Apparatus for producing shrinkable plastic caps

Apparatus for producing heat-shrinkable plastic caps having a metal foil containing top, from heat-shrinkable plastic tubing and from metal containing strip material coated with heat-sensitive adhesive, comprising in combination:

• (1) means for dispensing segments of said metal containing strip material into registry with means for punching a disc from said strip,
• (2) means for cutting bands of preselected length from said tubing,
• (3) a plurality of mandrels, each having a movable core, the end-face of which forms the top surface of each mandrel, said end-face being provided with means capable of exerting suction or pressure, each core being extendable in timed registry to contact said disc as it is punched from said strip by said punching means, thereby enabling the top of said core to hold the disc by said suction means,
• (4) means for placing said bands onto a mandrel holding the disc on its end-face, the length of said band being sufficient to overlay the edge of said disc so as to be heat-sealable thereto,
• (5) means for heat-shrinking said bands to conform to the shape of said mandrel and to overlay the edge of said disc,
• (6) electric induction heating means for rapidly heat-sealing each disc to the portion of the band overlaying the disc by activating the heat-sensitive adhesive on said disc by the heat generated by induction in said metal,
• (7) means for removing the caps produced from said mandrel, and
• (8) means for moving each mandrel in successive steps and in timed sequence into registry with said means (1), (4), (5), (6) and (7).