Abstract: In an inspection or processing machine machine for returned PET multitrip bottles the bottles are acted upon by a laser beam, in order to examine the bottles and/or read a code on the bottle and/or write a code on the bottles. The bottles run in the machine on a carousel. The laser beam is directed through a central hollow shaft of the carousel via mirrors onto the bottle. The moving bottles can thereby be acted upon in a simple manner.

Abstract: What is described is a process for reading a chain (34) of code characters which is arranged annularly on a transparent bottle (10) in the bottom area of the same, by photographing at least the bottom area of the bottle through the bottle neck by means of a camera (24) and simultaneously illuminating the bottom area of the bottle from below. With a zero relative speed of rotation between camera (24), bottle (10) and illumination source (32), a snapshot of the bottom area of the bottle with the complete code character chain (34) is taken from the inside of the bottle with the camera (24) and is stored as an image for the later decoding of the code character chain. The code-reading process is a very rapid process, because the fraction of a second in which the bottle (10) is in a line with the camera (24) and the illumination source (32) is adequate for reading the code.

Abstract: The driver (12) comprises a carrier (14) for attachment to a conveyor, for example an endless chain. A pusher (16) made of hard-wearing material is attached to the carrier (14) in such a way that when the support moves forwards the pusher engages a rear edge of a sheet (10) to be fed. The pusher (16) is supported through at least one elastic spacer (18) on the carrier (14), in a rearwardly resilient manner. In a preferred embodiment of the driver (12), the pusher (16) comprises a flexible metal sleeve (30) which near each of its two ends rests, by way of a respective spacer (18) in the form of an electrically insulating washer, on a shaft (20) attached to the carrier (16). This makes high rates of acceleration possible when feeding thin metal sheets on a can welding machine, without the sheets being damaged by the driver (12).

Abstract: The seam welding machine with welding arrangement 10 has a lower part (1) and an upper (2). Load-bearing components are upper and lower longitudinal girders (20, 21) with a rigid connection (3, 4) between them. For clamping sheet blanks (7, 8) for welding, two clamping blocks are provided, each with upper and lower pressure beams (24, 25); at least the upper pressure beams (24) can be raised and lowered by means of jacks. For longitudinal transport of workpieces (7, 8) along the weld axis (Z), each beam has a feed unit (40, 41). Each feed unit comprises a longitudinal guide extending in the direction of the axis (Z), a slide, with clamping devices, guided on this longitudinal guide, and a reversible linear drive connected to the slide.

Abstract: What is described is an arrangement for monitoring the quality of electric welds on bodies (10) for the production of cans. Welding parameter values (F.sub.i), which have been measured on a number of bodies (10) found to be good are statistically evaluated in an evaluation device (22). For this purpose, an average welding parameter profile is determined. Then a reject limiting-value band (F.sub.g.+-.) enveloping the average welding parameter profile is determined from the mean values and the product of the standard deviation of the welding parameter values (F.sub.i) assumed to be normally distributed and at least one sensitivity factor. A permissible number of erroneous rejects per one million of welding spots is selected as a criterion for the sensitivity factor so that, for example with 100 welding spots on a body (10) of a medium-sized can, every ten thousandth body will be accidentally rejected on the average.

Abstract: A sheet-metal blank (10) can be moved through between first and second bending rolls (24, 25). Disposed behind the bending rolls (24, 25) in its direction of movement (12) is a deflecting member (28) by which the sheet-metal blank (10) can be deflected away from the first bending roll (24) and round the second bending roll (25) out of its original direction of movement (12). In order to catch the edge of the sheet-metal blank (10) which was leading in the original direction of movement (12), a catch ledge (29) is disposed at the side of the second bending roll (25) remote from the first bending roll (24) and at least substantially in the common plane of the axes of the two bending rolls (24, 25). The catch ledge (29) is a component of a guide rail (30) on which the rounded sheet-metal blank (10) is guided with its longitudinal edges lying close beside one another during a further axial movement.

Abstract: The apparatus is used for testing the surface structure of hollow, cylindrical regions of transparent, hollow bodies (e.g. bottles) moved along a track. It comprises an illuminating device (10), a conveyor (14) by means of which the hollow bodies (34) are moved through an inspection region, and an imaging device (12). The illuminating device (10) has several light sources (26) which are arranged so that, in every position within the inspection region (9), the hollow bodies (34) receive light at an angle of incidence such that the hollow bodies (34) act as wave guides and appear as secondary light sources with respect to the imaging device (12), so that the imaging device (12) yields a high-contrast image of the surface structures of the hollow bodies. The device is principally used for the testing of recycled bottles.

Abstract: A roller head (10) for a resistance seam welding machine has an internally located sliding contact current transmission device (24) between stator 12) and rotor (14) and is composed of a pair of circular ring-shaped discs (26, 26') which extend radially between rotor and stator, are fastened to the rotor on their outer circumferences, carry axial sliding contact rings (32,32') on their inner circumferences, and are flexible designed in their intermediate parts (28,28') between inner and outer circumferences. These sliding contact discs (26,26') are composed of a copper mesh, to which the axial sliding contact rings (32,32') are fastened. Thin-walled metallic diaphragms can also be used instead of the copper mesh. The roller head (10) can transmit high welding currents. As a result of the flexible design of the sliding contact discs (26,26') the contact presssure, which is created by a stack of plate springs (40), remains constant even with external mechanical influences.

Abstract: A pendulum roller head for a resistance seam-welding machine is described, having a sliding contact current transmission device between a stator and a rotor, which device is composed of an annular disc which extends radially between rotor and stator, is fastened by its outer circumference to the stator, carries an axial sliding contact ring on its inner circumference, and is flexibly designed in its bridging part between the inner and outer circumferences. The sliding contact disc is composed of a copper braid to which the axial sliding contact ring is fastened. The sliding contact current transmission device in the form of the disc with a flexible bridging part replaces the current transmission device in the form of fluid metal which has formerly been in use in pendulum roller heads.

Abstract: A conveyor (12) moves the hollow bodies (18) over a circular path through an inspection region (20) in which the hollow bodies (18) are homogeneously illuminated by an illumination device (16). The light issuing from the hollow bodies (18) passes via a group (34) of four mirrors (34a-34d) and a deflecting mirror (36) to a matrix camera or line scanning camera (30). The mirrors (34a-32d) are plane mirrors which are inclined at an angle in relation to one another. The hollow bodies (18) execute one complete revolution about their longitudinal axis while passing through the inspection region (20). Therefore, the group (34) of four mirrors views a quarter of the circumference of the hollow bodies each time in succession. The inspection apparatus is particularly suitable for inspecting the threaded region of bottles and has the advantage that is does not need any moving parts.

Abstract: A compact resistance seam welding machine wherein the upper electrode roller (14) is provided on a pivotally mounted arm (12) instead of on a pendulum roller head. The lower electrode roller (16), which is disposed below the upper electrode roller (14), is provided on a rigid lower arm (8) as usual. The pivotal mounting (10) of the arm (12) includes a stack of copper foils (102) on the side adjacent to the lower arm (8) and of a steel strip (101) on the side remote from the lower arm (8). The steel strip (101) and the copper foils (102) are each clamped, on the one side to the machine frame (4) and on the other side to the opposite end of the arm (12). The arm (12) is therefore pivotally mounted on the principle of a parallelogram linkage, while the pivotal mounting (10) serves for the transmission of welding current to the upper electrode roller (14) at the same time. The pivotal mounting ( 10) only permits the upper electrode roller (14) a vertical movement up and down.

Abstract: A sheet-metal blank (10) can be moved through between first and second bending rolls (24, 25). Disposed behind the bending rolls (24, 25) in its direction of movement (12) is a deflecting member (28) by which the sheet-metal blank (10) can be deflected away from the first bending roll (24) and round the second bending roll (25) out of its original direction of movement (12). In order to catch the edge of the sheet-metal blank (10) which was leading in the original direction of movement (12), a catch ledge (29) is disposed at the side of the second bending roll (25) remote from the first bending roll (24) and at least substantially in the common plane of the axes of the two bending rolls (24, 25). The catch ledge (29) is a component of a guide rail (30) on which the rounded sheet-metal blank (10) is guided with its longitudinal edges lying close beside one another during a further axial movement.

Abstract: A Z rail for welding the longitudinal edges of can bodies has two supporting bodies, each with a longitudinal groove comprising two lateral surfaces which are at least roughly parallel to each other, and a base surface which is at least roughly perpendicular to the lateral surfaces. Each groove has an undercut profile with an enlargement, which separates one of the lateral surfaces from the base surface. An insert of hard material is interchangeably fastened in the enlargement. The insert extends at least to the plane of the opposite lateral surface and has an outer surface directed away from the base surface. These outer surfaces support the respective edges of edge margins of the sheet metal that is to form the can body. The lateral surfaces of the groove in each supporting body are designed for the direct guidance of lateral faces of the sheet-metal edge margin.

Abstract: Disposed on a central machine portion (10) are two clamping devices (32,34), each for a respective body blank (P.sub.l,P.sub.r), and a welding device (20) for welding together overlapping margins of the blanks (P.sub.l,P.sub.r). Disposed one at each side of the central machine portion (10) are feed tables (80,82) on each of which a blank (P.sub.l R.sub.r) can be fed through one of the clamping devices (32,24), transversely to the proposed weld seam, into an overlapping position. A supporting device (50) is disposed between the two clamping devices (32,34) to support the margin to be welded of the blank (P.sub.l) fed in on one of the two feed tables (80). This supporting device can be moved out of a supporting position in which it supports the margin to be welded of the blank (P.sub.l) in question, into a position of rest in which it allows this margin to come to lie on the margin of the other blank (P.sub.r).

Abstract: Photographs for detecting defects in the upper end face of the lip (43) of the mouth are taken by a camera (18) arranged on the axis of a bottle to be examined. An annular, coaxial light-conducting member (30), which is surrounded by a light source (28), is disposed between the lip (43) and the camera (18). It has a central viewing opening (40) with the shape of a double truncated cone (40a,40b). The generated surface of the truncated cone (40a) adjacent to the lip forms a light exit surface (46a) to illuminate the lip (43). The angle of slope of the truncated cone (40a) is selected so that an annular truncated cone of light (52) falls on the upper face of the lip (43) and has an angle of incidence of about 45.degree. in the middle thereof. This results in a dark-ground illumination of the lip (43). Should a defect be present in the region of the upper end face of the lip (43), this becomes visible as light on a dark background.

Abstract: A profiling tool is mounted on a tool slide which can be moved radially towards the electrode roller (10) by means of a feed drive. A feeler slide which carries a feeler can move parallel to the tool slide and is biassed towards the electrode roller. Relative movements of the tool slide with respect to the feeler slide, and thus the depth of feed of the profiling tool into the electrode roller, are limited by an adjustable limit stop (76). The tool slide can be stopped by means of a clamping device as soon as the predetermined depth of feed of the profiling tool is reached. The setting of the profiling tool automatically adapts to the diameter of the electrode roller, which decreases with repeated profiling.

Abstract: An apparatus is described for positioning a can body in the form of a longitudinal seam welded cylinder which is provided with a tongue or the like projection at a predetermined point of its outer circuference, and which is to be further processed, for example shaped. The can body is received in a device in a spatially fixed manner and is rotated about its longitudinal axis. The rotational movement is stopped by a stop (48) or like sensor or obstacle in the path of the tongue, the position of the stop being so selected that the longitudinal seam of the body is then in a precisely defined position. The seam is thus detected in a simple manner by means of a tongue. It is thereby possible to ensure that when a circular cylindrical can body is, for example, further shaped into a parallelepiped body, the longitudinal seam is precisely in the middle of a narrow side of the parallelepiped body.

Abstract: A stack of blanks is guided between pile guides. Disposed on a support are holding members which can be laid against an exposed blank in the stack in order to grasp it and to be moved, with it, away from the stack. In the course of this, the support is movable over a path which, starting from the stack, extends transversely to the plane of the blanks, then changes over into a direction at least substantially parallel to the plane of the blanks and leading to a pair of conveying members and finally again extends transversely to the plane of the blanks. The conveying members grip the blanks delivered to them by the support, at both sides and convey it onwards.

Abstract: Circular cylindrical bodies (2) are formed from rectangular sheet-metal blanks by rounding and longitudinal seam welding. These are widened oval-conically over their whole length in a first expanding operation and then relaxed again. Then the bodies (2) are widened in a second expanding operation so that they acquire their polygon-like, particularly rectangle-like, cross-sectional shape over their whole length. As a result, the bodies are stressed at their marginal regions at the ends in such a manner that these marginal regions do not become undulatory and can therefore be satisfactorily joined with a can cover or bottom.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for ensuring the dimensional accuracy of a frusto-pyramidal can body (10). During the production of the body (10) this is partially heated by means of inductors in the vicinity of its base face in the region of its broader side faces (10a,10b), before the step in which it is formed into the pyramidal frustum. In this manner, a uniform reduction in the thickness of the sheet metal is achieved in the region of the base face of the pyramidal frustum during the widening operation.