Overhead air track moves caps to bottle capping machine

Problem: The manufacturer of consumer cosmetics needed a feeding system for their bottle capping machinery. They were looking for a feeding system that would feed caps at a high speed. They were also looking for the flexibility of feeding three different diameters of caps in the same feeder and being able to accommodate three different bottle heights in their capping machine.

Solution: Fortville Feeders designed a parts feeding system that used an overhead air track to move the caps down line. Air lines are used on parts to limit friction damage. Typically air is blown from the bottom of the track, which lifts and moves each part. However, this customer needed the open part of the cap to face up. Fortville engineers understood that it would take twice the air pressure to move these caps from the bottom of the track. They changed the airline to the top of the track. Since Fortville performs EDM milling in-house, there was no delay in producing an overhead air track.

Fortville engineers also designed the end of the line to meet the demands of the customer’s capper machine. This included devising a line that fit into the bottle capper and could be adjusted to three different bottle heights. The feeder system was also engineered to adapt to feed three different diameters of caps.

Fortville was able to manufacture an engineered solution that met the customer’s specifications. It moved their caps at a high speed and to the precise height needed for their bottle capper.