Technical News Bulletin

Steinhausen, February 2008

– Available on all our machine configurations providing precise and flexible hot end
FlexPusher container transportation.
– Flexible Pusher Finger concept with exchangeable liners and highly efficient vertical
pocket air.
– No bottle air guide required for standard applications.

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Introduction
Constantly increasing production speed and larger machines move the production speed limitation more towards
the ware handling. 12 Section Quadruple Gob (QG) machines with an output of up to 800 containers per minute
are real challenges for every ware handling system.

Rising demands for flexibility and increasing numbers of container designs increasing the complexity for the
stable ware handling. One of the main components of the hot end ware handling is the pusher mechanism on the
IS machine.

Emhart Glass developed a new pusher coping with these rising demands and provides more stability in the
entire ware handling. The FlexPusher is available on all our machine configurations providing precise and
flexible hot end container transportation.

Specification
The motion of the FlexPusher is generated by high dynamic servo motors, all
the pneumatic motion as been eliminated. The high level of repeatability is
achieved by the use of 2 servo drives per pusher mechanism. The motor and
the drive are standard FlexIS components already used on other
mechanisms.

The unique motion of the FlexPusher uses all available space on the dead
plate for a smooth sweep out motion. The motion of the pusher determines
the placement of the containers on the belt which is the main factor on the
performance on the downstream ware handling. Precise placement of the
containers by the pusher also reduces losses at the ware transfer, the
stacker, and the hot end coating tunnel.

The FlexPusher is available for SG – DG – TG and QG operations on SIS, IS, AIS and NIS machines with the
Emhart Glass Universal Conveyor. The controls are fully integrated into the FlexIS process control system using
common motor and control components.
The FlexPusher consists of an upper rotating arm driven by a servo motor, and a pusher finger support shaft
rotated by a second servo motor. Each servo motor has a planetary gear unit based on top of it. Each gear unit
drives a belt transmission that provides the actual pusher mechanism motion. The motors and the planetary gear
boxes are identical which makes spare part handling more easily. The pusher finger is connected with the
mechanism trough the finger bracket. The pusher mechanism is universal for SIS, IS, AIS and NIS machines as
well as left hand LH and right hand RH.

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The pusher fingers contribute to large extent to the overall performance of the entire
pusher system. The FlexPusher has a very flexible finger concept for IS, AIS and NIS
machines which allows adopting the finger shape to the different containers in a
simple way. The pusher finger itself is a skeleton which provides mounting
possibilities for the finger liners in different heights. The finger liners itself are small,
inexpensive parts designed to guide the container during the sweep out. The vertical
pocket air can enforce the guiding of the fingers by an air stream behind the
containers holding them in place during the sweep out. The air stream of the pocket
air must be as close as possible to the container to guarantee a high efficiency.
Different lengths of pocket air nozzles are available to match different container
diameters. The vertical pocket nozzles are attached to the backplane which allow a
very flexible finger design without restrictions of the pocket air application through the finger. At the beginning of
the sweep out motion the pusher finger moves around the container and collects them into the pockets therefore
no guide air is required with the FlexPusher for standard applications.

Operation Principles
The FlexPusher mechanism combines the motion of two independent servo motors to generate the sweep out
motion. The motion can be modified by changing parameters on the pusher page of the FlexIS or accordingly on
the screens of the FlexIS standalone Controller.

The mechanism is mounted on the conveyor below the dead plate level. This is protected position for the
mechanics which reduces the exposure to heat radiation. Only the Pusher Fingers are above the dead plate.
A calibration guard is mounted on the dead plate which is required for the calibration of the mechanism. This
guard is required in any case, as calibration does not work without this part.

The sweep out cycle starts with the extent motion where the fingers move from the home position to the position
were they receive the containers from the take out. After the start of the push out, the fingers are moving around
the containers to collect them and place them correctly in the pockets of the finger. The FlexPusher then rotates
the containers already on the dead plate as much as possible in belt direction. This motion requires all the space
which is available on the dead plate. This has the benefit of a higher precision in the placement of the containers
on the belt without the demand for guide air. This motion does not compromise any dead plate cooling time of
the container.

The performance with a 150mm wide belt is superior compared to a 180mm wide belt therefore 150mm wide
belts are strongly recommended. The 150mm belt provides more space on the dead plate to turn the containers
which gives optimum ware handling performance.

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The FlexPusher mechanism has life time lubricated bearing and does not need to be connected to a central
lubrication system. The mechanism is maintenance free while the transmission belt for the finger and the arm
should be visually checked every 12 month.

Specification
The FlexPusher mechanism is the same assembly for LH and RH. A LH mechanism can be converted to RH and
vice versa with no additional parts. The basic mechanism is identical for SIS, IS, AIS and NIS. Pusher fingers,
pusher mounting brackets, calibration guards and dead plates are different for each machine configuration and
must be selected accordingly.

The Pusher Fingers is available in a large variety of setups for SG, DG, TG and QG. The fingers for SIS
machines are available in 80mm height while the fingers for IS, AIS and NIS are available in 116mm height and
for most of the setups also in 50mm height (see chart).

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The Finger is mounted with a bracket to the mechanism. This bracket is identical for SIS IS, AIS and NIS as well
as LH and RH for tall fingers (116mm). For small ware the fingers (50mm) mounting bracket is the same for IS,
AIS and NIS but different for LH and RH.

Machien Type Mold Spacing Belt Advance Finger Spacing Finger Height
7 7/8 3 15/16 50 and 116
IS
10 1/2 5 1/4 116
4 1/4 DG
7 7/8 3 15/16 80
SIS
10 1/2 5 1/4 80
7'' 3 1/2 50 and 116
IS 8 3/4 4 3/8 116
10 1/2 5 1/4 116
5'' DG
7'' 3 1/2 80
SIS 8 3/4 4 3/8 80
10 1/2 5 1/4 80
IS 10 1/2 5 1/4 116
5 1/2 DG
SIS 10 1/2 5 1/4 80
10 1/2 5 1/4 116
IS/AIS
13 1/8 6 9/16 116
6 1/4 DG 10 1/2 5 1/4 80
SIS
13 1/8 6 9/16 80
NIS 11 1/4 5 5/8 116
9'' 3'' 50 and 116
IS 3'' TG 10 1/2 3 1/4 50 and 116
10 1/2 3 1/2 50 and 116
IS 85 TG 10 1/2 3 1/2 50 and 116
7 7/8 2 5/8 50 and 116
8 3/4 2 59/64 50 and 116
IS/AIS 4 1/4 TG
11 13/16 3 7/8 50 and 116
13 1/8 4 3/8 50 and 116
11 1/4 3 3/4 50 and 116
NIS 5'' TG
15'' 5'' 116
9 3/8 2 11/13 50 and 116
11 1/4 2 13/16 50 and 116
NIS 95 QG 12'' 3'' 50 and 116
14 1/16 3 33/64 50 and 116
15'' 3 3/4 50 and 116

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The Finger skeleton needs to be equipped with Finger
Liners. These small carbon parts guarantee a precise
container guiding during the sweep out. The finger liners
together with the corresponding pocket air nozzle are
available as packages. One set provides the parts
required for one cavity for a certain container diameter
including pocket air nozzle with screw, 2 back plate liner,
2 finger liner and finger spacers if required. (see following
chart)

Container Diameter 29 34 39 44 48 53 57 62 64 69 74
Diameter Range 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-53 54-57 58-62 63-64 65-69 70-75

Container Diameter 80 85 90 96 102 110 121 128 134 - -

Diameter Range 76-80 81-85 86-90 91-96 97-102 103-110 111-121 122-128 129-135 136-167 168-178

High speed ware handling and handling of

complex shaped containers require special
pusher fingers. The finger liner design tool
has been developed to support the design
of the finger liners for round cylindrical and
non cylindrical containers. Non cylindrical
containers require the support of different
body diameters in different heights. The
tool can also used to design finger liners
dedicated for one container to improve the
ware handling especially on high speed
lines. The finger liner design tool is
available on request.

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The FlexPusher is available fully integrated into the FlexIS offering all
benefits of a modern control system with standardized components
and centralized functions like job handling, alarm handling and
machine and section setups.
The FlexIS standalone is offering the possibility to upgrade existing
machines with the FlexPusher and to interface different, non FlexIS,
timing systems.

Firing orders for belt advance 10 ½ and larger must be checked to

ensure the performance of the FlexPusher. The FlexIS provides these
firing orders for machines with FlexPusher. For machines equipped
with FlexPusher and FlexIS standalone the host timing system must
also run with these FlexPusher complying firing orders.

Emhart Glass universal conveyor supports the FlexPusher with special designed wind boxes and dead plates.
New machines with FlexPusher will always delivered with the Universal Conveyor. Upgrades of existing
machines with the FlexPusher also require the Universal conveyor. This makes such conversions quicker and
reduces the risk of unforeseeable interference and ensures a low number of interfaces which need to be
checked.

The following tools are required for the FlexPusher for transmission belt tensioning and lifting:
• 94-461-01 Finger belt tensioning gauge
• 94-461-02 Arm belt tensioning gauge
• 94-4860 Tensioning lever
• 1180-3641 Lifting eye bolt

Features / Benefits
• Push-out motion created by two dynamic servo axis for single, double, triple and quad applications
• Entire pusher motion without pneumatics
• FlexPusher controls are fully integrated into the FlexIS process control system with standardized
components
• FlexPusher with FlexIS standalone for machine upgrades
• Flexible Pusher Finger concept with exchangeable liners and highly efficient vertical pocket air
• No bottle air guide required for standard applications
• No mechanism lubrication required

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