U.S. patent number 3,589,091 [Application Number 04/758,030] was granted by the patent office on 1971-06-29 for method and apparatus for wrapping or labeling a package.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Cloud Machine Corporation. Invention is credited to Charles E. Cloud.
United States Patent |
3,589,091 |
Cloud |
June 29, 1971 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING OR LABELING A PACKAGE
Abstract
A method of applying a label or a wrapping to a package, wherein
the label material has a memory characteristic, i.e. when
stretched, the material slowly shrinks toward its original size,
comprising the steps of: stretching the material; wrapping the
material loosely around the container to be labeled or wrapped;
cutting the wrapping material to the proper size; sealing the
adjacent ends of the wrapping material to form a loose fitting wrap
around the package; and allowing the wrapping material to shrink
toward the original size thereof to form a tightly fitting wrap
around the package. One of several apparatus for performing the
above-described method includes: a supporting frame providing a
horizontally disposed surface; means for supplying a continuous
strip of the wrapping material; means for stretching the wrapping
material; means for feeding the wrapping material adjacent to the
container in a configuration approximating the shape of the
container to be wrapped; means for cutting and sealing the wrapping
material to form a loosely fitting band or wrap around the
container; and means for conveying the containers to a position for
receiving the wrapping material and also to a position wherein the
wrapping material will be cut and sealed by the sealing means.
Inventors: |
Cloud; Charles E. (Wilmette,
IL) |
Assignee: |
Cloud Machine Corporation
(Skokie, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
25050191 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/758,030 |
Filed: |
September 6, 1968 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
53/399; 53/51;
53/441; 53/463; 53/550; 53/586; 215/12.1; 53/128.1; 53/450; 53/477;
53/556 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B
53/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65B
53/00 (20060101); B65b 053/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;53/30,182,184,33,180,198,18-1,53--51,14,128 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Custer, Jr.; Granville Y.
Assistant Examiner: Desmond; E. F.
Claims
I claim:
1. A method of wrapping an article comprising:
providing a material having a memory characteristic, i.e. when
stretched said material slowly returns toward the original size
thereof;
training the wrapping material around a selectively braked roll and
then around a continuously driven roll;
selectively braking said first-mentioned roll while continuing to
drive said last-mentioned roll to stretch the material
therebetween;
forming said stretched material about the article;
sealing and cutting the free ends of the material to form a wrap
around the article; and
permitting said material to return toward the original size thereof
to form a taut wrap around the article.
2. A method of wrapping an article comprising the steps of:
conveying a series of equally spaced articles;
providing a continuous strip of wrapping material adjacent said
conveyed series of articles, said continuous strip of wrapping
material having a memory characteristic, i.e. when stretched, said
material slowly returns toward the original size thereof;
stretching a portion of said strip of wrapping material;
forming the stretched portion of the continuous strip of wrapping
material into a tube-shaped configuration around the article;
sealing the loose, adjacent edges of the tube-shaped wrap;
cutting the tube-shaped wrap both in front of and behind the
article;
sealing the opposed loose ends of the tube-shaped wrap to form a
loosely fitting, sealed wrapping around the article; and
permitting the loosely fitting wrap to return toward its original
size to form a taut wrapping around the article.
3. A method of wrapping an article comprising the steps of:
conveying an equally spaced series of articles;
providing a strip of wrapping material on opposed sides of the
article, said wrapping material having a memory characteristic,
i.e. when stretched, said material slowly returns toward the
original size thereof;
stretching said strips of wrapping material;
forming said stretched strips of wrapping material into a loosely
fitting wrap around the article;
sealing one strip of wrapping material to the other strip by
locally heating the strips in regions ahead of and behind the
articles to form a sealed, loosely fitting wrap around the article;
and
permitting said wrapping material to return toward the original
size thereof to form a taut wrap around the article.
4. A method of wrapping an article comprising the steps of:
conveying a series of equally spaced articles;
providing a continuous strip of wrapping material on opposed sides
of the conveyed articles, said wrapping material having a memory
characteristic, i.e. when stretched, said material slowly returns
toward the original size thereof;
stretching a portion of each said strip of wrapping material;
forming the stretched portion of each said continuous strip around
the article to form a loosely fitting wrap therearound;
cutting said formed portions of each said continuous strip of
wrapping material on opposed ends of the article;
sealing one cut strip of wrapping material to other strip of
wrapping material by locally heating the strips in regions ahead of
and behind the articles to form a sealed loosely fitting wrap
around the package; and
permitting said wrapping material to slowly return toward the
original size thereof to form a taut wrap around the article.
5. The method of forming a wrap around an article as defined in
claim 2, further characterized by:
said cutting and sealing steps for the opposed loose ends being
performed contemporaneously by moving a heated wire into contact
with said wrapping material.
6. A method of wrapping an article as defined in claim 6, further
characterized by:
said cutting and sealing steps being performed contemporaneously by
moving a heated wire into contact with the material.
7. A method of wrapping an article comprising:
conveying a series of equally spaced articles;
providing a continuous strip of wrapping material adjacent said
conveyed series of articles, said continuous strip of wrapping
material having a memory characteristic, i.e. when stretched, said
material slowly returns toward the original size thereof;
feeding said continuous strip of wrapping material between a first
pair of driven rollers;
then feeding said wrapping material between a second pair of driven
rollers;
driving said second pair of driven rollers at a faster rate of
speed than said first pair of driven rollers to stretch said
material;
forming the stretched portion of the continuous strip of wrapping
material into a tube-shaped configuration around the article;
sealing the loose, adjacent edges of the tube-shaped wrap;
cutting the tube-shaped wrap both in front of and behind the
article;
sealing the opposed loose ends of the tube-shaped wrap to form a
loosely fitting, sealed wrapping around the article; and
permitting the loosely fitting wrap to return toward its original
size to form a taut wrapping around the article.
8. A method of wrapping an article comprising:
conveying a series of equally spaced articles;
providing a continuous strip of wrapping material on opposed sides
of the conveyed articles, said wrapping material having a memory
characteristic, i.e. when stretched, said material slowly returns
toward the original size thereof;
training said continuous strip of material around a selectively
braked roller;
then training the continuous strip of material around a
continuously driven roller; and
selectively braking said first-mentioned roller to stretch the
material disposed between said first and said second rollers
forming the stretched portion of each said continuous strip around
the article to form a loosely fitting wrap therearound;
cutting said formed portions of each said continuous strip of
wrapping material on opposed ends of the article;
sealing the loose ends of one cut strip of wrapping material to the
adjacent loose ends of the other strip of wrapping material to form
a sealed, loosely fitting wrap around the package; and
permitting said wrapping material to slowly return toward the
original size thereof to form a taut wrap around the article.
9. An apparatus for applying a wrapping to an article
comprising:
a framework providing an elongated supporting surface;
means supported by said surface for supplying a continuous strip of
a wrapping material having a memory characteristic, i.e. when
stretched, said material slowly returns toward the original size
thereof;
means stretching said wrapping material said means including
a selectively braked roll about which the material may be trained
therearound,
a continuously driven roll about which material may be trained
therearound, and
means for selectively braking said first-mentioned roll to stretch
a portion of the material;
means forming stretched portions of the material in a loosely
fitting wrap around the article;
means cutting the wrapping material; and
means sealing the loose, adjacent edges of the cut wrapping
material to form a loosely fitting wrap around the article,
whereby said loosely fitting wrap of material will slowly return
toward the original size thereof to form a taut wrapping around the
article.
10. An apparatus for applying a wrapping to an article
comprising:
a framework providing an elongated supporting surface;
conveying means supported by said framework for conveying an
equally spaced series of the articles to be wrapped along said
elongated supporting surface;
means dispensing two continuous strips of a wrapping material, said
continuous strips of said wrapping material being dispensed on
opposed sides of the article, and said wrapping material having a
memory characteristic, i.e. when stretched, said material slowly
returns toward the original size thereof;
means supported by said elongated surface for stretching each said
continuous strip of said wrapping material;
means supported by said surface and moving parallel to and at the
same rate of speed as said conveying means for engaging said
continuous strips of said wrapping material to form the same around
opposed sides of the article to be wrapped;
means moving with said engaging means for cutting said continuous
strips of wrapping material both in front of and behind the article
to be wrapped; and
means moving with said engaging means for sealing the cut end
portion of one of said strips of said wrapping material to the
adjacent cut end portions of said other strip of said wrapping
material to form a continuous band of said wrapping material around
the article,
whereby said band of said wrapping material will slowly return
toward the original size thereof to form a taut wrapping around the
article.
11. An apparatus for wrapping an article as defined in claim 10,
wherein said means stretching each said continuous strip of said
wrapping material comprises:
a selectively braked roll rotatably supported on said supporting
surface and having the continuous strip of wrapping material
trained therearound;
a continuously driven roll rotatably supported on said supporting
surface and spaced from said selectively braked roll and being
adapted to have the continuous strip of wrapping material trained
therearound and held in driving engagement therewith;
braking means engaging said selectively braked roll for preventing
the rotation thereof;
means driving said continuously driven wheel;
means providing a cam surface rotating coincidentally with said
continuously driven roll;
electrical switch means supported by said supporting surface and
positioned to be periodically engaged by said cam means, said
electrical switch means being actuated when engaged by said cam
means;
a second electrical switch means supported by said supporting
surface and disposed adjacent to the path of movement of the
continuous strip of wrapping material as it passes from said
selectively braked roll to said continuously driven roll, said
second electrical switch means being actuated in response to one of
a plurality of longitudinally spaced, optically opaque markings on
the wrapping material passing thereby;
an electric power source; and
electrical conductive means connecting said first electrical
switch, said second electrical switch, said power source and said
electrically actuated brake means to cause said brake means to be
actuated when both said first and said second electrical switch
means are actuated and to cause said brake means to be deactuated
when said first electrical switch means is deactiviated.
12. An apparatus for wrapping an article as defined in claim 10,
wherein said means engaging said continuous strips of said wrapping
material comprises:
a first chain conveying means disposed on one side of said
article-conveying means;
a second chain conveying means disposed on the other side of said
article-conveying means, said first and said second chain conveying
means each having a path of movement parallel with and adjacent to
said article-conveying means, and each said conveying means
traveling at the same rate of speed as said article conveying
means;
a first series of equally spaced gripping fingers attached to and
traveling with said first chain conveying means;
a second series of equally spaced gripping fingers attached to and
traveling with said second chain conveying means, each said
gripping finger of said first series being arranged to be in
register with a corresponding gripping finger of said second series
to grip said continuous strips of said wrapping material
therebetween at a point in front of each article to be wrapped as
said gripping fingers travel through the path of movement parallel
with and adjacent to said article conveying means.
13. An apparatus for wrapping an article as defined in claim 12,
wherein said cutting means and said sealing means comprises:
an elongated, horizontally disposed, electrical heating element
attached to each gripping finger of one of said first or said
second series of gripping fingers, said heating element being
arranged to contact said strips of film for cutting the same and
melting the cut, adjacent end portions to form a seal therebetween;
and
means electrically connecting said heating element to an electrical
supply source.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the wrapping or labeling
of packages and containers, and more particularly, refers to a
method and apparatus for packaging containers with a material
having a characteristic, when stretched, of slowly returning to its
original size.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It should be understood that it is desirable to have a label firmly
affixed to a package to prevent the inadvertent or accidental
separation of the label from the package. If the label is
inadvertently separated from the package, it becomes difficult, if
not impossible, to identify the contents of the package, thereby
rendering the product unsalable. Heretofore, to prevent the
inadvertent separation of band labels from bottles, these labels
generally have been formed of paper and glued or otherwise adhered
to the bottle. Machinery for adhering a paper band label to a
bottle requires means for snugly wrapping the label around the
bottle and also means for applying the adhesive bonding
material.
Furthermore, packages which must be tightly wrapped in a waterproof
plastic or similar film were heretofore wrapped by tightly fitting
the wrapping material to the package before sealing the adjacent
ends of the film to form the wrapped package. Heretofore, machinery
for applying a tightly fitting wrapping to a package necessarily
required means for tightly forming the film around the package
prior to the sealing operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for both applying a band
label to a bottle or similar container and for applying a tightly
fitting wrapping around a package. The present invention utilizes a
film of wrapping material which is desirably heat sealable and
which has a memory characteristic, i.e. when stretched, the
material shrinks to its original size. A material having this
characteristic is polyethylene film with a 1 to 2 mil thickness.
Rather than tightly drawing the wrapping material about the package
to be wrapped, as heretofore required, the film of polyethylene or
similar material is first stretched and then loosely wrapped about
the article. The loosely formed wrapping is then properly sealed to
form a band around a container or to form a waterproof, sealed
wrapping around the article. The loosely fitting wrapping is
allowed to shrink toward its original size, thereby to shrink to a
tightly fitting wrap around the article.
When the material has shrunk to form a tightly fitting wrap, it
provides a wrinkle free film or sheet of material which will snugly
engage a bottle or similar container or which will form a taut
wrapping around a package.
It should be understood, that the method of the present invention
provides a wrapping which will automatically conform to the size of
the unit regardless of any variations in either the configuration
or the dimensions of the unit to be wrapped. Prior wrapping
methods, and the machinery for carrying out those methods, either
did not compensate for variations in the size of the article to be
wrapped or required complicated and expensive machinery for
compensating for such variations. Therefore, the present invention
provides a wrapping method and an apparatus for performing that
method which conveniently and automatically compensates for any
variations in either the configuration or the dimensional size of
an article to be wrapped.
The packaging method of the present invention is particularly
applicable to banding a label to a container, such as a glass or
plastic bottle, and the preferred apparatus for banding a label
around a bottle in accordance with the method of the present
invention includes a supporting framework providing a horizontal
surface which supports a conveying means for moving the containers
along the surface in a linear path. The apparatus further includes
means for supplying a continuous strip of polyethylene or similar
wrapping material having a memory characteristic. Desirably, a
continuous supply of wrapping material is disposed on either side
of the conveying means and arranged to feed a strip of the wrapping
material about opposed sides of the bottle, and means for
stretching the material is disposed between the supply of material
and the point at which the material is fed adjacent opposed sides
of the bottle. The stretching means generally includes a
selectively braked idler pulley, a driven pulley upstream of the
braked pulley and means for selectively braking the braked pulley,
thereby stretching the film or strip of material whenever the brake
of the braked pulley is actuated.
In accordance with the present invention, the bottle-labeling
apparatus further includes means joining the strips of material fed
about opposed sides of the bottle at a point in front of the moving
bottle. The means joining the two strips of film moves with the
bottle-conveying means and includes a heated wire for
simultaneously cutting the strips and heat sealing the adjacent cut
ends. It should be understood, that the conveying means conveys a
series of equally spaced bottles, therefore cutting and sealing
together of the strips in front of one bottle simultaneously joins
the strips behind a leading bottle and seals the adjacent ends
thereof to form a loosely fitting band around the leading bottle
which is sealed both in front of and behind the leading bottle. The
sealing and cutting operation is performed while the film of
wrapping material is still in its stretched condition. Therefore,
when the band of wrapping material has shrunk to its original size,
it assumes a snug engagement about the article or bottle.
The snugly wrapped band then forms a label which is difficult to
remove, thereby providing a label which resists inadvertent or
accidental separation from the bottle without relying on an
adhesive material for bonding the label to the bottle. Thus, the
present invention provides a means for labeling a bottle which does
not require either tightly fitting the band around the bottle
during the wrapping operation or gluing or otherwise adhering the
label to the bottle to prevent inadvertent or accidental separation
therefrom.
An apparatus of similar configuration to that described above may
be employed to completely wrap an article, such as a package of
cheese, with a film of polyethylene having a 1 to 2 mil thickness
or a similar material which has a memory characteristic, i.e., when
stretched, the material slowly shrinks to its original size. An
apparatus of this nature would differ from that described above in
that the article to be wrapped would be conveyed along the
supporting surface while the wrapping material would be conveyed
beneath the article to be wrapped and formed by means of a plow or
similar device into a tube encircling the article. A heated wire
would be disposed to seal the adjacent edges of the wrapping
material to form a sealed tube. Also, means for pinching the end of
the tube in front of one article, which also is behind a leading
article, would be provided to move coincidentally with the means
conveying the articles to be wrapped. As described above, the means
pinching the end of the tube would include a heated wire for both
cutting the tube and for sealing the end of the tube. In this
manner, a loosely fitting tube would be formed about the articles
to be wrapped and the opposed ends of the tube would be pinched
together and sealed to form a wrap which completely encompasses the
article. As the wrap shrinks toward its original size, it will
conform to the shape of the article, and thus provide a taut,
wrinkle-free wrapping about the article.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification
and in which like reference characters are employed to designate
like parts throughout the same:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the present
invention and utilized for banding a label around a bottle or
similar article;
FIG. 2 is a partial side elevational view, partially in section,
illustrating the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line
III-III of FIG. 2 and illustrates the means for joining, cutting
and sealing the strips of film which are fed about opposed sides of
the bottle;
FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 2
and illustrates the bottle shown in FIGS. 1--3 with the label
applied thereto;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the drive mechanism of
the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1--5;
FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the apparatus for
stretching the strip of material;
FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrammatic views, and respectively illustrate
the strip of labeling material before and after the stretching
operation;
FIGS. 10--13 are a series of diagrammatic views illustrating the
operation of the apparatus for joining, cutting and sealing the
strips of labeling material fed about opposed sides of the bottle
to form the band around the bottle;
FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the application of the
method of the present invention to forming a wrapping which
completely surrounds an article, such as a package of cheese;
and
FIG. 15 is a schematic of the electrical circuit used in the
material stretching means.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, there is shown an apparatus for forming
and applying a label to a bottle. The labeling apparatus includes a
framework, generally designated as 20, for providing a horizontally
disposed table 2l having a receiving end portion as at 22 and an
outlet end portion as at 23. Also, the table is formed with a
longitudinally extending slot therein for receiving a chain
conveyor 26 having equally spaced attachments 27 thereon. The
attachments 27 are formed to engage and grip a bottle such as 28
and convey the same along the table 21.
To facilitate placing the bottles 28 on the chain attachments 27 a
pair of laterally spaced guide members 29-29 are provided at the
receiving end 22 of the table 21 and spaced-apart a distance
slightly greater than the width of the bottle. It should be
understood, that a bottle such as 28 is placed on each chain
attachment 27 such that the conveyor 26 conveys a stream of bottles
along the table 21. In the apparatus illustrated in the drawings,
the bottles are manually positioned on the attachments 27, but it
may be desirable to utilize an automatic positioning apparatus with
the present invention.
A film dispensing apparatus is disposed on either side of the chain
conveyor 26. Each film dispensing apparatus feeds a film of
polyethylene having a 1 to 2 mil. thickness, or a similar material
having a memory characteristic, to one side of one of the bottles
28 being conveyed along the table 21 by the conveyor 26. Since the
film-dispensing apparatus on one side of conveyor 26 is identical
to the film-dispensing apparatus on the other side of the conveyor,
although disposed to dispense a film in the reverse direction, the
following detailed description of the film dispensing apparatus
will be directed to only one of the same. To facilitate describing
the film-dispensing apparatus, the apparatus to the left of the
conveyor 26 is generally designated as 30, while the apparatus to
the right of the conveyor is generally designated as 31.
Each film dispensing apparatus generally includes: a spool of film
34 supported on a spindle 36, an idler roll 37 around which the
film is trained, a selectively braked idler roll 38 also having the
film trained therearound, a photoelectric scanning device 39
through which the film passes, a driven feed roll and an idler roll
42 supported on one end portion of a pivotally mounted arm 43 and
arranged to direct the path of the film toward the conveyor 26. The
spindle 36 supporting the spool 34 is engaged by a tensioning
device so that the film is fed from the spool under tension. The
tensioning device includes a band 44 wrapped around the spindle 36
and having one end portion thereof attached to the table 21 as at
46. A spring 47 has one end portion thereof attached to the other
end portion of the band 44 and has its other end portion fixed to
the table as at 48. The spring 47 causes the band 44 to be snugly
held into engagement with the spindle 36 to provide a frictional
force for retarding the rotation of the film spool 34.
The selectively braked pulley 38 includes an electrically actuated
magnetic brake which may be selectively actuated to prevent
rotation of the pulley 38. The scanning unit 39 includes a
photoelectric cell which is actuated when an appropriately placed
marking on the film 35 passes through the scanner.
The feed roll 40 is supported on one end portion of a driven shaft
50 which is properly supported in bearing blocks attached to the
framework 20. As best seen in FIG. 2, a collar 52 is journaled on
the shaft 50 and has a cam surface formed thereon and arranged to
engage an actuating arm 53 of a microswitch 54 for actuating the
microswitch for a predetermined interval of time during each
revolution of the shaft 50.
To hold the film 35 in engagement with the feed roll 40, a hold
down unit generally designated as 56 is provided. The hold down
unit 56 includes a pivoted arm 57 having an idler roll 58 rotatably
attached to one portion thereof and a spring 59 attached to the
other end thereof. The spring 59 is fixed to the table 21 as at 61
and is arranged to pivot the idler roll 58 into engagement with the
film 35 and hold the same against the feed roll 40. The feed roll
40 is of a diameter to feed a sufficient length of film material 35
to from one half of a band label around one of the bottles 28
during one revolution of the feed roll. Thus, during one revolution
of the feed roll of both dispensing apparatus 30 and 31, a
sufficient length of film 35 is fed toward the conveyor 26 to form
one complete band label around one of the bottles 28.
It should be noted that continuing to rotate the feed roll 40,
while preventing the rotation of the selectively braked pulley 38,
will cause the material disposed between the feed roll and the
braked pulley to be stretched. The microswitch 54, the
photoelectric scanner 39 and the electrically actuated magnetic
brake of the brake pulley 38 are electrically connected to an
electric supply source such that the brake will be actuated to
prevent rotation of the pulley 38 when both the microswitch and the
photoelectric scanner are actuated respectively by the cam 52 and a
marking appropriately placed on the film 35. The electrical circuit
will be broken to release the magnetic brake of the pulley 38 only
when the microswitch 54 is deactuated by the cam rotating to a
position where the actuating arm 53 of the microswitch 54 is in its
"off" position. Therefore, both the microswitch 54 and the scanner
39 must be actuated to set the magnetic brake of the pulley 38, but
only the deactuation of the microswitch 54 will release the
magnetic brake.
For ease of reference, the feed roll of the dispensing apparatus
31, which is disposed to the right of conveyor 26, is designated as
41 and its drive shaft is designated as 51. It should be understood
that the feed roll 40 is identical to the feed roll 41, as is the
shaft 50, to the shaft 51.
In accordance with the present invention, a sealing station
generally designated as 69 is affixed to the table 21 toward the
output end 23 thereof. The sealing station 69, as best seen in
FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, includes a top plate 72 which is horizontally
disposed and held in a spaced relationship with the table 21 by
four supporting columns 73 arranged generally at the four corners
of the top plate. Disposed on either side of the conveyor 26 is a
series of gripping fingers 70 and 71, with each series supported
between a pair of horizontally spaced chains. The number and
arrangement of the series of gripping fingers 70 on the left side
of conveyor 26 is identical to the number and arrangement of the
series gripping fingers 71 on the right side of the conveyor. The
individual gripping fingers to the left of the conveyor 26 are
designated as 74, while the individual fingers to the right of the
conveyor are designated as 75. Reference characters 76 and 77 refer
respectively to each upper chain and each lower chain which convey
the gripping fingers 74 and 75 around a quadrangular path having
one side thereof substantially parallel to the conveyor 26 and
moving in the same direction as the bottle conveyor. Each gripping
finger 74, shown to the left of the bottle conveyor 26, is in
register with one of the gripping fingers 75 on the right side of
the conveyor 26 as the gripping fingers move through the segment of
their path of movement which is parallel to the conveyor 26.
To support each series of gripping fingers, a series of posts 78
are disposed vertically between the upper chain 76 and the
identical lower chain 77. Each chain 76 or 77 is trained around a
set of four sprockets 79, 80, 81 and 82 defining the quadrangular
path of movement.
The sprockets 79, 80 and 81 are idler sprockets, and the sprocket
82 is a drive sprocket which is journaled on a drive shaft 83 in
the known manner. It should be noted, that the drive sprocket 82
for both the upper and the lower chains 76 and 77, respectively, on
one side of the conveyor 26 are journaled on a common shaft 83 so
that both the upper chain and the lower chain move coincidentally
one to the other. The chains 76 and 77 move at the same rate of
speed as the chain conveyor 26, thus the chains move coincidentally
with the conveyor 26 during the segment of their path of movement
which is parallel to the conveyor 26. Idler sprockets 80 and 81 are
positioned adjacent the conveyor 26 and define the path of movement
which is parallel to the conveyor.
To adjust the spacing between one of the fingers 74 and the
associated finger 75 during the parallel path of movement, four
adjustment mechanisms are provided to engage the chains 76 and 77
along the path of movement parallel to the conveyor 26. Each
adjustment mechanism includes a base 84 affixed either to the table
21 or to the top plate 72, a horizontally disposed plate 85 having
threaded apertures formed therethrough to receive an adjusting
screw 86, and a guide shoe 87 which is horizontally disposed to
engage each chain 76 or 77. To permit adjustment of the guide shoes
87, each guide shoe is releasably secured to its respective base 84
by means of screws 88.
As the gripping fingers 74 travel around the sprockets 80 of the
series 70 disposed to the left of the conveyor 26, they engage the
film 35 being dispensed from the dispensing apparatus 30 to the
left of the conveyor. In a like fashion, as the gripping fingers 75
travel around sprocket 80 of the series 71 disposed to the right of
conveyor 26, they engage the film 35 being dispensed from the
dispensing apparatus 31 to the right of the conveyor. Thus, as the
gripping fingers 74 and 75 travel around their associated sprockets
80 they cooperate to bring the films 35, 35 being dispensed from
opposite sides of the conveyor 26, together in front of one of the
bottles 28 being conveyed along the table 21. As the gripping
fingers 74 and 75 move into the segment of their path which is
parallel to the movement of the conveyor 26 they approach one
another to grip the films 35, 35 therebetween. The gripping fingers
74 and 75 are so spaced around their associated chains 76 to engage
the films 35, 35 in front of each bottle 28 as it is conveyed
through the sealing station 69. Due to the series arrangement of
the bottles 28 along the conveyor 26, adjacent sets of gripping
fingers 74 and 75 engage the films 35, 35 being fed on opposite
sides of the bottles, both in front of and behind each bottle as it
is conveyed through the station 69 to form a band of film around
each bottle.
To provide means for cutting and sealing the film 35, each gripping
finger 74 is formed of laminated fiberglass and has a groove 89
formed in its outwardly facing surface for receiving a nichrome
wire 91. A retaining block 93 is affixed to each post 78 of the
series 70 which also has attached thereto a gripping finger 74. The
retaining blocks 93 are formed to receive brushes 94 and 96 formed
of copper or other conductive material. The brushes 94 and 96 are
arranged to contact electrically conductive strips 97 and 99 which
are set into an insulating block 101 supported from the top plate
72 by a support member 102. Each end portion of the nichrome wire
91 is electrically connected to one of the brushes 94 and 96, and
the contact strips 97 and 99 are electrically connected to an
electric supply source in a manner to cause an electrical circuit
to be completed when the brushes engage the contact strips. The
nichrome wire 91 is heated whenever the electrical circuit is
completed by the engagement of the associated brushes 94 and 96
with the contact strips 97 and 99. The contact strip 97 extends
substantially along the entire length of the path of the chains 76
which is parallel to conveyor 26, while the contact strip 99
extends parallel to contact strip 97 but is of a substantially
lesser length and terminates as indicated at point 104 on FIG.
2.
The contact strips 97 and 99 are arranged to complete the circuit,
and thereby to cause the nichrome wire 91 to be heated, only when
the films 35, 35 are firmly gripped between the gripping fingers 74
and 75. The heated nichrome wire 91 contacts the films 35, 35 and
the heat therefrom melts a small portion of the films gripped
between the gripping fingers 74 and 75. Thus, the films 35, 35 are
cut and contemporaneously sealed on either side of the nichrome
wire 91. In this manner, a seal is formed between the films 35, 35
both behind a leading bottle 28 and in front of its adjacent
trailing bottle. It should be noted, that as each bottle is
conveyed through the sealing station 69, a seal is formed both in
front of and behind the bottle, thereby to form a continuous band
around the bottle composed of two sealed-together sections, each
section being arranged on one side of the bottle and opposed to the
other section.
The sealing station 69 also includes a hold down channel 106
suspended from a pair of brackets 107, 107 which depend from and
are affixed to the top plate 72. The hold down bracket 106 is
arranged to engage the upper surface of the bottle 28 as it is
conveyed through the sealing station 69, and thereby to hold the
bottle in its proper horizontal alignment and to prevent the bottle
from becoming disengaged from the conveyor 26.
Referring now particularly to FIG. 6, there is shown a diagrammatic
view illustrating the drive mechanism of the present invention
including a prime mover 111 which supplies the motive power to
operate the bottle conveyor 26, the feed rolls 40 and 41,
respectively of the film dispensing apparatus 30 and 31, and the
chains 76 and 77 of the sealing station 69. The output shaft of the
prime mover 111 is directly connected to a right-angle gear reducer
112 having an output shaft 113 which is appropriately journaled in
bearings as at 114 and 115. To provide power takeoff means, two
output sprockets 117 and 118 are attached to the output shaft 113.
The output sprocket 117 is connected by means of a chain 119 to the
sprocket 121 which in turn is connected to the drive shaft 122 of
the conveyor 26. The drive shaft 122 has its end portions journaled
in bearings as at 124 and 126 and has the drive sprocket 128 of the
chain conveyor 26 keyed thereto. The chain conveyor 26 is trained
around the drive sprocket 128 which is positioned at the output end
of the table 21 and also around an idler sprocket 129 which is
located near the receiving end of the table 21. Thus, rotation of
the output sprocket 117 causes the conveyor 26 to advance along the
table 21.
The second output sprocket 118 is connected by means of a chain 131
and a sprocket 132 to a right-angle gear reducer 133 having its
output shaft directly connected to the drive shaft 51 of the feed
roll 41 of the right-hand dispensing apparatus 31. It should be
understood, that to properly feed the film 35 from opposed sides of
the conveyor 26 and to properly convey the gripping fingers 74 and
75 disposed on opposed sides of the conveyor, it is necessary to
rotate the right-hand feed roll 41 and the drive sprocket 82 to the
left of the conveyor 26 in a counterclockwise direction, and to
rotate the feed roll 40 to the left of the conveyor and the drive
sprocket 82 to the right of the conveyor in a clockwise direction.
Therefore, a set of reversing gears designated as 134 and 136 are
provided. The reversing gear 134, the drive shaft 83 disposed to
the left of the conveyor 26 and the feed roll shaft 51 to the right
of the conveyor are connected together by means of a chain 137,
which is trained around sprockets 138, 139 and 140 respectively
connected to the reversing gear 134, said drive shaft 83 and the
feed roll drive shaft 51. The reversing gear 136 is directly
connected to the feed roll drive shaft 50 and also connected by
means of a chain 141 and sprockets 142 and 143 to the drive shaft
83 disposed to the right of the conveyor 86. Thus, clockwise
rotation of output shaft 113 causes clockwise rotation of the feed
roll 41 and the sprockets 82 disposed to the left of the conveyor
26 and causes counterclockwise rotation of the feed roll 40 and the
sprockets 82 disposed to the right of the conveyor 26.
It should be understood that the shafting and sprockets are of a
size to drive the chain conveyor 26 and the chains 76 and 77 at the
same rate of speed. Also, the feed rolls 40 and 41 are of a
diameter and driven at a speed to dispense a length of film
sufficient to form one half of a label for every bottle conveyed
into the sealing station 69.
OPERATION OF THE APPARATUS
Referring now specifically to FIGS. 7 through 13, there are shown
diagrammatic views illustrating the method of operation of the
apparatus hereinabove described. In accordance with the present
invention, the film 35 is stretched prior to being fed into a
juxtapositional relationship with a bottle 28. To accomplish the
stretching, the feed rolls are continuously rotated while the
braked rolls 38 are intermittently retarded. For a given interval
of time during each revolution of feed roll 40, as diagrammatically
illustrated in FIG. 7, the cam 52 engages the actuating arm 53 of
the microswitch 54 and closes the contacts thereof. The film 35, as
illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, has markings as at 151 which are
positioned to actuate the photoelectric scanner 39 and close the
electrical contacts thereof. When both the contacts of the
microswitch 54 and the scanner 39 are in their closed position, a
circuit is completed to set a magnet brake associated with roll 38,
and thereby retard the rotation of the roll 38. The electrical
circuit is only deactuated when the cam 52 allows the contacts of
the microswitch 54 to move to their open position. Therefore the
film 35 is stretched an amount depending upon the relationship
between the actuation of scanner 39 by markings 151 and the
actuation of the microswitch 54 by the cam 52. As illustrated in
FIG. 15, the electrical circuit also includes a holding relay 150
to retain the brake in its engaged position until the microswitch
54 is deactuated.
As illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, the distance between points A and
B which define the cutoff points to form one-half of a label for
one of the bottles 28 increases when the material is stretched.
Although the apparatus and method utilized by the apparatus
disclosed herein contemplates stretching the film 35 prior to
forming the same about the bottle 28, it should be understood, that
the stretching operation and the forming of the material around the
bottle could be contemporaneously performed.
To form a band label around one of the bottles 28, the films 35, 35
must be wrapped loosely around the bottles, cut to size, and sealed
together at the cut edges. The various positions which the gripping
fingers 74 and 75 assume as the above steps are being sequentially
performed for one of the bottles 28 are illustrated in FIGS. 10 to
13.
As best seen in FIG. 10, the films 35, 35 are first brought
together in front of one of the bottles 28 by the action of the
gripping fingers 74 and 75 as the gripping fingers travel around
the sprockets 80 disposed at the head of the path of movement of
the gripping fingers parallel to the conveyor 26. It should be
apparent that each set of gripping fingers 74 and 75 brings the
films 35, 35 together in front of each of the bottles 28 as the
bottles enter the sealing station 69 and that each set of gripping
fingers forms the films around the preceding bottle simultaneously
with urging the films together in front of the bottle entering the
station.
As the bottles 28 and associated gripping fingers 74 and 75
coincidentally move through the sealing station 69, the chains 76
and 77 engage the adjustment mechanisms which urge the fingers
toward each other to firmly grip the film, as best seen in FIG.
11.
Further movement through the sealing station causes the contact
brushes 94 and 96 to engage the contact strips 97 and 99, thereby
electrically connecting the nichrome wire 91 with an electric
supply source. The nichrome wire is electrically heated, and the
heat therefrom melts a portion of films 35, 35 which is gripped
between the fingers, thereby cutting the films at a point in front
of one of the bottles 28 which is also behind the preceding bottle.
The heat also causes the cut edges to form a seal between the films
35, 35 disposed on opposite sides of the bottle 28 on either side
of the nichrome wire 91. At this stage in the operation the films
35, 35 are cut and sealed together in front of one of the bottles
28 and also the films are cut and sealed both in front of and
behind the preceding bottle. Therefore, the preceding bottle has a
continuous band of material loosely wrapped therearound.
As the bottles 28 leave the sealing station 69, the gripping
fingers 74 and 75 move away from each other releasing the sealed
ends as at 154 and 155 to permit the label to shrink toward its
original size.
Due to the memory characteristic of the film 35, the loosely
fitting band shrinks toward the unstretched size thereof, thereby
forming a tightly fitting label around the bottle 28 as illustrated
in cross section in FIGS. 13 and 4.
Referring now specifically to FIG. 14, there is diagrammatically
shown an apparatus embodying the features of the present invention
as applied to forming a wrapping to entirely surround a package,
such as a package of cheese. In accordance with this embodiment of
the invention, a film 35' having a memory characteristic, i.e.,
when stretched, the material slowly returns toward its original
shape, is fed between two pairs of rollers 161 and 162. The leading
rollers 162 are rotated at a faster rate than the trailing rollers
161, thus stretching the film 35' as it passes between the pairs of
rollers 161 and 162. The film 35' is then fed beneath the conveyed
stream of equally spaced articles such as 163 and is formed by
means of a plow or similar device into a tube-shaped configuration
loosely fitting around the articles. The adjacent free edges as at
165 of the tube formed by the plow are sealed by a continuously
heated wire or other method to form a sealed tube around the
articles 163. The tube of film 35' and the series of articles 163
then pass through a second sealing station which could be of
similar configuration to sealing station 69 described in the first
embodiment. The sealing station of the second embodiment pinches
the tube of film 35' in front of one of the articles 163 as at 166.
It should be noted, that pinching together of the tube in front of
one of articles 163 simultaneously pinches the tube together behind
the adjacent leading article. As the tube and the articles 163
continue through the sealing station a nichrome wire, such as that
described in the first embodiment hereof, is heated to cut the tube
and contemporaneously seal the cut ends of the tube on either side
of the cut. In this manner, a wrapping having a longitudinally
extending seam and a laterally extending seam on either end thereof
is loosely formed around an article such as 163. As the film of
material 35' slowly shrinks toward its original size, it snugly
engages the article to form a taut wrapping therearound. A wrapping
formed in this manner is both wrinkle free and in tight engagement
with the wrapped article.
Although minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in
the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the
scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modification as
naturally and properly come within the scope of my contribution to
the art.
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