GB2191430A

GB2191430A - Removing a label from an article by abrasive means

Info

Publication number: GB2191430A
Application number: GB08711696A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Sutcliffe
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-05-17
Filing date: 1987-05-18
Publication date: 1987-12-16
Also published as: GB8711696D0

Abstract

A method and apparatus for removing a label from an article (1) comprises a conveyor (3) for conveying the articles (1) in a conveying direction, one or more abrasive elements (19) which abrade the label from the article without causing substantial damage to the article, whereby the material of the article can be recycled and/or the article can be reused. The article (1) may be a plastic film cassette or a bottle, and the abrasive element may be a wheel of plastic, grindstone or abrasive paper, a milling wheel or a wire brush. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method and apparatus of removing a label from an article Description of Invention This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing a label from an article.

In the recycling and materials handling business, many goods that have a value are classified as waste because they are contaminated with a label of some description, whether paper, plastic, metal or another material. This is particularly so in articles made predominently of plastic material, but includes industries that recycle containers or other articles more than once, such as the drinks industry who may replace an old label with a new one.

Whenever there is a high volume to weight ratio, as there is in a plastic material, the removal of any contamination by hand is totally uneconomic. This also applies to other heavier articles where the surface area of the label constitutes a majority of that area.

It is possible to remove some labels by soaking, but many labels are adhered using adhesive which is not readily soluble but which requires special chemical treatment for removal of the adhesive. The present invention provides a "dry" solution to the problem of removing labels which is particularly useful for removing labels which are adhered with PVA adhesive, and where the articles would suffer from a wet or liquid process of soaking the labels off, either because of the use of chemicals, or due to drying the articles out. It also provides a quicker and economical alternative to peeling labels off by hand.

According to one aspect of the invention we provide a method of removing a label from an article comprising the steps of conveying the article in a conveying direction to a position where the label is engaged with an abrasive surface, moving the abrasive surface relative to the article whilst constraining the article against movement under the action of the abrasive means on the label.

Thus the label is mechanically removed without soaking and/or the use of any chemical.

Simply, the article is conveyed by a conveying means which may carry a guide means which constrains the movement of the article when the article is located relative to the guide means.

The conveyor may be a belt or chain type conveyor having a belt or chain respectively to which the guide means may be secured, the conveyor being operated to move the belt or the chain in the conveying direction.

However, any other suitable type of conveyor may be used as required, to achieve movement of the article to a position where the label may be abraded away.

The article may be conveyed along a guide track which is stationary relative to the conveyor, and the guide means, in combination with the guide track may provide regions on the conveyor which each correspond to the shape of the article from which the label is to be removed, so that the article is constrained against movement relative to the conveyor in every direction in a plane generally parallel to the conveying direction, in which the article would tend to move under the action of the abrasive means on the label.

For example, the regions defined by the guide means and the guide track may each open generally upwardly to enable an article to be located in the region by moving the article generally downwardly prior to conveying the article to the position where the label is abraded.

However, any other suitable guide means such as a clamp means for example, may be utilised to constrain the article.

The abrasive surface is preferably provided by an abrasive wheel such as a wheel of plastic, grindstone, abrasive paper, a milling wheel or wire brushes, or any other material whether expendable or not, which wheel is rotated to abrade and hence remove the label.

The abrasive wheel may be mounted for rotation about an axis above the article but generally parallel to the conveying direction so that the article is conveyed generally beneath the abrasive surface.

Preferably the abrasive wheel is rotated in a direction whereby that portion of the abrasive wheel which is in engagement with the label is moving in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the article. This not only improves the operation of the abrasive surface, but further facilitates the disposal of disintegrated particles of the removed label which are thus thrown from the vicinity of the article and may be collected by a canopy in which the particles may fall or may be encouraged by suction or blown air draught.

The method is particularly applicable where the article is made predominately of a material which is recycled after the label has been removed, such as plastic material, because the method does not cause substantial damage to the article, at least where the abrasive means is adapted to make no, or only minimal contact, with a surface part of the article on which the label is provided during the abrasive process.

Preferably, a batch of articles are automatically fed severally onto the conveying means to convey the article, by means of a vibratory feeder. Thus the method may be a continuous process, with some articles being fed, some articles being abraded, and others being removed from the conveying means simultaneously.

According to a second aspect of the invention we provide an apparatus for removing a label from an article comprising a conveying means to convey the article, an abrasive surface, means to constrain the article when the article is moved to a position where the label is engaged with the abrasive surface, means to move the abrasive surface relative to the article to remove the label under the action of the abrasive means.

Preferably in such an apparatus, the guide means is adjustable relative to the conveying means to accommodate different sizes and types of article. This adjustment may be made between processing sorted batches of articles.

Where the abrasive surface is provided by an abrasive wheel which is rotatable about an axis above, but generally parallel to the conveying direction. The axis of rotation may be adjustable up and down to accommodate batches of different sizes and types of article which are processed by the apparatus.

The invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE 1 is an illustrative side view of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a detailed illustrative view of part of the apparatus which is not seen in Figure 1.

FIGURE 3 is a further detailed view of part of the apparatus not seen in Figure 1.

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the apparatus of Figure 1, but slightly modified.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the apparatus of Figure 4.

FIGURE 6 is a further detail of the apparatus of Figures 1 to 5.

FIGURE 7 is a end view of port of a second embodiment of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Referring to figures 1 to 5 of the drawings, an apparatus is shown for removing labels from articles such as camera film cassettes 1, one only of which is shown in Figure 1, although it will be appreciated that the apparatus may be used for removing a label from a large variety of articles of different sizes and shapes, as will become apparent hereinafter.

The apparatus comprises a conveying means 3, comprising five conveyors. In Figure 5, a plan view is shown, although only a conveyor 3 on the right hand side of the figure is illustrated as carrying articles from which labels are to be removed. To the left of the conveyor 3, a further conveyor 3 is shown, but without any enclosed guide track (to be described) or article carried on the conveyor for clarity. Each conveyor carries a plurality of guide means 4 for constraining articles 1 against movement, the guide means comprising upwardly projections pegs.

The conveyors enable articles to be moved to positions where abrasive wheels 19 can engage the label to be removed, which label is provided on a surface part of the article 1, where indicated at 2, so that upon rotation of the abrasive wheels 19, the label will be abraded away and hence removed from the article 1, without causing substantial damage to the article.

In addition to the guide means 4 which are carried by the conveyors 3, a pair of guide tracks 5 are provided for each conveyor 3, which tracks 5 extend either side of the respective conveyor 3 along an upper run thereof, and constrain movement of the articles in a direction transverse to the conveying direction as indicated by the arrows A.

It can be seen from Figure 4, that the guide track 5 comprises a generally inverted Ushaped element, part of the base of the U being removed in the vicinity of each abrasive wheel 19 to permit the abrasive wheel 19 to perform its abrasive action on the label of the article 1 carried within the enclosed track 5 on the respective conveyor 3.

Movement of the articles 1 in a direction parallel to the conveying direction, relative to the conveyor, is constrained by the pegs of the guide means 4 which locate in a recess R in the film cassettes. The abrasive wheels 19 are rotated in the direction of arrow B whereby that portion of the wheel 19 abrading the label is moving in a direction which is opposite to the conveying direction A. Hence there is no tendency of the article 1 to move in a forwards direction when engaged by the abrasive wheel 19, but only in a rearwards direction, which movement is constrained by the guide means 4.

Of course, for other sizes and types of articles, the guide means 4 and/or guide tracks 5 may need to be adapted to accommodate the articles and constrain movement, preferably in every direction in a plane general ly parallel to the conveying direction A in which the articles may tend to move under the action of the abrasive wheels 19.

In this example, the conveyor 3 comprises an endless chain which engages around sprockets S carried on shafts 6. One of the shafts 6, also carries a drive sprocket 6a around which a chain 22 is entrained, the chain 22 being driven from a gear box 8 which is connected via a suitable torque limiting clutch to a motor 7. Alternatively, the conveyor could comprise a belt.

Between the upper and lower runs of each of the conveyors, a support 9 is provided to ensure that there is no flexing of the conveyor from the horizontal plane which could permit the articles 1 to move away from the abrasive wheels 19 and hence escape the abrasive action for removing the label.

The conveyor guide tracks 5, and abrasive wheels 19 are carried on a frame 10 which also supports a canopy 23 which substantially encloses the abrasive wheels 19 and the conveyors 3, the canopy 23 being effective to collect disintegrated particles of label which have been abraded away and to permit the particles either to fall as indicated by arrows C, into a collection vessel from an open bottom of the canopy, or else a train of air caused by a suction or fan blower may encourage the disintegrated particles to pass into a collection vessel if required.

The abrasive wheels 19 are each carried on drive shafts 16 which are driven from a motor 20. The drive shafts 16 are coupled by a chain or drive belt 23 which is entrained around a first sprocket or pulley wheel 21 on an output drive shaft 16 of the motor, and a second sprocket or pulley wheel 21a which is attached to the other drive shaft 16. This arrangement is clearly shown in Figure 2. The motor 20 is preferably supported on a further element 15 of the frame 10.

As shown in Figure 1, only one abrasive wheel 19 carried on a single drive shaft 16 is shown for clarity, although as can be seen from figure 5 particularly, a pair of abrasive wheels 19 are provided above and spaced along the conveyor, are on each drive shaft 16, so that each conveyor 3 passes beneath the two abrasive wheels 19 which are offset slightly relative to one another so that the articles 1 are subjected to repeated abrasive action, each wheel 19 removing a different part of the label.

If desired, more than two abrasive wheels may act on each label, or only one, as required.

It can be seen from Figure 3, that the drive shafts 16 are each carried by suitable blocks F which mount bearings in which the drive shafts 16 are received. The blocks F are adjustable up and down by means of inserting shims 18 between element 15 of the frame 10 and the blocks F so that the apparatus can be adapted to accommodate a variety of different sizes and types of article from which labels are to be removed and to allow for adjustment due to wear of the abrasive wheels 19.

Alternatively, threaded adjusters between relatively movable frame parts could be provided, or any other suitable means for adjusting the position of the shafts 16.

In Figure 4, the plurality of conveyors 3 can be seen arranged side by side with each of the conveyors being driven from a common shaft 6. The abrasive wheels are shown diagrammatically in Figures 1 to 3. In Figures 4 and 5 it can be seen that each wheel 19 comprises a rotatable wire brush, carried on a drive shaft 16, but could comprise a plastic wheel, grindstone wheel or abrasive paper, or any other suitable material.

In Figure 5, an automatic feed means 24 is shown which comprises a vibrating chute to permit articles to be automatically fed severally onto one of the conveyors 3. The chute 24 is pivoted to the frame 10 of the apparatus described about a pivot 26. This arrangement is shown enlarged in Figure 6 from which it can be seen that articles fed along the chute 24 are fed into the enclosed guide track 5 from above, directly onto the guide means 4 beneath, carried by the conveyor 3.

Using the apparatus described, an article such as a film cassette 1, can thus automatically be fed onto the conveyor 3 into engagement with the guide means 4 within the enclosed track 5 and hence conveyed to the position shown in Figure 1 where the part 2 of the film cassette on which the label is provided, comes into contact with the rotating abrasive wheel 19 so that the label is abraded away. As the article 1 continues to be conveyed, any remaining label is further abraded by a further abrasive wheel 19 until the article 1 reaches the end of the conveyor 3 when the article will fall from engagement with the guide means 4 into a collector below (not shown).Simultaneously with articles being fed along the chute 24, articles are abraded, and unloaded from the conveyor so that the operation is a continuous process, there being no need at any time during the process to stop rotation of the abrasive wheels 19 or the conveyors, unless a jam occurs.

Because the positions of the shafts 16 and hence of the axes of rotation of the abrasive wheels 19 can be adjusted up and down minimal contact between the abrasive wheels 19 and the material of the article can be assured so that only the label is abraded away.

A batch of sorted articles of the same type may thus be processed continuously using the apparatus described. When it is desired to process a different batch of articles such as film cassettes of a different configuration to the film cassette 1 shown, and/or of a different size, the height of the shaft 16 above the conveyor may be suitably adjusted and/or the guide means 4 and/or guide track 5 may be suitably adapted.

Referring now to Figure 7, an alternative embodiment is shown which is an apparatus for processing articles comprising cylindrical bottles 26 on which a label is provided.

Again, a conveyor 3 is provided which is driven as hereinbefore described with reference to conveyor 3 of Figures 1 to 6, but the guide means 4 are shaped to receive the cylindrical bottle 26.

Guide tracks 5 are provided but do not entirely enclose the bottle 26, but again are shaped to receive the bottle and permit the bottle to be moved in a conveying direction, by the conveyor.

In this embodiment, the abrasive wheels comprise wire brushes 19' which are each carried by their own respective drive shafts 16' which are angled relative to one another in order that the brushes can extend around a maximum area of the part 2' of the bottle 26 on which the label is provided.

Each drive shaft 16' is connected to a drive stub shaft by means of a universal joint 30 where this is necessary.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, or a class or group of substances or compositions, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

1. A method of removing a label from an article comprising the steps of conveying the article in a conveying direction to a position where the label is engaged with an abrasive surface, moving the abrasive surface relative to the article whilst constraining the article against movement under the action of the abrasive surface on the label.

2. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the article is conveyed by a conveying means which carries a guide means which constrains movement of the article, the method including locating the article relative to the guide means.

3. A method according to Claim 2 wherein the conveyor is a belt or chain type conveyor having a belt or chain respectively to which the guide means is secured, the method including the step of operating the conveyor to move the belt or the chain in the conveying direction.

4. A method according to Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the article is conveyed along a suitable track which is stationary, relative to the conveyor.

5. A method according to Claim 4 wherein the guide means in combination with the guide track provide regions in the conveyor which each correspond to the shape of the article from which the label is to be removed so that the article is constrained against movement relative to the conveyor in every direction in a plane generally parallel to the conveying direction in which the article tends to move under the action of the abrasive means on the label.

6. A method according to Claim 5 wherein the regions defined by the guide means each open generally upwardly and the method includes the step of locating an article in a region by moving the article generally downwardly prior to conveying the article to the position where the label is abraded.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the abrasive surface is provided by an abrasive wheel which is rotated to abrade and hence remove the article.

8. A method according to Claim 7 wherein the abrasive wheel is mounted for rotation about an axis above the article but generally parallel to the conveying direction.

9. A method according to Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein the abrasive wheel is rotated in a direction whereby that portion of the abrasive wheel which is in engagement with the label is moving in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the article.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the article is made predominently of a material which is recycled after the label has been removed.

11. A method according to Claim 10 wherein the material is a plastic material.

12. A method according to any one of the preceding claims which includes the step of automatically feeding a batch of articles generally onto the conveying means by means of a vibratory feeder.

13. A method of removing a label from an article substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. An apparatus from removing a label from an article comprising a conveying means to convey the article, an abrasive surface, means to constrain the article when the article is moved to a position where the label is engaged with the abrasive surface, means to move the abrasive surface relative to the article to remove the label under the action of the abrasive means.

15. An apparatus according to Claim 14 wherein the conveyor means comprises a conveyor having a continuous belt or chain.

16. An apparatus according to Claim 14 or Claim 15 wherein the means to constrain the article comprises a guide means which is carried by the conveyor means.

17. An apparatus according to Claim 16 wherein the guide means is adjustable relative to the conveying means to accommodate different sizes and types of article.

18. An apparatus according to any one of Claims 14 to 17 where the abrasive surface is provided by an abrasive wheel which is rotated about an axis above but generally parallel to the conveying direction.

19. An apparatus according to Claim 18 wherein the axis of rotation is adjustable up and down to accommodate batches of different sizes and types of articles which are processed by the apparatus.

20. An apparatus according to any one of Claims 14 to 19 wherein the apparatus has any one of the features of the apparatus used in the method of Claims 1 to 13.

21. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

22. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.