CONTAINER PROCESSING MACHINE AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING CONTAINERS TO AND/OR REMOVING THEM FROM A CONTAINER PROCESSING MACHINE
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Accused Products
Abstract
A container-processing machine includes a conveyor that rotates about a vertical machine axis, processing stations disposed around the conveyor, a star that delivers unprocessed containers to the conveyor and removes processed containers from the conveyor, and recesses disposed around a periphery of the star for engaging containers. Container transfer occurs by raising a container from a transfer position into a processing position.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1-24. -24. (canceled)
- 25. An apparatus for processing containers, said apparatus comprising a container-processing machine, said container-processing machine comprising a conveyor, processing stations, a star, and recesses, wherein said conveyor rotates about a vertical machine axis, wherein said processing stations are disposed around said conveyor for processing containers, wherein said star delivers containers that are in a first state to said conveyor and removes containers that are in a second state from said conveyor, wherein said recesses are disposed around a periphery of said star for engaging containers, wherein containers in said first state are containers that are to be processed by a processing station, and wherein containers in said second state are containers that have been processed by said processing station, and wherein said container-processing machine is configured to transfer a container that is in said first state to a processing station of said container-treatment machine by raising said container from a transfer position into a processing position.
- 40. A method for transferring containers between a conveyor of a container-processing machine and a star, said method comprising delivering a first container to a recess on a circumference of said star, said container being in a first state, as a result of rotation of said star, moving said first container to a transfer position, with said container now at said transfer position, raising said container from said transfer position into a processing position at a processing station on said conveyor, with said first container now engaged at said processing position, rotating said conveyor to a position at which a second container, which is in a second state, is positioned above a free recess of said star, transferring said second container into said free recess, and removing said second container, wherein a container in said first state is a container that has yet to be processed by said container-processing machine, and wherein a container in said second state is a container that has already been processed by said container-processing machine.
Specification