Collar for the Alignment of large mouth containers for induction welding

摘要

An aligment collar 30 which is adapted to surround a package comprising a container body and a pre-foiled closure and align the two parts together has expandable bellows inserts (50, fig 2) in opposing wall portions in order to expand once the collar is in position to centralise the closure over a rim of the neck formation in order to avoid creating leakers. Connectors 54 to supply / withdraw gas from the inserts are provided in the collar. The expandable inserts are preferably sealed tubes received within a bore in the wall of the collar and may be pinched by means of restraining pins. Preferably, a smooth, non-stick surface may cover the expandable inserts. A control system may be used to inflate and deflate the inserts in synchronism to complete the alignment process.