2 Comments Posted by Spencer

I used to run the 12-oz bottling line at a brewery. The filler was originally used by Pepsi in the 1960s and converted to fill standard 12-oz beer bottles in the mid nineties. It shares a lot of similarities with what you see here, so maybe I can provide some insight here.

The machine with multiple, numbered, stainless steel, cylinders is the capper. As you can see, they are at different ascending/descending heights. The filled bottled is fed into the capper using a "star wheel" that turns with the machine, keeping them directly under the cappers heads. The hopper is actually part of the cappers and holds uncrimped crowns (aka bottle caps). The photo just makes it appear to be on the conveyor. This machine appears very similar what I used to run.

The large machine to the right of the cappers is the actual bottle filler with all of the stainless parts removed. The top platform used to support a large cylinder that held the beer prior to filling, known as the "bowl". Notice the holes along the edge of the platform. These were likely mounting places for the filler valve switches. You can see how they are broken up into different sections; these represent where each filling platform/valve was located. There were likely 38-50 filling heads on this machine. Near the top of the vertical pole running along side the filler is an electro-pneumatic piston, that would flip the switches when the bottle was ready to be filled.

As for the large discrepancy between the size of the filler and the cappers, it simply takes a lot longer to fill a bottle than it does to install a cap.

These machines are generally run using electricity as well as compressed air and/or CO2. The regulators, filters and water separators mounted in line with the pipes were used to keep these compressed gasses clean and stable to ensure a smooth bottling process (well, in theory).

I can feel the pain radiating from this site...