US3776182A

US3776182A - Can treating apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3776182A
Application number: US00276393A
Authority: US
Inventors: R Stolle
Original assignee: Stolle Corp
Current assignee: Stolle Corp
Priority date: 1972-07-31
Filing date: 1972-07-31
Publication date: 1973-12-04
Anticipated expiration: 1990-12-04

Abstract

The application discloses an apparatus in which newly manufactured empty cans are prepared for filling with foodstuffs or beverages. The cans are sequentially washed, rinsed, treated, again rinsed, and finally dried, and if desired, subsequently coated and cured. The cans are individually transported through the apparatus by means of carriers which move them in a spiral path, while they are loosely retained in said carriers. A series of spray nozzles discharge against the cylindrical surfaces of the can, and the carriers are arranged to eliminate buff bodies and vortices at the back surfaces of the can. Uniform action of the sprayed material on the can bodies is further enhanced by providing negative pressure at the discharge from the carriers. Another series of spray nozzles discharge upwardly into the interior of the can body to treat the inner surfaces thereof, and to slightly lift the can bodies so they are free to rotate by virtue of contact with a rail member while being advanced at right angles to their axes.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Stolle Dec. 4, 1973 CAN TREATING APPARATUS Inventor: Ralph J. Stolle, Lebanon,Ohio

The Stolle Corporation, Sidney, Ohio Filed: July 31, 1972 Appl. No.: 276,393

Assignee:

[52] US. Cl '118/62, 34/10, 118/73,

Int. Cl B05c 1l/14, B050 7/02, B05c ll/16 Field of Search 118/318, 322, 62, 118/314, 315, 326, 73; 134/131, 170,125, 126, 152, 72, 61; 432/124; 34/10, 57 A, 57

[56] References Cited UNITED. STATES PATENTS 10/1953 l-lerold.... 134/170 X 6/1962 Hicks et al 1 18/62 X 5/1972 Minbiole et al 134/61 Primary Examiner.lohn P. McIntosh Att0meyJohn W. Melville et al.

[57] ABSTRACT of the can. Uniform action of the sprayed material on the can bodies is further enhanced by providing negative pressure at the discharge from the carriers. Another series of spray nozzles discharge upwardly into the interior of the can body to treat the inner surfaces thereof, and to slightly lift the can bodies so they are free to rotate by virtue of contact with a rail member while being advanced at right angles to their axes.

8 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures BRIEF SUMMARY OF THEINVENTI ON When newly formed cans come off the production line, they are open-ended so that they may be filled, after which a can end is applied to the open end and sealed thereto. Before such cans can be filled, they must be thoroughly cleaned and coated to remove contaminants resulting from the manufacturing operations. Thorough cleaning has always presented a problem; and probably the best solution hitherto has been the apparatus disclosed and claimed in the Stolle andKaminski US. Pat., No. 3,353,515 issued Nov. 21, 1967. The machine of said patent did acommendable. job in treating cans; but it was quite large and therefore took up a great deal of floor space, and it was quiteexpensive in relation to the numberof cans treated per minute;

The present invention provides a substantially smaller machine, which is also much less-expensive, but which gives all the advantageous results of the patented apparatus for a greater number of cans per minute.

Basically the apparatus comprises a spiral tube or enclosure through whichlhe cans to be treated pass. In this context the term spiral is intended to encompass a series of straight legs at an angle to the horizontal, as well as a true spiral. An endless cable isarranged'to travel through the said spiral tube, and'a number of can carriers are secured to the cable. The cans are transported through the apparatus by said carriers, past a series of spray nozzles which, in some sections of the apparatus spray a washing medium, in others rinse water, in othersa treating or coating substance, and in others hot air. I Each carrier is generally a half-cylinder, of an inside diameter substantially larger than that of the cans to be treated, so as to provide for the passage of the treat! ment fluidaround both sides of the can, and; thence through an exhaust opening substantially atithe center of the semi-cylindrical carrier. The fluid is exhausted into a return duct in which 'a negative pressure is main-' tained in order to enhance the flow of treatment vfluid around the can. In this way, vortices and buff bodies areavoided and thorough and uniform treatment is provided.

The uniformity of the treatment is enhanced by the.

series of spray nozzles which are arranged to spray treatment fluid on the inside of the cans. Byvirtue of cycle, about half of the second turn constituting'a rinse cycle, the other halfconstituting a treatment cycle, part of the final half turn being another rinse cycle, andithev last, section being the drying cycle.

OF. THE DRAWING FIGS. 1 to.6 inclusive arediagrams which-willbe helpful in understanding the invention.

FIG. v7 is. adiagrammatic plan viewof the can'carrier.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic vertical cross sectional view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a somewhat diagrammatical elevational view of an apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 10 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view thereof. g

FIG. 11 is a detailedview in cross section taken on the. line 1I ll of FIG'J9; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary plan view showing a carrier in relation to the conveyor cable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The principal problem in an apparatus for treating cans is to 'insure a uniformand complete'exposure of all-surfaces of the can to the treating fluid. By way of introduction, reference is made to FIGS. 1 to 6 which In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a cylinder at rest in a moving air stream. If the air stream or fluid flow within a:tube is steady and the pressureis in balance, a cylindrical object placed in this flow will find acenter and balanced condition in the tube as shown in FIG. 1. The velocity and pressure between the walls in the cylinder willberequal on both sides. Any outside force tending to move the cylinder toward one wall will create an imbalance both in velocity and pressure. Removal of the outside force will again let the pressure and velocity become balanced and the cylinder will move to the center of the air stream.

In FIG. 2 the diagram shows laminar flow and stream line around a cylindrical object. The stream lines around the objecfwil-l :follow a balanced pattern until they reach a stagnation point at which time the flow passes by the cylinder-and creates a low pressure wake containing buff bodies and vortices. This'condition is similar to that in which a nozzle moving a cleaning fluid toward 'a can body at a known velocity produces the buff bodies and vortices. Under these conditions, the side of the can opposite the flow is in the low pressure wake anddoes not receive the full benefit of the cleaning solution.

FIG. 3.shows the normal balance condition of stream lines around. a stream line object and the elimination of the low pressure wake. In the circumstances of FIG. 3, all. surfaces of the body which is stream lined are subject touniform scrubbing and action by the flow. This showing the fluid flow, according to the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERALVIEWS" is the action which must be simulated on a cylindrical can body.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates how a selfcentering condition may be created where the pressure and velocity are in balance on all-sides of a cylinder and allow complete flow of a fluid medium. There is an an-=.

buff bodies on the back side of the can as a result "of which-there are areas which may not be affected by the I solution.

FIG. 6- diagrammatically illustrates the condition where a can or the like is carried 'on a point contact type carrier. The spray heads are hereillus trated on opposing sides of the can and again there will be found a low-pressure wakeon each side of the can'body and those areas then may not comein direct contact with the fluid.

With the problems outlined in connection with FIGS. 1 to 6 in mind, FIG. 7 illustrates diagrammatically the novel approach of the present invention which will permit the achievement of the desired results. In this plan view, the can 10 is contained within a moving carrier 1 1. The moving carrier moves the can past a spray head 12. It will be observed that the carrier 1 1 has clearance around the can body and a rear fluid exit at 13. In this situation the spray from the nozzle 12 provides a pattern of fluid flow around both sides of the can which will maintain the can in a balanced condition centrally of the carrier 11 and permit the movement of the atomized fluid to flow around the can and out the port 13 as indicated by the arrows. In'order to improve the exhaust condition, a chamber 14 is provided which is maintained at a negative pressure. This negative pressure in the chamber. 14 overcomes the pressure and velocity drop of the fluid stream and carries the atmoized materials away to prevent their entrapment behind the can. Entrapment of these materials behind the can might stop any flow around the balanced can condition.

FIG. 8 diagrammatically shows an elevational view of the spray heads 12 and 12a to the carrier 11 and the can 10 being transported thereby. The spray head 12a is directed upwardly toward the open bottom of the can so as to treat the inside thereof by spraying upwardly into the interior. The spray from the nozzle 12a offsets the container weight and lifts the can away from the bottom of the carrier until the top and forward edge of the can come in contact with a rail 15. As the can 10 is raised from the carrier into abutment with the rail 15 again be a rinse cycle and the secondhalf a drying or curing cycle.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, the cable 16 is shown as passing through a tube 17. A carrier is shown at 11 with a can shown in broken lines at 10. The portion of the housing or tube 17 generally indicated at 20 is the treating chamberand the portion indicated generally at 21 is the exhaust chamber. Treatment fluid is fed to the

nozzles

12 and 12a through a conduit '22 and as described above the inside and outside of the cans are completely treated by the fluid which then passes out through the port 13 into the exhaust chamber 21 which is preferably maintained at negative pressure. The exhaust chamber 21 is in effect an exhaust manifold and discharges into the conduit 22. As best seen in FIG. 12, the cans initially rest on the ledges 11a of the carrier. They are initially kept from falling out of the carrier 1 1 by the point contact member 24. The spray from the and with the carrier moving along the rail, the can is v caused to rotate. The contact with the can is minimal,

being substantially point contact, and light in pressure, and the can is subjected inside and outside overall its surfaces to the action of the

sprays

12 and 12a.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show the general arrangement of a can treating apparatus according to the invention. The arrangement is preferably spiral in the sense that in the preferred embodiment the spiral comprises the longitudinal flights connected by transverse flights all at an angle to the horizontal. The spiral path is defined by a cable 16 which travels within a housing 17 with the cable passing at each comer of the device around a series of pulleys, all indicated generally at 18.- The cable returns as indicated by the broken line 16a 'in FIG. 9. The cans 10 are fed into the carriers by any suitable can feeding mechanism (not shown) and enter the bottom of the conveyor as indicated by the cans 10a in FIG. 9. At the top of the conveyor the cans 10 are discharged for further processing and the endless cable returns as indicated by the line 16a to the bottom flight. A suitable drive for the pulley system is provided as indicated at 19.

It will be understood thatthe spray heads or nozzles disposed within the casing 17 may be used for projecting any desired fluid such as a detergent solution, rinse water, acidtreating solution, protective coating, or hot air for drying or curing. Preferably the first complete turn of the spiral will be a wash cycle in which a washvolution will be a rinse cycle where rinse water is sprayed, the second half of the second spiral will preferably be an acid treatment cycle wherein an acid is sprayed, and in the final convolution the first half may ing medium is sprayed, the first half of the second connozzles 12a lift the cans up against the rail 25 which engages the top and the front edge. of the can at'25a and 25b. It will be clear that since the can has been lifted off the ledges 1 1a and as the cable 16 is moving the carrier through the chamber 17, the top of the can and the front edge of the can being in contact with the rail 25, the can will be caused to rotate as it is being translated so that all surfaces of the can, both inside and out are completely and thoroughly treated.

It will be clear that numerous modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and that no limitation not expressly set forth in the claims is intended or should be implied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu- 1 sive property or privilege isclaimed are defined as follows:

1. A can treating apparatus comprising a tube, an endless cable arranged to travel through said tube, a plurality of can carriers fixed to said cable to be transported through said tube thereby, the portion of said tube on the carrier side of said cable constituting a spray chamber; a first series of nozzles arranged to spray a fluid against the outside of the. walls of cans being transported by said carrier, a seond series of nozzles arranged to spray a fluid upwardly into the insides of said cans; the portion of said tube on the other side of said cable constituting an exhaust manifold for said fluid; said carriers being in the form of half cylinders of a diameter providing a clearance around the outside of the cans being treated, and having an exhaust port substantially centrally thereof, communicating with said exhaust manifold; whereby flow of fluid around both sides of each can causes the can to be centered in said carrier, and said flow is free of bufi' bodies and vortices, resulting in complete and uniform treatment of the entire surface of each can.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, including means for maintaining a negative pressure in said exhaust manifold to enhance the flow of fluid around the can body.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a negative pressure is maintained in said exhaust manifold, to enhance the flow of fluid around the can bodies by overcoming the pressure and velocity drop of the fluid as it passes around the can bodies and preventing entrapment of atomized fluid particles behind the can bodies.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rail is secured on the inside of said spray chamber at an elevation above the tops of the cans seated on said carriers, and adapted to contact the tops, and forward edges of the tops, of the cans when they are lifted off said carriers by the action of the spray from the said second series of nozzles, whereby, as said cans are transported through said spray chamber, they are caused to rotate,

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said spirally arranged tube makes about two and one-half turns, the nozzles in about the first turn being arranged to spray a washing medium, the nozzles in about onehalf of the second turn being arranged to spray rinse water, the nozzles in about the second half of the second turn being arranged to spray a treatment fluid, the nozzles in the first part of the last half turn being arranged to spray rinse water, and the nozzles in the final part of the last half turn being arranged to spray hot air.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said treatment fluid is a protective coating, and the final part of the spiral constitutes a curing area.

Claims

1. A can treating apparatus comprising a tube, an endless cable arranged to travel through said tube, a plurality of can carriers fixed to said cable to be transported through said tube thereby, the portion of said tube on the carrier side of said cable constituting a spray chamber; a first series of nozzles arranged to spray a fluid against the outside of the walls of cans being transported by said carrier, a seond series of nozzles arranged to spray a fluid upwardly into the insides of said cans; the portion of said tube on the other side of said cable constituting an exhaust manifold for said fluid; said carriers being in the form of half cylinders of a diameter providing a clearance around the outside of the cans being treated, and having an exhaust port substantially centrally thereof, communicating with said exhaust manifold; whereby flow of fluid around both sides of each can causes the can to be centered in said carrier, and said flow is free of buff bodies and vortices, resulting in complete and uniform treatment of the entire surface of each can.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rail is secured on the inside of said spray chamber at an elevation above the tops of the cans seated on said carriers, and adapted to contact the tops, and forward edges of the tops, of the cans when they are lifted off said carriers by the action of the spray from the said second series of nozzles, whereby, as said cans are transported through said spray chamber, they are caused to rotate, exposing the entire surface of each can to the action of said fluid.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tube is spirally arranged.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said spirally arranged tube is constituted by a series of straight flights connected by curved portions, so as to provide a rectangular configuration as viewed in plan.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said spirally arranged tube makes about two and one-half turns, the nozzles in about the first turn being arrangEd to spray a washing medium, the nozzles in about one-half of the second turn being arranged to spray rinse water, the nozzles in about the second half of the second turn being arranged to spray a treatment fluid, the nozzles in the first part of the last half turn being arranged to spray rinse water, and the nozzles in the final part of the last half turn being arranged to spray hot air.