Process for coating hollow objects
OwnerKlaus Jorgensinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Process for coating hollow objects exhibiting an opening, and beverage cans in particular, in which the hollow objects are immersed completely and with the opening downward in a paint-filled submersion bath, the openings being moved into the vicinity of nozzles for the paint, which are located underneath the surface of the liquid in the submersion bath and which at least partially displace the air trapped in the hollow objects immersed in the submersion bath by means of streams of paint discharging from the nozzles. With this process hollow objects can be painted uniformly inside and outside in one step without its being necessary to turn them either to fill them with paint when immersed in the submersion bath or to drain them after their being lifted out of the bath.
Claims12
A continuous process for coating cans, each can having a central axis and an opening, using a submersion bath filled with a liquid coating having a surface, the submersion bath having fluid coating nozzles and air nozzles submerged in the liquid, the process comprising the steps of:
- (i) supporting the cans with their openings downward;
- (ii) moving the supported cans into the bath such that the cans are partially immersed in the coating and air is trapped inside the cans;
- (iii) passing the openings over a first nozzle for the coating, which nozzle is situated beneath the surface of the coating in the bath;
- (iv) supplying a stream of the coating from the first nozzle directed substantially parallel to the central axis of the cans and into the openings of the cans, so as to partially displace the air trapped inside the partially immersed cans;
- (v) moving the cans into the bath such that the cans are completely immersed;
- (vi) passing the cans over a second nozzle for the coating, which nozzle is situated beneath the surface of the coating in the bath;
- (vii) supplying a stream of the coating from the second nozzle directed substantially parallel to the central axis of the cans and into the openings of the cans so as to substantially completely displace the air trapped inside the completely immersed cans;
- (viii) moving the cans partially out of the bath such that the cans remain partially immersed;
- (ix) passing the cans over the air nozzle, which air nozzle is situated beneath the surface of the coating in the bath;
- (x) supplying a stream of air from the air nozzle and directed substantially parallel to the central axis of the cans and into the opening of the cans so as to at least partially displace the fluid inside the cans;
- (xi) moving the cans completely out of the bath.
A process for coating a can, the can having a central axis and an opening, using a submersion bath filled with a liquid coating having a surface, the submersion bath having fluid coating nozzles submerged in the liquid, the process comprising the steps of:
- (i) supporting the can with the opening facing downward toward the surface of the bath;
- (ii) moving the supported can into the bath so as to trap air inside the can;
- (iii) moving the can over a first nozzle for spraying the coating, which nozzle is submerged beneath the surface of the coating in the bath;
- (iv) supplying a stream of the coating from the first nozzle directed substantially parallel to the central axis of the can and into the opening of the can, so as to at least partially displace the air trapped inside the can.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.