Patent ID: 7819577

Claim:
A clamping device for a mixing machine to temporarily clamp a container containing a fluid product, comprising: a first clamping element on which said container is able to be disposed; a second clamping element disposed opposite said first clamping element and able to cooperate with said first clamping element in order to clamp said container in a determinate position; a movement mechanism able to move at least one of said clamping elements towards the other; and a command and control unit associated with said movement mechanism that causes a first reciprocal approach of said clamping elements with a first approach speed (v 1 ) that decreases over time, so as to detect and memorize the actual height (L) of said container, the command and control unit further causing a temporary distancing of at least one of said clamping elements from said container in a determined and constant time (T 2 ) and with a first distancing speed (v 2 ) that is inversely proportional to said actual height (L) of said container as detected at the end of said first reciprocal approach of said clamping elements, wherein said command and control unit includes a first means able to calculate a clamping force or a clamping impulse as a function of said actual height (L) of said container, to be applied to said container, and a second means able to calculate, as a function of said clamping force, a relative clamping speed (v 3 ) at which to move said clamping elements towards each other in order to clamp said container between said clamping elements with said clamping force, and a relative second distancing speed (v 4 ) which is a function of said actual height (L) of said container at which to reciprocally distance said first and second clamping elements.