Improved Apparatus for Filling and Stopping Aerated Water Bottles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Filling and Stopping Aerated Water Bottles.
I, Donald CuFF, of 24, Mildred Street, Lower Broughton, near Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion 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 an improved construction of machine or apparatus
for filling bottles with aerated waters and closing the same with screwed stoppers.
The manner in which my invention is to be performed or carried into practical
effect will be readily understood on reference to the two sheets of drawings here-
unto annexed and the following explanation thereof.
On Sheet 1 of the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 a front elevation
of my improved machine.
On Sheet 2 of the drawings, Fig. 3 is a back view of the machine, and l'igs, 4,
5, 6 and 7 are detached views of portions of the same hereinafter more particu-
Tarly referred to.
a is the main driving shaft of the machine, at one end of which is keyed a
spur pinion & driving a spur wheel b fixed on a shafte which carries a cam d
which acts against a bowl c at the upper end of a bracket which works up and
down in vertical slides in the frame a being forced upwards against the cam by a
powerful spring g. The bracket f carries also the bottle block which is adjust-
able by a screw and lock nuts (see Fig. 1). i is a revolving table for carrying
the bottles which is provided with (say) eight holes in each of which is placed
a cylindrical cup or holder j to contain a bottle. These cups can slide up and
down through the holes in the table but are prevented from falling through by
outside flanges at the top. The vertical spindle to which the table is attached
is provided at the bottom with a bevil pinion gearing with a bevil wheel b
keyed on a short horizontal shaft m upon which is also keyed a ratchet wheel a
having (say) sixteen teeth. The bracket f is connected to a weighted dog or
catch o by means of a link o attached to the bracket f und as the bevil pinion k
is half the diameter of the bevil wheel it follows that each time the bottle
block his forced down by the cam into the position shown, the table i is caused
to make one eighth of a revolution so as to remove the filled bottle and bring
a fresh empty bottle above the block h.
Upon the shaft is also keyed a sprocket wheel p which by means of an endless
chain g and similar sprocket wheel drives the upper cam shaft r carrying the
cam s. Upon this can rests a bowl t carried by a weighted lever u keyed on a
shaft .
On this same shaft is also keyed a toothed quadrant to which is in
gear with a pinion at the top of the plunger spindle y so that each time that
the cams lifts the weighted lever uit causes the quadrant to turn the said
plunger spindle y round in one direction and each time the cams allows the
lever to fall it turns the said spindle y in the opposite direction, so that the said
plunger spindle y can be raised and lowered by the rod, attached to the
quadrant r and turn round in either direction in the socket 1 an enlarged detached
CD 077

page_text: "6
sectional view of which is shewn at Fig. 4 (Sheet 2) where it will be seen that
enlargements on this socket form the liquid or syruping valve-box 2 and the
snifter valve-box for controlling the escape of the air. In a recess in
the socket 1 works the cylindrical plunger-head 4 (see also detached elevation
Fig. 5), this is supported by a conical ring 5 which is kept in place by a screw-
cap 6, an india rubber ring 7 being interposed between the two. This india
rubber ring makes a close joint with the mouth of the bottle when it is pressed
upwards into the socket 1 by the spring g.
The lower part of the plunger spindle is made square where it passes through
the plunger head 4 and it is provided with a flange 8 placed above a spring 9 in
a recess in the upper part of the plunger head 4 so that the downward pressure
of the plunger is more or less elastic, and the stopper cannot be screwed down
too forcibly.
The plunger-head 4 is provided with four grippers 11 in the form of bell-crank
levers the lower arms of which grip the fluted head of the stopper 12 when the
plunger spindle y riscs, and release the same when it descends.
Between the shafts c and r there is a third cam shaft 13, (driven also by the
endless chain g) on which is fixed a cam 14, for working the liquid filling
valve 15, and a cam 16, for working the "snifting" valve for allowing the escape
of the air and regulating the final pressure. Enlarged side view, and section
of this "enifting cam 16 are shown at Figs. 6 and 7.
This cam is provided with three lifters 16, 16** and 16***, the height of which
can be adjusted by means of set screws so as to regulate the escape of the air
during filling, and the final pressure of gas left in the bottle.
The action is as follows:-The table being charged with eight bottles,
each with a stopper placed loosely in its mouth, the cam d releases the bowl e
and the spring g raises up the bottle block lifting the cup (which is
immediately above it and thrusting the bottle and stopper up into the socket 1.
The grippers 11 then close round the stopper 12, the plunger spindle y turns to
the left so as to unscrew the stopper and the plunger head 4 rises to the top of
the recess in the socket 1 taking up the stopper 12 with it, the india rubber
ring 7 making a close joint with the mouth of the bottle.
"
The supply and "snifter valves are then opened alternately and by the
time the bottle is charged the plunger head 4 descends bringing the stopper into
place and turning to the right, screws the stopper home.
I may here remark that by shifting the position of the weight on the lever u
the stopper may be screwed in to any amount of tightness required.
The cam d then compresses the spring 9 lowering the bottle block and
allowing the filled and stoppered bottle to fall into the position shown at Fig. 1.
The descent of the bracket f causes the ratchet or dog to act on the teeth of
the ratchet wheel and thus give one eighth of a revolution to the table i
bringing a fresh bottle into position whilst the attendant removed the filled
and stoppered bottle, and so on continuously.
11
In order to obtain what is known in the trade as a dry-snift" that is to
say to prevent liquid from lodging in the sloping passages 17 (see Fig. 4) leading
from the valves to the lower part of the socket 1, and mixing with the air
blown off, I provide the valves with two small horizontal passages 18, which,
when the plunger head 4 rises above them, admit air behind the liquid and
thus lets it flow by gravitation into the bottle.
19 is the cam for working the syruping pump 20. This and the liquor
supply cam 14 are connected together or made in one and can slide on a
feather on the shaft 13. There is a neck in the boss of the cam 19 in which
works the forked arm of a bell-crank lever 21 (see Fig. 3) the horizontal arm
of which is connected to a vertical sliding rod 22. This rod is provided with
a spring stop piece 23 and a similar stop 24 is attached to the upper part of
the slide so that if at any time (owing to the breakage or absence of a bottle)
the bottle block h should be raised above its proper level the stop 24 will come

page_text: into contact with the stop 23 and by raising the sliding rod 22 will cause the
bell-crank lever 21 to slide the cams 14 and 19 to the left (see Fig. 3) on the
shaft 13 and thus prevent the delivery, and consequently the waste, of the liquid
and syrup, until another bottle has come into position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First: The revolving table and its adjuncts for presenting and removing the
bottles at intervals and raising the same up into the filling socket, substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the annexed drawings.
Secondly: The construction of the filling socket and its valves and other
adjuncts in combination with the spring plunger head and gripping lovers, and
the plunger spindle with its mechanism for gripping, unscrewing, raising,
lowering, and screwing-in the stopper substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated by the drawings annexed.
Thirdly: The arrangement for throwing the filling and syruping cams out
of action if at any time there should be no bottle presented by the bottle block
to receive the liquid, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
the annexed drawings.
Fourthly claim the general construction and arrangement of the improved
apparatus for filling and stopping aerated water bottles, substantially as lierein-
before described and illustrated by the annexed drawings.
1
1000
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
Agents for the Applicant, 4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.