Patent ID: 7052265

Claim:
An adjustable curling screw mechanism for a lip rolling machine adapted to form a rolled lip on the rim of a container by means of said curling screw mechanism, said curling screw mechanism comprising: a. a plurality of curling screws arranged about a circular space about a center axis, each curling screw rotated to carry out said forming, each curling screw formed with a helical groove engaging said container rim and progressively forming a lip as said container is axially advanced between said curling screws by rotation thereof; b. a mounting for each curling screw for enabling selective adjusting movement causing a selective increase or decrease of the radius of said spacing circle to enable adaptation to different sized containers; c. said mounting including means for causing simultaneous radial adjusting movement of said curling screws together while maintaining the location of said center axis of said spacing circle; and a selectively operable adjuster acting on all of said curling screws simultaneously to cause said simultaneous movement of the curling screws, said curling screw mechanism comprising a curling screw mounting comprising a series of pocket cassettes each carrier a respective curling screw, each said pocket cassette having surmounted thereon a rotatable pulley and a perpendicular roller bearing pin, said series of pocket cassettes linked together by a single drive belt associated with each rotatable pulley to provide a drive means for each curling screw in association with a motorized drive pulley; said operable adjuster for the curling screws comprising: a single circular cam plate having an outer edge, a center axis, a large centered opening, and a plurality of configured openings through said cam plate, said circular cam plate being rotatably held in place by a plurality of rotatable support pulleys at the outer edge thereof such that each perpendicular roller bearing pin of each pocket cassette is moveably held in a configured opening; said cam plate having a back surface and a lower edge, and attached to said back surface near the lower edge, a channeled track, said channeled track having a configured bottom in the channel; a drive mechanism, said drive mechanism comprising a gear box containing a gear drive mechanism, the gear drive mechanism having a shaft driven by said drive mechanism, said shaft having a distal end and affixed to the distal end of said shaft, a drive wheel, the drive wheel having an outside edge, said outside edge having a configuration that is accommodated by the configuration in the bottom of the channel of the track such that the wheel moves in the track and moves the circular cam plate accordingly; a means for adjusting the tautness of the single drive belt that links the pocket cassettes.