In order to monitor the screwing torque applied to screw caps on bottles, known devices exist with friction clutch means under elastic loading, which act basically as torque limiters. When the tightening torque varies the said elastic means must be adjusted. These known devices are not capable of producing operating conditions that are constant over time because of the variable reaction of the friction clutches in response to temperature, wear and other factors. Other known devices use dog clutches instead of friction clutches, loading them by pneumatic pressure which is variable in accordance with tightness requirements: when the desired screwing torque is reached one of the their components makes an axial movement which is detected by sensors so that the degree of tightness of the cap can be checked. The operation of these devices is however once again unreliable and inconstant over time as it again depends entirely on a clutch of the friction type.

It is an object of the invention to overcome these and other disadvantages of the prior art in the following manner. The cap is screwed with the aid of friction clutch means that generate a tightening torque approximately equal to or slightly less than the desired ideal torque. The shaft which carries

the cap gripping head and is connected to the driven part of the clutch, is connected through a freewheel to a mechanism which, after the screwing of the cap by the clutch, is acted on by a wedge of programmable and adjustable interference mounted on movable means connected to a load cell. When this mechanism is acted upon by the wedge, it receives from it the torque required to complete the screwing action and the reaction of the wedge to the said mechanism is detected by the load cell, which emits an electrical signal proportional to the effective tightening torque applied to the cap. In order to protect the mechanical friction clutch the invention also provides for the latter to be loaded at a minimum value by an adjustable elastic means and for the compressive load applied to the clutch to be raised to the required operating value by a piston/cylinder unit that is loaded with a fluid at the predetermined pressure. This condition continues for the period of time required to carry out the first phase of the cap screwing, after which it is removed so that the clutch is protected from overheating and wear.

Other features of the invention, and the advantages it offers, will become clearer in the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated purely by way of non-restrictive example in the figures of the five attached sheets of drawings, wherein: -Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through one of the tools for screwing on a screw cap, seen in the active working phase; -Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower end of the tool seen in Figure 1, with the cap gripping head and the mechanically and pneumatically loaded clutch that brings about the first stage of rotation of the gripping head; -Figs. 3 and 4 show details of keying with the possibility of axial movement for parts of the tool of Figure 1, in section on planes I II-III and IV-IV, respectively; -Fig. 5 shows the upper section of the capping carousel carrying the tools in question, and seen in section on a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation of the said carousel;

-Fig. 6 is a top-down view of the top of the capping carousel seen in Figure 5; and -Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of the principal parts of the electrical and pneumatic circuit controlling the capping carousel with its tools according to the invention.

-Figs. 8a and 8b show in longitudinal section respectively the upper portion and the lower portion of a modified embodiment of one of the tools for screwing on a screw cap.

In Figure 1, A is a general reference for one of the vertical tools for closing bottles B or the like (only partly visible) with a screw cap C. The tool A is mounted with other identical tools, in the correct number and with equal angular spacing, around the periphery of a carousel that turns on a vertical axis. The details of the carousel are not shown as they are known in the sector of the technology to which the invention relates. The bottle B is fed in by suitable means underneath each capping tool A, aligned axially with the tool and held steady by suitable supporting means (not shown) and by a gripping head (not shown), supporting means and gripping head being connected to the carousel, with which they rotate. When there is a change to the shape and/or size of the bottles to be capped, known means are provided for raising or lowering the entire upper section of the carousel with its capping tools relative to the said bottle supporting and steadying means, which remain at a fixed height.

In Figure 1 the reference 1 indicates the upper plate of the carousel that rotates about a vertical axis and supports rotatably in bearings 2 the upper end of a vertical tube 3 which extends downwards. The plate 1 is made hollow and contains a gear 4 keyed by the key 5 to the said tube 3 and meshing with epicyclic gears of which a final component is marked 6 and which provides, for example, a fixed or contrarotating part in axial alignment with the carousel (not shown), such that as the plate 1 rotates about the vertical axis of the carousel, the gear 4 derives from the said epicyclic gears, and transmits to the tube 3, the rotation required to screw the cap (see below).

A tube 7 fits telescopically around the section of the tube 3 below the plate 1 and passes through guide bushes 8,108 mounted in corresponding vertical seats in an intermediate horizontal plate 9 and in a lower horizontal plate 109 of the carousel, these plates being fixed to each other and to the plate 1 by means of annular jackets 101 and 201 coaxially positioned in the carousel and with suitable openings for the passage of various components.

The top end of the tube 7 passes, with lateral leaktightness provided by the seals 10, through a cylinder 11 inside which there operates a laterally sealed piston 18 fixed axially to the said tube. The body of the said cylinder 11 extends towards the axis of the carousel and is fixed to a vertical plug 12 that leads down until its lower end passes through a vertical seat 13 formed in the said lower plate 109 of the carousel, in such a way that the said cylinder 11 is unable to rotate and can only make axial movements. Fixed to the side of the cylinder 11 nearest the axis of the carousel, in a radial arrangement relative to the carousel, is the horizontal spindle of a roller 14 engaged in the double- acting profile 15 of a known annular cam 16: the latter, which is situated coaxially with the carousel and mounted on the carousel's fixed part 17, is designed to control the approach to the bottle B of the movable lower part of the tool of the invention, carrying the cap C to be screwed into place (see below).

Inside the cylinder 11 there are two pressure chambers 19 and 20.

These are defined by the opposite faces of the piston 18 and are connected to lines delivering a fluid at different pressure values. Specifically, pressure is created inside the lower chamber 19 to push the piston 18 upwards with sufficient force to compensate for and substantially cancel out the weight of the movable lower part of the tool which carries the cap and which is intended to press on the bottle. A constant pressure is set up inside the upper chamber 20 to oppose screwing, in such a way that, if during the phase of approach and screwing the cap jams on the threaded mouth of the bottle and refuses to screw down, the cylinder 11 can continue to move down while the tube 7 maintains a stationary height, thereby avoiding damage to the cap and bottle and the

associated consequences. If this happens, the chamber 20 reduces in volume and its pressure would tend to rise if calibrated means (not shown) were not provided, such as a pressure relief valve, to switch and maintain the pressure in the said chamber at a constant and predetermined value. In addition to these means there may also be transducers indicated schematically at 120, e. g. a pressure switch, to detect the intervention of the said calibrated means or some equivalent function and signal to the processor controlling the machine (see below) that a particular tool A has malfunctioned.

Mounted on the said fixed part 17 of the carousel that supports the cam 16 is the fixed part 21 of a rotary distributor, to which are connected the compressed air delivery lines and with which there engages, by means of the bearings 22 and seals 23, the rotating part 24 of the distributor which is fixed to the plate 1 and from which the lines shown schematically as a whole at 25 branch off in order to supply the compressed air to the said chambers 19 and 20 and to other pressure chambers within the tool (see below).

The tube 7 is prevented from rotating by a projection 26 on its side: by means of a bush 27 at its extremity, this projection moves in a guided way up and down the plug 12. The lower end of the tube 3 engages by means of keys 28, held in place by transverse pins 29 (see detail Figure 3), with the longitudinally grooved upper end of a pipe 30. This pipe 30 is mounted in bearings 31,32 to enable it to rotate inside the tube 7, and ends in a bell 130 that forms the driving part of a multiple-disc friction clutch 33. The lower driven part 133 of this clutch 33 is mushroom-shaped, is mounted rotatably by means of bearings 34 inside a bush 35 housed in the lower end of the tube 7, which extends beyond the bell 130 of the clutch, without interfering with the latter, and which is held axially in position by a nut 37 screwed into the corresponding tapped end of the tube 7. The bush 35 carries on its lower end a collar 38 fastened by screws 39, for the purpose of securing the said bush to the nut 37 and making it integral therewith. By slackening the screws 39 the collar 38 can be turned with an appropriate tool and, with it, the bush 35, so that the tapped part of its upper end screws an externally threaded retainer 40 up or down. The

retainer 40 is prevented from rotating by a pin 41 held by an inward projection of the tube 7, which means that the said retainer can only move axially. The retainer 40 acts on the end of a cylindrical helical spring 42 whose other end presses on a retainer 43: this is keyed by a key 44 to the bush 35 and supports the lower bearing 32 of the pipe 30. By adjusting the load of the pressure spring 42, the pressure between the driving parts and the driven parts of the clutch 33 is modified, and this defines the limit value of the torque within which the said parts remain rotationally coupled to each other.

The driven parts of the clutch 33 also include a shaft 233 that passes axially and accurately through the hollow leg of the said mushroom 133, which is coupled to it by the key 45 and which, by means of the keys 46, is integral with the driven discs of the said clutch. The lower end of the shaft 233 and of the leg of the driven part 133 of the clutch are provided with a quick-action coupling of known type for the keyed attachment of the known, usually pneumatically operated gripping head 47, which holds the cap as it screws it onto the bottle.

The lower part of the pipe 30 is inside a tubular rod 48 towards the top of which is a piston 49 with seals 50: this piston slides inside a pressure chamber 51 formed inside the tube 7. A line 52 leads into this chamber and is connected to means for the supply of a fluid, for example air, at the correct pressure. The value of the engagement torque of the clutch 33 is determined partly by the load of the spring 42 and partly by the pneumatic pressure transmitted by the piston 49. According to the invention the load exerted by the pressure spring 42 is a minimum value that is the same for all the tools A of the carousel, produced by tightening the aforesaid bushes 35 with a torque wrench.

According to the invention, moreover, this value may remain constant even when there are changes to the shape and/or size of the bottles and of their caps which the present carousel is capable of screwing onto them-at least within a certain range of shapes and/or sizes. The value of the engagement torque of the clutch 33 is adjusted on each occasion to the specific requirements of the bottles and caps being processed, by adjusting the

pneumatic pressure acting on the piston 49 via the machine control panel, using appropriate means indicated below. To protect the clutch, moreover, this pneumatic pressure is supplied for only a part of the cap screwing phase, as stated below.

The shaft 233 that supports the cap C gripping head 47 engages a section of the pipe 30 with a radial play such that it can fit, with the seal 53 for lateral leaktightness, in the tubular end 154 of a composite shaft 54. This shaft 54 is mounted rotatably in the tube 3 on bearings 55 and is provided at the lower end of its core within the said tubular part 154, with a diametrical incision 56 containing a flattened part 333 of the said shaft 233 which is thereby keyed to the upper shaft 54 but with the ability to move axially relative to the latter (see also detail Figure 4). The shaft 54 projects above the top of the plate 1 sufficiently to take a freewheeling gear 57, of which more later, and the very top of the same shaft 54 is fitted with a rotary coupling 58 connected to a compressed air delivery line for closing the gripping head 47 which is normally held open by spring means. The compressed air reaches the internal piston/cylinder unit controlling the gripping head 47 after passing through holes indicated generally by the reference 59, which run axially through the composite shaft 54, the subsequent shaft 333,233 and the coupling part of the said gripping head.

The air lines, whose pressure must be adjustable to enable the friction of the clutch 33 to be set at the use level and the gripping head 47 to be closed, come from respective valves bearing the general reference 60. The valves 60 are mounted on a bell-shaped support 61 fixed coaxially to the plate 109 and also partly mounted directly on this plate. They are acted upon by cams 62 keyed 63 to the fixed body 64 of a rotating distributor connected to fixed air supply lines (not shown). The rotating part 65 of the distributor, which acts in combination with the said fixed part 64, is fixed to the frame 61 and is the starting point for the various lines indicated by the general reference 66 which connect to the various aforesaid valves 60. The outlets of the valves 60

are connected to the rotary coupling 58 and to the pressure chamber 51 of the various tools A.

As can be seen in Figures 1,5 and 6, the freewheeling gear 57 is in mesh with a gear 67 mounted so as to rotate via its vertical shaft 167 on the plate 1 and carrying an eccentric roller 68 with a vertical axis to engage with the annular grooved profile 169 of a flat cam 69 that is fixed via a collar 70 to a horizontal plate 71 integral with a fixed axial part 171 of the carousel. The profile 169 of the cam is characterized by a long section of circular form concentric with the axis of the carousel and by a short section in which the same profile maintains the circularity of the outer flank, while the inner flank becomes a straight chord, as indicated at 169'in Figure 6, so that in this section the said grooved profile is broadened out to an appropriate extent towards the carousel axis. In the vicinity of this broadened section of the cam profile the body of the same cam has a side 172 of a window 72 of e. g. square shape, which exposes the greater part of the underlying plate 71. At right angles to the said side 172 of the window 72 are two horizontal guide rods 73 attached by their ends to the collar 70. A slider 74 runs on these rods and is hinged on the underside to the end of a slotted link 75 keyed to the end of a vertical tube 76.

This tube rotates in the said fixed part 171 of the carousel and is connected at its lower end to precision means for modifying and stabilizing its angular position, which may be a servomechanism with encoder shown schematically at 77, designed for remote control via the machine control panel (see below).

Mounted on the slider 74 are two guides 78 parallel to the rods 73 mentioned earlier: able to slide inside them are rods 79 whose ends are fixed to crossmembers 80,180, of which crossmember 180 is connected to the rods of two piston/cylinder units 81,181 that lie parallel with the rods 79 and whose bodies are fixed to the said slider 74. These cylinders are normally in the position of maximum extension of their rods, that is to say such as to hold crossmember 80 against the guides 78 and the cylinders are connected to a pneumatic logic circuit 82 mounted on the top face of the cam 69 and having the functions stated below. Fixed at 83 to one end of crossmember 80 is the

end of an electrical load cell 84 parallel to the said crossmember and with its other end connected, via a joint 85, to a slider formed by two horizontal and mutually parallel rods 86. These lie at right angles to the said crossmember 80, slide in corresponding guide seats 87 within the body of the cam 69 and project into the initial section of the broadened section of the cam profile, where the said cam comprises a slot 88 which is parallel to the said seats 87 and in which a sliding wedge 89 is guided with its side at an angle to enable it to enter the cam 69 profile 169 from the outside and interfere by a predetermined amount, controllable remotely by means of the servomechanism 77, with the roller 68 of each gear 67 of each tool A of the capping carousel. In Figure 6 the wedge 89 is illustrated in the position of maximum interference with the cam 69 profile.

The electrical lead 184 connected to the load cell 84 runs down the axial cavity of the tube 76 (Fig. 7) and connects to the machine control panel (see below).

The pneumatic logic circuit 82 is connected to one of the outlet lines 25 of the upper rotary distributor of the carousel and contains, for example, components comparable with the triggers and flip-flops of electronics, such that the cylinder 81 is normally kept extended with a pressure that tends to protect the load cell, that is to say by ensuring that the load cell is never stressed beyond a maximum predetermined value. The cylinder 181 on the other hand is normally not supplied with fluid. The circuit supplying cylinder 81 may contain, for example, a trigger that is thrown when a critical pressure is exceeded due to an anomalous stress on the load cell, and, after an interval of time such as to ensure that the roller 68 of the detected unit A has released the wedge 89, delay means cause a change of state in a flip-flop component which then supplies air to the cylinder 181 at a pressure that will ensure the rapid extension of the rod of this cylinder and the rapid return to rest of the entire movable system connected to this cylinder, after which the air supply is stopped and the tool returns to the start-of-cycle condition.

The operation of the tool will now be described beginning with the phase in which a cap C is screwed onto a bottle B, which is partly visible in

Figure 1. The carousel turns clockwise from the point of view of a person viewing Figure 6 and the rollers 68 of the gears 67 of the various carousel tools A travel along the circular section of the cam 69 profile 169. The cap C held by the closed gripping head 47 (Fig. 1) comes towards and contacts the mouth of the bottle by the action of the cam 16 and rotates in the screwing direction by the engagement of the gear 4 with the epicyclic gears indicated partly at 6. The cap screws onto the bottle with a corresponding lowering of the tube 7 and a corresponding lowering of the piston 18, in opposition to the pneumatic pressure that is balancing the weight of the tool. If, during the lowering of the tool by the cam 16, the cap becomes stuck on the neck of the bottle and refuses to screw down, the tube 7 remains at a stationary height while the cylinder 11 continues to be lowered, thus reducing the volume of the chamber 20 as stated earlier.

While the cap is being screwed on, compressed air is being sent into the pressure chamber 51 to load the clutch 33 with the necessary force to reach the desired screwing torque at the cap-which is a value slightly less than the ideal predetermined maximum value. During the screwing of the cap the driven part 133 of the clutch rotates and with it the shafts 233 and 54, while the freewheel 57 remains stationary and the corresponding gear 67 also remains stationary, together with the roller 68 which travels in the circular section of the cam 69 profile 169. When the cap has been screwed to the tightening torque determined by the friction clutch 33, the compressed air supply to the chamber 51 is cut off at the appropriate moment so that the said clutch continues through the remaining part of the operating cycle with only the elastic load produced by the action of the pressure spring 42, the purpose here being to limit the friction, overheating and thereby protect the life and reliability of the clutch. The gripping head 47 stops and, with it, the driven parts of the clutch and the shafts 233,54 cease to rotate. In the next step the rollers 68 on the gears 67 of the various tools A of the carousel (see Fig. 6) arrive at the broadened section of the cam 69 profile 169 and engage with the wedge 89 which, because of the degree of interference on the orbit of rotation of the

rollers, causes an anticlockwise rotation of the gears 67 of a predetermined angular amplitude and this rotation is passed on through the freewheel 67 to the shaft assembly 54,233, to the leg 133, to the gripping head 47 and so to the cap C, which is screwed with the predetermined tightening torque. It will be obvious that in this phase the gear pair 57,67 and the entire assembly connected to the gripping head 47 starts from a situation of rest and that it is therefore free of inertia that could produce an error in the value of the transmitted twisting moment, thereby guaranteeing the operating precision of the entire tool. During this stage the interference of the roller 68 with the incline surface 89 generates a force on the load cell 84, which produces a proportional signal by which it is possible to measure the tightening torque applied to the caps and it is consequently possible to certify the degree of closure of all the bottles treated by the capping carousel. If a cap or the neck of a bottle have defects, so that the load cell 84 detects a torque less than or greater than predetermined values, the corresponding bottle or bottles will be prepared for removal at the exit of the capping carousel by means of known type that will be notified of the successive linear and angular position of the bottles by encoders mounted on the central shaft of the capping carousel and on the subsequent means of conveyance of the bottles.

When the characteristics of the bottles and of their closing caps are varied it will be possible to adapt the capping carousel to the different screwing requirements of the caps by varying the pneumatic pressure in the chamber 51 and/or varying the degree of interference of the wedge 89 with the profile 169 of the cam 69 in accordance with a known program.

When the rollers 68 of the gears 67 leave the wedge 89, the same rollers engage with the rectilinear chord section 169'of the inner side of the cam 69 profile and are returned by the latter to the original angular position, serving for their reinsertion into the circular part of the cam profile.

Referring to Figure 7 it will be seen that by means of the processor 90 which controls the operation of the capping machine, it will be possible for example to control, by means of a suitable interface 91, a first pneumatic unit

92 which, by means of the upper rotary manifold 21,24, supplies the chambers 19 and 20 of the various tools A at the pressure values required on each occasion for the weight of the gripping heads 47 and for the characteristics of the caps and of the bottles to be closed, and which supplies the pneumatic logic circuit 82 with the pressure (s) necessary for supplying at different times the cylinders 81,181 which respectively damp out any anomalous stresses to which the load cell 84 may be subjected and return the latter to the rest position.

Using the processor 90 it will also be possible to control a second pneumatic unit 93 designed to provide pressure at values that may be selected according to the characteristics of the bottles and of their closure caps : the pressure is supplied via the lower rotary distributor 64,65 and through the valves 60 to the rotary couplings 58 for the command to close the gripping heads 47 with a predetermined pressure and is sent to the lines 52 leading into the pressure chambers 51 of the piston/cylinder unit by which the clutch 33 is loaded to the maximum working pressure.

The servomechanism 77 that modifies the degree of interference of the wedge 89 with the orbit of rotation of the eccentric rollers 68 on the gears 67 of each tool, and that helps to modify the tightening torque applied to the screw caps, may be controlled by the processor 90 through another interface 94. The electrical lead 184 carrying the signal produced by the load cell 84 is connected to the interface 94 which can be prepared to use this signal as a feedback signal in order automatically to instruct the servomechanism 77 to modify the interference of the said wedge 89 to the value set by the working program of the processor. 95 denotes the phase signal input from the capping machine. If the processor 90 receives from the load cell incorrect values for the tightening torque of a cap and detects, via the optional sensor 120, defects in the first stage of the screwing of a cap, it will send a command through its output 96 for the removal from the processing line of the corresponding incorrectly closed bottle.

To the tool A for screwing on the cap C there can be made the following constructive modifications, which will be now described with particular reference to Figures 8a and 8b. It is to be noted that in accordance with the embodiment of Figure 1, the driven portions of the clutch 33 are permanently connected with the shaft 233, also when the tool A performs the final screwing of the cap by means of the freewheel 57 and the wedge 89 as above mentioned. The frictions originated by the said driven parts of the clutch sum up with the resistance created by the cap during its screwing and can cause a distortion of response in the whole system. In order to eliminate this drawback, as shown in Figure 8b, the shaft 233 is connected to the driven portion 133'of the clutch 33, with the interposition of a unidirectional coupling mechanism 97 of the type employed in the freewheel mechanisms, which is active whenever the motion must be transmitted from the driven portion 133'to the shaft 33 but which is inactive on the contrary case, so that when the shaft 233 is actuated for the final screwing of the cap, the whole driven assembly of the clutch is isolated.

The embodiment illustrated with reference to Figure 1, which contemplates the use of the cylinder 11 with the lower pressure chamber 19 for the compensation of the weight of the assembly which carries the gripping head 47 and the upper pressure chamber 20, creates an elastic system which can give a relatively slow and not so accurate response. To the said inconvenience there can be obviated by eliminating the above mentioned pneumatic system, as shown in Figure 8a and, as shown in Figure 8b, the gripping head 47 is provided with a tang 147 telescopically mounted in the terminal portion of the shaft 233, rotatably coupled with this latter by means of the key 98 and pre- arranged in such a manner as to perform a limited axial movement against the action of a spring 98. Any resistance to the screwing of a cap originates a relative axial movement between the parts 147 and 233 with compression of the spring 99.

A further modification made to the solution according to Figure 1 consists in the use of a small tube tightly connected to the upper end of the

axially hollow tang 147 of the gripping head 47, said tube axially traversing the unit of the shafts 233 and 54 and projecting from the top end of this latter for its connection to the coupling 58 for the compressed air required for the operation of the gripping head 47. This solution simplifies the construction of the tool since it avoids the provision of air tight connections between said hollow shafts 233 and 54.