EP1113963A1

EP1113963A1 - Process and apparatus to apply adhesive band on moving objects

Info

Publication number: EP1113963A1
Application number: EP99929691A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mario Giannitelli
Original assignee: Comag Srl
Current assignee: Comag Srl
Priority date: 1998-06-24
Filing date: 1999-06-24
Publication date: 2001-07-11
Anticipated expiration: 2019-06-24
Also published as: EP1113963B1; DE69929213T2; ITRM980423A1; IT1299194B1; DE69929213D1; ES2255756T3; DE1113963T1; ATE314261T1; WO1999067138A1; AU4646599A; ITRM980423A0

Abstract

The invention relates to a process to apply adhesive band on moving objects, comprising the steps of: pitch feeding the object on which the band must be applied, in such a way that all the objects make the same trajectory and that for each point of said trajectory the position of each object is defined and invariable; feeding a band to be applied to an application head; moving said application head according to a cyclic trajectory, along a generic plane parallel with respect to the object trajectory and intersecting the same, able to drive among the front and rear profiles of each pair of consecutive objects, while they move according to a continuous and uniform flow the movement of said application head being such to allow the adhesive band to drivingly slide with its not adhesive surface along the outer profile of the same head, to be able to have a contact point only with the front or rear profile of the object on which the adhesive band is being applied, to be able to have a contact point with the front profile of the object and, at the same time, a contact point with the rear profile of the preceding object on which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the front profile of the following object, to be able to perfectly follow the two profiles, current, preceding or subsequent, to be able to cut the adhesive band in an intermediate point between the two contact points, to be controllable with respect to the number and kind of contact points, and to be controllable with respect to the cutting moment. The invention further relates to an apparatus to apply adhesive band on moving objects.

Description

PROCESS AND APPARATUS TO APPLYADHESIVE BAND ON MOVING OBJECTS

The present invention relates to a process and the relative apparatus to apply an adhesive band on moving objects.

More, the invention concerns a process of the above kind allowing to apply an adhesive band on packages, for example bottle packages.

At present, the most diffuse system to apply adhesive band lengths on moving objects is comprised of a series of mechanical arms able to rotate on a pivot under the action of pneumatic cylinders or, in the simplest cases, of mechanical springs.

The object, which is generally moved by a conveyor bands and/or belts, strikes on the banding pad, that applies the adhesive band on the front profile of the same object.

Immediately after the impact, said arm, by a pivot rotation, withdraws allowing to the object to prosecute its trajectory pulling the adhesive band that, in a passive mode, adheres on its profile.

When the object has the necessary amount of band, a cutting blade is operated, generally by a pneumatic cylinder.

Immediately after the cut, a second arm (rear banding arm) intervenes, said second arm bearing on its end a rubberised roller; said arm, rotating on its pivot, allows to the rubberised roller to follow the rear profile of the object, on which the last part of the adhesive band length cut is adhered on the object.

Eventually, a third arm (front banding arm) performs the same action of the front profile, in order to upset the adhesion of the band on the object.

A typical use of this system is that of applying a hand, obtained preliminarily coupling to the adhesive band a paperboard strip, and then applying the so prepared band on the objects, e.g. on mineral water packages.

In this case, the creation of a grasp loop on the handle could be required, that can be obtained by the action of a pulley rotating according to the same direction of the pulling of the adhesive band and a speed tangential component higher than the band speed; immediately after the cut, said pulley comes into contact with the non adhesive surface of the band and by friction makes it sliding with respect to the upper profile of the package, "recovering" an amount sufficient to create the grasping loop of the handle.

Technology described, even giving good results, either under the reliability and application quality point of view, has remarkable drawbacks.

First of all, the keeping system on the banding pad for the free band end does not ensure a good repetitiveness of the coupling point.

Furthermore, after the cut, last part of the band length to be applied is free to fluctuate in air, so that its position is not determined. Another problem is due to the fact that having a series of mechanical arms and relevant pneumatic operations waiting for the object upon which the band must be applied determines that the application is executed as a series of reactions to the object action, rather than a series of actions on the object. Furthermore, this reactive mode of the application with respect to the object makes the same application very sensible to the speed of the object.

Another aspect to be taken into consideration is the presence of different mechanical arms that, when the object passes, rotates about their pivot thus making a step of the application sequence, but at the same time constitute an obstacle for the passage of the following object, so that among the two objects a minimum distance (pitch) must exist.

To this end, it is particularly important the intervention of the rear banding arm. This fact involves a limitation of the reachable speed

(application for each minute) by this system, since either the objects and the band, due to the pitch length, are obliged to run at high linear speed.

In case it is necessary, the uniformity of the creation of grasping loop of the handle is not ensured. In fact, it is not possible to ensure that the rotating pulley, acting by friction, always recovers the same amount of band for each application.

In view of the above, the Applicant has realised a process allowing to solve the above mentioned problems.

Particularly, object of the present invention is that of providing a system wherein the position of the band with respect to the object is always determined on the basis of the absence of free band ends. Another object of the invention is that of providing a process comprising a sequence of actions made in a coordinate manner on the object and on the adhesive band, so that the quality of application is just a little sensible to the speed. Still object of the invention is that of realising a system wherein the pitch is remarkably reduced, allowing to reach higher speeds.

Further object of the present invention is that of obtaining that when the creation of a grasping loop on a handle is required, the same loop is the same on all the objects. These and other results are obtained according to the invention by a new process, and the relevant apparatus, to apply lengths of adhesive bands on continuously flowing objects, wherein the objects are conveyed along a rectilinear trajectory, distanced each other (pitch), and the application of the band is carried out by a head that, following a cyclic trajectory in a generic plane parallel with respect to the conveying direction of the objects, consecutively introduce into the space separating the same objects.

With respect to the known solutions, the new process according to the invention has the advantage that the band, fed as a continuous strip, always has a point constrained on the object, so that its position with respect to said object is always determined and sure all along the application cycle. In this way, it is possible obtain a better repetitiveness of the coupling initial point of the band on the object with respect to the preceding one, wherein the band is kept in waiting position until the arrival of the package, but is in any case subject to the action of the air flows and to electrostatically charge, thus behaving in a less foreseeable manner and checkable. Furthermore, in the new application process, the cut intervenes when the band length to be applied has already been completely adhered on the object, so that last part of the band length to be applied is not free to fluctuate in the air before being attached on the rear profile of the object, as instead occurs in the known processes, and this allow to have a better application of the band on the package profile either for adhesion and repetitiveness of the application and tension of the band.

Furthermore, the solution according to the present invention allows to realise an ordinate sequence of actions carried out in a synchronous manner on the band and on the object at the same time, so that all the operations requiring response time can be reduced at the minimum value, with the consequent advantage to obtain a low sensitivity of the application with respect to the speed variations of the same object.

Another advantage of the process according to the invention is that, since the application head does not require critical dimensions for functional purposes, the pitch between the objects can be reduced at the minimum value, thus allowing to obtain, with the same linear speed of the objects, a higher rate of applications per minute with respect to the preceding systems.

Another aspect allowing to increase the number of applications per minute with respect to the preceding systems is that the new process provides a partial temporary overlapping between one cycle and the following one, while in the known systems the application cycles are not overlapped and are comprised of a certain number of operations carried out in a strictly sequential manner. Finally, in case of application of a handle, a grasping loop is required, it is obtained virtually modifying the profile of the object by means of a support interposing between the application head and the same object, so that the "recovered" band amount is constant for each application. It is therefore specific object of the present invention a process to apply adhesive band on moving objects, comprising the steps of:

- pitch feeding the object on which the band must be applied, in such a way that all the objects make the same trajectory and that for each point of said trajectory the position of each object is defined and invariable;

- feeding a band to be applied to a application head;

- moving said application head according to a cyclic trajectory, along a generic plane parallel with respect to the object trajectory and intersecting the same, able to drive among the front and rear profiles of each pair of consecutive objects, while they move according to a continuous and uniform flow; the movement of said application head being such to allow to the adhesive band to drivingly slide with its not adhesive surface along the outer profile of the same head, to be able to have a contact point only with the front or rear profile of the object on which the adhesive band is being applied, to be able to have a contact point with the front profile of the object and, at the same time, a contact point with the rear profile of the preceding object on which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the front profile of the following object, to be able to perfectly follow the two profiles, current, preceding or subsequent, to be able to cut the adhesive band in an intermediate point between the two contact points, to be controllable with respect to the number and kind of contact points, and to be controllable with respect to the cutting moment.

In a preferred embodiment of the process according to the invention, during the application of the band, in case of realisation of handles for packages, a "recover" to create the handle is provided.

According to the invention, said application head movement is synchronised with the motion of the objects, in such a way to allow the same to enter into the space separating each object from the following object. According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the process according to the invention, the cyclic trajectory on which said head moves is essentially comprised of three consecutive arches, namely a first arch along which the head goes out of the space separating the current object from the downward object, anticipating the current object and copying its front profile, a second arch along which the head moves countercurrent with respect to the objects flow, displacing from the front profile to the rear profile of the object on which the band is being applied, and a third arch along which the head enters into the space separating the object on which the band is being applied from the upward object, following the object and copying its rear profile.

By the process according to the invention, it is possible to realise an application cycle comprising an ordered sequence of operations, that can be summarised as follow:

(a) before the beginning of the current application cycle, while the preceding application cycle is not yet finished, the head continue to enter into the space separating the current object from the downward object, following the latter and copying its rear profile with which it has the sole contact point; the band, that in the contact point with the downward object is included between the outer profile of the head and the rear profile of the same object, is adhered on the latter; (b) at the beginning of the current application cycle, while the preceding cycle is not yet finished and the head has not yet finished its entering run into the space separating the two following objects, said head, beside maintaining the contact

5 point with the downward object, acquires and at the same time cuts the band in a point intermediate between the two contact points; the band that in the new contact point is included between the outer profile of the head and the front profile of the same object, is adhered on the same object;

10 (c) after the cut, the head ends its run into the space separating the current object from the downward, completing the adhesion of the two band edges from the cut point to the two contact points on the relevant profiles; at the same time, the phase of following the object downward by the

15 application head is terminated; in this phase an overlapping of the current and preceding application cycles occurs; (d) after the completion of the run of the head entering into the space separating the current object from the downward object, the head begins the anticipation phase on the

20 current object and its outlet run from the space separating the two following objects; the head maintains the contact point with the current object and eventually can also maintain the contact point with the downward object (said operation is not essential); the band that in the contact point

25 with the current object is included between the outer profile of the head and the front profile of the object is adhered on the latter; if the head also maintains the contact point with the downward object, band length already cut is upset on the rear profile of the same object and in this case an

30 overlapping occurs of the current and preceding cycles (said operation is not essential); otherwise, the preceding application cycle ends together with the inlet run of the head into the space separating the current object and the downward object;

35 (e) if the head has maintained its contact point with the downward object, before ending its outlet run from the space separating the latter from the current object, the application head losses said contact point and ends the preceding application cycle (said operation is not essential);

(f) at the end of its outlet run from the space separating the latter from the current object, the application head losses

5 also the contact point with the first object; however, the band remains constrained to the front profile of the current object in correspondence of the last contact point;

(g) just out of the space separating the latter from the current object, the application head begins its recover run,

10 countercurrent with respect to the packages flowing; the band, constrained to the front profile of the current object, drivingly flows with its non adhesive surface on the outer profile of the moving head; (h) during the countercurrent recovering run, in case of

15 application of a handle, it can be necessary that a bar is interposed between the head and the current object, in order to create a grasping loop (said operation could be necessary in case of application of a handle); (i) as soon as the rear profile of the current object is reached,

20 the head ends its counter current recover run and begins its inlet into the space separating the object from the upward object, again following the same current object, the band, constrained to the front profile of said object, is pulled from the movement head and slides, in a guided manner, with its

25 non adhesive surface on the outer profile of the same head;

(I) just inside the space separating the current object from the upward object, the head acquires again the contact point with the current object; the band, that in the contact point is included between the outer profile of the head and the rear

30 profile of the current object, is adhered on the latter;

(m)just before the end of its inlet run into the space separating the current object from the upward object, beside maintaining the contact point with the former, the application head again acquires the contact point with the latter object

35 and at the same time cuts the band in a point intermediate between the two contact points; the band, that in the new contact point with the upward object is included in the space between the outer profile of the head and the front profile of the same object, is adhered on the latter and thus, while the current application cycle is not yet finished, the following application cycle begins; (n) after the cut, the head ends its inlet run into the space separating the current object from the upward object, terminating the adhesion of the two band edges from the cutting point to the two contact points on the relevant profiles; at the same time, the current object following phase by the application head is exhausting; in this phase an overlapping of the current and following application cycles occurs;

(o) if after the head has terminated its inlet run into the space separating the from the current object from the upward object, it continues to maintain the contact point with the former also during its outlet run from the space separating the two objects, and still an overlapping of the current application and following cycles occurs (this operation is not essential), otherwise the current application cycle ends together with the inlet run of the head within the space separating the two following objects; in case it has maintained the contact point with the current object, before ending its outlet run from the space separating the two following objects, the application head again losses its contact point with said object and thus ends the current application cycle (this operation is not essential).

The invention also concerns an apparatus to apply adhesive band on moving object comprising pitch movement means of the objects upon which the band must be applied, so that all the objects will run the same trajectory and the position of each object is defined and invariable for each point of said trajectory; band feeding means and transmission means of the same band on an application head; at least an application head allowing to the adhesive band to slide in a guided way, with its non adhesive surface on the outer profile of the same head, allowing to have a contact point only with the front profile of with the rear profile of the object upon which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the rear profile of the preceding object, allowing to have a contact point only with the rear profile of the object upon which the band is being applied, allowing to have a contact point with the front profile of the object upon which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the front profile of the preceding object, allowing to perfectly follow the two profiles, i.e. current and preceding, or subsequent, thank to a compensation system for irregularities of the same and discordances between head and object profile, allowing to cut the adhesive band in a point intermediate between the two contact points, that can be controlled with respect to the number and kind of contact points (only with the downward object, only with the upward object or with both the objects) and with reference to the cut; and motion means for said application head according to a cyclic trajectory able to guide the same between the front and rear profile of each pair of consecutive objects, while them move according to a continuous and uniform flow. The apparatus according to the invention can comprise means to recover non adhesive portions of the band destined to provide a support to transport the banded objects, as when applying a handle.

Particularly, according to the invention, said handle recovering means can be comprised of a chain round on the support plate, sleeves being mounted on said chain, within which movable bars slide, said bar being urged within a seat by a spring; said movable bars being controlled to exit by a fixed cam integral with the support plate in correspondence of the handle realisation point.

Preferably, according to the invention, said pitch motion means of the object upon which the band must be applied can be comprised of two archimedean screws.

In an embodiment of the invention, said application head is mounted on a support plate parallel to a plane containing the flow trajectory of the object. Preferably, said plane can be characterised by a X - Y axes system parallel to the flow direction of the objects.

Furthermore, according to the invention, said application head can be supported by a arm mounted on a substantially perpendicular linear guide system allowing to freely move on a rectangular region of the plane X - Y.

Always according to the invention, said substantially perpendicular linear guide system can comprise a fixed guide, integral with the support plate, with the same direction and distance fixed by X axis; a movable linear guide, integral to the arm supporting the application head, with the same direction and variable distance from Y axis; two trolleys slidable along said guides, coupled each other offset of 90° and mounted on the two faces of a movable plate; a movable plate provided with a threaded hole to anchor the articulated head of a tie rod to transmit the motion to the application head along the X axis direction, and a opening/closure cam, integral with the movable plate and provided on its end with a idle roll. Still according to the invention, said supporting arm is integral with the movable linear guide and is provided with a threaded hole for anchoring of the articulated head of a tie rod to transmit the motion to the application head along the direction of Y axis; of two threaded holes for fixing a pneumatic cylinder to one of the two ends; of a longitudinal groove and a sphere case to slide a rod driven by the pneumatic cylinder; of two hinges to anchor two banding pads of the application head to the opposed end with respect to the pneumatic cylinder; and of a roll system for the passage of the band.

In the preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, said application head can be comprised of two banding pads, respectively front and rear pad, of an opening/closure system for the rear pad, and of an opening/closure and system of the front pad and cutting system of the band.

Preferably, said two banding pads are hinged on the end of the supporting arm and end with a rubberised idle roll adhering the band on the object to be banded copying its profile.

Furthermore, according to the invention, said opening/closure system can be comprised of a cam with idle roll on its end and of elastic means exerting a bumpering action on the rear pad with respect to the supporting arm.

Still according to the invention, said opening/closure system of the front pad and cut system of the band can comprise a returning action oblique cam grooved into the body of the pad; a blade bearing block mounted on the slidable rod in the supporting arm; a idle roll integral with the blade bearing block and slidable along the returning action cam; and a spring exerting a bumpering action on the front pad with respect to the supporting arm. According to a preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, said motion means of the head determine its motion along a cyclic application trajectory.

The apparatus according to the invention can further provide a synchronisation system of the different steps with respect to the object flow, as well as a measurement system for the length of the band and to control the cutting.

The present invention will be now described, for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, with particular reference to the figures of the enclosed drawings, wherein:

Figures 1a, 1b and 1c are, respectively, lateral, front and top views of a bottle package upon which a handle has been applied; figure 2 shows an adhesive band length coupled according to a pitch with paper strips, to be used with the apparatus according to the invention; figure 3 is a schematic view of an apparatus according to the invention; figure 4 shows an embodiment of a head of the apparatus according to the invention; figure 5 shows a first particular of the head of figure 4; figure 6 shows a second particular of the head of figure 4; figure 7 shows a third particular of the head of figure 4; figure 8 shows a particular of the apparatus according to the invention; figure 9 shows the trajectory arch of the head of the apparatus according to the invention; and figure 10 shows the different steps of the process according to the invention.

Coming now to observe the figures of the enclosed drawings, in the process and in the apparatus according to the invention it is possible to use any neutral or decorated, film 1 , which can be adhesive all along its lengths or only partially, eventually coupled with paper, plastic or like strips

2.

Particularly, in figure 2 it is shown an adhesive band portion 1 coupled according to a pitch (p) with paper strips 2, solution typically adopted when it must be the support for transportation (handle). In the following description a process to apply this kind of handles will be described, even if it must not be used as a limitation of the scope of the invention.

In fact, the process according to the invention can be used for any kind of object or assembly of objects upon which it is wished to apply adhesive band for packaging, transportation support, sealing, labelling, decoration purposes, without any limitation due to the shape and the dimension of the same objects.

In figures from 1 a to 1c it is shown a bottle 4 package 3 upon which a handle 5 has been applied, said handle 5 being obtained coupling a paperboard 2 with an adhesive band 1 , as shown in figure 2.

In the apparatus shown in figures, packages 3 are brought to the inlet of the machine by an outer conveyor (not shown) and managed with a minimum accumulation.

In case the will is that of applying band for packaging purposes, a system at the inlet provides to nest all together the objects.

An inner transportation system, that could be comprised of two archimedean screws, provides to distance the objects and to transfer them from the inlet to the outlet along a rectilinear trajectory, passing through the application zone. As shown in figure 3, the system to apply the band 1 is mounted on a support plate 6 parallel with respect to a plane containing the trajectory of the package 3 flow.

Preferably, but not exclusively, said plane can be characterised by a Cartesian axes X - Y system, the X axis being parallel to the flow trajectory of packages 3.

Solution represented in figure 3 provides the application of a handle 5 obtained coupling adhesive band 1 with a paper strip 2, on a package 3 of mineral water bottles 4.

As shown in figure 4, the main element of the apparatus according to the invention is comprised of a application head 7 supported by a arm 6 mounted on a perpendicular linear guide 9, 10 system allowing to freely move within a rectangular region of the X - Y plane.

As better shown in figure 5, substantially perpendicular linear guide 9, 10 system is comprised of a fixed linear guide 9, integral with the supporting plate 6, with the same direction and distance fixed by X axis; a movable linear guide 10, integral to the arm 8 supporting the application head 7, with the same direction and variable distance from Y axis; two trolleys 11 , 12 slidable along said guides 9, 10, coupled each other offset of 90° and mounted on the two faces of a movable plate 13 provided with a threaded hole 14 to anchor the articulated head (not shown) of a tie rod to transmit the motion to the application head 7 along the X axis direction. Said substantially perpendicular linear guide 9, 10 system further comprises a cam 15 integral with the movable plate 13 and provided with a idle roll 16 on its end, used to open/closing the rear pad 17 of the head 7.

Movable plate 13 can freely run along axis X, thanks to the trolley 11 slidable along the fixed guide 9, while the movable guide 10 cab freely run along the axis Y with respect to the movable plate 13, thanks to the trolley 12, offset of 90°, along which it slides; than a point integral with the movable guide 10 can freely move along a whole rectangular region of plane X - Y. As shown in figure 6, supporting arm 8 is integral with the movable linear guide 10 and is provided with a threaded hole 18 for anchoring the articulated head (not shown) of a tie rod for transmission of the motion to the application head 7 along the direction of Y axis, as well as two threaded holes 19 for fixing a pneumatic cylinder 20 to one of the two ends. Centrally it is further provided with a longitudinal groove 21 and a sphere case 22 to slide a rod 23 driven by the pneumatic cylinder 20.

On the lower part of said arm 8, two hinges 24 are provided to anchor two banding pads 17, 25 of the application head 7 to the opposed end with respect to the pneumatic cylinder 20. It is further provided a roll system 26 for the passage of the band 1.

Said supporting arm 8, being integral with the movable linear guide 10 allows to the head 7 to freely move along a rectangular region of plane X - Y; two anchoring points of articulated heads, respectively on the movable plate 13 and on the supporting arm 8, allowing to transmit the motion to the head 7 along a cyclic trajectory of the above mentioned region of plane X - Y, obtained by the composition of two cyclic linear movements, respectively in directions of X and Y axis.

As already said, application head 7 is comprised of two banding pads (front 25 and rear 17 pads), of a opening/closure system of the rear pad 17, and of a opening/closure system of the front pad 25 and cutting system of the pad (see figure 7). Two banding pads 25, 17 are hinged on the end of the supporting arm 8 and end with a rubberised idle roll 27, 28, adhering the band 1 on the object to be banded, copying its profile.

Opening/closure system of the rear pad 17 is comprised of a cam 15 with idle roll 16 on its end and of a spring 29 exerting a bumpering action on the rear pad 17 with respect to the supporting arm 8: when the rear pad 17 slides with respect to the opening/closure cam 15, according to the negative direction of Y axis, the opposing action of opening/closure cam 15 ends and the bumpering action of spring 29 gets the upper hand over the opening pad 17, vice versa when the rear pad 17 slides with respect to the opening/closure cam 15, according to the positive direction of Y axis, opposing action of opening/closure cam 15 wins the bumpering action of spring 29, obliging pad 17 to close.

Opening/closure system of the front pad 25 and cut system of the band 1 comprises a returning action oblique cam 30 grooved into the body of the pad 25; a blade 32 bearing block 31 mounted on the slidable rod 23 in the supporting arm 8; a idle roll 33 integral with the blade 32 bearing block 31 and slidable along the returning action cam 30; and a spring 34 exerting a bumpering action on the front pad 25 with respect to the supporting arm 8.

When the cutting action is operated, pneumatic cylinder 20 makes the rod 23 and the blade 32 bearing block 31 sliding according to the negative direction of Y axis; idle roll 33 integral with blade 32 bearing block 31 slides along the oblique opening/closure cam 30, allowing to the front pad 25 to open; blade 32 urges on the band 1 , cutting the same, when the idle roll 27 on the end of the front pad 25 urges against the object to be banded.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, application system is completed by a motion system 33 for head along a cyclic application trajectory, even if it could be comprised of a cam and lever system, or by a system comprised of two motors driven by an axis control for X - Y movements; by a synchronisation system of the various steps of the application with respect to the package 3 flow, that could be comprised of a decoder on the machine engine and of a programmable logic controller; by a band 1 passage system and transmission of the same on the supporting arm 8, comprised of a simple roll systems; by a system 34 for measuring the length of the band and controlling the cutting, that could comprise a second decoder on one of the band 1 passage rolls, a photocell to read the paperboard and a programmable logic controller; eventually by a system 35 to recover not adhesive parts of the band 1 to provide a support to transport the banded packages 3, such as in case of application of a handle 5.

In the embodiment of figure 3, recovering system of the handle 5 is comprised of a chain round 36 on the support plate, on which sleeves 35 are mounted, within which movable bar 37 slide, kept into the seat by a spring 38 (see also figure 8). At a certain point, during the chain round 36 path, said movable bars 37 are withdrawn by a fixed cam 39 integral with the support plate 6 extracting the movable bars 37 in the application area of the handle 5 just in correspondence of the paperboard 2, in such a way to create the handle 5 arch.

Before passing to the description of the process, making reference to the figures 9 and 10, in the following the main parameters and features of the process according to the invention are provided.

As already partially described, said process provides the application of lengths of adhesive band on objects continuously flowing and conveyed along a line on a rectilinear trajectory distanced each other (pitch).

Schematising the process according to the invention, the following steps can be individuated:

1. entrance of the head 7 into the space separating two following objects, with the acquisition of a contact point with the rear profile of the downward object; head 7 follows the profile adhering to the same the band not yet cut;

2. once reached the desired coupling point, close to the maximum penetration point between the objects, head 7 acquires a contact point also with the front profile of the upward object while cutting the band in an intermediate point between two contact points and attaches on said profile the new edge of the band continuous strip deriving from the cut;

3. before reaching the maximum penetration point between the objects, head 7 makes adhering the two band edges from the cutting point to the two contact points on the relevant profiles; 4. in the maximum penetration point between the objects, head 7 stops entering following the front profile of the upward object;

5. exiting from the space separating the two objects, head 7 follows the front profile of the upward object, with which maintains the contact point and upon which makes the not yet cut band adhering. Along the exit run from the space separating the two objects, head 7 can maintain also the contact point with the rear profile of the downward object, upon which upsets the already cut band portion, even if this operation is not essential for the good working of the process;

6. in case the head 7 has also maintained the contact point with the rear profile of the downward object, before ending the outlet run from the space separating the two objects, it losses said contact point (consequently, also this operation is not essential);

7. in any case, before ending the outlet run from the space separating the two objects, head 7 looses its contact point with the front profile of the upward profile;

8. just out of the space separating the two objects, head 7, now without any contact point, moves countercurrent with respect to the flow to reach the following separation space, and, during this movement, stretches the band remained constrained to the front profile of the current object;

9. in case of application of a handle, if it is necessary to create a grasping arch, it is possible to interpose a support between the current object and the application head 7, during the countercurrent motion of the head; 10. as soon as the following separation space between the objects has been reached, head 7 again starts its inlet run between the same objects, following the rear profile of the downward object with which acquires a new contact point and on which makes the not yet cut band adhering. From the above description, it can be noted that the application cycle starts when cutting the band and acquiring the contact point with the front profile of the object, moment when the initial edge of band length to be applied is attached, and ends when the contact point with the rear profile of the object is lost, moment following which no more operation on the already applied band length is carried out.

Further, from the cut and acquisition moment of the contact point with the front profile of the upward object to the moment of lost of the contact point with the rear profile of the downward object, a temporal overlapping occurs between an application cycle and the preceding application cycle.

Always within the scope of the present invention, it is possible that the head 7 is not provided of two distinct movable parts, i.e. pads, but is provided of a single movable part or the head is oscillating, in such a way to allow to the same to approach the band both to the rear profile of the downward object and to the front profile of the upward profile and to quickly pass from one to the other during the cutting. In this case, it is not possible to have a temporal overlapping between an application cycle and the following one, not being possible to upset the adhesion of the band portion already cut on the rear profile of the downward object while the band is made adhering to the front profile of the upward object. However, in this case it is possible to further reduce the pitch, the dimensions of the head being possibly even more reduced.

Making now particularly reference to figures 9 and 10, it can be noted that the flow of packages is characterised by a concordant direction with respect to X axis, and that the application cycle is characterised by a punctual synchronism between the position of the package under work and the position of the head, prescinding from the sped of the same package.

As it can be noted in figure 9, the application head 7 runs a cyclic trajectory along plane X - Y, that can be divided into three consecutive arches: anticipation arch on the object, countercurrent return arch and object following arch. The end of the object following arch coincides with the anticipation arch on the following object.

From figure 10, it is noted that in the last part of the preceding object following arch, head 7 is moving with a positive displacement with respect to Y axis and with negative displacement with respect to Y axis, so that the opening rear pad 17 is copying the rear profile of the preceding object, making the not yet cut band 1 adhering, said band 1, being constrained to the contact point, is pulled by head 7 which is moving with respect to the object, and the front pad 25 is closing (see figure 10a).

The front pad 25 opening/closure and band 1 cutting system is controlled, when opening and cutting, by the pneumatic cylinder 20, that, making the rod 23 with the blade 32 bearing block 31 sliding with respect to the Y axis, disengage the pad 25 returning action cam 30 allowing to open under the action of the spring 34 bringing the blade 32 to urge against the band 1 , cutting the same when the band 1 comes in contact with the front profile of the current object (see figure 10b). In the first part of the current application cycle, head 7 continues to move along the following arch of the preceding object, with a positive displacement with respect to the X axis and negative with respect to the Y axis, with both pads 25, 17 opened following the profile or current and preceding packages, respectively, terminating the adhesion of two band 1 edges form the contact point to the cutting point (see figure 10c).

Beginning of object anticipation arch coincides with the beginning of the application head 7 cycle.

At the beginning of the current object anticipation arch, head 7 reverses the displacement direction with respect to Y axis, moving with a positive displacement both respect to X and Y axes, so that contact point of the front pad 25 copies the front profile of the current object, making the not yet cut band 1 adhering, and the contact point of the rear pad 17 copies the rear profile of the preceding object, upsetting the adhesion of the already cut band 1 on the same object (see figure 10d). Before the end of the anticipation arch, rear pad 17 begins closing for the opposing action exerted by idle roll 16 of closure cam 15; the moment when the rear pad 17 losses the contact point with the preceding object coincides with the end of the preceding application cycle (see figure 10e). Before the beginning of the countercurrent return arch, front pad 25 opening/closure and band 1 cut system is controlled during closure by pneumatic cylinder 20 that, making the rod 23 with the blade 32 bearing block 31 sliding along the positive direction according to Y axis. Engages pad 17 returning action cam 15, obliging the same to close and to loose the contact point with the front profile of the current object; blade 32 returns in a rest position between two pads 25, 17, away from the band 1 sliding surface (see figure 10f). At the beginning of the countercurrent return arch, head 7 reverses the displacement direction with respect to the X axis, moving with a negative displacement with respect to X axis and positive with respect to Y axis, so that band 1 , constrained to the front profile of the object, is pulled either for the displacement of the head 7 with respect to object, and for the effect of the displacement of the same object, and blade 1 slides with the not adhesive part in contact with the head 7 profile far from the current object profile (see figure 10g).

At the half of the countercurrent return arch, head 7 reverses again the displacement direction with respect to Y axis, moving with a negative displacement with respect both to X and Y axis (see figure 10h).

As already mentioned in the above, eventually in the point where band 1 is farthest from the current object, a bar 37 can interpose between a not adhesive zone of the band 1 and the object, in order to create a band 1 arch usable as support to transport by hand the same object (see figure 10h).

At the end of the countercurrent recovering arch, head 7 has terminated its displacement from the end of the front profile to the beginning of the rear profile of the current object, and, in case a band 1 arch creation bar 37 has not been interposed, the band 1 adheres to the profile of the current object (see figure 10i).

At the beginning of the current object following arch, head 7 reverses again the direction displacement with respect to the X axis, moving with a positive displacement with respect o X axis and negative with respect to Y axis (see figure 10i).

In the first part of the current object following arch, the opening of the rear pad 17 occurs due to the end of the opposing action of the idle roll 16 of closure cam 15; rear pad 17 reaches the contact point with the rear profile of current object, on which it begins to make the band 1 adhering while it pulls following to its displacement and the front pad 25 is closing, allowing to the not yet cut band 1 to slide on the profile of the head 7 (see figure 101).

In the last part of the current object following arch, cut occurs again (see figure 10m). The end of current object following arch coincides with the end of the application head 7 cycle (see figure 10n) and the application cycle will be finished at the moment of closure of the rear pad 17 (see figure 10°).

The present invention has been described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it is to be understood that modifications and/or changes can be introduced by those skilled in the art without departing from the relevant scope as defined in the enclosed claims.

Claims

1. Process to apply adhesive band on moving objects, characterised in that it comprises the steps of: - pitch feeding the object on which the band must be applied, in such a way that all the objects make the same trajectory and that for each point of said trajectory the position of each object is defined and invariable; - feeding a band to be applied to a application head; - moving said application head according to a cyclic trajectory, along a generic plane parallel with respect to the object trajectory and intersecting the same, able to drive among the front and rear profiles of each pair of consecutive objects, while they move according to a continuous and uniform flow; the movement of said application head being such to allow to the adhesive band to drivingly slide with its not adhesive surface along the outer profile of the same head, to be able to have a contact point only with the front or rear profile of the object on which the adhesive band is being applied, to be able to have a contact point with the front profile of the object and, at the same time, a contact point with the rear profile of the preceding object on which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the front profile of the following object, to be able to perfectly follow the two profiles, current, preceding or subsequent, to be able to cut the adhesive band in an intermediate point between the two contact points, to be controllable with respect to the number and kind of contact points, and to be controllable with respect to the cutting moment.

2. Process according to claim 1 , characterised in that during the application of the band, in case of realisation of handles for packages, a "recover" to create the handle is provided.

3. Process according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said application head movement is synchronised with the motion of the objects, in such a way to allow the same to enter into the space separating each object from the following object.

4. Process according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the cyclic trajectory on which said head moves is essentially comprised of three consecutive arches, namely a first arch along which the head goes out of the space separating the current object from the downward object, anticipating the current object and copying its front profile, a second arch along which the head moves countercurrent with respect to the objects flow, displacing from the front profile to the rear profile of the object on which the band is being applied, and a third arch along which the head enters into the space separating the object on which the band is being applied from the upward object, following the object and copying its rear profile.

5. Apparatus to apply adhesive band on moving object, characterised in that it comprises pitch movement means of the objects upon which the band must be applied, so that all the objects will run the same trajectory and the position of each object is defined and invariable for each point of said trajectory; band feeding means and transmission means of the same band on an application head; at least an application head allowing to the adhesive band to slide in a guided way, with its non adhesive surface on the outer profile of the same head, allowing to have a contact point only with the front profile of with the rear profile of the object upon which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the rear profile of the preceding object, allowing to have a contact point only with the rear profile of the object upon which the band is being applied, allowing to have a contact point with the front profile of the object upon which the band is being applied and, at the same time, a contact point with the front profile of the preceding object, allowing to perfectly follow the two profiles, i.e. current and preceding, or subsequent, thank to a compensation system for irregularities of the same and discordances between head and object profile, allowing to cut the adhesive band in a point intermediate between the two contact points, that can be controlled with respect to the number and kind of contact points (only with the downward object, only with the upward object or with both the objects) and with reference to the cut; and motion means for said application head according to a cyclic trajectory able to guide the same between the front and rear profile of each pair of consecutive objects, while them move according to a continuous and uniform flow.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterised in that comprises means to recover non adhesive portions of the band destined to provide a support to transport the banded objects, as when applying a handle.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterised in that said handle recovering means are comprised of a chain round on the support plate, sleeves being mounted on said chain, within which movable bars slide, said bar being urged within a seat by a spring; said movable bars being controlled to exit by a fixed cam integral with the support plate in correspondence of the handle realisation point.

8. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 5 - 7, characterised in that said pitch motion means of the object upon which the band must be applied are comprised of two archimedean screws.

9. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 5 - 8, characterised in that said application head is mounted on a support plate parallel to a plane containing the flow trajectory of the object.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterised in that said plane is comprised of a X - Y axes system parallel to the flow direction of the objects.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, characterised in that said application head is supported by a arm mounted on a substantially perpendicular linear guide system allowing to freely move on a rectangular region of the plane X - Y.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 , characterised in that said substantially perpendicular linear guide system comprises a fixed guide, integral with the support plate, with the same direction and distance fixed by X axis; a movable linear guide, integral to the arm supporting the application head, with the same direction and variable distance from Y axis; two trolleys slidable along said guides, coupled each other offset of 90┬░ and mounted on the two faces of a movable plate; a movable plate provided with a threaded hole to anchor the articulated head of a tie rod to transmit the motion to the application head along the X axis direction, and a opening/closure cam, integral with the movable plate and provided on its end with a idle roll.

13. Apparatus according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that said supporting arm is integral with the movable linear guide and is provided with a threaded hole for anchoring of the articulated head of a tie rod to transmit the motion to the application head along the direction of Y axis; of two threaded holes for fixing a pneumatic cylinder to one of the two ends; of a longitudinal groove and a sphere case to slide a rod driven by the pneumatic cylinder; of two hinges to anchor two banding pads of the application head to the opposed end with respect to the pneumatic cylinder; and of a roll system for the passage of the band.

14. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 5 - 13, characterised in that said application head is comprised of two banding pads, respectively front and rear pad, of an opening/closure system for the rear pad, and of an opening/closure and system of the front pad and cutting system of the band.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, characterised in that said two banding pads are hinged on the end of the supporting arm and end with a rubberised idle roll adhering the band on the object to be banded copying its profile.

16. Apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, characterised in that said opening/closure system is comprised of a cam with idle roll on its end and of elastic means exerting a bumpering action on the rear pad with respect to the supporting arm.

17. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 14 - 16, characterised in that said opening/closure system of the front pad and cut system of the band comprises a returning action oblique cam grooved into the body of the pad; a blade bearing block mounted on the slidable rod in the supporting arm; a idle roll integral with the blade bearing block and slidable along the returning action cam; and a spring exerting a bumpering action on the front pad with respect to the supporting arm.

18. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 15 - 17, characterised in that said motion means of the head determine its motion along a cyclic application trajectory.

19. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 5 - 18, characterised in that it provides a synchronisation system of the different steps with respect to the object flow.

20. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims 5 - 19, characterised in that it provides a measurement system for the length of the band and to control the cutting.

21. Process to apply adhesive band on moving objects according to each one of the claims 1 - 4, and apparatus to apply adhesive band on moving object according to each one of the claims 5 - 20, substantially as illustrated and described.