A New or Improved Machine for Unstoppering, Syruping, Filling: and Stoppering Screw Stoppered Bottles under Pressure.
Year: 1897

page_text: A New or Improved Machine for Unstoppering, Syruping, Filling:
and Stoppering Screw Stoppered Bottles under Pressure.
We, AUGUSTUS PEARCE BLAXTER, AUGUSTUS PEARCE BLAXTER, the younger, and
GEORGE WILLIAM CHALONER, trading as Barnett & Foster, all of Niagara Works,
Eagle Wharf Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relates to that class of machine known as steam or power filling
machines which perform all the operations of syruping filling snifting and stopper-
ing bottles that are supplied to them empty and removed filled by the operator
and is designed to provide a machine that shall be adapted to so dealing with screw-
stoppered bottles.
In carrying our invention into practical effect we construct a machine on the
general lines of the hand or other than power machines for a similar purpose made
by us for some time past and known as the "Eclipse" machines only modifying
the different parts of the same as shall adapt them to mechanical as distinguished
from manual operation and by introducing such additional parts as are necessary
for the proper working of the parts automatically, and in view of such slight
variation in the conditions under which the machine may be required to work as
may be expected to occur. We arrange the different parts of this machine upon a
suitable rigid stationary frame work which also supports one or more revolving
shafts carrying a number of cams so shaped as to give the necessary movement as
they revolve to such parts as require it, in most cases through the agency of suitably
shaped levers supported by the said frame work in convenient positions for that
purpose.
The filling head or part to which the mouth of the bottle is applied consists of a
cylindrical or otherwise suitably shaped chamber provided with supply and snift
passages in its sides or elsewhere. The said chamber is open on its underside where
it is provided with a device for closing around the neck of the bottle to be filled and
making a pressure tight joint round the same and closed on its upper side except
for a passage through a stuffing box or gland which is filled by a spindle carrying
at its lower end and within the said chamber a chuck or stopper holder. The joint
making device consists of an elastic collar of ] section held against the lower end
of the chamber by a tubular piece having an inwardly projecting flange or lip
upon which the elastic collar rests and arranged to slide telescopically over the out-
side of the chamber. Such upward sliding movement which is produced by the
rotation of one of the cams aforesaid produces the axial compression of the collar,
which results in its central member being driven inward and made to grip the neck
of the bottle or object placed within the chamber. The stopper holding chuck

page_text: already referred to consists essentially of two, three or more bell crank levers
pivoted at equidistant points on the periphery of the body of the device their upper
and approximately horizontal members being arranged radially and connected at
their inner ends to a rod passing telescopically through a passage extending from
end to end of the spindle carrying the body of the chuck. A suitable spring or
other device is provided to draw; the inner rod upwards and maintain the upper
members of the bell crank levers in such an elevated position that the lower and
approximately vertical members are pressed inwards to grasp the stopper placed
within them. A lever is arranged to bear down upon the end of the said inner rod
so as to open the jaws, which the lower ends of the bell crank levers form, at the
proper moment to release the stopper and permit of the insertion of another one.
It should be pointed out that both members of the bell crank levers come in.contact
with the stopper head when the chuck is screwing the same into the bottle
neck and the greater the pressure on the horizontal members the tighter the grip
of the jaws on the rim of the stopper. The spindle carrying the chuck is given
the necessary rotary motion by means of a toothed pinion feathered or otherwise
fastened upon it in such a manner that while both must rotate together the spindle
is free to slide longitudinally through the pinion under the influence of a leading
screw formed upon some suitable part of the spindle. This leading screw is of the
same pitch as the stopper to be inserted in the bottle and works in a nut held in its
position on the frame work. of the machine by springs or. other. yielding devices
the tension of which is adjustable to regulate the extent to which the stoppers
are inserted.in the bottles.
As it is intended that the bottles should be introduced into this machine withi
the stoppers already inserted in their necks it follows that the clutch must be made
to turn in both directions the one to withdraw the stopper from the bottle and the
other to reinsert it and secure the contents. We obtain these two rotary movements
from the one cam shaft by making a pin projecting from the side of one of the
cams move a quadrant piece upon its centre and so rotate the pinion through which
the stopper chuck spindle works, through the intervention of suitable speed
multiplying gear as will give the requisite number of revolutions to the screw
stopper. A second pin on the same cam may be employed to give the reverse move-
ment to the parts in question by its coming in contact with a suitably shaped
cam-surface formed on the quadrant or as in some forms in which we construct the
machine the same one pin is made to effect both movements by bearing alternately
on the two sides of a suitably shaped slot in said quadrant in the well known
manner.
The syrup pump and the bottle support are each given the necessary reciprocal
movement by cams and are made capable of adjustment in the ordinary manner.
The supply and snift valves are also operated at the proper moments by cams and
the supply passage is closed by a valve which is opened only by the presence of a
bottle in the machine so that loss of liquor is avoided in the event of a bottle being
missed. All parts are so arranged and the various cams are so timed that the
different operations occur in proper sequence and are of proper duration. In order
to increase the output of the machine we sometimes mount two or more sets of
parts on one frame work and operate them by the one set of cams.
Where two sets of parts are employed in this way they may be made to operate
alternately by taking their movement from diametrically opposite points of the
cams. In this case suitably formed levers may be employed to bring the two
filling heads and other parts so close together that they may be attended to by one
operator thereby producing a machine that will afford the maximum. duty per
attendant.
"
1027
AUGUSTUS P. BLAXTER.
AUG. P. BLAXTER, JUN.
G. W. CHALONER.

page_text: A New or Improved Machine for Unstoppering, Syruping, Filling
and Stoppering Screw Stoppered Bottles under Pressure.
We, AUGUSTUS PEARCE BLAXTER, AUGUSTUS PEARCE BLAXTER, the younger, and
GEORGE WILLIAM CHALONER, trading as Barnett & Foster, all of Niagara Works,
Eagle Wharf Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, 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 that class of machine known as steam or power filling
machines which perform all the operations of syruping filling snifting and stopper-
ing bottles that are supplied to them empty and removed filled by the operator, and
is designed to provide a machine that shall be adapted to so dealing with screw
stoppered bottles.
In carrying our invention into practical effect we construct a machine on the
general lines of the hand or other than power machines for a similar purpose made
by us for some time past and known as the "Eclipse" machines only modifying the
different parts of the same as shall adapt them to mechanical as distinguished from
manual operation and by introducing such additional parts as are necessary for the
proper working of the parts automatically and in view of such slight variation
in the conditions under which the machine may be required to work as may be
expected to occur.
And in order that our invention may be more particularly understood and carried
into effect we will now proceed to describe the same by reference to the accom-
panying three sheets of drawings of which
Figs. 1 and 2 are front and side elevations of a machine constructed according to
our invention and Fig. is a vertical section through the stopper manipulating
spindle and cam shaft. Fig. 4 is a plan of the stopper rotating mechanism taken
at the line -y, Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 a plan of one of the cams. Fig. 6 is an enlarged
sectional view of the stopper chuck and its spindle and Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively
bottom and top plans of the stopper chuck. Figs. 9 to 12 are views of the bottle
guard actuating mechanism. Fig. 13 shows an. arrangement of the guard for
alternately covering two bottles in a double filling machine.
We arrange the different parts of this machine upon a suitable rigid stationary
frame work which supports a revolving shaft E carrying a number of
cams F, G, H, J, K, L, M so shaped as to give the necessary movement as they
revolve to such parts as require it, in most cases through the agency of suitably
shaped levers supported by the said framework in convenient positions for that
purpose.
Motion is transmitted to the shaft E by screw or other suitable gear from the
driving shaft N fitted with fast and loose pulleys for receiving motion from a belt
which be shifted from one pulley to the other by the striking gear g.
may
The filling head A to which the mouth of the bottle is applied consists of a
cylindrical or otherwise suitably shaped chamber provided with supply a and
snift b passages in its sides or elsewhere.
The said chamber is open on its underside where it is provided with a device for
closing around the neck of the bottle to be filled and making a pressure tight joint
round the same and closed on its upper side except for a passage through a stuffing
box or gland c which is filled by a spindle B carrying at its lower end and within
the said chamber a chuck or stopper holder C. The joint making device consists
of an elastic collar d approximately of ] section held against the lower end of the
chamber. by a tubular piece e having an inwardly projecting flange or lip upon
which the elastic collar d'iests and arranged to slide telescopically, over the outside

page_text: of the chamber A. Such upward sliding movement which is produced by the
rotation of the cam K acting through the lever h produces the axial compression of
the collar which results in its central member being driven inward and made to
grip the neck of the bottle or other object placed within the chamber,
The stopper holding chuck C consists essentially of two, three or more bell crank
levers pivoted at equidistant points on the periphery of the body of the device
their upper and approximately horizontal members being arranged radially and
connected at their inner ends to a rod passing telescopically through a passage
extending from end to end of the spindle B carrying the body of the chuck C.
A suitable spring k is provided to draw the inner rod upwards and maintain the
upper members of the bell crank 'levers f in such an elevated position that the
lower and approximately vertical members are pressed inwards to grasp the stopper
placed within them. A lever is arranged to bear down upon the end of the said
inner rod so as to release the jaws, which the lower ends of the bell crank levers f
form, at the proper moment to release the stopper and permit of the insertion of
another one.
:
The lever is operated at the proper moment to release the stopper by the cam H
on the shaft E. Reference to Fig. 6 will show that the inner. rod j.terminates at
its lower end in a disc or button.m upon which the inner ends of the bell crank
levers or jaws f rest; this simple contact is all the connection. that we have found
necessary between these parts. It will be seen that the depression of the rod j
effects the ejection as well as the release of the stopper as the latter is pushed out
of the chuck C by the button m. This button m is faced on its lower side with
india rubber or other suitable material that will make a satisfactory frictional
contact with the stopper head without grinding any part of the same away. In
like manner the inner faces of the jaws fare faced with a similar: material. It
will be evident that the greater the pressure of the stopper head against the
button m the tighter will be the grip of the jaws f upon the stopper head, by
reason of the said pressure being transmitted through the button m to the hori-
zontal members of the jaws f.
The lower end of the rod j is made square in section where it passes through a
square hole in the body of the chuck C or these parts are otherwise suitably shaped
to ensure both rotating together while permitting of the longitudinal movement
of one within the other. The chuck C and the spindle. B are suspended by means
of links n from a lever o which rests on the cam F. The links n are connected at
their lower ends to trunnions formed on a shoe or cup p containing within it the
collar q secured by the pin r or other suitable means to the spindle B. The cam F
acts to lift the chuck C and with it the stopper away from the mouth of the bottle
during the filling operation and to lower it again ready to be screwed into the
filled bottle, the lifting operation taking place immediately after the stopper has
been unscrewed from the bottle. We have found in practice that the cam F for
raising and lowering the chuck C is more satisfactory than the leading · screw
described in our Provisional Specification as the latter has been found to injure the
stoppers to a slight extent by driving them too forcibly into the bottle. We prefer
the arrangement shewn in the drawings on account of the motion being less positive
and more yielding and adapting itself more readily to any difference in pitch of the
stoppers or bottles or to cases where, through the action of the elastic collar. d or
other causes, the position of the bottle may have changed after the withdrawal and
before the re-insertion of the stopper.
In order to compensate for any small difference in the length of the bottles a
springs is placed between a collar t on the spindle B and a fixed plate u through
which the spindle B passes. This spring serves to take up any movement caused
by the lifting of the chuck C and spindle B without lifting the links n and lever o.
The spindle B is given the necessary rotatory motion by means of a toothed
pinion feathered or otherwise fastened upon it in such a manner that while both
must rotate together the spindle is free to slide longitudinally through the pinion.
As it is intended that the bottles should be. introduced into this machine with the

page_text: stoppers already inserted in their necks it follows that the chuck. C must be. made
to turn in both directions the one to withdraw the stopper, from the bottle and. the
other to re-insert it and secure the contents. We obtain these two rotary move-
ments from the one cam shaft E by making a pin w projecting from the side of the
cam K move a toothed quadrant piece P upon its centre a¹ by coming in contact
with the surface y and so rotate the pinion through which the spindle B.works,
through the intervention of suitable speed multiplying gear as will give the
requisite number of revolutions to the screw stopper.
This speed multiplying gear consists of a spur wheel Q and pinion.R formed in
one piece or otherwise made to move together and placed loosely on the shaft E,
the wheel Q gearing with the pinion and the quadrant P gearing with the
pinion R.
A second pin x on the same cam K is employed to give the reverse movement
to the parts in question by its coming in contact with a suitably shaped cam
surface z formed on the quadrant P. In our alternative arrangement which we
sometimes construct one pin is made to effect both movements by bearing alter-
nately on the two sides of a suitably shaped slot in said quadrant in the well
known manner.
A syrup pump 61 of suitable capacity is mounted on any convenient part: of the
machine and operated by the cam G. The extent of the movement of the plunger
of this pump and consequently the amount of syrup ejected at each stroke.is
adjusted by means of a sliding block c which may be secured in any position
along a slot in the slide to which the piston of the pump is attached. The
block c¹ may be secured at the upper end of the said slot to be out of the path of
the cam G and so throw the syrup pump out of action when it is desired not to syrup
the bottles. Fixing the block c¹ at the lower end of the slot gives the full stroke of
the pump and at any intermediate position a corresponding portion of the full stroke is
obtained. A fixed block on the slide d¹ coming in contact with the underside of the
cam G draws the plunger down to the bottom of the stroke at each revolution.
The syrup pump is connected to the supply passage a in the filling head A by
means of a pipe e in. any suitable part of which may be placed a valve com-
municating with a return pipe to the syrup supply and held upon its seat against
the pressure of each discharge of syrup by a comparatively strong spring which
only yields when the supply passage a is closed by the valve f¹ whose office. it is to
prevent any loss of syrup and water when no bottle is placed in the machine
in the manner to be hereinafter described.
The supply valve g¹ and the snift valve are operated by the cam disc. J which
has two cam paths on its upper surface, one for supply and one for snift as-shewn in
plan at Fig. 5. Motion is given to these valves through the levers ¹ and ‹k¹ and
the long push pieces of the valves shewn. The cam surfaces on the disc J: are
made detachable so that the duration of the filling and snifting processes may be
adjusted to the size of the bottle and pressure of the beverage.
The valve f Fig. 1 is normally closed. The bottle supporting rod has
pivoted to it a rocking lever m¹ which is maintained at an angle to the vertical
with its upper end towards the operator standing in front of the machine by a
counterweight attached to a short arm projecting from the lower: and pivoted
end of the said lever m¹. The upper end of the lever m¹ is shaped to project into
the path of a bottle placed on the bottle support on the upper end of the rod
when the lever m¹ is in the inclined position described.
The placing of the bottle in position therefore rocks the lever m¹ on its pivot
and brings its upper end immediately beneath the push piece of the valve, f.which
is opened by the upward movement of the bottle supporting rod 11.
Figs. 9 to 12 show the mechanism we employ to operate the bottle guard o
We secure to the shaft E a cam L so shaped as to give a double oscillation to the
three. armed lever pl. at each rotation of the shaft. These movements are so timed
that the bottle guard o¹ which is operated by the lever p¹ through the agency of
the quadrant and pinion shewn closes over the bottle just prior to the filling

page_text: operation and moves away from it just after the same operation. It will be seen
on reference to Figs. 9, 10, & 11 that the two arms of the lever p¹ are in different
planes so as to be operated by the two surfaces of the cam L.
Fig. 13 shews how we arrange the guard to cover two bottles alternately in a
double machine. In this case the dwell of the guard in each extreme position is of
equal duration. The bottle is marked q¹ in all the drawings.
All parts are so arranged and the various cams are so shaped that the different
operations occur in proper sequence and are of proper duration to accomplish the
purpose of the machine. The following is the order of the various movements,
supposing a bottle has just been filled and removed:
―:
1. A bottle with the screw stopper lightly screwed in is placed on the bottle
support carried by the rod and held by the operator with sufficient force to drive
the rocking lever m² into a vertical position.
2. The cam M acts to lift the bottle into the right position for filling, and drives
the stopper head into the chuck C.
"
3. The cam K acts to compress the elastic collar d and cause it to make a pressure
tight joint round the neck of the bottle.
4. The guard o¹ is closed over the bottle q¹ by the cam L.
5. The quadrant P is moved on its centre by the pin w acting on the surface y,
and acting through the multiplying gear P, Q and pinion R rotates the chuck C
which unscrews the stopper from the mouth of the bottle. The lift of the stopper
resulting from its being unscrewed is taken up by the spring s.
6. The cam F lifts the stopper away from the mouth of the bottle through the
agency of the lever o and links n.
7. The syrup pump 61 discharges syrup into the bottle.
8. The cam Jacting through the lever j¹ opens the supply valve g¹.
9. The cam Jacting through the lever opens the snift valve k¹.
10. The cam J acting through the lever opens the supply valve g¹ to complete
the filling of the bottle.
11. The cam Flowers the stopper into the mouth of the bottle.
12. The cam J opens the snift valve in order to relieve the filling head A of
pressure before the removal of the bottle.
13. The quadrant P is moved on its centre by the pin acting on the surface z
and through the gearing described rotates the stopper in the direction necessary to
screw it into the mouth of the bottle. The spring s acting to feed the stopper
forward.
14. The guard o¹ is moved away to expose the bottle q¹ by the cam L.
15. The cam K acts to release the elastic collar d from the compression that has
been maintained since operation No. 3.
16. The cam M acts to lower the bottle and at the same time the cam H acts
to depress the inner rod j of the stopper chuck spindle B thereby opening the
jaws and ejecting the stopper.
In
In order to increase the output of the machine we sometimes mount two or more
sets of parts on one framework and operate them by the one set of cams. Where
two sets of parts are employed in this way they may be made to operate alternately
by taking their movement from diametrically opposite points of the cams.
this case suitably formed levers may be employed to bring the two filling heads
and other parts so close together that they may be attended to by one operator
thereby producing a machine that will afford the maximum duty per attendant.
The guard operating device shewn at Fig. 13 is suitable for use with such a
double machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner it is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :-
1. In a machine for filling screw stoppered bottles under pressure a stopper
holding chuck, spindle and telescopic inner rod for releasing the hold on the
stopper, substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: 2. In a machine for filling screw stoppered bottles under pressure the quadrant
piece P and multiplying gear R, S for rotating the stopper holder in both directions
when moved by the pins w and y substantially as described and illustrated.
3. In a machine for filling bottles under pressure the rocking lever m¹ mounted
on the bottle support for operating a valve placed in the supply pipe substantially
as and for the purpose described.
4. A machine for unstoppering, syruping, filling, snifting, and stoppering screw
stoppered bottles by power substantially as described and illustrated.
1
T
1000
AUGUSTUS P. BLAXTER,
AUG. P. BLAXTER, JUN.
G. W. CHALONER.
AUGUSTUS P. BLAXTER,
AUG. P. BLAXTER, JUN.
G. W. CHALONER.