Patent GB-1378045-A (GB)
Title: High speed rotary container sealing machine with inclined sealing heads
IPC: B67B3/20
Filed: 1972-03-10
Abstract: 1378045 Applying closure caps; endless and rotary conveyers ANCHOR HOCKING CORP 10 March 1972 [10 March 1971] 11333/72 Headings B8T and B8A A machine 1 for applying closure caps 5 to filled containers 2 includes a rotatable sealing turret having a plurality of sealing heads 14 and a container support rail 16 which slopes inwardly and downwardly, tilting the containers 2 to counteract the tendency of their contents to spill during the high-speed rotation of the turret 15 owing to the resulting relatively large centrifugal forces. The containers are carried from a filling machine 3 to the sealing turret 15 by a conveyer 4, which spaces the containers 2 and is driven synchronously with the turret so that one container enters each space around the turret beneath a sealing head 14. The conveyer 4 comprises two chains 9, 10 with fingers 13 that space the containers, moving them along a support rail 17. At the filling machine end, the rail 17 is tilted to correspond to the tilt of the containers in the filling machine 3, as shown at 70 in Fig. 6, and at its terminal portion 18, the rail 17 tilts the containers so that they are fed into the turret 15 with an angular alignment and path corresponding to the sloping and curving surface of the support rail 16. In the turret 15, the caps 5 are applied to the containers 2. The caps 5 are transferred at a cap-feed station 30 from a star-wheel 71, driven synchronously with the turret 15, to a magnetic support 72 on the underside of each sealing head 14, which holds the cap above the container while the container is moved past the vacuum station 31, where steam is directed from a manifold into the space between the cap 5 and the container 2, and then the sealing head 14 applies the cap 5 to the container at the sealing station 32. Each container 2 fed into the turret 15 has been spaced between frusto-conical rollers 25 beneath a sealing head 14 which has a spindle 90 directed normally to the rail 16 and coaxially with the container 2 beneath it. The spindle 90 is moved towards the container, carrying the cap 5 on to it, in response to co-operation between a roller 92 on the sealing head 14 and the control cam 27. The sealing shoe 100, carrying the cap 5, is slidably mounted in the lower portion of the shoe 100, and the downward sealing force is provided initially by the weight of the shoe as it bears on the container, and then, as the shoe is forced upwardly, by the additional spring force provided by coil spring 103 which is compressed as the shoe engages a support sleeve 104. Relative rotational movement between the cap and the container is provided by turning the containers while the caps are held by friction pads 106. A friction bar 33 is held against the moving containers, rotating them about their axes. After the caps are applied, the containers are returned to an upright position and are conveyed out of the machine by an exit star-wheel 35 and past a coder. In a modification, Figs, 14, 15, 16 (not shown), for use when the sealing operation requires the application of high downward forces e.g. the application of capsules by a press-on or crimping method, the support rail 16 is replaced by individual support pads for each container, around the turret 15. The pads may be radially or pivotally movable to engage the bottoms of the containers under the control of a cam.