A rotary filling machine which comprises a tunnel disposed substantially from before the filling station to the sealing station of the machine along the direction of travel of a container, and means for introducing an inert gas into the tunnel under a slight positive pressure. The inert gas excludes air from the tunnel and provides an inert gas atmosphere within the tunnel which effectively maintains at a reduced level the oxygen content of the void space of containers being filled. The tunnel has orifices permitting the passage of reciprocating filling spouts for introducing inert gas into the containers being filled and, in a separate step, for filling the containers.
Apparatus for dropping and sealing liquefied inert gases into a can immediately before rolling of a canning can, and applying internal pressure to the can after sealed. Liquefied gases supplied from a liquefied gas main tank to a liquefied gas storage tank set in gas pressure lower than that of the main tank is controlled by a bucket or ball type float valve to maintain a constant liquid level at all times. A given amount of liquefied gases are dropped from a dropping nozzle into a can by means of a dropping valve actuated by a sensing signal of the can. Internal pressure of the storage tank is maintained constant by releasing vaporized gases within the tank through a regulating valve. This released gas shields the liquefied gases released and dropped towards the circumference of the dropping nozzle and the nozzle to prevent vaporization of the dropping gases and freezing of the nozzle. To prevent the nozzle from being frozen, it is preferred that a nozzle portion is made of a suitable synthetic resin.
In order to provide a rotary filling machine, as used for bottling liquids, by means of which high-purity bottling conditions can be maintained, an ultraclean room is provided and implemented in the area of the path on which the bottles circulate, the upper ceiling wall of said ultraclean room being defined, at least partially, by the lower surface of an annular vessel storing the liquid to be bottled and by the lower surface of the filling valves arranged immediately below said annular vessel.
A rotary processing machine for beverage containers (1), including a carousel (7, 8) that revolves about a vertical axis (5) and is fitted with peripherally spaced processing sites (12) receiving the containers. The processing sites are configured in a sealed space that may be charged with a special atmosphere. The stationary surfaces (14, 15, 16) of the space are traversed by entry and exit conveyor elements (19, 22). The space assumes the shape of an annular tunnel (7, 8, 14, 15, 16) surrounding the carousel (7, 8) and is enclosed, on one hand, by the closed carousel surfaces (7, 8) and, on the other hand, by the stationary surfaces (14, 15, 16). The carousel surfaces and stationary surfaces subtending the tunnel seal each other off by two seals (17, 18) concentric with the axis (5).
A foaming apparatus for driving out residual air from containers, especially bottles, that are filled with liquid material that can foam. The apparatus has a nozzle mechanism that cooperates with a control device and is disposed above a conveying section. To foam the material in the containers and to drive out the residual air from the latter as they move past below the nozzle mechanism, the latter is provided with a plurality of individual nozzles that in the conveying direction of the conveying section are fixedly disposed one after the other above the path of movement of the containers, with the spray nozzles being adapted to communicate with a common supply channel for the medium that induces foaming. Each spray nozzle is furthermore provided with a separately controllable control valve for establishing the communication of the spray nozzles with the supply channel. The control valves are operatively connected to a control device in such a way that the latter can select and open at least one control valve as a function of the conveying speed of the conveying section.
A packaging machine for filling and sealing receptacles, the machine having a plurality of stations at which packaging operations are performed by packaging devices (21-29), the stations having at least a filling station (21) and a sealing station (23, 24, 27). The packaging machine includes a conveyor (10) for causing the receptacles to travel along a path passing through the various stations, the packaging machine being characterized in that the stations are disposed in an enclosure (2) in which a vacuum prevails.