PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16164125
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-10
Publication Date: 2019-02
Patent Classification: ["053", "281000"]

Abstract:
The invention relate generally to a tightening mechanism for a bottle filling and capping system, and a bottle neck configuration. More specifically, the invention includes a machine for tightening plastic caps onto the threaded necks of plastic bottles, and bottle neck configuration that facilitates the capping process, both of which result in a simple and effective capping operation. A conveying assembly moves the bottle in a circular path where the neck of the bottle and the cap are brought together by moving the bottle under a cap that is loosely held at a particular elevation and angle by a feeder mechanism. The conveying system constricts the rotational movement of the bottle, and a neck support stabilizes the neck of the bottle vertically, as the cap is pressed onto the neck initially by a roller. A capping station in a bottle filling line is comprised of a spring biased toothed finger that engage the peripheral edge of the caps as the bottles are conveyed through the machine. Depending on various factors such as the number and circumferential length of the threads on the cap and bottle a second roller and second toothed finger will be used to complete the tightening process. When a capped bottle exits the capping station, the cap is fully engaged with the bottle in that it is tightened and in its final position relative to the bottle.

Claim (Index 13):
In a closure system having a capping station in a bottle filling line and the capping station being disposed in the filling line along a bottle pathway at a location downstream of a filling station and downstream of a cap feeder, and a bottle transport mechanism adapted to move a filled bottle under the cap feeder, the bottle transport mechanism comprising a hook for engaging a bottle neck, and the capping station including a roller that presses a cap onto the bottle neck as the bottle moves along the bottle pathway, and a toothed finger that tightens a cap onto the bottle as the bottle moves along the bottle pathway, the improvement comprising:\n a bottle neck in combination with a cap, the bottle neck having an external thread formation and the cap having an internal thread formation generally corresponding in number of threads and pitch with the thread formation on the bottle neck, the bottle neck having an enlarged section below the threaded section and the bottle neck having a circumferential groove adapted to receive in a close-fitting the hook of the bottle transport mechanism, engagement between the hook and the groove providing vertical support to the neck as a cap is pressed onto the bottle neck by the roller, and the engagement providing lateral resistance to lateral applied to the neck when tightening forces are applied by the toothed finger.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 35.0
- Percentile: 97.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.21818
- Patent Class: 53.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['10518379', '13380017', '13252637', '14222831', '11971260']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7320193512691004
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4611099957829539
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7049284157204858
- Mean Citation Score: 167.978386
- Max Citation Score: 184.74632
- Similarity Product: 150.54340787684916

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test