The Mead Corporation

James J Feliks

Will L Culpepper

Dale K Scott

A container lid positioned atop a filled container is sealed to the top of the container by a vertically reciprocable sealing device engageable with the container lid, the container and lid being positioned on yieldable structure so as to avoid damage to the sealing apparatus or to the container being sealed which might occur due to the thrust of the sealing device.

Container sealing apparatus

A system for removing flanged containers from a packaging machine includes a pair of conveyor chains having horizontally spaced longitudinally movable working reaches, a plurality of yieldable clips secured to each of said chains and having container engaging edges disposed between the chains, movable structure for engaging filled and sealed containers and for moving such containers upwardly between the chains and into engagement with at least one clip on each of the chains to cause the clips to flex upwardly and to allow the container flange to move above the clips whereby the container is supported by the clips for movement out of the packaging machine.

Conveying system for removing containers from a packaging machine

Mechanism for feeding a container cover out of a hopper and on to a conveyor for subsequent application to a filled container includes a pivotally mounted oscillatable support arranged to move toward and away from the hopper, suction means rotatably mounted on the oscillatable support and engageable with a container cover for withdrawing the cover from the hopper together with control means interconnected with the suction means for imparting rotation to the suction means relative to the oscillatable support so as to position the suction means adjacent the conveyor for convenient deposit of the conveyor lid on to the conveyor.

Feeder mechanism

A packaging machine for applying a film over the articles in an open top tray and bonding the film to the tray side walls. A plurality of unconnected flight bars are mounted for free movement around an endless path. Each tray and film is captivated between adjacent flight bars as they move along a compression portion of the endless path. A feed conveyor individually feeds the flight bars into one end of the compression portion of the endless path to captivate the trays and to push the released flight bars along the compressive portion of the endless path through the captivated trays so that different size trays are automatically accommodated. The flight bars are returned to the feed conveyor by a lift conveyor and a metering conveyor.

Self-adjusting packaging machine

A mechanism and method for filling containers within a sterile chamber under aseptic conditions includes a vertically disposed nozzle (48) which forms an extension of the sterile chamber and which is arranged to have its lower outlet end inserted into an open container to be filled and which is provided with valve closure element (51) which is opened when the nozzle is at its lowermost position and which remains open during filling of the container which is accompanied by upward movement of the nozzle and of the closure element while maintained in open position so as to prevent splashing together with a drip proof seal (49, 52, and 53) for preventing dripping following closure of the valve means. A measuring cylinder (10) and associated piston (9) are mechanically interrelated with the nozzle so that charging movement of the piston forces a measured quantity of flowable material into the nozzle for discharge therefrom while the nozzle is moved upwardly and once the upward movement of the nozzle is completed upward movement of the measuring piston commences followed by independently controlled downward movement of the nozzle and opening of the nozzle closure means. According to one feature of the invention the flowable material is isolated from atmosphere by suitable barrier cavities containing sterile inert gas under slight pressure above atmospheric pressure and defined in part by rolling seals which isolate the moving elements from atmoshpere.

Aseptic container filler apparatus

A drum heading machine for securing a closure plate within an end of a tubular element or sleeve includes a mandrel for supporting the sleeve thereabout with an end of the sleeve projecting beyond an end of the mandrel to define a sealing area on the inner surface thereof and for supporting a closure plate disposed within the sealing area of the sleeve and in contact with the adjacent end of the mandrel, the outer peripheral sealing edge area of the closure plate being arranged to engage the inwardly crimped sealing area of the sleeve and at least one of the sealing areas being coated with thermoplastic material, a reciprocable header arranged to engage and crimp the projecting end of the tubular element inwardly to force said sealing areas into sealing contact with each other, and pneumatic means forming a part of the header and operable before crimping of said end of the tubular element is completed for simultaneously directing hot air to the entire outer peripheral sealing edge area of the closure element and to the entire sealing area of said tubular element.

Growing community of inventors

Doraville, GA, United States of America

James J Feliks