Spindle Capper Gripper Belt Assembly

 

One of the most popular capping machines manufactured by Liquid Packaging Solutions is the Automatic Spindle Capper.  This capper uses an automatic cap delivery system, normally consisting of a cap elevator and cap chute, to allow for continuous capping on an automated packaging system.  If you have landed on the website page for the spindle capping equipment, you may have noticed that one of the options for these capping machines is listed as dual gripper belts.  Spindle cappers are normally manufactured with one set of gripper belts to guide the bottles through the capping machine.  Under some circumstances, a second set of belts is added to the capping machine, equipping the capper with dual gripper belts.  The key factor in whether or not dual gripper belts will be required for any capping project is normally the container to be filled and certain containers will almost always require the additional set of belts.

Tall containers simply may not have an ideal location to allow placement of one set of gripper belts in order to stabilize the bottles for the capping process.  Setting the belts too low or too high can cause the bottles to tip in one direction or another and result in inconsistent cap tightening. In these situations, using two sets of gripper belts allows bottle contact at two points, increasing the ability of the capping machine to stabilize bottles and provide reliable seals on the bottles.

 

While the height of some bottles may suggest that a single set of gripper belts on a capping machine would suffice to stabilize the bottle, the shape of the bottle can also play a role.  Unique bottles can catch the eye of a potential customer on the shelf and anyone packaging a product wants that product to stand out from the crowd.  Bottles may include a ball at the bottom, an hourglass-type shape or any other number of shapes that simply do not allow for a good point of contact for a single set of gripper belts.  Odd shaped bottles can also lead to top heavy and bottom heavy containers once filled, leading to the same tipping issues seen with tall containers.  Again, in these situations the dual gripper belt assembly will allow an additional contact point on the bottle.  In turn the capping machine will be able to consistently and reliably seal bottle and cap.

Some facilities, especially larger corporations and contract packagers, will use their capping machines to seal a wide range of container shapes, types and sizes.  In most cases, the dual gripper belt assembly can be added to the capping machine and adjusted to handle the entire range of bottles being capped.  The dual gripper belt assembly can actually remove the necessity of having multiple capping machines for different sized bottles.  On the Automatic Spindle Capper, the belts are easily adjustable to allow for quick changeover from one bottle size to another as well.

 

For more information on the Automatic Spindle Capper and all of the capping machines manufactured by Liquid Packaging Solutions, Inc., call toll free today at 1-888-393-3693.