Collet crimping head

Details Collet crimping head Collet crimping head

1999-04-30

2001-06-26

Sipos, John (Department: 3721)

Package making

Closing packages and filled receptacles

Separate closure applying

C053S331500, C053S351000, C053S356000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06250046

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automated machinery for crimping caps onto containers and, more particularly, to a collet crimping head for gripping, installing and crimping container caps onto containers during an automated high-volume filling and capping process.
2. Description of the Background
The filling and capping process generally entails supplying containers along a conveyor, automatically filling them at a filling station, and automatically capping them at a capping station. Various testing and control functions may be performed along the way, e.g., testing and control of fill volume, conveyor velocity, etc. The apparatus which performs the process must be capable of accommodating a wide variety of containers and caps (both caps and containers may vary in size and shape), and this is accomplished by a universal chuck which allows quick and easy grasping and manipulation of different cap sizes.
In U.S. patent application Ser. 09/222,475 entitled “QUICK-CHANGE COLLET CHUCK”, filed Dec. 29, 1998, the inventor herein explained that many caps are intended for screw-insertion onto containers, and a variety of automated collet chucks exist for positioning and torquing of such caps. The above-referenced application describes how a low-inertia collet-type chuck which has proven itself far superior to conventional Donut Chucks and the Segmented Jaw Chucks. This is in part because the collet design has a much broader operative range. In addition, the disclosed collet chuck offers a quick-change feature for quick and effortless swapping out of different size jaw sets for different size caps. The collet itself is a low cost one-piece component with a number of downwardly protruding tines for gripping a cap. The collet may have urethane-lined jaws to drive caps with lower torque requirements, or machined contact is profile jaws to drive caps with high torque requirements (positive interlocking with the external cap profile). Given either arrangement, even asymmetric caps can be clamped into the collet without requiring a special chuck change (collet orientation relative to the chuck is always an exact repeat and servo drive allows an exact chuck orientation repeat). There is virtually no down time (or skill level) associated with the collet change.
The above-described collet chuck was designed for caps that require screw-insertion onto containers. However, many other caps are crimped onto containers.
FIGS. 1-3
generally illustrate the crimping process.
FIG. 1
is a front view of a pharmaceutical vial
30
with a conventional read seal over-cap including plastic cap
10
and aluminum hood
20
. The crimping process begins vial
30
or other container formed with a neck, and a cap having a deformable aluminum hood
20
to be crimped around the neck of the vial
30
. As is known in the art, plastic cap
10
is bonded to the hood
20
but can be removed to expose a sealed but penetrable opening through the hood and into the medicine in vial
30
.
FIG. 2
is a front view of the pharmaceutical vial
30
of
FIG. 1
with read seal over-cap in place but unsealed. The capping process entails placing the cap
10
and hood
20
onto the vial
30
as shown. Once fully installed, the aluminum hood
20
is crimped around the neck of the vial
30
to provide a fluid-tight seal.
FIG. 3
is a front view of the pharmaceutical vial
30
of
FIGS. 1-2
with read seal over-cap in place and sealed by crimping of the aluminum hood
20
.
It would be greatly advantageous to adapt the screw-cap collet chuck design as shown and described in the above-described U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/222,475 entitled “QUICK-CHANGE COLLET CHUCK”, filed Dec. 29, 1998, for use as a collet crimping head to allow crimping of hoods of over caps around the necks of containers such as vials in order to provide a fluid-tight seal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved collet crimping head for use in handling virtually any over-cap bottle seating.
It is still another object to provide a collet crimping head which incorporates a unitary crimping collet for increased durability and reliability, lower manufacturing cost, and greater ease of handling.
It is a further object to provide a crimping head as described above with the lowest inertia possible so as not to interfere with high speed operation.
It is another object to provide an optional quick-change ability for the above-described collet crimping head to enable quick and effortless no-tool swapping out of different size crimping heads for different size caps while minimizing any interruption of the container capping process.
Additional objects include stainless construction.
In accordance with the above objects, an improved collet crimping head is described for use in an existing single lane capping apparatus for gripping, crimping and sealing aluminum hoods of over-caps onto the necks of existing containers. The collet crimping head is a unitary member formed with an upper mounting collar for attachment to the chuck of the automatic capping assembly. The collet crimping head also has a lower cap crimping section including an inwardly directed and constrictable crimping collar for crimping and sealing aluminum hoods of said over-caps onto the necks of containers. The collet crimping head has a slim profile for low inertia and will not interfere with high speed operation.
An optional quick-change feature is also disclosed to allow quick and effortless swapping out of different size crimping collets for different size caps while minimizing interruption and down time of the automated container capping processes.
The collet crimping head of the present invention was specifically developed for cap positioning and crimping of pharmaceutical containers, although it should be understood that the inventive concept may apply in many other crimping contexts.


REFERENCES:
patent: 894797 (1908-07-01), Levey
patent: 946138 (1910-01-01), Kirkegaard
patent: 997142 (1911-07-01), Levey
patent: 1779593 (1930-10-01), Goodwin
patent: 2670118 (1954-02-01), Young
patent: 2815630 (1957-12-01), Tonna
patent: 4621481 (1986-11-01), Magnusson
patent: 5884450 (1999-03-01), Ranchi

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