Patent GB-192128-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to machines for filling and capping bottles
IPC: B67C7/00
Filed: 1921-10-03
Abstract: 192,128. Wade, H., (McKenna Brass & Manufacturing Co., Inc.). Oct. 3, 1921. Bottling; ' crown corks,' applying.-In a bottle filling and crown-stoppering machine in which the filling and crown-stoppering means and the bottle supporting means are relatively movable, one of the means is positively locked by fluid-pressure means in the exact crowning position, as determined by the length of the bottle, during the filling operation. A supporting frame 2, Fig. 2, provided with bearings 3 for a cam shaft 4 supports rods 7 connected at their upper ends to a cross-bar 8. A removable bottle support 16 rests on an adjustable plunger sliding in a guide attached to the frame 2 and having at its lower end a roller 11, Fig. 1, which bears against an actuating cam 12 on the shaft 4. A cross-head 19 secured to a filling head 18 is connected to guide rods 20 slidable in the frame 2 and sleeves 23 which are themselves slidable in the cross-bar 8 and are secured to a second cross-head 24 held in its lowered position by springs 25. The filling head 18, Figs. 1 and 8, comprises upper and lower members 26, 27 in the latter of which is a packing ring 30 surrounded by an annular chamber 32 connected by a pipe 32<a> to the pressure supply so that the ring can be clamped around the bottle neck to hold the bottle in position during filling. Above the packing ring 30 are a crowning die 38 and a ring 39 having a cut-away portion through which the crowns are fed. Secured to the member 26 is a filling tube 40 on which slides a piston 35 closing a pressure chamber 33. An air escape tube 45, having helical ribs 46 in its exterior, lies within the filling tube 40, shoulders on the ribs engaging the tube so that a spring 47 can maintain it in its lowest position. The escape tube 45 always communicates with a cylinder 48 for receiving the air displaced from the bottle. An adjustable piston 50 regulates the capacity of the cylinder and therefore of the amount of liquid introduced into the bottle. A syrup pump having a piston 63 is operated by the engagement of a pin 67 on the cross-head 24 with the piston rod 64 or a knob 66 at the end of an adjustable extension 65 thereof. The syrup is forced past a valve 68 in a valve casing 57, and through a port 60 into a chamber 42 above the filling tube 40. A second valve 75 in the casing 57 is opened by the inrush of water through a port 72 when the stem 74 of a valve 73 in a chamber 70 is depressed. A casing 76 contains chambers 77, 78 closed by simultaneously-operated valves 79, 80 and communicating respectively with the chamber 32 and the cylinder 48. The chamber 77 also communicates with the port 72. Normally, the valve 80 is raised to open both chambers to the atmosphere. The filling head is held in the filling position by an hydraulic lock comprising a cylinder 85, Figs. 1 and 7, connected to the guide rods 20 and a stationary piston 87 secured to the cross-bar 8. A valve chamber 89 in the cylinder casting communicates with the cylinder 85 through ports 92, 93 and contains a hollow slide valve 90 provided with ports 94. A spring 91 closes the valve which normally is held open by the abutment of a valve rod 95 against a lever 97 supported by a sliding valve-rod 134. A liquid reservoir 98 communicating with the chamber 89 compensates for any irregularities in the displacement of the liquid from either side of the piston and keeps the cylinder full of liquid. The lower face of the piston is inclined, the cylinder walls are cut away as at 85<a>, and the cylinder head slopes upwards to the port 92 to allow air globules to escape to the reservoir 98. Crown caps are fed from a hopper 99, Fig. 2, through a feed wheel to a table 103, Fig. 9, where a feed arm 106 actuated by a pinion 105, which is engaged by a rack 110 on a sleeve 109, feeds them into a recess 113 in a hollow stem 107 secured to the filling head 18. The sleeve 109 is reciprocated upon the stem 107 by the engagement of a rocking lever on the cross-head 19 with a cam on the cross-head 24 when the crosshead 19 is moved relatively thereto. A rod 124, held against movement in one direction by a stop 125 and in the other by a spring 127, is pivoted to a lever 122 pivoted to a lug 121 on the sleeve 109 and linked to the head 116 of a sleeve sliding in the stem 107 and connected by a pin-and-slot connection to a cap-feeding rod 117 which is urged towards the filling head 18 by a spring 120. When the sleeve 109 is moved outwards the rod 117 moves a correspondingly greater distance and the arm 106 is able to feed a crown cap into the recess 113. All the valves are operated by the valve rod 134, Figs. 1 and 2, which is connected at its lower end to a bell-crank lever 135 pivoted to a yoke 136 on the rods 20 and actuated by a cam 142 on the shaft 4 as shown diagramatically in Fig. 1, the arrangement rendering the action of the cam independent of the height of the filling head 18 above the frame 2. Lowering the rod 134 permits the valve 90 of the hydraulic lock to close and causes a spring-pressed lever 144 to depress the stem 74 of the water valve 73. On raising the rod a projection 148 thereon opens the valve 80. The operation is as follows : A bottle C is, placed on the support 16, Fig. 1, and the cam 12 lifts the bottle into position in the filling head 18 and then raises the head 18, crosshead 19, guide rods 20, cylinder 85 and yoke 136 until the point a<2> is reached. Meanwhile the pin 67 depresses the piston 63, and forces a charge of syrup into the bottle; the lever 144, which is held out of alignment with the rod 74 by a stop 146 on the cross-head 24, is moved past the stop and aligned with the rod, and the sleeve 109, Fig. 9, is moved outwards to allow a crown to be fed into the recess 113 adjacent the bottle neck, return of the sleeve compressing the spring 120. Before the highest point is reached sleeves 159 above the cross-head 19 on the guide rods 20 raise the cross-head 24 compressing the springs 25 and exerting additional pressure on the filling head and bottle. When the point a<2> is reached, the point b<1> of the cam 142 lowers the rod 134 allowing the valve 90 to close and lock the filling head in position and the valves 79, 80 to cut off communication between the chamber 32 and the cylinder 48 and the atmosphere. A further moyement causes the lever 144 to open the water valve to create pressure in the chamber 32 and clamp the ring 30 around the bottle and to fill the bottle until the pressure in the cylinder 48 equals that in the bottle. The rod 134 is now lowered slightly closing the water valve and the cam 12 allows the pressure on the piston 35 in the filling head to lower the bottle below the ring 39, when the spring 120 expands and the rod 117 thrusts the crown over the bottle. The cam 12 now raises the bottle, the crowning die secures the crown, the filling tube 40 exerting additional pressure thereon, and as the bottle reaches its highest point, the cam 142 raises the rod 134 opening the valves 79, 80, 90 to release the pressure from the bottle and to unlock the filling head in relation to the cross-bar 8. The cam 12 then lowers the bottle to its original position. A guard 153, Fig. 2, is suspended from the cross-head 24 by an endless belt 156 which passes round twin pulleys 157 thereon, twin pulleys 158 on the crosshead 19 and a pulley 155 on the guard. As the cross-head 19 approaches the cross-head 24, the guard is lowered through twice the distance covered by the cross-head.