IES66129B2 - A label manufacturing process - Google Patents

Abstract

A set of label printing plates are prepared and mounted on a sheet printing machine (10). Sheets are fed through the printing machine (10) to print indicia associated with a number of labels on each sheet. After passing through a checking station (15), the sheets may be either embossed with a design and/or have a foil design applied to the labels on each sheet at an embossing or foiling station (16). The sheets are delivered to a cutting station (70) and cut into stacks of generally rectangular labels. The labels are then conveyed to a shaping station (72) and pushed through a shaped cutter to cut the labels to a desired shape. At an outlet of the cutter, the shaped labels are fed along a discharge chute in a controlled manner to a packing station (77). At the foiling station (16), each printed sheet is fed from a magazine onto a rotatable cylinder. Upon rotation of the cylinder, the sheet is engaged with a metal foil web. The web is pressed against the sheet by means of a hot die carried on a heated sliding bed to transfer a foil design onto labels printed on the sheet.

Description

This invention relates to a label manufacturing process.

The invention is particularly concerned with a process and apparatus for manufacturing high quality labels with embossed and/or metal foil designs on the labels in an efficient and trouble free manner.. It is also an object of the invention to minimise make-ready times for setting up machinery for setting up runs, this being particularly important where a large number of relatively small batches of labels have to be manufactured.

According to the invention, there is provided a label manufacturing process comprising the stepsspreparing a set of printing plates for labels, each printing plate bearing indicia associated with a number of labels arranged in a matrix of spaced-apart label indicia on each printing plate; mounting the printing plates on a sheet printing machine and adjusting the plates such that print registration marks are located a preset distance from a front and side lay of each sheet, feeding a number of sheets through the printing machine and printing label indicia on each sheet, discharging printed sheets from the printing machine and stacking the printed sheets on a pallet at an outlet of the printing machine, - 2 delivering the sheets to a guillotine and cutting a stack of sheets to provide a plurality of stacks of rectangular labels, transporting the labels to a shaping station, at the shaping station feeding a stack of labels to a cutter, the cutter having a tubular body with an endless shaped cutting blade formed along a rim at a lower end of the body, aligning the stack of labels with the cutting blade, pushing the stack of labels by means of a ram up through the cutter to cut the labels to a pre-desired shape, discharging the shaped labels from an outlet end of the cutter onto a discharge chute, feeding the shaped labels in a continuous stream in a controlled manner along the discharge chute to a packing station for packing the labels .

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the process further includes the step of applying a metal foil design to the labels on each printed sheet prior to cutting the sheets, the foil being applied by feeding a printed sheet from a magazine onto a rotatable cylinder, releasably securing the sheet on an outer surface of the cylinder, rotating the cylinder for engagement of the sheet with a metal foil web, pressing the web against the sheet by means of a hot die carried on a heated sliding bed associated with the cylinder to transfer a foil design onto labels printed on the sheet, sliding the bed on a support frame between a retracted disengaged position and an extended foil transfer position beneath the cylinder, feeding a web of foil over and above the bed, incrementally advancing the web across the bed as it moves between the extended foil transfer position and the retracted position.

In another embodiment, the process includes the step of feeding a foil web from a foil supply reel mounted at a front end of the bed, supporting the web above the bed between rollers at each end of the bed, leading the web between a drive roller and an associated tensioning roller mounted on the support frame, drawing the web of foil from the foil supply reel by operating the drive roller, winding up waste foil on a waste foil reel, synchronising rotation of the waste foil reel and the drive roller.

In a further embodiment, the process includes the step of feeding the web from a rear end of the bed to the drive roller by leading the web over a movable web guide frame mounted between the support frame and the sliding bed, the guide frame carrying a number of spaced-apart guide rollers over which the web travels, the guide frame comprising a front frame portion and a rear frame portion hingedly connected at their upper ends, a lower end of one frame portion being hingedly mounted on the bed and a lower end of the other frame portion being hingedly mounted on the support frame.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the process includes the step of embossing a design in relief on the labels on each printed sheet by feeding a. printed sheet from a magazine onto a rotatable cylinder, releasably securing the sheet on an outer surface of the cylinder, rotating the cylinder for pressing the sheet between a complementary pair of shaped dies to apply the design in relief to each label on the sheet, one of said dies being mounted on an outer surface of the cylinder and the other of said dies being mounted on a sliding bed associated with the cylinder, heating the die on the bed to a predesired temperature by heating the bed, sliding the bed on a support frame between a retracted disengaged position and an extended embossing position beneath the cylinder for pressing the sheet between the die on the cylinder and the heated die on the bed.

In another embodiment, the process includes the step of pressing the printed sheet against an outer surface of the cylinder by means of a brush, resiliently engaging the brush with the sheet for pressing the sheet against the cylinder as it travels past the brush.

In a further embodiment, the process includes the step of guiding the sheet onto the cylinder surface by means of curved guide rails mounted spaced-apart from an outer surface of the cylinder.

In another aspect, the invention provides apparatus for carrying out the process as hereinafter described.

In a preferred embodiment the apparatus comprises a ground engaging frame, a cylinder rotatably mounted on the frame with drive means for rotation of the cylinder on the frame, a clamp on the cylinder for gripping a leading edge of a sheet of printed labels to releasably secure the sheet on an outer surface of the cylinder, a sheet magazine with means for feeding sheets from an outlet of the magazine to the cylinder for engagement with the clamp, a brush mounted on the frame, an outer free end of the brush resiliently engagable with an outer surface of the cylinder to press a sheet against the cylinder, a set of curved guide rails mounted spaced-apart from a surface of the cylinder for guiding a sheet on to the cylinder, a sliding bed associated with the cylinder, the bed slidably mounted on the frame for movement between a retracted disengaged position and an extended position beneath the cylinder, means for releasably securing a die on the bed - 5 for applying a design to the labels on a sheet mounted on the cylinder when the bed is in the extended position.

In a preferred embodiment means is provided at a front edge of the bed for rotatably mounting a foil supply reel on the bed, web support rollers at each end of the bed for supporting a foil web above the bed, a web drive roller and an associated tensioning roller rotatably mounted on the frame for reception of a foil web therebetween, a web guide frame mounted between a rear end of the bed and the support frame, the web guide frame having a number of spaced-apart rollers over which the web travels between the bed and the drive roller, the guide frame comprising a front frame portion and a rear frame portion hingedly connected at their upper ends, a lower end of one frame portion being hingedly mounted on the bed and a lower end of the other frame portion being hingedly mounted on the support frame .

Ideally a jockey roller is mounted on the guide frame, the jockey roller engagable against a web travelling on the guide frame to apply a tension to the web.

The invention will be more clearly understood by the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a label manufacturing process according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side partially sectioned elevational view of a foil embossing apparatus used in the process; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of the foil embossing apparatus shown in a different position of use; Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view showing a cylinder and bed of the foil embossing apparatus; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view showing portion of the cylinder and bed; Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a foil reeling device forming portion of the foil embossing apparatus; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of portion of the foil reeling mechanism; Fig. 8 is a detail elevational view of the reeling mechanism shown in Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a label shaping station used in the process; Fig. 10 is a detail perspective view of portion of the label shaping station; and Fig. 11 is a detail sectional elevational view taken along the line XI-XI of Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawings, a process and apparatus for manufacturing labels according to the invention will be described.

A set of printing plates for labels is prepared, each printing plate bearing indicia associated with a number of labels arranged in a matrix of spaced-apart label indicia on each printing plate. The printing plates are mounted on a sheet printing machine 10. The printing plates are adjusted on the printing machine 10 such that printed registration marks are located a pre-set distance (preferably 30 mm) from a front and side lay of each sheet. This advantageously facilitates the rapid setting up of all the machines used throughout the process for handling the sheets. A batch of sheets required for a particular print run is fed through the printing machine and the desired label indicia is printed on each sheet. Printed sheets discharged from the printing machine are stacked on one or more pallets 12 for delivery to a checking station 15.

At the checking station 15, each sheet is examined to check the print quality for each sheet, faulty sheets being rejected. Sheets of acceptable print quality are stacked on pallets and counted. Prior to counting the sheets, the sheets may be optionally delivered to an embossing or foiling station 16 at which a decorative metal foil is applied onto each label on the sheet in a desired design and/or a design is embossed in relief on the labels .

Suitable apparatus for applying foil designs to each sheet of labels is shown in Figs. 2 to 8. The apparatus is indicated generally by the reference numeral 20. The apparatus 20 has a ground engaging frame 21. A cylinder 22 is rotatably mounted adjacent a front end of the frame 21 for reception of the printed sheets from a magazine 23 for applying foil to the sheets as will be described later. A bed 24 is slidably mounted on the frame 21 having associated drive means for reciprocal movement of the bed 24 between a retracted disengaged position as shown in Fig. 2 and an extended foiling position beneath the cylinder 22 as shown in Fig. 3. Gear teeth 25 at each - 8 end of the cylinder 22 engage with complementary racks 26 at each side of the bed 24 for correct alignment of the cylinder 22 with the bed 24. The bed 24 incorporates heating elements for heating the bed 24. A top surface of the bed 24 is adapted for releasably attaching printing dies 28 to the top surface of the bed 24, the dies 28 carrying the desired foiling design.

It will be noted particularly from Figs. 4 and 5 that adjustable sheet guide rails 30 are curved around portion of the cylinder 22 spaced-apart from the cylinder 22 to guide a sheet 32 fed onto the cylinder 22 from the magazine 23. It will be noted that the rails 30 are carried on supports 33 which are adjustable to vary the spacing between the rails 30 and cylinder 22. Each support 33 is slidably mounted on a carrier bar 34 and is releasably lockable on the carrier bar 34 by locking screws 35. In this way, the rails 30 can be spaced and positioned relative to the cylinder 22, as desired, and can readily easily and quickly be adjusted for different foiling or embossing runs.

Mounted below the rails 30 is a brush 37 which is resiliently engageable with a sheet 32 on the cylinder 22 to flatten the sheet 32 against the cylinder 22 immediately prior to embossing the sheet 32. The brush 37 is mounted by support brackets 38 on a carrying shaft 39. The brackets 38 may be rotated relative to the shaft 39 for adjustment of brush tension against a sheet 32 on the cylinder 22 and the brackets 38 can be locked in a set position on the shaft 39. A handle 40 is provided at one end of the shaft 39 for rotation of the shaft between an engaged position, as shown in the drawings, and a disengaged position. - 9 Ά foil support shaft 42 is rotatably mounted in carrier blocks 43 at each side of the bed 24. A quick release catch 44 releasably secures the shaft 42 on the blocks 43 and allows rapid mounting of a reel 46 of foil 47 on the shaft 42.

Guide rollers 48 (Fig. 3) for the foil 47 are provided at each end of the bed 24 such that the foil 47 can be stretched across the bed 24 above the bed 24 only coming into contact with the dies 28 when the bed 24 slides beneath the cylinder 22, as shown in Fig. 3 for applying foil in the desired design on the labels printed on each sheet 32.

A waste foil reeling mechanism 50 is provided at a rear end of the frame 21. The reeling mechanism 50 has a pair of roller support frames, namely a front roller support frame 51 and a rear roller support frame 52, each carrying a number of rollers 53 over which the foil 47 passes in use. The frames 51, 52 are pivotally connected adjacent their upper ends. A lower end 55 of the front frame 51 is pivotally mounted at a rear end of the bed 24. A lower end 56 of the rear frame 52 is pivotally mounted on the frame 21. Thus, the frames 51, 52 move together and apart with a scissors action as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 as the bed 24 reciprocates back and forth on the frame 21. A jockey roller 58 is suspended between pivoting support arms 59 at an upper end of the rear frame 52, being engageable with the foil 47 to apply a tension to the foil 47 .

The foil 47 is led between a drive roller 60 and an associated tensioning roller 61 before being wound on a reel 62. The drive roller 60 and rotation of the reel 62 are synchronised.

Referring to Figs. 7 and 8, the drive roller 60 and tensioning roller 61 are shown in more detail. The tensioning roller 61 is mounted on a support frame 64 which is urged by tension adjusters 65 towards the drive roller 60 at a preset tension. It will be noted that each end of the tension roller 61 is freely rotatably supported on the frame 64. Mounted at a centre of the frame 64 is a centre tensioning roller 66 which engages against a centre of the tensioning roller 61 to ensure an even tensioning across the width of the roller 61. The centre tensioning roller 66 is mounted on a carrier 67 which is slidably mounted on spaced-apart rods 68 on the frame 64 being spring biased towards the frame 64. A tension adjuster bolt 69 is provided on the frame 64 for adjusting the tension applied by the roller 66 by moving the carrier 67 and hence the roller 66 towards and away from the tensioning roller 61.

In use, a sheet 32 bearing the label indicia is fed from the magazine 23 to the cylinder 22 where a leading edge of the sheet 32 is gripped by jaws (not shown) on the cylinder 22, The sheet 32 is guided against the surface of the cylinder 22 by the guides 30 and the brush 37 to ensure it is smoothly seated against the surface of the cylinder 22 prior to foiling. As the cylinder 22 rotates, the bed 24 slides beneath the cylinder 22. The cylinder 22 presses the sheet 32 against the foil 47 which in turn is pressed against the heated dies 28 to transfer the desired pattern in foil onto the sheet 32. Upon retraction of the bed 2’4, the foil 47 is advanced from the reel 46 over the bed 24 and frames 51, 52 by means of the drive roller 60 and spooled up on the reel 62. In this manner, the foil 47 is incrementally fed across the bed 24 to apply foil to successive sheets 32 mounted on the cylinder 22. The sheets are collected at an outlet of the apparatus 20 for delivery to a checking station 71. It will be noted that the cylinder 22 has a cut-away portion 27 to accommodate a relatively large reel 46 of foil thus minimising the requirement to change reels 46.

In some cases, an embossed design in relief is applied to the labels on the sheets either separately or in addition to applying a foil design to the sheet. Where the embossed design and the foil design coincide, the embossing and foiling can be done in a single pass through the apparatus 20. Where different embossed designs and foil designs are applied to the labels then two runs of the sheets through the apparatus 20 will be required, one to apply the embossed design and the other to apply the foil design. The apparatus 20 is used in similar fashion for the embossing operation except that where embossing only is being carried out, the foil 47 is removed from the bed 24. To carry out the embossing, a complementary pair of shaped dies are provided, one of which is mounted on an outer surface of the cylinder and the other being mounted on the bed 24. When the bed 24 is advanced under the cylinder 22, the sheet 32 is pressed between the dies to apply the design in relief to each label on the sheet 32. It will be noted that the die on the bed is heated to a predesired temperature as this facilitates the impression of a high quality embossed design on the sheets.

Printed sheets, and where appropriate, sheets carrying foil designs and embossed sheets, are delivered to a cutting station 70. At the cutting station 70, a stack of sheets is aligned in a guillotine and cut to provide a plurality of stacks of rectangular labels. These stacks of labels are then delivered to a shaping station 72.

At the shaping station 72, a stack of labels is fed to a cutter, the cutter having a tubular body with an endless shaped cutting blade formed along a rim at a lower end of - 12 the body, the profile of the blade corresponding to the desired label shape. Each stack of labels is aligned with the cutting blade. A ram is operable to push the stack of labels up through the cutter to cut the labels to the predesired shape. Shaped labels are discharged from an outlet 75 of the cutter onto a discharge chute, indicated generally by the reference numeral 76.

The discharge chute 76 is of arcuate construction, as shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings, and leads to a packing table 77. Shaped labels 78 are continuously fed by means of the ram along the chute 76 onto the table 77 for subsequent packaging. The chute 76 has a base plate 80 along which the shaped labels 78 travel. A pair of adjustable side rails 82 are mounted upstanding at each side of the base 80 being carried by adjustable support brackets 83. The support brackets 83 are L-shaped having a lower end 84 which is slidably received in a mounting block 85 carried on a web 86 depending from the base 80. Locking screws 87 releasably secure the lower end 84 within the block 85. In this way, the spacing between the rails 82 can be readily easily and quickly adjusted to accommodate different sized shaped labels 78. The spacing of the rails 82 above the base 80 is also adjustable. Support blocks 88 attached to an outer face of each rail 82 are slidably engageable with upstanding arms 89 of the mounting brackets 83. The blocks 88 can be locked in any position along the arms 89. A top rail 90 is supported on mounting brackets 91 directly above and substantially parallel to the base 80. The brackets 91 are height adjustable to facilitate positioning of the top rail 90 relative to the base 80.

In use, the shaped labels 78 are fed in a continuous stream from the outlet 75 of the cutting station 72 to the packing table 77 for packing the labels.

It will be appreciated that the discharge chute provides a controlled and smooth flow of shaped labels from the shaping station to the packing table. The size and configuration of the chute can be readily easily and quickly adjusted to accommodate labels of different size.

It will also be appreciated that the foiling and embossing apparatus facilitates the production of high quality embossed and/or foil coated labels in a relatively efficient and trouble free manner. The guide rails and brush associated with the cylinder ensure accurate, even and close application of the printed sheets to the cylinder surface ready for foiling and/or embossing. The guide rails and brush can be quickly and easily adjusted, to accommodate different sheet sizes and types. Heating the embossing die on the bed ensures an accurate and sharp design is applied in relief to the labels on the printed sheets. Further, the foil reeling mechanism facilitates controlled delivery of the foil web across the bed for optimum use of foil on the web and accurate transfer of a foil design from the web onto the printed sheets. Foil supply reels can be rapidly and simply changed on the bed due to the quick-release mounting arrangement. The shaping of the cylinder also allows the carriage of relatively large foil supply reels on the bed to minimise production interruption due to mounting fresh supply reels on the bed.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims (5)

1. A label manufacturing process comprising the steps :preparing a set of printing plates for labels, each printing plate bearing indicia associated with a number of labels arranged in a matrix of spaced-apart label indicia on each printing plate; mounting the printing plates on a sheet printing machine and adjusting the plates such that print registration marks are located a preset distance from a front and side lay of each sheet, feeding a number of sheets through the printing machine and printing label indicia on each sheet, discharging printed sheets from the printing machine and stacking the printed sheets on a pallet at an outlet of the printing machine, examining the sheets to check the print quality for each sheet, stacking and counting the acceptable printed sheets, delivering the sheets to a guillotine and cutting a stack of sheets to provide a plurality of stacks of rectangular labels, transporting the labels to a shaping station, at the shaping station feeding a stack of labels to a cutter, the cutter having a tubular body with an endless shaped cutting blade formed along a rim at a lower end of the body, aligning the stack of labels with the cutting blade, pushing the stack of labels by means of a ram up through the cutter to cut the labels to a pre-desired shape, discharging the shaped labels from an outlet end of the cutter onto a discharge chute, feeding the shaped labels in a continuous stream in a controlled manner along the discharge chute to a packing station for packing the labels.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the process further includes the step of applying a metal foil design to the labels on each printed sheet prior to cutting the sheets, the foil being applied by feeding a printed sheet from a magazine onto a rotatable cylinder, releasably securing the sheet on an outer surface of the cylinder, rotating the cylinder for engagement of the sheet with a metal foil web, pressing the web against the sheet by means of a hot die carried on a heated sliding bed associated with the cylinder to transfer a foil design onto labels printed on the sheet, sliding the bed on a support frame between a retracted disengaged position and an extended foil transfer position beneath the cylinder, feeding a web of foil over and above the bed, incrementally advancing the web across the bed as it moves between the extended foil transfer position and the retracted position, preferably including the step of feeding a foil web from a foil supply reel mounted at a front end of the bed, supporting the web above the bed between rollers at each end of the bed, leading the web between a drive roller and an associated tensioning roller mounted on the support frame, drawing the web of foil from the foil supply reel by operating the drive roller, winding up waste foil on a waste foil reel, synchronising rotation of the waste foil reel and the drive roller, preferably including the step of feeding the web from a rear end of the bed to the drive roller by leading the web over a movable web guide frame mounted between the support frame and the sliding bed, the guide frame carrying a number of spaced-apart guide rollers over which the web travels, the guide frame comprising a front frame portion and a rear frame portion hingedly connected at their upper ends, a lower end of one frame portion being hingedly mounted on the bed and a lower end of the other frame portion being hingedly mounted on the support frame.

3. A process as claimed in any preceding claim, including the step of embossing a design in relief on the labels on each printed sheet by feeding a printed sheet from a magazine onto a rotatable cylinder, releasably securing the sheet on an outer surface of the cylinder, rotating the cylinder for pressing the sheet between a complementary pair of shaped dies to apply the design in relief to each label on the sheet, one of said dies being mounted on an outer surface of the cylinder and the other of said dies being mounted on a sliding bed associated with the cylinder, heating the die on the bed to a predesired temperature by heating the bed, sliding the bed on a support frame between a retracted disengaged position and an extended embossing position beneath the cylinder for pressing the sheet between the die on the cylinder and the heated die on the bed.

4. A label manufacturing process substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings .

5. · Labels whenever produced according to the process as claimed in any preceding claim.