Capping machine in a beverage bottling plant configures to cap beverage bottles with beverage bottle crown caps or beverage bottle screw caps and a capping machine configured to cap containers with container caps

A capping machine being configured to cap containers with container caps, said capping machine comprising:

• a sorting unit being configured and disposed to orient container caps on their cylindrical exterior side surface;
• a conveyor channel being configured to receive container caps from said sorting unit;
• said conveyor channel being disposed to extend downwardly from said sorting unit in a vertical direction to permit container caps to move therethrough by gravity;
• said conveyor channel having a cross-section matched to the shape of the container caps to guide container caps with the cylindrical exterior side surface of the container caps essentially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the container caps;
• a sensing arrangement being disposed adjacent said conveyor channel to sense container caps while the container caps are falling past said sensing arrangement;
• said sensing arrangement being configured to detect, while the container caps are falling past said sensing arrangement, if the container caps are in a predetermined orientation appropriate to permit placement of the container caps on a container;
• an ejector arrangement being disposed downstream of said sensing arrangement and being configured, upon said sensing arrangement detecting a falling container cap not in the predetermined orientation, to eject the container cap out of the conveyor channel;
• and
• a first blocking device being disposed downstream of said sensing arrangement and upstream of said ejector arrangement, and being configured to temporarily block said conveyor channel to prevent movement of container caps therethrough.