Apparatus for filling containers with liquid under gas pressure

Claim 1

A filling apparatus for filling containers with liquid under gas pressure, the apparatus comprising, in combination: a source of gas at greater than atmospheric pressure; a first supply conduit adapted to be connected to a source of the liquid; a second supply conduit connected to said source of gas; an exhaust conduit; a further conduit selectably connecting said gas source to said exhaust conduit; and a non-return valve serially connected in said further conduit to permit gas to flow therein only from said gas source to said exhaust conduit; connecting means to provide mutually independent connections from each of said first supply conduit, said second supply conduit and said exhaust conduit to the interior of a container to be filled with the liquid; a first pre-settable pressure regulating valve connected in said first supply conduit upstream of said connecting means to maintain the pressure of the liquid in said first supply conduit substantially constant at a value pre-set by said first valve; a second pre-settable pressure regulating valve connected between said gas source and said second supply conduit to maintain the pressure of gas in said second supply conduit substantially constant at a value pre-set by said second valve; a pre-settable pressure release valve selectively connecting said exhaust conduit to the atmosphere thereby to permit gas at greater than a pressure pre-set by said release valve to pass from said exhaust conduit to the atmosphere; whereby the pressure of liquid in the first supply conduit and the pressure of gas in the second supply conduit are settable to respective pre-set values independently of one another by adjustment of the first and second valves, respectively, and the pressure of gas in the exhaust conduit is pre-settable to a value determined by the setting of the pressure release valve to be independent of the pressure of gas in the second supply conduit.