Patent GB-917417-A (GB)
Title: Bottle handling machine
Inventor: CELLA JOSEPH FRANCIS
IPC: B65B21/18
Filed: 1959-03-12
Abstract: 917,417. Endless conveyers; gripping bottles, manifold arrangements. CELLA MACHINERY Inc. March 12, 1959, No. 8554/59. Classes 78 (1) and 78 (4). [Also in Group XVII] A bottle handling machine comprises a bottle assembly station, a crate positioning station, and a bottle carrier movable between the stations to transfer bottles into crates by means which is reversible automatically in response to pressure, should a bottle be improperly seated in a crate. Bottle assembly.-From a conveyer 52 bottles are pushed forward until the leading bottle trips a switch which, by means of a piston and ram, causes them to be pushed on to a 3-line conveyer 44. They pass over a table 132 and rollers 142, Fig. 9, until the leading bottles operate switches S-5-S-7. Thereupon clamping bars 180, 182, 184, 186, 188 and 190 close to grip the bottle necks. Conveying and crating.-The clamping bars, mounted in a frame 192, form the bottle carrier. A switch S-8 operated by the movement of bar 180 causes a frame carrying the rollers 142 to be lowered, at the same time energizing a piston 244 to move the bottle carrier sideways. The piston 244 is received in a cylinder 242 mounted on a vertically reciprocable crosshead 243. A member on the piston 244 trips a switch, thereby lowering the cross-head 243, after it receives the bottle carrier, towards a waiting crate. Further trip switches release the clamping bar mechanism, raise the crosshead and return the carrier to the bottle assembly station. Crates are supplied by an endless conveyer 295, Fig. 1, on to guides 296, 298, the leading crate tripping a switch to energize hydraulic means which transfers it to the bottle-receiving position; a star wheel 304 keeps back subsequent crates. Filled crates are pushed out on to guides 344, 346 and thence to a removal conveyer 348, as empty crates are drawn in. As shown in Fig. 21, an endless conveyer supported in a channel member 364 carries crates right through the machine, the leading crate tripping a switch S-14 which raises the crate over the conveyer on parallel bars 372. The crate is locked in this position against corner stops 402, and a circuit completed through switches S-5-S-7 operating the clamping bars. At the same time an arm 410 is raised to hold back succeeding crates. The parallel bars 372 are raised and subsequently lowered by means of an hydraulic cylinder 400 and piston 398, the cylinder being supported by a spring 448. Should a bottle fail to seat correctly in a crate the bars 372 and cylinder 400 are forced downwards, a bracket 440 on the cylinder 400 tripping a switch S-16 which reverses the movement of the bottle carrier and returns the bottles to the assembly station. Other modifications.-The feed of bottles to the 3-line conveyer may be effected along a curved guide wall, Figs. 26-27 (not shown). By re-arranging the control switches, the machine may be adapted to unload crates. The machine may comprise two assembly stations, Figs. 29-49 (not shown), stop arms being used to group the bottles on a moving conveyer for removal by the bottle carrier. Each assembly station may handle bottles of different size, only one station being used at a time. Specification 891,672 is referred to.