초록 ▼

At the upper side of the star wheel bottle feeder of a bottle capping machine, a chamber which encompasses the bottle neck is attached at each pocket in the periphery of the star wheel in which the bottle neck is registered as it is transported in a circular orbit. At the top side, the chamber has a

At the upper side of the star wheel bottle feeder of a bottle capping machine, a chamber which encompasses the bottle neck is attached at each pocket in the periphery of the star wheel in which the bottle neck is registered as it is transported in a circular orbit. At the top side, the chamber has an opening for a reciprocating sealing element which revolves with the star wheel. The chamber has a circular internal bore and an opening on its radially outermost side that allows bottles to be passed through it and into a pocket on the star wheel. There is a nozzle slot at the radial inside of the chamber diametrically opposite from the outside gas exit opening. The gas input slot has an elbow connected to it and the elbow is connected to a gas distributor valve which is, in turn, connected to a source of carbon dioxide. Because the neck and mouth of each bottle is captured within the chamber, the opening of the bottle and the underside of the crown cap are purged of air which is replaced with inert gas before the cap is crimped onto the bottle.

대표청구항 ▼

A machine for closing containers such as bottles comprising: star wheel means for being driven rotatably about a vertical axis and including upper and lower wheel members having pockets in which said bottles are held as they are transported in a circular path, a chamber mounted to the top of said up

A machine for closing containers such as bottles comprising: star wheel means for being driven rotatably about a vertical axis and including upper and lower wheel members having pockets in which said bottles are held as they are transported in a circular path, a chamber mounted to the top of said upper wheel member at each pocket for being occupied by the neck of a bottle and said chamber having a top opening aligned with said bottle, and bottle sealing means in said top opening movable in parallelism with said vertical axis alternately toward the mouth of said bottle to place and seal a closure element on the mouth and move away from said bottle and out of said chamber sufficiently far to acquire a closure element, said sealing means closing said top opening by said movement toward said mouth shortly after said closure element is acquired, said chamber having a nozzle slot on one side presented toward said vertical axis for projecting a stream of gas through said chamber and having an opening presented away from said axis for admitting the neck of said bottle and for discharging said gas from said chamber, and means for coupling said nozzle slot to a source of non-oxidizing gas.