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US 4,170,241 AGranted
Apparatus for cleaning containers
AssigneeThermoplastic Compounders Limited
InventorJohn W. M. Clapp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for cleaning containers which passes the containers submerged through a tank of detergent solution at elevated temperature while subjecting the solution in the tank to ultrasonic vibratory energy. The residence time of the containers in the solution, the temperature of the solution, the detergent type and concentration, and the frequency and intensity of the ultrasonic vibratory energy are sufficient to remove dirt from the containers, even grey film from plastics containers such as milk bottle crates.
Claims15
Apparatus for cleaning containers comprising a detergent solution tank,
- a set of guide rails defining a channel for the containers, the channel having an inlet section outside the tank, an immersion section wholly below the surface of the liquid when the tank is filled, and an outlet section,
- a pusher system means for pushing a sequence of containers sequentially and each pushing the next through the channel,
- at least one ultrasonic transducer mounted on the base of the tank,
- means for driving the transducer to impart ultrasonic vibratory energy to liquid in the tank,
- a rinsing device downstream of the tank and adapted to spray liquid on containers emerging from the tank,
- means for heating liquid in the tank to an elevated temperature and maintaining the liquid at that temperature, and
- means for withdrawing a portion of liquid from the tank, removing suspended solids therefrom and returning the liquid to the tank.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.