Apparatus for gauging container openings

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR GAUGING THE NECK OPENING OF A CONTAINER MOVING CONTINUOUSLY IN A PREDETERMINED PATH, COMPRISING A GAUGE ELEMENT HAVING AXIALLY ALIGNED GAUGE PORTIONS OF DIFFERENT DIAMETER CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO THE MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM DIAMETERS SPECIFIED FOR THE CONTAINER OPENING, ACTUATING MECHANISM OPERABLE TO CAUSE THE GAUGE ELEMENT TO TRAVERSE A PREDETERMINED ARCUATE PATH FROM A RETRACTED POSITION THROUGH A LOWER GAUGING ZONE AND RETURN, SAID GAUGE ELEMENT IN THE LOWER GAUGING ZONE THEREOF BEING DISPOSED FOR INSERTION INTO THE NECK OPENING OF THE MOVING CONTAINER, MEANS BIASING THE GAUGE ELEMENT TO A LOWER LIMIT POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SAID ACTUATING MECHANISM AND YIELDINGLY MOUNTING SAID ELEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT UPWARDLY BY THE CONTAINER TO AN UPPER POSITION IN THE EVENT THAT THE SMALLER DIAMETER PORTION OF THE GAUGE ELEMENT FAILS TO ENTER THE NECK OPENING AND TO AN INTERMEDIATE POSITION IN THE EVENT THAT SAID SMALLER DIAMETER PORTION ONLY ENTERS THE NECK OPENING, AND DETECTOR MEANS ACTUATABLE BY THE CONTAINER OPERABLE TO EFFECT OPERATION OF SAID ACTUATING MECHANISM IN TIMED RELATION WITH SAID MOVING CONTAINER FOR GAUGING SAID CONTAINER BY THE GAUGE ELEMENT.