Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit – System includes a rotating or endless carrier with a load...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-04
2002-10-22
Bratlie, Steven A. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit
System includes a rotating or endless carrier with a load...
C198S441000, C198S803500, C198S370120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06467609
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to continuous motion apparatus for decorating cylindrical containers, and relates more particularly to simplified apparatus of this type that does not require a deco chain for conveying decorated containers to a curing oven. It more specifically improves the transfer system between the can decorating and inking mandrel wheel and the curing oven for the decorated cans.
In high speed continuous motion equipment that decorates cylindrical containers (cans) for beverages and the like, decorated containers having wet decorations thereon were often off-loaded onto pins of a so-called deco chain that carries the containers through an ink curing and drying oven. Examples of this type of decorating equipment are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,145 which issued Feb. 2, 1993 to R. Williams et al., entitled Apparatus And Method For Automatically Positioning Valve Means Controlling The Application of Pressurized Air To Mandrels On a Rotating Carrier, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,431 which issued May 1, 1984 to J. Stirbis entitled Disk Transfer System. Incorporated herein by reference are teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,183,145 and 4,445,431, as well as teachings of prior art patents referred to therein.
Over the years, production speeds of continuous motion can decorators have increased, now surpassing 1,800 cans/min., and it is desired to increase that speed still further. As speeds have increased, problems of unloading cans with wet decoraticins onto deco chain pins as well as problems with deco chains per se, have become more apparent and bothersome. These problems include excessive noise and can damage because of engagement between metal cans and metal pins. Not only are long deco chains expensive, but because they are constructed of so many parts there is a tendency for the chains to wear out and break down when operated at very high speeds.
Because of the foregoing problems, where feasible, decorated containers, especially those constructed of ferrous material are carried through curing ovens on belts rather than on the pins of a deco chain. Examples of such type of equipment using belts for carrying cans through curing ovens are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,879 which issued Sep. 20, 1988 to F. L. Shriver for a Container Transfer System and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,631 which issued May 12, 1998 to R. Williams for a Dual Can Rotating Transfer Plate To Conveyor Plate. The teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,879 and 5,749,631, as well as teachings of prior art patents referred to therein, are also incorporated herein by reference.
In the can decorating apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,879 cans are decorated, i.e., inked, on their surface while they are on mandrels that are mounted along the periphery of a mandrel wheel and the cans extend axially forward from the wheel. The decorated cans are transferred from the mandrels of the rotating mandrel wheel to a rotating wheel-like first transfer conveyor, are then further transferred from the first conveyor to the surface of a wheel-like second transfer conveyor and are thereafter transferred to a belt conveyor which carries the containers with still wet decorations thereon to and through a curing oven which cures the applied decorations. Cans conveyed by the second transfer conveyor project radially with respect to the rotational axis of the second transfer conveyor. While this arrangement avoids use of a deco chain, the second transfer conveyor of U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,879 is an expensive structure that is constructed of many parts, and there must be very close coordination between operation of the first and second transfer conveyors. Further, rotational axes for the two transfer conveyors are oriented transverse to one another resulting in inefficient utilization of space.
According to the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,631, cans with wet decorations thereon are transferred from the mandrel wheel to a first transfer conveyor wheel, then to a second transfer or takeaway conveyor wheel, and thereafter to a conveyor belt. The most obvious differences between U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,879 and 5,749,631 is that in the latter patent, the rotational axes of the transfer conveyors are oriented parallel to each other and are radially offset, and the second transfer conveyor has a simplified construction because cans conveyed by that conveyor project axially, parallel to the rotation axis of the second transfer conveyor. This is made possible by the second transfer conveyor including a rotating plate and a stationary suction manifold disposed behind the plate.
The manifold has an open side that is covered by a perforated portion of the plate that rotates past the open side of the manifold. The reduced pressure in the suction manifold generates suction at the perforations.
Cans travel in a single row around the mandrel wheel and are spaced relatively further apart to enable their decoration by the blankets of the blanket wheel. Hence, the decorated cans travel in a single row onto the first transfer conveyor from the mandrel wheel. The relatively larger spacing between cans on the mandrel wheel is not economical for space usage or for maximizing production in the curing oven. As the first transfer conveyor rotates past the mandrel wheel, the cans are rearranged into two rows on the first transfer conveyor. Rotating the first transfer conveyor slower than the mandrel wheel spaces the cans closer together on the first conveyor. Both of these expedients use space more economically. Then cans arranged in two rows on the first transfer conveyor are transferred to the rotating plate of the second transfer conveyor. Open ends of the cons engage a main planar surface of the plate at areas of the plate where perforations through the plate are arrayed over the suction manifold in two circular rows about the rotational axis of the plate as a center. The suction force at the plate perforations draws the cans rearward off the first conveyor toward the rotating plate of the second conveyor while the cans pass over the manifold. The influence of manifold suction on the cans is reduced when the closed ends of the cans rotate to and engage a vertical flight of a moving perforated belt conveyor, and the cans are thereafter held on the belt by suction forces at the perforations of the belt conveyor. The belt conveyor may carry the cans through a curing oven or transfer them to another conveyor that passes through the curing oven.
In order to rearrange the traveling cans carried by the rotating first transfer conveyor from a single row array as the cans are received by the first conveyor to a two row array as the cans are about to be delivered to the rotating plate of the second transfer conveyor, a somewhat complicated mechanism is provided on the first conveyor of the '631 patent. The mechanism operates alternate ones of the cans that have been received by the first transfer conveyor to move radially inward toward the rotational axis of the first transfer conveyor before the cans reach the second conveyor.
Shifting cans radially on a rotating transfer conveyor, by using a cam for guiding the cans into two rows on the conveyor, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,145. But this patent is not concerned with so positioning cons for transfer between a first and a second conveyor that the cans will be in selected correct locations on the second conveyor, and the present invention is concerned with accomplishing that. The same comment applies to the single transfer conveyor shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,926.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Instead of utilizing the prior art complicated mechanism for rearranging the cans on the first transfer conveyor from a single row array to a two row array on the second conveyor, in the instant invention, on the first transfer conveyor the cans move only in a single row arrangement along a path of uniform radius about the rotational axis of the first transfer conveyor as a center. The rotation speeds of the mandrel wheel and of the first transfer conveyor are coordinated so that
Di Donato Russell
Williams Robert
Bittman Mitchell D.
Bratlie Steven A.
Hoffman Lawrence A.
Sequa Can Machinery, Inc.
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