Patent GB-1190292-A (GB)
Title: An Improved Container Filling Machine
IPC: B67C3/06
Filed: 1968-03-19
Abstract: 1,190,292. Filling containers. GEORGE J. MEYER MFG. CO. 19 March, 1968 [1 May, 1967], No. 13195/68. Heading B8T. [Also in Divisions Fl, F2 and G4] General.-A machine for filling containers, especially bottles, is controlled by a fluid logic system (see Division F1) and comprises a series of vertical filling heads and tubes axially aligned with container supports, each filling tube having a sensing device responding to the liquid level in the container and connected to a valve controlling the supply of liquid. Means may be provided for removing liquid from overfilled containers by suction, thereby also removing drips from the end of the feed tube, and there may be further means provided to flush the containers with an inert gas, e.g. nitrogen, before filling. The containers may remain at the same height as they are filled or they may be lowered, in the latter case the end of the feed tube remaining approximately at liquid level throughout the filling to inhibit foaming. As a precaution against leaky containers, a safety device may be included to limit the flow of liquid to any one container, should that container fail to be filled in a predetermined time. The containers may be filled while moving along a rectilinear path or, as shown, they are introduced along a conveyer C to a star-wheel W and thence on to a series of vertically movable supports 113 carried on a rotatable plate 109 which has a vertical liquid supply conduit 108. A rotatable carrier 106 above the plate 109 carries a series of filler heads H. The height of the containers is controlled by the supports 113 which engage with a cam 117. This may have a flat portion if the containers are to remain at the same height whilst being filled, Fig. 4 (not shown), or may have a downwardly sloping portion if the containers are lowered whilst being filled, Fig. 5 (not shown), the final adjustment of the liquid level occurring at portion (Al) (A2) of the cam in the latter case. The filling cycle.-As the bottle advances, it is lifted by means of a cam 117, thereby raising a guiding bell 145. A pneumatic signal from the fluid logic system opens the filling valve 125 when the end of the feed tube is near the shoulder of the bottle. When the liquid reaches the desired level, a sensing tube 146 is blocked by liquid, causing the valve 125 to close by means of a pneumatic signal. The bottle is lowered by means of the cam 117 and passes out along the conveyer. In a modification designed to inhibit foaming, as the bottle advances to the filling position it is raised by means of a cam (49), Fig. 5 (not shown), until the end of the filling tube is near the bottom of the bottle. Filling then commences and a downwardly sloping portion of the cam allows the bottle to be lowered. If the rate of flow and rate of fall of the bottle are correct, the end of the feed tube remains just above liquid level for the main part of the cycle: so the sensing tube is therefore unblocked and the flow rate is continuous until near the end of the cycle; the flow may then be repeatedly interrupted as the sensing tube becomes blocked and unblocked during the final adjustments of liquid level. The flow of liquid to the filler head is controlled by a regulating valve. Figs. 16-19 and 37 (not shown), having three valve chambers operable separately under fluid pressure which allows the flow of liquid to be adjusted by amounts of one third or two thirds in response to the number of filler heads in operation at any one time (see also Division F2). The filler heads.-A filler head H comprises a casing 111 with a chamber 118 communicating by tube 119 to a liquid regulating valve Vm, Fig. 3. Another chamber 121, Fig. 7, has a piston 122 connected to the valve stem 124 and operating the valve feather 125. Pressure of the spring 123 and constant air pressure intraduced by tube 130 and channel (140), Fig. 9 (not shown), forces valve 125 closed. A sensing tube 146 extends down the filling tube 126 and opens at port 147 just above the filling valve 125. A booster valve B<SP>1</SP>, controlled by tube K10, an element of the fluid logic system, can supply compressed air to chamber 140 to open valve 125. A pair of guide rods, 142, 142a, Fig. 21 (not shown), vertically slidable in supports (143), (144) on opposite sides of filling tube 126 are attached at their lower ends to a bottle centring bell (145) having one or more orifices (74, 74m), Fig. 22a (not shown), also part of the fluid logic system. An orifice 149 in a member 150 fixed to the support (143) is blocked by a baffle 153, adjustable on the rod 142, when the bottle is positioned correctly for filling, and thereby causes the valve 125 to be opened. In another type of filling head, Fig. 11 (not shown), stem (124a) has an axial bore (207) through which the container may be flushed with an inert gas before filling or through which excess liquid may be removed from the container by suction from a vacuum pump after filling. An additional piston (202), chamber (201) and booster valve control the vacuum and inert gas system. The booster valve.-A piston valve 128, Fig. 25, is fixed to a rod R which slides in a vertical bore in the casing 70 of valve B1. The rod R is fixed at its upper end to a piston 137 of larger diameter which slides in a chamber 141 communicating with tube K10, a part of the fluid logic system. Pressure in tube K10 causes piston 128 to move down, cutting off the supply of compressed air from tube 128a to tube 130 and allowing air remaining in tube 130 to flow through the exhaust E. In another form (B80), Fig. 27 (not shown), the port which was the exhaust E in valve B<SP>1</SP> is connected to a tube (K<SP>6</SP>) which is lower than the tube (Km) corresponding to tube 130 in valve B<SP>1</SP>. The valve controls the flow of compressed air through tubes (K<SP>6</SP>) and (Km), whilst still controlling the flow from tube 128a into tube (K<SP>6</SP>).