GB1011782A - Improvements in or relating to bottle capping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,011,782. Applying sterilized closures. U.D.E.C. Ltd. March 12, 1964 [Jan. 21, 1963], No. 2610/63. Heading B8T. In a bottle capping apparatus the caps are sterilized by heat before entering the capapplying mechanism, the cap-applying mechanism, the cap applying mechanism and the bottle - supporting mechanism being disposed within an air-tight casing containing a sterile atmosphere. A mechanical feeding device 40 feeds crown caps singly and successively from a hopper 36 into a metal shoot 38. A rotatable burner tube 58 is arranged so that its burner orifices normally are directed towards said shoot, but should the caps become jammed in the shoot rotation is imparted to the tube through a linkage 61, Fig. 2, from a solenoid motor 63. The motor is controlled by a switch mechanism actuated by a sensing device comprising a light source 70 which shines a beam of light through the shoot so that a photo-electric cell receives a fluttering light signal as long as the caps are travelling through the shoot. In addition to the burner tube, sterilizing liquid may be introduced into the shoot so that the caps are flooded before reaching the heating zone. Alternatively, sterilizing liquid may be used without the burner. To prevent a cap from being fed by the shoot to the cap-applying mechanism should no bottle be on a bottle support 22, the curved portion 54 of each shoot is pivotally connected at 97 to the portion above it and means are provided for swinging the extremity of the portion 55 out of the path of a finger 81 which normally sweep through a groove in a scoop 64 and pushes caps successively up into holders 82. The means are conditioned by a sensing button arranged in a star-wheel which feeds previously filled bottles on to the rotating supports 22, the button being depressed against the action of a spring when a bottle is present. A bottle is centralized with respect to the cap applying mechanism by means of two half collars 9a. On the bottle being raised by the support 22 the cap is forced upwards against a spring 83 into a multisegment ring 84 having an internal conical face which contracts the corrugated cap rim inwardly over the bottle neck. The burner and greater part of the shoot are disposed outside the air-tight casing, the lower part of the shoot extending in air-tight manner through the casing wall.