Patent GB-689685-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to bottle washing machines
IPC: B08B9/42
Filed: 1949-06-27
Abstract: 689,685. Bottle-washing machines. GRAHAM-ENOCK MANUFACTURING CO., Ltd., ENOCK, A. G., and BRANCH, S. F. Sept. 26, 1950 [June 27, 1949; April 17, 1950; Nos. 16953/49 and 9336/50. Class 138 (i). [Also in Group XXX] A bottle-washing machine comprises an intermittently advancing bottle - conveyer having bottle feed and discharge means actuated by hydraulic rams, the conveyer-advancing ram being operated from a main power circuit under the control of directional valves operated by a servo circuit, the servo circuit being controlled by an electric-magnetic valve at the completion of the return stroke of the ram. A manually controlled valve may .be inserted in the exhaust line of the conveyeradvancing ram, whereby the speed of the return stroke is adjustable whereas the operative stroke is always made at full speed; this enables the machine to be slowed down whilst keeping the time during which the bottles are being moved, and hence not sprayed, to a minimum. As shown' in Figs. 1 and 2, the conveyer comprises a pair of endless chains guided by sprockets 114 and curved or straight guide plates. Extending between the two chains are pairs of channel members 126, to which are secured several octagonal bottle-receiving baskets 116, made of 'sheet metal and provided with stepped neck portions so that they accommodate various sized bottles. The bottle-feeding means consists of a rotatable drum 128 formed on each of its four. sides with a row of bottle-receiving recesses having the same spacing as the rows of baskets 116. When the operator has filled the row, the drum 128 is rotated through 90 degrees thereby the bottles are slid off, over grooved platform 134 into a row. of baskets 116, the latter being partly submerged in liquid whereby the final movement of the bottles is cushioned. The 90 degrees rotation of drum 128 is effected by a single stroke of a hydraulic ram (not shown). The bottles are passed through a preliminary soaking tank 145, or detergent tank 147, and on.leaving the latter are subject to the action of a row of jets, from transverse pipes 156, directed into the bottles. Along the top run of the conveyer the inverted bottles, are subjected to jets from further pipes 156 and finally each row is discharged by gravity over a grooved platform 136 on to a padded arcuate surface 135. The latter is periodically rotated. about its pivot 141 to bring the row of bottles into an upright position and to move them on to a discharge conveyer (not shown). The periodic movements of the bottle-erecting member 135 is synchronised with the feed-in mechanism and may conveniently be actuated by the same hydraulic ram. The feed and discharge mechanism are also synchronised with the ram 120 which advances the conveyer chain intermittently. The ram 120 is fixed by bracket 121 and it moves a carrier 118 to and fro. The carrier is supported by rollers on a trackway 123, and has mountted thereon a pawl 117 which moves the conveyer in one direction only. The hydraulic control mechanism is preferably detachably mounted at 161 and connected to the machine by flexible connections. The hydraulic  system is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings ac-  companying the second Provisional Specification wherein the bottle supplying drum 128 and the discharge mechanism 135 are actuated by hydraulic rams 65 and 66, moved in synchronism  as follows: oil is taken from supply tank 36 by pump 32 and passed through an equalizing valve  44 to relief valves 59 and 60 (which by-pass excess oil by pipes 98, 99 into return manifold 27), by pipes 61, 62 into directional valves 64, which alternately pass the oil to the tops or bottoms of ram cylinders 65, 66 and exhaust into manifold 34. The conveyer chains are moved intermittently by main rams 2 and 3 as follows : oil from supply tank 24 passes through main pump 19, relief valve 18 (which by-passes excess oil through pipes 89, 26 back to the supply tank), and pipe 17 to directional valve 10 which alternately passes the oil to one end or the other of the ram cylinders 2, 3 to advance the chains. After the operative stroke of rams 2, 3 oil is exhausted through 31 to manifold 27, whereas after the return stroke it is exhausted through a manually controlled valve 22 whereby the speed of the return stroke is controlled. The directional valves 64 and 10 are all interconnected by a servo system, shown in dotted lines, whereby the valves are all reversed simultaneously, as follows: oil from pump 32 enters a solenoid actuated valve 42 which either passes pressure oil to pipe 52 and exhausts pipe 51 through 95 to manifold 27, or upon energisation of the solenoid, pressurises 51 and exhausts 52. The solenoid is energised when two pairs of contacts 47 are closed. at the end of the return stroke of main rams 2 and 3. When pipe 51 is pressurised servo pressure is introduced into the right hand end of each of the directional valves to move the valve bodies to the left, and when pipe 52 is pressurised servo pressure moves all the valve bodies to the right. Thus at each complete cycle of the conveyer rams 2, 3 a row of bottles is fed into the machine and a row of washed bottles is ejected. Specifications 689,729 and 689,730 are referred to.