Apparatus and method for producing plastic bottles

Abstract

An apparatus for producing plastic bottles includes a molding machine to receive and mold the preforms into bottles; a labeling machine to label the bottles; a filler to fill the bottles; a packer to package the bottles; and a distributor arranged at an outfeed of the labeling machine or the filler to transfer the bottles to the packer. No buffers are positioned between at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler and at least one of the packer and the distributor to bloc-synchronize the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler with the at least one of the packer and the distributer. The at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler being spaced a distance from the at least one of the packer and the distributor via one or more transfer starwheels.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for producing plastic bottles, the apparatus comprising:
 a molding machine to receive preforms and to mold the preforms into bottles;   a labeling machine to label the bottles;   a filler to fill the bottles;   a packer to package the bottles for shipment; and   a distributor arranged at an outfeed of the labeling machine or the filler to transfer the bottles to the packer, no buffers are positioned between at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler and at least one of the packer and the distributor to bloc-synchronize the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler with the at least one of the packer and the distributer, the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler being spaced a distance from the at least one of the packer and the distributor via one or more transfer starwheels.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a mult-track discharger, the bottles to be deposited on the multi-track discharger using the distributor and provided to the packer using the discharger. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the molding machine is a blow molding machine that stretch blow molds the preforms into bottles. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the distributor is a distributor starwheel. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the distance is a first distance, wherein the molding machine is bloc-synchronized with the labeling machine to space the molding machine a second distance from the labeling machine. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the filler is bloc-synchronized with the labeling machine to space the filler a third distance from the labeling machine. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a heating module to heat the preforms to a threshold temperature for the molding. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the molding machine includes an infeed starwheel, a molding carousel, and an outfeed starwheel, the infeed starwheel being bloc-synchronized with the heating module, the molding carousel to receive the preforms from the infeed starwheel, and the outfeed starwheel to receive the bottles from the molding carousel. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more transfer starwheels include a first transfer starwheel and a second transfer starwheel interposed between the molding machine and the labeling machine to: 1) transfer the bottles from the molding machine to the labeling machine; and 2) enable decoupling of the molding machine and the labeling machine, wherein the first transfer starwheel receives the bottles directly from the outfeed starwheel. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the first transfer starwheel or the second transfer starwheel is structured to change a pitch of the bottles from the molding machine to the labeling machine. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the first transfer starwheel is independently driven. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the infeed starwheel is a first infeed starwheel and the outfeed starwheel is a first outfeed starwheel, and wherein the labeling machine includes a second infeed starwheel, a labeling carousel, a labeling unit, and a second outfeed starwheel, the second infeed starwheel to receive the bottles from the second transfer starwheel, the labeling carousel to receive the bottles from the second infeed starwheel, the labeling unit to label the bottles carried by the labeling carousel, and the second outfeed starwheel to receive the bottles from the labeling carousel. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the molding machine, the labeling machine, the filler, the packer, the distributor, the first transfer starwheel, and the second transfer starwheel are structured to enable a continuous neck-handling plane to be satisfied for different bottle sizes. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a cover between the labeling machine and the filler, the cover to cover the bottles as they are transferred between the labeling machine and the filler. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the cover is to deter glue-containing air from diffusing to the filler. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more transfer starwheels includes a first transfer starwheel and a second transfer starwheel interposed between the labeling machine and the filler, the labeling machine and the filler being bloc-synchronized via the first and second transfer starwheels. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further including a capper bloc-synchronized with the filler to space the capper a second distance from the filler, the capper to cap the bottles received from the filler. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the filler includes an infeed starwheel and an outfeed starwheel, the infeed starwheel to receive the bottles from the labeler and the outfeed starwheel to transfer the bottles to the capper. 
     
     
         19 . A method of producing plastic bottles, the method comprising:
 receiving preforms and molding the preforms into bottles using a molding machine;   labeling the bottles using a labeling machine;   filling the bottles using a filler;   packaging the bottles for shipment using a packer; and   transferring the bottles from the labeling machine or the filler to the packer using a distributor, no buffers are positioned between the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler and the at least one of the packer and the distributor to bloc-synchronize the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler with at least one of the packer and the distributor, the at least one of the molding machine, the labeling machine, and the filler being spaced a distance from the at least one of the packer and the distributor via one or more transfer starwheels.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further including covering the bottles as they are transferred between the labeling machine and the filler. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein covering the bottles includes deterring glue-containing air from diffusing into the filler using a cover. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , further including depositing the bottles on a multi-track discharger using the distributor and providing the bottles to the packer using the discharger. 
     
     
         23 . A system for producing plastic bottles, the system comprising:
 an apparatus to receive preforms, to mold the preforms into bottles, and to fill the bottles;   a labeling machine to label the bottles;   a packer to package the bottles for shipment; and   a distributor arranged at an outfeed of the labeling machine to transfer the bottles to the packer, no buffers are positioned between at least one of the apparatus and the labeling machine and at least one of the packer and the distributor to bloc-synchronize the at least one of the apparatus and the labeling machine with the at least one of the packer and the distributer, the at least one of the apparatus and the labeling machine being spaced a distance from the at least one of the packer and the distributor via one or more transfer starwheels.   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the apparatus includes a molding machine and a filler. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the molding machine is bloc-synchronized with the labeling machine to space the molding machine a second distance from the labeling machine. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the filler is bloc-synchronized with the labeling machine to space the filler a third distance from the labeling machine. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the apparatus comprises a form-filling machine.