| CPC B67B 7/14 (2013.01) [B65B 69/00 (2013.01)] | 15 Claims |
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1. An apparatus for removing a flip-off type plastic cap from a bottle, the bottle including a neck, a ferrule cap attached to the neck and the flip-off type plastic cap attached in a removable manner to the ferrule cap, the apparatus comprising:
a removal station including:
holding means to hold the bottle in a cap removal position, where the bottle stands on a supporting surface in the removal station with a longitudinal axis thereof coinciding with a first axis fixed with respect to the removal station and perpendicular to the supporting surface;
a gripping head provided with a gripper having a first jaw and a second jaw mutually movable along a second axis transverse to the first axis to grip the flip-off type plastic cap;
first handling means to move the gripping head to and from the bottle;
second handling means to rotate the gripping head about a third axis located on a side of the first jaw and perpendicular to a plane defined by the first axis and by the second axis; and
electronic control means configured to control, in the following order, the first handling means so as to bring the gripping head closer to the bottle, the second handling means to rotate the gripping head so as to position the two jaws around the flip-off type plastic cap with the second axis perpendicular to the first axis, the gripping head to close the gripper so as to grip the flip-off type plastic cap, the second handling means to rotate the gripping head around the third axis by a certain angle such as to lift the flip-off type plastic cap from the ferrule cap substantially only at the second jaw, and the first handling means to move the gripping head away from the bottle while the gripping head remains rotated by that angle so as to remove the flip-off type plastic cap from the ferrule cap.
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