JP2000264320A - Label-attaching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label-attaching device which restricts to the utmost upsizing of a device and unstable carrying of an attachment target which occur in the case of the high speed attaching of a stretch label to the the attachment target. SOLUTION: A rotary type label-attaching device 5 having label-attaching heads 10 is provided for successively receiving stretch labels L and bottles B and attaching the labels L to the bottles B during one rotation. A label supply device 3 for supplying the label L to each label-attaching head 10 and a label- giving- and -receiving device 4 are also provided. Further, a bottle supply device 2 for supplying the bottle B to each label-attaching head 10 and a bottle-carrying device 6 for sending out the bottle B with the attached label L from the label- attaching head 10 are provided. In the label-attaching device 5, a pitch between the label-attaching heads 10 is made small by vertically shifting and arranging the adjacent label-attaching heads 10 so that their occupying areas overlap each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label mounting apparatus for mounting a stretch label on an object such as a bottle or a bottle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11 shows a label mounting system for mounting a tubular stretch label on an outer peripheral surface of an object to be mounted such as a bottle or a bottle. The label mounting system 50 includes an expanding means for expanding the stretch label so as to be larger than the outer diameter of the bottle B, and a bottle B for inserting the bottle B into the stretch label expanded by the expanding means. A rotary-type label mounting device 60 including a plurality of mounting heads 61 on which an elevating table or the like for raising and lowering the mounted state is mounted.
And a label supply device (not shown) for supplying a stretch label to each mounting head 61 passing through the label supply position X.
And a bottle supply device 70 comprising a belt conveyor 51, a screw conveyor 71 and a star wheel 72 for supplying the bottle B to each of the mounting heads 61 passing through the bottle supply position Y, and each of the mounting heads 61 passing through the bottle sending position Z. And a bottle conveying device 80 including a star wheel 81, a screw conveyor 82, and a belt conveyor 51 for sending a bottle B having a stretch label attached thereto.
At the bottle supply position Y, the stretch label and the bottle B are sequentially received, and the stretch label is attached to the bottle B while the bottle B is transported to the bottle delivery position Z.

In the above-described label mounting system 50, when the label mounting system is operated at a high speed in order to increase the number of bottles B to be processed per unit time, it is necessary to increase the rotation speed of the rotor of the label mounting apparatus 60. It is conceivable, however, that the working time required for one bottle is generally determined, so that the rotation speed of the rotor cannot be extremely increased. Usually, as shown in FIG. 12, mounting is performed while maintaining the rotation speed. This is dealt with by increasing the number of heads 61 installed.

However, when the number of mounting heads 61 is increased as described above, the rotation orbit of the mounting head 61 is inevitably increased as shown in FIG. There is a problem in that the moving speed of the mounting head 61 becomes faster and it becomes difficult for the mounting head 61 to transport the received bottle B in a stable state.

Further, when the label mounting system is operated at high speed, the number of bottles B to be supplied to the label mounting apparatus 60 per unit time is inevitably increased, so that the conveying speed of the belt conveyor 51 must be increased. There is also a problem that it is difficult to stably transfer the bottle B in the bottle supply device 70 and the bottle transfer device 80.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a label mounting apparatus capable of minimizing an increase in the size of an apparatus and an unstable transport state of the apparatus, which occur when a stretch label is mounted on the apparatus at a high speed. It is to provide a device.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention sequentially receives a stretch label and an object to be mounted, and applies the stretch label to the object during one rotation. In a rotary-type label mounting apparatus having a plurality of mounting heads to be mounted, the pitch between the mounting heads is arranged by shifting the adjacent mounting heads up and down so that their occupied areas overlap each other. Was made smaller.

In the label mounting apparatus configured as described above, the pitch between the mounting heads is reduced by arranging the adjacent mounting heads vertically so as to overlap their occupied areas. Did
The rotation trajectory of the mounting head can be reduced. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the entire apparatus and reduce the moving speed of the mounting head, so that the mounted object can be transported in a more stable state as compared with the conventional label mounting apparatus. Will be possible.

[0009] Further, by reducing the pitch between the mounting heads, the supply pitch of the object to be supplied to the mounting head and the sending pitch of the object to be transmitted from the mounting head are also reduced, and the mounted object is conveyed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the transport speed of the belt conveyor or the like, and thus to transport the mounted object in a more stable state.

In particular, when the number of mounting heads is increased for high-speed operation, problems such as an increase in the size of the apparatus and instability of the transport state of the object to be mounted due to the mounting head always occur. By employing the above-described configuration, such a problem can be minimized.

[0011]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a label mounting system 1 for mounting a tubular stretch label (hereinafter, referred to as a label) L formed of an elastic stretch film made of a polyethylene resin on a PET bottle (hereinafter, referred to as a bottle) B. This label mounting system 1 is
The label is supplied while sequentially cutting the long label forming base material M fed from the base roll by the base feeding unit 3a and the bottle feeding device 2 including the belt conveyor 7, the star wheel 2a, the screw conveyor 2b, and the star wheel 2c. L, and a label supply device 3 for sequentially supplying the label L to the first label delivery position α, and a second label supply device 3 for receiving the label L supplied to the first label delivery position α by the label supply device 3 and receiving the second label L. And the label delivery device 4 that conveys the bottle B supplied from the bottle supply device 2 at the bottle supply position γ, conveys the bottle B to the bottle delivery position δ, and is conveyed by the label delivery device 4. The received label L is received at the second label delivery position β, and the bottle B is moved from the bottle supply position γ to the bottle delivery position δ. A rotary type label mounting device 5 for mounting the label L on the bottle B while transporting the label L to the bottle B;
The label loading device 5 is configured to carry out the bottle B on which the label L is loaded, and comprises a bottle transport device 6 including a star wheel 6a, a screw conveyor 6b, and a belt conveyor 7.

The label forming substrate M is a bottle B
Are continuously connected to each other, and are wound around a drum in a state of being folded into a sheet shape in the base material feeding portion 3a. Also, the base material feeding section 3
The sheet-like label-forming base material M fed out from the a is folded back in the middle of the supply so that the folding position can be changed so that the label L can be easily opened again when the label L is attached to the bottle B. (See FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the label mounting device 5 is provided with a plurality of support arms 11 and 12 projecting radially from a rotating shaft (not shown) to form a concentric circle centered on the rotating shaft. A plurality of label mounting heads 10 are provided at regular intervals on the top, and each label mounting head 1
0, the tubular label L folded into a sheet and received at the second label transfer position β is expanded larger than the outer diameter of the bottle B, and the expanded label L is
The bottle B received at the bottle supply position γ is mounted on the body of the bottle B while being conveyed to the bottle delivery position δ.

The label mounting head 10 expands the cylindrical label L received in the second label transfer position β and folded into a sheet shape at a label mounting level larger than the outer diameter of the bottle B. The mechanism 20 and the bottle B placed on the elevator 43 at a position below the label mounting level at the bottle supply position γ are turned into a label L expanded at the label mounting level by raising the elevator 43. And a bottle elevating mechanism 40 to be inserted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the label opening mechanism 20 holds the label L folded into a sheet delivered by the label delivery device 4 at a position immediately above the bottle B placed on the elevator 43. Label opening means 21 which receives and opens in a cylindrical shape, and label expanding means 25 which expands the label L opened by the label opening means 21 by opening / closing claws 28 larger than the outer diameter of the bottle B. The label expanding means 25 is fixedly installed at the label mounting level by the support arm 11, and the label opening means 21 is arranged at a position immediately above the label expanding means 25 so as to be able to move up and down.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the label opening means 21 has a pair of clamp members 22 which can be opened and closed.
A suction unit (not shown) that causes the clamp member 22 to suction-hold both sides of the label L held by the clamp member 22 by sucking from a suction port formed in the holding unit 22a of the clamp member 22; Opening / closing drive means 23 for opening / closing and a lifting / lowering means 24 for lifting / lowering the clamp member 22. The label opening means 21 is capable of holding the label L folded into a sheet shape conveyed by the label transfer device 4. In the second label transfer position β, the label L is received by being clamped by the clamp member 22 and the label L is moved by the operation of the suction means.
The label L is opened in a cylindrical shape by opening the clamp member 22 and separating both sides of the label L from each other while the both sides of the label L are sucked and held by the holding portion 22a. In addition, the clamp member 22 not only performs such opening work of the label L, but also grips the label L together with the opening / closing claw 28 when the label L is mounted on the bottle B, as described later in detail. It has a function of holding the label L on the opening / closing claw 28 and holding the label L on the bottle B by holding the label L together with the bottle B.

It should be noted that the label delivery device 4 is similar to that shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, a "U" -shaped label suction unit that suctions one side of the sheet-shaped label L to the tip of an arm that rotates so as to pass through the first label transfer position α and the second label transfer position β. The label L is delivered when the holding portion 22a of the clamp member 22 holds the label L sucked by the label suction portion 4a and separates the label L from the label suction portion 4a.

The opening / closing drive means 23 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, a spring 23a that constantly biases the clamp member 22 in the closing direction, a pair of rollers 23b attached to the base end side of the clamp member 22, and a lower end portion,
An operating rod 23c to which a cam member 23d having a cam surface that comes into contact with both rollers 23b by being inserted between the rollers 23b is attached.
As shown in FIG. 2, a cam follower 23e fitted into a cam groove (not shown) is attached to the upper end of the arm through an attachment arm 23f.

The opening / closing drive means 23 constructed as described above
Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the cam follower 23e is lowered by the cam groove, the operating rod 23
When c is lowered and the cam member 23d attached to the lower end of the operating rod 23c pushes and spreads the roller 23b, the clamp member 22 is opened. Therefore, the clamp member 22 is opened and closed by moving the operation rod 23c up and down by a cam mechanism including the cam groove and the cam follower 23e.

As shown in FIG. 2, the elevating means 24 includes:
An operating rod 24a movably supported by the support arm 12 and a clamp member 2 provided at a lower end of the operating rod 24a.
2 and a cam follower 24c fitted into a cam groove (not shown) attached to the upper part of the operating rod 24a via a mounting arm 24d. The cam mechanism includes a cam groove and a cam follower 24c. The clamp member 22 is moved up and down by moving the operating rod 24a up and down.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the label expanding means 25.
Is shown. FIG. 6 shows a cross section A along the center line of the support arm 11 of the label mounting head 10 positioned at the label transfer position β, the label mounting head 10 positioned at the label transfer position β, and its label. Mounting head 1
0 and the support of the label mounting head 10 adjacent to the label mounting head 10 located at the label transfer position β. FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which a cross-sectional portion C along the center line of the arm 11 is developed.

The label expanding means 25 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, an annular disk 26 having a cam groove 26a rotatably supported by the support arm 11, and the annular disk 2
6 has a sliding member 27 that fits into the groove formed in the groove 6 and slides in the radial direction of the annular disk 26, and an opening / closing claw 28 fixed to the sliding member 27 for expanding the label L. The lower end of the label L to be inserted is brought into contact with the opening / closing claw 28 so that the step 2 for positioning the label L is provided.
8a are formed.

Further, a cam follower 29 which fits into a cam groove 26a formed in the annular disk 26 is attached to the sliding member 27. The cam groove 26a rotates the annular disk 26 as shown in FIG. By doing so, the sliding member 27 is shaped to move in the radial direction of the annular disk 26.

Also, on the outside of the annular disk 26, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The shaft 31 is rotatably supported through the shaft 3.
1, a gear 32 meshing with teeth formed on the outer peripheral surface of the annular disk 26 and an arm 33 having a cam follower 34 attached to the tip are fixed. The cam follower 34
It fits into a cam groove 35 formed in an annular plate material arranged along the rotation trajectory of the mounting head 10.

Therefore, the cam groove 35 and the cam follower 34
When the arm 33 is swung by the cam mechanism composed of the following, the gear 32 fixed to the shaft 31 rotates, and the annular disk 26 meshed with the gear 32 rotates accordingly. The open / close claw 28 is attached to the cam groove 26.
a and a cam follower 29 moves in the radial direction of the annular disk 26.

As shown in FIG. 7, the label expanding means 25 is arranged such that an annular disk 26 or the like constituting a driving mechanism of the opening / closing claw 28 projects outside the opened / closed claw 28. Since it occupies a certain amount of plane area, the adjacent label expanding means 25 has, as shown in FIGS.
One is on the upper surface of the support arm 11 and the other is on the support arm 11.
The opening and closing claw 2
8 by vertically displacing the drive mechanism portions, the projecting portions of the drive mechanisms are installed so as to overlap with each other in a planar manner, whereby the pitch between the adjacent label mounting heads 10 is made as small as possible. I made it smaller. However,
The length of the opening / closing claw 28 of the label expanding unit 25 shifted downward is increased so that the label L to be mounted on the bottle B is always expanded at the same label mounting level. The upper end and the level of the step 28a are aligned.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottle lifting mechanism 40 is mounted on an operating rod 41 supported by the support arm 12 so as to be vertically movable, and is attached to a lower end of the operating rod 41 via a mounting arm 42. , A lift 43 for mounting the bottle B, and a cam follower 45 fitted in a cam groove (not shown) mounted on the operating rod 41 via a mounting arm 44.
By moving the operating rod 41 up and down by a cam mechanism including a cam groove and a cam follower 45, the lift 43 is moved up and down.

Further, the bottle elevating mechanism 40 moves the bottle B on the elevating platform 43 while lowering the elevating platform 43 in conjunction with the lowering operation of the elevating platform 43 when the elevating platform 43 is lowered with the bottle B placed thereon. The operating means 46 is supported by the support arm 12 so as to be vertically movable, and is attached to a lower end of the operating rod 46.
A head holder 47 fitted into the head of the bottle B;
6, which was attached to the center of attachment 6 via an attachment arm 48.
A cam follower 49 fits into a cam groove (not shown), and the head holder 47 is moved up and down by moving the operating rod 46 up and down by a cam mechanism including the cam groove and the cam follower 49.

The head holder 47 is used not only for lowering the bottle B, but also for positioning the label L expanded by the opening / closing claw 28 at the label mounting level. That is, the label L inserted into the opening / closing claw 28 is forcibly pushed down from above by the head holder 47, so that the lower end of the label L is securely brought into contact with the step portion 28a of the opening / closing claw 28 so that the label L Is to be positioned.

The label mounting apparatus 5 configured as described above
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the clamp member 22 receives the cylindrical label L folded into a sheet and conveyed to the label transfer position β by the label transfer device 4. However, at the position immediately before the second label delivery position β, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the mounting head 10 is placed above the opening / closing claw 28 fixedly installed at the label mounting level. The holder 47 and the clamp member 22 are located respectively, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), while the mounting head 10 approaches the label delivery position β, the clamp member 22 is gradually closed and the opening / closing claw 28 is also closed, and as shown in FIG.
At the label transfer position β, the clamp member 22
, The label L is received from the label delivery device 4, and the label L is transported to the position just before the bottle sending position δ in that state (see FIG. 4D). At this time, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D, the bottle B on which the label L has been attached in the previous process is placed on the elevating table 43, as shown in FIG. Thus, at the bottle sending position δ, the bottle B on which the label L is attached is delivered to the bottle transport device 6.

When the clamp member 22 holding the label L is opened, as shown in FIG.
After the label L is opened in a cylindrical shape, the clamp member 22 and the head holder 47 are gradually lowered, and as shown in FIG.
As shown in (f)), at the bottle supply position γ, the label L opened in a cylindrical shape is inserted into the open / close claw 28 in the closed state, and a new bottle B delivered from the bottle supply device 2 is placed. It is placed on the lift 43.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9 (g), the head holder 47 descends, and the head holder 47 pushes down the label L inserted into the opening / closing claw 28, thereby opening and closing the lower end of the label L. The label L abuts on the step portion 28a of the claw 28, the label L is reliably positioned at the label mounting level, and the lift 43 on which the bottle B is placed starts to move up. When the label L is positioned by the head holder 47, the suction of the clamp member 22 is released, and at the same time, the clamp member 22 is slightly opened to release the suction of the label L by the clamp member 22. It is in a state of being left.

When the label L is positioned at the label mounting level in this manner, the opening and closing claw 28 is opened as shown in FIG. 11H, whereby the label L is expanded at the label mounting level. At the same time, the head holder 47 slightly rises and waits. Then, when the label L is expanded at the label mounting level, the clamp member 22 is slightly closed to press and hold the label L against the opening / closing claw 28, and as shown in FIG. The bottle B rising by the table 43 is inserted into the expanded label L, and the head of the bottle B fits into the head holder 47. At this time, since the label L is held by the opening / closing claw 28 by the clamp member 22 holding the label L together with the opening / closing claw 28, the label L is lifted together with the bottle B when the bottle B is inserted into the label L. Never.

In this state, since the upper end of the label L above the opening / closing claw 28 is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the body of the bottle B, it is shown in FIG. 10 (j) (FIG. 10 (j)). As described above, once the grip of the label L by the clamp member 22 is released, the clamp member 22 rises, and the upper end of the label L in close contact with the bottle B is gripped again together with the bottle B, so that the label L is B.

Then, as shown in FIG. 10 (k), the lifting table 43, the head holder 47 and the clamp member 22 are raised together, so that the clamp member 22 transfers the label L to the bottle B.
When the bottle B is once lifted in the state where the label L is held, the opening / closing claw 28 is removed from the label L and the spread of the label L is released, the label L is completely attached to the bottle B.

Here, when the clamp member 22 is opened, the holding of the label L with respect to the bottle B is released, and as shown in FIG.
Drop together, the bottle B with the label L attached
After being retracted from the label mounting level,
Rises and returns to the original position shown in FIG. 8A, and the bottle B with the label L is delivered to the bottle transport device 6 at the bottle delivery position δ as described above.

As described above, in the label mounting apparatus 5, of the components of the label mounting head 10, the drive mechanism of the label expanding means 25 occupying a certain plane area is replaced by the driving mechanism of the adjacent label mounting head 10. The pitch between the label mounting heads 10 is made as small as possible by arranging the driving mechanism portion of the label expanding means 25 while vertically displacing it so as to overlap with the driving mechanism portion. The orbit becomes smaller, thereby making it possible to reduce the size of the entire apparatus and to reduce the moving speed of the label mounting head 10, so that the bottle is more stable in comparison with the conventional label mounting apparatus. B can be transported.

Also, by reducing the pitch between the label mounting heads 10, the supply pitch of the bottle B supplied to the label mounting head 10, the label mounting head 10
Of the bottle B to which the label L is attached is also reduced, and the transport speed of the belt conveyor 7 for transporting the bottle B can be suppressed. In this case, the bottle B can be transported in a more stable state.

In particular, when the number of the label mounting heads 10 to be installed is increased in order to perform high-speed operation, the rotation orbit of the label mounting head 10 is inevitably widened. However, as described above, by reducing the pitch between the label mounting heads 10, such a problem can be minimized. Therefore, it can be said that this is an optimal form as a label mounting apparatus for high-speed operation in which a large number of label mounting heads 10 are installed.

In this embodiment, the case where the stretch label is attached to the PET bottle has been described.
The body to be mounted is not limited to the PET bottle as described above, and the label mounting apparatus of the present invention can be applied to a case where a stretch label is mounted on various containers such as bottles and cans or a cylindrical body. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a label mounting system including one embodiment of a label mounting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a label mounting head of the label mounting apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing label opening means in the label mounting head.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a clamp member in the label opening means according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an opening / closing drive mechanism of the clamp member.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a label expanding unit in the label mounting head of the above.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the internal structure of the above label expanding means.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram showing a label mounting operation of the above label mounting apparatus.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing a label mounting operation of the above label mounting apparatus.

FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory view showing a label mounting operation of the label mounting apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional label mounting system.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional label mounting system for high-speed operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Label mounting system 5 Label mounting apparatus 10 Label mounting head 20 Label expanding mechanism 21 Label opening means 25 Label expanding means 28 Opening / closing claw 40 Bottle lifting mechanism B Bottle L Stretch label

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Kondo 1-5 Ishihara-cho, Sakai-shi, Osaka F-Asterec Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3E095 AA07 BA02 BA10 CA01 DA03 DA24 DA32 DA44 DA83 DA86 FA29

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary label mounting apparatus comprising: a plurality of mounting heads for sequentially receiving a stretch label and an object to be mounted, and mounting the stretch label on the object to be mounted during one rotation. A label mounting device, wherein the mounting heads are arranged while being shifted up and down such that their occupied areas overlap each other, thereby reducing the pitch between the mounting heads.