Patent GB-190526020-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Bottle Filling and Stoppering Machines.
Inventor: SMILLIE SAMUEL
Filed: 1905-12-14
Granted: 1906-03-01
Abstract: 26,020. Smillie, S., and Robertson, T. M. Dec. 14. Bottling; stoppering.-Relates to a machine for removing screw stoppers from bottles, filling the bottles with aerated liquids, and replacing the stoppers, all the parts being operated by power derived from an hydraulic motor which is automatically started by the action of placing a bottle on the bottle rest 12. The valve chamber 28 of the motor is provided with a supply pipe 48 and an exhaust pipe 49. The water supply to the top end of the cylinder 2 of the motor is controlled by an admission valve 29 working through the centre of its exhaust valve 30, and to the lower end by a similar pair of valves (not shown). These valves are themselves operated in proper sequence by a transverse piston valve 33 working in a cylinder 42. In operation, a bottle is placed on the rest 12, and, by pressing back a lever 38, opens the starting-valve 40 and allows water to run to waste from the right-hand end of the cylinder 42. This causes the piston valve 33 to move, and so operates the motor valves to admit water to the top end of the cylinder 2, and to exhaust the lower end. The piston 3 then moves downwards, and, through the connecting-rod 14 and worm gearing 15, 17, rotates the spindle 18 of the stoppering-chuck 23. At the same time, a tappet 5 on the tail end of the piston-rod is withdrawn from contact with the spindle 5<a> of a valve 6, which opens and allows water to escape from the upper end of a cylinder 7, in which works a piston 8 on the spindle of the bottle rest. The rest then rises under the action of the spring 13, and, pushing the lever 38 upwards, allows the valve 40 to close. The spring 13 pushes the bottle into the filling-nozzle 23<a>, and the stopper is removed by the chuck 23, the upward motion being obtained by a screwed part of the spindle working in a fixed nut 22. The liquid-supply valve 25 is then opened by a cam 24 operated from the cross-head 3<a> of the pistonrod 4. When the bottle is partly filled, the liquidsupply valve is cut off momentarily by a check in the cam, and a snift valve (not shown) opened by a bell-crank lever 27. The liquid valve is then reopened and the bottle is filled. The piston 3 has then reached the end of its downward stroke, and, striking the spindle of a valve 45, opens it and allows water to run to waste from the lefthand end of the piston valve 33. This reverses all the valves, and the piston 3 moves upwards, the spindle 18 rotating in an opposite direction, so causing the chuck 23 to replace the stopper. When the piston reaches the top of its stroke, the tappet 5 lifts the valve 6 and allows water from the supply at the coupling 55 to pass to the top of the cylinder 7 and force down the piston 8, and consequently the bottle rest, against the action of the spring 13. The cyc!e of operations is then complete and the machine comes to rest. In a modification, the machine may be adapted for filling two bottles, the stopper being removed from one bottle while the other is being filled and restoppered. All the parts are in duplicate, except that there is only one hydraulic motor. The connecting - rod of the motor is, in this case, coupled to a crank-pin on a countershaft carrying the quadrants of the worm gears. In this case, one worm is right, and the other left, handed.