Equipment for producing vessels comprising a variable pitch transfer wheel

An installation (10) for producing vessels (12), in particular bottles, comprising at least:

• a vessel production unit comprising at least one vessel blower (14) which comprises a plurality of blowing stations (PS) which are distributed circumferentially around an axis of rotation (O14) with a spacing corresponding to a first pitch (P1) between two consecutive stations (PS),
• a filling unit, called filler (16), comprising a plurality of filling stations (PR) which are distributed circumferentially around an axis of rotation (O16) with a spacing corresponding to a second pitch (P2) between two consecutive stations (PR), and
• a vessel transfer device (28) comprising at least, interposed between the vessel blower (14) and the filler (16), a transfer wheel (38), called a variable-pitch transfer wheel, comprising means (40) for transferring vessels (12) which are mounted to move in rotation and distributed circumferentially around an axis of rotation (O), said transfer means (40) being controlled independently of one another by associated control means (44) which are capable of selectively varying the pitch corresponding to the spacing between two successive transfer means (40) in a travel executed in a loop between, upstream, a first region (Z1) for loading each vessel (12) obtained from the vessel blower and, downstream, a second region (Z2) for unloading each vessel (12) to the filler (16), said transfer means (40) being introduced in succession, on the one hand, into said first loading region (Z1) with an initial pitch (P) corresponding at least to the first pitch (P1) of the vessel blower (14) to occupy a determined loading position and, on the other hand, into said second unloading region (Z2) with a final pitch (P′) corresponding to the second pitch (P2) of the filler (16) to occupy a determined unloading position,
• wherein, the control means (44) of each transfer means (40) of the variable-pitch wheel (38) comprise variable-length means (46, 48) which, intended to ensure the variation of the pitch between at least the initial pitch (P) and the final pitch (P′), comprise at least a first link rod (46) and a second link rod (48) which are linked together at one of their ends by a pivoting link (50), the other end of the first link rod (46) being securely attached via a first pivot (54) to rotational driving means (52) and the other end of the second link rod (48) being securely attached via a second pivot (56) to the associated transfer means (40), and the control means (44) further comprise actuation means (58) which, intended to selectively drive said variable-length means (46, 48), comprise at least one roller (60) which cooperates with a complementary guiding cam (62) determining, in the loopwise travel of the transfer means (40), the variation of the pitch between the initial pitch (P) and the final pitch (P′) of said transfer means (40) relative to the transfer means (40) directly preceding it in the direction of rotation of the variable-pitch wheel (38), and the roller (60) of the actuation means (58) has an axis of rotation which is common with the pivoting axis of the pivoting link (50) linking the first and second link rods (46, 48) of the variable-length means.