Patent ID: 7357159

Claim:
Equipment for treating open beverage containers ( 3 ), for instance filling or sealing them, comprising a treatment site ( 1 ) being fed a container ( 3 ) for purposes of treatment and being fitted with a treatment implement ( 2 ) acting from above on the mouth ( 6 ) of the container ( 3 ), further comprising slot nozzles ( 4 ) which are configured laterally of the treatment site ( 2 ) and which blow off a clean gas and are arrayed in a manner to generate a gas curtain protecting the mouth ( 6 ) of the container ( 3 ), wherein the slot nozzles ( 4 ) are configured in substantially mutually opposite air jet directions in such manner that a rammed gas flow is generated between the slot nozzles ( 4 ) comprising, relative to the plane of symmetry (S), upward and downward flow components that issue from the region of the slot nozzles ( 4 ), the mouths ( 6 ) of the containers ( 3 ) in the treatment position being configured in one of the flow components, the slot nozzles ( 4 ) being configured to communicate at least upward or downward with the free atmosphere.