Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Diverse fluid containing pressure filling systems involving... – System fluid used in seal or in valve or lift operation
Patent
1984-11-27
1986-09-09
Bell, Jr., Houston S.
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Diverse fluid containing pressure filling systems involving...
System fluid used in seal or in valve or lift operation
99375, 261DIG7, 426477, 215 11B, 222 85, 277 27, 251 89, 251 99, B65B 304
Patent
active
046102825
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for aerating liquids, and more especially a portable apparatus for carbonating water to prepare carbonated drinks.
In one known form of liquid carbonating apparatus the liquid to be carbonated is placed into a bottle and the bottle is loaded into a carbonating machine. A seal member is adapted to engage and seal closed the neck of the bottle, while a tube carrying a gas nozzle extends through the seal member and down into the bottle for injecting carbon dioxide gas into the liquid contained in the bottle. The upper end of the gas tube is connected to a gas cylinder via a valve which is operated manually to supply gas to the injection nozzle. In order to limit the maximum pressure within the bottle an exhaust passage is provided through the seal member and communicates with atmosphere through a relief valve which is arranged to open when the maximum pressure is exceeded.
In general the known carbonating apparatus of the above type operates satisfactorily. It does however suffer from certain drawbacks which the present invention seeks to reduce or eliminate.
Difficulty is sometimes experienced in achieving a satisfactory seal between the bottle and the sealing member, for example as a result of variations in bottle heights due to manufacturing tolerances.
In an attempt to improve the seal between the bottle neck and the seal member, and more particularly to solve the problem of the seal member and the bottle neck becoming forced apart by the pressure generated in the bottle during carbonation so that leakage occurs between the bottle and seal member, it has been proposed to support the seal member on a movable wall member, i.e. a diaphragm or a piston, whose upper surface has an area greater than that of the bottle neck and is exposed to the same pressure as that which exists in the bottle. For this purpose a chamber defined on the upper side of the wall member communicates with the exhaust passage through the seal member. With this arrangement the seal member is pressed down against the bottle neck with increasing force as the gas pressure rises thereby reversing the tendency for the bottle and seal member to move apart. The arrangement is not however without problems. The resultant downward force on the seal member is only obtained once a positive pressure has been created in the chamber above the movable wall and an initial seal is still required between the bottle and the seal member. As the pressure of the first burst of gas injected into the bottle is felt within the bottle neck before it reaches the chamber above the movable wall the initial sealing pressure must be capable of preventing the seal member disengaging the bottle under this burst of pressure. A spring or the natural resilience of the diaphragm may be utilised in an attempt to ensure the initial sealing engagement, but the magnitude of the initial sealing pressure required can lead to the seal member becoming damaged or worn by the bottle loading operation, especially if the bottle happens to be twisted as it is inserted.
It has also been suggested to use an inflatable sealing member which is inserted into the bottle neck and is expanded into sealing engagement with the neck by the pressure of the gas delivered into the bottle. In order to operate correctly only a small initial clearance is allowable between the sealing member and the bottle and since it must be introduced into the bottle neck there is still a danger of it becoming worn and damaged if the bottle is not positioned in accurate alignment with it. An inflatable sealing member is also more complicated and expensive to manufacture.
In accordance with a first aspect the present invention seeks to eliminate the above problems and accordingly there is provided an apparatus for carbonating liquid contained in a bottle comprising sealing means for engaging and sealing closed the neck of the bottle, gas injecting means projecting downwardly from the sealing means for injecting gas into the liquid, means for supporting the bottle in a predetermined p
REFERENCES:
patent: 4298551 (1981-11-01), Adolfsson et al.
patent: 4342710 (1982-08-01), Adolfsson et al.
patent: 4481986 (1984-11-01), Meyers
Brooks Graham L.
Pateman Antony F.
Scott John
Thomson Michael A.
Bell, Jr. Houston S.
Sodastream Limited
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