Abstract: An apparatus for inserting and seating an insulator disc in an electrochemical cell container, the apparatus including a carousel having a plurality of receptacles, an actuator station, an index for moving a receptacle with a container therein to the actuator station, a plunger assembly in the actuator station for receiving, holding and releasing an insulator disc feed thereto and for aligning such disc with the open end of the container at the actuator station, shuttle means for feeding an insulator disc to the plunger assembly and means for feeding the discs to the shuttle including means for rejecting discs which are upside down.

Abstract: The invention concerns a machine design to fill hollow profile rods, such as spacer rods for insulating window panes, with a granular material which serves as a desiccating agent.The purpose of the machine is to mechanize to a large extent the filling operation which has hitherto been performed manually.

Abstract: The disclosure provides an automatic capping apparatus for placing a cap on the opening of a container and crimping the cap onto the opening to seal the container. The capping apparatus includes three operating stations through which the containers are moved on a conveyor -- an aligning station to position the container on the conveyor, a cap pickup and placing station to deposit a cap on the opening of the container, and a crimping station for crimping the cap onto the opening. Furthermore, sensing means are provided at the pickup and placement station and the crimping station to assure that the operation at those stations is successfully accomplished.

Abstract: A continuous, automatic system for sealing containers in which the handle of said container is used to orient the container on a conveyor for easy identification of the container spout.

Abstract: A tool for placing a lid or closure on a cup or container, such as a cardboard or plastic cup containing hot coffee delivered to a customer at a take-out food service establishment. The preferred form of tool has a upright handle with spring-loaded telescopic sections and a bottom member or shoe which fits snugly within an upstanding marginal flange of the lid with which this tool is to be used, so that when the tool is raised, the lid will be carried with it. The tool is manipulated to place the lid on the top of the cup filled with coffee or other liquid. Downward motion of the handle portion of the tool moves the telescopic portions relative to each other, first compressing a spring, and then suddenly releasing the spring with a hammer effect, to drive the lid into mating engagement with the cup, with just the right amount of pressure to produce adequate sealing between the cup and the lid, without damage to either. Alternative forms of tool, not employing the hammer effect, are also disclosed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for applying a closure to a receptacle is disclosed wherein an open top receptacle is moved along a processing path on an indexing conveyor and an outer lid and flexible inner closure sheet are placed together and on the open receptacle by a rotatably indexing, horizontally mounted drum assembly with a generally hexagonal exterior presenting six faces which each comprises a closure sheet carrier plate. Mounted within a central recess in each sheet carrier plate is a lid carrier plate which is movable between a seated position within the sheet carrier plate and an extended position displaced from the sheet carrier plate. A continuous strip of closure sheet is maintained adjacent one side of the drum assembly between the drum assembly and an intermittently driven cutter. In operation, the drum assembly is rotatably indexed in a first 60.degree.

Abstract: A capping machine of the rotary type for closing filled bottle type packing containers for beer or other liquids which are made from a plastic material includes a lower wheel on which the bottles to be capped are placed and an upper wheel which supports closing rams which are movable vertically towards and away from the bottles by means of a cammed track. Caps loaded into a magazine are transferred one by one to the rams as the wheels turn, and the bottles are capped as the ram moves downward onto the bottle mouth.

Abstract: An automatic stoppering apparatus for bottles and the like having threaded necks with matching threaded stoppers is adapted upon feed of the bottles into the apparatus wherein they are carried on and by a generally vertically disposed rotating drum to screw the stoppers into sealing engagement with the bottles during rotation of the drum and before discharge of the bottles by means of associated rotatably and vertically movable stopper grasping and attaching heads that cooperate with the rotating drum in operation of the apparatus.

Abstract: Interchangeable internally gripping chucks for use in a machine applying non-rotative closures to containers, the machine having a multi-station rotary turret arrangement for receiving the containers from a feed conveyor. Each chuck is attached to a spindle in the rotary turret and includes spring loaded jaws for gripping a closure and seating it into or onto the upper portion of a container. The jaws are respectively biased radially outward by the spring loading means, and as the chuck descends and engages the inner edge of the closure, the jaws slip to grip the closure for pick-up and transport to the capping zone. The chuck further includes a releasing mechanism which is activated upon a "bottoming-out" of the chuck upon the top of the container. The releasing mechanism forces the jaws radially inward, disengaging them from the closure so that the chuck can be upwardly retracted from the closed container without any tendency to withdraw the closure, even when the closure has a loose fit.

Abstract: A bottle stoppering machine includes a travelling belt which carries the bottles to be stoppered, a stopper distributor positioned over the belt, and a stopper driver also positioned over the belt at a position downstream of the distributor. To adjust the vertical separation of the belt and distributor according to undesired variations in the height of the bottles, a first detector detects the approach of a bottle to the distributor, second and third detectors detect excess or deficiency in the height of the approaching bottle, and servo-mechanism controlled by these detectors raises or lowers the belt at the position beneath the distributor, or alternatively raises or lowers the distributor, in response to the signals of the detectors to match the separation of the belt and distributor at the distributor to the height of the bottle to be stoppered.