US1446611A - Filling machine - Google Patents

Description

w; A. BJORKLUND ET AL FILLING MACHINE Fild June 1, 1920 2 sheets-sheet llllllllllnlllllll.llllnltlll 1x I. I

- OQQOQQQ WZ Patented eb. 27, 1923.

UNETED rattan cri icise "WILLIAM A. BJOR-KLUND AND AUGUST I-IOLMQUIST, OF HOOPESTON, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNORS TO SPRAGUE OANNING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLI- NOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

FILLING MACHINE.

Application filed June 1, 1920.

To rrJZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, lViLnmii A. BJURK- LUNI) and AUoUsr .llOLMQUlST, citizens of the United States, residing at lloopestou, in the county of Vermilion and State of Illinois, respectively, have inventeu certain new and useful Improvements in Filling Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to filling machines and more specifically to hand-pack filling machines, one type of hand-pack filling machine being shown in the patent to Lowe, No. 1,200,277, dated October 3, 1916.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a handpack filler. which will be compact. in construction so as not to take up much room in a canning plant and which will be of large capacity for its size and which will be durable and eflicient in use, and cheap to manufacture.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description to follow and from the appended claims.

In the drawings in which one embodiment of our invention is shown Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a filling machine having a portion of the briner cut away to show the interior thereof;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 4:;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 4el of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on line of Fig. 1;

Fig. (5 is a detail view of one of the can sweeps and a mouthpiece or funnel member supported on the same spindle; and

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of l ig. (3.

In order to give a general idea of the construction as shown in the drawings, it

is here stated that it comprises an elongated stationary central holder or trough, in which the fruit to be filled into cans, such as tomatoes and the like, is placed, an endless chain traveling adjacent the periphery of said trough or holder, in a horizontal plane, a series of mouthpieces or funnel members secured to said chain, and a series of can sweeps also secured to said chain for carrying the cans to be filled along with Serial No. 385,458.

and underneath said mouthpieces or funnels.

Suitable means are provided for feeding the cans to the sweeps of the endless conveyor, and for causing them to be discharged from said sweeps, and if desired, a brining attachment may be provided for supplying measured quantities of liquid or brine to the cans as they are carried along.

To give a more detailed description of our construction, the construction shown comprises an elongated, stationary central trough or holder 10, which trough has a peripheral edge 11. Said trough is suitably supported upon a base or arm comprising side members 12 supported upon the leg members 13, said legs being connected by cross members or brackets 14 and 15. Positioned upon the side members 12 are can tracks 16 to receive the empty cans from the feed disc 17 from whence they are carried along said track and filled, the filled cans being then deposited on a discharge disc 18. Can sweeps 19 secured to an endless traveling chain, as hereinafter described, are positioned to travel above said tracks so as tocarry the cans from the feed disc 17 along the tracks on to the discharge disc 18. These can sweeps 19 have integrally formed therewith an eye portion 20, and a lug 21, said eye portion having a spindle 22 secured therein, upon which spindle is supported a funnel-shaped member or mouthpiece 23, which mouthpiece registers above the can when carried along the track by said can sweep and which facilitates the filling of the cans by the operator. Each of the mouthpieces or funnel members 23 has an opening 24- therein from which opening extends a flange portion 25 which facilitates the positioning of the funnel member on the can.

The can sweep 19, spindle member 22, and the funnel member. 23 are carried as a unit by the lug 21 on the can sweep 19, being secured to an endless traveling chain 26 which extends around sprocket wheels 27 and 27, said sprocket wheel 27 being the driving sprocket on the briner end of the machine. This sprocket wheel 27 is secured at 28, as shown in Fig. 5, to a sleeve 29 which is rotatably mounted upon the stationary shaft or post 30, which shaft is secured at 31 to the bracket 14. Said sleeve 29, as shown at 32, has also secured thereto a bevel gear 33, which is driven by a bevel gear 34 from the shaft 35, which is, in turn, driven from any suitable source of power.

Deflector arms 36 and 37 are secured at 38 and 39 respectively to the table member 12. The purpose of the deflector arm 36 is to defiect the cans on to the tracl; 1(3. The deflector arm 37, in turn, deflecting the filled cans from the track 16 on to the discharge disc 18.

The briner 40 may be positioned on sait machine at the driving end thereof, which briner comprises acentral sleeve 41 secured at 42 to the sleeve 29, a central reservoir 43 secured to the sleeve 41, and a plurality of measuring chambers 44 located in said reservoir 43. Each of said measuring chambers has apassage 45 leading "from said reservoir into said measuring chamber. Positioned directly below said measuring chambers are discharge openings 46 for the passage of the brine from themeasuring chambers into the cans. Leading from the central reservoir 43 =1nto the passages 45 are ports 47,

the edges of these openings forming seats "for valves 48, which valves are normally in closed position. Similarly, valve seats ports 49 "are positioned directly below the measuring chambers 44 which seats 49 have cooperating therewith the valves 50, which also normally close said ports 49. These valves are retained in their normal closed position by means of tension springs 51.

For controlling the action of the valves 48 and 50, the stationary shaft 30 which extends upwardly through the sleeve 29, out through the upper end of the briner 40, has secured thereto, a hub portion 52, which is secured at 53, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, and supports the semi-circular cams and respectively, which are formed integral therewith. As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thie cam 54 is considerably smaller in diameter than the cam 55, the cam 54 being located to control the inner circle of valves 48 and the cam 55 being located to control the outer circle of valves 50. Inwardly radially projecting fingers 56 are secured to the stems of thevalves 48 and are positioned so as to ride on the cam 54 to raise the valves at proper time for filling the chambers 44.

Similarly, the valve stems of the outer circle of valves '50 are provided with inwardly projecting fingers or followers 57, which are positioned so as to engage the cam 55, as these valves revolve together with the compartment 43.

Fo'radjusting the capacity of the measuring chambers 44. they are provided with vertically-adjustable pistons or partitions 58, which. frictionally engage the walls of the chambers, to determine the height to- "which the brine or liquid can rise in these chambers. In order that these pistons may be readily adjusted vertically, and also in order to provide means for the escape of the air from the chambers when the brine is entering,'sleeves 59 are provided which are secured to the pistons and surround the valve stems. The bore of these sleeves is slightly larger than the diameter of the valve stems so that the air can pass up through these sleeves around the valve stems. These sleeves extend somewhat above the upper edge of the reservoir 48, so that they are accessible to the operator for vertical adjustment to adjust the capacity of the measuring chambers.

The use and operation of the device is as follows: The fruit to be filled in the cans, which may be tomatoesor the like, is dumped into the elongated trough or holder 10. The operators stand alongside this trough or holder in position to draw the fruit over the edge of the holder and cause it to pass through the mouthpieces 23 into the cans underneath. If the briner is not to be used, operators may stand on both sides of the machine. It the fruit is of such nature that it requires the meet the briner the operators will stand on only one side of the table, that is, the side along which the cans pass before they come under the briner.

The machine is put in operation to cause the mouthpieces 23 and the can sweeps 19 to travel around the stationary trough or holder 10, and to cause the briner 40 to revolve, the endlesstraveling chain 26 to which. the can sweeps and mouthpieces are secured, being driven from the shaft 35 through the bevel gears 83 and 34, the sleeve 29 and the sprocket wheel 27.

' The rotation of the sleeve 29 also causes the briner 40 to revolve and with it the measuring chambers 44 and the controlling valves 48 and 50. As the can sweeps l9 and mouthpieces 23 travel along empty cans are fed in front of the can sweeps from the feed discs 17 and are positioned under the'mouthpieces 23, the openings of the cans registering with the annular flanges 25,01? these mouthpieces.

The machine may be made long enough, so that a considerable number of operators can use the same machine. If there should be, for instance, four operators employed in filling the cans, each operator would fill every fourth can, that is, the operator who was standing-nearest the feed disc 17 would fill one can and then let three'go'by, and fill the fifth one, thesecond operator would fill the can immediately following the can which had been already filled, and the third operator would fill the can immediately following the two filled cans, etc. It may also be of interest to state that there may he a further division of labor, that is, that it may be the duty of some of the operators to fill the cans approximately full, and the duty of others to top them off, that is, to add to the cans which have been approximately filled, to make them just right. That is, it may be the duty of one set of operators to fill the cans roughly, and the duty of another set of operators to finish them off nicely.

1f the briner is to be used, the compartment is rept supplied with brine or whatever liquid is to be used, and the cans as they travel around underneath the discharge openings Q6 of the briner are supplied with a measured quantity of brine from the measuring chambers 4. The cams 54 and are located so that the measuring chambers e4: will be discharging during that part of their travel in which cans are located underneath the discharge opening, and so that the measuring chambers it will be filling during that part of travel of the measuring chambers in which no cans are underneath the discharge openings 46. As shown in Fig. 2, the cam 55 will cause the valves 50 to be opened during the time in which the cans are traveling around the end of the machine, the valves 48, at the same time being closed, because they are not at that time under the control of the cam 54-. It will also be seen that the cam 54 will cause the valves 48 to be opened during the time in which the fingers or followers 56 are in engagement with this cam and that the valves 50 will at the same time be closed, being not then under the control of the cam 55, and being closed by the tension spring 51. This alternate opening and closing of the valves 48 and 50 will cause the brine to enter the measuring chambers it during a part of the revolution of the reservoir 43 and will cause the measured quantities of brine or liquid in the chambers 44 to be discharged into the cans, as the cans travel around underneath the dis-charge openings 46.

As the brine rushes into the measuring chambers 44 through the passages 45, the air which is in the measuring chambers is permitted to escape up through the sleeve 59.

After the cans have been suitably filled, they are deflected onto the discharge disc 18 by means of the deflector 37.

The elongated formation of the filling machine permits a comparatively large number of operators to use the same machine, and this elongated formation also makes it so that a relatively small floor space is required for the installation and operation of the machine.

While only one embodiment of the invention is shown herein, it is to be understood that many modifications and variations thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i

1. A filling machine comprising an elongated fruit holder, the space above said holder being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, means for moving a series of cans alongsaid fruit holder, and for moving a series of mouth. pieces along with the cans, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holder into the cans.

2. A filling machine comprising a. stationary elongated fruit holder, the space above said holder being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adj acentthe machine, means for moving a series of cans along said fruit holder and for moving a series of mouth pieces along with the cans, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holder into the cans.

3. A filling machine comprising a stationary elongated fruit holder, said holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit 'is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, so that the operator can remove the fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, and means for moving a series of cans along said peripheral edge, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holder to the cans.

4C. A filling machine comprising a stationary fruit holder having a. peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine and so that the operator can remove fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, means for moving a series of cans along and adjacent said peripheral edge, and for moving a series of mouth pieces along said peripheral edge along with the cans, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holder into the cans.

A filling machine comprising a stationary elongated fruit holder, said holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, so that the operator can remove the fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, and means for moving a series of cans along said peripheral edge, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from. the holder to the cans, said can moving means comprising an endless conveyor.

6. A filling machine comprising a fruit holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, and so that the operator can remove fruit from the holder adjacent the periphe 'al edge thereof, means for moving a series of cans, along and adjacent, said peripheral edge, and for moving a series of mouth pieces along said peripheral edge along with the cans, whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holder into cans.

7. A filling machine comprising an elongated fruit holder, said fruit holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, and so that the operator can remove fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, and means for moving a series oi cans along and adjacent said peripheral edge whereby the operator can readily trans fer the fruit-from the holder to. the cans, said means comprising an endless member, provided with means forengaging the cans to move them along, and a series of monthpieces secured to said endless member to travel along-with and above the cans.

8. A filling machine comprising an relongated fruit holder, a pair of sprocket wheels, one at each end of said. holder, an endless chain traveling around said sprocket wheels, said chain being provided with means for engaging and moving a series of cans along and adjacent the peripheral edge of the holder, the space above said edge beingunobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit from the holderinto the cans.

9. A filling machine comprising an elongated t'ruit holder, a pair of sprocket wheels, one at each end of said holder, an endless chain travelingaround said sprocket wheels, said chain being provided with means for engaging and moving a series of cans along and adjacent the peripheral edge .oi the holder, the space above saidedge being unobstructed so that the fruit is accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, mouthpieces secured to said endless chain whereby the operator can readily transfer the fruit -from the holder through the mouthj'iieces and into the cans.

10. A filling machine comprising a fruit holder, the space above said holder being unobstructed so that the fruit will be accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, a pair of rotatable members, one at each end of the machine, an endless member running over said rotatable members, said endless inen'iber being provided with ineans for.

moving a series of cans around said fruit holder, and means "for supplying brine to gated fruit holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge'bcing u'nol'istruct'ed 7 so that the fruit will. be accessible to anoperator adjacent the machine, so that the operator can remove the fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, a pair of rotatable members, oneiat each end of the machine, each rotating in a horizontal plane, an endless member running over said rotatable members, said endless mem ber beingprovided with means for moving a series of cans along and adjacent the peripheral edge of the holder, and means for supplying brine to said cans as they move. in aseini-circular path around the rotatable member at the end of the machine. 7

12. A filling machine comprising an elongated fruit holder having a peripheral edge, the space above said edge being unobstructed so that the fruit will be accessible to an operator adjacent the machine, so that the operator can remove the fruit from the holder adjacent the peripheral edge thereof, a pair of rotatable members, one at each end of the machine, each rotating in a horizontal plane,- an endless member running over said rotatable members, said endless member being provided with means for moving a series of cans along andadjacent the peripheral edge the holder, mouthpieces secured to said endlessmember, and means for supplying brine to said cans through the mouthpieces as they move in a semi-circular path around the rotatable member at the end of the machine. I

13. A filling machine comprising an elongated fruit holder, unitary means for each can movable around said fruit holder, and a chain and sprocket for moving said means, said unitary means comprising a can sweep for directing the movement of each can around the fruit holder, and a funnel member for directing the fruit into each can.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. A \VILLIAM A. BJORKLUND. AUGUST I'IOLMQUIST.

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