Apparatus for installing a bung plug in and/or extracting a bung plug from a container positioned below the apparatus includes a carrier selectively movable up and down relative to the container, a bung plug engagement tool carried by the carrier and including a bung plug wrench and a centering collar carried by the carrier and at least partially surrounding the bung plug wrench.

The present invention relates to a method for the particularly automated measurement of a closing angle of a lid (110) of a container (100) particularly a bottle lid (110) with a screw thread (120) comprising the following steps: a) Positioning of the container (100) and determining of a starting position, b) Turning of the lid (110) from a closing position (I) into the direction of an open position (II) of the lid (110), c) Detection of an open position (II) of the lid (110) and a corresponding open position angle β, d) Calculation of the closing angle α of the lid (110) on the basis of the open position angle β and particularly, a lid parameter.

A method for detecting the angular position of a cap with respect to a bottle is provided. A first image of a cap provided with a first marker and of at least a portion of the bottle with which the cap is associated and which is provided with a second marker is captured. Liquid drops and other possible impurities existing thereon are removed from and/or displaced relative to the cap and bottle portion. A second image of the cap and bottle portion is then captured. The first image and second image are compared to obtain at least one processing which is free from “noise” and interferences due to the liquid drops and on which the positions of the first and second markers can be determined without errors. The relative angular position of the first and second markers are determined. An apparatus suitable to implement the aforesaid method is also provided.

An automated drum manipulation system and methods include at least one among an automated drum rotator, bung locator, bung plug extractor and bung plug installer. The bung locator includes at least two spaced-apart bung location sensors and at least one downwardly-extending foot spaced outwardly relative to the sensors and configured to rest upon the drum's outer rim, positioning the sensors over the upper surface of the drum so they can concurrently detect the presence of opposing sides of the lip of the drum's bung opening as the drum is rotated below the bung locator.

A system of measuring a top surface of a closure to determine if the closure is properly affixed to a container. Multiple paths of measurements may be collected and analyzed. In various analysis paradigms, measurements on a given path are separated into different sets, such as a leading set that generally includes the first third of measurements, a trailing set that includes the trailing set of measurements, and a middle set that includes the middle third of measurements. Several methods of analysis may be based on a presumption that a properly affixed closure is symmetrical or near symmetrical.

Containers housed with random angular orientation of their thread in a first plurality of seats present circumferentially in a first rotatable carousel, caps are housed with random angular orientation of their thread in a second plurality of scats present circumferentially in a second rotatable carousel, ae current image is acquired of the thread of the container in transit through a first framing field and a current image of the thread of the cap in transit through a second framing field, a current value is calculated of the angular position of the thread of the cap in transit through the second framing field and a current value of the angular position of the thread of the container in transit through the first framing field by comparing their current image with an optical reconstruction thereof preliminarily learned, and the screwing operation is programmed with the calculated value of the current angular position.

A method and apparatus for applying a cap to a container may include arranging a first cap in relation to the neck portion of a first container, such that a threaded portion of the first cap faces a complementary threaded neck portion of the first container. Further, a symmetry axis of the first cap and a symmetry axis of the neck portion of the first container may be aligned. The first cap may be rotated around its symmetry axis to a pre-recorded initial angular position. The first cap may be applied to the neck portion by moving the cap towards the threaded neck portion or vice versa along their symmetry axes and by rotating the first cap in a direction of engagement with the threaded neck part. A path length of the first cap may be recorded in relation to its initial angular position after which it has completely engaged the complementary threaded neck portion and reached a bottom part of the neck portion. If the recorded path length for the first cap deviates from a predefined value, the initial angular position of a second cap may be adjusted to a new initial angular position.

Implementations disclose methods and devices for closure control of containers. A method includes performing, by an inspection apparatus, optical 3D measuring of a closed container, the closed container comprising a closure coupled to the container; generating, by the inspection apparatus, 3D data based on the optical 3D measuring; and processing, by an evaluation device, the 3D data to determine at least one of tightness or correct seating of the closure relative to the container.

Provided is a method for inspecting containers with closures. The closures have a cap portion, a circumferential edge extending around the mouth of the containers, and a rotationally symmetrical element arranged in a region of the mouth of the containers. The closure ends in a longitudinal direction of the container above the rotationally symmetrical element. The containers are transported along a transport path by a transport device, and the mouth regions of the containers are transported with the closures which are illuminated by an illumination device. At least one image recording device records at least two spatially resolved images of a portion of the circumferential edge and rotationally symmetrical element and of the mouth regions of the containers provided with the closures. A value is derived from the images of relative position of the closure to the container and the information and/or value is corrected relative to a position of the rotationally symmetrical element.

A method and apparatus for dispensing and retrieving products is provided. A system may include: a grasping head; first and second grasping members, each grasping member comprising: a top member; a post member; and first and second grasping fingers, where the first and second grasping fingers extend from the post member and are spaced apart from the top member by a predetermined distance, where the first and second grasping members are connected to the grasping head, where at least one of the first and second grasping members is movably connected to the grasping head, where the at least one of the first and second grasping members is movable relative to the other of the first and second grasping members.