Package making – Closing packages and filled receptacles – Separate closure applying
Patent
1999-02-10
2000-12-12
Sipos, John
Package making
Closing packages and filled receptacles
Separate closure applying
53 75, 53317, B65B 728
Patent
active
061581968
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to carousel-type machines for closing bottles or the like with screw caps, and for these machines, which currently operate at sometimes very high speeds, it concerns a highly technologically reliable tool that is capable of being programmed through the machine control panel to satisfy the leaktight screwing requirements of the various shapes and/or sizes of bottles and caps acceptable by the carousel, which is able to monitor the screwing torque applied to each cap and if necessary also to adjust itself automatically with a feedback command, so as to ensure that the screwing torque is and remains at the predetermined level, in order that the caps are closed in such a way as to ensure the bottles are sealed--a condition which is particularly necessary for the storage of the packaged product--and at the same time in order to ensure that the caps can be unscrewed sufficiently easily when the time comes to use the product packaged in the said bottles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In order to monitor the screwing torque applied to screw caps on bottles, known devices exist with friction clutch means under elastic loading, which act basically as torque limiters. When the tightening torque varies the said elastic means must be adjusted. These known devices are not capable of producing operating conditions that are constant over time because of the variable reaction of the friction clutches in response to temperature, wear and other factors. Other known devices use dog clutches instead of friction clutches, loading them by pneumatic pressure which is variable in accordance with tightness requirements: when the desired screwing torque is reached one of the their components makes an axial movement which is detected by sensors so that the degree of tightness of the cap can be checked. The operation of these devices is however once again unreliable and inconstant over time as it again depends entirely on a clutch of the friction type.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to overcome these and other disadvantages of the prior art in the following manner. The cap is screwed with the aid of friction clutch means that generate a tightening torque approximately equal to or slightly less than the desired ideal torque. The shaft which carries the cap gripping head and is connected to the driven part of the clutch, is connected through a freewheel to a mechanism which, after the screwing of the cap by the clutch, is acted on by a wedge of programmable and adjustable interference mounted on movable means connected to a load cell. When this mechanism is acted upon by the wedge, it receives from it the torque required to complete the screwing action and the reaction of the wedge to the said mechanism is detected by the load cell, which emits an electrical signal proportional to the effective tightening torque applied to the cap. In order to protect the mechanical friction clutch the invention also provides for the latter to be loaded at a minimum value by an adjustable elastic means and for the compressive load applied to the clutch to be raised to the required operating value by a piston/cylinder unit that is loaded with a fluid at the predetermined pressure. This condition continues for the period of time required to carry out the first phase of the cap screwing, after which it is removed so that the clutch is protected from overheating and wear.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features of the invention, and the advantages it offers, will become clearer in the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated purely by way of non-restrictive example in the figures of the five attached sheets of drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through one of the tools for screwing on a screw cap, seen in the active working phase;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower end of the tool seen in FIG. 1, with the cap gripping head and the mechanically and pneumatically loaded clutch that brings about the first stage of rot
REFERENCES:
patent: 3184897 (1965-05-01), Shriner et al.
patent: 5321935 (1994-06-01), Spatz et al.
patent: 5400564 (1995-03-01), Humphries et al.
patent: 5417031 (1995-05-01), Bankuty et al.
Cavina Luigi
Trebbi Claudio
I.M.A. - Industria Macchine Automatiche - S.p.A.
Jensen Steven
Sipos John
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