GB1080184A - Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of diaphragm-sealed closures for containers - Google Patents

Abstract

1,080,184. Container closures. GEE MANUFACTURING CO. Ltd. March 28, 1966 [March 29, 1965], No. 13124/65. Heading B8T. [Also in Division B6] A closure member for a container, comprising a frangible diaphragm sealed on to an open frame X which may be fitted on to the open end of a container, is made in apparatus including a punch 14 which co-operates with a fixed cutting ring 16 to cut a suitably shaped blank Y<SP>1</SP> from a web Y of diaphragm material. The punch 14 is heated electrically, and seals the blank Y<SP>1</SP> on to a positioned frame X by pressing the blank on to the frame and either heatsealing it thereto in the case of heat-sealable material, or activating heat-sensitive adhesive on either the blank Y<SP>1</SP> or frame X and thereby sticking the two parts together. The web Y is fed under a guide plate 26 above the cutting ring 16, prior to cutting, and the frames X are fed into position along a channel 28 by means of a pusher on a rod 54, operated by a cylinder (50), Fig. 4 (not shown). Pins 34, Fig. 2, on a plate 36 locate the frame X below the punch 14, and are retractable by means of a cylinder 38 to enable the finished closure members to be removed. The punch 14, mounted on the upper plate 12 of a press, carries in the centre of its leading face a spring-biased plate 40 on a shaft 42, corresponding in size to a raised portion of the frame X, so that when the punch 14 is operated to cut a blank Y<SP>1</SP> and press it down over the frame X, the central plate 40 yields, Figs. 3, 5 (not shown), to shape the blank Y<SP>1</SP> into contact with the frame. The plate 40, Fig. 2, also prevents a finished closure member from adhering to the punch 14 when the punch is raised again prior to forming the next blank, and it is arranged that the upper end of the shaft 42 carrying the plate 40 receives a downward impulse by contact with a fixed member to displace the closure member therefrom. The completed closure member may then be discharged to a shoot by means of an air blast. Operations of the press and cylinders (50), 38, and the feed of the web Y, are in timed sequence. The diaphragm material may, for example, be of plastics material or coated paper or foil &c., and the frame X may be of metal or plastics material, or a combination thereof. The diaphragm may be sealed to the frame only at selected points, rather than over the whole contact surface.