Patent GB-173808-A (GB)
Title: Can filling machine
IPC: B65B3/32
Filed: 1920-08-09
Abstract: 173,808. Kirkby, J. J., and Bellinger, E. J. Aug. 9, 1920. Filling cans.-Relates to machines for filling cans with liquid, especially applicable for filling cans with evaporated or condensed milk. The machine is of the kind in which the liquid is delivered from a reservoir into a can by means of a piston working in a cylinder the walls of which within the reservoir are provided with openings, the piston working along and beyond the openings so that the liquid in the cylinder beyond the openings is delivered into the can in a fine stream from a nozzle located at a distance from the openings. According to the invention, the openings are in the form of small perforations of such size, number, and arrangement that the cylinder serves is a strainer or screen for the liquid, and the nozzle is automatically closed and maintained so during the retractive strokes of the piston. A number of cans are filled at one operation and then by automatic machinery the cans are moved out of the filling zone for transportation to soldering-apparatus, and another group of cans is moved into position for filling. In the machine shown, in which thirty cans can be filled simultaneously, the cans 10 pass down shoots 13 on to a table 4 and are fed by a reciprocating slide 6 on to a follower 41 which is lifted by cams 39<a> so that the filling-nozzles 71, Fig. 6, enter the small holes 12 in the heads 11 of the cans. As the pistons 59, Fig. 8, descend in the perforated cylinders 54 secured to the reservoir 49, the milk in the perforated portion of each cylinder returns to the reservoir, owing to the resistance of the constricted bore 72, but during the remainder of the stroke the milk is forced out from the cylinders into the cans. On the return stroke, the suction of the piston 59 raises a valve 68 and prevents any milk from escaping through the nozzle 71. After filling, the follower 41 descends and the filled can is pushed off the follower by the next empty can on. to a conveyer belt 47, which delivers the filled cans to a suitable point where the holes 12 are closed by solder. The perforations 58 in the cylinders 54 are arranged in circular rows and staggered. The slide 6 comprises spaced plates 8, one above the other, with a series of notches or recesses along one edge, and is reciprocated by links 14 operated by arms 17 on a shaft 18 which carries a series of fingers 19 engaged by cams 21 on a shaft 22 driven through gearing 24, 25, 26 from a shaft 27 receiving motion through gearing from the driving-shaft 31. The shaft 39 carrying the eccentrics 39<a>, which operate the follower 41 in the space between the edges of the tables 4, 43, has a crank-arm 38 connected to a rod 37 carrying a roller 36 which engages a cam-disc 35 on the shaft 22. The level of the milk in the tank 49 is kept constant by means of a float-valve 52, and the tubes 54 are held in place at the bottom of the tank by beams 56 and strips 57. The rods 60 of the pistons 59 are secured adjustably to a bar 61 operated by the cams 33 34. Each delivery nozzle comprises a cylindrical section 64 threaded into a boss 65 on the head 55 of the cylinder 54, and a bushing 66 screwed into the upper end of the filling-tube 71. The cross-sectional area of each perforation 58 in the cylinder 54 is larger than that of the passage 69 in the bushing 66, while the area of the passage 69 is greater than the area of any of the ports 73 in the tube 71, and each port is larger than the bore 72.