Patent GB-272533-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to machines for making bottle closures or caps
IPC: B31D1/00
Filed: 1927-06-10
Abstract: 272,533. American Dairy Supply Go., (Assignees of Compton, H. L.). June 10, 1926, [Convention date]. Making stoppers.-In a machine for producing bottle caps or discs from a continuous stock strip, a main supporting frame carries a series of unit mechanisms each designed and positioned to perform in regular sequence a definite operation upon the stock strip, the unit mechanisms being independently and detachably secured to the supporting frame so that each unit may be independently removed intact and be re-installed or replaced. The machine may be adjusted to produce two different sizes of caps. The units in the machine perform their operations in the following sequence. The margins of a recess for a withdrawal tab are scored out of the disc stock by thin cutting blades and the enclosed material is removed by a rotating and travelling milling wheel. A tab is cut from a stock and placed in the recess whilst, almost simultaneously, a wire staple is formed and driven through the tab and disc, its ends being partially clinched. Suitable devices are printed on the disc, which is then hammered or pressed to complete the clinching of the staple. The disc is punched from the stock. the waste material being removed, and a carrier transfers it to paraffining rolls which deliver it edgewise between reversely threaded screw conveyers adapted to pack the completed discs in a packing tube or carton. The machine comprises a stand A, Fig. 1, carrying an upright panel 3 provided with bearings 4 for a main shaft 5 which drives at equal speed a second or jack shaft 8, Fig. 6. Detachably secured to the panel 3 is a plate 51 carrying as one unit a scoring mechanism B and cutting or milling device C for the tab-recess. A tab-strip feeding and severing device D and a staple forming and applying mechanism E, together constituting another unit, are removably secured to the panel 3 beyond the milling device. A printing unit F is disposed between the unit D, E and a presser device G which, with a disc cutting device H, forms another unit. Disc strip feeding mechanism. The strip 15, Fig. 5, is fed to the machine by rollers 42, 43 provided with intermeshing gears 48, 49 and driven intermittently by a Geneva stop-wheel mechanism 35, 36 actuated, through gears 28, 27 and a vertical shaft 31, by the shaft 8. The upper roller 43 is mounted on a weighted arm 45 and the lower one 42, together with the Geneva wheel 35, is mounted in adjustable brackets 39 pivoted about a shaft 25 upon which the gear 28 is secured, the arrangement permitting the rollers to be replaced by others when a different length of strip is to be fed forward. To ensure smooth working, the strip is drawn continuously by rollers 16, 17, provided with intermeshing gears, from its drum 14, the roller 16 being driven by the shaft 25 through a chain 23. The roller 17 is mounted in a weighted arm 20 adapted to press it against the roller 16. When smaller discs are to be made, the rollers 16, 17, 42, 43 and their gears are replaced by smaller ones. Tab recess forming mechanism. The strip comes to rest beneath the scoring mechanism B comprising an eccentric 60, Fig. 6, on the main shaft 5, and a pitman 58 reciprocated thereby, the pitman being connected thorugh an eccentrically mounted pin 55 to a slide 53 movable in guides in the plate 51. The slide carries a block 61 adjustable transversely of the strip and a lower block 62 adjustable longitudinally thereof, the lower block being provided with scoring blades adapted to penetrate the strip to approximately half its thickness. By moving the lower block towards the milling device, the scoring mechanism may be adjusted for operating on smaller discs. By the next movement of the strip, the scored portion is disposed opposite the milling mechanism C. A block 72 is formed with a web 73 adjustably secured in the bracket 51 by a vertical screw 79 and is provided with an horizontal groove in which a sliding carriage 81 is adapted to be reciprocated by an eccentric 88 on the shaft 5, the eccentric acting through a walking-beam 91. Journaled in the carriage 81 is a shaft 83 rotated by a belt 87 and geared to a second shaft 82 on which a cutting wheel 71 is mounted. The path of the carriage is such that a small part only of its travel is over the strip 15, the device being clear of the strip during the periods of movement thereof. Packing washers are disposed between the cutting wheel 71 and the carriage 81, the removal of one or more of them adjusting the position of the cutting wheel for operating on smaller discs. Tab forming and placing mechanism. A further movement of the strip brings the recess opposite the tab forming mechanism shown in Fig. 11. Tab strip 131. from a drum 174, is fed intermittently by rollers 123, 124 driven from the jack shaft 8 by means including a Geneva stopwheel mechanism. The shaft of the roller 124 is eccentrically mounted in its bearing so that its pressure on the strip may be adjusted by a lever 126. The strip passes beneath a transversely moving cutting wheel 185 resiliently mounted in a pivoted arm 180 and through a removable guide block 178 adapted to allow the tab to fall into the recess in the disc as soon as it is clear of the guide block. Stapling mechanism. The formation of the staple is effected simultaneously with the forming and placing of the tab. Wire 95, Fig. 10, from a reel 94 passes through a spring-pressed guiding and tensioning device 96 to grooved rollers 98, 99 rotated intermittently by a Geneva wheel 112 driven bv the shaft which drives the tab-strip feeding device. A curved guide 142 then leads the wire on to a grooved block 143, Fig. 14, the end of which projects very slightly into a vertical recess in a block 144. In this recess a compound plunger 152, 155 slides, the plunger 155 being slidably mounted in a recess in the plunger 152 and being resiliently connected to a slide 160 in contact with a cam 167 on the main shaft 5. A cross bar 168, secured to the outer plunger 152, is resiliently connected to slides 169, 170 which are connected at their upper ends by a cross bar 171 and are engaged by similar cams 172, 173 on the shaft 5. Each of the slides 160, 169, 170 is provided with a spring to keep it in contact with its respective cam 167, 172, 173. A spring-pressed anvil 146 projects into the path of the plunger 155, the anvil having an inclined front face provided with a ledge 145, Fig. 11, for the reception of the wire 95. The plungers 152, 155 descend together until a hardened plate on the plunger 155 engages the wire on the anvil 146, whereupon the plunger 152, which is also provided at its end with hardened plates, descends alone, severing a length of wire for a staple and bending the end of the severed portion about the anvil. The plunger 155, which then descends further, is formed with a bevelled end, which, when the staple is formed, engages the inclined face of the anvil and moves the anvil out of its path, the movement continuing until the staple is forced through the tab and disc. Beneath the disc strip, the ends of the staple engage diamond shaped members 191 pivoted in the base member of the stapling unit and are partly clinched thereby. A post 200 engages the lower inner ends of the members 191 and, when the staple is pressed through the disc, moves upwards under the influence of a lever (not shown) actuated by a. cam on the shaft which drives the wire feeding mechanism, the upward movement bending the legs of the staple close to the disc strip. Spring- pressed rods 194 engage the outer portions of the members 191 to return them to their normal position. Printing mechanism. In the next step or two steps forward, according to the number of operations required, the disc strip is printed. For this purpose, a cam 206, Fig. 16, on the main shaft 5 depresses a spring-pressed slide 203 provided at its lower end with a form-carrying head 222. Studs on form-carrying blocks 246 pass through apertures in the head 222 and the blocks are secured thereto by spring-pressed levers 247 which engage in recesses cut below the heads of the studs. Duplicate form-carrying blocks are provided for use when the machine is making smaller discs, the studs on these blocks being located to bring the blocks nearer to each other. The printing forms 204 project slightly below the blocks 246 to engage inking rollers 219. These are mounted in pairs on shafts 218 journaled in blocks 217 secured to endless chains 214 which pass over sprocket wheels 212, 213 and are driven by a chain 243, Fig. 17, engaging a sprocket wheel 244 on the jack shaft 8, the mounting of the shaft 211 of the sprocket wheels 213 being a resilient one. The chains carry two sets of inking rollers. Each inking roller 219 is formed with a roller 220 adapted to run along a track 221 on the head 222 to ensure proper contact between the inking rolls and the printing form. Ink is supplied from reservoirs 237 by rollers 238 driven from the shaft 210 of the sprockets 212 and is distributed bv discs 223 mounted on vertical axes in a base member 1<a>. The discs are rotated intermittently by a ratchet and pawl device 226 actuated by a bar 227 reciprocated by an arm 230 on a shaft 231 which is oscillated through an arm 232 by a cam 234 on the shaft 211. As shown, the centre disc is rotated in the opposite direction to the outer discs. Beneath each printing form is a bed member adjustable in height by a wedge device. Disc flattening and cutting mechanism. The printed strip is fed to a plunger 259, Fig. 1, slidable in a block 260 detachably secured to the panel 3 and adapted to flatten the tab and staple flush with the surface of the disc. The block 260 also carries a plunger 266, Fig. 30, to the lower end of which a die for cutting the discs is secured. To the lower end of the plunger is bolted a block 269 carrying an adjustable plate 276 to which the cutting die 272 is attached, the die registering with an annular die adju