U.S. patent number 3,634,175 [Application Number 05/021,709] was granted by the patent office on 1972-01-11 for label-feeding device for bottle-labelling installation.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Societe Francaise D'Etiquetage Virey & Garnier. Invention is credited to Romuald Rene Delle Vite.
United States Patent |
3,634,175 |
Delle Vite |
January 11, 1972 |
LABEL-FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE-LABELLING INSTALLATION
Abstract
Device for feeding labels fully coated with glue on one face to
a dispensing turret, said device being interposed between a
glue-free label-transfer cylinder, a gumming roller and said
turret, and being characterized in that it consists of a rotary
cylinder associated with a cylinder rod; with parallel axes, said
rod being adapted to revolve freely about its axis, said rotary
cylinder and rod being operatively interconnected through a
plurality of small endless parallel belts, said rotary cylinder
being provided with a plurality of circular peripheral grooves each
engaged by one of said belts, the cross-sectional contour of said
grooves and that of said belts being such that the rotating surface
formed by the external surfaces of said rotary cylinder and said
belts be substantially continuous and plain.
Inventors: |
Delle Vite; Romuald Rene
(Nogent sur Marne, FR) |
Assignee: |
Societe Francaise D'Etiquetage
Virey & Garnier (Nogent sur Marne, FR)
|
Family
ID: |
9042004 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/021,709 |
Filed: |
March 23, 1970 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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|
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Oct 24, 1969 [FR] |
|
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6936503 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
156/568; 271/275;
156/571 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65C
9/08 (20130101); Y10T 156/178 (20150115); Y10T
156/1773 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
B65C
9/08 (20060101); B65c 009/20 (); B65n 005/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;271/45,75,51
;156/568,571 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wegbreit; Joseph
Claims
I claim:
1. Apparatus for removing successive labels from a rotating
transfer cylinder, applying glue to one side of the removed label
and transferring said label with glue applied thereto to a rotary
turret, comprising a glue-receiving cylinder mounted for rotation
about an axis parallel with the axis of a transfer cylinder, the
peripheral surface of the glue-receiving cylinder being positioned
to receive glue from an adjacent gumming roller, a cylindrical rod
having a diameter considerably less than that of the glue receiving
cylinder mounted spaced from the glue-receiving cylinder for
rotation adjacent the surface of a rotary turret and about an axis
parallel with the axis of rotation of said turret, said
glue-receiving cylinder being provided with a plurality of annular
axially spaced grooves in the peripheral surface thereof, and a
plurality of endless belts connected between said glue receiving
cylinder and said rod, said belts being received within said
annular grooves and having a cross-sectional configuration such
that the outer surfaces of the belts when disposed in the grooves
are in alignment with and form a continuation of the surface
adjacent the sides of the grooves.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said gumming roller is
arranged to apply glue to the peripheral surface of the
glue-receiving cylinder and the outer surfaces of the belts
disposed in the grooves, and the transfer cylinder is arranged to
transfer labels to the glue-receiving cylinder and the outer
surfaces of the belts after the glue is applied.
3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the peripheral surface
of said cylindrical rod is closely spaced from the surface of said
turret.
4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said apparatus includes
means for increasing the stiffness of a label with respect to its
direction of movement prior to the approach of a label to said
cylindrical rod.
5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said means for
increasing the stiffness of a label comprises a set of elements
disposed between said belts to engage a label to impart a slightly
corrugated cross-sectional configuration to each label.
Description
It is known that in industrial installations for handling bottles
containing liquid foods, the belt conveyors carrying these bottles
move past a rotary apparatus usually referred to as the
"turret."
The function of this turret is to apply a label to each passing
bottle, this label being temporarily retained on the pointed side
against the outer surface of the turret, usually by a vacuum
effect, the other side to be applied to the bottle surface being
coated with glue.
Flexible labels can be coated with glue only on one portion of
their surface; but if the labels are relatively stiff and if
consequently a relatively thick glue is applied thereto, the gummed
face must be coated completely in order to ensure a continuous,
bubble-free adherence to the bottle surface.
This complete gluing, during the automatic transfer of labels from
their dispensing magazine through the so-called transfer cylinder
and gluing or gumming station to the aforesaid turret, is attended
by multiple problems, from the practical standpoint, and solving
these problems is rendered more difficult when using thick glues as
mentioned hereinabove in the case of relatively stiff labels
delivered at a relatively high rate.
It is the essential scope of this invention to provide means
adapted, after the complete gluing or gumming of these labels, to
deliver them to said turret without and risk of rumpling or
otherwise damage them.
It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a
device for delivering fully coated or gummed labels to a dispensing
turret, this device being interposed between a glue-free label
transfer cylinder, a gumming roller and said turret, and being
characterized in that it consists of a rotary cylinder associated
with a cylindrical rod, with parallel axes, said rod being adapted
to revolve freely about its axis, said rotary cylinder and rod
being operatively interconnected through a plurality of small
endless parallel belts, said rotary cylinder being provided with a
plurality of circular peripheral grooves each engaged by one of
said belts, the cross-sectional contour of said grooves and that of
said belts being such that the rotating surface formed by the
external surface of said rotary cylinder and the outer surface of
said belts be substantially continuous and plain.
The detailed structure of this device and its mode of operation
will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing
illustrating diagrammatically by way of example a typical form of
embodiment of this device. In the drawing:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device with the members
interconnected thereby, and
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a typical form of
embodiment of complementary means for stiffening the gummed labels
and assisting in transferring them regularly to the turret.
Referring first to FIG. 1 the reference numeral numeral 10
designates the so-called transfer cylinder consisting essentially
of a rotary cylinder adapted to retain on its outer surface,
notably by vacuum or suction effect, a gum-free label, with the
printed side adhering to the cylinder surface. These labels are
delivered from a dispensing magazine (not shown) where the labels
are picked up one by one by reciprocating rotary means also not
shown but of a well-known type, so as to be subsequently delivered
to the transfer cylinder 10.
The reference numeral 11 designates the gumming or glue-applying
roller coated with glue by means of an intermediate roller 12
revolving in a glue-filled box (not shown). This gumming station
may consist for example of the arrangement shown and described in
the French Pat. application filed on Sept. 26, 1969, N.sub.o
69.32.884.
Finally, the reference numeral 13 designates the rotary turret for
delivering the labels gummed completely on the proper side to
bottles (not shown) travelling past this turret on a belt
conveyor.
All these members are mentioned to facilitate the understanding of
this invention but are no part thereof.
The device according to the present invention comprises a rotary
cylinder 14 engaging both the transfer cylinder 10 and the gumming
roller 11; this rotary cylinder 14 comprises a number of circular,
preferably regularly spaced grooves 15; these are three in number
in the example illustrated, but it is obvious that a greater number
of grooves 15 may be provided; somewhat spaced from this cylinder
14 and adjacent the turret 13 is a cylindrical rod 16 of relatively
small diameter, adapted to revolve freely about its axis. The
cylinder 14 and rod 16 are interconnected through a number of small
endless belts 17, such as nylon belts, engaging each a groove 15.
These belts are so shaped and dimensioned as to fit completely into
the grooves 15 without projecting from the surface of cylinder 14;
thus, this surface is continuous and substantially plain throughout
its height in front of the companion cylinders 10 and 11.
The above-described device operates as follows:
Firstly, it will be noted that both the gumming roller 11 and the
transfer cylinder 10 revolve with a very small clearance in front
of the portions of grooves 15 which are engaged completely by the
belts 17.
Assuming the rollers 11 and 12 to ro rotate in the direction of the
arrows, the surface of roller 11 is coated with glue; the transfer
cylinder 10, rotary cylinder 14 and turret 13 are also started for
rotation in the direction shown by the arrows; the surface of
cylinder 14 and also the outer surface of belts 17 are coated in
turn with glue.
When a label 18 retained by suction on the surface of transfer
cylinder 10 (with the printed side engaging this surface) registers
with the cylinder 14, the vacuum or suction effect is discontinued
automatically; thus, the label will adhere to the cylinder 14 and
belts 17, so that the whole of its unprinted surface is coated with
glue, and the label is carried along by the cylinder position 18a.
As the belts move out from the cylinder grooves, the label is
detached from the cylinder surface but is still adhering to the
belt surface.
These belts subsequently pass over the small-diameter cylindrical
rod 16, but since the stiffness of the label exceeds the retaining
force due to the stickiness of the glue, this label continues its
travel at 18b along a nearly rectilinear path. Thus, it leaves the
belts and is picked up by the vacuum or suction produced at this
point in the turret 13 so as to be snappily pressed thereagainst,
with the fully coated or gummed surface directed outwards. Thus,
this label moves to position 18c and later on, at 18d, it is
applied uniformly to the surface of a bottle (not shown), the
suction effect being discontinued at this time.
The same cycle as described hereinabove is repeated for all the
labels delivered by the transfer cylinder 10.
If necessary, the label stiffness may be reinforced at the level of
rod 16 by using the means illustrated in FIG. 2 and described
hereinafter.
This system comprises a pivotally mounted rod 19 somewhat spaced
upstream from and thinner than rod 16 and parallel thereto; this
rod 19 is disposed outside the belts 17 and carries a number of
teeth 20 parallel to, and disposed between, the belts 17, so as to
constitute a kind of comb the teeth of which are urged by a weak
torsion spring (not shown) so as to exert a reduced pressure on the
printed side of any passing label; preferably the number of teeth
20 will be in excess of one unit to that of the belts 17 and each
belt will travel between a pair of adjacent teeth. Under these
conditions it is clear that the labels will assume a somewhat
corrugated or like configuration, as shown in FIG. 2; thus, the
label stiffness is reinforced and the removal thereof from the
belts is further facilitated.
However, the use of this device is not strictly limited to a
teethlike embodiment illustrated for the teeth may be replaced if
desired by small rollers producing the same stiffening effect on
the label by more or less corrugating same.
The device according to this invention is applicable essentially to
bottle handling lines as used in the food industry. However, it is
also applicable whenever it is required to apply labels to packings
or other objects or articles travelling past a turret adapted to
deliver labels glued or gummed completely on one face.
* * * * *