Glass manufacturing apparatus and method

Inventors

SCARDINO, DEAN

Assignees

Gerresheimer Glass Inc

Abstract

An apparatus and method for manufacturing glass containers handles the containers individually after a hot forming process and annealing to prevent glass-to-glass contact. By handling the containers individually and preventing glass-to-glass contact damage to the containers in the form of checks and scratches is avoided. To prevent contact of the containers and damage arising from the contact, the equipment including conveyors, pushers, starwheels, shuttles, and transfer heads that move the glass containers through the apparatus maintains the glass containers in uniform spaced relationship at each stage of container processing until the containers are packaged.

Core Innovation

A continuous glass manufacturing process is provided in which glass containers are annealed in a lehr after hot glass container formation, discharged from the lehr, examined for defects at an inspection station, and packaged at a packaging station. The glass containers are moved through the inspection and packaging stations in a spaced, non-contacting relationship with each other.

The conveying mechanisms maintain the glass containers in spaced, non-contacting relationship during movement from the lehr through the inspection and packaging stations. At the output of the lehr, the glass containers may be discharged in a non-uniformly spaced relationship, and a transfer mechanism engages the glass containers in that non-uniformly spaced relationship to arrange them into a uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship for further transfer.

An input conveyor feeds the glass containers in spaced relationship to a pickup point at the periphery of a rotatably driven starwheel, where the glass containers are transferred from the conveyor to the starwheel. One or more inspection devices are distributed around the rotatably driven starwheel for inspecting glass containers supported on the periphery of the starwheel in an exposed relationship, while the same conveying approach maintains a uniformly spaced, non-contacting relationship during inspection and packaging.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims cover 4 inventive features involving continuous glass container production, spaced non-contacting conveyance, starwheel-based inspection, and arranging non-uniform discharge into uniformly spaced transfer.

The claims center on maintaining glass containers in spaced, non-contacting relationship during continuous movement from a lehr through starwheel-based inspection and into packaging, including arranging non-uniformly spaced discharge into uniformly spaced, non-contacting conveyance for further transfer and packaging.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications