CA2016050A1 - Roll fed labelling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The roll fed label applying machine of this invention features two vacuum drums. The first, a cutter drum, receives the leading edge of a web of label material and a cutting knife extending from the surface of the drum severs the web into individual labels. Since the position of the trailing edge of the label is positively determined, i.e. disposed against or immediately adjacent the front of the cutting knife, the second drum, a label applicator drum, which rotates on the same speed, is easily timed with respect to the cutter drum, and the label is transferred to it, without slippage. The applicator drum carries the label past a glue applying station or a solvent applying station or both, and then moves to a transfer station where the leading edge of the label is pressed against a rotating container. A
pressure pad on the applicator drum may be extended to press the label against a rotating container, around which the label is wrapped.

Description

ROLL PED LABELING MACHINE

2 20~L~;0S~) 4 BACRGROUND O~ THE INVENTION

S In conventional roll fed labeling machines, a web of label material is pulled 6 ¦ from a roll by a feed roller and the leading edge of the web is delivered to a label 7 ¦ supply station on a vacuum drum. The surface speed of the vacuum drum is 8 ¦ somewhat greater than that of the feed roller, so that the web of label material is 9 ¦ held under tension until a label segment is cut by a severing knife positioned in 10 ¦ advance of the vacuum drum to form the trailing edge of the individual label. While 11 ¦ on the drum, an adhesive is applied to the lsbel and the label is then conveyed ¦ around to a label applying station, where it is attached to a container. Thus, the 13 ¦ conventional drum pulls the label material strip from the feed roll; it carries the ¦ severed label past a glue station to apply glue; and it applies the label to the 15 container.
16 Since the leading edge of the label is held on the vacuum drum solely by air pressure opposed only by the vacuum, there is some slippage of the label on the 18 surface of the drum while it is under tension, and this makes it more difficult to 19~ position the label preciæly on the drum and to apply adhesive to just finite areas 20 ~ of ~ the label, without applying adhesive to the surface of the drum.
21 In a more recent labeling machine, shown in Hoffmann and Otruba U.S. Patent I No. 4,63a,721 granted December 30, 1986 for "Apparatus For Applying Labels To 24 Containers", the labels are severed by knives mounted directly on the vacuum pad in cooperation with an adjacent stationary knife. The leading and trailing edges of 26 each label are gripped by radially movable vacuum pads which are retracted as they pass the stationary knife and then extended to press the label, first to a glue 28 ¦ applicator, and then to a container. With extensible vacuum pads at just the leading 29 ¦ and trailing edges, such machine is not conditioned to apply glue over the entire surface of the label.

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2 OBJECTS OIF THI~ INVI~llllON Z01605~

3 It is an object of this invention to provide a roll ied l~beling appsrstus 4 wherein individual lsbels cHn be cut ~nd positioned with greater precision on sn 5 npplicator drum where adhesive csn be spplied to selected sreas of the Isbel without 6 contaminating the surfsce of the drum itself.

7 It is a further object of this invention to provide a roll fed labeling spparatus 8 with means for applying ~dhesive to the label in a variety of patterns.

9 It is a further object of this invention to provide a labeling machine wherein 10 the operator may apply the same or different glues to the leading and trsiling edge, 11 or in the case of a plastic label, he may apply a glue to the lesding edge snd a 12 solvent of the plastic material to the trailing edge.

13 It is a further object of this invention to provide a container labeling machine which can be sdjusted to spply the same or different glues to the trsiling and 15 eading edges of the label or a single glue may be spplied to the entire label.
16 Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from 17 the description to follow, particulsrly when resd in conjunction with the accompsnying 18 rawing.

SUMMARY O~ THE INVENTION

22 In carrying out this invention, I provide a roll fed labeling mschine having 23 in tandem, two vacuum drums of the same diameter rotating at the same velocity.
24 strip or web of label material is fed from a roll thereof, with the leading edge 26 elivered to the first drum, which functions as the cutter drum. The surface of the cutter drum travels at a slightly greater velocity than the feed roll, so that 27 there is some reverse slippage of the label on the cutter drum to pull the leading 2 edge back and space it from the trailing edge of the preceeding label. The trsiling dge is formed by a severing knife, that is carried directly on the cutter drum to Z(~160sS) 1 ¦ cooperate with a stationary knife in severing each individual label. Since the trailing 2 ¦ edge severing knife is on the cutter drum itself, the trailing edge of each label has 3 ¦ the same, precise location on the cutter drum, i.e. along the leading face of the 4 severing knife. The label applicator drum can thus be adjusted so that the trsiling S ¦ edge gripping means will match precisely with the location of the label trailing 6 ¦ edge. The leading edge gripping means will be positioned ahead of the trailing edge 7 ¦ gripping means by a distance to accommodate the known length of the label. The 8 complebly severed individual label is then transferred to the second, or label 9 applicator drum, with no relative rotational movement between the two drums. A
10 single glue may be applied to the entire label, or in the alternative, the appUcator 11 ¦ drum may be adjusted so that the same or different glues are applied to the leading 12 and trailing edges of the label. Moreover, in the case of a plastic lsbel, a glue may 13 be applied to the leading edge and a solvent of the plastic material applied to the 14 trailing edge. In any event, after the appropriate bonding material is applied to 15 the label, it is moved by the applicator drum to a label transfer station wherein 16 the label is applied to a container.

18 BRIEP DESCRIPTION OF THE DRA~ING
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In the drawing:
21 FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a roll fed labeling machine embodying features of this invention; and FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of the container labeling machine as 24 conditioned for full surface gluing.
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.,`j`~, 1 DESCRIPTION O~ PREP'ERRED EMBODIMENTS 2~6050 3The Embodiment of ~IG. 1 4Referring now to FIG. 1 with greater particularity, the roll fed container 5 labeling machine 10 of this invention includes as its principal components, Q cutter 6 vacuum drum 12, a label appli.cator vacuum drum 14 and, rotating in time with the 7 cutter and applicator drums i~a container turret 16, on which containers C are 8 carried in the direction indicated by the arrow T while they are caused to rotate 9 about their own axes. As will hereinafter be described, the containers C rotate in 10 a counterclockwise direction, while labels L are being applied by the applicator 11 drum 14.
12In operation, a long web 18 containing a plurality of labels printed thereon 13 end to end, is wound on a roll 20. In the label applying machine 10, the roll 20 14 is placed on a spindle 22 so that the web 18 may be pulled by a feed roller 24 15 over suitable guide rollers 26 and 28 and delivered to the vacuum cutter drum 12.
The leading edge 30 Or the web 18 is gripped on the surface of the cutter drum 17 ~12 solely by vacuum so that there is some reverse slippage on the drum 12 as the 18 web 18 is being held under tension, with the surface Or the drum 12 moving at a 19 speed~ somewhat greater than that of the feed roll 24. The tension facilitates 20 ~outting the web 18, and the resultant slippage spaces the leading edge 30 of the web 21 18 from the traiUng edgo 32 of the previous label L.
22The moving cutting knife 34 is carried directly on the drum 12 to cooperate with a statlonary cutting knife 36 so that, as the drum 12 rotates in a couhterclockwise direction to carry a cutting knife 34 past as stationary knife 36, 25 the web 18 will be severed where it overlies the cutting edge of the rotating knife 234. Hence, the precise location of the trailing edge 32 on the drum 12 is 2 predetermined with certainty. It is always located along the leading face of the 2 rotating knife 34. The leading edge of the label will, of course, be disposed ahead of the trailing edge by a dlstance equal to the length of the label L. Since the label ;~

2~16050 1 L is disposed on the cutter drum 12 with its printed side out, printed registration 2 marks on the lsbel L are easily checked by detectors 35. Now, the completely 3 severed label L is ready for transfer to the applicator drum 14.
4 The label applicator drum 14 is of precisely the ssme dinmeter of that of S the cutter drum 12 and rotates at the same speed so that there is no slippage in 6 transferring a lsbel L from the cutter drum 12 to the applicator drum 14.
7 The applicator drum 14 may include radially movable vacuum pads 38 and 40 8 of the type shown in the aforesaid Hoffmann and Otruba U.S. Patent No. 4,632,721, 9 wherein the vacuum pads 38 and 40 function in pairs to grip the leading and trailing 10 edges of a label. After the label L is so gripped, the pads move outward to press 11 the label, first against one or more glue rollers and then against the container.
12 In operation, the label L is severed by the cutting knife 34 and this fixes 13 positively the position of the label on the cutter drum 12, i.e. sgainst the leading 14 face of the cutting knife 34. Then, the cutter drum continues to rotate 15 counterclockwise in FIG. 1 to a transfer position in proximity to the applicator 16 drum 14, at which transfer station, the cutter drum 12 releases the label L and 17 allows it to be picked up by the leading edge pad 38 on the applicator drum 14.
18 Since the spplicator drum 14 is rotating at the same speed ss the cutter drum la, there is no slippsge of the label on either drum at this 3uncture, snd the applicator 20 drum 14 csn easily be timed with respect to the cutter drum 12, so that the trailing 21 edge pad 40 is a]igned precisely with that portion of label just ahead of the cutting knife 34. In practice when the cutter and applicator drums are in near contact 23 the cutter knife will pass a short distsnce (about 1/16 inch) behind the trailing edge Where the ssme adhesive is to be spplied to both the trailing and leading 26 edges of the label L, a single glue roller 42 may be employed. Then, the leading 27 edge psd 38 ~nay be extended to press the leading edge 30 of the label L against 228 the glue roller 42 and, thereafter, the trailing edge pad 40 is extended to press the trailing edge 32 in like msnner.

I

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1 Where a plastic label L is to be applied to the container C, a solvent-applying 2 roller 44 is employed for applying a strip of the solvent of the plHstic materiul to 3 the trailing edge to form a tacky solution so that, when the trhiling edge 32 is 4 lapped over the leading edge 30, they will be firmly bonded together. In the case of 5 a plastic label, the leading edge pad 38 is extended to press the leading edge 30 of 6 the label L against the glue roller 42 and then retracted to avoid contact with the 7 solvent roller 44. The trailing edge pad 40 remains retracted until it passes the 8 glue roller 42 and then is extended to press the trailing edge against the solvent 9 roller 44.
10 I In any event, after the appropriate bonding material is applied to both the 11 leading and trailing edges, the label is carried around to a label transfer station in 12 ¦ close proximity to the container C on the turret 16. There, the leading edge is 13 I pressed against the container C and the container is caused to rotate about its own 14 i axis to wrap the label L around the container C. A suitable roll-on pad or brush 46 15 is positioned ad3acent to the turret 16 to press labels rolling along the pad 46.

17 I The Embodiment Of FIG. 2 18 I In FIG. 2, the label applicator drum 14a is fitted with a full area pressure ¦ pad 48 so that glue may be applied to the entire surface of the label L by the 20 glue roller 42a. After the glue is applied to the label L, the label is carried by 21 the applicator drum 14a to a transfer st~tion adjacent the turret 16 where a pressure i pad 50, which is carried on the end of a cam follower-plunger 51, is driven radially 23 outward by a coaxial, stationary cam 52 to press the leading edge 30 of the label L sgainst the container C. The pressure pad 50 is spring mounted at 53 to yield in 25 the event of any irregularities }n the diameters, or in the surfaces, of the container 6 C. Once the leading edge of the label L is attached to the container, the rotation 28 of the container wraps the label L around it.
29 While this invent}on has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments thereof, it is obvious that modifications and changes therein may be ` 2~.605~3 1 made by those skilled in the art to which it pertains without dep~rting from the 2 Is it and seope of thb invention, as deOned by the claims eppended hereto.

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Claims (7)

1. A roll fed container labeling machine comprising:
a cutter vacuum drum and a closely adjacent applicator drum of the same diameter mounted for rotation at the same speed;
each of said vacuum drums having vacuum means for holding container label material thereon as it rotates;
means for feeding a web of label material onto the periphery of said cutter vacuum drum with its leading portion held by said vacuum means;
a main label cutting knife on said cutting vacuum drum for cutting successive labels from said web to form the trailing edge of a label while the leading edge is so held;
means adjacent said applicator vacuum drum for applying bonding material to labels carried thereon;
container conveyor means for moving containers; and means for transferring a label from said applicator vacuum drum to a container on said conveyor means,

2. The container labeling machine defined by claim 1 including:
a pad plunger mounted on said applicator vacuum drum for radial movement thereon to press the leading edge of a label against a container.

3. The container labeling machine defined by claim 2 including:
yieldable means behind said pad plunger enabling said pad to retract under radial force of an oversized container.

4. The container labeling machine defined by claim 2 including:
a cam follower carrying said pad plunger; and a cam engaged by said cam follower shaped to extend said plunger radially outward to press the leading edge of a label into engagement with a container.

5. The container labeling machine defined by claim 1 including:
a complementary label severing blade mounted adjacent said first vacuum drum;
said main knife protruding radially from said cutter vacuum drum so that it severs a label as it moves past said complementary cutting blade.

6. The container labeling machine defined by claim 1 wherein:
said applicator vacuum drum is free of any cutting member extending from the periphery thereof;
said means for applying bonding material presses against 8 label carried on said applicator vacuum drum as said applicator vacuum drum moves past said means.

7. The roll fed container labeling mechanism defined by claim 1 wherein:
the label material carried on said cutter vacuum drum has its printed side out to facilitate operation of sensing devices.