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US 4,338,767 AGranted
Apparatus and method for removing pressure sensitive sealing tape from containers
AssigneeNational Can Corporation
InventorDonald D. Cochran
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNational Can Corporation
InventorDonald D. Cochran
Estimating the term…
In a seal removal station positioned along a bottle conveyor line upstream of a filling operation, oversized adhesive seals covering the mouths of plastic bottles are lifted off each bottle and transferred to a collector bin. Vacuum pressure generated in a plenum chamber formed in a stator member is transmitted to the non-adhesive upper surface of each seal through a perforated rotor surface rotating beneath the stator. Air jet means directing fluid pressure upward against overlapping marginal portions of each seal and guide surfaces to flatten out curled portions of the seal are utilized to assure seal lift off by virtue of fluid pressure differentials. A removed seal is kept adhered to the moving rotor surface by the maintenance of vacuum pressure above the seal. Adjacent to the collector bin, a further plenum having pressure air therein communicates through the rotor perforations with the adhered seal to propel the seal into the bin.
An apparatus for removing oversized adhesive seals covering open mouths of containers prior to filling said containers, comprising a rotor means mounted over the containers and rotatable about a vertical axis, said rotor having a plurality of vertical air passages therethrough, a stator means disposed above said rotor, said stator being provided with first and second plenum chambers spaced from one another and facing said rotor, and means for maintaining said first plenum below atmospheric pressure and said second chamber above atmospheric pressure, and pressure means having at least one jet nozzle means in fluid connection with a source of above-atmospheric pressure, said at least one jet nozzle directing fluid pressure beneath each said seal on its respective container mouth.
A method of removing oversized adhesive seals from container openings in a seal removal station as the containers are passed in seriatim into said seal removal station, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.