Object to be inspected including small diameter bottle

Transparent containers are conventionally engaged at an inspection location to locate the axis of the container coincident with the axis of the inspection operation. With larger containers, there will always be areas of the container that are not engaged so that inspection of these exposed areas is possible. In certain situations, however, a container can be so small that any engagement of the outer wall effectively prevents inspection.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to present a container at an inspection station with the axis of the container at the desired location and with the container stable for inspection so that unobstructed viewing of the container profile is possible for non-contact inspection (inspection, measurement, etc,).

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following portion of this specification and from the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, in accordance with the mandate of the patent statutes, a presently preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the invention.

An inspection machine is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1. A conveyor system, which is made up of a conveyor 10 and bottle pushing elements (robotic pushers) 12 locate bottles which could be any color and shape, at a number of inspection stations. The invention is not limited to pushers. These devices could be any handling structure that is normally used to control the displacement of a bottle to be tested. Representative inspection stations are shown as a Plug/Dip Inspection Station 14, which would evaluate the dimension (diameter) of the inner and outer cylindrical surfaces of the bottle finish, and a Side Wall Inspection Station 16, which would evaluate the sidewall dimensions of a bottle.

In the present application, bottles are replaced by a bottle assembly, which includes a container like adapter 18 and a bottle 20 to be inspected. The container like adaptor 18 has a configuration, which makes it possible for the robotic pusher 12 to handle the container like adaptor 18 in the same manner as a conventionally inspected bottle of the same size. The axis 22 of the container like adaptor is the axis of an equivalent bottle. The container like adaptor 18 (FIG. 2) has a top portion 24 which has a flat top surface 26 for supporting a bottle 20 to be inspected. A centering magnet 28 is mounted in the top portion of the container like adapter 18. The centering magnet has a localized centering effect whereby ferrous objects placed within the field will be aligned closely to a vertical centerline, which coincides with the vertical centerline 22 of the container like adaptor 18. Metallic material 30 (ferrous objects or spheres as shown) are placed in the bottle 20 to be inspected and the bottle 20 is placed centrally onto the centering magnet portion of the top surface of the container like adaptor 18. The attraction between the centering magnet 28 and the metallic spheres 30 holds the bottle 20 on the top surface of the container like adaptor 18 and relocates the axis of the bottle 20 to be inspected to the vertical centerline of the centering magnet and holds the bottle with such coincidence. The particulate size and amount of metallic material can be defined to achieve the desired result. The magnet could be a single magnet or a number of magnets arranged to provide the desired centering effect (four flat rectangular magnets could be used). For purposes of clarity “bottle” has been used to describe the item to be inspected and “container” has been used to define the adaptor. In the glass forming art, these words are often used interchangeably.