GB2084118A - Capsuling of bottles - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for dispensing bottle capsules (3) from a plurality of stacks of internested capsules comprises substantially simultaneously withdrawing the bottom capsule from each stack by a vertically movable vacuum dispensing device (16) and resting them by their skirt bottoms on a support surface(s), substantially simultaneously blowing the capsules sideways by air jets (6) into a delivery guide (7) and blowing the capsules by overhead air jets (25) along the guide (7) to a chute from which the capsules are applied to the bottles moving on a conveyor. The cycle of operations is controlled by timing means, a repeat cycle being initiated when the number of capsules in the chute falls below a predetermined minimum. A guard (26) causes cylinder (18) to be pressurized downwards when the guard is pivoted anti-clockwise about shaft (27) to allow access to capsules (3). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Capsuling of bottles Pleated capsules made from thin aluminium foil have been frequently used tb enhance the appearance of beverage bottles by being sealed over the crown closure and the upper neck region of the bottle.

The capsules, as supplied to'the bottler, have a circular top panel and a relatively long dependant skirt portion of frusto-conical shape. The skirt, originally formed from a circular disc of material, is pleated in a regular manner around the circumference of the top panel and the pleats are pressed flat into the fihal frusto-conicai shape.

The capsules will "nest" one inside another and are normally supplied to the bottlernested together in long stick-like stacks.

Vibration- and shock during transport often make it difficult to separate individual capsules from the stack because they tend to jam together due to the small angle of taper on the skirt.

Automatic machines have been produced to sepa rate the capsules and to dispensethem for applicar- tion on to bottles as the bottles move at high speed on a conveyor line to the sealing machine where each capsule is squeezed to conform to the bottle neck shape. These machines have not, in practice, proved completely reliable and frequently dispense two capsules stuck together, or none at all because of jamming.

Our British Patent Specification No. 857668 de scribes-a pleated capsule and a method of manufac turing andapplying the-capsules to bottles on the bottling line which overcame these disadvantages of the convenridnal capsule.

The capsule according to that specification was only half formed, that is, what was to become the lower half of the skirt was left as a large flangewith radial corrugations. During the sealing processthis flange was folded down into contact with the bottle neck and the corrugations flattened as pleats against the bottle neck. The final appearance, when sealed on the bottle, was indistinguishable from a capsule of the conventionai type with a full length skirt.

The press making this part-formed-type of capsule was mounted nextto the bottle conveyor and fed the capsules as required down a chute to the point of application. The equipment provided very reliable operation. However, since the capsules were punched from a reel of aluminium foil, the bottling line had to be stopped-each time a new reel was loaded and threaded through the press. On a typical bottling line this required a stop of several minutes after each half hour of running-rime and this reduction of line efficiency proved unacceptableto manY potential customers.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method of and-apparatus-for capsuling bottles which overcomes the above-meiitioned disadvantages both of dispensing the capsules les-from-inte'rnested stacks and of dispensing the capsules directly from a press alongside the bottling line.

Basically the invention consists irr dispensing, in one cycle of operation, a plurality of capsules from a plurality of stacks of internested capsules and feeding said plurality of capsules in a group to an applying station where they are applied to the necks of the bottles moving on the conveyor. The number of stacks and capsules dispensed and fed to the applying station in the time period required for a single cycle of operation is selected to exceed the number of bottles which pass the applying station in the same time period, so that by repeating the dispensing and feeding cycle while a desired number of capsules still remain queueing at the applying station, it impossible to maintain a continuous supply of capsules at the applying station, even if dispensing of capsules from one or two of the stacks should fail.

A further object of the invention is therefore to provide a multi-head machine for dispensing internested capsules from a plurality of stacks and which can operate at the normal bottle conveyor line speed even though one or two of the heads may have become jammed due to deformed capsules or otherwise.

An ancillary object is to provide means whereby a jammed head can be inactivated, cleared and restarted without exposing the operator to danger or reducing speed or stopping the bottling line.

From one aspect, the invention consists in the method of capsuling bottles in which the capsules, each comprising a top panel and a depending skirt portion, are withdrawn individually from the bottom of a stack of inter-nested capsules and applied on to the bottles as the bottles are moved continuously on a conveyor, characterized by successively repeating a cycle of steps comprising:: (a) substantially simultaneously withdrawing the individual bottom capsule from each of a plurality of stacks of capsules, (b) positioning the withdrawn capsules, resting by the bottoms of their skirt portions, on a support surface, (c) substantially simultaneously transferring said plurality of withdrawn capsules sideways into an aligned row, and (d)- advancing the capsules in said aligned row and in the direction of said row to an applying station at which the capsules are applied on to bottles moving on the conveyor.

Afeature of the invention consists in starting a repeat cycle of said steps after a waiting period, following the termination of the preceding cycle, determined by the number of capsules remaining in said aligned row at the applying station. Preferably, each cycle is terminated upon completion of step (b) with a plurality of capsules resting on said support surface, and the next cycle is started, at the end of said waiting period, beginning with step (c).

From another aspect, the invention consists in bottle capsuling apparatus for dispensing and applying capsules to the bottles moving continuously on a conveyor, each capsule comprising a top panel and a depending skirt portion, and stored in internested fashion in stacks, characterized by means for supporting a plurality of stacks of internested capsules in substantially upright positions, means for substantially simultaneously withdrawing downwardly a single capsule from the bottom of each said stack and for depositing each withdrawn capsule, resting by the bottom of its skirt portion, on a support surface, means for transferring said plurality of deposited capsules, resting on said support surface, sideways and substantially simultaneously into an aligned row in a delivery guide, and means for advancing the aligned row of capsules in said delivery guide to means for applying the capsules on to bottles moving on the conveyor.

The operations of withdrawing, depositing, transferring and advancing the capsules are controlled by timers, e.g. electric or pneumatic. Preferably, the capsules are withdrawn from the stacks by respective suction devices, and the transfer and advance of the capsules may be effected by air jets. The start of a cycle of operations may be initiated by a photoelectric or other detector which responds when the queue of capsules atthe applying station falls below a predetermined length.

The capsules are punched and formed to a desired shape from a reel of foil by a press unit which incorporates stacking means to internestthe capsules into long stacks for easy subsequent handling and transfer to the dispensing and applying uriit located on the bottling line, above the bottle convyeor, upstream from the capsule sealing machine.

The capsule, preferably, has a special shape which is intermediate between the fully formed conventional type and that described in British Patent Specification No. 857668, that is, the drawing and pleating operation is continued further down the skirt than as described in that British Patent Specification and only a small corrugated flange is left at the open end of the capsule. This flange inhibits the tapered skirt portion from jamming with its neighbour when nested therein, and provides a relatively strong base to support both a vertical stack of nested capsules and also individual capsules, after dispensing on the support surface. The capsule will slide easily in the delivery guide or chute, resting on this flange as a base.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, an embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a capsule of conventional shape, Figure 2 shows a capsule of the type described in British Patent Specification No. 857668, Figure 3 shows a capsule of the type preferred for this invention, Figure 4 is a front elevation of a 10-head dispenser and applier according to one embodiment of the invention, Figure 5 is a plan of Figure 4, Figure 6 is an end view of Figure 4, Figure 7 is an enlarged diamgrammatic section through one dispenser head taken on the line A-A in Figure 5, and Figure 8 is a timing diagram showing one cycle of operation of the dispenser.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show front, plan and end views respectively of a multi-head bottle capsule dispensing and applying apparatus 1, supported on legs 2 and disposed relative to a conveyor line C along which bottles B move as shown in Figures 4to 6. In the embodiment shown, there are ten dispensing heads, but any number could be employed to provide the required output. The head construction could be modular so that any desired number of identical heads could be assembled to provide a dispenser of the required output. Figure 7 is a partial section through a head.

Each head comprises a vertical guide 4 in which a stack of internested bottle capsules 3, preferably shaped as above described and as shown in Figure 3, is loosely constrained and supported by three fingers 12 (Figure 7) in such a manner that the bottom capsule can be withdrawn downwards by a vacuum dispensing device, as will be later described in detail, without allowing the rest of the stack to fall past the fingers 12. The guides 4 may be open at the front to facilitate replenishing the stack with further internested capsules. If desired, transparent plastic panels 13 suspended on threads 14 may hang in the open fronts of the guides 4 to reduce the risk of a stack toppling while not impeding easy stack replenishing.

All ten dispensing heads operate simultaneously and leave their respective capsules resting on a horizontal plate 5 underneath the ten capsule stacks.

Air jets 6, Figure 7 (one for each head), some of which are diagrammatically indicated by arrows in Figure 5, transfer the capsules on the plate 5, when required, transversely into a longitudinal and horizontal delivery guide or chute 7.

After transfer of the plurality of capsules into an aligned row in the guide 7, a series of overhead longitudinal air jets move the capsules along the guide to an applying station including a section 8 inclined downwards to meet the flow of bottles B. A slight constriction in the sides of the chute section 8 retains the first capsule 9 in position with a queue of capsules in the chute, waiting for the first bottle B to arrive.

Each bottle passing this application station collects a capsule and the queue, urged on by the longitudinal air jets reduces in length until the last capsule 10 uncovers a photoelectric cell 11 which provides a signal to start a new dispensing cycle from the ten stacks of capsules. 19 is a suction pump.

The dispenser cycle time is adjusted to be substantially less than the time for ten bottles, moving at maximum line speed, to remove ten capsules from the application station so there is a waiting period between each dispenser cycle. This makes it possiblue to switch off one or two separate dispensing heads (for example to clear a jammed capsule) and the remaining eight or nine heads can still keep pace with the demand by working with a shorter or even zero waiting period between cycles.

As shown in Figure 7, the stack of capsules is supported by three fingers 12 which project inwar'dly a small distance under the flange of the lowest capsule 3. The horizontal plate 5 is provided with a hole 15 through which a suction cup 16 supported by vacuum pipe 17 can move up and down, driven by the air cylinder 18. The suction cup is shown in its lowered position in Figure 7.

In its uppermost position, the suction cup contacts the undersurface of the top panel of the lowest capsule 3 and the vacuum is switched on by a time-controlled valve in the hose line 17a connected to pipe 17. Downward movement of the suction cup 16 forces the capsule past the supporting fingers 12 and when the capsule flange has reached plate 5 the vacuum is broken and the suction cup descends so that its upper end is flush with plate 5, leaving the withdrawn capsule 3a resting by its skirt portion on the plate 5.

The dispenser will wait in this position until a signal is obtained from the photoelectric cell 11 on the delivery chute indicating that more capsules are required, and this signal initiates a further dispensing cycle as follows: 1. Compressed air is switched to the transverse air jets 6, thus blowing the waiting capsules 3a resting on the plate 5 sideways into the longitudinal delivery chute 7. A capsule in this position is shown at 3b. The base plate 22 of the longitudinal chute 7 is at a lower level than the plate 5. The step 23 prevents the capsules from bouncing back. The capsules are also confined by a rod 24 at the opposite side of the chute and an airtube 25 above.

The airtube 25 is provided with a series of inclined slots or holes along its length so that when supplied with compressed air these inclined slots or holes produce longitudinal jets of air to propel the capsules along the chute or guide 7.

2. The transverse air jets 6 are switched off, the longitudinal jets 25 are now turned on and the suction cups 16 are raised to engage other capsules in the stacks.

3. After a short dwell in their upper positions, vacuum is switched on and the suction cups descend, each with a capsule which will rest on the plate 5 in the position indicated by the capsule 3a until a further demand for capsules is signalled by the photocell 11, when the cycle will repeat.

Figure 8 shows the relative timing of the above sequence where the duration of the elements making up an operating cycle is controlled by a series of timers having periods T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively, as shown. One set of timers controls the cycle for all ten dispensing heads operating simultaneously.

During time period Tri, the transverse jets 6 operate and the longitudinal jets 25 are off. At all other times the longitudinal jets are on and the transverse jets are off. During time period T2, the suction cups 16 are raised by the cylinders 18 to their upper positions in contact with the respective capsules in their respective stacks. There may be variations in the rate of rise of the individual suction cups, so T2 is adjusted to allow the slowest head (indicated by the slope 16') sufficient time to reach its top position before period T3 starts and the vacuum source is connected to the pipes 17a. At the start of period T4 the suction cups begin to descend bringing down the bottom capsule of each stack.

When the bottom flange of a withdrawn capsule touches the plate 5, the capsule is supported by the plate while the suction cup continues its downward movement. Separation of a suction cup from a withdrawn capsule may be achieved, even though the timer-controlled vacuum connection remains during the whole of the period T4, by adjusting the degree of vacuum so that it is strong enough to pull the capsule flange past the fingers 12 but not strong enough to suck in the top panel of a capsule when its flange is resting on the plate 5. Such separation may be achieved in other ways, for example by controlling the supply of suction to the suction cup by individual valves actuated to disconnect the suction from the respective suction cups when they have descended to the desired level.

A further dispensing cycle will now start if the electrical signal from the photoelectric cell is still present. If the electrical signal is off, the dispenser will wait in this state until a photocell signal again occurs.

The advantage of terminating the cycle at this step in the cycle lies in the speed of response to a further demand for capsules indicated by the recurrence of the photocell signal. The already withdrawn capsules resting on the plate 5 merely have to be blown transversely into the delivery chute 7, so reducing the risk of running out of capsules or requiring a long chute to give adequate storage of capsules.

Each individual dispensing head is provided with its own interlocked guard 26 (omitted from Figures 4 and 5 for clarity) preventing access to the up and down motion of the associated suction cup which otherwise could trap the operator's fingers. Each guard 26, which is preferably made of transparent plastic material, is pivoted on a shaft 27 and carries a cam 28 operating a valve 29 which, when the guard is open, causes the cylinder 18 to be pressurized downwards and remain in this position as long as the guard is open. All the other heads with closed guards can still operate and supply capsules to the delivery chute. Thus, for example, a capsule jammed at the supporting fingers 12 in one head can be safely removed whilst the rest of the heads are still operating and supplying capsules to the bottling line.The waiting period between dispense cycles will automatically reduce to enable the reduced number of dispenser heads to supply the demand.

While a particular embodiment has been described, it will be understood that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, by appropriate modification, the machine could be adapted for dispensing and applying capsules of other shapes, such as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or made of materials other than aluminium foil, such as plastics. It also has advantages where the capsules have short skirt portions, and are more usually called caps, such as aluminium milk bottle caps which designed to be internested and stacked. In milk bottling installations, it is normal for the bottle caps to be punched from a reel of aluminium foil alongside the bottle line conveyor and to deliver the caps direct from the press to the cap applying station. The present invention would avoid stoppages during reel changing which now occur with such installations. Accordingly, the term "capsules" as used herein should be interpreted broadly to include capsules with long skirt portions and capsules with short skirt portions (sometimes called "caps").

Claims (14)

1. The method of capsuling bottles in which the capsules, each comprising a top panel and a depending skirt portion, are withdrawn individually from the bottom of a stack of internested capsules and applied on to the bottles as the bottles are moved continuously on a conveyor, characterized by successively repeating a cycle of steps comprising (a) substantially simultaneously withdrawing the individual bottom capsule from each of a plurality of stacks of capsules, (b) positioning the withdrawn capsules, resting by the bottoms of their skirt portions, on a support surface, (c) substantially simultaneously transferring said plurality of withdrawn capsules sideways into an aligned row, and (d) advancing the capsules in said aligned row and in the direction of said row to an applying station at which the capsules are applied on to bottles moving on the conveyor.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterised by starting a repeat cycle of said steps after a waiting period following the completion of the preceding cycle, determined by the number of capsules remaining in said aligned row at the applying station.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterised by a cycle being completed after step (b) with a plurality of capsules resting on said support surface, and the next cycle is started, at the end of said waiting period, beginning with step (c).

4. The method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the capsules are withdrawn from their stacks by suction.

5. The method according to any preceding claim, characterised by blowing the withdrawn capsules resting on the support surface sideways into said aligned row.

6. The method according to any preceding claim, characterised by advancing the capsules in said aligned row by air jets acting in the direction of said row.

7. The method of capsuling bottles substantially as hereinbefore described.

8. Bottle capsuling apparatus for dispensing and applying capsules to bottles moving continuously on a conveyor, each comprising a top panel and a depending skirt portion, and the capsules being stored in internested fashion in stacks, characterised by means for supporting a plurality of stacks of internested capsules in substantially upright positions, dispensing means for substantially simultaneously withdrawing downwardly a single capsule from the bottom of each said stack and for depositing each withdrawn capsule, resting by the bottoms of its skirt portion, on a support surface, means for transferring said plurality of deposited capsules, resting on said support surface, sideways and substantially simultaneously into an aligned row in a delivery guide, means for advancing the aligned row of capsules in said delivery guide to an applying station where the capsules are applied on to bottles moving on the conveyor.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, characterised in that the means for withdrawing the bottom capsule from a stack comprises a vertically moving vacuum dispensing device to the upper end of which suction is applied during that part of a cycle when a capsule is to be withdrawn, means being provided for engaging the bottom edge of the lowermost capsule in a manner which resists withdrawal of any capsule on which the effect of the suction at the top end of the dispensing device does not have a direct affect.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8 or 9 characterised by air jets for transferring the capsules resting on the support surface sideways.

11. Apparatus according to claim 8, 9 or 10, characterised by air jets arranged above the delivery guide for advancing the capsules in the delivery guide.

12. Apparatus according to claim 8, 9, 10 or 11, characterised by timing means controlling the cycle of operations of the apparatus including means providing a waiting time at the end of a cycle, the start of a repeat cycle being initiated by means which detects the number of capsules in the queue of capsules at the applying station.

13. Apparatus according to claim 8,9,10,11 or 12, characterised by means for selectively rendering inoperative the dispensing means associated with the respective stacks upon displacement of a guard normally preventing access to the dispensing means.

14. Bottle capsuling apparatus constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.