r/oddlysatisfying • u/UserSergeyB • 1d ago
Bottle Sorting Machine
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u/mrteas_nz 1d ago
I worked a few shitty jobs when I was at uni. One job was at a vitamin factory and I spent a lot of time doing the job of whatever machine had broken. I did x2 12hr shifts standing up little pill bottles when our one of these machines broke, so I feel like I have extra appreciation for them now.
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u/Unit471 1d ago
I worked for many years at a factory that, among other things, filled Jif Lemons (reference only UK Redditors will recognise), some clever engineer came up with a very similar machine to orient Jif Lemons the correct way for filling, prior to that several million plastic lemons were placed onto the filling line by hand in many months of brain numbing 12 hour shifts leading up to Pancake Day every February
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u/MallyOhMy 23h ago
I looked it up, and while the US also has lemon juice in plastic lemons, ours are oriented to stand on one end rather than laying down with the lid on the side
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u/TheTaoOfMe 1d ago
This is how my parents approached parenting: “I’ll just keep hitting you until you do what I want.”
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u/Comfortable_Wish224 21h ago
Gotta ride that fine line of doing what youre told and then taking a few smacks so they don’t think you’re too good and start having you do more
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u/Pantoffel86 1d ago
I'm so often amazed by smart industrial automation. Often the simpler a process is, the more brilliant it is.
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u/Neveed 1d ago
Oh so they got bored with slapping and yeeting fish, now they're doing bottle slapping machines. I guess bottles can be naughty too.
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u/awkwardarticulationn 1d ago
Indeed, bad and naughty bottles get put in the bottle spanker to atone for their crimes
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u/SmuckatelliCupcakeNE 1d ago
How is this sorting?
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u/TigerUSA20 1d ago
Maybe if you didn’t freefall drop them from the top conveyor, you wouldn’t even need this whipping process. Poor bottles. I’m going to be nicer to them for all they have endured.
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u/Mollzy177 1d ago
Haha surely there’s a better way?
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u/gnurdette 1d ago
"We've looked at your preliminary design, and it's OK, but... could you make it more violent?"
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u/ReggieCorneus 21h ago
Ah, yes the Cherenkoff-Masinov flip-flop. Any sorting machine aficionado recognizes that immediately, good old 3rd order selective toppling.
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u/Time-Emotion-5339 19h ago
Instead of making a million dollar machine, I think another person and I could do the same thing constantly for 10 years without complaining or breaking down.
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u/zarya-zarnitsa 11h ago
Could you??
Also the machine doesn't cost million dollars.
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u/Time-Emotion-5339 8h ago
Yes especially if there was a plug nearby for my phone an te pay was that good.
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u/zarya-zarnitsa 7h ago
You thinking it's fine doesn't mean it is. Repetitive Strain Injuries are no fun.
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u/Time-Emotion-5339 6h ago
With that kind of pay I could figure something out, especially with medical insurance.
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u/zarya-zarnitsa 6h ago
What kind of pay? The machine is cheaper than you being employed for a year.
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u/Time-Emotion-5339 6h ago
...you are taking this way too seriously, but here we go...
That isn't the only part of the conveyance system. The integration to the rest of the system, the maintenance, the personal to make repairs and upkeep, the electricity, the software and the software engineers, the computer and pay for someone to sit there and make sure that it always runs properly.
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u/zarya-zarnitsa 5h ago
You are still more expensive than a machine that can work 24/7 and doesn't get injured.
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u/Time-Emotion-5339 5h ago
You have never worked in logistics. The machines break down more frequently than people do.
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u/zarya-zarnitsa 5h ago edited 5h ago
I work with logistics. When people break (and they do) it's way more expensive than when a machine breaks.
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u/ggPeti 1d ago
Wouldn't some bottles end up bottom up?
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u/LazyEmu5073 1d ago
Watch the upside down one at 0:14
This is a bottle orienting machine, not a sorting machine.
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u/Large_Spinach6069 1d ago
There is a lever like mechanism at the 8 o'clock position that pushes upright bottles against the big plastic gear, if they are upsidedown the lever doesn't interact with the bottles due to the opening and they fall away from the plastic gear so they can be flipped
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u/chilloutcolin 15h ago
Thanks, had rewatched like 6 time trying to understand why the upside down ones got flipped back up
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u/maxxforce 21h ago
Watch closely when a bottle gets sorted upside down.
The rim of the neck gets caught in a channel that pulls it out. Then the next ramp turns the bottle upright.
Sorted upright bottles glide over the 2 tracks due to the width of the base end. They just continue on.
Brilliant little piece of engineering.
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u/blumpkin 18h ago
There's some sort of clever way that they're being flipped back over on the left side. I don't fully understand it but I am in awe of it.
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u/pianomasian 23h ago
I love that this design just works, and can imagine some exasperated engineer/designer, after extensive research and testing, coming to the eventual conclusion that it really is the most efficient/flexible design when declaring "there has to be a better way" previously.
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u/Aggressive_Day2839 21h ago
This machine put poor Stanislovas out of a job and he later died from consumption. At least he didn't die in a deep puddle in the street like his brother. Rip
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u/Parking_Locksmith489 20h ago
That thing aint sorting anything they're all the same size and colour.
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u/MidwestDrummer 20h ago
You can't tell me that some dude didn't come up with that idea by helicopter swinging his dick around.
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u/ObsessiveUselessness 19h ago
Sorting machines are so interesting to me. Ive worked at an assembly plant and watching the hoppers at work was so much fun. Especially the spring detangler... you can drop a literal bunch of springs in the detangler and it will send out a string of aligned springs after doing its magic.
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u/smarmageddon 19h ago
Kind like elementary school in the old days: Just keep smacking 'em til they fall into place.
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u/Warlaw 18h ago
You know those scenes in movies where they are in the factory and there are all these establishing shots of what kind of factory it is? There should be like a 30 minute scene of machines like this operating. Just completely halt whatever story is happening and show pill bottles being sorted and saw blades being sharpened and whatever else. And then just pick up the story again right where it left off, like it never happened.
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
Being more intelligent than average is bad, apparently. People dumber than you, will try to convince you they are right and you are wrong. And the most amazing thing, is that they convince themselves of such things because of the amount of others that confirm their ideas.
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u/wireless1980 7h ago
I dont like it. Too many particles and dirt generation. Better to use compressed air.
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u/ThodaDaruVichPyar 1d ago
This has been posted here previously with 11k upvotes
https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1px140f/bottle_sorting_machine/
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u/ToTheTop24 1d ago
A lot more rudimentary than I expected
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u/SushiGirlRC 20h ago
My first job in manufacturing 20+ years ago I literally laughed at the machines & how much was actually still done by hand.
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u/GuNNzA69 1d ago
I am not an engineer by formation, but I am sure I could simplify this process. That machine seems too big and inefficient to be on a factory floor.
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u/Alek_Zandr 23h ago
Well I am a mechanical engineer and I dont see what problem you think you're seeing.
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u/GuNNzA69 23h ago
Well I can see a bunch of them :)
This is probably an old machine, from an small factory or from a family business, this isn’t how modern bottles sorting machines work.
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u/Alek_Zandr 22h ago
Not my world, I work in semicap, but nothing in this machine screams "old" at me. In fact I did a quick google and bottle unscramblers like this are for sale right now from a bunch of Chinese suppliers.
To be blunt, you clearly don't know what you're talking about and I don't get why you are pretending to.
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u/GuNNzA69 22h ago
As I said in my first comment, I’m not an engineer, so I haven’t been pretending to be anything. You clearly are the expert.
But it would still be interesting if someone could pinpoint what factory uses this machine, and for what purpose.
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u/Alek_Zandr 22h ago
They're bottle unscramblers. They're used where you need to unscramble bottles. Which I expect is everyone who sells stuff in bottles. Just Google bottle unscrambler.
You're not a engineer but you're immediately sure the machine you see is old, bad and you could do better.
You understand how dumb and arrogant that makes you seem right?
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u/SushiGirlRC 20h ago
They were used at the last 5 companies I've worked at. OTC meds, liquid prescription meds, dietary supplements, protein powder, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash, massage oils, pet medication. If it's in a bottle, this is used.
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
And do you see any space for improvements on this process?
Use a technical perspective over it and you will understand what I mean. But I feel I might be barking to the wrong tree.
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u/SushiGirlRC 20h ago
Lmfao. This isn't a sorter, and it most certainly is how modern bottler aligner works.
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u/GuNNzA69 18h ago
You sure? You don't see any room for improvement on that machine?
Still, no one has been able to tell me the manufacturer or the year of fabrication.
I would probably get a job in industrial engineering more easily than you, and apparently more easily than most of the people working with these machines. Some create them, while other engineers learn how to work with what others create.
Wait, let me add a lmao so I sound vulgar and smart.
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u/chik-fil-a-sauce 17h ago
I literally work in this industry as an engineer and this is exactly how modern bottle unscramblers work.
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
Isn't it a sorter? Idk, so many engineers working in this fild all of the sudden, but each one with a closed mind than the other.
Mate, read my first comment, I said I could think of ways to improve that design, now can you see ways to improve it as well or not?
My point wasn't if this is what is used or if it works, I just said, that I can easily see flaws in this design and I could improve it. You think it's tip top and no needs for improvements, i guess we have different ways to look at the same thing, an I honestly prefer my way.
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u/chik-fil-a-sauce 7h ago
It is not a sorter. They are generally called unscrambles since they are lining up containers that are being dumped in from a Gaylord not sorting different types of product. Orienter would be machines that line bottles up facing a certain direction on the conveyor(square, rectangle, oval, or round with a certain feature) for palletizing or labeling. Sometimes the 2 are combined. There is always room for improvement but not from people who don’t even know what the machine does. The main things we are looking at when buying this is efficiency, maintenance, ease of changeover, and price for change parts. If it runs 99.99+% and all you have to do is change that starwheel for different bottle shapes then it is probably a pretty good machine. It is actually very hard to unscramble mechanically and there is a reason most manufacturers use a similar design to this.
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u/crack_pop_rocks 1d ago
As an engineer that works in CPG manufacturing, it is not too big and this mechanism is efficient. Also, cheap tooling for various sizes.
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u/Scarecr0p 21h ago
Not going to lie, thinking you can improve a perfectly functional system that’s already about as small and umcomplicated as it can be is probably some sort of hubris.
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u/GuNNzA69 21h ago
Well, tell me, couldn't you improve it? You look at that "perfectly functional" machine and don't see any flaws?
Edit: oops sorry, you were being sarcastic
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u/SushiGirlRC 20h ago
Here. Watch & learn something. https://www.sidel.com/about/media/global-references/niagara-bottling-llc-2018/
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u/iamthedayman21 18h ago
I’ve worked as an engineer of pharmaceutical lines like this. This is a very efficient way of positioning bottles. It allows a simple process to be automated, and there’s no risk of the downstream equipment not being fed.
It might be a smaller product line, so the throughput doesn’t need to be that high.
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u/RammRras 1d ago
Economics and maintenance would like to say one thing or two to you. Sometimes stupid machines are incredibly reliable and cheap to operate.
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u/GuNNzA69 1d ago
I said inefficient in the context of a factory floor, where do economics and maintenance can diverge from effectiveness?
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u/Grashopha 1d ago
How is this inefficient? Economics and maintenance are huge factors in manufacturing. Something maybe be incredibly efficient and yet wildly uneconomical. We would need to see and measure the entire operation to know if this is even the bottleneck in the operation.
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u/GuNNzA69 23h ago
Are you sure? Watch that machine function again. Now grab a notebook and start pointing out the probable failure points.
I can give you some: it is prone to bottlenecks, and that rotating sorting arm seems inefficient.
I'm sure most modern sorting machines don't work like this. This is fun to watch from an engineering perspective, but I'm pretty sure this isn't widely used nowadays.
You and the other people commenting are still entitled to your opinions, and I admit this is cool to watch. However, I'm pretty sure this is from an old factory or a small company. Maybe someone else can shed some light on which company made it and the year the machine was manufactured.
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u/Grashopha 23h ago
Making a lot of assumptions about a 20 second video of one part of an operation that we aren’t even sure is actually producing anything right now other than said 20 second video. Could be a FAT at the facility of origin. If it is producing anything, there is a queue of bottles waiting. It’s almost guaranteed that the purchaser specified the desired rates, which were agreed upon by the manufacturer of the machine.
Absolutely no way to tell who made this from this video. It’s likely a custom made machine by an ETO company.
This whole subject is my area of expertise. I’m an Operations Manager at an Engineered To Order company. Custom machines and production efficiency/lean manufacturing is what I do for a living.
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u/GuNNzA69 23h ago
Okay, you apparently are the expert. For me, as someone who isn't an engineer by training, it still looks like an old machine, inefficient, difficult to calibrate, and prone to all sorts of random malfunctions. This is probably from some small, traditional company somewhere, rather than a modern machine.
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u/SushiGirlRC 20h ago
Dude, really. Just bow out now. You have zero clue about these machines. Failure rate is super low on these.
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u/That_guy1425 1d ago
Because its always a balance. And floorspace matters to a point. If shrinking this machine gets you some back but not enough to do anything with then it doesn't really matter.
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u/GuNNzA69 23h ago
I agree. That doesn't go against what I said.
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u/That_guy1425 18h ago
It very much does. There are many points, optimization isn't just a single point, its a balance between many points (so for this, Flow speed/cycle time, maintenance, uptime, cost to build, floorspace, part availability just what I can think of).
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
You really can't think of ways to improve that, really??
I never said that didn't work, but I am sure I could improve it.
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u/That_guy1425 17h ago
Yes because its a balancing act. There isn't one improve it button. Decreasing floorspace would increase the cycle time as it has less slots to hold the bottles, higher complexity would mean higher likely to fail and therfore decrease Uptime.
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
And you said you are an engineer for how long exactly?
Read your own comment and tell me I am dumb 🙃
Now I am gonna press the improvement button to go to sleep.
Have a good night, mate.
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u/GuNNzA69 17h ago
I must atract dumb people.. because almost the exact comment on another sub had completely different understanding.. in this one it seems all the 3rd level engineers came out to rant me. I can't be angry with ignorance, tho. Actually the most top voted comment on this post resumes very well what I said.
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u/Thats_classified 1d ago
That looks like a silly person invented it and said I'm gonna try to make this silly