Bottled Water Plants - Capping Machinery

The necessary capping machinery for your bottled water plant will depend, like many other components of your packaging line, in large part on your production needs. It will also depend on the type of cap you choose to use! Liquid Packaging Solutions, Inc. manufactures cappers for a wide range of different caps and capping machines for nearly any size production run. Below are some of the most common cappers used in bottled water plants.

CHUCK CAPPERS

A chuck capper is a common capping machine for bottled water. The chuck capper is more common for contract packagers who have short runs and those bottled water plants with a lower production output. However, the chuck cappers are available in manual, semi-automatic and automatic models. The manual, handheld chuck capper is a cost-efficient, easy to use capping machine. The handheld chuck capper is popular among smaller start up water bottlers. Multiple handheld chuck cappers can also be used with a turntable and capping table to form a capping station. Operators of the handheld chuck capper simply place a cap on the bottle, place the chuck over the cap and press a trigger to tighten the cap.

Semi-automatic and automatic chuck cappers can be used as inline machines or can stand alone at a capping station. For example, a tabletop chuck capping machine comes equiped with a sensor. The user can simply place the cap, slide the bottle under the chuck, and the chuck will lower to torque the cap into place. Footswitch activation is also available for the semi-automatic chuck cappers.

SPINDLE CAPPERS

The most popular capping machine for bottled water plants is the automatic spindle capper. The automatic spindle capper is ideal for higher production bottled water plants. The spindle capper normally comes with a cap elevator or vibratory bowl and a chute to deliver the caps to the bottles as they advance down the conveyor on a packaging system. Once the cap is placed by the chute, two gripper belts will hold the bottle in place as it travels through sets of spindles (or gripper discs) to torque down the cap. The non-stop capping ability of the automatic spindle capper allows the packaging system to quickly and effectively apply caps and deliver the capped bottles downstream to the next packaging phase, usually labeling.

The Spindle Capper is also available in a semi-automatic mode. For low to medium production facilities, the semi-automatic spindle capper may be the best option. While using manual labor (to apply the caps and place on the conveyor), the semi-automatic spindle capper can easily be upgraded to an automatic capper, allowing your equipment to grow with your production needs.

OTHER CAPPING MACHINERY

ROPP cappers are also available to apply pilfer proof caps. These caps are rare in the bottled water industry, but are often seen on wine bottles and similar containers. Combination cappers allow for the use of different cap types. For example, spindle/snap cappers can apply both twist on and snap on caps. Custom capping machinery is available for irregular caps and special capping applications.

Or to discuss your capping needs and options, contact LPS directly at 1-888-393-3693.