GB934049A - Improvements in and relating to bottle-transfer mechanisms - Google Patents

Abstract

934,049. Endless conveyers. R. W. WEBSTER & CO. Ltd. March 17, 1961 [April 7, 1960], No. 12458/60. Class 78 (1). Bottles are fed on an endless conveyer 1 and are maintained initially (right-hand side of Fig. 2) in substantially vertical position, and in correctly spaced relation by means of a rotating worm 2. The bottles then pass into engagement with a second worm 3 which acts with the worm 2 and a rail 4 to tilt the bottles so that they are disposed at an inclination of 45 degrees. During this operation the bottles pass on to a second narrow conveyer belt 5 and are supported by rails 9 which succeed the worm 2. As the bottles proceed they are supported in addition by arms 20 carried by a traversing carriage 21 slidably mounted on rails 23, 23. The carriage 21 is actuated by a compressed fluid cylinder 24 but its speed is synchronised with the progress of the bottles by the action of a dog 25 pivotally mounted on the carriage 21 and prevented by an abutment 28<SP>1</SP> from exceeding the linear rate of progression of the worm 3. The abutment 28a is carried by an endless chain 28 driven at a linear speed synchronized with that of the worm 3. When the carriage 21 reaches its leftwards limit in Fig. 2 the bottles are supported by a drop plate 10 which has been lifted into engagement with them by the action of a compressed fluid piston and cylinder 38 at a predetermined point in the cycle of the machine. The carriage 21 is now retracted to permit the row of bottles to be supported by the drop plate 10. At a further predetermined point the latter is retracted and all the bottles of the row are thus dropped into respective V-shaped rubber or plastic guides 14. The guides 14 may be partitioned by rubber or stainless steel fins 16 and stops 15 support the bottoms of the bottles. Fingers 17 carried on a bar 18 carried by a moving chain 19 then engage the bottoms of the bottles so that the latter are pushed up and along the guides 14 so as to deliver them into buckets of a conveyer 13. The sequence of operations is controlled by an hydraulic mechanism (Fig. 9). An abutment 43 carried by the chain 19 acts in succession on operating members of valves 44, 45 and 46. A valve 49 is closed by the piston of cylinder 38 when the drop plate 10 reaches its lowest position. Thus if the valve 45 is operated by the abutment 43 before the drop plate 10 has been retracted, pressure fluid is released from an inlet 42 through the open valve 49 to operate a clutch (not shown) to stop the whole machine. A valve 50 is operated by the piston of cylinder 38 when the drop plate 10 is in its uppermost position and controls the inlet of fluid to the cylinder 24. Other valves 47, 48 are actuated by the movement of the carriage 21. If a bottle is held in the worm 3 instead of dropping out with the drop plate 10, it moves with the worm into engagement with a further trip (not shown) which stops the machine. The pitch of the worms 2, 3 is modified to compensate for the linear advance of the bottles due to tilting of the bottles about the axes of the worms. The spacing of the worms 2, 3 may be adjusted by means of linkage 33, 35. Specification 934,050 is referred to.