The Chuck Housing Assembly (CHA) is the work horse mechanism behind Blackhawk’s Security Twist System. Tightening thousands of closures over an extended period generates universal wear on the internal component by moving up and down and side to side. The three major components that wear are: C-spring, jaws, and Non Adjustable Pivot Screws (N.A.P.S.).

The C-spring keeps the jaws pressed against the internal wall of the Chuck Housing. The C-spring’s function allows the caps to refrain from hitting the edge of the jaws and knocking off a cap that may not be engaged on the bottle thread. Wear can be noticed if there is a gap between the inner wall of the Chuck Housing and the outer wall of the jaws. This is a pretty good indicator that it may be time to replace the complete CHA if the caps are not tight on the bottle.

The jaws tighten the cap by pushing the actuator up into the CHA allowing the jaws to engage and clamp on the closures high serrations. The indicators that the jaws are functioning are; the caps are on tight, and; slight on the high serrations of the cap. As the jaws wear in, the slight scuffing on the high serrations is no longer visible but, the caps are on tight. The jaws become worn after thousands of cycles and the jaws no longer tighten the caps provided the cappers are at the correct height. When the jaws are worn, the jaws will come in contact with the cap but, the jaws will just over ride the serrations and the caps will not tighten. This is the time to replace the complete set of CHA’s on the filler.

Wear on Non Adjustable Pivot Screws (N.A.P.S.), is due to the opening and closing while the caps are being tightened. The N.A.P.S. begins to wear and no longer allows the jaws to reset to the original slotted position in the Chuck Housing. Over time, the worn N.A.P.S. allows the jaws to drop and not reset to the standard position. This may result in broken ratchet rings. This condition may give the impression the package was tampered with. This result would be returned product to the dairy.

The Chuck Housing Assemblies will perform well, over thousands of cycles. It is a good idea to check them for wear once the scuffing on caps is no longer visible. This is merely a guideline to maintain a proper capping application.