JP2007230615A - Bellows actuating device in label sticking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bellows actuating device equipped with a flexible air tube in a label sticking apparatus using a bellows. <P>SOLUTION: The air tube 14 continuously provided with an air distributing apparatus 12 is formed of an elastic material, and its intermediate part is made into a spirally gently-bent shape. A bellows holding body 4 projecting the bellows 3 for performing sucking, holding and sticking a label is fitted at the other end of the air tube 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a bellows actuating device having a tube for feeding a negative pressure or compressed air for actuating a bellows-like bellows in a label sticking device for sticking a label to an adherend with an elastic bellows.

  For products such as cosmetic packages whose packaging is not solid, or products with a delicate label surface such as fruit, the surface of the adherend can be obtained by applying the label with a normal label applicator using a pressure roll. The adherend is easily deformed by the pressing force at the time of sticking or sticking, so the label is stuck with a bellows-shaped bellows made of an elastic material such as rubber without using a pressure roll. A device (see FIG. 5) is used that adsorbs and holds the label and expands the bellows by blowing air to attach the label to the adherend.

  Also, even when the label itself is an extremely thin label, it is difficult to attach the label to the adherend with a normal labeler, so the label is adsorbed with negative pressure using an elastic bellows. The label is attached by holding and air pressure.

  Label sticking with an elastic bellows adsorbs the label with negative pressure through a vent hole provided on the bottom of the bellows, and when sticking to the adherend, compressed air is blown by switching the air, so-called air blow A mechanism is adopted in which the label is transferred to the adherend and attached by the pressing force accompanying the expansion of the elastic bellows.

  In the label sticking apparatus using the elastic bellows described above, the bellows type flexible hose is used as the air hose for sending air to the bellows. As described above, after the bellows itself holds the label with negative pressure and moves toward the adherend, the bellows is expanded by blowing compressed air to transfer the label to the adherend surface. The bellows itself is supplied with compressed air, and the bellows-like bellows swells and expands, and the label is attached to the adherend surface with the pressure at the time of expansion.

Therefore, the support body supporting the bellows is synchronized with the movement of the bellows, moves from the label suction position to the label sticking position, and continuously performs a reciprocating operation to return to the original position when the sticking is completed. It is attached to the drive device. In order to follow the movement of the bellows support, the air hose is required to be flexible, and a bellows-like elastic hose such as rubber is used.
Japanese Patent Publication No.54-31360 Utility Model Registration No. 2505322

  However, when the above-described bellows-shaped air hose is used, the supplied air follows the spread of the bellows. As a result, when negative pressure (vacuum pressure) is supplied, the bellows contracts too much, and compressed air When air is supplied, air fills even the bellows of the bellows, so it is necessary to supply air more than necessary, and the amount of air is wasted. Therefore, it must have a large air tank compared to the airframe, and the bellows itself is made of rubber and requires elasticity, so the wear and tear is intense during repeated contraction and expansion of the bellows, and it must be replaced during work However, the frequency and cost increase of parts replacement were problems.

  In the present invention, in order to improve this from the above situation, an air tube connected to an air distribution device for supplying negative pressure or compressed air is formed of an elastic material, and an intermediate portion of the air tube is spirally formed. A bellows holding body in which a bellows for adsorbing and holding a label and sticking a label is provided at the other end of the air tube so as to project gently.

  Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, an intermediate portion that is susceptible to deformation of the air tube due to movement of the label attaching means is formed in a spiral shape, so that the load on the movement of the air tube in the vertical and horizontal directions is reduced. This can be buffered at the bent portion of the tube that bends gently, and deformation of the tube can be prevented. Moreover, since there is no deformation of the tube, there is no loss of supplied negative pressure or compressed air, the amount of air consumed can be greatly reduced, and a stable amount of air can be maintained, so the efficiency of labeling work It will contribute to the transformation.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of the embodiments.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a main configuration of a label sticking apparatus 1 showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A bellows holding body 4 having a bellows 3 made of bellows-like rubber or the like at the tip is attached to the movable support plate 5 at the lower part of the machine body 2 and attached to a link arm 7 projecting from driving means 6 comprising a pulse motor. It is pivotally attached to the shaft 7a and constitutes a label attaching means 8. The bellows 3 has a plurality of air through holes 3a formed on the bottom surface, and is attached to the bellows holder 4 in a replaceable manner. The bellows holder 4 is airtight.

  The movable support plate 5 is further connected at one end to a rod 10 of an air cylinder 9 by a connecting member 11, and is configured to reciprocate in the vertical direction on the entire label attaching means 8 including the bellows 3. .

  An air distributor 12 is connected to an air tank (not shown) installed outside the machine body 2 and includes an air switching valve mechanism for switching supply of negative pressure (vacuum pressure) or compressed air. An air tube 14 is connected to the outlet side of the air distributor 12 via a nipple 13, and the other end of the air tube 14 is airtightly connected to the bellows holding body 4 of the label applying means 8 via a nipple 15, Negative pressure or compressed air selected from the air distributor 12 is supplied into the bellows 3 at the tip.

The air tube 14 is a flexible tube made of an elastic material such as polyurethane, and is gently twisted by 1.5 to 3 turns spirally in the middle part, and only the connecting parts at both ends are linear. It is a configuration to present.
Incidentally, as the air tube 14, a straight tube for air piping having an inner diameter of 8 mm and an outer diameter of 12 mm was adopted, and a spiral tube was formed by gently bending the middle portion while heating.

  Next, in describing the operation, the general operation of the label sticking apparatus will be described first according to the operation explanatory diagram of FIG. The adherend W to which the label A is stuck is fed to a position where the label sticking means 8 stands by on a transport path B such as a conveyor. On the other hand, the label is intermittently sent out by the label feeding / separating device C, and immediately before being separated into individual labels A, the label sticking means 8 is tipped by the negative pressure sent from the air distributor 12. The bellows 3 contracts to attract and hold the label A on the bottom surface of the bellows 3. Needless to say, the label A has the adhesive surface facing outward and the printed surface is adsorbed by the bellows 3.

  Next, when the label affixing means 8 itself is lowered by the drive of the air cylinder 9 and reaches the position of the standby adherend W, compressed air is supplied from the air distributor 12, and the bellows 3 is reversed. The label A adsorbed and held on the bottom surface of the bellows 3 is sprayed and pressed on the surface of the adherend W to be stuck.

  When the label sticking is completed, the air supply is stopped, the bellows 3 receives the negative pressure and contracts to the original state, and the label sticking means 8 holding the bellows 3 returns to the original standby position. Thereafter, labeling is performed while repeating the above operation.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention is as follows.
It is as described above that the label applying means 8 is operated by the negative pressure or compressed air sent from the air distributor 12, and the negative pressure or compressed air is applied to the bellows 3 via the spiral air tube 14. It is supplied into the protruding bellows holding body 4.

  Further, the label adsorbing and holding by the contraction of the bellows 3 and the label applying operation by the expansion of the bellows 3 are also as described above, but the label applying means 8 including the bellows 3 receives the label A and adheres to the adherend W of the label A. When moving to the sticking operation, the movement of the link arm 7 of the driving device 6 moves to the right in the figure and moves to the left in the figure to return to the original position upon completion of labeling. Is performed as one step, and this operation is repeated every time a label is attached.

  Therefore, the air tube 14 is forced to follow the movement of the label attaching means 8, but the air tube 14 is formed of a flexible material and is gently bent spirally from the middle portion. The label sticking means 8 can smoothly follow up and down and left and right movements.

  Conversely, when the air tube 14 is a straight tube, the tube itself is hard even if it is a flexible tube, and it is difficult to follow the movement of the label applying means. It is conceivable to form the tube itself with a softer material in order to follow it, but if it is too soft, the tube itself contracts when subjected to negative pressure, making it difficult to supply sufficient negative pressure to the end bellows. Conversely, when the compressed air is supplied, if the tube is too soft, the compressed tube itself expands, increasing the amount of air consumed and adversely affecting energy efficiency.

It is a matter of course that the tube is required to have an appropriate hardness from the air consumption, and the air tube of the present invention is formed in a spiral shape with an intermediate portion that is susceptible to deformation of the tube due to the movement of the labeling means As a result, this can be absorbed by a bent portion that bends gently with respect to the load with respect to the vertical and horizontal movements of the tube, and deformation of the tube can be prevented.
Further, since the tube is not deformed, it can be handled with the minimum amount of air, and the air consumption can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, compared with the conventional bellows hose, it is possible to improve the wear of the air tube, greatly contributing to the efficiency of label sticking work and cost reduction.

It is the schematic of the label sticking apparatus which shows the structure of the principal part of this invention. It is a schematic side view of the label sticking apparatus of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the outline | summary of the label sticking means and air tube of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the whole action | operation of this invention. It is the schematic of the label sticking apparatus using the conventional bellows.

Explanation of symbols

Label sticking device 1, label sticking device 3, bellows 4, bellows holder 5, movable support plate 6, drive means 7, link arm 8, label sticking means 9, air cylinder 12, air distributor 14, air tube

Claims (2)

  In a label sticking device for adhering and holding a label with a bellows that receives a negative pressure and sticking it to an adherend with the bellows expanded by compressed air, the air tube connected to the air distributor is made of an elastic material. The bellows holding body with a bellows protruding at the tip is attached to the other end of the air tube, and the bellows for adsorbing and holding the label is attached to the other end of the air tube. Bellows actuating device in the label sticking device.   The bellows actuating device in the label sticking device according to claim 1, wherein the air tube is bent 1.5 to 3 turns spirally at an intermediate portion thereof.

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