Patent GB-1152850-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for Filling Containers with Beverages
IPC: B67C3/06
Filed: 1966-05-27
Abstract: 1,152,850. Bottling. AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER CORP. OF AMERICA. 27 May, 1966 [22 Oct., 1965], No. 23937/66. Heading B8T. [Also in Division G3] . A filling head 13 for a rotary-table counterpressure bottle filling apparatus comprises an inlet valve 52 through which carbonated beverage is fed to a port 56 and thence through a stack of nested frusto-conical flow resistor shells 59, the narrow spaces between which offer such resistance to the flow of the beverage that by the time it reaches a valve head 57A its pressure has been substantially reduced. The valve head 57A is automatically moved to its closed position when liquid rises in the filled bottle to cap a probe 73 at the bottom of a counter-pressure tube 46 and thus complete an electric circuit controlling a valve actuating servo 68. The flow restrictor shells (59), Fig. 9 (not shown), each have a short slot (61) at their narrow ends and a diametrically opposite inner rib (61A); they are nested turned through 180 degrees with respect to each other, the ribs lying in the slots. The valve head 57A, Fig. 6, is at the end of a hollow stem 62, moved axially by the servo 68 which has a piston actuated by compressed air against the bias of a spring 69. When the valve head 57A has been slidden downwards from the closed position shown, beverage is able to enter circumferentially and tangentially arranged ports (67), Figs. 7, 8 (not shown), so that it swirls down the surface of a bore 66, Fig. 6, in the valve head, and down inside a bore 54, before entering a bottle engaged by the head. The valve stem 62 contains the counter-pressure tube 46, which is adjustably positioned and surrounded by an electrically insulating sleeve 72, and extends at its lower end into the bottle to be filled. The electric probe 73 at the lower end of the counter-pressure tube 46 is connected into a control circuit 80 operating a valve 82 through which compressed air is admitted to the valve-actuating servo 68, &c. A pressuresensitive switch 75 at the lower end of the filler head 50 is closed by build-up of counter-pressure in the engaged bottle, and thus acts through a circuit 81 upon the control circuit 80. The arrangement is such that when counter-pressure has built-up sufficiently to close the switch 75, the valve 82 is opened, and the servo 68 energized to slide the valve head 57A downwards to the open position. Beverage then flows into the bottle. When the bottle has been nearly filled, the beverage laps the probe 73 on the counterpressure tube 46, to complete the circuit 84. The control circuit 80 is thus so conditioned that the servo 68 is de-energized, and the valve head 57A moved back to the closed position by the spring 69, to shut-off the supply of beverage. Adjustment of the axial position of the counter-pressure tube 46, and hence of the position of the probe 73, determines the volume of beverage supplied to the filled bottle. The flow passages are so designed as to facilitate cleansing by circulation of a detergent. Rotary-table bottling machine.-As described, a number of the filling heads 13 are releasably secured around a rotary-table filling machine. Each head (13), Fig. 3 (not shown), is clamped to a vertically-reciprocable carriage (17) by a pivoted finger-cam (90), Fig. 4 (not shown), and a plate (94). Each carriage (17) is in the form of a cylinder slidable up-and-down a fixed piston rod (22), Fig. 5 (not shown), having a hollow piston (16, 20) at its end with a small hole (21) through it. Compressed air is fed into the piston (16, 20) through a pipe (18), so that the surrounding cylindrical carriage (17) is biased downwardly. A cam-follower roller (26) at the side of the carriage (17) can run over an arcuate track (29) as the table rotates, to move the carriage and associated filling head (13) up-and-down. A horizontally-movable counterpressure valve (34), Fig. 2 (not shown), is slidden by the bias of a spring (37) to its open position, but is closed by a cam-follower roller (39) at its end running up a track (40) associated with the vertically-motion track (29). A pivoted latch plate (41), having a lock hole (43) engageable with a stud (44) on the counter-pressure valve (34) to hold the valve closed, is actuated by a spring-biased detent (47) on the carriage (17) if the latter moves downwardly to the bottlefilling position when no bottle is present. The arcuate tracks (29, 40) are connected through an arm, &c. (128), Fig. 1 (not shown), with the upper rotary table (6) of the bottling machine. The arrangement is such that vertical adjustment of the table (6) to accommodate bottles of different heights in the machine causes simultaneous adjustment of the tracks (29, 40).