A method of applying a lid (1) onto a neck (9) of a container (10), the lid (1) having a side wall (3) extending around an axis and an end wall (2) extending transversely to said axis, comprises the following steps: —positioning the lid (1) onto the neck (9); —exerting on the end wall (2) a force directed towards the container (10), so as to level the lid (1) on the neck (9); —screwing the lid (1) onto the neck (9) by rotating the lid (1) in a screwing direction.

The invention relate generally to a tightening mechanism for a bottle filling and capping system, and a bottle neck configuration. More specifically, the invention includes a machine for tightening plastic caps onto the threaded necks of plastic bottles, and bottle neck configuration that facilitates the capping process, both of which result in a simple and effective capping operation. A conveying assembly moves the bottle in a circular path where the neck of the bottle and the cap are brought together by moving the bottle under a cap that is loosely held at a particular elevation and angle by a feeder mechanism. The conveying system constricts the rotational movement of the bottle, and a neck support stabilizes the neck of the bottle vertically, as the cap is pressed onto the neck initially by a roller. A capping station in a bottle filling line is comprised of a spring biased toothed finger that engage the peripheral edge of the caps as the bottles are conveyed through the machine. Depending on various factors such as the number and circumferential length of the threads on the cap and bottle a second roller and second toothed finger will be used to complete the tightening process. When a capped bottle exits the capping station, the cap is fully engaged with the bottle in that it is tightened and in its final position relative to the bottle.

A self-adjusting capping chuck includes a support having a longitudinal axis, a guide element fixed with respect to the support and having guides, jaws which engage respective guides and are movable with respect to the support between release and gripping positions, the jaws have respective gripping surfaces and first cam surfaces, and a control ring movable relative to the support along the longitudinal axis between lowered and raised positions and having second cam surfaces cooperating with first cam surfaces of the jaws, so that the movement of the control ring from the lowered to the raised position moves the jaws from the release to the gripping position. The control ring has an abutment wall arranged to abut on a head surface of a closure element so that, during movement of the chuck along the longitudinal axis, the closing element moves the control ring from the lowered to the raised position.

A bottle capping chuck that uses serrated segments with a cap torque ramp angle to grip and torque a bottle cap combined with other segments that utilize holding segments both combining to eliminate slippage and stripping and holding of bottle caps during a bottle capping process.

A bottle capping chuck that uses serrated segments with a cap torque ramp angle to grip and torque a bottle cap combined with other segments that utilize holding segments both combining to eliminate slippage and stripping and holding of bottle caps during a bottle capping process.

There is provided an automated analyzer which can eliminate static charge on receptacles storing analytes or reagents to thereby offer improved accuracy of analysis. The automated analyzer comprises: a receptacle carrier mechanism operative to hold a plurality of receptacles storing liquid and to carry the held receptacles in a given direction; a reader device for reading identification information of the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism; a static eliminator for eliminating static charge on the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism; and an input/output controller for causing the static eliminator to carry out the elimination of the static charge in synchronism with successive reading by the reader device of the identification information of the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism.

The present invention relates to a capping machine equipped with a plurality of capping heads with roto-translation movement.

In particular, the present invention relates to a capping head (1) comprising a supporting structure (2) on which a roto-translation system (3) is mounted, operatively connected to a capping device (4), characterized in that the roto-translation system (3) comprises a linear motor (3a) and a rotary motor (3b) operatively coupled so as to impart a roto-translation motion to the capping device (4) and in that the capping head (1, 201) comprises a suspension system adapted to keep the rotary motor (3b) in a raised position even when the linear motor (3a) is disconnected or electromagnetically decoupled.

A vessel filling and capping system is described. Embodiments of the vessel filling and capping system can include, but is not limited to, a vessel filling assembly, a vessel capping assembly, and a tray. The vessel filling assembly can be implemented to fill one or more vessels with a fluid and the vessel capping assembly can be implemented to cap the filled one or more vessels. The tray can be implemented to hold the one or more vessels and align the vessels for the vessel filling assembly and the vessel capping assembly.

The present invention relates to a filler machine and method. The filler machine and method allow efficient and/or accurate filling of containers such as bottles, and have particular application to filling bottles or similar containers with carbonated beverages.

The method relates to a method for filling a container (13, 32) with carbonized liquid filling material and for closing the filled container, in which the filling material is introduced in a filling station (10, 30) by a filling head (11, 33) at defined filling pressure into the container (13, 32), wherein the filling head (11, 33) is firstly moved from an idle position, which permits supplying and inserting a container (13, 32) into the filling station (10, 30), into a working position toward the inserted container, in which an end region (16) of the filling head seals off the opening (14) of the container, the container (13, 32) is then filled, the filling head (11, 33) is moved after completion of the filling phase back out of the working position into an idle position spaced apart from the container (13, 32) and the container (13, 32) is then closed in the filling station (10, 30) using a cap (20) at least enough that filling material can no longer escape, and the container (13, 32) is then removed from the filling station (11, 33), characterized in that before the movement of the filling head (11, 33) from the working position into the idle position spaced apart from the container (13), an overpressure lying between the ambient pressure and the filling pressure is set in a pressure chamber (15) of the filling station (10, 30) surrounding the opening (14) of the inserted container (13, 32), which overpressure is selected in such a way that possible foaming up of the filling material located in the container (13, 32) is minimized enough that filling material does not escape from the container (13, 32) when the filling head (11, 33) is raised out of the working position after the filling procedure.