CA1075131A - Container washing apparatus - Google Patents
Container washing apparatusInfo
- Publication number
- CA1075131A CA1075131A CA259,084A CA259084A CA1075131A CA 1075131 A CA1075131 A CA 1075131A CA 259084 A CA259084 A CA 259084A CA 1075131 A CA1075131 A CA 1075131A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- compartment
- labels
- washing solution
- screen
- pump
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B08—CLEANING
- B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
- B08B9/00—Cleaning hollow articles by methods or apparatus specially adapted thereto
- B08B9/08—Cleaning containers, e.g. tanks
- B08B9/20—Cleaning containers, e.g. tanks by using apparatus into or on to which containers, e.g. bottles, jars, cans are brought
- B08B9/28—Cleaning containers, e.g. tanks by using apparatus into or on to which containers, e.g. bottles, jars, cans are brought the apparatus cleaning by splash, spray, or jet application, with or without soaking
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B08—CLEANING
- B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
- B08B3/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use or presence of liquid or steam
- B08B3/04—Cleaning involving contact with liquid
- B08B3/10—Cleaning involving contact with liquid with additional treatment of the liquid or of the object being cleaned, e.g. by heat, by electricity or by vibration
- B08B3/14—Removing waste, e.g. labels, from cleaning liquid; Regenerating cleaning liquids
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Apparatus for forceably flushing labels from con-tainers being conveyed in pockets through a container washing machine, and a system of fluid flow in the apparatus for ex-tracting the flushed out labels from the washing solution so the latter solution may be recirculated to repeat the flushing cycle. The fluid flow system is arranged to operate in a man-ner that will conserve energy without impairing the effective-ness of the flushing action.
Apparatus for forceably flushing labels from con-tainers being conveyed in pockets through a container washing machine, and a system of fluid flow in the apparatus for ex-tracting the flushed out labels from the washing solution so the latter solution may be recirculated to repeat the flushing cycle. The fluid flow system is arranged to operate in a man-ner that will conserve energy without impairing the effective-ness of the flushing action.
Description
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Thi.s invention relates to conkalner washlng apparatu~
ancl ls particularly directed to a system for filtering labels out o:~ the washing :~luid so the ~luid may be reused, and to re-moving the labels as they collect.
Apparatus for washing containers used in the soft drink, beer and beverage business i.s continually ~aced ~1ith the problem ~ removing the labels ~rom the external surface o~ the conkainers, and the large capacitl apparatus handles a kremen-dous quantity of containers so the label accumulation prDblem is acute. Since the containers must be ca:rried through the washing apparatus in pockets, dl~iculty is usua].ly encountered in removing the labels ~rom the pockets. If the labels are not removed from the pockets there is the possibility tha-t a cer-tain percentage o~ the containers ~ill have the labels reapplied be~ore being discharged. Washing apparatus utilizes caustlc washing solutions in order to penetrate the adhesives~ as well as the label material ~or the purpose o~ detaching the labels as quickly as possible. The caustic solution is generally heat-ed so that it will more quickl,r penetrate and loosen the adhe-sives, whereb~ the labels can be ~lushed out o~ the pockets asthe containers are moved into and out of the washing solution.
There still remains the di~ficulty of` the soaking time which contributes to getting the labels o~ the bottles and out o~
the carrier pocketsy and ~or this reason washing apparatus is ..
usually made with multiple compartments which consumes a large ~loor area. ~arge apparatus is expensive to operate and ~re-~, quently has to be shut down in order to remo~e the accumulation ., Il o~ labels.
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The present invention provides container washing ap-parakus comprising a washing solution containlng compartment, ` container carrie:r conveyor means operable to carry containers .
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in a loo~ pa-th which is ~irec-te~ ~ownwarcll~ an~ then upwardly through said compar-tmerlt, imper:Eorate guide means in said com~
partment in position to be enqaged by the containers in the down-ward and upward travel, at least one of said guide means being ~int errupted at a zone above the bottom of the loop path where said carrier conveyor and the containers will transverse the interruption, nozzle means disposed adjacent to said inkerrup-tion in said guide means to deliver a Elow o.E fluid to pass over the containers and throuyh said carrier conveyor for flushing 10 slabels there~rom,a pump outside of said compartment haviny an outlet connected to said nozzle means and an inlet connected into said compartment to receive washiny solution from sai.d compartment and circulate it through said nozzle means back to said compartment, filter means submerged in said compartment and located to cover said pump inlet connection into sai.d com-partment, said filter means operating to e~clude labels from the washing solution drawn in by said pump and a branch con-nection from said pump outlet extending into said filter means to return filtered washing solution to said filter means to flush labels therefrom.
Hot caustic solution is delivered by the nozzle means into the carrier pockets and over the containers therein so as to flush the labels out of the pockets. The flushing action is dixected into the compartment which contains the filter means which preferably is a rotating filtering screen mounted over a fluid inlet to a suction system for drawing the solution through the screen and thereby causing the labels to be strained out of the solution. The solution which has been free of labels is recirculated back to the nozzles. The rotating screen is pre-30 ferably provided with an internal screen flushing manifold which .. -:~
is supplied with cleaned caustic solution, and the manifold delivers the solution outwardly through t~e screen to continually flush the labels o:Ef of the surface of the screen so as to avoid clogging the screen. The labels flushed off of the screen in
Thi.s invention relates to conkalner washlng apparatu~
ancl ls particularly directed to a system for filtering labels out o:~ the washing :~luid so the ~luid may be reused, and to re-moving the labels as they collect.
Apparatus for washing containers used in the soft drink, beer and beverage business i.s continually ~aced ~1ith the problem ~ removing the labels ~rom the external surface o~ the conkainers, and the large capacitl apparatus handles a kremen-dous quantity of containers so the label accumulation prDblem is acute. Since the containers must be ca:rried through the washing apparatus in pockets, dl~iculty is usua].ly encountered in removing the labels ~rom the pockets. If the labels are not removed from the pockets there is the possibility tha-t a cer-tain percentage o~ the containers ~ill have the labels reapplied be~ore being discharged. Washing apparatus utilizes caustlc washing solutions in order to penetrate the adhesives~ as well as the label material ~or the purpose o~ detaching the labels as quickly as possible. The caustic solution is generally heat-ed so that it will more quickl,r penetrate and loosen the adhe-sives, whereb~ the labels can be ~lushed out o~ the pockets asthe containers are moved into and out of the washing solution.
There still remains the di~ficulty of` the soaking time which contributes to getting the labels o~ the bottles and out o~
the carrier pocketsy and ~or this reason washing apparatus is ..
usually made with multiple compartments which consumes a large ~loor area. ~arge apparatus is expensive to operate and ~re-~, quently has to be shut down in order to remo~e the accumulation ., Il o~ labels.
1 ~
The present invention provides container washing ap-parakus comprising a washing solution containlng compartment, ` container carrie:r conveyor means operable to carry containers .
, : :
.
,: . . .,,,, .: :. ',' .. :
.
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in a loo~ pa-th which is ~irec-te~ ~ownwarcll~ an~ then upwardly through said compar-tmerlt, imper:Eorate guide means in said com~
partment in position to be enqaged by the containers in the down-ward and upward travel, at least one of said guide means being ~int errupted at a zone above the bottom of the loop path where said carrier conveyor and the containers will transverse the interruption, nozzle means disposed adjacent to said inkerrup-tion in said guide means to deliver a Elow o.E fluid to pass over the containers and throuyh said carrier conveyor for flushing 10 slabels there~rom,a pump outside of said compartment haviny an outlet connected to said nozzle means and an inlet connected into said compartment to receive washiny solution from sai.d compartment and circulate it through said nozzle means back to said compartment, filter means submerged in said compartment and located to cover said pump inlet connection into sai.d com-partment, said filter means operating to e~clude labels from the washing solution drawn in by said pump and a branch con-nection from said pump outlet extending into said filter means to return filtered washing solution to said filter means to flush labels therefrom.
Hot caustic solution is delivered by the nozzle means into the carrier pockets and over the containers therein so as to flush the labels out of the pockets. The flushing action is dixected into the compartment which contains the filter means which preferably is a rotating filtering screen mounted over a fluid inlet to a suction system for drawing the solution through the screen and thereby causing the labels to be strained out of the solution. The solution which has been free of labels is recirculated back to the nozzles. The rotating screen is pre-30 ferably provided with an internal screen flushing manifold which .. -:~
is supplied with cleaned caustic solution, and the manifold delivers the solution outwardly through t~e screen to continually flush the labels o:Ef of the surface of the screen so as to avoid clogging the screen. The labels flushed off of the screen in
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this manner migrate to -the bottom of -the compartment ~lhere the accumulation can be continua].ly removed by label rernoving appara-tus of the character shown in our U S. Patent No. 3,162,204.
Accordingly the compartment is continually cleared o~ labels as they are flushed from the rotating screen and allowed to migrate toward the bottom o~ the compartment, The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side elevational view o~ so much of a container wa,shing machine as will present the components o~ this invention normally assembled on the outside o~ the washer com~
partment~
Figure 2 is an elevationa,1 vlew 3~ the washer seen in Figure 1 but with the near side wall removed to show the inter-nal components in full line;
Figure 3 is a ~ragmentary ~ectional view transverse of the washer taken along line 3-3 in Figure l;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional detail of' the com-ponents seen in Figure 3, the view being taken along line 4-4 thereo~;
Figure 5 is an enlarged and ~ragmentary view o~ the container ~lushing mean,s seen in Figure 3 at line 5-5;
Figure 6 is an enlarged and ~ragmentary view o~ the label collecting and moving means, the view being taken along line 6-6 in Figure l;
Figure 7 i~ a ~ragmentary ~lan ~iew taken along line 7-7 in Figure 6;
Figure 8 is a general side ele~ational view of the ap-paratus opposite to Figure 1, and more partlcularly seen along line 8-8 in E'igure 6~
: Figure 9 is a modi~ication of components shown in a
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this manner migrate to -the bottom of -the compartment ~lhere the accumulation can be continua].ly removed by label rernoving appara-tus of the character shown in our U S. Patent No. 3,162,204.
Accordingly the compartment is continually cleared o~ labels as they are flushed from the rotating screen and allowed to migrate toward the bottom o~ the compartment, The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side elevational view o~ so much of a container wa,shing machine as will present the components o~ this invention normally assembled on the outside o~ the washer com~
partment~
Figure 2 is an elevationa,1 vlew 3~ the washer seen in Figure 1 but with the near side wall removed to show the inter-nal components in full line;
Figure 3 is a ~ragmentary ~ectional view transverse of the washer taken along line 3-3 in Figure l;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional detail of' the com-ponents seen in Figure 3, the view being taken along line 4-4 thereo~;
Figure 5 is an enlarged and ~ragmentary view o~ the container ~lushing mean,s seen in Figure 3 at line 5-5;
Figure 6 is an enlarged and ~ragmentary view o~ the label collecting and moving means, the view being taken along line 6-6 in Figure l;
Figure 7 i~ a ~ragmentary ~lan ~iew taken along line 7-7 in Figure 6;
Figure 8 is a general side ele~ational view of the ap-paratus opposite to Figure 1, and more partlcularly seen along line 8-8 in E'igure 6~
: Figure 9 is a modi~ication of components shown in a
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view similar -to the v:ie~l of Figure 3;
Figure ]0 is a secti.on vlew takerl at :line 10-10 in F igure 9;
Figure llA, llB, llC, and 11D, are transverse section views taken at the four places indicated in Figure 9 to illus-trate the seauence of operation of the flow of fluid to ~lush labels collectin~ on the screenî
Figure 12 is a ~ragmentary and diayr~mmatical. side elevational vlew similar to Figure 1 ~ut showin~ a modi~ied ar-rangement of the ~luid .~low system ~or su~pl~ing label ~lushingjets where the jets are located above the li~uid level; and Figure 13 is a fragmentar~ view o:E the system shown în Figuxe 12 a~ seen ~long the line 13-13~
In Figure 1 there is shown at 15 a fra~mentary side elevati.onal view o~ a container washing apparatus which is su~-poxted on a floor area ~y a sub-structure xepxesented at 16~
The apparatus sncloses a roller chain conveyor represented by the'phantom line 17 r and thîs roller chain is trained over a sexies of sprockets 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 on'its bottle convey-' 20 ing circuit, and is returned at the lower le~t corner around sprocket 23. The interior of the apparatus îs divided into a number o~ compartments, and ~or the purpose of'this disclosure it is ~elieved su~ficient to show a compartment 24 de~'ined be-tween vextical pa.rtition walls 25 and 26 and a bottom wall 27.
Com~artment 24 is located ad~acent a largex compart~ent 28 which is defined by the partition wall 26 o~ the ad~,acent compartment 24, a partition wall 29 and a bottom wall 29A~ The roller chain !:
- mov'e~ over the sp:rocket 19 and descends into ompartment 24 '~
where it moves or loops around a bottom guide trough 30 and 30~: then travels upwa:rdly around the upper sprocket 20 befoxe again descending into compartment 28 where it turns ox loops around a ~ ' ~ _4_ :: :
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~1~75~3~1 guide trough 31, tr~vels upwardly over sprocket 21 be~ore de-scencling to move around a gulde trough 32, and then travels up-wardly around the upper sprocket 22. lt is tmderstood that there are a pair of roller chains 17 mounted on rails 17A at the opposite side walls of the apparatus, and the carrier~ ~or the containers are suspended between the roller chains 17.
Figure 6 illustrates a ~ragmentary portion of roller chains 17 and a t~plcal container carrler 33 supportlng containers C.
This disclosure wlll o~ course be lllustrative of' the numerous contalner carriers 33 that wil.l be attached to the roller chains 17 so that a contlnuous flow o~ containers wl]l be carried through the compartments between the inlet mechanism and the discharge mechanlsm which have not been shown.
Still re~erring to Figure 1 there is shown the ar-rangement o~ components which are organized on the outside o~
the wall 14 o~ the apparatus. ~ccordlngly it is noked that there is a washing solution circulatlng pump 34 carrled on the ~rame of a driving motor 35g and these two components are mount-ed on a pad 36 in a posltlon such that the suction inlet 37 of the pump 34 is connected to the vertlcal suction conduit 38, and the pump discharge side is connected ko a delivery pipe 39.
The suction conduit 38 is connected into the bottom o~ a junction box 40 ~ixed on the side wall 14 so as to be in alignment with the compartment 24 between partition walls 25 and ~6. The dis-charge pipe 39 ~rom the pump 34 is connected into a branch plpe ; 41, while the main portion o~' the pipe 39 continues on above the ~unction box 40 and enters the wall 14 at the elbow 42.
The branch pipe 41 contalns a control valve 43 and the pipe 41 continues upwardly into the ~unction box 40 ~or a purpose pres-e~tly to be described.
A second pump 44 is driven by a motor 45 and these ", : ' : ; . ~ ',, ', : , . ..
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two components are mounted on a pad 46 such that the pump suc-tion 47 may be connected to a vertical conduit 48 which connects into a ~unction box 40A. The delivery side of the pump 44 is connected to a pipe 49 which rises vertically past a branch pipe 50 under control of a valve 51 and is ~ivided at the upper end into a rlght hand branch 52 under the control o~ a valve 53, and a left hand branch 54 under the control of a valve 55. The branch 52 passes through the wall 14 at elbow 56 and the branch 54 enters the wall 14 at the elbow 57. It wlll be observed that the lower branch pipe 50 is directed into the Junction box 40A for a purpose to be described presently.
~ igure 2 discloses the principal components in the ap-paratus 15, and the view is similar to Figure 1 but with the ex-; terior wall 14 and the external components removed so as not to complicate the disclosure. It is observed that the roller chains 17 is caused to ~ollow a path determined by a ~ixed guide sheet .' ' 58 whlch has a descending portion connected into the bottom guide 30 and a rising portion whlch forms a U-shaped path ~or the roller chains 17. The guide sheet 58 is interrupted cross-wise of the apparatus by a series o~ spaced bars 59 at one limited location below the upper sprocket 19. The containers C
are caused to move across the bars 59 and in crossing the bars the ,cont~iners are bathed in a stream o~ solution from a series .j .
o~ nozzles carried in:.a mani~old 60. The mani~old is pro~ided '~ -with a feed pipe 61 which is connected to the elbow 42 shown in Figure 1 and associated with the pump delivery pipe 39.
~: The view o~ Figure 5 is an enlargement o~ the arrange-ment of inter~upting the guide sheet with a series of spaced bars 59~ whereby the fluid jet stre~m issuing ~rom nozzles 60A
in the mani~old 60 will direct the ~low o~ the ~luid over con-tainers C and through the pockets o~ the carrier 33. This view :: -6-;;~ .
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also illustrates -the roller chains 17 which are guided by the fixed rails 17A. It should now be clear khat the ~et stream issuing ~rom the noææles 60A bathes the container C' and is di-rected into the pockets of the carrier 33 and passes through the space between the bars 59, carrying off' the loosened labels in the process.
With f'urther reference to Figures 1 and 2 it will be understood that khe vertically directed pump delivery plpe 49 will deliver fluid to the branch pipe 52 and through the con-nection of elbow 56 (Figure 2) will ~eed the pipe 62; pipe 62is connected to the manifold 63 to supply fluid to a series o~
nozzles 64 which will direct the fluid over containers C moving past the series of bars 65 which interrupt the guide .sheet 66 ln the right hand loop of the conveyor travel between sprocket 21 and sprocket 22. The left hand branch 54 of the vertical pump delivery pipe 49 is connected with elbow 57 which delivers the fluid to feed pipe 67 and the mani~old 68 for delivering ~luid to nozzles 69 for ~lushing the containers C which are moved o~er the bars 70 which interrupt the guide sheet 71 in the left hand loop o.~ the conveyor between the sprockets 20 and 21. The guide sheet 71 ls :~ormed into a bottom loop trough 31 and the cooperating guide sheet 66 is formed into a bottom loop or trough 32. The troughs 31 and 32 are similar to the previous-ly described trough 30~ and each of the troughs functions to collect the labels which are ~lushed o~f the containers and out of the carrier pockets. It is, therefore, necessary to contin uousl~ remove the collection o~ labels ~rom each of the respec-tive troughs and such means for the trough 30 is seen in Figure ; 6. The description of this means will o~ course be the same as for the means associated with the troughs 72 and 73.
: In Figu:re 6 the compartment 24 is closed at the bottom :~:
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by wall 27 and by the opposlte side walls lL~. The trough Ls shown at 30 to extend between the side walls l4 such that khe opposite ends are ln connectlon with trans~er ducts 7L~ positîon-ed on -the exterior o~ the wal].s l4. The ducts 74 have inlet ends 75 connecting with the trough 30 and outlet ends 76 con-necting with the space below the trough 30 and above the com-partment ~loor 27 so thak there will be a wa~ ~or the labels and the washing solu-tion to pass ~rom the trough 30 into the bottom o~ the compartment 21~.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrake an arrangement o:~ noæzles ~or causing khe labels collecting :1n the trough 30 to contin-ually ml~rate through the transrer ducts 74 inko the bottom o~
the compartment 24. In the plan vlew o~ Figure 7 a pair o~
nozzles 77 are located at the opposite ends o~ trough 30 and are in opposed and of~set positions so that ~luid circulakion ~rom the nozzles will tend to establish a current indicated by the arrow 78. The nozzles 77 are combined with cooperating nozzles 79 which are dlrected to poink into the inlet opening 75 o~ the trans~er ducts 74 so that there is a "venturi" e~ect produced to encourage and accelerate the movement or migration o~ the labels by creating currents o~ ~luid movement in the trans~er ducts 74. The respective nozzles 77 and 79 at the rlght hand side o~ Figure 7 are connected to a supply pipe 80 which is fed by a cross supply pipe 8l running to the le~t side o~ the com-partment to a supply connection 82 .~or the respective nozzles 77 and 79. Fluid for the nozzles on both ends o~ the krough 30 is delivered through the main pipe 83 ~rom a source to be de-scribed presently in Figure 8. In addition to the nozzles above described~ the collection o~ labels on the ~loor 27 o~ the com-partmen~ 24 are substantially encouraged to migrate t~ard thedrain outlet 84 by secondary nozzles 8~ entering the botkom of ... ,, '. ;. ' . ', . . ,.: , ,. ,.;,, ,",', ;' .. ' ",', . . .
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the compartment 2l~ through the wall 14 opposite to the locatlonof the drain 84. Attention wlll now be directed to Figures 1, 3 and 4 ~or an understanding of the means at junctlon box 40 and 40A
provided for supplying label free washing solution to the mani-folds 60, 63 and 68 (Figure 2). The view o~ Figure 3 is a de-tail taken in Figure 1 f~r the compartment 2~. A similar as-sembly is shown for the compartment 28 at the junctlon box 40A
so i-t will not be necessary to repeat the description. The junction box 40 is mounted over an upening in the side wall l.4 to enclose the outer end 86 of a rotating screen 87. There is a suitable bearing 88 for the open end 86 o~ the screen 87 and the screen projects into the compartment 24 a suitable distance so as to expose its perforated surface to the washing solution whlch will be contaminated with labels being flushed o~f the containers C and out oP the carrier pockets by the nozæles mounted in the manifold 60. There is a support beam 89 spanning the distance between the side walls 14, and this beam carries a : bearing bracket 90 having a fixed shaft 91 extending into the bearing hub 92 which clos0s the inner end o~ the screen 87.
The hub 92 rotates relative to the shaft 91, and the rotation is achieved by positioning a sprocket 93 on the open outer end : of the screen 87 and connecting the sprocket by a drive chain 94 to a sprocket 95 carried on a shaft 96 which extends out over a bottom wall 97 in the junction box 40 through a seal 98 to be supported in a bearing housing 99. The shaft 96 is driven from a sprocket 100 which is connected by a chain lOl (Figure l) tD
the output sprocket of a motor 102 mounted on the side of the ~unctla~box 40. Since the screen 87 is opening at its outer end 8~the washi~.g solution will flood the junction box 40~ and : this requires tha,t the sha~t 96 must be guarded by a suitable ~ ~ _g _ ;:
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~luld seal 98.
The screen ~7 is caused ko rotate ~'or the purpose o~
permltting the labe].s drawn and sucked on to the outer surface thereof to be flushed off so as not to unduly obstruct the cleaning or straining ~unction o~ the screen. The interior o~
the screen 87 (Figures 3 and 4) is penetrated by a conduit 103 which has an open longitudinal side ~acing toward the interior of the screen, and the open side ls closed by a pair o~ longi~
tudinal blocks 104 which are spaced to form a longitudlnal slot 105. The conduit 103 is connected near the open end 86 of the screen to a plpe 106 which has a ~luid delivery pipe 107 extending through a suitable seal 108 in the ~unction box L~o to the exterior so as to cormect with the pipe 41 previously described in connection with Figure 1. The end o~ the pipe 106 located in the junction box 40 ls formed with a cap 109 for the purpose o~ permitting an operating rod 110 to project through the cap, and rod 110 extends ~or the ~ull length o~ the pipe 103 with its end slideably mounted in a guide 111 on the outer closure cap 112 ~or the pipe 103. The closure cap 112 is suit-ably supported on the stationar~ sha~t 91 and is formed with aback ~lush passage 113 in the shaft 91 ~or the purpose o~
~lushing out sediment that might accumulate in the area inside the closure cap 112. The end o~ the rod 110 which pr~ects through the cap 109 in the ~unctlon box is connected to one arm of a bellcrank 114, and the other arm o~ the bellcrank is con-:~ nected to an actuating rod 115 which e~tends vertically out o~the junction box through a standpipe 116 to the outer end above the llquid level line where an actuating handle 117 is provided.
It will be Gbserved that the portion o~ the rod 110 located in the pipe 103 is ~ormed with a series of spaced scrapers or : blades 118 which pro~ect into the slot 105 between the spaced ',' , ':'. ", ; - .,' ~ . ,' ';' ' ' "
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blocks 104. Periodical operati.on o~ khe handle 117 wlll cause the scraper b].ades 118 to sweep back and fo.rth ln the slot 105 and dislodge any obstruction to the ~low of' fluid from the pump 37 and pipe 41, such ~low being important to pass through the screen per~orates and ~lush o~ la'bels. As the screen rot,ates the rlushing action will su~ice to keep the screen ~unctionally actlve to deliver clean washlng ~luid into the ~unction box where lt will ~l~w by the outlet conduit 38 to the suctLon side o~ the pump 34.
The ~oregoing description has related to the rotary screen and provislons :~or ~lushing label~ o~ o~ the screen in compartment 24. The identical organization of components is mounted in the compartment 28 where the screen flushing means is supplled with ~luid ~rom pipe 50 connected to the delivery pipe 49 from pump 44. In each screen ~lushi.ng assembly there is a control valve at 43 and 51 whlch will be manually regulated ~or the desired flow of ~luid so that the rotatlng screen wlll be kept desirably free o~ labelsO The pump 34 is connected by con-duit 38 to the ~unction box 40 for the purpose of establishing the suction ~low of ~luid through the screen 87, and the same arrangement is seen ~or compartment 28 where the suction conduit 48 ~or the pump Ll4 is connected to the Junctlon box 40A.
, Turning now to Figure 8, it is seen that the side o~
the apparatus 16 opposite that shown in Figure 1 is utilized for connecting the troughs 30, 32 and 33, as well as the bottom area of compartment 28 and 24 to a label,separator 119. The separator is a gellerally ve~icall~ directed member ha~ing an interior heli~.al screw, as disclosed in the be~ore mentioned ., U.S. Patent 3,162,204, driven by a motor 120 and delivering labels substantia:lly ~ree of ~luid through the upper o~tlet chute 121. A centri~ugal pump 122 driven by a motor 123, is , .. ,~,', ~ ~ .. ,' ~7~3~
connected by a suction conduit 124 to the side o~ the separator 119 and the pump delivers cleaned washing solution th~ ugh the delivery pipe 83. This pipe is connected in the manner shown in Figure 7 to the system of nozzles disposed in the trough 30, and to the nozzles in the bottom of the compartment 2~ seen in Fig-ure 69 for the purpose of continually causing the labels falling into the trough 30 to migrate into l;he bottom o~ the compartment 24 through the trans~er ducts 74 While not shown, the troughs 31 and 32 are provided with a similar arrangement of no~zles which functi.on in a like manner to continually cause the labeLs collecting in thc troughs 31 and 32 to migrate through the trans~
~er ducts 74 into the bottom o~ the compartment 28. The action o~ the centri~ugal pump 1.22 creates a suction flow in the draln collecting conduit 125J and this latter conduit is connect;ed to the respective drain pipes 84 opening out of the bottom of the compartments. Control valves 126 are provided for the purpose of being able to appl~ the suction e~fect of the pump 122, i.n any desired order of selection, to any o~ the compartment bott;om areas where the label collection ls more pro~use.
In Figures 9 and 10 there is shown a modified arrange-ment of components ~or operating the rotary screen 127 which functions in substantially the same manner as the rotary screan 87 previously described in Figure 3. In the modified arrange-men-t, the rotary screen 127 is mounted in the wall o~ the.tank 14 on a suitable bearing 128 adjacent the open end 129 which is surrounded by a sprocket 130. The sprocket is connected by a suitable chain 13:L to a drive sprocket 132 mounted on shaft 133.
This shaft is suit;ably connected to a drive motor in an arrange-ment similar to that seen in Figure 3. The sprocket 132 has 30 a secondary sprocket 134 mounted on the shaft 133 and the sprocket 134 is connected by a chain 135 to a sprocket 136 .~ . . . . . .
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~'astened on the end o~ a shaf't 137. rChe ad~acent end of the sha~t 137 is carried in a suitably bearing 138 supported from the adjacent pipe 139. The opposite end o~ the rotary screen 127 projects into the compartment a~d is provided with a sup-porting hub 140 carried on a bearing 1~1, and the bearing 141 is supported on the spindle 142 of bracket 143, in turn~
fastened to a suitable beam lL~4 extending across the width o~
the washer so as to be supported at its ends on the walls 14.
It is also seen that the pipe 139 is connected to an open sided conduit 145 so as to deliver a fluid under pressure along the conduit and out to the closed end 146 where there is pro-vided a back ~lush passage 147 in the spindle 142 so as to pre-vent accumulation o~ sediment in the outer end of the conduit 145. The end closure 146 is formed with a bearing socket 148 which receives the end of the shaft 137 so that the shaft is able to rotate between the socket 148 and the bearing 138.
It can be seen in Figures 9, 10 and llA through llD
inclusive that the shaft 137 is operatively mounted between a pair of blocks 150 seated in the open side o~ the conduit 145.
The sha~t 137 is formed with a series o~ slots which are spaced along the ~ength of the shaft and are stepped around the circum-~erence of the shaft at approximately 30 o~ angular spacing.
For example Figure llA shows that the shaft 137 is provided with a slot 151 which opens a fluid flow passage ~rom the interior of the conduit 145 to the perforated rotating screen 127 so as to permit fluid to be delivered from the inside of the screen for ~lushing labels o~f of the screen. The view of Figure llB de-picts the position of the slot 151B turned away from the in-~erior o~ the conduit 145 so that no fluid can be delivered to ~lush the screen 145. The view o~ Figure llC shows the slot 151C is displaced 180 from the slot 151 of Figure llA so that : .. . ... . .
.: .. , , . :
3 ~75~13~
again ~luid will be de].ivered to the inslde o~ the screen to~lush labels therefrom. The view of Figure llD shows the slot 151D in the sha~t 137 positioned to cut o~ the flow of screen ~lushing ~luid. It can be surmisecl from the foregoing descrip-tion that rotation of the shaft 13'7 wi.ll periodically and se-quentially cause the respectlve slots to register with the in-terior of conduit 1~5 so khat fluid will be released throup,h the respective slots for flushing :labels o~f the screen 127 so the screen surface passes the location o:~ the shaft 137. The speed o~ rotation of the screen and the shaft 137 is dlf~erent.
~ktention will agaln be dlrected to Flgures 6 and 7 ~or the details of means to improve the control of the migra-tion o~ labels collecting in the respeckive troughs 30, 31 and 32. The view in the drawing concerning the trough 30 and as indicated therein khe mid porti.on of the trough 30 between the walls 14 is pro~ided with a vertically directed divider plate 152 which is mounted to extend longitudinally and appr~ximately in the center line of the trough. The plate 152 is so located that it will prevent the head on collisian o~ the horizontal jetstreams generated from the nozzles 77, the jetstreams being indicated by the arrows 78. The plate 152 thereby ~orces the current of label ~lushing fluid to setup low velocity circulat-ing currents shown by the arrows 153, and these currents cir-culate around the opposite ends of the plate 152. The plate 152 extends upwardly above the elevation of the nozzles 77 so as to prevent the streams 78 from being able to cross over the ~ plate 152 and reduce the desired control of fluid movement with-; in the trough 30. With~ut the divider plate 152y the nozzle skreams 78 are able to fan out horizontally and impinge on each other with the re~ult that the colliding streams would move ; vertically and tend to keep the labels in a constant vertical :.
~, . . .
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circulating path. This undesirable act;ion is a~oided by the divider plate 152 and an exceptio~ally efficlent label removing result has been obtained by the divider plate and with the as~
sistance of the auxillary nozzles 79 pointed into the transfer ducts 74.
The foregoing description relating to the system for supplying clean ~luid to the respective label flushing noæ~les 60A as seen in Figure 5 has been in regard to the position o~
these nozzles below the liquid level L as seen in Figure 2.
10 This location is important to avoi.d creating foam in thc caustlc solution, as foam would detract ~rom the efficient ~lushin~ re~
sult desired. In certain instances where foam is not a prob]em, the flushing nozzles may be located above the liquid level, and some o~ the latter instances would be exernpli~ied by intermit-tent ~etting. Turning now to Flgures 12 and 13 it can be seen that the junction box ~OA is connected by a suction conduit 155 to the suction inlet 156 o~ the centrifugal pump 157 driven by a motor 158. The delivery side o~ the centrifugal pump is rep-resented by the pipe 159 having a main branch 160 leading up wardly past a control valve 161 to a robary valve 162. A sec-; ondary branch pipe 163 is connected through a control valve 164 into the ~unction box l~oA ~or supplying ~luid to ~lush labels of~ of the rotary screen associated with the ~unction box in the manner heretofor shown and describea in connection with Figure 3 or Figure 9. The rotary valve 162 is formed with a rotating core 3.65 connected by sha~t 166 into a gear box 167 which recei~es its po~er from motor 168. The rotating core 165 sequentiaLl~ connects the fluid supply pipe 160 to the feed conduits 169 and l70 which extend through the wall 14 and are connected to a pair o~ flow dividing manifolds 171 associatedwith the ~eed conduit 1709 while the ~eed conduit 169 is ~.~
'~ ' ~ : .'.', , ~, .
~ , ~. . . :
. . . . . .
L3~
similarly connected to manifolds 172. ~'he respective manifolds are provided with nozzles for delivering a jet of fluid over the containers C carried in the car:riers 33 past the zone where the guide sheets 66 are interrupted by the spaced bars 65. The rotary valve 162 may possess the characteristics of ~he flow control valve heretofore disclosed in our United State.s Patent No. 3,952,9~5 issued April 27, 1976. In that patent, the ro-tary valve has more than 2 outlets subject to the sequential control of a rotor, while the pre.sent installation of the rotor is modified to establish sequential flow to the feed conduits 169 and 170, whereby the flushing jets are caused to be inter-mittent for the purpose of conserving energy by reducing the required output from the centrifugal pump 157, as compared to the rea,uirements for the pumps disclosed in Figure 1. '~
The foregoing description has set forth certain pre-ferred arrangements of components in container washing appa-ratus, and these components are particularly directed to means for flushing labels off of containers carried in pockets, means for removing the collection of flushed off labels from the operating zone of the container carrying conveyor.s, and control of the circulation of 1uid which desirably moves the labels out of the washer completely. It is of course understood that ' modification,s maybe made after the details of the foregoing disclosure have been understood.
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view similar -to the v:ie~l of Figure 3;
Figure ]0 is a secti.on vlew takerl at :line 10-10 in F igure 9;
Figure llA, llB, llC, and 11D, are transverse section views taken at the four places indicated in Figure 9 to illus-trate the seauence of operation of the flow of fluid to ~lush labels collectin~ on the screenî
Figure 12 is a ~ragmentary and diayr~mmatical. side elevational vlew similar to Figure 1 ~ut showin~ a modi~ied ar-rangement of the ~luid .~low system ~or su~pl~ing label ~lushingjets where the jets are located above the li~uid level; and Figure 13 is a fragmentar~ view o:E the system shown în Figuxe 12 a~ seen ~long the line 13-13~
In Figure 1 there is shown at 15 a fra~mentary side elevati.onal view o~ a container washing apparatus which is su~-poxted on a floor area ~y a sub-structure xepxesented at 16~
The apparatus sncloses a roller chain conveyor represented by the'phantom line 17 r and thîs roller chain is trained over a sexies of sprockets 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 on'its bottle convey-' 20 ing circuit, and is returned at the lower le~t corner around sprocket 23. The interior of the apparatus îs divided into a number o~ compartments, and ~or the purpose of'this disclosure it is ~elieved su~ficient to show a compartment 24 de~'ined be-tween vextical pa.rtition walls 25 and 26 and a bottom wall 27.
Com~artment 24 is located ad~acent a largex compart~ent 28 which is defined by the partition wall 26 o~ the ad~,acent compartment 24, a partition wall 29 and a bottom wall 29A~ The roller chain !:
- mov'e~ over the sp:rocket 19 and descends into ompartment 24 '~
where it moves or loops around a bottom guide trough 30 and 30~: then travels upwa:rdly around the upper sprocket 20 befoxe again descending into compartment 28 where it turns ox loops around a ~ ' ~ _4_ :: :
:
.
~1~75~3~1 guide trough 31, tr~vels upwardly over sprocket 21 be~ore de-scencling to move around a gulde trough 32, and then travels up-wardly around the upper sprocket 22. lt is tmderstood that there are a pair of roller chains 17 mounted on rails 17A at the opposite side walls of the apparatus, and the carrier~ ~or the containers are suspended between the roller chains 17.
Figure 6 illustrates a ~ragmentary portion of roller chains 17 and a t~plcal container carrler 33 supportlng containers C.
This disclosure wlll o~ course be lllustrative of' the numerous contalner carriers 33 that wil.l be attached to the roller chains 17 so that a contlnuous flow o~ containers wl]l be carried through the compartments between the inlet mechanism and the discharge mechanlsm which have not been shown.
Still re~erring to Figure 1 there is shown the ar-rangement o~ components which are organized on the outside o~
the wall 14 o~ the apparatus. ~ccordlngly it is noked that there is a washing solution circulatlng pump 34 carrled on the ~rame of a driving motor 35g and these two components are mount-ed on a pad 36 in a posltlon such that the suction inlet 37 of the pump 34 is connected to the vertlcal suction conduit 38, and the pump discharge side is connected ko a delivery pipe 39.
The suction conduit 38 is connected into the bottom o~ a junction box 40 ~ixed on the side wall 14 so as to be in alignment with the compartment 24 between partition walls 25 and ~6. The dis-charge pipe 39 ~rom the pump 34 is connected into a branch plpe ; 41, while the main portion o~' the pipe 39 continues on above the ~unction box 40 and enters the wall 14 at the elbow 42.
The branch pipe 41 contalns a control valve 43 and the pipe 41 continues upwardly into the ~unction box 40 ~or a purpose pres-e~tly to be described.
A second pump 44 is driven by a motor 45 and these ", : ' : ; . ~ ',, ', : , . ..
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~07S13~
two components are mounted on a pad 46 such that the pump suc-tion 47 may be connected to a vertical conduit 48 which connects into a ~unction box 40A. The delivery side of the pump 44 is connected to a pipe 49 which rises vertically past a branch pipe 50 under control of a valve 51 and is ~ivided at the upper end into a rlght hand branch 52 under the control o~ a valve 53, and a left hand branch 54 under the control of a valve 55. The branch 52 passes through the wall 14 at elbow 56 and the branch 54 enters the wall 14 at the elbow 57. It wlll be observed that the lower branch pipe 50 is directed into the Junction box 40A for a purpose to be described presently.
~ igure 2 discloses the principal components in the ap-paratus 15, and the view is similar to Figure 1 but with the ex-; terior wall 14 and the external components removed so as not to complicate the disclosure. It is observed that the roller chains 17 is caused to ~ollow a path determined by a ~ixed guide sheet .' ' 58 whlch has a descending portion connected into the bottom guide 30 and a rising portion whlch forms a U-shaped path ~or the roller chains 17. The guide sheet 58 is interrupted cross-wise of the apparatus by a series o~ spaced bars 59 at one limited location below the upper sprocket 19. The containers C
are caused to move across the bars 59 and in crossing the bars the ,cont~iners are bathed in a stream o~ solution from a series .j .
o~ nozzles carried in:.a mani~old 60. The mani~old is pro~ided '~ -with a feed pipe 61 which is connected to the elbow 42 shown in Figure 1 and associated with the pump delivery pipe 39.
~: The view o~ Figure 5 is an enlargement o~ the arrange-ment of inter~upting the guide sheet with a series of spaced bars 59~ whereby the fluid jet stre~m issuing ~rom nozzles 60A
in the mani~old 60 will direct the ~low o~ the ~luid over con-tainers C and through the pockets o~ the carrier 33. This view :: -6-;;~ .
: :
~ .
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a~7~
also illustrates -the roller chains 17 which are guided by the fixed rails 17A. It should now be clear khat the ~et stream issuing ~rom the noææles 60A bathes the container C' and is di-rected into the pockets of the carrier 33 and passes through the space between the bars 59, carrying off' the loosened labels in the process.
With f'urther reference to Figures 1 and 2 it will be understood that khe vertically directed pump delivery plpe 49 will deliver fluid to the branch pipe 52 and through the con-nection of elbow 56 (Figure 2) will ~eed the pipe 62; pipe 62is connected to the manifold 63 to supply fluid to a series o~
nozzles 64 which will direct the fluid over containers C moving past the series of bars 65 which interrupt the guide .sheet 66 ln the right hand loop of the conveyor travel between sprocket 21 and sprocket 22. The left hand branch 54 of the vertical pump delivery pipe 49 is connected with elbow 57 which delivers the fluid to feed pipe 67 and the mani~old 68 for delivering ~luid to nozzles 69 for ~lushing the containers C which are moved o~er the bars 70 which interrupt the guide sheet 71 in the left hand loop o.~ the conveyor between the sprockets 20 and 21. The guide sheet 71 ls :~ormed into a bottom loop trough 31 and the cooperating guide sheet 66 is formed into a bottom loop or trough 32. The troughs 31 and 32 are similar to the previous-ly described trough 30~ and each of the troughs functions to collect the labels which are ~lushed o~f the containers and out of the carrier pockets. It is, therefore, necessary to contin uousl~ remove the collection o~ labels ~rom each of the respec-tive troughs and such means for the trough 30 is seen in Figure ; 6. The description of this means will o~ course be the same as for the means associated with the troughs 72 and 73.
: In Figu:re 6 the compartment 24 is closed at the bottom :~:
,:
, 75~3~
by wall 27 and by the opposlte side walls lL~. The trough Ls shown at 30 to extend between the side walls l4 such that khe opposite ends are ln connectlon with trans~er ducts 7L~ positîon-ed on -the exterior o~ the wal].s l4. The ducts 74 have inlet ends 75 connecting with the trough 30 and outlet ends 76 con-necting with the space below the trough 30 and above the com-partment ~loor 27 so thak there will be a wa~ ~or the labels and the washing solu-tion to pass ~rom the trough 30 into the bottom o~ the compartment 21~.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrake an arrangement o:~ noæzles ~or causing khe labels collecting :1n the trough 30 to contin-ually ml~rate through the transrer ducts 74 inko the bottom o~
the compartment 24. In the plan vlew o~ Figure 7 a pair o~
nozzles 77 are located at the opposite ends o~ trough 30 and are in opposed and of~set positions so that ~luid circulakion ~rom the nozzles will tend to establish a current indicated by the arrow 78. The nozzles 77 are combined with cooperating nozzles 79 which are dlrected to poink into the inlet opening 75 o~ the trans~er ducts 74 so that there is a "venturi" e~ect produced to encourage and accelerate the movement or migration o~ the labels by creating currents o~ ~luid movement in the trans~er ducts 74. The respective nozzles 77 and 79 at the rlght hand side o~ Figure 7 are connected to a supply pipe 80 which is fed by a cross supply pipe 8l running to the le~t side o~ the com-partment to a supply connection 82 .~or the respective nozzles 77 and 79. Fluid for the nozzles on both ends o~ the krough 30 is delivered through the main pipe 83 ~rom a source to be de-scribed presently in Figure 8. In addition to the nozzles above described~ the collection o~ labels on the ~loor 27 o~ the com-partmen~ 24 are substantially encouraged to migrate t~ard thedrain outlet 84 by secondary nozzles 8~ entering the botkom of ... ,, '. ;. ' . ', . . ,.: , ,. ,.;,, ,",', ;' .. ' ",', . . .
75~3~
the compartment 2l~ through the wall 14 opposite to the locatlonof the drain 84. Attention wlll now be directed to Figures 1, 3 and 4 ~or an understanding of the means at junctlon box 40 and 40A
provided for supplying label free washing solution to the mani-folds 60, 63 and 68 (Figure 2). The view o~ Figure 3 is a de-tail taken in Figure 1 f~r the compartment 2~. A similar as-sembly is shown for the compartment 28 at the junctlon box 40A
so i-t will not be necessary to repeat the description. The junction box 40 is mounted over an upening in the side wall l.4 to enclose the outer end 86 of a rotating screen 87. There is a suitable bearing 88 for the open end 86 o~ the screen 87 and the screen projects into the compartment 24 a suitable distance so as to expose its perforated surface to the washing solution whlch will be contaminated with labels being flushed o~f the containers C and out oP the carrier pockets by the nozæles mounted in the manifold 60. There is a support beam 89 spanning the distance between the side walls 14, and this beam carries a : bearing bracket 90 having a fixed shaft 91 extending into the bearing hub 92 which clos0s the inner end o~ the screen 87.
The hub 92 rotates relative to the shaft 91, and the rotation is achieved by positioning a sprocket 93 on the open outer end : of the screen 87 and connecting the sprocket by a drive chain 94 to a sprocket 95 carried on a shaft 96 which extends out over a bottom wall 97 in the junction box 40 through a seal 98 to be supported in a bearing housing 99. The shaft 96 is driven from a sprocket 100 which is connected by a chain lOl (Figure l) tD
the output sprocket of a motor 102 mounted on the side of the ~unctla~box 40. Since the screen 87 is opening at its outer end 8~the washi~.g solution will flood the junction box 40~ and : this requires tha,t the sha~t 96 must be guarded by a suitable ~ ~ _g _ ;:
~ .
:~
. . ., ... ~ ., ' ~ ' 3~
~luld seal 98.
The screen ~7 is caused ko rotate ~'or the purpose o~
permltting the labe].s drawn and sucked on to the outer surface thereof to be flushed off so as not to unduly obstruct the cleaning or straining ~unction o~ the screen. The interior o~
the screen 87 (Figures 3 and 4) is penetrated by a conduit 103 which has an open longitudinal side ~acing toward the interior of the screen, and the open side ls closed by a pair o~ longi~
tudinal blocks 104 which are spaced to form a longitudlnal slot 105. The conduit 103 is connected near the open end 86 of the screen to a plpe 106 which has a ~luid delivery pipe 107 extending through a suitable seal 108 in the ~unction box L~o to the exterior so as to cormect with the pipe 41 previously described in connection with Figure 1. The end o~ the pipe 106 located in the junction box 40 ls formed with a cap 109 for the purpose o~ permitting an operating rod 110 to project through the cap, and rod 110 extends ~or the ~ull length o~ the pipe 103 with its end slideably mounted in a guide 111 on the outer closure cap 112 ~or the pipe 103. The closure cap 112 is suit-ably supported on the stationar~ sha~t 91 and is formed with aback ~lush passage 113 in the shaft 91 ~or the purpose o~
~lushing out sediment that might accumulate in the area inside the closure cap 112. The end o~ the rod 110 which pr~ects through the cap 109 in the ~unctlon box is connected to one arm of a bellcrank 114, and the other arm o~ the bellcrank is con-:~ nected to an actuating rod 115 which e~tends vertically out o~the junction box through a standpipe 116 to the outer end above the llquid level line where an actuating handle 117 is provided.
It will be Gbserved that the portion o~ the rod 110 located in the pipe 103 is ~ormed with a series of spaced scrapers or : blades 118 which pro~ect into the slot 105 between the spaced ',' , ':'. ", ; - .,' ~ . ,' ';' ' ' "
.. , - , ,: . .. . . . . .. .
, . , , ~ ... . .. . .
l3~
blocks 104. Periodical operati.on o~ khe handle 117 wlll cause the scraper b].ades 118 to sweep back and fo.rth ln the slot 105 and dislodge any obstruction to the ~low of' fluid from the pump 37 and pipe 41, such ~low being important to pass through the screen per~orates and ~lush o~ la'bels. As the screen rot,ates the rlushing action will su~ice to keep the screen ~unctionally actlve to deliver clean washlng ~luid into the ~unction box where lt will ~l~w by the outlet conduit 38 to the suctLon side o~ the pump 34.
The ~oregoing description has related to the rotary screen and provislons :~or ~lushing label~ o~ o~ the screen in compartment 24. The identical organization of components is mounted in the compartment 28 where the screen flushing means is supplled with ~luid ~rom pipe 50 connected to the delivery pipe 49 from pump 44. In each screen ~lushi.ng assembly there is a control valve at 43 and 51 whlch will be manually regulated ~or the desired flow of ~luid so that the rotatlng screen wlll be kept desirably free o~ labelsO The pump 34 is connected by con-duit 38 to the ~unction box 40 for the purpose of establishing the suction ~low of ~luid through the screen 87, and the same arrangement is seen ~or compartment 28 where the suction conduit 48 ~or the pump Ll4 is connected to the Junctlon box 40A.
, Turning now to Figure 8, it is seen that the side o~
the apparatus 16 opposite that shown in Figure 1 is utilized for connecting the troughs 30, 32 and 33, as well as the bottom area of compartment 28 and 24 to a label,separator 119. The separator is a gellerally ve~icall~ directed member ha~ing an interior heli~.al screw, as disclosed in the be~ore mentioned ., U.S. Patent 3,162,204, driven by a motor 120 and delivering labels substantia:lly ~ree of ~luid through the upper o~tlet chute 121. A centri~ugal pump 122 driven by a motor 123, is , .. ,~,', ~ ~ .. ,' ~7~3~
connected by a suction conduit 124 to the side o~ the separator 119 and the pump delivers cleaned washing solution th~ ugh the delivery pipe 83. This pipe is connected in the manner shown in Figure 7 to the system of nozzles disposed in the trough 30, and to the nozzles in the bottom of the compartment 2~ seen in Fig-ure 69 for the purpose of continually causing the labels falling into the trough 30 to migrate into l;he bottom o~ the compartment 24 through the trans~er ducts 74 While not shown, the troughs 31 and 32 are provided with a similar arrangement of no~zles which functi.on in a like manner to continually cause the labeLs collecting in thc troughs 31 and 32 to migrate through the trans~
~er ducts 74 into the bottom o~ the compartment 28. The action o~ the centri~ugal pump 1.22 creates a suction flow in the draln collecting conduit 125J and this latter conduit is connect;ed to the respective drain pipes 84 opening out of the bottom of the compartments. Control valves 126 are provided for the purpose of being able to appl~ the suction e~fect of the pump 122, i.n any desired order of selection, to any o~ the compartment bott;om areas where the label collection ls more pro~use.
In Figures 9 and 10 there is shown a modified arrange-ment of components ~or operating the rotary screen 127 which functions in substantially the same manner as the rotary screan 87 previously described in Figure 3. In the modified arrange-men-t, the rotary screen 127 is mounted in the wall o~ the.tank 14 on a suitable bearing 128 adjacent the open end 129 which is surrounded by a sprocket 130. The sprocket is connected by a suitable chain 13:L to a drive sprocket 132 mounted on shaft 133.
This shaft is suit;ably connected to a drive motor in an arrange-ment similar to that seen in Figure 3. The sprocket 132 has 30 a secondary sprocket 134 mounted on the shaft 133 and the sprocket 134 is connected by a chain 135 to a sprocket 136 .~ . . . . . .
.~'7Sl3~L
~'astened on the end o~ a shaf't 137. rChe ad~acent end of the sha~t 137 is carried in a suitably bearing 138 supported from the adjacent pipe 139. The opposite end o~ the rotary screen 127 projects into the compartment a~d is provided with a sup-porting hub 140 carried on a bearing 1~1, and the bearing 141 is supported on the spindle 142 of bracket 143, in turn~
fastened to a suitable beam lL~4 extending across the width o~
the washer so as to be supported at its ends on the walls 14.
It is also seen that the pipe 139 is connected to an open sided conduit 145 so as to deliver a fluid under pressure along the conduit and out to the closed end 146 where there is pro-vided a back ~lush passage 147 in the spindle 142 so as to pre-vent accumulation o~ sediment in the outer end of the conduit 145. The end closure 146 is formed with a bearing socket 148 which receives the end of the shaft 137 so that the shaft is able to rotate between the socket 148 and the bearing 138.
It can be seen in Figures 9, 10 and llA through llD
inclusive that the shaft 137 is operatively mounted between a pair of blocks 150 seated in the open side o~ the conduit 145.
The sha~t 137 is formed with a series o~ slots which are spaced along the ~ength of the shaft and are stepped around the circum-~erence of the shaft at approximately 30 o~ angular spacing.
For example Figure llA shows that the shaft 137 is provided with a slot 151 which opens a fluid flow passage ~rom the interior of the conduit 145 to the perforated rotating screen 127 so as to permit fluid to be delivered from the inside of the screen for ~lushing labels o~f of the screen. The view of Figure llB de-picts the position of the slot 151B turned away from the in-~erior o~ the conduit 145 so that no fluid can be delivered to ~lush the screen 145. The view o~ Figure llC shows the slot 151C is displaced 180 from the slot 151 of Figure llA so that : .. . ... . .
.: .. , , . :
3 ~75~13~
again ~luid will be de].ivered to the inslde o~ the screen to~lush labels therefrom. The view of Figure llD shows the slot 151D in the sha~t 137 positioned to cut o~ the flow of screen ~lushing ~luid. It can be surmisecl from the foregoing descrip-tion that rotation of the shaft 13'7 wi.ll periodically and se-quentially cause the respectlve slots to register with the in-terior of conduit 1~5 so khat fluid will be released throup,h the respective slots for flushing :labels o~f the screen 127 so the screen surface passes the location o:~ the shaft 137. The speed o~ rotation of the screen and the shaft 137 is dlf~erent.
~ktention will agaln be dlrected to Flgures 6 and 7 ~or the details of means to improve the control of the migra-tion o~ labels collecting in the respeckive troughs 30, 31 and 32. The view in the drawing concerning the trough 30 and as indicated therein khe mid porti.on of the trough 30 between the walls 14 is pro~ided with a vertically directed divider plate 152 which is mounted to extend longitudinally and appr~ximately in the center line of the trough. The plate 152 is so located that it will prevent the head on collisian o~ the horizontal jetstreams generated from the nozzles 77, the jetstreams being indicated by the arrows 78. The plate 152 thereby ~orces the current of label ~lushing fluid to setup low velocity circulat-ing currents shown by the arrows 153, and these currents cir-culate around the opposite ends of the plate 152. The plate 152 extends upwardly above the elevation of the nozzles 77 so as to prevent the streams 78 from being able to cross over the ~ plate 152 and reduce the desired control of fluid movement with-; in the trough 30. With~ut the divider plate 152y the nozzle skreams 78 are able to fan out horizontally and impinge on each other with the re~ult that the colliding streams would move ; vertically and tend to keep the labels in a constant vertical :.
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circulating path. This undesirable act;ion is a~oided by the divider plate 152 and an exceptio~ally efficlent label removing result has been obtained by the divider plate and with the as~
sistance of the auxillary nozzles 79 pointed into the transfer ducts 74.
The foregoing description relating to the system for supplying clean ~luid to the respective label flushing noæ~les 60A as seen in Figure 5 has been in regard to the position o~
these nozzles below the liquid level L as seen in Figure 2.
10 This location is important to avoi.d creating foam in thc caustlc solution, as foam would detract ~rom the efficient ~lushin~ re~
sult desired. In certain instances where foam is not a prob]em, the flushing nozzles may be located above the liquid level, and some o~ the latter instances would be exernpli~ied by intermit-tent ~etting. Turning now to Flgures 12 and 13 it can be seen that the junction box ~OA is connected by a suction conduit 155 to the suction inlet 156 o~ the centrifugal pump 157 driven by a motor 158. The delivery side o~ the centrifugal pump is rep-resented by the pipe 159 having a main branch 160 leading up wardly past a control valve 161 to a robary valve 162. A sec-; ondary branch pipe 163 is connected through a control valve 164 into the ~unction box l~oA ~or supplying ~luid to ~lush labels of~ of the rotary screen associated with the ~unction box in the manner heretofor shown and describea in connection with Figure 3 or Figure 9. The rotary valve 162 is formed with a rotating core 3.65 connected by sha~t 166 into a gear box 167 which recei~es its po~er from motor 168. The rotating core 165 sequentiaLl~ connects the fluid supply pipe 160 to the feed conduits 169 and l70 which extend through the wall 14 and are connected to a pair o~ flow dividing manifolds 171 associatedwith the ~eed conduit 1709 while the ~eed conduit 169 is ~.~
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similarly connected to manifolds 172. ~'he respective manifolds are provided with nozzles for delivering a jet of fluid over the containers C carried in the car:riers 33 past the zone where the guide sheets 66 are interrupted by the spaced bars 65. The rotary valve 162 may possess the characteristics of ~he flow control valve heretofore disclosed in our United State.s Patent No. 3,952,9~5 issued April 27, 1976. In that patent, the ro-tary valve has more than 2 outlets subject to the sequential control of a rotor, while the pre.sent installation of the rotor is modified to establish sequential flow to the feed conduits 169 and 170, whereby the flushing jets are caused to be inter-mittent for the purpose of conserving energy by reducing the required output from the centrifugal pump 157, as compared to the rea,uirements for the pumps disclosed in Figure 1. '~
The foregoing description has set forth certain pre-ferred arrangements of components in container washing appa-ratus, and these components are particularly directed to means for flushing labels off of containers carried in pockets, means for removing the collection of flushed off labels from the operating zone of the container carrying conveyor.s, and control of the circulation of 1uid which desirably moves the labels out of the washer completely. It is of course understood that ' modification,s maybe made after the details of the foregoing disclosure have been understood.
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Claims (11)
1. Container washing apparatus comprising a washing solution containing compartment, container carrier conveyor means operable to carry containers in a loop path which is directed downwardly and then upwardly through said compartment, imperforate guide means in said compartment in position to be engaged by the containers in the downward and upward travel, at least one of said guide means being interrupted at a zone above the bottom of the loop path where said carrier conveyor and the containers will transverse the interruption, nozzle means disposed adjacent to said interruption in said guide means to deliver a flow of fluid to pass over the containers and through said carrier conveyor for flushing labels there-from, a pump outside of said compartment having an outlet con-nected to said nozzle means and an inlet connected into said compartment to receive washing solution from said compartment and circulate it through said nozzle means back to said com-partment, filter means submerged in said compartment and lo-cated to cover said pump inlet connection into said compart-ment said filter means operating to exclude labels from the washing solution drawn in by said pump and a branch connection from said pump outlet extending into said filter means to return filtered washing solution to said filter means to flush labels therefrom.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said filter means is a rotary screen projecting into said compartment from one wall thereof, and said branch connection from said pump outlet includes a conduit extending along inside said rotary screen and positioned to deliver the returned washing solution through said screen.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said branch connection in said screen includes a conduit portion having an elongated slot opening toward the screen interior to direct the filtered washing solution through the screen, and means is operably mounted in said slot to clear obstructions and maintain said slot free to pass the washing solution.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said operable means in said elongated slot is a rotatable shaft formed with a series of flats which periodically open and close said elongated slot to the passage of the filtered washing solution.
5. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein there is a junction box on said compartment opening to the interior, said filter means is a rotary screen having a closed end in said compartment and an open end at said junction box, said pump inlet is connected to said junction box to draw washing solution from said compartment, and said branch connection extends through said junction box into the open end of said screen to deliver filtered washing solution to the screen interior to flush labels therefrom.
6. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein solution transfer means for the apparatus is disposed to place said guide loop in communication with the bottom of said compartment, fluid circulating means in said guide loop is operable to flush labels collecting in said guide loop into the bottom of said compartment, and a pump and label separa-tor device has a delivery side connected to said fluid circu-lating means and a suction side connected into said compartment bottom, said separator device extracting labels from the solution.
7. The apparatus set forth in claim 6, wherein said solution transfer means consists in ducts opening from opposite ends of said guide loop into the bottom of said com-partment, and said fluid circulating means includes nozzles in said guide loop to direct jets of washing solution therein for moving washing solution burdened with labels into said ducts.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said nozzles include a pair thereof at each duct, one nozzle of each pair being pointed longitudinally of said guide loop to agitate the labels in that direction, and the other nozzle of each pair being pointed toward an adjacent duct to draw label bearing washing solution out of said guide loop and into said ducts.
9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein other fluid circulating means is connected to said delivery side and is positioned in the compartment bottom.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein trough means interconnects said imperforate guide means between the down-ward and upward travel of the containers, baffle means in said trough in position to separate it, and label flushing nozzle means entraining the washing solution on opposite sides of said baffle means to create oppositely moving streams, said baffle means preventing the oppositely moving streams from colliding.
11. The container washing apparatus set forth in claim 10, wherein said baffle means divides said trough into side by side spaces with its ends spaced from said second label flushing nozzle means, whereby washing solution bur-dened with labels may circulate around the ends and in oppo-site directions through the side-by-side spaces.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US60527975A | 1975-08-18 | 1975-08-18 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1075131A true CA1075131A (en) | 1980-04-08 |
Family
ID=24422993
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA259,084A Expired CA1075131A (en) | 1975-08-18 | 1976-08-13 | Container washing apparatus |
Country Status (9)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US4061152A (en) |
| JP (1) | JPS5224785A (en) |
| AU (1) | AU501327B2 (en) |
| BE (1) | BE845245A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1075131A (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2637417A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2321450A1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB1532861A (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1074128B (en) |
Families Citing this family (20)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4409775A (en) * | 1977-08-22 | 1983-10-18 | The Mead Corporation | Apparatus for the aseptic packing of high acid food |
| DE3135339C2 (en) * | 1981-09-07 | 1986-10-09 | Seitz Enzinger Noll Maschinenbau Ag, 6800 Mannheim | Machine for washing bottles and removing labels |
| JPS621975A (en) * | 1985-06-26 | 1987-01-07 | 強化土エンジニヤリング株式会社 | Building on inclined ground |
| JPS6458769A (en) * | 1987-08-28 | 1989-03-06 | Ocean City Dev Co Ltd | Building structure |
| US5267590A (en) * | 1990-10-11 | 1993-12-07 | R & D Innovators, Inc. | Container filler, especially for ballast having contoured sweep for arraying containers |
| US5159960A (en) * | 1990-10-11 | 1992-11-03 | R&D Innovators, Inc. | Handling system for lightweight containers including ballast dispenser |
| US5293888A (en) * | 1991-08-16 | 1994-03-15 | Mcbrady Engineering, Inc. | Flexible, compact vial washer |
| ES2141356T3 (en) * | 1994-06-01 | 2000-03-16 | Krones Ag | PROCEDURE AND DEVICE THAT ALLOWS TO REMOVE RETRACTABLE CAPS OR LABELS THAT COMPLETELY SURROUND THE CONTAINERS. |
| DE19502272C2 (en) * | 1995-01-26 | 1999-08-12 | Krones Ag | Bottle cleaning machine in one-end construction |
| DE19650944C1 (en) * | 1996-12-07 | 1998-06-04 | Kronseder Maschf Krones | Bottle cleaning machine in double end design |
| US5993739A (en) * | 1997-10-29 | 1999-11-30 | Chaircare | Continuous washing system |
| FR2773725B1 (en) | 1998-01-16 | 2000-02-25 | Commissariat Energie Atomique | METHOD FOR GENERATING AND CIRCULATING A FOAM IN A PLANT AND DEVICE FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD |
| DE19823627C1 (en) * | 1998-05-27 | 1999-08-12 | Sasib Beverage Deutschland Gmb | Machine for washing bottles |
| US6514353B1 (en) | 1998-10-23 | 2003-02-04 | Rochester Institute Of Technology | Label removal system and method thereof |
| US20050121057A1 (en) * | 2003-12-09 | 2005-06-09 | Redfield Engineering Company, Llc | System for Disinfecting Shopping Carts |
| CN102371262A (en) * | 2010-08-25 | 2012-03-14 | 镇江市恒康调味品厂 | System for reclaiming filling empty bottle cleaning water |
| DE102013102916A1 (en) * | 2013-03-21 | 2014-09-25 | Krones Ag | Apparatus and method for cleaning containers |
| CN104190661B (en) * | 2014-08-27 | 2016-04-06 | 吴中区横泾博尔机械厂 | A kind of agitation and filtration device of ELECTRICAL MATERIALS automatic rinser |
| CN104548729A (en) * | 2014-12-26 | 2015-04-29 | 合肥中辰轻工机械有限公司 | Automatic back-washing filter device for pipeline of bottle washer |
| DE102017205551A1 (en) * | 2017-03-31 | 2018-10-04 | Krones Ag | Bottle treating machine and method for cleaning the pump / nozzle guard of the bottle treating machine |
Family Cites Families (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE838117C (en) * | 1952-03-27 | Enzinger-Union-Werke Aktien-Gesellschaft, Mannheim | Device for removing label residues from the rinsing water of bottle washing machines | |
| FR996123A (en) * | 1949-08-09 | 1951-12-13 | Device for removing debris from labels and filtering washing hains in washing machines for bottles and other containers | |
| US2710818A (en) * | 1953-12-08 | 1955-06-14 | Ballantine & Sons P | Method and apparatus for simultaneously washing containers and removing labels therefrom |
| DE1137337B (en) * | 1961-06-07 | 1962-09-27 | Enzinger Union Werke Ag | Screen drum for removing labels from bottle washing machines |
| US3162204A (en) * | 1963-04-29 | 1964-12-22 | Barry Wehmiller Mach Co | Apparatus for removing labels from bottle washers |
| BE788873A (en) * | 1971-09-16 | 1973-01-02 | Meyer Ltd Geo J | MACHINES FOR WASHING BOTTLES |
-
1976
- 1976-08-03 GB GB32317/76A patent/GB1532861A/en not_active Expired
- 1976-08-06 AU AU16630/76A patent/AU501327B2/en not_active Expired
- 1976-08-13 IT IT50879/76A patent/IT1074128B/en active
- 1976-08-13 CA CA259,084A patent/CA1075131A/en not_active Expired
- 1976-08-17 DE DE19762637417 patent/DE2637417A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1976-08-17 BE BE1007558A patent/BE845245A/en unknown
- 1976-08-18 FR FR7625040A patent/FR2321450A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1976-08-18 JP JP51098566A patent/JPS5224785A/en active Pending
- 1976-12-10 US US05/748,840 patent/US4061152A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| JPS5224785A (en) | 1977-02-24 |
| BE845245A (en) | 1977-02-17 |
| GB1532861A (en) | 1978-11-22 |
| AU1663076A (en) | 1978-02-09 |
| FR2321450A1 (en) | 1977-03-18 |
| AU501327B2 (en) | 1979-06-14 |
| IT1074128B (en) | 1985-04-17 |
| DE2637417A1 (en) | 1977-03-03 |
| US4061152A (en) | 1977-12-06 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
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| MKEX | Expiry |