Abstract:
Apparatus and method for retaining cotton in a bottle using a cottoner machine which inserts cotton via a pair of rotatable cylinders alignable with a mouth of the bottle, the apparatus including a disk secured to the cylinders via a pair of collars and having a pair of apertures aligned with the cylinders, and the method including a process of positioning a planar surface of the disk closely superjacent the mouth of the bottle after insertion of the cotton.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/990,808 filed Nov. 20, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,368. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of pharmaceutical packaging, more particularly, to the aspect of inserting a packing filler such as cotton into a bottle containing tablets to prevent damage to the tablets during handling and shipping. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In the past, it has been known to insert a filler such as cotton into bottles containing tablets or pills. It is to be understood that rayon may be used in place of cotton, and that the term “cotton” as used herein means actual cotton or a cotton substitute such as rayon. Automated machines have been developed and are in use to insert cotton into each bottle in the process of packaging pharmaceutical pills for retail sale. Cotton or cotton-like filler material has been found desirable because of its resiliency and deformability to act as internal packing in the bottle, to reduce or eliminate movement of the pills or tablets in the bottle during subsequent handling in manufacturing, distribution and sales. However such cotton inserting machines suffered from a deficiency in that the cotton, being somewhat resilient, would tend to partially eject itself from the bottle immediately upon retraction of the inserting implement, causing difficulty in the operation of the machine. When the cotton rebounds and extends above the neck of the bottle after withdrawal of the insertion pusher, the projecting cotton was observed to interfere with the operation of the cottoner machine by catching or snagging on the cotton fill tube, causing the bottle to become misoriented with respect to the machine. This problem is particularly exacerbated when relatively small diameter cotton is used with relatively large diameter mouth bottles. It has been found desirable to use such small diameter cotton with large mouthed bottles to reduce or avoid the need for multiple diameters of cotton for use with various sized bottles. In the present situation, using small diameter cotton having a cross section of between 1 and 2 inches for “20 gr” (20 grams/yard rayon) with wide mouthed bottles (having an opening of about 2{fraction (7/16)} inches diameter) has resulted in jam rates of between about 25 percent of the throughput. Such a jam rate is of course unacceptable. 
     It has been further observed that projecting cotton causes difficulty in subsequent closure of the bottle, typically by means of a cap carrying a safety seal therewithin, typically secured by induction heating and requiring an unobstructed contact between the safety seal and the top rim of the bottle. 
     When the cotton remained in the bottle, the closure would be able to be accomplished satisfactorily, with the cap threaded onto the bottle and the safety seal secured to the rim of the top of the bottle. However, cotton protruding substantially above the rim of the bottle top was found to interfere with the closure process, including securing the safety seal to the bottle top. 
     The present invention overcomes the shortcoming of the automated machines described above, by preventing substantial escape and protrusion of the cotton above the bottle top immediately after the cotton is inserted into the bottle. It is only necessary to temporarily contain the cotton in connection with the cottoner machine environment of the present invention since the machine typically has a second pusher downstream of the cotton inserter pusher to “repack” the cotton in the bottle neck prior to closure of the bottle at a further downstream station. With the present invention, jam rates have been observed to fall to something less than about one out of sixty bottles, or less than 0.0166 per cent, while still using relatively small cotton diameter in relatively large diameter opening bottles. Use of a single size cotton has the advantage of reducing the sizes of cotton needed for a range of bottles to be processed of about 2 inches to about 2¾ inches mouth diameter in the Cottoner machine. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of a prior art “Cottoner” machine suitable for inserting cotton into bottles showing the cotton holding disk improvement of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded rear view of the cotton insertion station portion of the Cottoner machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cotton holding disk mounted on the cotton installing cylinders of the cottoner machine, enlarged to show details thereof more clearly. 
     FIG. 4 is a partially sectioned fragmentary side elevation view (taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 3) of the cotton insertion station portion of the Cottoner machine shown with a plurality of bottles progressing past the station. 
     FIG. 5 is a section view of a representation of a bottle cap suitable for closing one of the bottles shown in FIG.  4 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to the figures and most particularly, to FIG. 1, a “Cottoner” machine  10  may be seen. This machine is available from the NJM/CLI Packaging Systems International company at 56 Etna Road, Lebanon, N.H. 03766-1403 (www.njmcli.com) as a Model CL-110 COTTONER. Also included in FIG. 1 is the improved apparatus of the present invention, a cotton holding disk  12 . Machine  10  has a conveyor  14  to transport a plurality of bottles  16  past the machine  10  to insert cotton therein as will be described in more detail infra. Machine  10  has a pair of inserter tubes  18 ,  20  which reciprocate between two positions 180 degrees apart. The reciprocation enables filling one tube with cotton while the other tube discharges cotton into a subjacent bottle. It is to be understood that the cotton is “folded” approximately in half as it is received in each of tubes  18  or  20 , and will expand somewhat (in an inverted “V” orientation) once it is received in a bottle  16 . Once a cotton “V” is inserted into a bottle, the tubes reciprocate  180  degrees, where the empty tube is filled with cotton, and the other tube discharges cotton to another subjacent bottle. This process is repeated continuously moving the fill tubes  18  and  20  between a discharge position proximate the bottle where the cotton is inserted into the bottle and a loading position distal of the bottle where cotton is loaded into the tube, for as long as there are bottles to be loaded with cotton. It is to be understood that prior to advancing to the machine  10 , the bottles have been filled with tablets at another machine (not shown, but adjacent an upstream extension of the conveyor  14 ). 
     Referring now also to FIGS. 2 and 3, tubes  18  and  20  are carried by a yoke  22  which is attached via a hub  24  and bushing  26  to a rotary actuator  28 . Actuator  28  is supported on a baseplate  30  rigidly affixed to a frame (not shown) of the machine  10 . A shaft  32  of actuator  28  projects through an aperture  34  of baseplate  30  to reciprocate yoke  22  and tubes  18  and  20  on command. In FIG. 3, tube or cylinder  18  is located at a loading position where cotton is inserted into tube  18 , and tube or cylinder  20  is located at a discharge position where cotton previously loaded into tube  20  is discharged into a bottle, as may be seen more clearly in FIG.  4 . The direction of reciprocation is indicated by arrow  35 . 
     Referring now again to FIG. 2, an air cylinder  36  is carried by a pusher support block  38  and is operable to move a tube pusher  40  in the form of a piston able to be received in either of tubes  18  or  20 . Pusher  40  is attached to and carried by a piston  44  of cylinder  36 . Block  38  is rigidly attached to baseplate  30  to allow pusher  40  to project through aperture  42  in baseplate  30 . 
     Referring now most particularly to FIG. 3, disk  12  has a generally planar plate  50 , preferably with a circular periphery, and a pair of attachment collars  52 . Each attachment collar  52  has a fixed portion  54  and a removable portion  56 . The fixed portion  54  may be integral with the plate  50 , or it may be secured thereto by any conventional means, such as threaded fasteners, preferably flat head machine screws. The removable portion  56  is preferably removably secured to the fixed portion  54  by a pair of threaded fasteners  58  such as machine screws. Collars  52  clamp disk  12  to the tubes  18  and  20 . More particularly, disk  12  is attached to tubes  18  and  20  by clamping the respective removable portion  56  against the fixed portion  54  of each collar  52  with a lowermost end of the respective tube  18  or  20  gripped between the fixed and movable portions of the collar which together form a clamp. Disk  12  has a pair of apertures  62 ,  64  aligned with the tubes or cylinders  18  and  20 . Each of apertures  62  and  64  is surrounded by one of the collars  52 . It is to be understood to be within the scope of the present invention to attach disk  12  to cylinders  18  and  20  by any other conventional means. 
     Referring now most particularly to FIG. 4, tube  20  preferably projects through disk  12  such that the lowermost edge of tube  20  (and tube  18 ) is in the same plane as a generally planar lower surface  60  of disk  12 . Attachment with this alignment will avoid interference with the tops of bottles subjacent the tubes  18 ,  20 . Alternatively, apertures  62  and  64  may have a stepped counterbore (not shown) with an upper diameter equal to the outside diameter of the tubes, and a lower diameter equal to the inside diameter of the tubes. Other aperture geometries are to be considered within the scope of the present invention, as well. For example, the lower or “exit” diameter of the aperture may have a chamfered or rounded cross section contour if the stepped counterbore is used, to reduce the chance of the cotton snagging on the exit diameter contour. 
     Once the cotton is inserted by pusher  40 , the bottle  16  moves from position  16   a  to position  16   b  and subsequently downstream of the disk  12 , where plunger  84  (visible in FIG. 1) repacks the cotton prior to bottle closure at a capping station (not shown) adjacent conveyor  14  and downstream of the machine  10 . 
     Referring now most particularly to FIG. 5, a cap  66  for the bottles  16  may be seen. It is to be understood that cap  66  is shown in somewhat of a schematic form. Cap  66  preferably carries a layer of pulpboard  68 , a layer of wax  70 , a layer of aluminum foil  72  and a layer of a polymer  74  in a cover  76 . It is to be understood that a laminate made up of layers  72  and  74  form a safety seal for the bottle. The aluminum layer  72  is induction heated at the capping station to melt the polymer layer to a top rim  78  of the bottle  16 , after cap  66  is placed on the bottle at the capping station. When the aluminum layer  72  is heated, the wax layer  70  melts and is drawn by capillary action into the pulpboard layer  68 , releasing the safety seal from the cover and layer  68 . 
     It will be apparent that any protruding cotton may interfere with the hermetic seal formed between the aluminum layer  72  and the rim  78  of the bottle  16 . It is thus important to assure the cotton remains within the bottle  16  and does not substantially protrude. Disk  12  accomplishes this by extending over the cotton filled bottle immediately downstream of the bottle immediately subjacent the tube then inserting cotton, as illustrated in FIG.  4 . In FIG. 4, cotton  80  is about to be inserted from tube  20  by pusher  40  into bottle  16   a , while cotton  82  is retained in bottle  16   b  by the lower surface  60  of disk  12 . 
     The material of plate  50  and collars  52  may be a polycarbonate or other polymer. The plate  50  of disk  12  is preferably ¼ inch thick, but may be made thicker or thinner, as desired. It has been found suitable to insert between 1 and 4 pieces of cotton into the bottles of tablets, as desired. The clearance or spacing  86  between the planar lower surface  60  and the mouth or top of the bottle  16  is preferably about one eighth inch. 
     It can thus be seen that moving or positioning the lower planar surface  60  of disk  12  superjacent (closely above) the bottle  16  prevents the cotton  82  from springing back out of the bottle at location  16   b  after it is inserted by pusher  40 . By maintaining the cotton under the disk  12 , additional insertions of cotton have been found to be more readily retained in the bottle. Disk  12  also relieves machine  10  from jams that otherwise occur when cotton that is not set all the way into the bottle interferes with the tube  18  or  20  that is inserting it, when the tube is reciprocated to receive another load of cotton. It has been found that in the absence of disk  12 , protruding cotton is susceptible of being hit by reciprocating tubes ( 18  or  20 ) causing bottles to tip over, jam or shift along the conveyor  14 , interfering with the timing of the bottles on the conveyor, possibly causing conveyor jams. As has been mentioned above, after the bottle goes past the disk  12 , a further plunger  84  tamps the cotton into the bottle before capping. The disk  12  has been found to enhance the tamping action of the further plunger  84 . Bottles having a mouth opening of between about 2 inches diameter and about 2¾ inches diameter are believed suitable for use with the present invention. Most preferably, bottles having a mouth opening of about 2¼ to 2½ inches diameter are desirably used with the present invention. With bottles having an inside diameter opening of 2{fraction (7/16)} inches, the jam rate has been found to be something less than 0.0166 percent using the present invention with the smaller cotton or rayon. 
     This invention is not to be taken as limited to all of the details thereof as modifications and variations thereof may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.