Abstract: A hand-held, power-operated or power-assisted, crimping/er or decapping/er tool (60), for container closures, such as vial caps (C), has a hollow handle (50), housing a (pneumatic) piston-in-cylinder actuator (12, 13), with an external trigger (18) operating an internal control valve (16), to control connection of an external pressure supply, through an internal distribution block (11), and displacement of an actuator output rod (15), coupled, through a pivoted bell crank lever (10), to a demountable crimping/er or decapping/er (27).

Abstract: The device comprises a first pair of pressure chambers, the facing inner walls of which are provided with contoured pleating pads, and a second pair or pressure chambers, the facing inner walls of which are provided with contoured pressing and lapping pads, each said pad being outwardly shaped to substantially correspond to the shape of a bottle neck. The pleating pads have a substantially constant thickness when the pressing and lapping pads have lateral end portions of a greater thickness than the mid-portion thereof. The method comprises the step of first pressure applying the pleating pads, then the pressing and lapping pads to tightly press the cap onto the bottle neck with formation of two symmetrical pairs of outwardly extending pleats, to retract all the pads and to bring back the pressing and lapping pads into pressure contact against the neck to cause said lateral end portions thereof to overflow around the bottle neck, thereby to fold or lap over the thus formed pleats.

Abstract: A collet head at a sealing machine which includes a bushing having a gripper for accommodating a seal, characterized by a flexible diaphragm radially compressible by pressure fluid to apply contractible forces to a segmented gripper jaw.

Abstract: Chucking apparatus is disclosed for engaging articles such as screw-type caps for applying the caps to containers. Caps are bottom or center fed to a fluid operated chuck device which grips the caps and screws them onto a container. The chuck device comprises a plurality of jaw members pivotable to a cap gripping position. An annularly shaped, resilient member surrounds the jaw members. As fluid under pressure is introduced into a chamber in fluid communication with the resilient member, the member is compressed causing the jaw members to pivot to the cap gripping position. The chuck device, which is connected to a constantly operating motor through a torque clutch, screws the cap onto a threaded portion of the container. The torque clutch is set such that when the cap is properly tightened on the container, the resistance to further tightening causes the clutch to disengage.