Belt wheel capping system

Abstract

An improved high-throughput system for screw-capping a continuous supply of bottles with a continuous supply of screw-caps. The system generally comprises a conveyor having opposed parallel gripper belts for ushering bottles single-file along a continuous supply and transporting them to a capping station for screw-capping (the spacing of said gripper belts being adjustable to accommodate bottles of various sizes), an adjustable-incline cap feeding chute for delivery of caps to the capping station, a capping head for receiving bottles and caps from said conveyor and feeding chute, respectively, and for applying the caps onto the bottles with programmable torque. The capping head is fully adjustable and comprises a programmable logic controller (PLC) for controlling operation of the entire capping system. Indexed readouts for calibration are provided at all primary adjustment points. In conjunction with the digital readouts, the programmable logic controller (PLC) is programmed to provide a user interface with a series of guidance menus to guide a technician through the changeover process, step-by-step identifying a component to be adjusted and providing a calibrated adjustment value to the technician. This configuration improves throughput and makes changeovers between runs (of different bottles and caps) as effortless as possible.