AU724999B2 - A device for upending and transporting bottles in continuous cycle - Google Patents

Description

S F Ref: 359230

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFCATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: r Rossi atell S.P. Via Traversetele, 2/A c 1-4PTALY a c Camillo Catelli and Leo Bonetti Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia A Device for Upending and Transporting Bottles in Continuous Cycle The following statement is a best method of performing it full description of this invention, known to me/us:including the S. 5845 2 A Device for Upending and Transporting Bottles in Continuous Cycle BACKGROUND of the INVENTION.

The invention relates to a device for upending and transporting bottles in continuous cycle, especially for use in continuous bottling plants where the bottles are made of plastic material.

Known plants of the above kind comprise a bottle feed line on which the bottles are advanced in Indian file, one at a time. The bottles are fed in succession to various operative groups of the plant, usually including at least one sterilization or cleaning group, a washing group, a filling and a capping group. Each of these groups has compartments which take off one bottle at a time and trasport it to the various operative stations of the appropriate group.

At the start of the feed line the bottles have their open ends facing upwards, while when they go through the sterilization or cleaning and the washing group their necks face downwards to be once more upwards-facing when they reach the 20 filling and capping stations. Thus the bottles are upended at least twice.

Several devices are known for upending the advancing bottles in bottling plants. One of these 3 comprises a tunnel in which the bottles are advanced. The transversal compartment of this tunnel roughly corresponds to the external shape of a bottle. The inclination of the transversal section varies progressively along the advancement axis of the bottles in the tunnel. In substance, the walls of the tunnel are helix shaped: from the inlet to the outlet of the tunnel the transversal section rotates by 180 degrees. The bottles passing through the tunnel from the inlet to the outlet are guided to rotate by 180 degrees by the tunnel walls, and the bottle advancement along the tunnel is effected by push or by gravity.

This prior-art device, known in the jargon as a "twist", exhibits some drawbacks.

Firstly, the plastic bottles advancing along the tunnel are subject to crushing forces, mainly due to the fact that during the advancement each bottle presses against the side of the bottle •moo 20 preceding it, resulting in deformations in some of the exiting bottles, as well as cracks, breakages, and the like.

Secondly, when the bottle shape changes, the whole tilting device has to be substituted.

Thirdly, the "twist" is massive, especially 4 lengthwise.

A further known tipping device is provided with a plier (for every group) to grip the bottle; each plier-bottle group is then tipped, generally by means of cams, jacks or other mechanical devices, thus upending the bottle.

As there is a considerable number of sections running into tens, in fact in a bottling plant, these devices become not only large and unwieldy, but are constructionally complicated and expensive.

It is the object of the present invention to substantially overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of the above disadvantages.

SUMMARY of the INVENTION.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a device for upending and transporting bottles in continuous cycle, comprising: a fixed body bearing a guide conformed and arranged in such a way as to receive a neck of a bottle transiting along a bottle feed line and to guide said neck of said bottle along a predetermined course; means for drawing said neck along said course comprising a body rotating on command and a channel extending on the body helically and coaxially to an axis of S"rotation thereof, the neck being inserted into the channel, the rotation of the body obliging S'the neck to follow said course, the channel housing the neck of the bottle with the axis of the bottle radially directed towards the axis of rotation of the rotating body, the axis of the .bottle being kept more or less in the radial disposition during the transport and/or *oo° upending of the bottle; and means for preventing said neck of said bottle from exiting from said guide in a direction of an axis of said bottle.

25 The preferred embodiment of the invention is constructionally simple and economical.

The preferred embodiment of the invention also keeps the bottles at an equal distance one from a next.

Further, the preferred embodiment can be advantageously used both as a tipper and as a transporter of bottles.

The preferred embodiment of the invention can also operate on bottles of different shapes, as long as the bottles exhibit a same mouth, which is in any case usually Ra standardized element.

[R:\LIBLL]O9872 doc:MFF BRIEF DESCRIPTION of the DRAWINGS.

Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: figure 1 is a plan view from above of the device inserted into a bottle feed line; figure 2 is a lateral view from below of figure 1 with some parts removed better to evidence others; figure 3 is a section according to line II-III of figure 2; figure 4 is a detail of figure 3 in enlarged scale; figure 5 is a detail of figure 1 in enlarged o*

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[R:\LIBLL]09872.doc:MFF 6 scale, with a part of the bottle removed.

DESCRIPTION of the PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS.

With reference to the figures, 1 denotes in its entirety a device for upending and/or transporting bottles 2 in a bottling plant. The bottling plant comprises a bottle feed line 3 along which the bottles advance one before another. The bottles 2 are provided with a neck 20 and an annular projection or collar 21.

3a and 3b indicate tracts of the feed line 3 upstream of the device 1 and, respectively, a downstream tract.

Upstream feed line 3a, on which the bottles advance in the direction indicated by the arrow A with mouth facing upwards, comprises two transfer star conveyors 4 of known type, with vertical rotation axis actuated by a motor, denoted in its entirety by 33. Each star conveyor 4 exhibits, on its periphery, compartments 40 at constant reciprocal angular distances, each of which 20 receives a bottle 2. Each star conveyor 4 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow B. The star 4 feed the bottles 2 at a constant rate one at a time to the device 1. Further provided are a rest 7 plane 41 for the bottles drawn by the star conveyor 4 and a pair of cylindrical lateral walls 42 for containing the bottles 2.

The downstream feed line 3b located at the exit of the device 1 comprises a bottle transport group for transporting bottles with their mouths facing downwards. The bottle transport group 30, of known type, comprises two horizontal-axis archimedes' screws 31, arranged one above another, which act on the lateral walls of the bottles 2, and two guides 32, parallel to the screws 31, with appropriate supports.

According to the invention the device 1 is provided with a drawing element comprising a 15 preferably cylindrical body 50 having a horizontal axis x lying on a vertical plane which is tangential to the star conveyor 4. The cylindrical body 50 is keyed on a rotating shaft 51 rotating about the axis x and driven by a motor, denoted in its entirety by 54. The cyl i ndrical body rotates in the direction indicated by arrow C.

A cavity 6 is predisposed on the external surface of the rotating cylindrical body 50, which cavity 6 is preferably constituted by a channel 60 having flanks 64: the channel 60 develops helically along 8 the cylindrical body 50 and coaxially to the axis x thereof. The straight transversal section of the channel 60 is practically the inversion of the external outline shape of a neck 20 of a bottle 2.

A neck 20 can thus be inserted into the channel through an opening 62 arranged inferiorly on the end of the cylindrical body 50 facing the star conveyor 4 and can exit from the channel through an opening arranged superiorly on the opposite end. The step of the helix of the channel is preferably greater than the diameter of a single bottle 2.

The cylindrical body 50 rotates in synchrony with the star conveyors 4 in such a way that a bottle 15 drawn by the star conveyors 4 is guided into the o channel 60, the neck 20 thereof inserting into the s* 0inlet opening 62. Figure 4 shows the neck 20 of a bottle 2 as it is entering the channel The cylindrical body 50 consists of the rotating 20 screw element of an archimedes' screw hav'ing the *fee*: function, as will be better explained hereinbelow, ,of impressing sufficient force on the bottle 2 to draw it along a predetermined course.

The cylindrical body 50 having the channel 60 is distinguished from other known archimedes screw- 9 type bodies for transporting bottles such as for example the screws 31 by dint of the fact that the channel 60 acts on the neck 20 of the bottles 2 and not on the lateral walls thereof, as is the case with the screws 31, and also by dint of the fact that the neck 20 inserts into the channel in such a way that the axis of a bottle 2 is radially directed towards the axis of rotation of the cylindrical body 50; further, the axis of the bottle 2, during the transport and/or upending thereof, is kept in the radial disposition.

The cylindrical body 50 is coaxially enveloped by a fixed preferably tubular body 70. A guide 7 is afforded in the wall of the tubular body 70, which i' 15 guide associates with the necks 20 of the bottles 2. The guide 7, which represents the above- .:oe m mentioned predetermined course of the bottles 2, is preferably constituted by a slit 71 developing along the external surface of the tubular body with an almost constant breadth. The slit 71 is afforded between two facing parallel walls 72 i widely enough spaced to admit a neck 20 of a bottle 2 to be inserted there-between. The parallel walls 72 exhibit, over the whole length of the slit 71, two projecting lips 73 whose I0 reciprocal distance is smaller than a diameter of the collar 21 of a bottle 2.

In the example the slit 71 exhibits an initial straight inlet portion 71a, a helicoid intermediate portion 71b, and a straight terminal outlet portion 71c.

The initial portion 71a is parallel to the axis x and is arranged on the inferior generatrix of the tubular body 70. The initial portion 71a guides a bottle to complete a movement of pure advancement, without rotation.

The helicoid portion 71b is coaxial to the channel 60. The helicoid portion 71b winds about the tubular body 70 by an angle of 180 degrees such as 15 to guide a bottle to complete a helicoid movement composed of an advancement in the direction of axis x and a rotation about the axis itself. At the end of the helicoid portion 71b the bottle has S" been upended. There can exist cases where the bottle 2 has to be rotated continuously by a predetermined angle which is different from 180 degrees. In such cases the helicoid portion 71b will wind about the axis x by whatever angle is required.

The terminal portion 71c is parallel to the axis x 11 and is arranged on the uppermost generatrix of the tubular body 70. Like the initial portion 71a, the terminal portion 71c functions as a guide for a simple translation movement of the bottle 2 without rotation. A straight portion of the guide 7, equal to portions 71a and 71c, can also be arranged on a generatrix, neither the uppermost nor the lowermost, of the intermediate tubular body The functioning of the device 1 is described hereinbelow.

A bottle 2 advancing on the star conveyor 4 meets **the device 1. The cylindrical body 50 continuously rotates in synchrony with the star conveyor 4. The 15 neck 20 of the bottle 2 enters the channel 60 when the opening 62 of the channel 60 is situated, during a rotation of the cylindrical body 50, at the lowest point in its trajectory. At this lowest point the opening 62 is lined up with the guide 7 entry.

At this point the neck 20 of the bottle 2 is engaged both in the channel 60 and the slit 71.

The rotation of the cylindrical body 50 obliges the neck 20 of the bottle 2 to follow the course of the slit 71. First the neck 20 crosses the 12 initial portion 71a of the slit 71. During this phase the collar 21 of the bottle 2 rests on the lips 73 of the slit 71, so a rest plane for the bottom of the bottle 2 is no longer necessary.

Figure 5 referring specifically to the terminal portion 71c but applicable also to the other portions illustrates the way in which the flanks 64 of the channel 60 of the rotating cylindrical body 50 and the parallel walls 72 of the fixed slit 71, engage the neck 20 of the bottle 2. As can be seen the abovementioned flanks 64 and i* parallel walls 72 are practically tangential to the neck 20 of the bottle and thus deny any lateral displacement of the bottle 2. Further, the 15 neck 20 cannot radially exit, in the direction of the axis of the bottle 2, as it is prevented from

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doing so by the lips 73 which restrain the collar 21.

Subsequently the neck 20 of the bottle 2 is engaged by the helicoid portion 71b of the slit 71.

The channel 60, in cooperation with the slit 71, forces the bottle 2 to rotate about axis x, advancing axially at the same time. During this phase the bottle 2 follows a complex trajectory, 13 one position of which is shown in figure 1. The axis of the bottle 2 is always kept more or less radial to the axis x of rotation of the cylindrical body After the neck 20 of the bottle 2 has crossed the helicoid portion 71b of the slit 71, the bottle has been turned by 180 degrees. The upending of the bottle 2 is permitted by the fact that, as has been mentioned, during the upending the collar 21 of the bottle 2 is forced against the lips 73, thus preventing the neck 20 of the bottle 2 to exit radially externalwise of the channel 60 in the direction of the axis of the bottle.

In the terminal portion 71c the bottles 2 advance 15 without rotating with the neck facing downwards, and are finally surrendered to the downstream line 3b. Obviously the cylindrical body 50 and the bottle transport group 30 must be in reciprocal phase.

The bottles 2 cross the device 1 at a reciprocal distance which is equal to a multiple of the helix .i step of the channel This distance setting prevents contact between the bottles 2 which might lead to collisions with consequent bottle crushing, cracking, deformations 14 and so on.

Since the shape and the dimensions of the necks of the bottles 2 and the relative collars 21 are generally standardised and the same for all types of bottle shapes, the device 1 is practically universal. This means that it is not necessary to substitute the device 1 when a bottle shape changes during a filling operation.

It is evident that the longitudinal dimensions of the device 1 are very small, and can be even further reduced by reducing the axial length of the intermediate portion 71b of the slit 71 which winds about the tubular body 70, or the lengths of the straight portions 71a and 71c.

15 An advantage of the device 1 consists in the fact that it can also be used as a simple conveyor or translator of bottles. Indeed, at straight portions 71a and 71c, the device 1 functions as a bottle conveyor with, in the former case, the 4 bottles in the mouth-upwards position and in the latter case with their mouths a downward position.

Obviously portions 71a and 71c can be lengthened or shortened as desired.

The device 1 as presently described is used for upending bottles having their mouths initially upwards-facing, but with obvious modifications could be adapted for upending bottles having their mouths initially facing downwards.

Claims (7)

1. A device for upending and transporting bottles in continuous cycle, comprising: a fixed body bearing a guide conformed and arranged in such a way as to receive a neck of a bottle transiting along a bottle feed line and to guide said neck of said bottle along a predetermined course; means for drawing said neck along said course comprising a body rotating on command and a channel extending on the body helically and coaxially to an axis of rotation thereof, the neck being inserted into the channel, the rotation of the body obliging lo the neck to follow said course, the channel housing the neck of the bottle with the axis of the bottle radially directed towards the axis of rotation of the rotating body, the axis of the bottle being kept more or less in the radial disposition during the transport and/or upending of the bottle; and means for preventing said neck of said bottle from exiting from said guide in a direction of an axis of said bottle.

2. A device as in claim 1, wherein a bottle having a neck, inserted into said 0 0: channel interacts, following said rotation of said rotating body, with flanks of said channel such that said neck is drawn along said course.

3. A device as in claim 1 or 2, wherein said fixed body is tubular and is external of and coaxial to said rotating body.

4. A device as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: said guide comprises a slit afforded in said fixed body and flanked by facing walls; said means for preventing exit of said neck comprises two parallel lips, each of which is predisposed on a wall of said slit and each of which interacts with a collar of said neck; and a reciprocal distance between said lips is less than a diameter of said collar and greater than a diameter of said neck of said bottle.

A device as in claim 4, wherein said slit winds in a spiral fashion along an external surface of said tubular body.

6. A device as in claim 5, wherein said slit winds by a total angle of 180 degrees. [R:\LIBLL]09872.doc:MFF 17

7. A device for upending and transporting bottles in continuous cycle, said device being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated 26 July, 2000 Tetra Pak Plastics Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON 4 9 4 4 4 4• •4 [R:\LIBLL]09872.doc:MFF