New bottle-capping components handle fashionable container shapes
New bottle-capping components handle fashionable container shapes
Cap Coder Ltd designs, builds and installs packaging equipment in the UK and overseas for customers in a wide range of industries. Established more than 25 years ago, the company has particular expertise in machinery for bottle-capping,coding and filling. It has recently brought out two new components for handling caps and containers of different shapes and sizes. The Tri-Torque capping head and the Adjustable Starwheel are particularly useful in the cosmetic, perfumery,aromatherapy and sophisticated drinks sectors where unusual-shaped containers are employed to catch the eye, but they also have important applications in the medical and pharmaceutical markets.
Figure 1 A twin-head version of the Tri-Torque capping head
The Tri-Torque head, or CC720 Mk.VI shown in Figure 1, is designed to imitate the human hand so that it can carefully handle various cap shapes. Its three“fingers” reach over the top of spray nozzles to tighten the screw thread below, and handle oval perfume-bottle caps, tamper-proof caps and flip-tops. It is a development of the established two-finger CC 720 torque head,giving more contact with the cap and better balance of forces around the circumference, with improved control and accuracy in placing and securing the cap. The device can be used for applying both screw-top and press-on caps. The fingers grip the circumference of the cap, and their rubber lining prevents damage; they can even manipulate caps with metal finishes without marking the highly reflective surface. They handle cap diameters in the range 10-120mm, and reach over spray nozzle tops with typical heights of 50-60mm, opening wide enough to clear the nozzle envelope before closing on to the cap. Caps usually have better strength across the crown rather than lower down, on their “skirt”so the gripping force is best applied around the crown. The circumferential grip of this capping head causes less damage than flat-pad cappers that turn the cap by frictional forces on its top surface. Medical customers cannot risk such damage, and perfumery customers prefer techniques that avoid even superficial marks on the packaging.
The Tri-Torque's servomotor controls both the torque and the speed of the screwing action. The torque control allows it to seal the bottle without making the cap too tight for manual removal by consumers, and the speed control means that caps can be applied to materials that change their mechanical properties in reaction to frictional forces. Torque control is especially important in pharmaceutical products: for example, diabetic patients often have a poor sense of touch in their finger tips, and need to be confident of their ability to unscrew the cap on the container.
In its basic form, the Tri-Torque capping head comes as a motorised rotor with three-jaw grip mechanism for incorporation in existing production line equipment. It can also be supplied with three-positional vertical movement enabling it to pick and place the cap. Single or multiple-head assemblies are available. It can be operated electrically, or there is a pneumatic option for environments presenting an explosion hazard.
One of Cap Coder's pharmaceutical customers collaborated in the development of the Adjustable Starwheel, to address the requirements of the varied shapes and sizes of their containers. Rather than keep a large number of change parts,and tolerate the continual disruption of production when changing from one container to another, the Adjustable Starwheel (Figure 2) provides the flexibility to adapt to round, square, oval and rectangular containers with cross sections from 25 to 85mm. A starwheel is a rotating disc with pockets,which holds the containers and feeds them into position. For example, Cap Coder's CC 560 automatic capping machine feeds the bottles with a starwheel and tightens their caps with twin Tri-Torque capping heads. The machine is fully automatic and PLC-controlled, and is suitable for containers of 100ml-5l capacity. It operates at a rate of up to 40/min, and the caps can be fed from bowl feeders, rotary tables or by hand.
Figure 2 Cap Coder's Adjustable Starwheel takes bottles of different shapes, and with cross-sectional lengths from 25 to 85mm
The Adjustable Starwheel is constructed of high density polyethylene and allows the operator to adjust both the width and the depth of the slots without tools, quickly and in situ. It saves both time and money in the processing of short batches of varied container styles.
For further information, visit the web site: www.capcoder.co.uk
