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US 5,494,086 AGranted
Bottle filling machine
AssigneeMcBrady Engineering, Inc.
InventorsGarrett McBrady, Julian Avelis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeMcBrady Engineering, Inc.
InventorsGarrett McBrady, Julian Avelis
Estimating the term…
A bottle filling machine comprising a rotary spoke assembly rotating in a vertical plane on a horizontal axis carries bottles between each spoke with their open necks facing radially inward toward the central axis of the rotating spoke assembly. A valve assembly is positioned around the central axis of the rotary spoke assembly, having a rotating valve cup which rotates with the spoke assembly and bottles carried between the spokes. Filler tubes extend from discharge apertures through the rotating valve cup to the open necks of the bottles. The valve assembly includes a stationary valve plate which bears against a corresponding bearing face of the valve cup. An inlet aperture and inset distribution groove of the valve plate flows distilled water or other fill material to and through the discharge apertures of the rotating valve cup as they rotate past to thereby fill the bottles. Such inlet aperture to fill the bottles is positioned to flow fill material through the discharge apertures of the rotating valve cup and into the bottles when they reach the lower semi-circular half of the operating revolution, at which time the open necks of the bottles are above the horizontal so the fill material will not drain out. Additional inlet apertures and inset distribution grooves are provided in the stationary valve plate for delivering rinse water and pressurized air to the bottles while in the upper semi-circular half of the operating cycle, at which time the bottles are inverted enabling the rinse water to automatically drain out.
A bottle filling machine comprising a rotatable assembly having a central axis and rotatable thereon, said rotatable assembly having entrance means positioned to receive bottles from the upstream side of a conveyor, discharge means to discharge said bottles to the downstream side of a said conveyor, power means to rotate said rotatable assembly on said central axis through a rotational pathway, rotational drive and support means to continuously move said bottles around said rotational pathway supported with their longitudinal axis radially directed toward said central axis of said rotatable assembly and their entrance apertures facing toward said central axis, said rotational pathway having a bottle inverted portion between the nine o'clock and three o'clock positions moving clockwise from the nine o'clock to three o'clock position, a bottle filling portion between the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions moving clockwise from the three o'clock to nine o'clock position, and filling means to fill said bottles with a selected fluid material only while being continuously moved through at least a part of said bottle filling portion of said rotational pathway, said filling means including fluid conduit means to flow fluid into said bottles while they are being rotated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.