EP0569672A1 - Device for marking a conical surface of rotation symmetric bodies - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus has an inscribing head (10) with an inscribing tool (13). The inscribing head (10) is mounted on a stationary guide track (6, 7) with a circular path whose central axis (11) coincides with the axis line (12) of the body (1). The inscribing head (10) can be moved along the guide track (6, 7) in the direction (22) of the lines of the inscription by means of a first servo motor (21). The inscribing tool (13), arranged on the side of the inscribing head (10) which faces the central axis (11) can be moved within the inscribing head (10) by means of a second servo motor (35) at right angles to the direction (22) of rotation of the guide track (6, 7) and obliquely to the axial direction (11) in the vertical direction (36) of the lines of the inscription which is to be made, so that the continuously operated inscribing tool (13) can be driven, by computer-controlled operation of the two servo motors (21, 35), in the writing plane, resembling the surface of a cone, extended by the longitudinal direction (22) of the lines and the vertical direction (36) of the lines to perform a writing movement. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a device for molding a label on a conical or cone-like surface of rotationally symmetrical bodies, in particular bottles made of metal for gases or liquids, with a labeling head which carries a labeling tool which engages on the body to be labeled.

There are precise regulations for the labeling of metal bottles that are used to hold pressurized media. As a rule, labels must be attached to the tapered bottle end at two diametrically opposed locations that reflect the bottle-specific data. There are two types of information to be provided, namely information that remains the same for an entire series of bottles and information that changes from bottle to bottle, such as the bottle weight.

Since then it has been done so that the constant Forms information by means of a roll embossing process, in which a rolling movement takes place between a labeling head in the form of a type holder, which holds the character types combined into a labeling unit as the actual labeling tool, and the bottle in question, while the variable information must be stamped individually by hand.

The time and work involved in this procedure is relatively large and therefore entails corresponding costs.

The present invention is therefore based on the object to provide a device of the type mentioned, with which the molding of a label in a conical or cone-like surface of rotationally symmetrical bodies - it does not necessarily have to be gas or liquid bottles - is made easier reduce the costs of applying the label.

This object is achieved in that the device has a fixed, circular circumferential guideway, the center axis of which coincides with the axis line of the body to be inscribed and on which the inscription head is mounted, which is to be attached along the guideway in the longitudinal direction of the line by means of a first servomotor Inscription is movable and on the side facing the center axis the inscription tool is arranged, which means within the inscription head a second servomotor perpendicular to the direction of rotation of the guideway can be moved obliquely to the axial direction in the line height direction of the label to be attached, so that the like of a needle embosser or a laser cutter. formed, continuously working inscription tool can be driven to a writing movement by computer-controlled operation of the two servomotors in the conical surface-like writing plane spanned by the longitudinal and vertical lines.

When using the device according to the invention, the bottle to be labeled or, more generally, the rotationally symmetrical body to be labeled is held in a rotationally fixed manner with the aid of a holding device. The inscription head can then be moved along the fixed guideway around the body, so that the entire body circumference can be reached at the relevant axial position of the body. At the same time, the inscription tool can still be moved in the direction of the row height by means of the second servomotor, so that any marking can be molded in by individual or simultaneous excitation of the two servomotors. This "writing movement" can be computer-controlled, so that not only the constant information but also the variable information can be formed in an automated manner without manual work for each bottle.

Because of the closed circular shape of the guideway, the device according to the invention also opens up the possibility of not just an inscription head on the guideway For example, to arrange two labeling heads that work independently of each other and thus the bottle in question or the like. can label. This is particularly advantageous because, as already mentioned, such bottles have a label at diametrically opposite locations. In such a case, the time and labor saved with the device according to the invention becomes particularly clear.

While the respective marking has since been stamped in at once, the marking tool now carries out a continuous writing movement, so to speak. This has the further advantage that lower deformation forces act on the bottle, so that the bottles can be made from thinner wall material. This lowers the material costs considerably.

Fig. 1 und 2

das obere Ende einer Gasflasche in Seitenansicht bzw. Stirnansicht,

Fig. 3

eine erfindungsgemäße Vorrichtung in stark schematisierter Darstellung in Stirnansicht gemäß Pfeil III in Fig. 4 und

Fig. 4

die Vorrichtung gemäß Fig. 3 im halben Querschnitt neben einem Beschriftungskopf.

An embodiment of the invention and further expedient configurations are now explained with reference to the drawing.
Show it:

1 and 2

the top end of a gas bottle in side view or front view,

Fig. 3

an inventive device in a highly schematic representation in front view according to arrow III in Fig. 4 and

Fig. 4

3 in half cross-section next to an inscription head.

The bottle 1 indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 consists of metal, in particular steel, and serves to receive a gas under pressure. Similar bottles are common in the beverage sector, for example, where they also hold liquids filled under pressure. Such bottles are also widely used, which will not be discussed further.

At the end to which a removal device, regularly a valve, is connected, the bottle tapers to a neck, so that a conical or cone-like surface 2 is created, with which also a spherical taper or the like. to be recorded. At this point, i.e. on the oblique ring surface 2, the bottle is labeled with bottle-specific data as well as information about the bottle content and the bottle origin. There are two diametrically opposed labeling fields 3, 4.

This inscription is molded into the bottle material with the aid of the device shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Before going into this, it should be pointed out that the bottles do not necessarily have to be labeled. It could also be other rotationally symmetrical bodies.

The device shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 has a guide ring 5, which is held by a frame (not shown) and which carries a fixed, circular, circumferential guide track, which in the exemplary embodiment corresponds to two circular guide rails 6.7 is formed. The guide ring 5 is composed of an annular plate 8 and an essentially cylindrical ring portion 9 projecting in cross section in the manner of an L from the annular plate 8 parallel to the axial direction, the one guide rail 6 on the side of the annular plate facing the cylindrical annular portion 9 8 and the other guide rail 7 is fixed on the end face of the cylindrical ring section 9 directed away from the ring plate 8. However, this could also be different in detail. It is important that the guideway formed by the guide rails 6, 7 can fulfill its task of holding at least one labeling head 10 and guiding it in a circle.

The center axis 11 of the guideway 6.7 coincides with the axis line 12 of the body 1 to be inscribed, ie the bottle 1 is located in the center of the guideway 6.7, so that the inscription head 10 mounted on the guideway and thus that of the inscription head 10 held labeling tool 13 can move in a circle around the bottle 1. The body 1 to be labeled in each case is held in place by a holding device 14 in a rotationally fixed manner. In the exemplary embodiment, this holding device 14 contains a base 16 provided with a prismatic recess 15 for placing the body 1 thereon and a tensioning cylinder 17 arranged at a distance from the top of the base 16 with a tensioning piston 18 pressing the body 1 into the prismatic recess 15 when pressure is applied. The tensioning cylinder 17 is from one of the base 16 protruding bracket arrangement 19 or the like. held.

In the case shown, the base 16 stands upright from the floor 20, so that the body 1 and the center axis 11 of the guide ring 5 are aligned horizontally. However, the entire device could also be used in a different position by adapting the holding device 14, in particular with the body 1 standing vertically and thus with the center axis 11 oriented vertically.

The inscription head 10 can be moved along the guide path in the direction of the double arrow 22 by means of a first servomotor 21, which corresponds to the line direction of the inscription to be molded into the body 1. This servomotor 21 is arranged on the inscription head 10 so that the inscription head 10 is a structural unit which also contains its drive along the guideway 6, 7. The servomotor 21 drives a drive gear 24 by means of a belt drive 23, which is also arranged on the inscription head 10 and is in engagement with a toothed ring which is arranged in a rotationally fixed manner along the guideway 6, 7. In principle, a gear corresponding to the drive gear 24 could mesh directly with the circular ring gear of the guide ring 5. Expediently, however, the arrangement is such that the toothed ring is formed by a toothed belt 26 made of bendable material, which is rotatably attached to a fixed ring surface 25 and which, at the location of the inscription head 10, is away from the ring surface 25 and around the drive gearwheel which is arranged at a distance from the ring surface 25 24 is led around. So it turns out V - or U-like bulge 27 of the toothed belt 26 which is directed away from the annular surface 25 in the radial direction and which wraps around the drive gear 24. Schalteman the first servomotor 21, so that the drive gear 24 rotates, the inscription head 10 moves in one direction or the other of the double arrow 22, since the toothed belt 26 is rotatably arranged. The bulge 27 follows the circular movement, but the circular bulge is formed by continuously changing regions of the toothed belt 26.

In the expedient embodiment, the ring surface 25, on which the toothed belt 26 is stretched, is located on the outside of the cylindrical ring section 9 of the guide ring 5. Accordingly, the area of the labeling head 10 containing the drive gear 24 and the first servomotor 21 is located outside the cylindrical ring section 9 In the drive described, the toothing of the toothed belt 26 is located on the toothed belt side facing the annular surface 25.

In order to deflect the toothed belt 26 towards the drive gear 24, the inscription head 10 also has two deflection rollers 28, 29 which are arranged on the outside of the toothed belt at the two bending points towards the drive gear 24.

The holding and guiding of the labeling head 10 on the guideway formed by the two guide rails 6, 7 takes place with the help of arranged on the labeling head Roll. In this case, guide rollers 30, 31 and 32, 33 are provided on both sides of the guide rail 6 and on both sides of the guide rail 7, which, as can be seen in FIG. 4, have a circumferential guide groove into which a guide web of the relevant guide rail 6, 7 engages. The axial directions of the guide rollers are parallel to the central axis 11.

As mentioned, in the exemplary embodiment the drive device for the circular movement of the labeling head, which contains the servomotor 21 and the drive gear 24, is arranged radially outside of the guide ring 5. The inscription head then extends, starting from this drive device, past the guide ring 5 or its cylindrical ring section 9 radially inward, the inscription head 10 here carrying the guide rollers 3o, 31, 32, 33 and thus the connection to the guide track 6 , 7 manufacturing bracket 34 forms.

With the measures described so far, the inscription head 10 and thus the inscription tool 13 arranged on the side of the inscription head facing the center axis 10 can only be driven in the line direction (double arrow 22) of the inscription to be applied. Since this is not sufficient for forming a label, it is additionally provided that the label tool 13 within the label head 10 is perpendicular to the direction of rotation (double arrow 22) of the guide track 6, 7 obliquely to the axial direction 11 in the line height direction 36 by means of a second servomotor 35 is movable, so that the inscription tool 13 can be driven by the two servomotors 21 and 35 in the conical surface-like writing plane spanned by the longitudinal direction 22 and the vertical direction 36, which corresponds to the surface 2 of the bottle 1, for a writing movement. The labeling tool 13 can be moved in any direction by superimposing the two movements caused by the servomotors 21, 35. The operation of the two servomotors 21, 35 can be automated and can take place under computer control, so that any marking can be applied to the bottle 1 by appropriate programming of the control. Any point on the circumference of the bottle 1 or the like. can be reached so that you can carry out, so to speak, all-round labeling.

The inscription tool 13 is formed in the exemplary embodiment by a needle embosser 37, which carries out a vibrating movement at right angles to the writing plane, so that the molded inscription is formed by a dotted line course. Such needle embossers are known per se, so that there is no need to go into their further configuration here in particular. Instead of a needle embosser, one could also use a laser cutter or the like. Use continuous labeling tool.

The inscription tool 13 is connected to an adjustment slide 38 that executes the movement in the line height direction 36. This adjustment slide 38 is on a slide guide part 39 of the inscription head 10 is guided in the line height direction 36 and is moved back and forth by means of a drive spindle 40 which engages on it and which is mounted on the slide guide section 39 and in turn is driven by the second servomotor 35 which is also located on the slide guide section 39. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the second servomotor 35 is located on the side of the slide guide section 39 facing away from the viewer.

By means of the second servomotor 35, the inscription tool 13 is in the row height direction 36 corresponding direction of the respective cone surface line of the conical surface 2 or the like. movable. Accordingly, the angle between the center axis 11 and the direction of movement 36 of the adjustment slide 38 corresponds to half the apex angle of the cone forming the labeling surface 2.

The inscription tool 13 is also at right angles to the writing plane, ie within the plane spanned by the center axis 11 and the direction of movement 36 of the adjustment slide 38 at right angles to the direction of adjustment 36, in the direction according to arrow 41 to a feed movement in the direction of the body 1 to be inscribed or from drivable this way. The vibrating movement of the needle embosser also takes place in the direction of the double arrow 41, but it is independent of the feed movement just mentioned and is generated within the needle embosser.

A third servo motor 42 is provided for driving the inscription tool for the infeed movement in the direction according to arrow 41. In this connection, the inscription tool 13 is arranged on an infeed carriage 43 which executes the movement at right angles to the writing plane (double arrow 41) and which performs the movement in the line height direction 36 performing adjustment slide 38 is slidably mounted. The slide guide formed on the adjustment slide 38 for the feed slide 43 is located below the plane of the drawing, so that the feed slide 43 is shown in broken lines. The adjustment slide 43 is seated on an adjustment spindle, not shown, which is driven by the third servomotor 42 arranged on the adjustment slide 38 via a belt drive 44.

Thus, the respective inscription tool 13 can be brought up to or lifted from the relevant inscription surface of the body 1 by means of the third servomotor 42. You can also provide a sensor control for the third servomotor 42, which in particular can contain a proximity switch, so that, so to speak, an automatic tracking of the labeling tool in the direction of arrow 41 is given and the labeling tool is always correctly positioned with respect to the surface to be labeled. In this way, e.g. Unevenness in the area to be labeled 2 is irrelevant.

By the angle between the center axis 11 and the direction of movement 41 of the feed carriage 43 or the inclination of the writing plane characterized by the direction of movement 36 of the adjustment slide 38 can be changed, so that one can adapt to differently oriented workpiece surfaces that are to be labeled. To achieve this, the portion 39 of the inscription head 10 carrying the adjustment slide 38 can be adjustably connected to the portion 34 of the inscription head seated on the guideway 6, 7 in the plane spanned by the character height direction 36 and the center axis 11.

In the exemplary embodiment, the arrangement is made in this context so that the part 39 carrying the adjusting slide 38 can be fastened in two positions rotated by 180 ° relative to one another on the part 34 seated on the guideway 6, 7, so that the writing plane from the cone-shaped writing plane shown is adjustable in a cylinder jacket-like writing plane. You can also label cylindrical surfaces. The section 39 carrying the adjustment slide 38 is provided with an area 45 facing the bracket section 34, which area is detachably fastened to the bracket section 34. This attachment can be done with the help of dash-dotted screws. The normal direction 46 of this mounting plane 47, at which the two inscription head sections 34 and 39 are connected to one another, coincides with the bisector between the normal directions of the two adjustable writing planes, so that the section 39 together with the adjustment slide 38, the feed slide 43 and the inscription tool 13 from the one with solid lines shown position, in which a conical surface can be labeled, in the dash-dotted (only the actual labeling tool is indicated by dash-dotted) position can be implemented, in which a cylindrical surface can be labeled. The infeed movement characterized by the arrow 41 in the position shown then takes place at right angles to the central axis 11. This transfer of the unit formed by the batch 39 and the two slides 38 and 43 takes place, as already mentioned, by detaching this unit from the mounting batch 34 and a renewed attachment to this in a position rotated by 180 ° about the normal direction 46.

It goes without saying that the inclination of the writing plane could also be made continuously variable.

The circular, closed guideway 6, 7 enables not only one but several, expediently two, independently working inscription heads 10 to be stored on it. Such a second labeling head 10 is shown in FIG. 3. Since the various labeling heads can be driven and controlled independently of one another, the labeling to be applied can be divided over the two labeling heads, so to speak, which halves the production time. This is especially the case with the usual gas cylinders or the like. of advantage, in which, as shown in FIG. 2, there are two diametrically opposite marking areas 3, 4.

Claims (11)

Device for molding a label on a conical or cone-like surface of rotationally symmetrical bodies, in particular bottles made of metal for gases or liquids, with a labeling head which carries a labeling tool which engages on the bodies to be labeled, characterized in that it has a fixed, circular shape has a circumferential guideway (6, 7), the center axis (11) of which coincides with the axis line (12) of the body (1) to be inscribed and on which the inscription head (1o) is mounted, which by means of a first servomotor (21) of the guideway ( 6,7) can be moved along in the longitudinal direction (22) of the label to be applied and on the side facing the center axis (11) the labeling tool (13) is arranged, which is rectangular within the labeling head (10) by means of a second servomotor (35) to the direction of rotation (22) of the guideway (6,7) at an angle to Axial direction (11) in the line height direction (36) of the lettering to be moved, so that the like of a needle embosser or a laser cutter. formed, continuously working inscription tool (13) can be driven to a writing movement by computer-controlled operation of the two servomotors (21, 35) in the cone-like writing plane spanned by the longitudinal direction (22) and the vertical direction (36). Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the inscription tool (13) is connected to an adjustment slide (38) which performs the movement in the line height direction (36). Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inscription tool (13) can be driven by means of a third servomotor (42) at right angles to the writing plane for an infeed movement in the direction of the body (1) to be inscribed or away from it. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the inscription tool (13) is arranged on an infeed carriage (43) which executes the movement at right angles to the writing plane and which is displaceably mounted on the adjusting carriage (38) which executes the movement in the line height direction (36). Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the inclination of the writing plane with reference on the center axis (11) is changeable. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the portion (39) of the inscription head (10) carrying the adjustment slide (38) is adjustable in the plane spanned by the line height direction (36) and the center axis (11) or parallel thereto with the on the guideway (6,7) seated part (34) of the labeling head (10) is connected. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the section (39) carrying the adjusting slide (38) can be fastened in two positions offset by 180 ° to the section (34) seated on the guideway (6, 7), such that the The writing plane can be adjusted from a conical jacket-like writing plane to a cylindrical jacket-like writing plane, the normal direction (46) of the mounting plane (47), at which the two inscription head parts (39, 34) are connected, coinciding with the bisector between the normal directions of the two writing planes. Device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the inscription head (10) by means of a toothed ring arranged in a rotationally fixed manner along the guide track (6, 7) and a drive gearwheel (24) which is in engagement with the toothed ring and which drives the first one Servomotor (21) arranged on the labeling head (10) is drivable to its movement along the guideway (6, 7). Apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the toothed ring is formed by a toothed belt (26) made of bendable material which is non-rotatably placed on a fixed ring surface (25) and which at the location of the inscription head (10) away from the ring surface (25) and around the drive gear (24) is guided around. Device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a holding device (14) for non-rotatably holding the body (1) to be labeled is present. Device according to one of claims 1 to 1o, characterized in that at least two labeling heads (10) working independently of one another are mounted on the guide track (6, 7).

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