Owens-illinois, Inc.

Joseph F Billmaier

Daniel S Farkas

Paul W Graham

Alan D Ahl

Mark B Schenk

Stephen H Zylka

A completely automated system for inspection and sorting of molded containers, such as glass bottles, as a function of mold cavity of container origin. In a first system section, finished containers are one hundred percent inspected for defects, and a cavity identification device is controlled to reject all containers from cavities associated with defective containers. The cavity identification device is also coupled to feed sampled containers from selected cavities to an automatic sampling indexer wherein the sampled containers are fed to one or more stations for testing physical container properties, such as rupture pressure, wall thickness and internal volume. The cavity identification device and the automatic sampling indexer are controlled by a hierarchy of interconnected computers which receive cavity and test information from the various sections and stations of the system and control the sampling and sorting process based upon predetermined quality standards. A cavity map is maintained which relates cavity code to physical location in the container forming machine to help identify quality control trends.

Inspection and sorting of molded containers as a function of mold of

The machine has a plurality of individual glassware forming sections each having a plurality of glassware forming mechanisms and means for distributing gobs of molten glass to each of the individual sections in an ordered sequence over one machine cycle consisting of a fixed number of clock pulses by cycling the forming mechanisms in a predetermined sequence of forming steps. Each individual section has an electronic control system responsive to each clock pulse for providing a load signal and forming signals to actuate the forming and a circuit for providing a gob load signal in response to a load signal from any one of the control systems and means responsive to the absence of a gob load signal for deflecting a gob from being distributed to an individual section. The machine has means for providing an operation pulse each time the control system provides forming signals to the forming mechanisms and means for providing a monitoring signal at a first binary state when a first one of the operation pulses is applied and changing to the second binary state if no operation pulse occurs within a stall-period of time after the first operation pulse. Each system also comprises means for enabling the load signal and the forming signals when at the first binary state and for inhibiting the load signal and the forming signals when at the second binary state so that the gobs of molten glass will not be distributed and the mechanisms will return to a safe condition.

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Maumee, OH, United States of America

Joseph F Billmaier