JPH0468236B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for attaching a cap to a bottle.

Existing mechanical bottle cap attachment devices commonly used to attach caps to glass bottles are difficult to use because plastic bottles, which are less rigid than glass bottles, cannot withstand the excessive downward forces applied during the cap attachment process. It was not suitable for attaching a cap to a bottle. One type of cap attachment device includes a vertically reciprocating crimp head having a centrally located plunger mechanism terminating in a bottle cap engaging seat at its lowermost end. The engagement seat is surrounded by a series of crimp jaws that are surrounded by a cam sleeve which, when lowered relative to the plunger mechanism, rotates the crimp jaws radially inwardly relative to the cap skirt. urge

This relative axial movement requires a downward force, which must be supported by the bottle when using conventional mechanically operated bottle cap attachment devices. However, plastic beverage bottles do not have sufficient structural strength to resist these forces.

One way to overcome this problem is to mold a circumferentially enlarged ring around the neck of the bottle and use this as a support during the cap installation process. This support ring is common for larger size bottles, but especially for smaller volume bottles.
It has several drawbacks such as increased weight and resin usage, instability in handling and aesthetic design.

Another method is to separate the horizontal and vertical force components that occur during the cap installation operation. This can be accomplished using hydraulic or pneumatic actuation mechanisms, but the cost and practicality of doing so is an obstacle.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a new attachment device for mechanically attaching caps to plastic bottles by applying a vertical force load whose magnitude is adjusted or limited to lightweight plastic bottles. It is about providing.

Another object is to provide a new attachment device for interchangeably attaching caps to both glass bottles and semi-rigid plastic bottles.

Yet another purpose is to provide a manually operated dual head in conjunction with a bottle cap attachment device to selectively limit the downward travel of the head adapted to accommodate either a glass bottle or a plastic bottle and engaged with the cap. An object of the present invention is to provide a mounting device including a positioning mechanism.

The above objects are accomplished by lowering the bottle cap mounting crimp head onto the plastic bottle and the cap seated thereon with a downward force sufficient to compress the gasket of the cap. As soon as the crimp head has been lowered a predetermined distance, dual positioning means are engaged to limit downward movement of the crimp head plunger mechanism. If the downward movement of the crimp head is interrupted,
The outer cam sleeve actuates the crimp jaw by applying only horizontal force components. The vertical force component does not act directly on the plastic bottle, but is latched by said dual positioning means. This allows the cap to be easily attached to lightweight plastic bottles without resorting to undesirable neck support rings or more expensive fluid actuation mechanisms.

Furthermore, since the attachment device according to the present invention is provided with a manually operated dual positioning mechanism, it is possible to easily attach the cap to glass bottles and plastic bottles in an interchangeable manner. In one position of the dual positioning mechanism,
The downward movement of the centrally located plunger mechanism is locked for attaching the cap to a plastic bottle, while in the other position the plunger mechanism is not locked for attaching the cap to a glass bottle as is normally done.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The cap mounting unit 1 of the present invention is mounted singly or in a series in a rotating turret (not shown) having a top support wall 2. The cap attachment unit 1 consists of an outer cylindrical member 3 having a small hole 4 at its upper end. A cam follower 5 is mounted at the upper end of the cylindrical member 3 so as to be movable within a circular cam mechanism 6 designed to impart reciprocating motion to the cap mounting unit 1 in the vertical direction. A cylindrical compensating slide 7 extends telescopically into the lower end of the cylindrical member 3 and is held by a threaded bush 8. cylindrical member 3,
The cam follower 6 and the cam machine groove 6 constitute a driving means.

The compensating slide 7 has a small hole 9 at its upper end, a stop collar 10 in the middle, and a mounting flange 11 at its lower side. A relatively heavy helical compression spring 12 is housed in the cylindrical member 3 surrounding the compensating slide 7 and pressing the collar 10 downwardly against the bush 8. A hollow threaded bush 13 is attached to the lowermost end of the compensating slide 7. An adapter 14 having an upper end flange 15 is fixed to the lower mounting flange 11 .

A closure crimp head 16 is threaded onto the lower end of the adapter 14 and includes a housing 17 having an upper threaded fastening neck 18. An inclined cam surface 19 is formed on the inner surface of the lower end of the housing 17 which cooperates with a series of crimp jaws (cap deforming means) 20 disposed in the circumferential direction.

Closed cap receiving nest (cap seating means)
Beginning at the lowest end within 22 and extending through the center of the cap mounting unit 1 is an elongated plunger rod 21. Just above the cap receiver nest 22, a flexible collar 23 connects to the brunge rod 2.
1 and acts as a spring to force the clamp jaw 20 into the open or expanded position. An annular pivot ring 2 just above the collar 23
4 surrounds a plunger rod 21, around which the clamp jaw 20 is supported for pivotal movement relative to the cap receiving nest 22. Neck 18 of housing 17
A connecting ring 25 is disposed at the upper end of the plunger rod 21 to connect the upper and lower parts of the plunger rod 21. Above the ring 25 and spaced from it is a shoulder stop 26.
is formed. The plunger rod 21 in the compensating slide 7 is connected to a coiled compression plunger spring 27.
surrounds and presses the shoulder stop 26 downward against the bush 7.

Plunger rod 21 further compensates slide 7
through the small hole 9 in the cylindrical member 3 and the small hole 4 in the cylindrical member 3.
, and thus completely penetrates the cap mounting unit 1 from below to above. The plunger rod 21 further extends upwardly through the hole 28 in the top support wall 2, where it is surrounded by a dual positioning mechanism 30.

This dual positioning mechanism 30, as shown in the raised position in FIGS. and isolated upright pins 33. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a movable lock member (second lock member) on the key member 31.
A combination member) 34 is mounted, which is provided with a diametrically extending keyway 35. The base of the keyway 35 has a small hole 36 through which the plunger rod 21 passes and is surrounded by a light coiled compression spring 37 seated in a large hole 38.

The uppermost end of the plunger rod 21 has a thread 39 for threading an adjustable locking nut 40 thereon. The spring 37 then acts between the locking member 34 and the locking nut 40 to maintain the locking member 34 seated on the keying member 31.

As can be seen in Figure 3, the movable locking member 3
4 has a pair of spaced holes 41 aligned at 90° to keyway 35 for receiving upright pins 33. This engagement prevents relative rotational movement with the locking member in the raised position of FIG. Also, a pair of spaced apart holes 42 are formed in the keyway 35 in diametrically aligned alignment for locking the movable locking member 34 in a rotated lower position as described below.

Next, the operation of the cap mounting device will be explained.

As can be seen from Figure 1, the sealing gasket 51
A metal tear cap 50 having a diameter is first placed over a semi-rigid plastic bottle neck 52. Then,
The cap attachment unit 1 is moved along the cam groove 6 of the cam follower 5 and lowered onto the cap 50 and bottle neck 52.

FIG. 2 shows different states on the left and right sides, with the left side showing the crimp head 16 seated on the neck 52 of the bottle. At this point in the downward movement of the cap mounting unit 1, neither the compensating coil spring 12 nor the plunger spring 27 is brought into additional compression. However, the cap receiving nest 22 applies a downward force on the neck 52 sufficient to firmly seat the cap 50 on the neck 52 and compress the gasket 51 prior to crimping.

This predetermined travel distance of the plunger rod 21 is set by the dual positioning mechanism 30 in the raised or active position, as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. Adjustable lock nut 40 contacts movable locking member 34 and compresses coil spring 37 at the lowermost limit of travel. In this way, precise positioning of the cap nest 22 is achieved for optimal gasket compression and subsequent sealing without crushing or deforming the plastic bottle.

When the downward movement of the plunger rod 21 reaches a predetermined limit and is locked against further movement by the lock nut 40, the outer cylindrical member 3 continues to move downwardly. This movement of the cylindrical member 3 forces the compensating slide 7 downwardly against the relatively heavy compensating coil spring 12 and compresses the plunger spring 27, as can be seen on the right side of FIG. This short movement of the compensating slide 7 causes the crimp housing 17 to be lowered relative to the cap nest 22, and the inner cam surface 19 causes the crimp jaw 20 to pivot radially inward. Here, the horizontal force component applied by the cam surface 19 pushes the cap 50 toward the neck 52.
Although used to crimp upward, the application of vertical force components is limited by the dual positioning mechanism 30. In order to ensure closure of the crimp bottle portion even with small changes in the circumference of the bottle neck, such as an oval lip on the bottle, the cap 50 is compressed slightly by the compensating coil spring 12. An additional radial force is applied to cause a relative movement of the compensating slide 7 and the outer cylindrical member 3. However, once again, the vertical force component is limited by the dual positioning mechanism 30 so that no additional vertical force is applied to the bottle.

To complete the cycle, the upward movement of the cam follower 5 causes each element of the cap mounting unit 1 to return to its initial position. Continuously cycling the cap mounting unit 1 with the dual positioning mechanism 30 in the raising mode provides a lightweight, semi-rigid cap that can be mounted on a fixed vertical platform due to its relative elasticity and tight height tolerances. Effective for attaching caps to plastic bottles.

In contrast, glass bottles are extremely rigid and are typically manufactured within relatively wide height tolerances.
These conditions make it difficult to apply the plastic bottle capping described above to the capping of glass bottles. Therefore, in order to convert the cap attachment unit 1 for attaching caps from plastic bottle caps to glass bottles, the movable locking member 34 of the double positioning mechanism 30 is raised upwards and is counteracted by the compressive force of the spring 37. Let me win. When the pin 33 on the key member 31 passes through the hole 41 in the lock member 34, as shown in FIG. , so that the pressing action of the spring 37 is released.

In this position shown in FIG.
is received within the keyway 35 and the pin 33 projects into the hole 42. The dual positioning mechanism 30 is then set in the vial cap attachment mode or the disabled position, and the cap attachment unit 1 is free to operate as before. That is, since the locking nut 40 remains in a non-contact state with the movable locking member 34 throughout, the vertical downward movement of the plunger rod 21 is not prevented. This allows the cap receiver nest 22 to apply the full vertical force component required when attaching a cap to a glass bottle.

It goes without saying that various other modifications to the bottle cap attachment device are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In this sense, the embodiments described above should be construed as merely illustrative.

As described above, according to the present invention, one cap attachment device can be used for both glass bottles and plastic containers, so there is no need to prepare two types of cap attachment devices.
Furthermore, the amount of descent of the cap attachment head is controlled depending on whether the object is a glass bottle or a plastic container, and the amount of descent of the head is increased in the former case and decreased in the latter case. Therefore, there is no need to worry about deformation of the plastic container when attaching the cap to the plastic container, unlike in the conventional case.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially elevational and partially sectional view of a cap attachment mechanism according to the present invention positioned above a bottle with a cap seated thereon; FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing the double positioning mechanism in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 4
A cross-sectional view taken along a line, FIG. 5, shows the dual positioning mechanism in the bottle cap attachment mode. Explanation of symbols of main parts, 16...Head, 20
... Cap deforming member, 21 ... Plunger rod, 22 ... Cap seating member, 30 ... Double positioning mechanism, 31 ... First combination member, 34 ...
...Second combination member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cap attachment device for mechanically attaching a cap to a glass bottle or semi-rigid container, comprising: a vertically fixed support wall; and a cap extending vertically through the support wall. A plunger rod that can be raised and lowered; a mounting head attached to the lower end of the plunger rod; a cap seating member disposed in the center of the mounting head and seated on the cap; a mounting head including a cap deforming member for deforming the cap; drive means for advancing the mounting head relative to the plunger rod to bring it into the cap mounting position; mounted on the upper end of the plunger rod;
dual positioning means acting between the support wall and the plunger rod to determine the amount of descent of the plunger rod in two ways, the first combination member placed on the support wall; A second combination member is combined with the first combination member and engages with a part of the plunger rod, and the overall height can be increased by changing the combination direction of the first combination member and the second combination member. and a double positioning means whose height changes, wherein the double positioning means allows the amount of descent of the plunger rod to be relatively large when capping the glass bottle and comparatively large when capping the semi-rigid container. A cap mounting device that is characterized by its ability to reduce the size of the cap.