space delimited by the support structure  3 . The loading station  18  is situated above the laterally projecting ring portion, which enables an ergonomic layout of the operator station, notably one ensuring that the operator does not have access to the internal components of the machine. 
         [0038]    In the  FIG. 1  example, the support structure  3  is represented in part and with no enclosure, but in practice it is enclosed by an assembly of panels to constitute an almost closed space with only the loading station  18  and the outlet station  17  accessible from the outside. 
         [0039]    In operation, an operator installed at the station  18  engages a new vial to be filled in a housing  9  of the carousel  7  on each stepwise rotation of the carousel, which is driven in rotation sequentially, i.e. stepwise. Each vial carried by the carousel  7  then passes to a station  19  for cleaning it and filling it with wine. 
         [0040]    When a vial  11  has been filled with wine at the station  19 , the subsequent movement of the carousel  7  by one rotation step immediately engages that vial in an inert atmosphere enclosure or corridor  21 . A capsule is then capped over the upper end of this vial, in the corridor  21 , this operation thus being carried out in an inert atmosphere, at a station  22 . 
         [0041]    The vial then leaves the inert atmosphere corridor  21  to be presented to a crimping station  23 , where a crimping head surrounds the capsule to crimp it around the externally threaded upper end of the vial. 
         [0042]    When the crimping operation has been effected, the carousel continues to turn stepwise to route the processed vial toward the rail  16  with a view to its evacuation toward the outlet station  17 , which corresponds to the end of the packaging operation. 
         [0043]    As can be seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the station  18  for loading the tubular vials into the carousel  7  includes a loading member  24  that is carried by a chassis, not shown, so as to be situated above the part of the carousel  7  projecting laterally from the parallelepiped-shaped structure  3 . 
         [0044]    As can be seen in  FIG. 3 , this loading member  24  includes a plate  26  by which it is rigidly fastened to its support chassis, this plate  26  carrying on its upper face a base  27  and a boom  28  extending vertically upward relative to the base  28 . The plate  26  also carries on its lower face a downwardly oriented guide tube  29 . 
         [0045]    The base  27  and the plate  26  are pierced by a vertical through-hole  25  of substantially greater diameter than the tubular vials to be filled and discharging into the guide tube  29 , the whole overlying the path along which the housings  9  of the rotary carousel  7  pass. 
         [0046]    Loading a tubular vial  11  thus consists in engaging it in the hole  25  to cause it to descend into the housing  9  situated vertically below this hole. As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , the lower ramp  12  includes, in vertical alignment with the loading station  18 , a damping member or plate  31  for damping the impact of the vial  11  at the end of its descent, to prevent it from breaking. 
         [0047]    Once the tubular vial  11  is bearing on the upper face of the damping member  31 , its upper end is released from the guide tube  29 , so that the carousel  7  may be commanded to advance by one rotation step in order to proceed to the loading of the next vial. 
         [0048]    The loading member  24  also constitutes a polarizer ensuring that a vial cannot be loaded into the carousel  7  with its opening at the bottom. To this end, the upper end of the boom  28  is spaced from the upper face  32  of the base  27  by a distance significantly greater than the length of the tubular vials to be filled, and this upper end carries a finger or lug  33  in vertical alignment with the vertical hole  25  and extending downward. 
         [0049]    The distance separating the lower end of the finger  33  and the upper face  32  of the base  27  is slightly greater than the length of the tubular vials to be filled. 
         [0050]    Under these conditions, the only possibility for engaging a tubular vial  11  in the vertical hole of the base  27  consists in engaging the mouth of that tubular vial around the finger  33  so as to be able to place the lower end of this vial above the hole  25 . 
         [0051]    In concrete terms, an operator attempting to engage the vial in the hole  25  with its blind end at the top would be constrained by the presence of the finger  33  to orient this vial in too oblique a manner to allow its descent into the guide hole  25 , which extends vertically. 
         [0052]    The cleaning and filling station  19  includes two downwardly oriented nozzles in vertical alignment with respective consecutive housings  9  when the carousel  7  is immobile. 
         [0053]    The first nozzle blows air to clean the interior of the vial and the second nozzle fills the vial with wine, conjointly releasing a jet of wine and a flow of inert gas such as nitrogen forming a sheath around this jet of wine. This nitrogen sheath limits oxidation of the wine during filling and ensures that the upper portion of the vial that is not filled with wine is essentially filled with nitrogen at the end of filling. 
         [0054]    A capsule is crimped over the opening at the top of each tubular vial by two successive operations: at the station  22  a capsule is routed to and capped over the opening at the top and at the station  23  a crimping head crimps the capsule around the opening at the top. 
         [0055]    The vial is capped with the capsule in the inert atmosphere enclosure  21 , which has the general shape of a circular arc corridor around a portion of the ring  8 , over approximately a quarter-turn. This corridor  21  has at its inlet and at its outlet two swinging doors that open when an upper end of a vial bears on them during movement of the carousel and close after that vial has passed through. 
         [0056]    This corridor  21  is pressurized with an inert gas such as nitrogen to maintain as low as possible a concentration of oxygen, nitrogen being continually blown into this corridor. 
         [0057]    As shown diagrammatically in  FIG. 5 , the station  22  includes a chute  34  for routing capsules that is situated above the corridor  21  and discharges into the latter via its upper face, at the level of a capping area  36 . Between stepwise movements of the carousel, a capsule, not shown, is automatically routed in the chute as far as the capping area  36  that substantially corresponds to the lower end of the chute  34 . 
         [0058]    The capsule is then immobilized at the lower end of the chute  34 , at the same time as a jet of nitrogen is applied to it in order to inert it, by means of one or more nitrogen blower nozzles situated in the capping area  36 . 
         [0059]    Given the shape of the chute  34  and the stop means fitted to its lower end, each capsule is immobilized with its open end oriented downward and having the lowermost point on its circular lower edge substantially below the upper edge of the tubular vials. 
         [0060]    At this stage, when the carousel is moved by one step, the vial  11  situated immediately upstream of the capsule immobilized at the lower end of the chute  34  strikes the cylindrical internal face of the capsule. The effect of this movement is to detach this capsule from the chute  34  and to engage it around the upper end of the vial to cap it. 
         [0061]    When the capped tubular vial reaches the crimping station  23 , after leaving the inert atmosphere corridor  21 , the crimping head surrounds the upper end of the vial with the capsule that it is carrying and crimps the cylindrical wall portion of that capsule around the threaded upper end of the tubular vial. 
         [0062]    Once the vials have been filled with wine and crimped, at the stations  19 ,  22  and  23 , they are evacuated toward the outlet station  17 . To this end, the ramp portion  14  that is situated in the vicinity of the station  17  allows the tubular vials to descend progressively from the housings  9  that they occupy in the carousel  7 , as shown diagrammatically in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0063]    The higher end of the oblique portion  14  of the ramp  12  is situated at the same height as the horizontal portion  13  of that ramp  12 , i.e. approximately one centimeter below the lower face  33  of the ring  8 . The lowermost end of this oblique portion  14 , which corresponds to the outlet end of the ramp  12 , is for its part spaced from the lower face  33  by a distance substantially equal to half the length of the tubular vials  11 . 
         [0064]    The lower end of the oblique portion  14  of the ramp  12  discharges at the level of the upper end of the guide rail  16 . When a tubular vial  11  moved by the carousel  7  reaches the lower end of the oblique portion  14 , it is engaged in the curved rail  16 , having already descended halfway in its housing  9 , without having acquired any vertical speed. 
         [0065]    Under these conditions, complete disengagement of the vial from its housing  9  necessitates that it drop vertically over only half its length, which enables the speed of the vial when it is evacuated in the guide rail  16  to be limited. 
         [0066]    In the example of the figures, the lower end of the oblique portion  14  is separated from the lower face of the ring  8  by a distance almost equal to half the length of the tubular vial. Other values may be adopted, however, provided that they enable the vertical speed of the vial during its evacuation to be reduced by limiting the vertical movement necessary to disengage it completely from the housing that it occupies. 
         [0067]    The invention has the following advantages in particular: 
         [0068]    Thanks to the ramp  12  with its outlet end, the vials are evacuated vertically from the carousel, which enables a significant reduction in the lateral overall size of the machine at the same time as evacuating the vials with no additional mobile mechanism. The inclination of the ramp at the level of its outlet end enables the speed at which the vials drop during their evacuation to be limited. 
         [0069]    Filling the vials with a jet of liquid surrounded by a sheath of inert gas associated with an inert atmosphere corridor the entry of which is juxtaposed to the filling station ensures that the concentration of oxygen in the dead volume of the filled vials when they are in the inert atmosphere corridor is extremely low. 
         [0070]    In a complementary way, inerting each capsule before capping the mouth of a vial with it enables an extremely low oxygen concentration to be achieved in the dead volume once the capsule has been crimped.