Nozzle Assembly for a Filling Apparatus

The present invention relates generally to an improvement in a filling machine of the type capable of filling containers with fluent material, and more particularly to an improved nozzle assembly for use with a filling apparatus of the type customarily referred to as rotary piston filler, the improved nozzle assembly being capable of controlling foaming and dripping of the product during and after the filling operation.

Rotary piston filling machines are well known in the art and a typical example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,346, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto. Such machines have a central product reservoir which is provided with a plurality of radially spaced apart cylindrical ports in its lower periphery, the reservoir and ports being adapted to be rotated within a stationary framework about a central vertically extending axis. Associated with each port is a filling station which includes a container support, a valve body which contains a rotary valve and a vertically extending cylinder and piston assembly mounted on top of the valve body. After a container to be filled has been loaded onto a machine of this type it will be moved about the periphery of the machine as the associated piston is caused to be moved upwardly to fill the associated cylinder with a predetermined quantity of fluent material, after which the material will be discharged into the container. Difficulties have been encountered when discharging directly from the valve body into a container, particularly if the fluent material being discharged is of a foamy nature.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for filling containers whereby foaming of the fluent material is controlled and also whereby dripping of the material onto the container after filling is also prevented.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel nozzle assembly for controlling dripping and foaming, which nozzle assembly is adapted to be associated with a rotary piston filler.

In summary, the nozzle assembly includes a downwardly extending tube through which fluent material may be discharged and a movable assembly associated with the fixed tube and capable of either opening or closing the lower end of the fixed tube to either permit or prevent, respectively, the discharge of fluent material. In accordance with one aspect of this invention the movement of the movable assembly is coordinated with the movement of the rotary valve to insure that no material is introduced into the nozzle assembly when it is closed. In accordance with another aspect of this invention the movable assembly includes a foot having a conical lower surface, and further includes a bore terminating at the base of the foot, the bore being interconnected with a vacuum line when the foot is in its retracted position and capable when interconnected with the vacuum line of causing any droplets that are on the foot to be drawn through the bore to the vacuum line thereby preventing dripping on the container.

The foregoing will become more apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of this invention is illustrated.

FIG. 1 is a schematic developed view of a rotary piston filling apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial section taken generally along the line 2--2 in FIG. 1 showing the various parts of a container filling station in a position where fluent material is being discharged into a container.

FIG. 3 is a section taken generally along the line 3--3 in FIG. 2, parts being shown in phantom.

FIG. 4 is a partial section taken generally along the line 4--4 in FIG. 1 showing the various parts of a container filling station in the position they assume when the cylinder associated with a filling station is being filled and no material is being discharged to a container.

FIG. 5 is a section taken generally along the line 5--5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a rotary valve assembly for a filling apparatus of the type described.

FIG. 7 is a section taken generally along the line 7--7 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a view taken generally along the line 8--8 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing a modified structure.

FIG. 10 is a view taken generally along the line 10--10 in FIG. 9.

The filling apparatus with which the present invention is adapted to be utilized is of the type customarily referred to as a rotary piston filler. Such a filling machine includes a rotatable central reservoir 10 rotatable about a generally vertically extending axis, the reservoir 10 being provided with a plurality of radially spaced apart peripheral cylindrical reservoir ports 12 in the base thereof. A plurality of filling stations, indicated generally at 14, are associated with the ports 12, there being one filling station 14 mounted on the periphery of the reservoir adjacent each port 12. The stations 14 are caused to be rotated with the reservoir 10 during the filling operation of containers 16.

Each filling station 14 includes a valve body 18 which receives a rotary valve assembly 20, an upwardly extending cylinder 22 secured to the valve body 18, and a piston 24 which is movable within the cylinder 22. The operation of the piston 24 is controlled by a fixed piston control cam assembly 26 which extends about the periphery of the rotary piston filling apparatus and which does not rotate with the reservoir 10. Thus, each piston 24 is associated with a cam follower 28 rotatably mounted on a stub shaft (not shown) carried by the piston 24 and which projects through an associated vertically extending slot 30 in the associated cylinder 22. In addition, each station also includes a container support 32.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 1 in which ten filling stations are illustrated. However, it should be appreciated that a typical rotary piston filling apparatus will probably have many more stations than those illustrated in this figure, and also that additional stations need be present for the loading and unloading of the containers 16, which stations are not illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 the various filling stations are sequentially identified as filling stations 14a through 14j. It can be appreciated from an inspection of FIG. 1 that as the reservoir 10 and stations 14 rotate about the vertically extending axis, that the pistons 24 will be moved from their lowermost position, illustrated at station 14a, to a fully raised position, illustrated at station 14e, and then back to a fully lowered position illustrated at 14i.

Each valve body 18 has a cylindrical bore 34 therein, and each valve body 18 is removably secured to the central reservoir 10 in such a manner that each cylindrical bore 34 within the valve body 18 is aligned with an associated reservoir port 12. As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4 each valve body is provided with three valve ports. A first valve port 36 is disposed near the central reservoir 10 and serves as a fill port. Spaced outwardly of the fill port 36 are a pair of opposed upper and lower discharge ports 38.

The rotary valve assembly 20 is disposed within the cylindrical bore 34, and is movable from a first or fill position, illustrated in FIG. 4, to a second or discharge position illustrated in FIG. 2. The rotary valve assembly can include a solid plug 40 which supports a sleeve 42 for rotation therewith. The plug and sleeve 42 are each provided with fill and discharge ports, these being indicated at 40f, 42f, and 40d and 42d, respectively.

Removably mounted below the valve body 18 is a nozzle assembly indicated generally at 44. The nozzle assembly includes a nozzle body 46 which is removably secured to the valve body 30 by bolts 47. The nozzle assembly also includes a fixed filling tube 48 which is removably interconnected to the nozzle body 46, and a removable tube assembly, indicated generally at 50, which is coaxially mounted within the fixed filling tube 48 and is shiftable between upper and lower positions. Finally, the nozzle assembly additionally includes movable cam means indicated generally at 52.

Referring now in greater detail to the nozzle body 46, it can be seen that this body is provided with upper and lower concentric cylindrical bores 54 and 56. Disposed between the bores 54 and 56 is another cylindrical bore which receives a sleeve 58. Disposed about the sleeve 58 is a C shaped passageway 60 which serves to interconnect the bores 54 and 56. The bores 54 and 56, as well as the C shaped passageway 60, function as a generally vertically extending fluent material passageway. Finally, the nozzle body is provided with a fixed suction passageway 62 transverse to the sleeve 58, the passageway extending to the sleeve and the sleeve having a corresponding aperture (no number) in communication with the passageway. A barbed fitting 64 may be secured to the nozzle body 46 about the suction passageway 62, the barbed fitting in turn receiving a vacuum line 66.

The upper end of the fixed filling tube 48 is telescopically received within a cylindrical member 68 which is threaded at its lower exterior portion. The member 68 is in turn threaded into a threaded aperture in a mounting plate 70 which is secured to the base of the nozzle body 46 by cap screws 72. It can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4 that when the parts are in their assembled position that the interior of the vertically extending filling tube is in communication with the bore 56 so that material which passes through the bore 54, C shaped passageway 60, and bore 56 can be introduced into the tube 48.

The movable tube assembly 50 consists essentially of four parts which are a cam follower portion 74, a spool portion 76, an elongated tube 78, and a sealing foot 80. The cam follower portion and spool portion are integral with each other, and the elongated tube and sealing foot are, as illustrated, integral with each other. The spool portion 78 is slidably received within the sleeve 58 much in the same manner that a valve spool is received within its associated valve body. To this end, the spool portion is provided with annular recesses which receive O-rings 82. The spool portion is additionally provided with a coaxial bore or passageway 84 which extends from the bottom of the spool portion to an intermediate location disposed between the two O-rings. A right angle passageway 86 is interconnected with the coaxial passageway 84 and extends to the surface of the spool. The cam follower portion is provided with a slot which serves as a cam follower and receives a cam. The upper end of the elongated tube 78 is received within an enlarged lower portion of the passageway 84 and is secured thereto in a conventional manner. The sealing foot 80 includes an enlarged diameter portion of a width approximately equal to the width of the fixed tube 48, the enlarged portion receiving an O-ring 88 which may be placed in sealing engagement against the lower surface of the fixed tube 48. The surface 89 above the O-ring 88 is disposed at an angle to guide the fixed tube 48 into the ring 88 when the foot is moved from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 4. In addition, the sealing foot 80 is provided with a downwardly extending conical portion 90. The bore which extends through the elongated tube 78 also extends through the sealing foot 80 and terminates centrally of the external surface of the downwardly extending conical portion 90.

The movable cam means 52 includes a rotatable element 92 which is rotatably journaled within a transversely extending cylindrical bore 94 formed in the nozzle body 46. It should be noted that the axis 96 of the rotatable element 92 passes through the slot or cam follower in cam follower portion 74. A cam 98 is secured to one end of the rotatable element 92 and is disposed within the cam follower.

Gearing means 100 are provided which are capable of causing the rotatable element 92 to rotate in response to the operation of the filling apparatus, and more specifically, in response to the movement of the rotary valve assembly 20. The gearing means includes a first gear 102 connected to the other end of the rotatable element 92, and a second gear, or more specifically gear segment, which is connected to the rotary valve assembly 20. In this connection, it should be noted that the first gear 102 is secured in place by a nut 106 which passes over the threaded end 108 of the rotatable element 92, the first gear being held from rotation by means of a pin 110. The gear segment 104 is held in place by cap screws 112. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 5 the gears are in meshing relationship with each other.

The valve assembly 20 is held in place by a valve lock in the form of a pivoted bar 114, an intermediate portion of the bar 114 being pivotally supported by a bolt 116. The end of the bar 114 remote from the rotary valve assembly 38 is provided with a suitable surface which can be engaged by a valve lock detent 118 as shown in FIG. 3. When in this position the other end of the bar 114 bears against an end surface 120 of the valve plug 40. The bearing surface of the bar 114 may be provided with a suitable wear pad, not shown. In FIG. 5 the bar is shown in that position which it would assume if the valve assembly were to be withdrawn from the valve body 18.

A crank arm 122 extends outwardly of the surface 120 on the valve plug 40 and a cam follower 124 is journaled thereon. The cam follower 124 can engage suitable cams 126 and 128 to shift the valve assembly 20 from the fill position to the discharge position as a filling station 14 is moved from position 14e to 14f, and subsequently the cam follower 124 is engaged by cam 128 as the station moves from position 14i to 14j to shift the valve from the discharge position to the fill position.

The rotary element 92 is provided with a sealing O-ring 130, and the element 92 is held in its assembled position by a C-clip 132 which passes through an annular groove 133 in the rotatable element 92 and suitable apertures in a boss 134 which is a portion of the nozzle body 46.

The apparatus described operates in the following manner: Empty containers 16 are presented to the rotary piston filler machine and filled containers are removed therefrom. These steps are not illustrated in the accompanying drawings as they are well known in the art and can be seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,346. The container is received on support 32 and is supported by the support from the time the container enters the rotary piston filling apparatus until it is discharged therefrom. It can be seen from an inspection of station 14a that initially the top of the container is disposed below the bottom of the fixed filling tube 48, as well as the bottom of the movable tube assembly 50. In order to reduce foaming it is desirable that the fluent material to be filled into the container be introduced below the surface of the fluent material already within the container. To this end, the container is moved upwardly with respect to the fixed filling tube 48 until it attains the position illustrated at station 14e. In the meantime the piston 24 is being moved upwardly within the cylinder 22 by the action of the cam 26 to introduce a predetermined amount of fluent material within the cylinder 22 below the piston 24. In this connection, it should be noted that while the piston is being moved in an upward direction by the action of the cam 26 that the valve assembly 20 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 4 permitting fluent material to move in the direction indicated by the arrows 138. After the container and associated piston have been rotated to the position indicated at 14e there is a dwell portion on the cam 26 between positions 14e and 14f.While the piston is in its upper dwell position the valve cam follower 124 is engaged by the cam 126 to cause the valve 20 to rotate from its fill position indicated in FIG. 4 to its discharge position indicated in FIG. 2. As the valve 20 is being rotated the movable cam means 52 and the gearing means 100 act to interconnect the rotary valve assembly 20 and the movable tube assembly 50 in such a manner as to cause the movable tube assembly to be moved to its lowered position, shown in FIG. 2, when the rotary valve assembly is moved to its discharge position. (By the same token it should be noted that the cam means 52 and gearing means 100 will also cause the movable tube assembly 50 to be disposed in its raised position when the rotary valve assembly 20 is moved back to its fill position.) After the valve 20 has been moved to its discharge position at station 14f, the cam 26 will then cause the piston 24 to move downwardly discharging sufficient fluid from the cylinder 22, through the valve assembly, and through the fixed tube 48, all being indicated by arrows 139, to initially cover the lower end of the fixed filling tube 48, as illustrated at 14g. Subsequent movement of the piston downwardly will also be accompanied by downward movement of the support 32, the movement of the piston and support preferably being coordinated in such a manner that the lower end of the filling tube is always maintained a slight distance below the surface of the fluent material within the container as it is being filled. After all of the prescribed quantity of material within the cylinder 22 has been discharged into the container 16 the cam 26 enters into another dwell position at which time the cam follower 124 on the end of the valve plug 40 is engaged by cam 128 to shift the valve back to its fill position. At this time the movable tube 78 will be shifted from its open position shown in FIG. 2 to its closed position illustrated in FIG. 4 which will prevent any further material within the fixed filling tube 48 from being discharged into the container 16. This will also place the bore within the elongated tube 78 and passageways 84, 86 in communication with the suction passageway 62 and vacuum line 66. This will insure that any droplets of fluent material which may be on the conical surface 90 will not drip onto the container 16, but will instead be withdrawn through the bore of tube 78, passageways 84, 86, suction passageway 62, and vacuum line 66, thus preventing marring of the containers by droplets of the material which may fall from the filling apparatus. It should be observed that when the movable tube assembly is in its lower position as illustrated in FIG. 2 that the bore within the tube 78 is not in communication with the suction passageway and thus material is not drawn into the vacuum line. This will insure that a relatively precise quantity of material is discharged within the container 16 and will also prevent waste of such material. The rotatable valve assembly 20 includes essentially three elements, namely a substantially solid valve plug 40, the generally cylindrical valve sleeve 42, and alignment means which extend between the valve plug and the sleeve to hold the parts in their desired assembled relationship, the alignment means permitting disassembly of the parts but also causing the valve sleeve to rotate when the valve plug is rotated. The solid valve plug is provided with the filling port 40f which extends from the end face 140 of the plug to the cylindrical surface 142, there being a bridge of supporting material 144 between the opening in the end face 140 and the opening in the cylindrical surface 142. The plug is additionally provided with a transverse bore 40d and a flange 146 at the end opposite from the end face 140.

The generally cylindrical rotary valve sleeve 42 is provided with a first opening 42f which generally corresponds to the opening for the fill port 42f in the cylindrical surface 42. Similarly, the sleeve is provided with discharge ports 42d alignable with the discharge port 40d in the plug. Finally, the sleeve is provided with a flange 148 at that end remote from the fill port. As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4 a groove is formed in the flanged portion for the reception of a seal in the form of an O-ring 150 and a groove is formed in the valve body 18 for the reception of another seal in the form of an O-ring 151. The sleeve 42 and plug 40 can be assembled by merely telescoping the sleeve over the plug. To insure that the parts are in their proper aligned position unequally spaced apart pins 152 are supported by the flange 146 and are adapted to engage corresponding blind apertures 154 in flange 148 of sleeve 42. By making the apertures blind, contamination past the O-rings 150 and 151 is prevented.

By employing the construction described above, it is possible to handle differing forms of fluent materials without the necessity of providing entirely different valves. Thus, in the past, when handling fluent materials of poor lubricity, such as for example tomato paste, it has been necessary to provide a valve plug on which a coating of polytetrafluoroethylene has been bonded. As there is a seam between the bonded polytetrafluoroethylene and the supporting plug, this form of valve has not been desirable because of the difficulty of thoroughly cleaning it. The problems occurring with this form of valve have been overcome by merely making the sleeve removable whereby cleaning can be facilitated. In addition, by making the plug of an ordinary stainless steel it is also possible to provide an approved sleeve for abrasive materials, which sleeve could be of an alloy of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,743,176, thus eliminating the necessity of providing a solid rotatable valve of such material, which is relatively expensive. Thus, by providing a substrate plug and sleeves suitable for different applications it is possible to both materially reduce the costs of the valve assemblies and to improve the ability to properly clean the various components.

It can be seen from an inspection of the various drawings that the parts of the apparatus can be readily disassembled for cleaning purposes.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10 a slightly modified structure is illustrated which eliminates the retaining C-clip 132. With the structure employing the C-clip it has been found that it is possible to reassemble the parts so that they are not in synchronization with each other as, for example, by rotating and reassembling the rotatable element 92 without corresponding rotational movement of the rotary valve assembly. In the design illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, the groove 133 in the rotatable element 92 which receives the C-clip is eliminated along with the corresponding apertures in the boss 134. Additionally, the gear 102 is held in place by a bolt 200 and washer 202, the bolt passing through an aperture in the gear 102 and being received within a threaded aperture in the rotatable element 92. The gear 102 is pinned by means of a pin 110 to prevent it from rotating with respect to the rotatable element 92. The rotatable element 92 is also provided with a flanged element 204, which may be integral with the rotatable element 92, or which may be formed separately, mounted over the end of the rotatable element, and rigidly secured thereto. The flanged element 204 will be captured between the boss 134 and the inner surface 206 of the gear or rack 104, and thus is not necessary to provide any other structure to retain the rotatable elements 92 in its place.

To facilitate the assembly of the gear segment 104 and the driven gear in their proper assembled relationship, an alignment washer 208 is secured to the outer or right hand surface (FIG. 10) of the gear 102, the washer 208 having a diameter equal to the full diameter of the driven gear 102 except for a chordal portion which has been removed along line 210. The gear 102 is also provided with an outwardly extending pin 212 which can be received within a cutout 214 in the rack 104.

To assemble the parts in their proper assembled relationship after the rotary filling machine has been cleaned, the rotatable element 92 is first inserted into the bore 94 with the cam 98 being captured by the cam follower within the cam follower portion 74. Before the rotary valve assembly can be reassembled within the valve body it will be necessary that the movable tube assembly be in its fully lowered position as illustrated in FIG. 2. When the parts are in this position the chord 210 of alignment washer 208 will be spaced above bolt 200 and lie in a generally horizontal position, this being illustrated in FIG. 9. The pin 212 will then be projecting upwardly towards the axis 96. Now the rotatable valve assembly 20 can be installed. It should be observed that it cannot be installed except when the rotatable element is in the position illustrated in FIG. 9 as the rack cannot pass over the right hand surface of the alignment washer and can only pass above the cutout portion. When the rotatable valve assembly is assembled the pin 212 will be received within the cutout 214 of the rack 104 to insure that the parts are in their desired assembled relationship.

After the rotatable valve assembly has been installed it will be secured in place by the valve lock or pivoted bar 114 thus insuring that the parts will be maintained in their desired assembled relationship. To disassemble the parts it is only necessary to swing the valve bar to the position illustrated in FIG. 5. At this point both the rotatable element 92 and the rotatable valve assembly can be pulled as a single unit, or, if they are in the position illustrated in FIG. 9, the rotatable valve assembly 20 can be pulled first and then the rotatable element 92 can be pulled. However, to reassemble the parts it is desirable that the procedure outlined above be followed to insure that the parts are still maintained in their desired assembled relationship.

While a preferred form in which the principles of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, it is to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the particular details shown and described above, but that, in fact, widely differing means may be employed in the broader aspects of this invention.