Patent GB-409389-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for capping bottles and like containers
IPC: B67B3/02
Filed: 1932-08-03
Abstract: 409,389. Capping bottles &c. ALUMINIUM, Ltd., Canada Life Building, Toronto, Canada.-(Assignees of Sharp, J. E. ; 1219, Woodmont Avenue, New Kensington, and Kipfer, M. M. ; 1832, Orchard Avenue, Arnold, both in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) Aug. 3, 1932, No. 21804. Convention date, Jan. 11. [Class 125 (ii).] Apparatus for capping bottles &c. has a cap-forming mechanism adapted to form caps from thin strip material, e.g. aluminium foil, and a cap-applying device adapted to receive the manufactured caps from the cap-forming mechanism and apply the same to a series of bottles supplied by a conveyer, with provision for moving the caps through the apparatus from the cap-forming mechanism to the cap-applying device, the first portion of such movement being effected by the strip material itself, which is intermittently fed, and which removes the caps from the cap-forming mechanism which leaves the caps in holes in the strip material, after which the caps are disengaged from the strip material, for edgewise movement to the cap-applying device. A spring- pressed slidable key 266 in a drive transmission device is drawn by a knob 271 into engagement with a ring 265, separating two gears 260, 261, to unclutch a shaft 262 from driving engagement with the main motor 5. A hand wheel 275, is then turned to adjust the positions of a ram 81 and a punch 60 in the cap-forming mechanism, to allow of the threading therethrough of the strip of foil 37 drawn from a reel 36. A lever 219 on the strip-feeding-device is swung upwardly to allow the feed roll 214 to be raised for the threading of the foil. The foil strip 37 is pulled from the reel 36 under a yielding slack-providing roller 38, movable in a guide 41, beneath a spring- pressed drag felt 42 and thence between spring-pressed rollers 49, which, in the event of the foil breaking or the supply ceasing will swing downwardly to actuate a switch to shut off current to the main driving motor 5. The foil is drawn forward intermittently by feed rolls 213, 214 actuated by ratchet mechanism through a rod 232. Associated with the feeding mechanism is a pair of spring-pressed knives 234, 236, the upper knife being periodically depressed by a nosed lever actuated through links from the ratchet mechanism. Portions of the foil web, from which the caps have been previously formed, are thus cut off for scrap to fall down a shoot 253 to a collecting bin 254. During t he pauses of the foil, caps are formed by the punch mechanism, shown in Fig. 15, in which a lower punch 60 first moves upwardly to shear off a disc of foil against the shearing edge 89, the spring-pressed backing ring 76 gripping the edge of the foil. While still gripped between the punch 60 and the ring 76, an upper ram 81 moves downwardly to press the foil to cap-shape in the groove 90. The ram 81 and the punch 60 then move away from each other and a stationary plunger 63 removes the formed cap, to position it in the aperture in the foil strip from which it was punched. The formed cap is then moved along by the motion of the foil strip until it comes to an opening 92, Fig. 16, through which it falls into an embossing mechanism. This latter consists of an embossing plunger 121, driven by an eccentric and strap 319, 320, Fig. 5, and an adjustable resilient pad 111, spring-pressed at 112. The cap in falling through the aperture 92 is turned on its edge by a guide plate 94 and comes to rest on an edge of a knock-out lever 96, which, after the cap has been embossed, ejects it from the side of the embossing mechanism. The formed and embossed cap then rolls down a shoot 124 into a cap-applying device 132 from which it is removed by a bottle-neck 137 passing thereunder on to which the cap is pressed by rollers 148, 149, 150 slidable in slots 151-153 in arms 146. The cap-applying device 132 is adjustable in height to accommodate different sized bottles and is fitted with spring-pressed doors 141, 142 to prevent caps from falling out from the end of the shoot 124 in the adjusted positions of the device. The bottles with caps loosely applied are now passed two by two, by a series of pivoted fingers actuated by two relatively movable parallel rods, to the cap-sealing position. Twin heads 163 are vertically reciprocated by an eccentric 172 and, in descending, engage the bottle lips to press a rubber 191 on to the top of the caps. Rocker arms 197, pivotally carried by the heads 163, now engage adjustable bumper blocks, or fixed lower blocks, to depress spring-biassed plungers 176. Whence a bevelled surface 179 on each plunger engages the sloping surfaces 180 of a segmental pressure ring 181 to force inwardly a rubber ring 190 which firmly presses the skirt of the cap to the bottle neck. The surfaces 179, 180 are lubricated by oil from little reservoirs carried in each segment of the ring by fibrous material placed therein. After being sealed the bottles are collected on a table 210. A bottle-filling machine 2, driven by a gear attached to a sleeve ring 277, is associated with the cap-applying and sealing machine, the filled bottles passing a detecting device on their way to be capped. If the supply of filled bottles is interrupted the arm 305 will swing inwardly to pull a cable 297, attached to a spring-pressed shaft, to disengage the driving key 283 of a clutch device. This latter device is driven selectively by the gears 260, 261 of the transmission device through the idler gear 273 meshing with a gear 276 on a ring 277. A clutch 282 on a shaft 278 is governed by the key 283 and when shaft 278 is driven, 1 : 2 gearing 279, 280 rotates the shaft 281 at half the speed of the shaft 278. The shaft 281 drives the eccentric 172, governing the motion of the sealing heads 163, and also, through a double cam 307, the ram 81, while the shaft 278 drives the punch 60 through a cam 306, the intermittent foil feed through a rod 232, the embossing mechanism through an eccentric and strap 319, 320, and the knock-out lever 96 through a cam 316 and rocker shaft 318. Thus should the supply of filled bottles fail the clutch 282 will be released to stop the manufacture of caps, but, since the shaft 281 continues in motion all bottles which have passed the device 305 will have caps applied by the device 132 and the sealing heads 163 from the store of formed caps in the shoot 124. If, however, the supply of foil fails or the web breaks the main motor is shut off and the whole machine ceases to function. Specifications 404,889 [Group XVI], and 408,223 are referred to.