Container-filling machine with fill adjustment during operation
AssigneeSimplex Filler Co.
InventorGeorge C. Lydiksen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A container-filling machine having a continuously rotating member with an orbiting drive cam thereon which causes reciprocatory piston movement of the piston filler. An adjustment shaft carried by and radially of the rotating member adjusts the radius of the drive cam orbit, and the length of the piston stroke, when the adjustment shaft is rotated about its axis. A toothed rack is movable into the path of a pinion gear fixed to the end of the adjustment shaft so that interengagement of the rack and gear causes adjustment of the radius of the drive cam orbit as the cam moves in such orbit.
Claims12
In a container-filling machine having a conveyor for moving an open-topped container to and away from a filling station, a filler tube at said filling station for filling said container, a reservoir of material to be filled into said container, a cylinder having an inlet connected to said reservoir and an outlet connected to said filler tube, means including a reciprocable piston in said cylinder for drawing material into said cylinder from said reservoir upon movement of said piston in one direction and for discharging said material from said cylinder to said filler tube upon opposite movement of said piston, a rotatable member mounted on the frame of said machine, means for rotating said member about a fixed axis, said member having a cam thereon offset from said axis and movable with said member through an orbital path around said axis, and means for reciprocating said piston in response to orbital movement of said cam, the improvement comprising:
- said rotatable member having a slot therein extending radially of said axis,
- a screw-threaded shaft having its axis in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said rotatable member,
- means mounting said shaft in said slot for permitting rotation of said shaft about its axis while restraining said shaft against endwise movement relative to said slot,
- a follower block threaded on said shaft and riding in said slot for translatory movement along said slot in response to rotation of said shaft,
- said cam being mounted on said follower block,
- a pinion gear fixed to said shaft coaxially therewith, said gear being movable through an orbital path in said plane upon rotation of said rotatable member about its axis,
- an arcuate rack member disposed parallel to said orbital path of said pinion gear and spaced from one side of said plane of movement of said pinion gear,
- housing means on said frame mounting said rack member for movement towards and away from said plane of orbital movement of said pinion gear,
- means for moving said rack member towards and away from said plane and into and out of meshing engagement with said pinion gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.