Patent ID: 7159489

Claim:
A cap removing apparatus comprising: a holder which holds a tube-like container having a central longitudinal axis and an opening blocked by a cap, the cap having a knob portion at an outer peripheral edge thereof; a transport path in which the container held by the holder is transported together with the holder, the transport path having a correcting position at a middle part thereof; a rotation mechanism provided at the correcting position to rotate the container about said longitudinal axis when the container is transported to the correcting position; a correction mechanism which corrects a posture of the knob portion of the cap when the container is being rotated by the rotation mechanism; and a removing mechanism which grasps the knob portion of the cap corrected by the correction mechanism and removes the cap from the container, wherein the correction mechanism is configured to move between a first position at which the correction mechanism advances to the correcting position to correct the posture of the knob portion and a second position at which the correction mechanism retreats from the correcting position, the removing mechanism is configured to move between a third position at which the removing mechanism advances to the correcting position to remove the cap from the container and a fourth position at which the removing mechanism retreats from the correcting position, and the removing mechanism is moved to the third position when the correction mechanism retreats to the second position.