Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With testing or weighing receiver content
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-18
2003-11-11
Jacyna, J Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With testing or weighing receiver content
C141S094000, C141S101000, C141S104000, C141S145000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06644363
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to equipment for filling containers with materials, preferably liquids.
The prior art embraces equipment for filling containers with liquid materials, furnished with a carousel that carries a plurality of filler heads each comprising a dispensing nozzle from which a predetermined quantity of material can be directed into a relative container positioned on a platform. The single container is advanced by the carousel from an infeed station at which it is placed on one of the platforms, toward an outfeed station where, having been filled with the material being batched, it is removed from the carousel and conveyed to a further stage of the production cycle.
The material dispensed into the containers can be held in a tank mounted directly above the carousel. This solution favors the embodiment of equipment exhibiting compact geometry and manageable overall dimensions, but severely limits the versatility of the carousel in terms of use.
In effect, one material only can be dispensed into the containers, signifying in practice that a single carousel cannot be used during the course of a given production run to fill all the containers with more than one material, or to fill different containers with different materials. There are also difficulties experienced in cleaning the dispensing nozzles, a particularly important operation in the case of perishable materials such as foodstuffs. The nozzles and their delivery systems can in point of fact be flushed through only after the tank has been emptied completely and filled with a cleansing solution.
To overcome the drawbacks in question, the prior art embraces machines equipped with a plurality of fixed tanks installed separately from the carousel and connected to the dispensing nozzles by way of pipelines. Using equipment of this type, a single carousel can be supplied with different materials at one and the same time, and a single container can be filled with two or more different materials.
The prescribed quantity of each material to be dispensed into the single container is measured by time: the nozzles incorporate filler valves that remain open to allow passage of the material for a predetermined interval of time only.
These measurements are none too accurate however, being strictly dependent on the physical conditions to which the material is subject.
Marginal changes in ambient conditions can thus significantly affect the mass of material dispensed into the container.
In the case of liquids, for example, temperature has a notable effect on viscosity, and consequently on the rate at which the material flows through the pipelines connecting the tanks to the nozzles. The measurement of a time allowed for a liquid to flow, when the amount of the flow is notably variable, cannot therefore ensure accurate control over the quantity of material directed into the containers.
The object of the present invention is to provide equipment capable of dispensing markedly precise quantities of different materials into containers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The stated object is duly realized according to the present invention in equipment for filling containers with materials, preferably liquids, comprising a carousel rotatable about a first axis, and a plurality of filler heads mounted to the carousel, each presenting a support on which to stand a container, a dispensing device aligned with the support and serving to direct at least one material into the container, also means associated with the support, of which the function is to weigh the container.
The equipment also comprises at least one tank holding at least one material to be dispensed into the containers, and connection means operating between the tank and the dispensing devices, by which the dispensing devices are supplied with the material held in the tank.
In a preferred embodiment, the equipment includes a plurality of tanks each having a fixed base and containing a relative material to be dispensed into at least one of the containers, and the connection means operate between each tank and at least one of the dispensing devices.
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Cavallari Stefano
Sogliani Claudio
Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.MA. S.p.A.
Davidson Berquist Klima & Jackson LLP
Jacyna J Casimer
LandOfFree
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