Abstract: A bottle cap remover is activated by inserting a bottle into an orifice. A detector adjacent the orifice detects the presence of the bottle and causes a linear actuator to drive a gripping device away from the top of the bottle where the cap is located. As the gripping device is moving away from the bottle cap, cam members direct hooked members of the gripping device around the bottle cap so that it is pulled off of and away from the bottle as the linear actuator drives the gripping device away from the bottle top. Once the bottle cap is removed, the linear actuator recycles to ready the bottle cap remover for the next bottle cap.

Abstract: An automatic bottle scrubber for use with automatic bottle washing machines utilizes vertical powered brushes which rotate as the bottles go by on a conveyor system to scrub the bottles in a wet environment to remove dirt. The bottles are allowed to rotate during the scrubbing process so that all of the exterior of the bottle will be scrubbed. The brushes used are preferably helically disposed on a drive rod and rotated in such a manner as to cause the bottle to lift up out of its conveyor receptacle. Thus, while rotating, abrasion to the bottle and to the conveyor receptacle is minimized due to reduced contact between the conveyor receptacle and the bottle. A guide or bar disposed over the scrubber station keeps the bottles from coming completely out of the conveyor receptacle.