Chuck assembly and method for processing an open-ended article

A method of processing a hollow article having an open end comprising the steps of:

• supporting articles to be processed on respective chucks attached to a conveyor for movement therewith along a conveyor path, each chuck including
• a support member having an axis extending generally perpendicularly to the conveyor path, the support member having a mounting end, a nose end, and an intermediate portion interconnecting the mounting and nose ends;
• a flexible gripping sleeve surrounding the intermediate portion of the support member;
• an operator member slidably disposed on the support member for relative axial movement, the operator member and nose end having axially opposed surfaces respectively for engaging opposite axial ends of the gripping sleeve;
• and
• a biasing device interconnected between the operator member and the support member that applies a biasing force against the operator member to cause the operator member to move from a first position to a second position relative to the nose end of the support member, the opposed surfaces of the operator member and nose end of the support member being relatively positioned to cause the gripping sleeve to bellow out for engaging an interior surface of the hollow article when the operator member is in said second relative position, and the opposed surfaces being relatively positioned to allow the gripping sleeve to assume a relatively axially elongated and relatively radially contracted condition when the operator member is in said first relative position;
• moving the conveyor along said conveyor path through loading, processing and unloading stations;
• loading articles onto the holders at the loading station by holding the operator member in said first relative position while telescoping the open end of the article over the then axially elongated and radially contracted gripping sleeve, and then allowing the biasing device to hold the operator member in said second relative position with the then bellowed out gripping sleeve engaging an interior surface of the article to hold the article to the chuck as the chuck is moved by the conveyor along the conveyor path;
• performing a processing function on the articles at the processing station;
• and
• unloading the articles from the holders at the unloading station.