Patent GB-654905-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to bottle washing processes
Inventor: MADDAFORD JOHN STEPHEN
IPC: B08B9/32
Filed: 1948-10-18
Abstract: 654,905. Bottle washing machines. GIMSON & CO. (LEICESTER), Ltd. Oct. 18, 1948, No. 27039. [Class 138(i)] [Also in Group XXX] Relates to a process and machine for washing bottles arranged with their mouths inwards in radial carriers in a horizontally mounted drum rotatable stepwise through a soaking tank and past jets arranged internally and externally of the drum in which each bottle is retained in its carrier for more than one rotation of the drum which is rotated at each step through more than the distance between the axes of adjacent carriers, so that the bottle is brought to rest in different positions during two successive rotations of the drum. The drum comprises a pair of flanged cast iron plates 10 held together by two rings of bolts 11, 12 and contains a plurality of sheets threaded on to the bolts and shaped to form radial bottle carriers of which there are forty-five rows each row accommodating twelve bottles. The drum is supported by rollers 15 which are held in stationary end frames and which engage within a channel in each end plate 10. Intermittent rotation of the drum is effected by a Geneva mechanism which includes pinions 18, 19, a pin 20, a slotted disc 21 and pinions 22 and 23, the latter driving a pinion 24 engaging with the outer ring of bolts 12. The drive mechanism also drives a plate 25 having a cam groove 26 engaging a roller 27 to actuate the bottle injecting and ejecting mechanisms. The injector mechanism comprises a linkwork 29, 30, 31 and 32 operating a pusher bar 33 which engages with the bottoms of bottles placed on a table 34, while the ejector mechanism comprises a linkwork 29, 30, two slide bars 35 connected by a channel member 35<SP>1</SP>, and ejectors 36 which eject bottles on to a table 37. The driving gearing is so arranged that the drum is rotated at each step through an angle corresponding to four of the bolts 12 or twice that between the axes of adjacent rows of bottles 14. Also since the injection and ejection positions are spaced apart by a similar angle, a bottle after injection will not be ejected until the drum has been rotated a second time. The soaking tank 16 is provided with curved guides 17 which prevent the bottles from falling out of their carriers during transit through the tank. Warm caustic solution, drawn by a pump 39 from a filter tank 38 connected to the tank 16, is supplied to external and internal spraying nozzles 42 43, 44, 45, and 47, 48, 49, respectively, and drains into the tank 16. Hot water is supplied from a tank 50 by a pump 51 to external and internal spraying nozzles 54, 55, 56, 57, and 59, 60, 61, 62, respectively, water from the nozzles 54, 55, 59 and 60 draining into a tray 63 connected by a pipe 64 to waste, while water from nozzles 56, 57, 61 and 62 drains into a tray 65 and returns by a pipe 66 to the tank 50. Cold water is supplied by a pipe 67 to external and internal spraying nozzles 69, 70, and 72, respectively, and this water drains into a tray 73 connected by a pipe 74 to waste. Some of this water is byepassed by a valve 75 into the tank 50 to make-up the water lost to waste through the pipe 64. In operation during the first rotation of the drum a row of bottles will come to rest opposite nozzles 47 and later 49 to be sprayed internally with liquid from the tank 16 and with hot water when they come to rest opposite nozzles 59. The bottles do not come to rest under nozzles 48, 60, 61, 62, and 72. In the second rotation the bottles are sprayed internally from nozzles 48, 60, 61, 62 and 72. The nozzles 54, 55, 59 and 60 remove traces of cleaning liquid from the bottles and thus prevent contamination of the tank 50. Different temperatures of the cleaning liquids may be used according to the amount of soil on the bottles. Pre-rinsing of the bottles may be effected at the table 34 or in a separate machine and water for this purpose may be drawn from the pipe 64. The hot water rinse from nozzles 54, 55, 59 and 60 may act as a cooling stage for heated bottles. The invention is not limited to a single drum machine or a double rotation cycle. The Provisional Specification describes by way of example a single drum machine provided with 41 bottle carriers in which a bottle is fed into a carrier when the carrier is approximately horizontal and is ejected after the drum has rotated through 40 steps so that the bottle is just approaching the horizontal position each step being equal to twice the spacing between adjacent carriers. Caustic solution supplied to a first group of external and internal jets is drained into a drain tray.