Automatic capping machine for containers in the food sector, by means of twist-off lids, carried out in a totally automated way, with the simultaneous application of a vacuum in the container to prevent air from entering in it, which would significantly reduce the preservation time of the food contained inside.

The invention presented affords the main advantage of performing container capping in high-vacuum conditions, using conventional containers that are standard in the glass market, with metal twist-off lids, making food packaging possible without requiring any type of covering liquid inside the container, as well as allowing the control and pre-configuration of the lid closing torque before initiating the work cycle.

A welding head comprises a welding element for welding a lid to an opening device of a container, a supporting body for supporting the welding element and a compensating device for compensating a possible mutual mispositioning of the welding element and the lid during welding of the lid to the opening device, the compensating device being interposed between the supporting body and the welding element, the compensating device comprising a planar spring arrangement provided with at least one planar spring element having a first member and a second member mutually connected by deformable elements.

A capping and de-capping apparatus for capping and de-capping tubes disposed in a tube holding rack having a two-dimensional array of apertures for holding the tubes. The apparatus comprises a rack support for supporting the tube holding rack, a head unit adapted for carrying a cartridge comprising at least one capping and de-capping gripper, a drive system for moving the rack support and the head unit relatively towards and away from one another, in order to cause engagement or disengagement of the capping and de-capping gripper with or from a cap of at least one tube, and a drive system for rotating the capping and de-capping gripper, wherein rotation in one direction causes attachment of the cap to the tube and rotation in the opposite direction causes detachment of the cap from said tube.

A capping and de-capping apparatus for capping and de-capping tubes disposed in a tube holding rack having a two-dimensional array of apertures for holding the tubes. The apparatus comprises a rack support for supporting the tube holding rack, a head unit adapted for carrying a cartridge comprising at least one capping and de-capping gripper, a drive system for moving the rack support and the head unit relatively towards and away from one another, in order to cause engagement or disengagement of the capping and de-capping gripper with or from a cap of at least one tube, and a drive system for rotating the capping and de-capping gripper, wherein rotation in one direction causes attachment of the cap to the tube and rotation in the opposite direction causes detachment of the cap from said tube.

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 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.

A device for placing threaded lids on containers includes a holder for lids to be placed and a mechanism for retaining the lids stored in the holder. The retaining mechanism has a predetermined retaining position in which the lids stored in the holder are retained and a release position in which one of the lids stored in the holder is dispensed. The device also includes a lid positioner, which places a threaded lid on a container through a first rotation about a first axis when the positioner is in the placing position. When the position is in the receiving position, the positioner causes the retaining mechanism to change from the predetermined retaining position to the release position through rotation about the first axis.

A magnetic screwdriver device includes a pad without magnetism, a driving shaft, and a driven shaft. The two shafts, magnetically attracted to each other, are disposed on opposite sides of the pad. The driving shaft is used to transmit a torque to rotate the driven shaft. When the torque exceeds a predetermined value to overcome a friction force between the driven shaft and the pad, the driven shaft would be stopped.

Plug-closing processing units are provided with: a first plug chuck parts that grasp plugs; and a second plug chuck part located above the first plug chuck parts, wherein the first plug chuck parts each include at least two first supports that grasp the plugs from more than one direction, and the second plug chuck part is provided with a plug-closing mechanism that includes a second support disposed in the radial direction of plugs and having an inclined lower end surface. Thus, provided are a plug processing device capable of stable plug-opening processing and plug-closing processing on a conveyor line for a specimen container, and a specimen test automation system including the plug processing device.

An apparatus for capping a container (10) comprises: a conveying device for conveying the container (10) along a path; an applying head (23) for applying a lid (1) onto a neck (9) included in an opening device of the container (10); a welding head (43) arranged downstream of the applying head (23), the welding head (43) comprising a welding element (51) for welding the lid (1) to the opening device.