Rotary filling apparatus and method
AssigneeThe Kartridg Pak Co.
InventorGeorge E. Leonard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary filling apparatus is provided that is of the type which uses gravity to fill liquids into a plurality of containers while they rotate about a rotary filling head. The apparatus includes a level control chamber having a sensor that is disposed from the axial center of the apparatus a distance that is substantially the same as that between this axial center and the nozzle through which the liquids are dispensed into the container, so that the centrifugal force at the sensor is substantially the same as that at the dispensing nozzle when the rotary head is rotated during the filling operation in order to maintain a substantially constant hydraulic head during operation.
Claims22
A rotary filling apparatus of the type which uses gravity for filling a liquid into a plurality of containers while they rotate about a rotary filling head, the apparatus comprising:
- a rotary dispensing assembly rotatably mounted along a generally vertical central axis, said rotary dispensing assembly including a liquid reservoir bowl and a dispensing nozzle through which the liquid is dispensed, and said nozzle is spaced a predetermined distance from said central axis;
- a level control chamber in liquid passing communication with said liquid reservoir bowl, said level control chamber having a liquid level sensor that is spaced from said central axis by a distance that is substantially the same as said predetermined distance such that centrifugal force at the liquid level sensor is substantially the same as that at said nozzle when the rotary dispensing assembly is rotated during filling in order to maintain a substantially constant hydraulic head during operation, and said liquid level sensor monitors and controls the amount of liquid within the level control chamber;
- a turntable including means for positioning each container to be filled at a location below and closely spaced from said dispensing nozzle;
- and
- means for controlling the opening and closing of said dispensing nozzle when the container to be filled is positioned thereunder.
A method of the type which uses gravity for filling a liquid into a plurality of containers while they rotate about a rotary filling head, the method comprising:
- positioning a container to be filled onto a turntable;
- rotating the turntable to bring the container into alignment with a dispensing nozzle;
- flowing a predetermined amount of liquid from a reservoir and through the dispensing nozzle while the dispensing nozzle and the reservoir are rotating about a generally vertical axis;
- sensing the level of liquid in the rotating reservoir, said sensing step taking place at a sensing location that is spaced from the generally vertical axis by a distance that is substantially the same as the distance between the generally vertical axis and the dispensing nozzle such that centrifugal force at the sensing location is substantially the same as that at said dispensing nozzle during rotation thereof;
- adjusting the level of liquid within the rotating reservoir in response to the sensing step, whereby a substantially constant hydraulic head is maintained within the rotating reservoir.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.