Machine for emptying drinks bottles out of their crates for reuse - having converging and diverging parallel belts to grip and insert bottles, lift crates off them, turn bottles upright again and deposit them on slotted guide plate

摘要

Reusable bottles, and particularly those made of polyethylene-terephthalate and fitted with a collar round the neck, are removed from their crates; in the process the crates are inverted in rows disposed in the direction of movement and are moved to an emptying position where they are successively removed with their tops pointing downwards, after which they are turned through 180deg. to become upright again. Crates (2) of the bottles are turned through 180deg. by moving them on tracks over rollers (3), with a guide plate present to prevent them from prematurely falling off. They (2) are then moved forwards by members (29) on gripping belts (8). The pairs of belts (8) are widened out, the bottle collars (53) fall through and the reconverging belts (8) now grip the bottles securely beneath the collars. ADVANTAGE - The method feeds for repeated application relatively low weight bottles in the drinks industry, economically and effectively.