US1933462A - Can vacuumizing and seaming machine - Google Patents

Description

CCL 31, 1933- N. TRoYEF ET A1.

GAN VACUUMIZING AND SEAMING MACHINE s Smets-sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1932 Oct. 31, y19.33. N` TBOYER ET AL 1,933,462

CAN VAQUUMIZING AND SEAMING MACHINEl Filed March 18 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTO NEY Patented Oct. V31, 1933 UNITED STA TES l 1,933,462 CAN vAcUUMIzING AND sEAMING MACHINE f Nelson Troyer and Paul E. Pearson, Seattle,'

Wash., assignors to Continental Can Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 18,1932. Serial No. 599,822

2 Claims. (Cl. 113-24) This invention relates to can vacuumizing and sealing machines and it has reference more particularly to improvements in the valve mechanism and parts associated therewith as employed 5 in machines whereby cans are sealed under vacuo; this invention being in the nature of an improvement upon the machine of our co-pending application led on January 13, 1931, under Serial Number 508,514.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a more satisfactory and more effective sealing condition and a smoother action in the advancement of cans along the path of travel, by use of separate valves for the intaking and for the delivery of cans into and from the vacuumizing chamber, as distinguished from the use of a single valve, as in-the machine of the application above mentioned.` l

, It is also an object of the invention to provide a construction permitting a smoother transfer of cans Within the machine from the seaner turret to the discharge Valve by use of a rotating turret instead of the stationary guide plate as employed in the prior application device.

Other objects of the invention are to be found in the details of construction and in the combination of the various parts `and in their mode -of operation, as will hereinafter be described.

In accomplishing these objects, we have projvided the improved details of construction, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a vacuumizing andseaming machine showing the two valve' construction as embodied in the` present invention.

Fig. 2 is alvertical section of the machine wherein the valve carrier is disposed in open' position for better illustration of the valves and the vdriving gearing therefor.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the driving .gear train for the various parts of the machine.. y

Fig. 4 is a detail of a part of the gear train: this being' an elevation looking in 'the direction of the arrows 4 4 in Fig'. 3. y

Before going into the detailed description `of the machine, it will be stated that in the machine described and ustrated in our previous application, above mentioned, we employ a single, rotary valve in'the housing of the machine by which cans were delivered into and from the vacuumizing chamber. While thissingle valve is quite satisfactory insofar as sealing and transferring the cans is concerned, it has been found contraction resultant to use, that is detrimental to maintaining a tightly sealed joint without a binding action. Furthermore, the size of the single valve presents certain diiculties in the machining of the parts that are desirable to overcome. Also, the use of the single valve, both for the intaking and discharging of dans makes it impractical in this particular construction to employ a driven turretv for transferring cans from the seamer to the valve and, as a consequence, there is an undesirable unevenness in the transfer of the cans from the seamer turret to the valve.

In view of the above, we vhave overcome the difliculties and objectionable features with respect to the single valve by employing two valves; one for delivering cans into the vacuumizing machine and the other for delivering the sealed cans from the machine. This permits use of valves of such size that no' sealing diiculty is encountered and difficulties in 1machining on the valves is avoided. Also, the use of two valves makes possible'a farther separation of the paths of travel of cansentering and those leaving the seamer and permits the use of la rotating transfer turret for the delivery of cans to the discharge valve and thus avoids the unevenness of travel previously noted.

Referring more in detail to the drawings- The present invention is applied to a cam closing machine that is designed especially for seaming covers or top ends, onto cans which have beentiilled under normal atmospheric conditions, but which are to be closed in vacuo. In its present embodiment the machine comprises an airtight housing 1 forming a vacuumizing chamber 2 within which a doubleseaming machine, designated in its entirety by reference numeral 3, is located. In this particular instance the seamer is a two spindle machine and com- I prises first and second operation heads-of similar construction and operation; the first operation head 4 being shown in Fig. 2. The cans 5 which are to be sealed are delivered in succession to the machine after they have been filled and the covers 5a loosely clinched thereon. The can feed, or delivery means, as shown best in Fig. 1, comprises' a conveyer mechanism,des ignated in' its entirety by numeral 6, from which the cans are advanced, or pushed into the pockets '7 of a rotating valve 8 by the arms 9a of a rotating turret 9. From the pockets of this valve the cans are extracted upon entering the vacucher, by the arms c of a rotating ctor turret lo which operates to advance the cans successively into the pockets 11 of an intermittently advanced seamer turret 12 whereby the cans are carried, successively and in proper timing to the see-mer heads which operate to double seam the covers onto the can bodies.

The turret l2, by reason of itsl intermittent advance movements, delivers the cans after the covers have been seemed thereon, to a transfer turret 13 having arms 13a, operable to advance l the canswithout change of speed of travel, into the pockets l-lc of a rotating discharge valve .1d whereby the cans are delivered from the vacuum chamber, whereupon they are extracted from the valve pockets by the action of the arms 15a of a revolving extractor turret 15 with which' suitable conveying mechanism as at 16, is assol for driving the machine, and this housing 18, in

turn, is supported upon a bed plate or base 19 which is extended sufficiently at one side to serve as a support for the valve carrier hinge shaft and driving gears presently described.

'llhe drive shaft 20 of the machine ei;- tends transversely and horizontally through the base housing 16. it one end of the shaft is a pulley wheel 23 adapted to be operatively connected with or disconnected from the shaft by clutch mech of suitable character under nai conhol or automatic control; this mechanism not herein being illustrated as it forms no pertinent part of the present invention.

Keyed onto the main driving shaft as seen in Eig. 3, is a gear 25 meshing with and driving a gear 26 keyed on a shaft 27 supported parallel with and below shaft 20. This shaft 27 is formed with a worm gear 28, see Fig. 2, which meshes with a gear 29 that is disposed within a housing 30 and which is keyed on a shaft 31 extended from the housing; this latter shaft having its outer end rotatably mounted in a bearing 32 fxed'on the-outer end of the bed plate 19.

The turret 12 of the seamer is intermittently advanced in proper with the valve mechanism and transfer turrets by a geared connection with the shaft 2,? consisting of a gear wheel 33 on shaft 27 meshing with and driving a gear 34 on a cross shaft 34u, this latter shaft being connected to the turret spindle 12a, see 2, by an intermittent gear drive designated in its entirety at 34h.

The two valves 8 and le, whereby the cans are delivered into and from the vacuumizing chamber are contained rotatably within a valve housing 35. l This is bolted or otherwise suitably fastened upon a base frame 36 within which valve supporting spindles 37 and 38 are rotatably mounted. The valves Il; and 111 are securely xed upon the upper ends of these spindles and are rotated thereby. l

As seen best in Fig. 2, the spindles 37 and 38 are revoluble in bearings 37' and 38 at' their lower ends and in taper bearings 37o and 38a at their upper ends. 6 and le have :w ons 8c and Mc,

At their upper ends the valves Y Fig. 1 the hine in operation delivers cans, in `150 mosaics respectively, revolubly contained in bearings 6' and lo' carried in the cover plates fixed on the valve housing 35. Y

The valve housing and base housing 36'are provided with lateral portions, formed with ver` tically aligned bearings 39-39' disposed between journal bearings 40-40 fixed to the vacuum chamber housing, and also in alignment with a bearing socket 41 formed in the bed plate 19. These aligned bearings contain a vertical shaft 42 which serves as a supporting hinge vpin for the valve housing and base and about which these parts may swing to and from closed relation with respect to the housing of the vacuumchamber. This swinging movement of the valve housing is best illustrated in Fig'. 1 wherein the housing is shown in closed position in full lines and in open position in dotted lines; the feed conveyer and turrets being carried therewith in its swinging movement. Y

To provide for a tightly sealed joint between the valve housing and the vacuum chamber, when the machine is closed, the chamber housing is formed at one side with an inwardly rounded wall seat 45 vprovided with an opening 46 of considerable extent. The valve housing 35 is correspondingly rounded outwardly to snugly t against the seat 45 and it has an opening 47 adapted to register withthe opening 46 when the valve is closed. A packing strip 48 of suitable material is inset in a groove in the valve housing about the opening so,as to preclude any possible leakage of air into Awise is revo'lubly fitted within the outlet. Each valve is in the form of a downwardly tapered cylinder, formed with three equally spaced pockets in its side walls Within which the cans are received and conveyed. These valves are rotated in synchronism through the medium of their supporting spindles 37 and 38 which, at their lower ends have gear wheels 53 'and 54 keyed thereon, respectively and these gears are connected through the medium of an idler gear 55 carried on a supporting shaft 56 xed on the housing 36. The gear wheel 54 is operatively connected to the valve driving shaft 31 through the medium of a `gearvtrain as shown in Fig.l 3, including an idler gear 61, a driven gear 58 that is formed on the upper end of a sleeve 59 rotatable about the lower end of the hinge shaft 42, a bevel gear 60 keyed on the lower end of the sleeve, a bevel gear 61a that is formed on and xed to another sleeve 62 revoluble about shaft 31 within the bearing 32; this latter sleeve being normally operatively connected to the shaft 31 through the medium of an automatically releasing clutch mechanism, fully described in our previous application, and herein indicated in its entirety by lpockets of the valve 14 which, in turn, delivers proper timing and spacing, into thevpockets of valve 8 from which they are extractedupon entering the chamber by the turret 10 and are transferred to the seamer turret. From the `seamer the cans are finally transferred back to valve 1 4. by the turret 13 and the valve carries them to the outside of the chamber whereupon they are extracted from the valve and transferred to the conveyer 16 by the turret 15. y

Referring again to the devices associated with the valve mechanism for feeding cans into and from the chamber, it will be observed that the transfer turret 10 is mounted upon the upper end of a vertical shaft 65 driven by a gear wheel 66 at its lower end operating in mesh with the driving gear 54 of valve spindle 38. Likewise, the extractor turret 15 is mounted upon a-vertical shaft 68 revoluble in the housing 36 land having a driving gear 69 at its lower end meshing with the driving gear wheel 53 of the valve spindle 37. The transfer turret 13 is fixed on the upper end of a vertical shaft 70 mounted in the housing 36 and provided at its lower end with a drivingl gear wheel 71 operatively connected through idler gears 72 and 73 with the gear wheel 53; al1 gears mentioned being so proportioned that all of the various parts will operate in proper timing toy lcooperatively carry out their separatefunctions.

The conveyer turret 9 is driven by a geared connection with the gear wheel 58. As seen in llig.` 3 this turret is carried by a vertical shaft 75 equipped with a driving gear 76 at its lower end meshing with gear 58. The feed conveyer mechanism 6 is driven by gearing connected with the gear 53. `This consists of a bevel gear 78 fixed on the lower end of the shaft 68l to drive a bevel gear 79 with which a sprocket wheel 80 is formed as seen in Fig. 4. The conveyer 16 consists of a sprocket chain belt that extends about the sprocket wheel 80 and 'a sprocket 82 on the outer end of the feed mechanism drive shaft 83; the latter as seen in Fig. 3, extending at a right angle to the direction of the conveyer mechanism 6 and having sprockets 84 and 85 at its inner end over which chain belts 86 and 87 operate lengthwise within the feed conveyer guideway 88 to carry the cans 5 to the turret 9. A timing screw 90 is located along one side of the guideway 88 to space and time the cans in their delivery to the turret 9. This 'screw is driven by a geared4 connection with -the at 91. f

The double seamer 3 contained within the vacuum chamber is also driven by a connection with the main shaft 20, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, wherein designates the seamer drive shaft and 96 as bevel gear keyed thereon and meshing with a bevel gear 97 f'lxed on` the shaft 20. The construction and operation" of the seamer will not be described except to s'ay that the turret 12 operates to intermittently advance the cans re-r ceived in its pockets 11 in succession to the seaming heads which operate thereon .to close the seam. The turret then delivers the cans to po-v sition for advancement by the turret 13 into the chain belt 87 as designated the cans to the exterior of the chamber where they are extracted and delivered onto conveyer 16 by the turret 15. p

With this construction all of the devices car-v ried on the valve supporting base are kept in proper timing regardless of opening or closing of the machine because of the fact that all gears in the driving chain are always in mesh and all are driven through the gear wheel 58 on the hinge shaft 42. This permits the valve support to be swung to open position without disengagement of gears. It also permits the valves and conveyers tobe driven while the valve is open. The valve then may be closed without requiring any resetting or adjustment. 4

This provision of two valves gives more space between the paths of the can entering and leaving the vacuum chamber and this makes possible the insertion of the delivery turret 13 for effecting a smoother action. Also, the reduction in size of the valves makes possible a certain accuracy in machining their surfaces that preclude leakage, and avoids the possibility of distortion or warping of the Valve under different temperature conditions.

Having thus described our 'invention what we claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letiters Patent is- 1. In amachine for closing cans in vacuo, a seaming machine, a housing forming a vacuum chamber enclosing the said machine and having an opening, a hinge shaft supported from the housing, a valve housing supported by the hinge shaft to swing from open position to closed position over the housing opening in an air sealed joint, inlet and discharge passages in the said valve housing providing communication between the interior and exterior of the chamber, rotary pocketed valves operable in said passages for the delivery of cans into and from the chamber through said opening; each of said valves having a driving spindle, driving gears for the spindles, a driven gear coaxial of the hinge shaft and driving gears for the said valves in a train driven by said driven gear.

2. In a machine of the character described, a can closing mechanism, a housing enclosing said mechanism having `an opening, a closure section hingedly attached to the housing to swing from open position to closed position at which it has a sealed connection with the housing about the housing opening; said lsection having two separate openings therein, individual valve devices operable in each opening of said section, means 1 0 valve device for delivery from the housing.

NELSON TROYER.

PAUI.; E. PEARSON.` .140

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