Glass manufacturing apparatus and method
AssigneeGerresheimer Glass Inc.
InventorDean Scardino
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for manufacturing glass containers handles the containers individually after a hot forming process and annealing to prevent glass-to-glass contact. By handling the containers individually and preventing glass-to-glass contact damage to the containers in the form of checks and scratches is avoided. To prevent contact of the containers and damage arising from the contact, the equipment including conveyors, pushers, starwheels, shuttles, and transfer heads that move the glass containers through the apparatus maintains the glass containers in uniform spaced relationship at each stage of container processing until the containers are packaged.
Claims16
An apparatus for producing glass containers in a continuous process comprising:
- a lehr for annealing the glass containers after hot glass container formation;
- an inspection station for examining the annealed glass containers for defects, the inspection station having one or more inspection devices distributed around a rotatably driven starwheel for inspecting glass containers supported on the periphery of the starwheel in an exposed relationship with the inspection devices;
- a packaging station for packaging the plurality of the glass containers in a package after inspection;
- and
- a series of conveying mechanisms configured to move the glass containers from the lehr through the inspection and packaging stations while maintaining the containers in spaced, non-contacting relationship with each other, the series of conveying mechanisms including an input conveyor feeding the glass containers in spaced relationship to a pickup point at the periphery of the starwheel where the glass containers are transferred from the conveyor to the starwheel.
A method for producing glass containers in a glass manufacturing apparatus having a lehr for annealing a plurality of glass containers after hot glass container formation;
- a packaging station for packaging the plurality of the glass containers in a package after annealing;
- and a series of conveying mechanisms configured to move the glass containers from the lehr to the packaging station, comprising the steps of:
- maintaining the glass containers in spaced, non-contacting relationship with each other as they are moved between the lehr and the packaging station, packaging the glass containers at the packaging station in packages, and maintaining the glass containers in non-contacting relationship during the step of packaging.
An apparatus for producing glass containers in a continuous process comprising:
- a lehr for annealing the glass containers after hot glass container formation, the glass containers being discharged from the output of the lehr on a lehr conveyor with a non-uniformly spaced relationship;
- an inspection station for examining the annealed glass containers for defects;
- a packaging station for packaging the plurality of the glass containers in a package after inspection;
- and
- a series of conveying mechanisms configured to move the glass containers from the lehr through the inspection and packaging stations while holding the containers in a uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship with each other, the conveying mechanisms including a transfer mechanism engaging the glass containers in the non-uniformly spaced relationship at the output of the lehr and configured to arrange the containers for conveying in a uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship with one another for further transfer.
A method for producing glass containers in a glass manufacturing apparatus having a lehr for annealing a plurality of glass containers after hot glass container formation, and from which the glass containers are discharged in non-uniformly spaced relationship;
- a packaging station for packaging the plurality of the glass containers in a package after annealing;
- and a series of conveying mechanisms configured to move the glass containers from the lehr to the packaging station, comprising the steps of:
- arranging the glass containers discharged from the lehr into a uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship, and maintaining the glass containers in uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship with each other as they are moved between the lehr and the packaging station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.