US3379601A

US3379601A - Arrangement for pasting metal foils on bottles in tin-foiling machines and the like

Info

Publication number: US3379601A
Application number: US365858A
Authority: US
Inventors: Pagay Roger
Original assignee: Societe Nouvelle Baele Gangloff SA
Current assignee: Societe Nouvelle Baele Gangloff SA
Priority date: 1963-05-09
Filing date: 1964-05-04
Publication date: 1968-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 1985-04-23
Also published as: FR1376512A

Description

April 23, 1968 R. PAGAY 3,379,60i

ARRANGEMENT FOR PASTING METAL POILS ON BOTTLES IN TIN-FOILING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed May 4, 1964 FiG.1 \a' United States Patent 3,379,601 ARRANGEMENT FOR PASTING METAL FOILS 0N BOTTLES IN TIN-FOILING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Roger Pagay, Lyon, France, assignor to Societe Baele- Ganglolf, Vilieurbanne, France Filed May 4, 1964, Ser. No. 365,858 Claims priority, application France, May 9, 1963, 43,624, Patent 1,376,512 6 Claims. (Cl. 156-568) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for applying metal foils onto bottles moving along a particular path, in which there is provided a fixed plate having a suction opening onto which the sheets of foil are placed one at a time, and a cylinder which is continually rotated and which carries a pincer which opens and closes automatically for gripping the free edge of the foil supported on the plate and conveying it towards the bottles while passing in its movement from the plate to the bottle in contact with a guiding cylinder.

This invention relates to foil applying apparatus.

Many bottles are conventionally covered in part with a sheet of foil chiefly aluminum foil, of a generally rectangular shape which is to be pasted over the neck of a bottle, generally in a position such that the diagonal lines of said foil lie in planes respectively parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the bottle. For such a pasting, it is of advantage to apply glue either on the metal foil or on the neck of the bottle.

In the first case, the transfer is performed through the agency of two glue-carrying metal blades engaging the metal foil and guiding it onto the path of the bottle, which, as it passes in front of it, engages the foil of which the two lateral edges have been coated with glue through contact with the two blades. Such a method is however suitable only for machines working at a low speed, that is for machines the output of which does not exceed 3,000 bottles per hour.

In the second case, it is possible to reach higher speeds, but other drawbacks are to be taken into account, to wit:

It is necessary to use a comparatively hard glue for the foil to adhere to the bottle in a moist condition; said hardness leads however to an irregular distribution of glue and consequently to the possible formation of important extra thicknesses which produce bulges in the foil when laid in position, in a manner determimental to the aesthetic appearance of the bottle; such unevennesses in the distribution of the glue lead furthermore in their turn to a uselessly large consumption of glue.

In the case of an application of the foil in a diamond position, that is in the position referred to hereinabove, the overlapping of the two horizontally pointing tips of the foil is very important; now, the foil is not glued in the vicinity of said tips, which requires an abundant wetting of the rear surface of the foil during the coating operation with a view to constraining a portion of the glue to pass off the neck of the bottle to engage the interval between the superposed tips of the foil; such a wetting leads however to serious drawbacks since, not only is it only a mere contrivance for cutting out as far as possible the above-mentioned defect, but furthermore, it acts detrimentally on the accurate application of further labels which are sometimes to be applied simultaneously over the neck of the bottle.

My invention removes said drawbacks and it has for its object an arrangement for laying a foil on a bottle at a very high speed with a uniform distribution of the glue Patented Apr. 23, 1968 and a reduced consumption of the latter, while resorting to the first method, that is a coating of the foil with glue.

My improved arrangement includes to this end, on the one hand, a stationary plate over which the metal foils are laid in succession, the breadth of said plate being less than the breadth or the diagonal line of the foil, said plate being provided with suction ports and on the other hand, a cylinder assuming a rotary movement and carrying at least one automatically opening and closing pincers, the part played by which consists in clamping the free edge of the metal foil which is held in position by the abovementioned plate and in feeding it to the bottle while causing the foil to engage, during its transfer movement, a glue-coated cylinder which lays glue on the foil.

The number of pincers provided on the rotary cylinder may be selected as desired. Thus, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cylinder carries four pincers including each a movable jaw pivotally secured to the cylinder and a stationary jaw forming the end of a pad of yielding material over the outer surface of which the foil is urged by the glue-carrying cylinder as it is being transferred by said pincers towards the path followed by the bottles.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawing illustrates, by way of example and in a nonlimiting sense, a preferred embodiment of said arrangement. In said drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a view from above and a sectional view through line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

Insaid drawings, 2 designates the foil which, as well known per se, is carried by a transfer arm 3 after it has been cut to the desired size and shape, said arm 3 assuming an oscillating movement, as shown by the arrow 4, said arm being equipped with sucking discs 5 adapted to take hold of the metal foil 2.

In FIG. 1, 6 designates the area of the tinfoiling machine adapted to affix metal foils within which each foil is laid over the bottles 7 which, as also known per se, assume simultaneously an arcuate translational movement in the direction of the arrow 8 and a rotary movement round their own axis.

The arrangement forming the object of my invention extends between the transfer arm 3 and the area 6 of the tin-roiling machine. Said arrangement includes chiefly the following parts:

A stationary plate 9 of which the height is larger than the maximum size of the foils 2, but the breadth of which is much less. Said plate 9 is provided along one of its surfaces with slots 10 connected with suction channels.

A small cylinder having a vertical axis 12, arranged to the rear of the plate 9 and of which the periphery is in contact with a cylinder 13 of a larger diameter and a fraction of the periphery of which is housed inside a glue container 11. These two

cylinders

12 and 13 are adapted to revolve in the directions of the corresponding arrows 14 and 15. A cylinder 16 keyed to a vertical shaft 17 assumes a continuous rotary movement in the direction of the arrow 18. Said cylinder 16 carries four pads 19 made of a yielding material, such as rubber. Said cylinder 16 carries furthermore [four spindles 21 carrying each a pivoting arm 22, the lower end of spindle 21 carrying a roller 23 running over a stationary cam 24 during the rotation of the cylinder 16. Each arm 22 forms, in association with the corresponding substantially radial surface of a pad 19, pincers opening and closing automatically during each revolution of the cylinder 16, at predetermined moments defined by the Outline of the cam 24.

The operation of this arrangement is as follows:

The cfoil 2 being brought by the transfer arm 3 onto the plate 9 is held on the latter as provided by the suction ports 10. Said foil projects however beyond said plate 9 towards the rotary cylinder 16 as illustrated in FIG. 1. Consequently, immediately after an arm 22 has passed in front of the foil, the pincers formed by said arm and the cooperating front surface of the carrier pad 19 lying to the rear of the arm close and take hold of the end of the foil 2 which is then carried along by the cylinder 16, while it slides not only along the plate 9 which has a tendency to hold it back, but also over the small glue-coated cylinder 12 which lays thus glue over the rear surface of the foil, except the part of its area which is held fast inside the pincers. After the foil has been thus coated with glue, it continues moving in the same direction towards the tinfoiling machine and it reaches finally the neck of a bottle 7 over which it is laid; when the foil has been thus partly afi'ixed over the neck of a bottle, the pincers open, and the foil is henceforward carried along solely by the neck of the bottle round which neck it is pasted completely in a well-known manner, for instance by means of a pad of sponge rubber.

It should be remarked that, as already disclosed hereinabove, a small portion of the foil has not been coated with glue, to wit that portion which is held inside the pincers. This does not lead however to any drawback since said portion is precisely that which is folded back first over the neck of the bottle, so as to be subsequently covered by the opposite end of the foil which latter end has been coated with glue during the transfer of the foil by the pincers from the plate 9 onto the bottle.

What I claim is:

1. In a bottle tinfoiling machine including a path along which the successive bottles move, a transfer system for transferring metal foils onto bottles moving along said path, said system comprising a stationary vertical plate, means supplying successive metal 'foils against said plate in projecting relationship therewith, means releasably holding said successive foils against said plate, a gluecoated cylinder having a vertical axis, movable pincers adapted to clamp in succession the foils on the plate and to remove the foils from the latter against the force of the means releasably holding the foils against the plate, means shifting said pincers to make each foil removed from the plate pass over the glue-coated cylinder and engage the corresponding bottles, and means releasing the foils from the the pincers 'when the foils have reached the corresponding bottles to allow the foils to remain on the respective bottles.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means releasably holding the foils against said plate is a suction means.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein each of said pincers includes a displaceable arm and a relatively fixed member which is fixed in respect of said arm, the fixed member being moved along a path into which a foil to be grasped protrudes, said fixed member including a yieldable section against which the grasped foil lays as said fixed member moves along said path, said glue coated roller sandwiching the grasped foil against the yieldable section for the application of glue.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means shifting the pincers is a rotatable cylinder and the means releasing the foils includes a cam and cam follower operating the pincers at predetermined positions along said path.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the breadth of said plate is less than the breadth of said foils.

6. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plate extends generally radially towards said rotatable cylinder, and wherein the means supplying the foils includes a pivotable arm swingable towards and away from the plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,858,954 11/1958 Tuthill 156--493 2,936,921 5/1960 Schulz 156-568 2,952,299 9/1960 Finke 156 510 3,202,564 8/1965 Carter 156-571XR 3,222,059 12/1965 Southcott 156--571XR EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

H. F. EPSTEIN, Assistant Examiner.