CA1169822A - Application of indicia to articles - Google Patents

Abstract

APPLICATION OF INDICIA TO ARTICLES
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A compact and inexpensive decorator for transferring labels by heat and pressure from a carrier strip to articles such as bottles. The decorator is designed as a unit, including infeed and outfeed conveyors, a turret for holding articles during label-ling and maintaining their shape by inflation, a deck bearing a transport for the carrier web and a device for impressing labels from the strip onto the articles, and a control module. For round articles the turret includes interchangeable Index and Decorator cups, while for oval articles an easily removed turret base with article cutouts is used. The deck may be adjusted in its height and angular orientation with respect to the turret to permit deco-ration of a wide variety of article faces. The carrier web trans-port includes a capstan web drive for pulling the web, a double gate, and a dancer roll, which provide label-by-label advance of the web controlled by signals from a photoelectric web monitor and a container detector. The double gate and dancer roll are included to avoid regions of slack or high tension in the web during inter-mittent advance.

Description

BACKGROUND OF T~IE INVENT~ON
This application is a divisional of Canadian Appli-cation No. 329,359, filed June 8, 1979.
The present invention relates to the decoration of articles such as bottles, and more particularly to decoration of articles by means of heat transfer labelling.
Systems using heat transfer labels are widely em-ployed to decorate bottles and similar articles. The type of which the present decorating apparatus is an example includes input and output conveyors for feeding the ob~ect to be label-led; a turret for sequentially positioning the bottles at a labelling station; and a deck which includes a feed mechanism for transporting labels supported by a carrier strip -to the labelling station as well as a device for pressing the label against an adjacent bottle at the labelling station. Examples of such systems appear in the U.S. Patent Nos. 2,981,432;
3,036,624; 3,064,714; 3,208,897; 3,231,448; 3,261,734;
3,313,667; 3,709,755; and 3,861,986.
These prior art decorators are generally suitable Eor -the user with a high volume of production, for whom the cost of the decorator is of lesser importance as compared with production rates. Such a user places relative~y little em-phasis on the ease with which a decorator may be adapted to articles of various shapes and sizes. These prior art decora-tors are not satisfactory, however, for the user with smallproduction runs for whom machine cost and adaptability is of paramount importance. Compact design and ease of operation are also primary considerations for this user.

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The label carrier webs in these prior art devicestypically include a series of regularly spaced punch holes to allow the fitting of the web onto a sprocket drive roll which establishes a basic transport speed for the web. While this is a generally viable transport method, it suffers certain practical disadvantages. Suitable punching equipment repre-sents a significant expense. The punching of the web weakens it, and requires more expensive paper for a given application than would be required without punching. In addition, driving the carrier strip at the punch holes provides less control than would be available if the entire width of the web were used. Greater control over web transport in turn allows en~
hanced label transfer quality The carrier web transport in decorating apparatus of this type advantageously includes some means for alternately accelerating and retarding the basic carri.er web speed (esta-blished by the drive roll) .in the area of label transfer.
This is necessary to ensure that the web will be advanced es-sentially only during an actual transfer, thus allowing a close spacing of the labels on the carrier web. In the above prior art devices, this function was generally performed by winding the web around two shuttle rolls straddling the label-ling site, which shuttle rolls were appended to a recipro-cating slide. Th.~s method of intermittent web transportallows only limited control over the web advance, which may present a problem in low speed and manual decorating applications.
Commercially acceptable decorating apparatus for articles such as bottles should be adjustable to allow the

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placement of the transfer label at any height on the bottle surface that the user may specify. Prior art decorators allow a certain leeway in the height of the sprocket drive wheel, but this is in-sufficient to assure a suitable range of label locations. Such devices may therefore additionally xequire a raising or lowering of the turret bases for holding articles. A related problem is that of slanted bottle surfaces (such as conical surfaces). Proper label transfer onto such surfaces entails considerable design changes in the turrets of these prior art decorators tsee, for example, U.S.
Patent No. 3,313,667).
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to - provide compact, low-cost decorating apparatus. A related object of the invention is to achieve a machine with change-over features, to allow economical utilization of such apparatus in low volume produ-ction runs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a decorator for articles of the type in which articles are conveyed by a rotating turret to a labelling site where they receive a label from a label carrier strip characterized in that the label carrier strip is pulled past the labelling site by a capstan web drive, and including means directly driven from said capstan web drive for rotating said turret.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and additional aspects of the decorator of the present invention and the invention disclosed in co-pending Application No. 3~9,359 are illustrated in the drawings in which:
FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the turret area and infeed and outfeed conveyors in an embodiment for round articles;

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FIGURE 2 is a section along -the lines 2-2 in FIGURE l;
FIGURE 3 iS a partial elevation view of a turret for oval articles;
FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the carrier web transport and label application areas of the invention;
FIGURE 5 iS an elevatlon view of the carrier web transport housing and attached turret assembly;
FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram of the label and turret drive system.

-4a-DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings for a detailed desciption of the invention. FIGURE 1 depicts an em-bodiment of the turret and infeed and outfeed conveyors for handling round articles, illustratively bottles. The bottles are loaded automatically or by hand onto infeed conveyor 20, which comprises a moving belt with guide rails. The bottles line up against gate 11, which is a suitable restraining member activated by an air cylinder. Gate 11 opens to let a single bottle pass.
Turret 10 includes two bottle holding cups, an Index cup 12 and a Decorating cup 13. These cups include rims of a suitable design for holding a given bo-ttle, and internal stripper devices ~not shown) for removing the bottle from the recessed rim. The Index cup additionally includes an index pin (not shown) for rotationally positioning each bottle (the bottom of which contains an indentation for this purpose) preparatory to labelling. These cups are designed to be easily connected to and disconnected from the turret assembly. Bo-th are rotated by belts which are driven from turret clutch 170 (see FIGURE 6), and which have a pitch equal to -the bo-ttle diameter.
A bottle which has passed air gate 11 settles into the Index cup 12. During this period the bottle rotates to a desired labelling orientation. The bottle is removed from the Index cup by a stripper pinl and urged by air pusher 14 into the Decoration cup 13 where it is labelled during ro-tation past transfer platen 150 (see FIGURE 4). The label carrier web 105 is forced into pressure contact with the bottle by an applicator ~,_ 2~

roll in the transfer platen. When labelling has been completed, a stripper pin removes the bottle from the Decorator cup 13 and the bottle is pushed into outfeed conveyor 30 by a second air pusher 15~ Both air pushers consist of pusher members of appropriate shape to engage a bo-ttle surface, placed at the end of a piston rod extending from an air cylinder.
The turret also includes a superstructure 16 which carries inflating air cylinders and nozzles (not shown) which lower into the bottle mouths. This is necessary to force air into the non-rigid bottles during labelling and thereby maintain their shape.
A preferred embodiment of the Index and Decorating cups of a turret for round ar-ticles is shown in the cutaway view of FIGURE 2, which is a section along the lines 2-2 in FIGURE 1.
A bottle B in Index cup 12 rotates with the cup until index pin 41 is aligned with an indentation in the bot-tle's bottom. This ensures labelling of a desired por-tion of the bot-tle perime-ter.
Index cup 12 and Decorator cup 13 are rotated together by drive belts 290,295. Advantageous air pushers 14 and 15 are shown respectively in side and end views.
Bo-ttle B is raised from Index cup 12 by a stripper pin which is similar to stripper pin 45 in Decoration cup 13. The bottle is pushed across dead plate 43 to position B', where labelling occurs. Both cups are placed in a universal cup mount for easy inser-tion and removal. This is shown in section at 47 for the Decoration cup.
A turret 50 for labelling oval bot-tles in accordance with the invention is somewhat different in design, as can be seen with reference to FIGURE 3. In place of -the Index and Decorat-ing cups, a continuously rotating turret rotor 60 is employed, with bottle holding cutouts. -A bottle which has come off the input conveyor is pushed by air pusher 65 in-to a cutout. A
nozzle 70 is lowered into the bottle to lntroduce inflating air and the bottle is rotated to the 1abelling position. Ihe inflating nozzle is raised and lowered by means of actuating cylinder 80 which illustratively contains a compression spring (not shown), and cam surface 85 built into superstructure 90. After labelling, the bottle is removed from the turret by guide rails (not shown) on the outfeed conveyer 30.
Only one drive belt is included to rotate the entire turret at the desired rate.
Both turrets include a decorating control 35 (see FIG~ 1) for in-tro-ducing a differential between the linear speed of rotation of the bottle to be decorated and the rate of advance of the label carrier web past the trans-fer platen, Both turrets are characterized by their ready adaptability to a variety of bottle sized and shapes. In the turre-t of FIGURES 1 and 2, the cups, dead plate~,inflating nQzzles, pusher m~embers, and drive belts are interchangeable.
In the turret of FIGURE 3, the turret base, nozzles, pusher member, drive belt, and outfeed guide rails are similarly adapt-able.
FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the carrier web transport and label transfer area 100. The label carrier web 105 is fed from un-wind roll 110 thrvugh dancer and idler rolls 112, 114 -to a jaw 122 of double gate 120 The label passes around dancer roll 124, then through a second jaw 126 of double gate 120 and around idler roll 128. At thi~ point the web moves past a photoelectric detector 130, around roll 136, and along a preheat platen 140. After preheating, the carrier web passes between transfer platen ]50 and bottle B, where label transfer occurs.

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. ~., At this point, all the labels are removed. ~inally,-the carrier web m~ves along adjustable guide 152 past idler rolls 154 and 156, around caps~n drive 160, and is wound onto ta]~eup roll 170.
The above web transport scheme isa mixture of convention-~
and novel elements. The most notable aspects are the capstan drive 160, the photoelectric detector 130, and the double gate 120, Capstan carrier web drive 160, acting on control si~nals generated by photoelectric detector 130 and a container detector (not shown) in the turret, intermitten-tly advances the label web over the length of a single label during the time when the turret presents an article to be labelled. This control is effected by means of a label clutch which connects -the caps-tan with main drive motor (see FIGURE 6). The container detector (not shown) in the turret assembly prevents the advance of the web when no article is presented for labelling. The use of a capstan drive for carrier web advance provides a precise control over web tension in acting on the label carrier web over its entire width.
Photoelectric detector l30 scans carrier web 105 in the area bearing labels, and is sufficien-tly sensitive to register the presence or absence of a -transfer label. Detector 130 is mounted in a linear slot 132 Eor the purpose of adjust~en-t in the event of a change in label size. ~etector 130 provides ~eans for regulating the advance of the label carrier web, label by label. This is a pre-ferred method for monitoring the amount of carrier web advance, but other detection means may be employed. No punching of the web, nor printing of registration marks, is required.
The use of a capstan drive to provide an intermittent pull on the carrier web requires some means of controlling web advance g ,~., `: ~

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in other segments of the web -transport, so that regions of un-manageable slack and regions of undesirably high web tension will be avoided during this s-tart and s-top process. This is aecomplished by daneer roll 124 and double gate 120. Double gate 120 comprises a pair of jaws (the locations of which are shown at 122 and 126) whieh are alternatively activated aceording to the posi-tion of an internal air cylinder (not shown). Daneer roll 124 is mounted in a long slot 125, and is pneumatically subjec-ted to a force in direction A. The position of the air cylinder within double gate 120 is electronieally regulated by signals from photoeleetric detector 130 and the eontainer detector (not shown).
When a signal from the eontainer deteetor indicates that a container is moving into labelling position, label clutch 170 activates capstan drive 160 and causes jaw 126 to open while jaw 122 closes. At this point, dancer roll 124 is in the extreme outer position in direction A, providing a stored surplus of carrier web approximately equal to -twice the length of slo-t 125.
The capstan label drive 160 pulls a quanti-ty of carrier web at a prescribed tension out of this stored surplus, causing dancer roll 124 to move in direction B. This occurs because the tensioning force of the label drive is grea-ter than the counter-vailing pneumatic pull in direction A on dancer roll 124. Pho-to-electric detector 130 has been calibrated to register the advance of one label's length. When label drive 160 has pulled carrier web 105 to this extent, detector 130 electronically causes label drive 160 to cease its pull, and simultaneously causes jaw 126 -to close while jaw 122 opens. During this interim between labelling periods, the dancer roll 124 moves in ~ .'? ~

direction ~ back to its extreme outer posi-tions, pulling a quantity of carrier web off unwind roll 110. The method o~
intermittently advancing the carrier web allows the transfer of labels which are consiclerably longer than those permitted by prior art decorators. In avoiding a reciproca-ting web motion in the labelling area~ this transport ensures an even preheating o~ the transfer labels.
FIGURE 5 is an elevation view of the deck area of the decorator. The label transport 100 is mounted on an adjustable top plate 200. Top plate 200 is connected to supporting shafts 205 and 210 at pivotal connections 207 and 212. Shafts 205 and 210 are mounted in housing 220 in such a manner that they may be raised or lowered by turning hand wheels 225 and 230.
This allows an adjustment of the height of the web 105 with respect to the turret 10 and additionally permits an angular alignment of the web with respect to an article B presenting a slanted face to be labelled. Illustratively, the deck may be angled as much as 15 above or below the horizontal orientation.
Capstan 160 is mounted -through plate 200 onto a shaft 240, which advantageously has a splined connec-tion wi-th a shaf-t 245 driven from DC motor 250, thus allowing a telescoping coupling for the label drive. DC motor 250 drives shaft 245 by way of a label clutch (not shown). This is shown more fully in the schematic view of FIGURE 6, an embodiment Eor round articles.
Main drive motor 250 has a dual connection to turret clutch 260 and label clutch 270. Label clutch 270 is connected to capstan label drive 160. Turret clutch 260 is linked by belt 265 to , variable speed connection 280, which in turn controls the . /o 2~

rotation of Decorating cup 13 and Index cup 12 by means of connecting belts 290 and 295. Variable speed connection 280 comprises a variable drive pulley 285, the ac-tion of which is controlled by a decorator control wheel 35 on the turret assembly (see FIGURE 1). This may be used to introduce a differential between the linear speed of article rotation and the speed of label advance, controlled by capstan 160. Such a differential has the effect of stretching or shrinking the heat transfer label as it is applied to the article surface, which may be used to produce desired decorating effects, as is well known to skilled praCtitiGnerS of the art.
It is evident that those skilled in the art, once given the benefit of the foregoing disclosure, may now make numerous other uses and modifications of, and departures from the specific embodiments described herein without departing from the inventive concepts. Consequently, the invention is to be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features present in, or possessed by, the apparatus and techniques herein disclosed and limi-ted solely by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Claims (10)

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

1. A decorator for articles of the type in which articles are conveyed by a rotating turret to a labelling site where they receive a label from a label carrier strip characterized in that the label carrier strip is pulled past the labelling site by a capstan web drive, and including means directly driven from said capstan web drive for rotating said turret.

2. A decorator as defined in Claim 1 further comprising at least one clutch to engage and disengage said rotating means and said capstan web drive.

3. A decorator, as defined in Claim 1 further characterized in that the turret comprises:
a turret base;
an index cup for rotating the article to a desired orientation;
a decoration cup for rotating the article past the labelling site;
a first pusher for urging the article from the index cup to the decoration cup; and a second pusher for urging the article from the decoration cup.

4. A decorator as defined in Claim 3 further comprising a mechanism for jointly rotating the index cup and decoration cup.

5. A decorator as defined in Claim 3 wherein the index cup and decoration cup are removable from the turret base and each include a rim for holding the article.

6. A decorator as defined in Claim 5 wherein the index cup further comprises an index pin for engaging an indentation in the bottom of the article and a stripper pin for removing the article from the rim.

7. A decorator as defined in Claim 5 or Claim 6 wherein the decoration cup further comprises a stripper pin for removing articles from the rim.

8. A decorator as defined in Claim 3 wherein the turret is firmly attached to a housing, further comprising a deck for transporting the label carrier strip, said deck being attached to the housing in a manner permitting variation in height and angular orientation.

9. A decorator as defined in Claim 3 further comprising article inflating means located over the decoration cup.

10. A decorator as defined in Claim 3 wherein the label carrier strip is pulled past the labelling site by a capstan web drive, further comprising means directly driven from said capstan web drive for rotating the index cup and decoration cup.