Machine for fitting a sleeve seal of a flat form over a container

Claim 1

A machine for fitting a sleeve seal of a flat form over a container, comprising: a rotating member; a pair of half-mandrels mounted on the rotating member with their longitudinal axes substantially intersecting the axis of rotation thereof, and which can move towards and away from one another; a pair of suction cups for opening the flat sleeve seal, which can move towards one another and away from one another, and which also can move together towards and away from the axis of the rotating member; a means for pushing off the sleeve seal opened which is fitted over the half-mandrels, which when the rotating member is in a certain predetermined position can be moved towards and away from the axis thereof along the lontitudinal directions of the half-mandrels; and a means for moving the mandrels, a means for moving the suction cups, and a means for moving the pushoff means; wherein the half-mandrels are formed as halves of an elliptical cylinder, with such a part cut away on at least one of the half-mandrels so that, when they are brought together so that their outside circumferential surfaces form part of the surface of said elliptical cylinder, a part of the side of said elliptical cylinder which is leading as the rotating member rotates is cut away, and more so towards the part of said elliptical cylinder which is nearer to the axis of said rotating member, so as to present a protuberance at the outer leading portion of said elliptical cylinder.