Feeding device for caps and the like

Jan. 5, 1954

W. J. MUNDY

2,665,005

FEEDING DEVICE FOR CAPS AND THE LIKE

Filed Dec. 2, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1

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flT-roRrieys.

Jan. 5, 1954

W. J. MUNDY

2,665,005

FEEDING DEVICE FOR CAPS AND THE LIKE

Filed Dec. 2, 1948

Sheets-Sheet 2

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Jan. 5, 1954

W. J. MUNDY

2,665,005

FEEDING DEVICE FOR CAPS AND THE LIKE

Filed Dec. 2, 1948

Sheets-Sheet 3

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Patented Jan. 5, 1954

2,665,005

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,665,005

FEEDING DEVICE FOR CAPS AND THE LIKE

William J. Mundy, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to C. T. Small Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri

Application December 2, 1948, Serial No. 63,081

Claims.

The present invention relates to a feeding device for caps and the like. It is particularly concerned with caps for containers, or similarly shaped articles, having an enlarged portion from which a smaller portion projects. Typical of such objects are caps for talcum powder containers in which there is an enlarged shoulder portion with an upstanding smaller neck portion that receives an oscillatable discharge closure member.

It is a primary object of the invention to separate a mass of such objects into two feeding lines, in one of which the objects are upright and in the other of which they are inverted.

It is a related object of the invention to provide a feeding device for the foregoing types of objects that insures that all of the caps are delivered right side up, so that they may be fed to a can capping machine or other subsequent operation and automatically placed upon the cans. It is an especial object to accomplish this by the foregoing separation of the objects into an upright and an inverted line, with the reverting of objects in the inverted line, and their subsequent delivery into the line of upright objects.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a machine in which the rate of discharge from the feeder is controlled only toy the rate of demand.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a feeder wherein all of the caps indiscriminately upside down or right side up are fed into a given moving track, and thereafter the ones that are upside down are separated out and righted before discharge from the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the foregoing kind which is simple in construction and which has very few movable parts· It is an especial object of the invention to provide such a feeding device in association with the rotatable table that discharges the objects centrifugally toward its periphery, so that they may fprm a moving line or file at the periphery of objects either upright or inverted, and may be delivered from the periphery by the force, of rotation of the table, together with means to separate out such of the objects as are upside down, to right them and return them to the moving file also by the force of rotation pf the table.

Other objects will appear from the description to follow and the drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig, 1 is a plan view of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a more or less diametrical section taken on the line 3—3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a somewhat similar diametrical section'taken on the same line, looking in the opposite direction, as shown at 4—4 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view on an en- (Cl. 209—72) larged scale, showing the selector and turn-over mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section, on an enlarged scale, through the selector and discharge mech5 anism taken on the line 6—6 extending across the upper part of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fractional radial section taken on the line 1—1 at approximately the teno’clock position of Fig. 1;

Figs. 8 through 18 are fragmentary radial sections through the discharge and spiral turn-over mechanism at the points indicated toy the lines 8—8 through 18—18 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 19 is a fragmentary radial section on an 15 enlarged scale, taken on the line 19—19 at approximately the four-o’clock position of Fig. 1;

Fig. 20 is a view of one of the introducing cams of the selector and spiral turn-over mechanism;

Fig. 21 is a view of the other such cam;

Fig. 22 is a side elevation of the bracket and nearby parts of the spiral rotator appearing in Fig. 9;

Fig. 23 is a side elevation of the bracket and 25 nearby spiral rotator parts appearing in Fig. 11; and

Fig. 24 is a somewhat diagrammatic side view of the selector parts of the machine.

As shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 2, the ma30 chine desirably is mounted at some elevation from the floor. In the illustrated form, there is a base 30 having four vertical columns 31 upstanding therefrom. At their upper ends, these columns support brackets 32 that may be vertically ad35 justable on the columns in the manner indicated.

The four brackets are attached to and support a circular or ring-like wall 33. A rotating disc or table 34 is disposed below the bottom of the wall 33, it being mounted in the manner such 40 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 upon a driving shaft 35 that may be supported in a suitable bearing 36 in the base 30. It will be understood that adequate bearing is provided for the shaft 35 to support it and the table 34 for the purposes to be described. It is not considered essential to ₄₅ the present description that such supporting bearings be shown in detail. The shaft 35 is driven by a suitable means here typified by a pulley 37 secured to the shaft and a driving belt 38 that rotates the pulley 37, the shaft 35 and the table ₅₀ 34. The belt 38 is driven toy suitable motive means. Other driving means may be employed.

The table 34 provides a smooth upper surface that constitutes the bottom of a container formed with the ring 33. The ring or wall 33 extends _g5 downwardly to have only a slight clearance above the table, the clearance being arranged by displacement of the collars 32 on the standards or columns 31.

2,665,00»

At a predetermined elevation on the wall 33, that leaves a determined space or channel above the table 34, there is an inwardly projecting ledge 40. As shown especially in Fig. 1 and also in Figs. 3, 4 and 19, the ledge 40 extends around about two-thirds of the periphery of the ring wall 33. In Fig. 1, this extent is approximately the eighto’clock position to approximately the four-thirtyo’clock position. The ledge 40 may be supported by a plurality of angular brackets 41 that are secured to the ledge 40 and to the inside of the wall 33. These brackets 41 appear particularly in Figs. 1, 7 and 19.

As will appear, the caps or similar objects to be fed by the machine are initially disposed on the rotating plate 34 and are thrown out toward the periphery thereof by centrifugal force. In order to prevent them from moving onto the top of the ledge 40, there is an inner arcuate strip 44 that is vertically disposed radially inwardly of the ring 33, and is substantially coextensive arcuately with the ledge 40, as is shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 19. The inner arcuate wall 44 is supported in suitable fashion on the main wall 33. Brackets 45 are illustrated for this purpose.

The combination of the outer wall 33, the ledge 40 and the table 34 provides an arcuate channel 47. This channel is open on its inner side toward the center of rotation of the table. When the table rotates in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, which is clockwise in that view, the inlet end of this channel is at approximately the eighto’clock position and the outlet end of the channel is approximately at the four-thirty-o’clock position.

A reference to Figs. 3 and 4 will show that the inner arcuate wall 44 extends down to the ledge 40 for its major arcuate length. Near its inlet end, however, it continues down as at 50 to adjacent the table 34 for a short distance. In similar manner, it extends down to adjacent the table, as shown at 51 in Figs. 4 and 19, for an arcuate distance near the outlet end of the channel.

Between the two ends of the channel, there is an arcuate gap that occupies the lower part of Fig. 1. In ordei· to separate this gap from the rotating table radially inwardly therefrom, there is a baffle wall 53 that is preferably vertical and -that is supported by brackets 54 from the main wall 33. This baffle 53 is arcuate in shape and slightly overlaps the ends of the wall 44. With the outer· wall 33 and the rotating table, this baffle wall 53 defines an arcuate section or channel 55 of the machine for selection, discharge and reverting of the objects.

It will be understood that, when the objects are supplied in various and indiscriminate positions on the table 33, the rotation of the table will impart to the objects a centrifugal force that will drive them out into the channel 47. This channel is of such height that the objects cannot turn over in it but must have either an upright or inverted position. There will be an outer row or line of the objects building up within the channel so that at the outlet end of the channel such objects are delivered in line to the discharge section or channel.

At a point such as approximately the six to seven-o’clock positions in Fig. 1, the wall 33 has a cut-away portion 57 that is an outlet or discharge opening. In advance of this discharge opening, and preferably adjacent the outlet of the channel 47 and the inlet of the discharge channel 55, there is a selector and withdrawal means 75 provided that acts only upon inverted or upturned objects. Fig. 19 shows an object C in inverted position within the channel 47, and this view is a typical one taken on the section 19—19 of Fig. 1 5 at approximately the four-o’clock position thereon looking in the direction of movement. At this point, the wall 44 extends down to adjacent the table 34, as shown at 51 also in Fig. 4. Consequently, at such point, other objects being cen10 trifugally moved toward the periphery of the table 34 cannot interfere with the even positioning of the articles in the line within the channel 47.

Near the inlet of the channel portion 55, there 15 is a selector and withdrawal means. This includes essentially two tapering track elements 60 and 61. The inner track element 60 is shown in Fig. 21, it tapering down counterclockwise to a narrow point. The outer track member 61 is similarly tapered, 20 as shown in Fig. 20. The inner track member 60 is attached to a support wall 62 that, in turn, is secured by brackets 63 (Figs. 1, 5 and 18) to the outer wall 33. Also, as appears in Fig. 18, as well as in Fig. 17 and several figures below Fig. 17, 25 these two tapered track members 60 and 61 terminate above the top surfsce of the table 34 a predetermined distance. Thus they provide a space between their lower edges and the upper surface of the table 34. This is illustrated in Fig. 30 24 wherein the selector cam 61 is shown in such a spaced position.

A consideration of the shape of the objects C indicates that their lower and larger portions are not quite as great in height as are the reduced 35 upper portions. To aid in description, the lower and larger portions may be called the shoulder portions and the smaller extensions called the neck portions. Consequently, objects such as the objects Cl and C2 in Fig. 24, which are upright, 40 can travel under the cam tracks 60 and 61. The cam tracks are so spaced that the neck portions of the objects can be received between them as it appears from a consideration of the object indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6. Hence such up. right articles Ci and C2 pass along with the '' table 34 without being affected by the upper edges of the cam tracks 60 and 61.

However, since the neck portion is somewhat greater in altitude than the shoulder portion of each object, an inverted object C3, as shown in Fig. 24, will have its shoulder elevated sufficiently that it will ride onto the top tapering edges of the two cam tracks 60 and 6i. The rotation of the table 34 thus drives such objects that are in. verted up onto the two cam tracks 60 and 61 with their neck portions depending between the two cam tracks.

Returning to the upright caps, such as the objects Ci and C2, these will travel on along with _eo the movement of the table 34. At the back end (measured from the direction of movement of the objects) of the two cam track elements 60 and 6i, that act as a selector means, there are two straight rods 65 and 65, one projecting off _e5 the lower back part of each of the tracks. These rods pass out through the discharge opening 57 through the outer rim or wall 33, tangentially of the direction of rotation of the table 34. There is a projection 67 on the table or attached to 70 the base 30 that supports the objects as they are guided out by the two rods 65 and 6S that engage over the shoulders and to the sides of the necks of the objects. The objects are finally discharged onto a suitable conveyer, such as the conveyer 68 diagrammatically illustrated in the

2,860,008 drawings. This is Illustrated in Fig. 11. Thus it will be seen that the cam tracks act as,guides for even the upright objects at the point of separation or selection, and that the guiding of such upright articles is then continued by the: two &amp; guide rods 65 and 66.

The course of articles that, are upturned and thereby are moved up onto the upper edges of the two tracks 60 and 61 will now be described: Fig. 24 is a view taken approximately at the sec- 10 tion line 18—18 of Fig. 5. The motion of. the table 34 forces the objects, such as the objects C3, up onto the tracks 60 and 61. Fig. 17 shows such an object after it has* been displaced a slight distance. It will be seen that the upper 15 surface of the track 60 has already begun to have some super-elevation relatively to the upper edge of.the track 61. Fig. 16, which is further along in the travel, shows the cap C3 further tilted.by an increase in this super -slevation. Also, a guide 20 rod 7 0, that forms part of a spiral turn-over, and which is supported'by a bracket 71, has been: introduced above the two tracks 60 and .61; at approximately this point, so that it will prevent the object C3 from being displaced: off its tracks. 25

By the time the: object reaches the position of Fig. 15, it is even further tilted. For an arcuate distance toward the end of the track 60, it is undercut as at 73 to accommodate the corner of the neck portion, which is at the very top 30 of the object when the latter is upright.

By the:time the object reaches the position of Fig. 14, it is further tilted and is nearing the end of at least one of the tracks, here shown as the track 61. The upper edge of the track 61 is 25 continued clockwise by a spiral turn-over guide or rod 74. By the time the object: reaches the position of Fig. 13, the rod 74: has been substituted for the track 60, this rod engaging in the comer of the shoulder of the object; 40

The end of the track 60 is continued by a spiral turn-over guide rod 76. This appears in Fig. 12 on the opposite of: the neck of the object from the guide bar 74. By the time the object reaches the position of Fig. 11 or thereabouts, it is half- , way turned over. At approximately this point, ⁴⁰the rod 70 across the open end of the object begins to function particularly to prevent the object from descending from the tracks by gravity. When the obj ect reaches: approximately the* po- _rsition of Fig. 10, it is three-quarters of the way ⁰over, and then proceeds to the position* of Fig. 9 where it is virtually reverted. At the position of Fig. 8, the object is completely* reverted and is resting upon the rod 70. At thia point, there ,, is a takeoff: slide 78 that is disposed below the ob- ⁰ject. The rod 70 passes through a notch 79 in the plate 78 so that the object can slide onto the plate from which it descends again to the rotating table at the entrance end of the chan- co net 47. It will be seen that the baffle 53 Overlaps the vertical wall 44, and.also that the vertical wall 44 descends to the table, as shown at 50 in this area. Consequently, outwardly thrown objects on the middle, part of the table cannot, interfere 65 with the line of objects that are deposited from the turn-over apparatus.

The several turn-over rods are supported in a plurality of brackets. In. Figs. 5 and 11, there is shown a bracket 80 which is attached to the wall '° 33. This bracket also appears in Fig. 23 in side elevation. There is another bracket holding these guides that appears in Figs. 9 and 22, as well as in Figs. I and 5. This bracket 81 is likewise at- in tached to the wall 33, and preferably has the shape Indicated.

Operation

The machine is set up with the base 30 located, upon a floor or the like and with the brackets 32 adjusted to dispose the wall 33 so that its bottom edge is immediately adjacent the upper surface of the rotating table 34. The construction permits the withdrawal of the wall for installation and servicing of the table 34. The outlet opening 57 through the wall and the projecting support 67 are disposed so that the guide bars 65 and 66 track the discharged articles onto the conveyer belt 68'; The normal rotative speed of the table 34 is preferably such that its periphery, which is to say the band or circular line of the table within the channel 47, is greater than the linear speed of the conveyer 68. The purpose for this will appear.

Once the equipment is set up, there is only one moving part involved, namely, the table: 34 and its associated shaft 35. A suitable hopper, or any other feeding means from which the objects to be fed or delivered are supplied, is arranged to deliver these articles in various and indiscriminate positions to the table 34 inside the two arcuate channel sections.

The centrifugal force produced by the rotating table 34 causes the objects to move outwardly toward the periphery of the disc. The baffle 53 extending down close to the disc and defining the discharge channel 55 prevents the objects from moving outwardly beyond it. However, the. vertical wall 44'above the channel 47 will cause articles within its length to move into the channel 47. This channel 47 is of a height that will, not permit the articles to enter it unless they are either upright or upside down and not at any seriously tilted position. Consequently, a line of articles within the channel 47 is produced, which articles are all either right side up or upside down, and this line of articles, under the rotative action of the table 34, are all moving in a clockwise position viewed in Figs. 1: and 5. Of course, the articles move outwardly with something of a spiral movement, and the moving line of articles within the channel is ordinarily, at least substantially, solid from the beginning of the channel at the clockwise end of the depending part 50 on the vertical wall 44.

As the line of moving articles within the channel 47 approaches the clockwise or outlet end of the channel, they pass behind the depending portion 51 on the vertical wall 44, and therefore are* protected from outwardly moving articles on the inner part of the table. By this arrangement, the line is a continuous undisturbed line from- about the beginning of; the depending portion 5 j on the baffle wall 44. The articles in this line are then discharged from the channel and enter the channel 55 which is the selector discharge and turn-over channel. In it, the lines of articles are fully protected by the vertical baffle 53.

Adjacent the entrance of the selector channel, the lower points of the two cam elements 60 and 61 extend. In view of the fact that the shoulder portion* of the objects has less height than the neck portions of the objects, objects such as the objects Cl and C2 in Fig. 24 can pass under the overhanging cams 61; such cams being spaced above the. rotating table 34 a distance slightly greater: than the height of the shoulder portions of the objects. These objects that are, therefore upright consequently pass on the table 34 beneath

2,665.005 the object leaves the end of the track 60 and rides onto the spiral turn-over bar 74. When it attains the position of Fig. 12, it is almost half-way turned over and is resting wholly on the bars 74, ₅ 70 and 76 of the spiral turn-over or reverting means, these bars being spaced apart to give a free movement of the object under the influence of objects behind it, as previously explained. When the object reaches the position of Fig. 11, _1(J it is in a vertical position as shown, and there the bar 70 begins to act as a support for it. When it moves onto the position of Fig. 10, it is supported on the bar 70 largely, and the two bars 74 and 76 act as guides. In Fig. 9, the object is 15 shown in a position where it is about to pass through the bracket 81. It then moves to the position of Fig. 8 where it is reverted, but is resting upon the bar 70. It moves off the bar 70 onto the plate 78, and thence back into the inlet end 2o of the channel 47, having been completely reverted. The channel 47 is protected by the depending portion 50 on the baffle ’wall 44 for a certain length, so that these objects can become well established in upright position within the channel 25 before other objects from the center of the table 34 impinge upon them. These reverted objects then continue in the channel 47 until they are again discharged therefrom into the discharge channel 55. Being in upright position, they then 30 move out beneath the two cams 60 and 61 and are discharged from the machine.

Thus the machine provides two lines of objects, one upright and the other inverted. Then it reverts the objects in the inverted line and dis35 charges them to join the line of upright objects. For some purposes short of the full benefits of the invention, the two lines may be kept separate, and the inverted line may be kept inverted. And equally evidently, the inverting means may 40 be on the lower track, if it be desired to deliver all of the objects upside down.

This' machine is designed especially for use in connection with such objects as the caps of talcum powder cans. Such caps are conventionally square in their shoulder portions and cylin⁴⁵ drical in their neck portions. It will be seen that this machine performs the initial function of attaining a moving line of objects, some of which are upside down and some of which are right side up, but none of which is tilted to any substantial ⁶⁰ degree. Then it selects between the objects in the moving line aforesaid, and separates the upright articles from the inverted articles. The upright articles are guided out through a discharge opening and delivered to a conveyer, pref⁵⁵ erably with a linear speed greater than that of the conveyer. The inverted articles are taken up by the separator or selector means, part of which preferably can act as the beginning of the spiral (or, more accurately, helical) turn-over means that reverts -them. The machine, therefore, acts as a selector and reverter of upturned articles that are finally delivered back to be discharged in their upright position.

It will be seen that this machine acts with ⁶⁵ greatest simplicity and a minimum number of moving parts to deliver these caps or objects of similar shape, all in upright position, and all. in line. It positively reverts the articles that are _ upturned, but all of the force applied to the arti^u cles is a yielding force because of the slippage of articles over the surface of the table 34. Consequently, it is not subject to serious jamming, and, if a jamming should occur, it Is readily corrected.

the cams 60 and 61, and are guided by the positions of their neck portions between the two cams. At the back end of the two cams, the guide tracks or bars 65 and 66 extend tangentially and the upright caps are caused by the rotating force of the table 34 to continue outwardly in a straight line, guided by the fact that the guide tracks 65 and 66 are on the opposite sides of their neck portions. These objects will be caused to move off of the rotating table and onto the extension portion 67. When they leave the table, their further movement is dependent upon their being pushed by additional articles behind them that are still upon the table and thereby being propelled forwardly.

When the articles thus tracked by the bars 65 and 66 across the extension 67 reach the conveyer 68, they are thereafter conveyed in a continuous manner by this conveyer. As the conveyer 68 has a smaller linear speed than that produced at the periphery of the rotating table 34, the supply of objects discharged by the present machine has a tendency to advance with respect to the speed of the conveyer 68. Consequently, if there is a gap between the articles on the conveyer 68, this gap will tend to be filled up. However, if for any reason at all the movement of objects or articles on the conveyer 68 is slowed down or stopped, the discharge of articles from the present machine will stop, although the table 34 continues running. The smooth upper surface of the table 34 simply permits the table to slide under the line of objects within the channel 47 and the channel 55, so that the table 34 continues its movement without moving the objects. In other words, this machine is self-adjusting to the variable rate of consumption of the articles delivered.

If an object such as the object C3 is upside down when it is delivered from the channel 47 to the channel 55, it will be engaged by the tapered ends on the two cam tracks 60 and 61. The larger shoulder part of such an object C3, when the object is upside down, is elevated by the neck portion to a height that disposes it high enough to be engaged by the upper surfaces of the cam tracks. The rotating force of the table 34 acts upon the object and forces it up onto the cam track. When it is lifted out of contact with the table, it will continue to be forced along succeeding objects that are upside down.

The travel of such upside down objects is initially up onto the two cam tracks 60 and 61 which thereby constitute selector means. This selector means produces a line of inverted objects. The neck portions of the objects depend between the two tracks so that the objects are thereby guided in their movement.

Reference to Fig. 17 will show that the cam track 60 has a super-elevation relative to the cam track 61, so that the object C3 is gradually and increasingly tilted, as appears by a comparison of Fig. 17, Fig. 16, Fig. 15 and Fig. 14 in the order named. In order to keep the objects being thus tracked and tilted from jolting out of position, the guide bar 70 acts throughout the length of the spiral turn-over against the enlarged and here open sides of the objects.

As already noted, when the position of Fig 15 is reached, the corner edge of the neck portion might wedge against the track 60, so the same may be cut away as at 73. This groove appears also in Fig. 21.

After the position of Fig.

Also, it tends to fill up gaps on the conveyer and has been passed, 75

2,666,005 to deliver a continuous stream of objects to the conveyer and from it to a machine for further processing, such as to a machine for capping cans.

Where the claims to follow speak of articles or objects of the kind described in this specification, 5 it is intended to mean objects having the general characteristics of the caps herein illustrated. It will be understood that the invention is not precisely limited to can caps, but can be used with any objects that will fit with this selector 10 and tracking and turn-over means so as to attain the benefits of the machine.