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AssigneeWest Corporation
InventorsJohn T. Connor, Charles P. Halsted, Jacob Ravn
Estimating the term…
A system and method for determining the integrity of a sealed container closure assembly wherein the closure is secured to the container by a force applying member and the integrity is determined by converting the force used to secure the closure into a force signal and comparing the force signal to a reference signal, which is reflective of the force used during a closure operation which resulted in seal integrity. The force signal which comprises a series of electrical signals is compared to a series of corresponding reference signals or is a single signal compared to a reference signal at a plurality of points during the closure operation. An indicator is used to indicate when a preselected number of acceptable or non-acceptable comparisons are reached.
A method for determining the integrity of a sealed container-closure assembly having a resilient sealing element supported in a sealed condition on the container by a closure applying force to secure the closure to the container during a closure applying cycle, generating a series of electrical force applying signals corresponding to the applied force and at predetermined spaced time intervals during said cycle, comparing the series of electrical force applying signals to a corresponding series of reference signals known to represent a profile of an acceptably sealed container and generated at generally the same spaced time intervals as the force applying signals, and indicating an unacceptably sealed container when a predetermined number of the force applying signals fall outside the reference profile.
A system for determining the integrity of sealed container-closure assemblies in a system for applying closures having a resilient sealing element to a container, said system comprising force applying means for positioning said container and for securing said closure to said container in a closure operation and apparatus for monitoring said closure operation, said apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.