An Improved Machine for Automatically Making Screw Capsules with Internal Thread.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 17th Dec., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Automatically Making Screw Capsules
with Internal Thread.
I, GUSTAV RICHTER, of Pforzheim, Baden, in the Empire of Germany, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to a machine for automatically making screw capsules
with an internal thread, such as are employed for instance for tubes, bottle
corks and the like. These capsules were hitherto made by the various matrices
being inserted or brought into play by hand and the finished capsules also neces-
sarily unscrewed by hand. The essential improvement of the present machine
consists in the automatic making of the screw capsules so that all separate hand
movements are dispensed with.
The machine consists essentially of two matrices lying one behind the other,
through which a threaded stamp mounted on an adjustable carriage forces the
sheet metal blanks so that the blanks are drawn into the form of a capsule and
provided with an internal thread and on the further movement of the stamp the
capsules are forced into the second matrix and have the milling or edging
impressed thereon and the bottom formed. The stamp carriage then moves a
little way backwards and remains stationary whilst the second matrix in which
the capsule is now placed is then turned backwards until it has automatically
screwed itself away from the stamp, whereupon the return movement of the
stamp carriage continues and the finished capsule is ejected.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of this improved machine;
Figure 2 a side view;
Figure 3 a plan view;
Figure 4 an end view, whilst
Figures 5-12 show various details which will be hereinafter more particularly
described.
A matrix B is removably mounted in standards 6 on a recessed part a of the
machine frame A, to which matrix the metal blanks which are to be converted
into screw capsules C, Figure 12, are fed through a hopper bl.
A carriage D travels in guides a¹ of the frame A, in which carriage a spindle d
is loosely mounted in such a way that the transmission of movement from
the carriage D to the spindle d takes place by means of a set ring d mounted
on the said spindle so that the spindle d, when the carriage D in its outermost
position to the right or the left, has a dead movement equal to the distance a,
Figure 1.
A stamp E is mounted on the spindle d by means of a nut or the like d². The
carriage D and with it also the stamp E receives its movement from a crank
shaft F by means of a connecting rod G and a pivoted lever H connected at one
end with the frame A, and at the other end with the carriage D. The crank

page_text: The
shaft F is operated by means of a belt pulley which serves as a flywheel and
is mounted on a gear shaft J, said belt pulley operating gearing.
wheel is not firmly connected with the crank shaft F but is capable of being
disconnected therefrom by means of a wedge K, Figures 2, 4 and 6, in a bush f
fixed on the shaft F. This wedge is axially adjustable in a slot. in the
bushf, Figures 4 and 6. The wedge has two projections and k
of which the first is always pressed by means of a spring
into one of the recesses arranged starwise on the nave of the wheel, and
thus firmly connecting the crank shaft F and the wheel 22.
The other pro-
jection k¹, on the rotation of the crank shaft F, encounters an inclined surface 1,
Figures 2, 3 and 4 formed on the arm L of an elbow lever L L¹, when a cam M,
mounted on a shaft m operated by the gearing and , Figures 1, 3 and 4 brings
the elbow lever within reach of the said projection . By this means the wedge K
is so adjusted that the wheel 2 and crank shaft F are disconnected by the projec-
tion emerging from the nave of the cogwheel and causing the crank shaft to
become stationary so long as the cam acts on the elbow lever L L', Figure 5.
As soon as this ceases the elbow lever. is returned by means of the spring into
its initial position, whereupon the spring 2 brings the projection again into
one of the star shaped recesses of the nave of the wheel and the latter is again
connected with the crank shaft, so that the same can be again rotated.
In a guide holder or socket a² mounted on the frame A, a hollow spindle N
is arranged, Figure 1, which carries on its other end facing the stamp E, a second
matrix B. The spindle is operated by a pair of bevel wheels nn, Figure 3, for
the object hereinafter explained, when a claw or the like coupling », Figures 7
and 8 mounted on the shaft 0 of the bevel wheel n', which shaft is operated by
the gearing is engaged by means of the lever p¹ Figures 7 and 8, and this
takes place by means of a cam disc P, Figures 3 and 7 mounted on the shaft m.
An ejector Q for the finished capsule is located in the hollow spindle N, Figure 1,
which ejector is operated by a cam q loosely mounted on the shaft O when the
eccentric pin r, Figures 9 and 10 mounted on a disc R fixed on the crank shaft F
encounters an arm q' connected with the cam g, by which means the ejector is
driven forward, thereby ejecting the finished capsules contained in the matrix B¹.
The working of the machine is as follows:-
The metal blanks thrown into the hopper come in front of the matrix B and
are forced through the said matrix by means of the stamp E moved by the crank
shaft F in the manner hereinbefore described, and in this matrix they are drawn
into the form of a sheath and provided with an internal thread by means of the
screw thread on the head e of the stamp E. The sheath C than adheres to
the stamp E as if it were screwed thereon and is thus forced by
the further forward movement of the stamp E into the matrix B' where the
head surfaces c and the milling or edging c¹, Figure 12 is formed. Tha
crank shaft F then drives the carriage backwards to the extent indicated by
in Figure 1 being the dead movement of the spindle d in the carriage D, where-
upon it is disconnected by the cam M and lever L L¹ and wedge K, Figures 5
and 6 in the manner hereinbefore described.
By the engagement of the coupling o, Figures 7 and 8, by means of the cam
disc P and the lever p p¹, the bevel wheel gearing n n¹ is operated and therewith
the hollow spindle N is then rotated whilst the finished capsule C is retained in
the matrix B by the milled edge c¹, so that therefore the stamp E is ejected or
pushed out of the sheath C by means of the screw thread e. The stamp E and,
the spindle d then move over the non-working space so that thus the heavy
driving mechanism of the momentary stationary crank shaft F does not share in
this movement. After the stamp E is released from the sheath C the coupling o
is again disconnected, the hollow spindle N becomes stationary and the ejector Q
is then operated in the manner described and expels the finished sheath or capsule
which falls into a suitable collecting vessel. At this moment the cam M ceases
to act on the lever L L' and consequently on the wedge K and the crank shaft is

page_text: again coupled with the cogwheel and the manufacture of a fresh capsule
commences.
Instead of causing the second matrix to turn backwards when the stamp E is
stationary and thereby to screw off the capsule from the same, the matrix may be
made stationary and the stamp revoluble or the stamp and matrix may have an
intermittent or simultaneous movement in opposite directions and thereby effect
an automatic screwing off of the capsule.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
claim is:-
A machine for automatically making screw capsules with an internal thread,
characterised by a metal blank being operated upon in two matrices lying one
behind the other by a single straightforward progressive movement of a press
stamp operated by means of a crank in such a way that the blank is drawn in one
matrix into the form of a capsule with an internal thread and in the second
matrix receives its milling and suitable external form, whereupon during a partial
stoppage of the stamp carriage the hollow spindle carrying the second matrix or
press stamp or both are set in a backward rotary movement until the press stamp
is automatically and entirely screwed out of the capsule, whilst the spindle which
carries the stamp and is loosely movable in the stamp carriage and mounted
thereon moves backward into said carriage and after the releasing of the stamp
this carriage is again entirely returned by the crank, and the finished capsule is
ejected by an ejecting rod, substantially as herein before described.
Dated this 7th day of November 1898
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.