Bottle inspection device

Abstract

A bottle check detector is disclosed which detects both vertical and horizontal checks in the neck portion of a transparent glass bottle that may be of a rectangular half-gallon size, a circular half-gallon size, a round quart size or a square quart size. The check detector includes a continuously rotating head having infrared light emitters and receivers for detecting a wide range of horizontal and vertical checks. The emitters and receivers are pulsed and coupled to detect any checks. The head also includes downwardly extending fingers having reflecting surfaces thereon positioned below the plane of the bottle mouth to reflect the light reflected by generally vertical cracks upwardly to light receivers. Bottles are singularly advanced into an inspection position directly below the rotating head by an intermittently advancing conveyor having opposed lugs to space bottles from one another and to push them forwardly. The intermittently advancing conveyor is synchronously driven with the continuously rotating head with a geneva gear means. A mechanical memory device is provided to actuate a bottle segregation device spaced from the inspection station.