An apparatus for securing a cap on a cylindrical container includes: a stage including a receiving region for separately receiving a cap and a container; and an elevator movable upwardly away from the stage and downwardly toward the stage. The elevator includes: a carrier disposed over the stage; a capturing member on the carrier and configured to capture the cap; and at least one extendable member extending from the carrier, the at least one extendable member movable from a home position with the extendable member above a center of the cap and an engagement position with the extendable member engaging the center of the cap and urging the center of the cap downwardly relative to an outer sidewall of the cap.

To modify the headspace in a container to remove vacuum pressure, a container has a seal or cap which may provide a temporary opening into the container which is sealable under compression to provide a controlled raising of the internal pressure as the heated contents of the container cools. A sealing chamber (84) may enable the introduction of a fluid into the headspace (23b) to force the fluid level (40) lower. Other methods and apparatus are described.

The present disclosure relates to a transfer plate for a container element. The transfer plate extends in a first direction and a second direction being perpendicular to each other. The transfer plate comprises a cavity portion comprising at least one through-going first cavity adapted to receive and hold the container element, the first cavity having a first open area. The transfer plate further comprises a cover portion being at least as large as, or substantially as large as, the first open area. The disclosure further relates to an attachment unit for attaching a container element to a container body and to an apparatus for attaching container elements to container bodies in a flow of containers. In addition the disclosure relates to a method of attaching a container element to a container body by means of the attachment unit.

An aerosol generating article includes a substantially cylindrical cup containing a plant-based aerosol generating material and at least one inductively heatable susceptor element (26). The cup includes an open end and a bottom wall. The cup has a self-supporting moulded form and includes a flange at the open end and a closure attached to the flange. The closure and/or bottom wall is porous or includes one or more openings.

A manufacturing machine for producing disposable cartridges for electronic cigarettes can have a manufacturing drum supporting at least one group of seats, each adapted to receive a component of the disposable cartridge; and a feeding unit which feeds the components of the disposable cartridges to the seats. Each seat has a housing through channel crossing the manufacturing drum from side-to-side to contain a component and a pair of opposite jaws mounted in the housing channel and movable between a gripping position, in which they engage a component arranged in the housing channel and a transfer position, in which they do not engage the component. Each pair of jaws has two teeth arranged at the top and projecting from the corresponding jaws towards the center of the seat, so that the two teeth hold the component inside the seat at the top when the two jaws are in the gripping position.

A pouch filling machine, of ultra-clean type or with aseptic chamber, includes a cap feeding head for application to a flexible pouch with spout, a cap passage, and snap-retaining means for releasably retaining a cap ready for release. The snap-retaining means include a pair of grippers. Each gripper has an end portion protruding from an outlet port of the cap passage and consists of a sheet having at least one flexible portion adapted to bend due to advancement of the cap ready for release.

A method for manufacturing an aerosol generating article comprises: (i) providing a plant-based aerosol generating material; (ii) providing an inductively heatable susceptor element; (iii) providing a cup comprising a bottom wall, a side wall and a flange at an open end; (iv) depositing a layer of plant-based aerosol generating material in the cup; (v) placing the inductively heatable susceptor element on the deposited layer of plant-based aerosol generating material; (vi) optionally repeating step (iv) only or steps (iv) and (v); and (vii) providing a closure and affixing the closure on the flange.

A method for manufacturing an aerosol generating article includes: (i) providing a first material containing a plant-based aerosol generating material; (ii) arranging a second material, constituting a mouthpiece, in line with the first material; and (iii) wrapping the first and second materials with a sheet to form a substantially cylindrical aerosol generating article. Step (i) includes: (a) providing the plant-based aerosol generating material as a foam material; or (b) providing a cylindrical cup and filling the cylindrical cup with the plant-based aerosol generating material and a third material.

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.

A method and apparatus are represented and described for applying dispensing elements, fixed by means of a gripping device of an applicator and having a flange and a screw cap, onto packages, in particular cardboard/plastic composite packages for dispensable products, wherein each dispensing element is supplied to the gripping device in an aligned position, gripped by gripper jaws of a gripper of the gripping device and is applied by said gripping device by means of its flange onto a package and pressed on there. In order, in the case of the application, to achieve individual pressing of the dispensing elements adapted to the situation even on uneven gable surfaces of the packages with a uniformly distributed force in a single pressing operation, the method according to the invention provides the following steps: gripping a dispensing element by closing the gripper jaws, lowering each gripping device with gripped dispensing element onto a package transported therebelow into an application position, pressing the flange of the dispensing element onto the package by means of a pressing head for a predetermined time, wherein the pressing head is freely movable in the spatial environment by a predefined angle range and can be adapted to the respective form of the package gable in the case of pressing and in that the middle point of the intended adhesive surface remains immovable and raising each gripping device to receive a newly-supplied dispensing element.