ES2565016B1 - Procedure and mechanism for labeling fruits - Google Patents

Abstract

Procedure and mechanism for labeling fruits constituted by a rotating cylinder located at the end of a flat rectangular elongated tilting leg of section 'V' on which circulates a tape of arched labels by the pressure of a pulley that rubs on the belt, pulley equipped with a tractor belt that transmits the rotation to the rotating cylinder and gives it a speed of rotation of its circumference equal to or greater than the speed of the label tape, advancing the belt when the operator separates the pressure on a previous fruit and the label tape and the rotating cylinder being at rest while the operator sticks the label located below the rotating cylinder, so that the rotating cylinder accompanies, drags and positions the label preventing it from wrinkling or double.

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Procedure and mechanism for labeling fruits.

Technology Sector

The invention is part of the equipment goods sector, specifically equipment for the processing of fruits and ellipsoidal objects, in particular the labeling of fruits or other spheroidal objects by means of adhesive labels for fruit supplied by a tape of labels of the type of Tape divided into two halves according to the longitudinal axis of the tape, labels that are generally plastic, thin, very flexible and weak to achieve durable labeling on uneven surfaces.

The invention relates to a method and mechanism for manually or robotically labeling fruits or other ellipsoidal elements, capable of quickly and easily attaching to the operator labels of any degree of stiffness, especially those that are thin, very flexible and straight .

State of the art

Manual devices for gluing labels from a coil on fruits are known. The problem is to paste correctly and at high speed labels of low rigidity, which are in general plastic and especially fine, and that each and every one of the labels be glued without folds or wrinkles, by means of a simple, light, fast and fast device. Reliable, so that there is no stopping of the gluing process due to labeler blockages caused by the bending and inconvenient gluing of any label on the same labeling mechanism. Such labels, very common in the fruit and vegetable industry because of their higher aesthetic quality and better adaptation to non-uniform shapes of the fruit's surface, tend to bend or wrinkle if common manual labeling procedures are used.

The present invention provides a method and mechanism that enables the construction of light and reliable labellers for use with label tapes provided with central longitudinal division.

Detailed description of the invention

The procedure for labeling fruit is essentially constituted by three operations or states: i) an advance of the label tape that occurs immediately after the corresponding operator has stopped pressing on the fruit to paste the previous label, ii) a positioning of the label consisting of the fact that most of its longitudinal extension, after partially detaching the label from the tape, is located below and in light contact with the lower periphery of a cylindrical rotating means, iii) the label tape and the rotating means cylindrical are placed at rest while the operator presses on a fruit with the bottom of the cylindrical rotary medium where a label is positioned.

The mechanism for labeling fruits is essentially formed by three different parts: an active cylindrical rotating means consisting of a rotating cylinder, a rotating means of the rotating cylinder, implemented as a pulley that rubs on the belt

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of labels and turns driven by the belt at the same speed, or implemented as a motor that drives the rotary cylinder equipped with electronically regulated speed synchronized with the speed of advance of the belt, and an elongated rectangular angular leg flattened with section in the form of "V" at the end near the rotating medium.

More specifically, the rotating cylinder, axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of the label tape and located parallel and superior to the plane of the tape and at a distance from the tape slightly greater than the radius of the rotating cylinder, cylinder of greater width than the width of the largest label and formed by a series of flattened rings of elastic material separated a distance similar to the width of the flattened ring and whose axis coincides with the axis of the rotating cylinder, so that the rings flex when they come into contact with the fruit and they adapt correctly to its surface, all of this configured so that the labels, when detached by the common 180 ° belt bending procedure, are placed in light contact with the lower part of the rotating cylinder. In order that the thin and flexible labels do not wrinkle or bend during the process of their advance below the rotating cylinder, the perimeter of the rotating cylinder rotates at the same speed or slightly higher than the advance speed of the belt tags that is the same as the feed rate of the tag that is coming off. All of this is configured so that the label, which is in the process of detachment from the belt, contacts and rubs with the lower part of the rotating cylinder and thus the rotating cylinder accompanies, drags, positions and prevents flexion and wrinkling of the label from The detachment begins until a relevant detachment of the label is reached, at which point the advance of the label tape stops thanks to a control system of the belt drive motor. The time interval used for the advance of the belt is shorter than the time it takes for the operator to reach the position of a new fruit, so that the labeling always occurs at the maximum speed that the operator is capable of.

The rotating means of the rotating cylinder implemented as a pulley that rubs on the label tape is constituted by a flattened circular pulley with a diameter similar to the diameter of the rotating cylinder and whose axis is parallel to the axis of the rotating cylinder and located on the belt near the rotating cylinder, pulley whose perimeter presses and rubs on the upper part and approximately the center of the label tape, so that the periphery of the pulley has the same speed as the label tape, and simultaneously the label tape is arched by the pressure of the pulley on the "V" section of the angled leg, in order to provide more rigidity to the tags that come off. The speed of rotation of the pulley, synchronized with the advance of the belt, is transmitted to the rotating cylinder by means of a tractor belt that adjusts on the one hand on the pulley and on the other on a groove located in the center of the rotating cylinder.The diameters of the pulley and the groove d The rotating cylinder are related so that the speed of the perimeter of the rotating cylinder is equal to or slightly greater than the speed of advance of the label tape.

The rotating means of the rotating cylinder implemented by means of a motor is constituted by a variable speed motor electronically regulated by a control system that measures the speed of advance of the belt and gives the rotating cylinder an equal or slightly higher peripheral speed that the speed of advance of the tape in every moment. The engine acts directly on the axis of the rotating cylinder or through a pulley and belt or gears.

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The elongated and flattened rectangular angled leg has a V-shaped section flattened at the end near the rotating cylinder, is integral with the axis of the rotating cylinder at one end and is slightly tilting according to an axis perpendicular to the advance of the tape located at the opposite end of the rotary cylinder, tilt of the leg that detects the moment of action and relaxation of the pressure of the operator on the fruit, form of 'V' responsible for curving the tape of labels by its longitudinal half thanks to the pressure of the pulley on the belt, conferring stiffness to each label at the time it is detached from the belt and placed under the rotating cylinder.

The procedure for labeling fruits and other spheroidal objects is made up of several stages: the operator or robot initially approaches the fruit labeling machine and thus brings the angled leg that supports the rotating cylinder to the top of the fruit, the labeller already has of a label located at the bottom of the rotary cylinder from a previous labeling cycle, the operator presses on a fruit and the label sticks on the fruit, when the operator releases the pressure on the fruit an electromechanical or electronic switch activated by the angled tilting leg provides a signal to the control system that drives the advancement motor of the label tape, the label tape advances a step equal to the distance between labels, the rotating cylinder rotates and its lower perimeter rotates at the same speed and sense that the tape, the rotating cylinder accompanies, drags, positions and prevents the flexion and wrinkling of the label from q That its detachment begins until it reaches a sufficient detachment so that the label is positioned under the rotating cylinder, at this moment the advance of the label tape stops thanks to the control system, the rotating cylinder stops, the label is placed below of the rotating cylinder, the operator during the whole process of advancing the belt moves the labeller towards a new fruit, the operator presses on the fruit, and a new cycle begins.

Description of the drawings

The description of the device made in the previous point is complemented by a series of drawings that highlight the most characteristic aspects and points of the invention, drawings that are illustrative and are collected at the end as an integral part of the descriptive memory itself. These drawings contribute to a better understanding of the scope of the invention, while serving as a reference point to understand exactly the procedure and mechanism for labeling fruits. To this end, the accompanying drawings represent:

Figure 1.

1a) Schematically shows a perspective view of the mechanism.

Figure 2

2a) Schematically shows an elevation view of the mechanism.

2b) Shows a detail of a profile view of the rotating cylinder, angled leg and arched label tape.

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Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

In view of the aforementioned figures, it can be seen how the procedure and mechanism for labeling fruits is structured by several interconnected elements: the rotating cylinder (1), the pulley (2) and the angled leg (3).

The rotating cylinder (1) is formed by a series of flattened rings (4) of elastic material whose axis coincides with the axis of the rotating cylinder (1) for better adaptation of the cylinder to the surface of the fruit. The labels (5) are attached to the label tape (6), so that when advancing the label tape (6), the labels (5 ') are detached by the common 180 ° tape bending procedure, being in light contact with the bottom of the rotating cylinder (1). The perimeter of the rotating cylinder (1) rotates at the same speed or slightly higher than the advance speed of the label tape (6) thanks to the pulley (2) that rubs on the label tape (6) and a tractor belt (7) which transmits a speed exactly synchronized with the label tape (6) to the rotating cylinder (1). The rotating cylinder (1) accompanies, drags, positions and prevents flexion and wrinkling of the label from the beginning of its detachment until a relevant detachment of the label (5 ') is reached, at which point the advance of the label tape (6) stops thanks to a control system.

The pulley (2) simultaneously has the function of arching the tape of labels (6) and the labels (5 ") thanks to the pressure exerted by the pulley (2) on the angled leg (3) in the center of its longitudinal axis and thanks to the flattened "V" fold of the angled leg (3 ') at its end near the rotating cylinder (1). The pulley (2) can be separated from the label tape (6) manually by means of the button of rotation (8) integral with the shaft of the pulley (2) and eccentric, in order to allow the easy introduction of a new label tape (6) in the mechanism, so that the rotation button (8) acts also as a stop to prevent the tractor belt (7) from overstretching and abandoning the belt grooves.

Additionally, the complementary elements are available to correctly operate the mechanism for labeling fruits such as an electronic controller, label feeding and storage of label-free tape, springs, stops, sensors and power supply system.

It is not considered necessary to make this description more extensive so that any person skilled in the art understands the scope of the invention and the advantages derived therefrom.

The materials, shape, size and disposition of the elements will be subject to variation as long as this does not imply an alteration in the essentiality of the invention.

The terms in which this report has been written should always be taken in a broad and non-limiting sense.

Claims (6)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five fifty 1. Procedure for labeling fruits for label tape with substrate divided into two longitudinal halves characterized in that the advance of the label tape occurs immediately after the corresponding operator has removed the pressure on the fruit to paste the previous label, advance of the tape of magnitude such that the new label is located almost completely underneath and in light contact with the lower periphery of a cylindrical rotary means, ensuring that the thin and straight label is accompanied, dragged and positioned by the rotary means and not it wrinkles when it comes into contact with such a cylindrical rotary means thanks to a synchronism between the speed of advance of the label tape and the rotation speed of the periphery of the cylindrical rotary means, and because the label tape and the cylindrical rotary means meet at rest while the operator presses on a fruit with the bottom of the cylindrical rotary medium where a label is positioned, ensuring that the label is perfectly adhered to the fruit by means of a simple movement of the operator's arm. 2. Mechanism for labeling fruits for label tape with substrate divided into two longitudinal halves characterized by a cylindrical rotary means equipped with two functions, gliding and dragging the label along its upper part during the detachment process from the label tape and pressing the label on the fruit, and by means for the rotation of the cylindrical rotary means in order to achieve peripheral speed of the cylindrical rotary means equal to or slightly greater than the advance speed of the label tape, so that the The label moves forward and detaches itself from the tape and the cylindrical rotary means accompanies, drags, positions, and avoids the flexion and wrinkling of the label during the detachment process from the tape until the label has been placed under the cylindrical rotary means. 3. Mechanism for labeling fruit according to claim 2a, characterized in that the cylindrical rotary means is constituted by a cylinder of elastic material of axis perpendicular to the direction of the movement of the label tape and located parallel to the plane of the tape, of a width greater than the width of the largest label, formed by rings of elastic material separated a short distance and whose axis is the axis of the cylinder, so that the rings flex when they come into contact with the fruit and adapt properly to its surface. 4. Mechanism for labeling fruits according to claim 2a, characterized in that the elastic rotary cylindrical is actuated by a belt driven by a pulley whose periphery presses and rubs on the upper part of the label belt, so that the periphery of the pulley has the same speed as the tape of labels, and the relation of diameters between the pulley and a circular groove located in the elastic rotary cylinder through which the tractor belt runs provides a speed of the perimeter of the elastic rotary cylinder equal to or slightly greater than the speed of detachment of the label, which is equal to the speed of the tape. 5. Mechanism for labeling fruit according to claim 2a, characterized in that the rotary cylindrical is operated by an electronically regulated speed motor that drives and rotates the rotary cylindrical and gives it a peripheral speed equal to or slightly greater than the feed speed of the belt labels measured by an electronic belt advance sensor system. 6. Mechanism for labeling fruits according to claim 2a, characterized in that the pulley rests on the longitudinal axis of an elongated rectangular flat leg angled in the shape of a "V" flattened near the rotating cylinder in order to arch the tape and the labels to stiffen them, leg equipped with slight tilting with respect to an axis 5 parallel to that of the rotating cylinder located at the opposite end to said cylinder, and which detects the existence of pressure of the labeller on the fruit by means of sensors.