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US 4,569,378 AGranted
Filling machine with tandem-operated diaphragm filling units
AssigneeNational Instrument Company, Inc.
InventorWieslaw Bergandy
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNational Instrument Company, Inc.
InventorWieslaw Bergandy
Estimating the term…
An improved filling machine with tandem-operated diaphragm filling units is disclosed. The filling machine comprises a plurality of individual filling units operated in common from a common drive bar. Each of the filling units includes a cylinder, a flexible rolling diaphragm secured within the cylinder to delimit a working chamber in the cylinder on one side of the diaphragm, a piston arranged with clearance in the cylinder on the other side of the diaphragm for reciprocation in the cylinder, the clearance between the piston and the cylinder permitting the flexible diaphragm to roll and unroll on the piston sidewall and cylinder wall during filling and discharging of a liquid from the working chamber of the filling unit, passages in the cylinder for providing fluid communication with the working chamber, a piston rod extending between the piston and the common drive bar for transmitting a driving force from the common drive bar to the piston during a discharge stroke of the filling unit, the sidewall of the piston and the cylinder wall upon which the diaphragm is rolled and unrolled being tapered in opposite directions a like degree to increase the life of the rolling diaphragm, and wherein the piston rod length is adjustable to permit a change in the distance that the piston penetrates into the cylinder with a given stroke length whereby the volume dispensed by an individual filling unit can be finely adjusted.
A high-speed filling machine comprising a plurality of individual filling units operated in common from a common drive means, each of said individual filling units including a cylinder, a flexible rolling diaphragm secured within said cylinder to delimit a working chamber in the cylinder on one side of the diaphragm, a single piston arranged with clearance in said cylinder on the other side of said diaphragm for reciprocation in the cylinder, said clearance between the piston and the cylinder permitting said flexible diaphragm to roll and unroll on a sidewall of said piston and a wall of said cylinder during filling and discharging of a fluid from the working chamber of said filling unit, passage means in said cylinder for providing fluid communication with said working chamber, a single piston rod extending between said piston and said common drive means for transmitting a driving force from said common drive means to said piston during a discharge stroke of said filling unit, the sidewall of said piston upon which said diaphragm is rolled and unrolled being tapered outwardly from the end of said piston adjacent said diaphragm to thereby increase the working life of said rolling diaphragm, and means for adjusting a length of said piston rod to change the distance that said piston penetrates into said cylinder with a given piston discharge stroke length whereby the volume dispensed by the individual filling units can be finely adjusted as a result of a change in the average effective diaphragm diameter which occurs with a change of piston penetration in the cylinder in cooperation with the tapered sidewall of said piston.
A method of finely adjusting the volume dispensed by a filling unit of a high-speed filling machine comprising a plurality of individual filling units driven from a common drive means and wherein each filling unit includes, a cylinder, a flexible rolling diaphragm secured within the cylinder to delimit a working chamber in the cylinder on one side of the diaphragm, a single piston arranged with clearance in the cylinder on the other side of the diaphragm for reciprocation in the cylinder, the clearance between the piston and the cylinder permitting the flexible diaphragm to roll and unroll on a sidewall of the piston and a wall of said cylinder during filling and discharging of a fluid from the working chamber of the filling unit, passage means in the cylinder for providing fluid communication with the working chamber, a single piston rod extending between the piston and the common drive means for transmitting a driving force from the drive means to the piston during a discharge stroke of the filling unit, the sidewall of the piston and the cylinder wall on which the diaphragm is rolled and unrolled being tapered in opposite directions a like degree so that the convolution width of the diaphragm remains essentially constant with reciprocation of the piston in the cylinder during the operation to increase the working life of the diaphragm, comprising the step of changing the distance that the piston penetrates into the cylinder with a given piston discharge stroke length to adjust the volume dispensed by the filling unit as a result of a change in the average effective diaphragm diameter which occurs with a change in piston penetration in the cylinder in cooperation with the tapered sidewall of the piston and tapered cylinder wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.