Invalidity dossier
US 6276113
Setup table for bottle handling machines
Current assignee: KHS GmbH
Added 9/17/2026, 2:21:38 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US6276113B1 — Setup Table for Bottle Handling Machines
Title: Setup table for bottle handling machines
Patent number: US6276113B1
Inventor: Herbert Bernhard
Original assignee: KHS Maschinen und Anlagenbau AG (current assignee listed as KHS GmbH)
Priority date: 1998-04-01
Filing date: 1999-03-31
Grant/publication date: 2001-08-21
Status as listed: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2019-03-31)
Application number: US09/282,975
Purpose. The setup table sits upstream of the large rotary handling bodies on bottle handling machines. Its stated object is to achieve substantially optimal bottle guidance and to substantially eliminate additional intermediate star wheels, particularly where several machines are combined into one unit.
Plain-language scope. The claims describe a setup table for bottle handling machines having feed-end and delivery-end star wheels with associated bottle guide tracks, drive devices for the individual star wheels and handling stations, and a support plate covering the drive devices. The distinguishing arrangement combines multiple handling machines into a unit: the rinser's axis of rotation lies on a first line; the axes of the rinser's feed-end and delivery-end star wheels and the filling machine's axis lie on a second, spaced line; the filling machine's delivery-end star wheel axis and the crown corker's axis lie on a further line angled to the second; and an additional capping machine's axis and the delivery-end star wheel axis of the crown corker and capping machine lie on another line, stated as parallel to the third.
Further features recited in the excerpt: the filling machine's delivery-end star wheel doubles as the feed-end star wheel of the crown corker and additional capping machine; the crown corker's delivery-end star wheel also serves as the additional capping machine's delivery-end star wheel; those four axes may form corners of a square, rectangle, or parallelogram; the third line may run at 45 degrees to the second; stars and transport devices are driven by bottom-driven shafts enclosed by columns beginning above the support plate; the support plate edge essentially tracks the contour of corresponding drive devices; columns are sealed to the support plate and may be conically tapered.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6276113](/patent/US6276113)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It is an abridged rendering that ends mid-claim ("Yet another feature of the invention resides broadly in the setup table chara..."). The full claim set (the text references 4 claims), complete description, drawings, and figures are not reproduced here; the reference numerals and line/axis designations in the excerpt are internally inconsistent in places. No prior-art analysis, prosecution history, or legal conclusions are supplied.
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:03:07 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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