Device for applying a coating on an object as e.g. a bottle

Abstract

 Device for applying a coating on an object (3) as e.g. a bottle, said device comprising a mainly horizontal, elongated conveyor (1) by which the objects (3) are supplied, two motor driven, vertical conveyors (6) in the shape of belts, being spaced in vertical direction and extending in the direction of said horizontal conveyor (1), a friction plate (18) provided opposite these vertical conveyors (6) and a cushion (17) succeeding it, which can be soaked with coating material by means of a metering apparatus,one of the runs of said vertical conveyors (6) being supported by a guide (22) such that a space (23) is formed in which parts (17,18) of another device can be received.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a device for applying a coating on an object as e.g. a bottle, said device comprising a conveyor means for transporting the bottle and at least one cushion of a spongy material which can be soaked with liquid coating material and along which the bottle can be moved.

[0002] Such a device is known from the Dutch patent specification 175,144. In case of this known device the conveyor means are formed by a rotating member which is taking the bottles with it along a curved path. During this the bottles are pressed against a flexible, friction generating material provided near the outer side of the curve to bring the bottles into rotation while they are engaging the rotational mounting cushions from the spongy material near the inner side of the curve, said cushions being soaked with the coating material.

[0003] A disadvantage of this known device is, that the supply of coating material has to take place to the cushions which are always moving. Further the velocity of carrying through and of the supply of the objects to be coated cannot be unlimited increased. So at a given moment the capacity can only be increased by mounting a second device which, however, takes much place and brings with it that the supply and discharge of objects to and from the several devices will become more complicated.

[0004] Now the object of the invention is to remove this dis­advantage and to that end it is provided that the device comprises a mainly horizontal, elongated conveyor by which the objects are supported, two motor driven vertical conveyors in the shape of belts, bands of such like, which are at a distance from each other in vertical direction and extend mainly in longitudinal direction of said horizontal conveyor, and a friction plate provided opposite these vertical conveyors and a succeeding cushion, which can be soaked with coating material by means of a metering apparatus.

[0005] In case of a device according to the invention the direction of movement of the objects to be coated need not to be changed and the device will take relatively less space so that in a simple way a number of devices can be mounted one beside the other, as e.g. above a horizontal conveyor by which a number of objects are moved in rows beside each other.

[0006] So, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention it can be provided, that a number of devices are mounted one beside each other and are comprising a common horizon­tal conveyor while the further parts of each device are forming one unit being suspended from a bridge extending transverse to the horizontal conveyor and carrying the driving means for the vertical conveyors such that this means are automatically engaging the driving means of the vertical conveyors when the device is connected to the bridge.

[0007] So the replacement of a device can take place in a very simple way and only one broad horizontal conveyor has to be present.

[0008] While the friction plate,being provided upstream of the cushion, serves to bring the object, which has to be coated, in rotation before it is coming into contact with the cushion, it will be desirable to terminate the rotation of the object after this is provided with a coating. To this end means can be present directly after the applying of the coating material, e.g. in the shape of fixedly mounted brushes or the like.

[0009] Further it can be pointed to DE-A-3,625,435 from which a coating device is known comprising a horizontal conveyor and a vertical conveyor by which the bottles to be coated are brought into rotation. The coating onto the bottles is applied by means of rollers extending in horizontal direction so parallel to the conveyors.

[0010] By using rollers the device has a considerably width and it is hardly possible to mount several device directly beside each other. Further the vertical conveyor is used to bring the bottles into rotation because of which the conveyor has to have a considerable length. In case of the device according to the present invention a stationary friction plate is used by which the rotation of the bottles is initiated. Because of this the vertical conveyors need only to be supported by a guiding plate over the length opposite the cushion by which the coating material is applied on the objects. So no great number of tension devices is necessary as this is the case in said above mentioned DE-A-3,625,435.

[0011] Finally US-A-3,695,223 describes a device comprising a vertical conveyor which at the same time is forming an applicator belt which cooperates with an opposite positioned stationary sponge back plate assembly and with an application belt succeeding on it. Said device in particular serves for coating articles having a not circular cross section. In case of this device the coating liquid has to be supplied to moving conveyors and the device has a considerable width so that it is not possible to mount several devices directly beside each other.

[0012] Now the invention is further described by means of an embodiment shown in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a plan view of some devices according to the invention, applied above a common horizontal conveyor; and

Fig. 2 shows a side view and partially cross section according to the broken line II-II in Fig. 1.

[0013] The device shown in the drawing comprises a horizontal conveyor 1, which in a way not further indicated e.g. is formed by an endless belt conveyor.

[0014] A number of devices 2 are provided above the conveyor 1 and each serving for applying a coating on the objects, as e.g. the bottles 3. To that end the bottles 3 are supplied in rows 4 by means of the conveyor 1 in such a way that the rows are at some mutual distance. To that end guides 5 are provided above the conveyor and the distribution of the bottles between the guides 5 e.g. may take place by means of a device as this is described in the not pre-published Dutch patent application 88 01390 in the name of applicant.

[0015] Further each device comprises two endless belts 6 which are positioned at some distance from each other in vertical direction and are running over reversing rollers 7 and 8 which are mounted on the shafts 9 and 10 respectively. The shafts are supported by bearing blocks 11 connected to a base plate 12 which, in a simple way, can be mounted to a bridge 13 extending over the total assembly and being connected to the frame of the device in a not further indicated way. The bridge 13 supports a shaft 14 which is motoric driven and which near each coating device is provided with a bevel gear 15 cooperating with a bevel gear 16 which is supported by the bridge 13 as well and is carrying a part of a jaw clutch, the other part of which is positioned on the shaft 10.

[0016] In this way it is obtained that when mounting the base plate 12 to the bridge 13 simultaneously the drive of the shaft 10 is established.

[0017] It will be obvious, however, that also another drive of the shaft 10 is possible, e.g. by a pneumatic motor being mounted near each shaft.

[0018] Each device 2 further comprises a cushion 17 from a spongy material which, by means of a metering device is soaked with a coating material, such that this coating material will arrive on the objects 3, which are moved along the cushion by means of the horizontal conveyor 1 and the vertical belts 6. The objects 3 are brought into rotation by means of the belts 6. The rotation is initiated because the objects 3 are first engaging a friction plate 18 to prevent too much wear of the cushion 17. Then the objects 3 are rolling along the cushion 17 and are coated with coating material.

[0019] As in particular appears from Fig. 2 the cushions 17 are mounted to supports 19 which in a way not further described can be divided so that the cushions 17 can be adjusted in height. So e.g. the supports 19 can be connected to the base plate 12 so that they can easily be mounted and demounted.

[0020] After the objects 3 are provided with a layer of coating material, they arrive near a brush 20 taking care for it that the rotational movement of the objects is stopped.

[0021] As in particular appears from Fig. 1 the vertical belts 6 are supported by a guide 21, so that the objects 3 are positively pressed against the cushion 17. The other run of the belts 16 is supported by guide 22 so that a space 23 is shaped in which various parts of an adjacent device can be received. In this way two adjacent devices can be positioned very close of each other.

[0022] It will be obvious that only a possible embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and described above and that many modifications can be applied without leaving the inventive concept.

[0023] So e.g. it is possible to replace the bevel gears 16 by chain wheels while then a common drive chain is running over all chain wheels, said chain running over one motoric driven chain wheel. So then the shaft 14 with the bevel gears 15 can be omitted.

Claims

1. Device for applying a coating on an object (3) as e.g. a bottle, said device comprising a conveyor means (1) for transporting the object (3) and at least one cushion (17) of a spongy material which can be soaked with liquid coating material and along which the object (3) can be moved,
characterized in
that the device comprises a mainly horizontal, elongated conveyor (1) by which the objects (3) are supported, two motor driven, vertical conveyors (6) in the shape of belts, bands or such like, which are at a distance from each other in vertical direction and extend mainly in longitudinal direction of said horizontal conveyor (1), and a friction plate (18) provided opposite these vertical conveyors (6) and a succeeding cushion (17) which can be soaked with coating material by means of a metering apparatus.

2. Device according to claim 1,
characterized in
that a number of devices (2) are positioned beside each other and comprise a common horizontal conveyor (1) while the further parts of each device (2) are forming a unit being suspended from a bridge (13) extending transverse to the horizontal conveyor (1) and carrying the driving means (14,15,16), such that these means are automatically engaging the driving means (10) of the vertical conveyors (6) when a device (2) is connected to the bridge (13).

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized in
that downstream of the vertical conveyors (16) means are provided in the shape of a stationary mounted brush (20) or such like to stop the rotational movement of the objects (3).

4. Device according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in
that the vertical conveyor belts (6) are supported by a horizontally extending guide (21) to press the objects (3) against the cushion (17) by which the coating material is applied on the objects (3).

5. Device according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in
that the run of the vertical conveyor belts (6), which is not in contact with the objects, is running along a guide (22) such that said run (22) is lying near the other mentioned run (21) for forming a space (23) in which parts (17,18) of an adjacent device can be received.

Drawing