Continuous heating apparatus for metal caps

Claim 1

In a continuous heating apparatus for continuously heating non-magnetic metal caps so as to thermally adhere thermoplastic liners to the inner surface of the bottom of the caps, the improvement comprising in that said apparatus has a cap feed means for supplying caps with their bottoms positioned downwardly and their open ends positioned upwardly, at least one pair of high frequency electric conductors positioned beneath and facing the bottom of the metal caps to be heated and being spaced from each other by an interval less than the diameter of the bottom of a cap, a source of high frequency electric current connected to said conductors to cause a current flow in opposite directions in each said pair of conductors, a guide panel formed with a ceramic plate spaced from said conductors a distance slightly greater than the height of a cap to form therebetween part of an unobstructed space through which metal caps may move and where said guide panel is adapted to engage the open ends of said metal caps which are moved from the conductors towards said panel under the influence of the high frequency electric current, and a rotatable table having a plurality of semi-circular peripheral notches to engage the side wall of a metal cap to move the metal cap through the space relative to said conductors with the open end of the metal caps slipping along said guide panel.