CA1077894A - Apparatus and method for transmitting elements to articles - Google Patents

Abstract

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING ELEMENTS TO ARTICLES

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Elements are supplied to a work station with the elements being arranged in a row. The elements are releas-ably retained at the work station. The articles to which the elements are to be transferred are moved through the work station with the row of elements at the work station extending in the same direction as the direction of article movement. Each of the elements is transferred to an asso-ciated article as the articles are moved through the work station. The elements are sequentially transferred with the most downstream element always being the next element to be transferred.

Description

CD7789~

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

3 This application is related to the application which matured into United States Patent No.
5 4,024,011 entitled LABEL APPLICATOR WITH REPETITIVE SEQUEN-6 TIAL FIRING ORDER AND METHOD.

Label applicators apply labels to articles as the 11 articles are conveyed past the label applicator. Typically, 12 the labels are releasably adhered, in a single column, to an 13 elongated backing strip. The label applicator removes one 14 of the labels from the backing strip and releasably retains it at a labeling station. As the article to be labeled nears 16 the removed label, it is applied to the article. Label ap-lq plicators of this type are shown, for example, in U.S. Patent 18 Nos. 3,093,528 and 3,729,362.
19 Label applicators of this type, while satisfactory 20 for many applications, can introduce delay into an assembly 21 or packaging operation in which labeling must be carried out.
22 For example, label indexing or advance; i.e., the removal of 23 a label from the backing strip and applying it to a suitable 24 retaining means, is relatively slow while ~he transfer of a 25 retained label to the article can be rapidly carried out.

26 Label indexing can be sufficiently slow so that the labeling 27 function is caused to be the slowes-t operation on the pro-28 duction line.
; 29 Other work operations also involve the repetitive 30 supply of elements to a work station so that such elements `32 ;6 -1-. .

~77i~

1 can be affixed, assernbled, Larnina-ted, etc., to ar-ticles

2 being conveyed through the work s-ta-tion. In some of the

3 work operations, the repeti-tlve supply of the element is the slowest step in -the process, and accordingly, this li-mits the speed with which the articles can be conveye~
6 through the work station. Thus, other work opera-tions in-7 volve problems similar to the label application problem 8 described above.
g In the case of label application, it is known to use a wide backing strip and to provide two side-by-11 side columns of labels on the backing strip. In this event, 12 two labels are simultaneously removed and releasably retain-13 ed at the labeling station and the two labels are simultane-la ously transferred from the retaining means to either the same or different articles. However, in order that this 16 prior art arrangement can be used to appl~ labels to differ-17 en-t articles, it is necessary -that article spacing bear a 18 predetermined relationship to label spacing on the retain-19 ing means so that the articles and the labels are properly relatively positioned. This problem is so significant that 21 this arrangement is basically unsuited for most label appli-22 cation jobs.

2~ SUMMP.RY OF THE INVENTION

26 This invention materially speeds up operations 27 which involve associating elements with articles. The in-28 vention is particularly applicable to -those operations in 2~ which the repetitive supply oE elernent~ to a work station is the slowest portion of the operation.

~L~778~

1 This invention is applicable to an operation i~
2 which elements are repeti-tively supplied to a plurality of 3 positions with the positions defininy a row at a work station

4 and with the axis of the row extending generally in a first direction. Retaining means releasably re-tains first and sec-~ ond of the elements at the first and second positions, respecti~
7 The articles are moved through the work station in 8 the first direc-tion with a first of the articles preceding a ; 9 second of the articles. The first element is downstream, in the direction of article movement, of the second element.
11 Transferring means is controlled by control means so that it 12 transfers the first and second elements from the retaining 13 means to the first and second articles, respectively, as the 14 first and second-articles are moved through the work sta-tion.
In the pre~erred transferring order or firing order, the con-1~ trol means causes the transferring means to initiate the trans-17 fer of the first element to the first article before initiating 18 the transfer of the second element to the second article. In 19 other words, the elements are transferred sequentially, in a reverse firing order, with the most downstream element being 21 the ~ext element to be transferred. In a broader sense, how-22 ever, the control means enables the transfer of the most down-23 stream element and the actual trans~er se~uence is dependent 24 upon various other fac-tors, such as article spacing and the ; 26 spacing between the positions of the elements.
26 The elements can be any member which is to be as-27 sociated with an ar-ticle. For example, the elemen-t may be 28 any member which it is des:Lred -to affix to, deposit on or 29 within, assemble with, laminate to, etc., the article. By ~ way of example, -the elernent may be a label or sheet which is 31 to be adhered to the art:icLe; however, the invention is not 32 limited to the use of sheet-like elements nor to ad~esive ~ ~g7q~g~

1 a-ttachment between the element and the article, R~ther, the 2 invention is primarily applicable to those work ope,rations 3 in which the repetitive supply of elements to the work sta-tion is carried out slower than is desired or is the slowest part of the work opera-tion per~ormed a~c the work sta-tion.
6 The present invention is applicable wherever the transfer 7 sequence o~ this invention is useful to increase speed of the 8 operation being performed.
g The supplying means which supplies the elements can be any device which is capable of intermittently supply-11 ing the elements to the positions at the work stations. The 12 supplying means may supply a group of the elements simultane-13 ously to the work station or it may supply the elements non-14 sequentially in accordance with any desired program~

For example, in the field of label application, 16 the labels can be sheet fed or roll fed to the retaining 17 means. If the labels are roll fed, they may be provided 18 in two or more side-by-side columns on an elongated backing 19 strip. This increases the number of labels per roll with ~o the result that downtime of the label applicator for the 21 purpose of chanying reels occurs much less frequently than 22 with the above-described prior art label applicator.

23 If desired, the elements may be supplied in groups 24 to the retaini~g means. This means that only one element supplying operation per N elements (where N is the number 26 f elements supplied) is required, whereas in the prior ar-t 27 f label application, one label supplying opera-tion per label 28 was required. This time shares the relatively slow label 29 supplyiny func-tion with two or more label transEers w:ith the ~o result that t'he label appli,cation operation is materially 3l speeded up.

1(~77894 "

1 The control means causes the elements to be trans- -2 ferred sequentially, rather than simultaneously, from the -3 retaining means to the articles. For this reason, the 4 spacing, if any, of the elements on the retaining means can

5 be totally independent of article size and article spacing.

6 For label application, this means that the narrowest pos-

7 sible backing strip capable of carrying the columns of la- -

8 bels in side-by-side relationship can be used. The paper g used for the backing strip on a per label basis can be re-10 duced because the labels in adjacent columns can be very 11 close together; i.e., have only a very small area or margin 12 Of backing strip in between, whereas in a conventional single 13 column of labels, the backing strip has margins extending 14 on both sides of the single column of labels.
15 By always using the most downstream element as the 16 next element to be applied, the articles have the greatest 17 distance to travel during the time that elements are being 18 supplied to the retaining means. Accordingly, even though 19 the articles may be traveling at a high rate of speed, the 20 relatively great distance which they must travel in order to 21 be in position for the next firing sequence provides ample 22 time for the relatively slow element supplying operation.
23 The element transfer operation can be controlled 24 in various different ways, including the use of one or more 25 article sensors. The elements may be retained and transfer-26 red in various different ways. For example, vacuum reten-27 tion can be used to releasably retain the elements, and air ~8 pressure, mechanical means, etc., can be used to transfer 29 the elements to the articles.

~77339~L I

1 The invention can best be unclerstood by rererence 2 to the following descripti,on taken in connection with the 3 accompanyiny illustrative drawings.

RIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

~ Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one way in 8 which the present inventi,on can be applied to a label appli-

9 cator.
Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing by way of ex-11 ample how the labels can bê retained in a row and then trans-12 ferred to articles.
13 Figs. 3-3b are partially schematic plan views show-14 ing how the firing sequence can be implemented.
Fig. 4 is a somewhat schematic elevational view 16 in section showing how the present invention can be applied 17 to a laminating apparatus.
18 Fig. 5 is a view taken generally along line 5-5 19 Of Fig- 4~
Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of one of the ar-21 ticles after adhesive has been applied to it.
22 Fig. 7 is an electronic control schematic for the 23 laminating apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED E~BODIMENT

27 Fig. 1 shows a label applicator 11 which includes 28 a supporting structure 13 in the form o~ a housing, a supply 29 reel 15 suitably rotatably rnounted on the supporting struc-ture, and a -takeup reeL 17 also rotatab:Ly mountecl on the ~778g~ 1 I

1 supportlng struc~ure. A rela-tively wide backi~y strip 19 2 ~ release paper or other suitable ma-terial is wound on the 3 supply reel 15. Elements in the form of labels 21a, 21b, and 21c are arranged in three elonga-ted side-by-side columns, respectively, on the backing s-trip 19. The labe]s 21a, 21b 6 and 21c are adhesively secured to the backing s-trip 19.
7 The backing strip 19 extends over a guide roller 8 23, a peeling bar 25, a guide roller 27, and hetween a drive g roller 29 and a cooperating pinch roller 31 to the take-up reel 17. The peeling bar 25 and the various rollers are all 11 suitably mounted on the supportinc3 structure 13. In the em-12 bodimen-t illustrated, the drive roller 29 is driven inter-~3 mittently to move or index the backing strip 19 from the 14 supply reel 15 across the peeling bar 25 to the take~up reel 17. The motor and controls ~or providing this intermittent ~6 movement of the backing strip 19 are not illustrated or 17 ~urther described herein inasmuch as they are well known -to 18 those skilled in the art.
19 As the backing strip 19 moves across the peeling bar 25, three of the labels 21a, 21b, and 21c are removed 21 from the backing strip and applied to an air pervious wall 22 33 at a work station, which in this embodiment, is a label-ing station, with the adhesive side of the labels facing 2~ outwardly. The air pervious wall 33 ~orms one wall of a vacuum box 35 which is suitably mounted on the supporting 26 structure 13. The interior of the vacuum box 35 is main-tained at a pressure less than atmospheric in any suitable 28 manner, such as by a vacuur~l pump 37 (Fig. 2) so the suct:ion 29 provided by the vacuum box 35 re:leasa~)ly retains the re-moved labels 21a, 21b, and 21c agairls-t the outer surface oE

lOq789~

1 the air pervious wall 33. The air pervious wall 33 may be 2 of many different constructions so long as it is capable of 3 applying suction to the removed labels, and in the embodi-~ ment illustrated, it includes a series of apertures 39 (Fig.
2).
6 The removed labels 21a, 21b, and 21c are arranged 7 in a row on the air pervious wall 33. A conveyor 41 moves 8 a plurality of articles, including the articles 43a, 43b, and 9 43e, in a first direction through the labeling station. The axis of the row of removed labels is parallel to the direc-11 tion of movement of the artieles, and the eonveyor 41 moves 12 the artieles relatively elose to the exposed adhesive side 13 of the removed labels.
14 Sensors 45a, 45b, and 45c are responsive to the lo-eation of the artieles 43a, 43b, and 43e, respectively, to 16 provide eontrol signals which bring about the transfer of 17 the removed labels from the air pervious wall 33 to the as-18 soeiated articles. Although the label transfer function can 19 be brought about in many different ways, in the embodiment 20 illustrated, it is aecomplished utilizing an air blast as 21 shown in Fig. 2.
22 Three separate air manifolds 47a, 47b, and 47c are 23 suitably mounted within the vacuum box 35~ The air manifolds 2~ 47a, 47b, and 47e are supplied with compressed air from a suitable source, such as a storage tank 49 via a condult 51 26 and solenoid valves 53a, 53b, and 53c. A series of flexible 27 tubes 55a, 55b, and 55e eonvey eompressed air from the air 2c~ manifolds 47a, 47b, and 47c, respective:ly, to the apertures ~g 39 in the pervious wall 33. For examplc, the flex:ible tubes 55a, 55b, and 55c may be arranged as shown in co~non Assignee' 5 7~
1 U.S. Patent No. 3,385,705. As shown in Fiy. 2, ~ome of the 2 apertures 39 do not receive any of the flexible tubes and ~ are, therefore, available to transmit suction ~o retain the 4 removed labels 21a, 21b, and 21c against the outer sur~ace of the air pervious wall 33. This suction force can be over-6 come by an air blast from any one of the air manifolds 47a, 7 47b, and 47c to transfer the associated label from the air 8 pervious wall 33. Accordingly, the label transferring sequence g can be controlled by controlling the opening and closin~ of the solenoid valves 53a, 53b, and 53c.
11 The present~invention provides for a transferring 12 sequence in which the label which is farthest downstream in 13 the direction of movement of the articles is the next label 1~ to be applied. This can be brought about in many different ways utilizing one or more sensors and various controls, and 16 the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is purely illustrative. Si-17 milarly, the means for supplying labels to the labeling sta-18 tion, as well as the means for retaining the labels at the 19 labeling station, are purely illustrative as these functions can be carried out by many different s-tructures.
21 The reverse firing sequence is illustrated diagram-22 matically in Figs. 3-3b. With the removed labels 21a, 21b, 23 and 21c arranged in a row as shown in Fig. 1, they are ready 24 for application to the associated articles. As the conveyor 2~ 41 moves the articles 43a, 43b, and 43c in the direction of 26 the arrows in Figs. 1 and 3-3b, the sensor 45a detects the 27 presence of the article 43a and brings about, as described 28 more fully hereinbelow, the opening oE the valve 53a to pro-2g vide an air blast from the a:ir manifold 47a. ~'he air blast from the air manifold 47a :is sufficien-t -to transfer the most _g _ ~7~8~1 "

3 downstream label; i.e., the la~el 21a, -to the associated 2 article ~3a as shown in Fig. 3. As the conveyor 41 con-3 tinues to move the artlcles, the sensor ~5b detects the presence of -the article 43b and brings about the opening ~ of the solenoid valve 53b to transfer the most downstream 6 label on the pervious wall 33; i.e., the label 21b to the 7 article 43b as shown in Fiy. 3a. Similarly, the sensor ~5c brings about the transfer of the label 21c to the arti-~ cle 43c as shown in Fig. 3b.
With all of the removed labels transferred ~o as-11 sociated articles, the backing strip 19 is again indexed to 12 supply three other removed labels to the air pervious wall 13 33- It is important to note that an article 43d which is ~4 the next article to be labeled must travel from the position shown in Fig. 3b across nearly the full length of the air 16 pervious wall 33 to the right end of the air pervious wall.
17 During this relatively long travel time, the next group of 18 labels is being removed from the backing strlp 19 and fed to g the air pervious wall 33. In the embodiment illustrated, the article 43d must travel several times farther auring the 21 indexing operation than it would travel in a conventional 2~ label applicating operation. This additional distance pro-23 vides increased time for removing the second group of labels 24 from the backing strip 19 and feeding the removed labels to the air pervious wall 33.
26 Fig. 2 shows one way o~ controlling the solenoid ~7 valves 53a, 53b, and 53c, it being understood that these 2~ valves ma~ be controlled in many different wa~.s. 'rhe controls 29 include, in addition to -the sensors ~Sa, ~5b, and ~5c, delay devices 57a, 57b, 57c, 5~ and 59.
~1 ~2 ~10-771~

1 Each of the sensors 45a, ~5b, and 45c may be any 2 device, such ~s a microswi-tch or photocell, which is capable 3 of detecting the presence of one of the articles. In the em-bodiment shown in Fig. 2, each of these sensors comprises a photocell, the light beam to which is broken by -the presence 6 of an article in front of -the sensor.
7 Each of the delay devices 57a, 57b, and 57c is iden-~ tical and may comprise an integra-ted circui-t. Each of the de-g lay devices 57a, 57b, and 57c has two input signals; i.e., an enable signal and a firing signal and one output signal with 11 the output signal controlling the associated one of the sole-12 noid valves 53a, 53b, and 53c.
For example, the delay device 57a receives input 14 signals from the sensor 45a and from the delay device 57c with the latter signal being provided through the delay de-16 vice 58 to enable the delay device 57a. Assuming that the de~
17 lay device 57a is enabled, the firing signal provided by the 18 sensor 45a, when the article 43a passes in front of this 19 sensor to interrupt the light beam, will cause the delay de-vice 57a to provide an output signal, which may occur after 21 a predetermined short delay time, to the solenoid valve 53a 22 to temporarily open the same to transfer the label 21a.
he delay time is selected so that the label 21a will be ap-2~ plied to the desired location on the article 43a.
Immediately after the delay device 57a receives 26 both its enable signal and its firing signal, it provides 27 an enable signal to the dela~ device 57b -to enable that de-28 lay device. AlthoucJh the delay lev:ice 57b :ic ena~lea, i~
2g will respond only to a firing sLynal which is received after i-t is enclbled and which i5 the result oE the lead:ing edge of ~L~7~7~39~

1 the article ~3b passing in front of the sensor ~5b. In 2 other words, iE the signal provided by the sensor ~5b is 3 high when a space between articles confronts that sensor and low when an ar-ticle con~ronts that sensor, the delay device 57b will respond only to a siynal change from high 6 to low which occurs after the delay device 57b is enabled.
7 For this reason, the delay device 57b is not actuated even 8 if the article 43a is in front of the sensor 45b when the g delay device 57b receives its enable siynal. Accoraingly, when the sensor 45b senses the presence of the article 43b, 11 the delay device 57b provides an output signal, after a 12 predetermined short delay to the solenoid valve 53b to 13 temporarily open the same and transfer the label 21b.
1~ The delay device 57c is similarly enabled by an enable signal from the delay device 57b which is provided 16 immediately after the delay device 57b receives both its 17 enable signal from the delay devlce 57a and its firing sig-18 nal from -the sensor 45b. Accordingly, a signal from the ~ 19 sensor 45c resulting from the presence of the article 43c 20 causes the latter to be labeled.

21 The delay device 57a is enabled by an enable sig-22 nal from the delay device 57c which is provided immediately 23 after the delay dev:ice receives both its enable signal from 2~ the delay device 57b and its firing signal from -the sensor 45c. However, the enable signal to the delay device 57a is 26 delayed by a suitable delay device 58. The delay interposed 27 by the delay device 58 is oE sufficient length to allow the 28 article 43c to t~rave:L ~ast -the sensor 45a. q'his prevenl~;
29 the sensor ~5a from .sensing the artlcles ~3b and 43c ancl ~o causing a second label to be applied to them.

~771~
1 The clelay devices may be eikher analog or digital 2 and may be provided by those skilled in the art. For exam-3 ple, each of these delay devices may include a type D flip flop coupled to receive the enable signal to enable the de-5 lay device. An appropriate ga-te or gates, such as a ~AND
6 gate, may be coupled to receive the output of the flip flop 7 and the firing signal to provide A signal which can be used 8 as the enab:Le signal for the next delay device and which is g suitably delayed, as by two one-shot yenerators to provide ~o the output signal which is used to provide the air blast for 11 label trans~er purposes.
12 The output signal from the delay device 57c is also 13 ~ed to the delay device 59 which provides, after a short de-14 lay period, an indexing signal to advance the backing strip 19 to provide a new group of labels on the air pervious wall 16 33. The delay provided by the delay device 59 is of sufficient~
17 length to assure tha-t the label 21c has been transferred from 1~ the air pervious wall 33 before a new group of labels is sup-19 plied to the air pervious wall.
igs. 4-7 show by way of example how the concepts 21 f this invention can be applied to a laminating apparatus 22 111. The laminating apparatus includes a plurality of iden-23 tical laminating devices 113a, 113b, and 113c suitably mount-2a ed in any suitable manner, such as between mounting members 114 at a work station. Portions of the laminating devices 26 113b and 113c corresponding to portions of the laminating 27 device 113a are designated by corresponding xeference nu-2~ merals with the lettcrs b and c respectively sub.;kituted for 2g the letter a. Two or more o:~ the larninat:incJ dev:ices 113a-3~ 113c may be p.rovided, and the three ~ lustrated are purely 3~ illustrative.

~77~394L

1 ~ conveyor 115 conveys ar-ticles 117a, 117b, and 2 117c -through the work station. An adhesive ap~licator 119 3 of conventional construction is located upstream from -the work station and applies an adhesive 121 (Fig. 6) in a tu-bular, rectangular pattern to each of the ar-ticles 117a-117c G as such articles are brought beneath the adhesive applicator 7 by the conveyor 115. For example, the applicator 119 may 8 include nozzles (not shown) which shoot the adhesive onto 9 the articles. The application of adhesive by the adhesive applicator 119 can be controlled in any suitable manner, 11 such as by an article sensor 123 of conventional construc-12 tion which provides a signal to the adhesive a~plicator 119 13 indicating the presence of one of the ar-ticles irnmediately 14 below the applicator 119 in a position -to receive the ad-hesive 121.
16 The laminating devices 113a-1]3c repetitively sup-17 ply elements in the form of sheets or windows 125a, 125b, 18 and 125c of a flexible transparent or translucent material 19 to positions at the work station. These positions define a row at the work station, and the axis of the row extends 21 in the direction of movement of the articles 117a-117c through 22 the work station. The sheets 125a-125c are lamina-ted to the 23 articles 117a-117c in -the same sequence as described above 24 with reference to the embodiment o~ Figs. 1-3, i.e., with the most downstream sheet always being the next sheet to be 26 transferred.
27 In the embodiment of Fiys. 4-7, each o~ the arti-2~ cles 117a-117c has a CUtOI1~ 126 (F:i~. 6) around wh:ich the 29 adhesive 121 is provided. For exarnple, e~ch of the ar-tic:Les ~ may be a container or par-t of a conta:iner for a product with ~77~94 , 1 1 -the window provlded by the sheets 125a~125c permitt:ing visual 2 inspection of the contents. Alternatively, -the articles 117a 3 117c and the sheets 125a-125c may be any two members which it is desired to laminate toge-ther.
The sheet 125a can be supplied to the work station 6 and laminated to the article 117a in a varie-ty o~ different 7 ways, and the mechanism shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is purely il-8 lustrative. The device 113a includes a reel 127a on which g a strip or web 129a of flexible transparent film material is stored. The web 129a passes over a drive roller 131a, a pinch 11 roller 133a, and a back-up roller 137a, all o~ which are 12 drivingly coupled by gears 138a. The drive roller 133a is 13 driven by a drive motor 134 through a web advance clutch and 1~ brake 135a. The web 129a ne~t passes over a knife roller 139a which has a longitudinally extending blade 141a. The 16 knife roller 139a is driven intermittently by the motor 134 17 and a one revolution clutch 143a, and each time the knife i 18 roller 139a is rotated, it cuts a length from the strip 129a 19 in a known manner to form one of the sheets 125a. Feeding ~o and cutting mechanisms of this type are known, and for -this 21 reason, the details thereof are not described in greater ~` 22 depth herein.
23 The device 113a also includes a rotatable drum 2~ 145a continuously dxiven by the motor 134 (Fig. 5). The drum 145a has a hollow interior and a peripheral wall 149a 26 containing a large number of openings 151a. The interior 27 of the drum 145a is partially evacuated in any conventional 28 manner, such as by a vacuum pump 153a to create a suc-tion 29 at each of the openings 151a. Accordingly, when -the sheet 125a is fed onto the peripheral wal~ 1~9a o~ the rota-table ~1 ~ 78~

1 drum 145a, the suction retains the shee-t against the periph-2 eral wall.

3 The rotation of the drum 145a carries the sheet 4 125a to a position immediately above the article 117a. The drum also releasably retains the sheet 125a, Accordingly, the 6 dr~n 145a forms a part of -the supplying means and it consti-tutes the means for releasably retaining the sheet at a po-8 sition immediately above the conveyor 115.
9 The trans~er of the sheet 125a to the article 117a ~ is accomplished by the drum 145a and a nip roller 155a which 11 underlies the conveyor and which is normally not in contact 12 therewith. However, in order to accomplish the transfer and 13 the resulting lamination, the nip roller 155a is suitably 1~ mounted for vertical movement by linear actuators 157a so that it can be moved vertically toward and away from the drum 16 145a. By movin~ the nip roller 155a upwardly, the conveyor 17 115, the article 117a, and the sheet 125a are squeezed be-18 tween the nip roller 155a and the drum 145a to thereby ad-19 hesively attach the sheet to the article.
The devices 113b and 113c are identical in construc-21 tion and operation to the laminating device 113a. The devices 22 113a-113c may be controlled in much the same manner described 23 above in the embodiment of Figs. 1-3, except that the control 2~ of the knife rollers 139a-139c must be provided for. Also, it is desirable in this embodiment of the invention ~or the 26 sheets 125a-125c to be supplied seguentially to their respec-~7 tive positions immediately above the conve~or 115 rather than 28 simultaneously as was done wi-th the labels 21a-21c.

2~ The control functions for the laminating devices ~ 113a-113c can be implemented in various di~ferent ways and ~1 7~

1 one such way is shown in Fig. 7 which shows diyital electronic 2 controls for the laminating appara-tus 111. The motor (not 3 shown) which drives the conveyor 115 also drives a conveyor 4 encoder 171 which may be an op-tlcal encoder or any other kind of device which provides a digital output signal comprisiny 6 a plurality of pulses with the number of ~ulses representin~
7 conveyor displacement. The output signal from the encoder 171 8 constitutes one input to each of three identical control chan-g nels 173a, 173b, and 173c. One o~ the control channels is ~o provided for each of the laminatiny devices 113a-113c. A
11 second input to each o~ the control channels 173a-173c is 12 provided by a single article detector 175 which may be a 13 photocell or any other proximity device which provides the 14 signal in response to one of the articles 117a-117c arriving at a predetermined position relative to the lamina-ting de-16 vices 113a-113c. For example, the article detector 175 may 17 be located between the device 113c and the applicator 119 as 18 shown in Fig. ~.
19 The signal from thé ar-ticle detector 175 is -trans-20 mitted -to control logic 177. The control logic 177 is an 21 electronic switch which is either enabled (closed) or not 22 enabled (open). Assuming that the control logic 177 is en-23 abled in the manner described below by an enable signal from 2a the control channel 173c, it transmits -the signal from the article detector 175 to the start input of an article posi-26 tion counter 179. The signal from the control logic 177 is 27 also transmitted to the enable input o~ the control channel 28 173b to enable tha-t channel so that it will be opera-tive Eor 29 the next article sensed by the article clctector :I75. The ~0 count input of the article position counter 179 is coupled ~IL07~7891~ I

1 to the encoder 171 so that -the pulses provided by the en-2 coder can be counted a~ter the start signal is obtained.
3 ~he counter 17g counts the pulses from the encod-er 171 and provides as its outpu-t a binary number indica-ting the present value of such coun-t. ~ccordingly, the counter 6 output signal corresponds to a predetermined position of 7 the article 117a. Position select electronics 180 monitors 8 the output signal of the counter 179 and is responsive to g the counter reaching a predetermined count ~or providing a start signal to the web advance clutch 135a. The same signal 11 is also used to reset the counter 179. The s-tart signal causes 12 the clutch 135a to engage so that the web 129a is advanced.
13 The count to which the position select electronics 180 re-14 sponds can be adjusted so that -the start signal to the web advance clutch 135a can be provided at the desired position 16 of the article 117a. The position select electronics 180 17 may be any conventional circuitry which can read the binary 18 number output of the counter 179 and provide a signal in re-lg sponse to a particular binary number input.
,~o The signal from the position select electronics 18 21 is also provided to the start input of a web length counter 22 181. The counter 181 then counts the pulses from the encoder 23 171 and provides as i-ts output a binary number reflecting 24 such count. Cut select electronics 182 responds to a first binary number ~rom the counter 181 to provide a signal to the 26 one revolution clutch 143a, whereupon the clutch 143a rota-tes 27 the kni~e roller 139a throu~Jh one revolution to cut the sheet 28 125a ~rom the web 129a. I,encJth select electron:ic.s 1~33 is 29 responsive to a second higher count o~ the counter 181 to ~,o provide a stop signal -to -the clutch 135a, whereupon this ~1 ., ., ~(~7789~ I

1 clutch disengages and the feeding of the web 129a ceases 2 immediately. A brake may be used in conjunction with the 3 clutch 135a to assure that the web advance terminates imme-4 diately upon disengagement of the clutch.
The length select electronics 183 assures tha-t the 6 web advance will not terminate prior to the cutting opera-7 tion. The signal from the length select electronics 183 is 8 also fed back to the counter 181 to xeset the counter and g is fed to the start input of a laminate length counter 185.
This enables the laminate length counter 185 to count the 11 pulses from the encoder 171 and to provide as its output a 12 binary nurnber indicating the number of such pulses. Start 13 select electronics 186 is responsive to a first binary number 14 output from the counter 185 to provide an up signal to the actuators 157a. This causes the actuators 157a to extend 16 to move the nip roller 155a up so as to s~ueeze the conveyor 17 115, the article 117a, and the sheet 125a between the drum ~8 145a and the nip roller 155a. The tangential velocity of 19 the drum 145a is preferably equal to the speed of the con-veyor 115 so that the lamination can be smoothly accomplish-21 ed. Stop select electronics 187 responds to a second higher 22 binary number output of the counter 185 to provide a signal 23 to the actuators 157a to move the nip roller 155a down to a 24 position in which it does not engage the conveyor 115. The siynal from the stop select electronics 187 is also used to 26 reset the counter 185.
27 It should be noted that the control channel 173b 28 is enabled immediately following the receipt by the control 29 channel 173a of its signal from -the article detec-tor 175.
Accordingly, regardless of when the artlcle 117b may be g~778~ I

1 conveyed to the work station, the control channel 173b will he able to control -the laminating device 113b in the same manner 3 described above for the control channel 173a. Thus, the con-4 trol system shown in Fig. 5 will control the laminating de-5 vices 113a-113c even though spacing of the articles 117a-117c 6 on the conveyor 115 may be unequal and even though the conveyor 7 speed may not be completely constant. This is accomplished by 8 only a single article detector and by the conveyor encoder g which is used, in effect, to track the position of each of the

10 articles 117a-117c through the work station.

11 As in the embodiment of Figs. 1-3, the articles

12 117a-117c are moved in a sequence or series through the work

13 station with the article 117b being intermediate, and next in

14 the series to, the articles 117a and 117c. Only one of the

15 elements 125a-125c is applied to each of the articles. In

16 other words, only one of the devices 113a-113c is selected by

17 the control means to apply an element to a selected article.

18 The same is also true of the embodiment of Figs. 1-3.

19 Although an exemplary embodiment of the invention

20 has been shown and described, many changes, modifications and

21 substitutions may be made by one having ordinary skill in the 2~ art without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope 23 Of this invention

Claims (17)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An apparatus for transferring elements to articles which are moved in a first direction through a work station, said apparatus comprising:
means for repetitively supplying elements to a plurality of positions, said positions defining a row at said work station with the axis of the row extending gen-erally in said first direction and with a first of the positions being downstream, in the direction of article movement, of a second of said positions;
means for releasably retaining first and sec-ond of the elements at said first and second positions, respectively;
means for transferring the first and second elements from the retaining means to first and second of the articles, respectively, as the first and second arti-cles are moved through said station; and control means for controlling said transferring means so that said transferring means initiates transfer of the first element to the first article before initiat-ing transfer of the second element to the second article.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means includes sensor means responsive to the location of at least one of said first and second ar-ticles for providing a control signal and means responsive to said control signal for initiating the transfer of at least one of said first and second elements.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said row includes N positions wherein N is a number greater than 2, said N positions including said first and second positions, said transferring means transfers the elements from said N positions to N articles, respectively, as each of such N articles moves through said station and said control means controls said transferring means so that said transferring means sequentially initiates the trans-fer of the elements at said N positions to the N articles, respectively, in a firing order which begins with the po-sition which is most downstream, in the direction of ar-ticle movement, and which progresses upstream to the most upstream position.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means prevents the transfer of elements to the first and second articles at the second and first locations, respectively.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said retaining means includes an air pervious wall and means for applying suction to one side of the pervious wall to releasably hold the elements against the other side of the pervious wall.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means includes first and second sensors, said first sensor being responsive to at least the first article reaching a first predetermined location for pro-viding a first control signal, said second sensor being responsive to the second article reaching a second prede-termined location for providing a second control signal, said control means including first means responsive at least to the first and second control signals, respec-tively, for initiating the transfer of the first and sec-ond elements, respectively.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said apparatus is a label applicator and said elements are labels.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein said transferring means includes means for blowing the labels off of the retaining means.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein the supplying means includes a supply reel adapted to have a relatively wide backing strip wound thereon with the backing strip having at least first and second columns of labels releasably adhered thereto, a take-up reel adapted to receive said relatively wide backing strip, means for moving the backing strip from the supply reel to the take-up reel, and means responsive to movement of the backing strip from the supply reel toward the take-up reel for removing first and second labels from the first and second columns, respectively, and supplying them to the retaining means.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means includes an article sensor for provid-ing a signal when an article reaches a predetermined lo-cation and means for tracking the position of such arti-cle so that the transferring means causes one of the ele-ments to be transferred to such article regardless of any changes in velocity of such article in moving through the work station.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said element includes a flexible sheet, said supplying means includes a drum and means for feeding said sheet to the drum, said releasable retaining means including means for applying a pressure differential to the sheet on the drum to releasably retain the sheet on the drum, at least one of the sheet and the article to which it is to be transferred includes an adhesive and said transferring means includes means cooperable with said drum to press said sheet against the corresponding article to adhere the sheet to such article.

12. An apparatus for transferring elements to articles which are moved in a series in a first direction through a work station wherein a first of the articles is next in the series of articles to a second of the articles and with the first article leading the second article, said apparatus comprising:
first means for supplying elements and trans-ferring the elements to articles at a first location;
second means for supplying elements and trans-ferring the elements to articles at a second location; and control means for causing the first means to transfer at least one of the elements to the first arti-cle at the first location and for causing the second means to transfer at least another of the elements to the sec-ond article at the second location, said control means preventing the transfer of elements to the first and sec-ond articles at the second and first locations, respectively.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 where-in said control means enables said first and second means in a repetitive sequence in which first one and then another of said first and second means are enabled for operation.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 where-in said control means is responsive to the location of the first article to cause the first means to transfer at least said one of the elements to said first article and to cause said second means to be enabled so that it is made ready to transfer at least said another element to the second article.

15. A method of transferring elements to arti-cles comprising:
repetitively supplying elements to a plurality of positions with such positions being arranged in a se-quence which defines a row at a work station and with a first of said positions being next in said sequence to a second of said positions, first and second of said elements being supplied to said first and second positions, respec-tively;
releasably retaining the elements supplied to said positions, respectively;
advancing a plurality of articles, including first and second articles in a sequence, through said work station generally from one end of said row to the other end of said row with said first article being next in the sequence of articles to the second article and with the first article leading the second article, said other end of said row being closer to said first position than to said second position; and transferring the first and second elements from the first and second positions to said first and second articles, respectively, as the articles are advanced through the work station and preventing the transfer of elements from the first and second positions to the second and first articles, respectively, as the articles are ad-vanced through the work station.

16. A method as defined in claim 15 wherein said step of transferring includes adhesively attaching the first element to the first article.

17. A method as defined in claim 15 wherein said elements are labels.