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IDEAL MANUFACTURING & SALES CORP. ANNOUNCES NEW PATENT
Madison, WI – January 28, 2004. Ideal Manufacturing & Sales
Corporation, a technology leader in the liquid filling
and packaging equipment industry, announced the Company was issued
U.S. patent 6,595,250 on July 22, 2003
entitled “Mobile fluid product filling system with fast setup.”
A brief summary of the new invention involves a product filling
system having a filling unit which is repositionable
with respect to a filling station. The filling unit includes a
filling head and a dispensing switch. The filling head may
be switched between two states, a filling state wherein fluid
product is dispensed from the filling head, and a non-
flow state wherein fluid product dispensation is ceased. The
dispensing switch, which may be a contact or proximity
switch, may be actuated to change the filling head between these
states.
The filling station has a filling position at which a container may
be placed for filling with liquid product. A container fill sensor,
e.g., a weight sensor such as a load cell or digital scale, is
preferably provided on the filling station at the position so that
it may detect the degree to which a container situated at the
filling position is filled with fluid product. A moveable switching
member is also preferably provided on the filling station, and it
communicates with the container fill sensor and moves to different
positions in accordance with the degree to which a container at the
filling position is filled. For example, a rod driven by a pneumatic
cylinder may provide the switching member.
The filling unit is repositionable with respect to the filling
station so that the filling unit may be situated adjacent the
filling station with its filling head situated over the filling
position, or may be moved to allow the filling unit to rest at other
locations. When the filling unit is resting adjacent the filling
station with its filling head situated over the filling position
(i.e., when it is in the ready-to-fill position), the switching
member and dispensing switch is made, and instead the switching
member simply extends to push or otherwise act on the dispensing
switch to actuate the filling head.
Thus, when the container fill sensor then detects that filling is to
occur (or is to cease), the switching member is actuated, which in
turn actuates the dispensing switch to change the filling head
between its filling state and its nonflow state in accordance with
the filling detected by the container fill sensor. When the filling
unit is moved away from the filling station such that its filling
head is no longer situated over the filling position, the switching
member cannot reach or actuate the dispensing switch and the filling
unit becomes inoperable (with the filling head preferably being
normally closed, but opened by the dispensing switch, so that it
will automatically be closed once the filling unit is moved away
from the filling station).
The foregoing arrangement has exceptionally fast shut-down and start
up because a filling unit only needs to be put in the ready-to-fill
position, with its filling head situated over the filling position,
in order to establish communications between the filling unit and
the filling station. No connections between the filling unit and
filling station are required. This lack of connections also reduces
maintenance and increases safety, since there need not be any
pneumatic or electrical lines extending between the filling unit and
filling station. Such lines can cause tripping or which can easily
be damaged by traffic adjacent to the filling operations, either
while connected or when they are disconnected and trailing from the
filling unit and/or filling station. It is also notable that when
the invention is used in lieu of filling systems wherein pneumatic
communications conduits are connected between the filling unit and
filling system, the invention provides more accurate filling.
This is because pneumatic communications signal is lost owing to
expansion and flexible pneumatic conduits (particularly in longer
conduits). Where pneumatics are used in the invention, such
degradation and delay is greatly reduced because the length of any
pneumatic circuits allowing communication between the filling unit
and filling station are interrupted by switching member and
dispensing switch. For example, as compared to prior filling systems
wherein a pneumatic communication line extended from the filling
unit to a container fill sensor at the filling station, the
invention allows the lengths of pneumatic lines on the filling unit
side and the filling station side to be reduced by as much as
one-half.
Ideal Mfg. & Sales Corp. has been in business since 1949 and offers
a complete of packaging machinery that provides the latest in
technology, convenience, and efficiency for the liquid filling and
packaging industry. In 2001, Ideal moved in to its brand new state
of the art facility, which is located at 4607 Dovetail Drive in
Madison, WI.
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