The New British 15-Arm Automatic Suction Bottle Machine

JSGT 1927 V11 T257-T265

I assume that everyone present here is familiar with the barbarous conditions under which a bottle machine has to work, particularly a machine making common bottles on mass production lines. There are heat, dirt, carbonised oil, particles of glass, and wear and tear to contend with. The machine has to work throughout the whole 24 hours, week after week, and month after month, as long as the furnace holds up, and, after that (subject to the minimum of mechanical overhauling during the shut down), when the furnace is rebuilt. If bottles are to be supplied at a competitive price in these days, one must have a machine which requires the minimum of attention and involves the least possible loss of production. The cost of keeping a furnace going is so great that the engineer has to aim at producing a machine which will continuously' stand up to its job and pour out an endless stream of bottles. Under modern conditions, the best one can hope for is a breathing space of two or three hours, say once every week or fortnight, for cleaning, inspection, and oiling. The engineer should aim at providing a system of oiling as nearly automatic as is possible. Such a system has been provided for in the machine described in this paper.

Francis Redfern