US3679523A - Neck supporting bracket for jug labeling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A neck supporting bracket for a machine for applying a label to a jug having with a handle thereon while the jug is rotated while on its side around a horizontal axis. The machine has a pair of parallel horizontal rollers, driving means coupled to the rollers for driving the rollers, label feed means for feeding labels one at a time to the space between the rollers, and glue applying means between the rollers, and glue applying means between the label feed means and the rollers for intermittently applyin glue to labels fed thereby. A starting switch is provided adjacent the rollers having an actuating arm which is engaged and actuated when a jug is placed on its side on the rollers. The starting switch is connected to the driving means for starting the driving means when the starting switch actuating arm is engaged. A label feed switch is provided which has an actuating arm extending upwardly to a position in the path of the jug handle as the jug is rotated. A label position timer is connected between the label feed switch and the label feed means for controlling the feed of labels when the label feed switch is actuated, and a glue timer is connected between the label feed switch and the glue applying means for controlling the application of glue to the fed labels. The neck supporting bracket is vertically mounted on the machine adjacent the position of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on the rollers, and has bearing means on the upper end lying along the periphery of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on the rollers.

Description

. y 25, 1972 D. v. KNIGHT NECK SUPPORTlNG BRACKET FOR JUG LABELING MACHINE Filed Dec 4, 1970 INVENTOR DONALD V. KNIGHT FIG.2

' BY @a/WZZQ ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,679,523 NECK SUPPORTING BRACKET FOR JUG LABELING MACHINE Donald V. Knight, Thomasville, Ala., assignor to Ciba- Geigy Corporation, Greenburgh, N.Y. Filed Dec. 4, 1970, Ser. No. 95,118 Int. Cl. B65c 3/12 US. Cl. 156447 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A neck supporting bracket for a machine for applying a label to a jug having a neck with a handle thereon while the jug is rotated while on its side around a horizontal axis. The machine has a pair of parallel horizontal rollers, driving means coupled to the rollers for driving the rollers, label feed means for feeding labels one at a time to the space between the rollers, and glue applying means between the label feed means and the rollers for intermittently applying glue to labels fed thereby. A starting switch is provided adjacent the rollers having an actuating arm which is engaged and actuated when a jug is placed on its side on the rollers. The starting switch is connected to the driving means for starting the driving means when the starting switch actuating arm is engaged. A label feed switch is provided which has an actuating arm extending upwardly to a position in the path of the jug handle as the jug is rotated. A label position timer is connected between the label feed switch and the label feed means for controlling the feed of labels when the label feed switch is actuated, and a glue timer is connected between the label feed switch and the glue ap plying means for controlling the application of glue to the fed labels. The neck supporting bracket is vertically mounted on the machine adjacent the position of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on the rollers, and has bearing means on the upper end lying along the periphery of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on the rollers.

The invention relates to a support for the neck of a plastic jug to which a label is being applied while the jug is being rotated about a horizontal axis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART It has been found desirable in certain product packing operations to fill a liquid product, such as a herbicide, into a plastic jug with a handle attached to the neck and upper part of the jug, and only thereafter apply a label to the filled jug. This avoids spillage on and discoloration and damage to the label during filling. Moreover, because of certain considerations which are not relevant to the present discussion, it is desirable to apply the labels to a certain part of the jugs relative to the handle while they are in a horizontal position. Moreover, in order to make it possible to print instructions on the back of the label and have these available to be read by the purchaser of the product, it is desirable to glue the labels to the jugs by glue only at the opposite side or end edges thereof.

Patented July 25, 1972 "ice This makes it possible to tear the label from the jug and read the printed material on the back of the label.

A machine has been developed which will carry out such a labeling operation. It has parallel horizontal rollers 5 which are rotated to rotate a jug which is placed thereon.

During the rotation a label to which glue has been applied at the opposite side edges is fed against the surface of the jug and is adhered thereto. The jugs are manually placed one at a time on the horizontal rollers, and after the label has been applied, the labeled jug is manually removed. Placing of the jug on the machine actuates a starting switch which starts the rollers rotating. A further switch is provided which is actuated by the handle of the jug during'rotation in order to actuate means starting a sequence of timing operations which eventually cause a label to be fed and glue to be applied to the label.

Because the actuating of the further switch depends on this switch being engaged by the handle of the jug, the relative position of the jug with the handle thereon and the switch is a critical factor in the correct operation of the machine. Moreover, the machine has been found to work well only with jugs which have a substantially cylindrical cross-section.

However, because many products which are sold in such jugs are highly corrosive, it has been found desirable to sell them in plastic jugs, such as polyethylene jugs. These jugs have relatively thin walls, and it has been found that especially in warm weather when they are filled with liquid and placed on their sides in the machine described above, they tend to distort due to the weight of the liquid. This causes improper operation of the machine for several reasons. Firstly, the jugs fail to rotate properly on the horizontal rollers, and in some cases simply bump up and down on the rollers. Moreover, the positions of the neck and handle are changed so that the neck contacts the further switch at all times, so that the label feeding and glue applying sequence does not occur properly.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve a machine for applying labels to jugs by placing thereon a bracket which will support the neck of the jug so as to help the jug maintain its shape.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved machine with a simple attachment which will support the neck of the jug so as to properly position the neck and handle relative to the switching means for controlling the label feed and glue applying operations of the machine.

These objects are achieved by the provision of a bracket mounted on the machine at the end where the neck of the jug is located during the labeling operation, which bracket has two rollers thereon adapted to be positioned beneath and against the periphery of the neck of the jug to support the neck of the jug in the proper position relative to the switching means actuated by the handle of the jug. The provision of such a bracket causes the jugs to be supported on the machine in such a way that they not only rotate properly, but the jug handle strikes the switching means properly and only at the proper time during rotation of the jug.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Before describing the bracket which is the improvement in the machine as discussed above, a description will be given of the machine itself. The machine is a conventional label applying machine, one specific machine being the machine sold by Labelette Co., Chicago, 111., under the name Labelette. As shown somewhat schematically in FIG.

1, the machine has a frame with a table-like top 11, and two horizontal rollers 12 are mounted on the frame 10 parallel to each other so as to project upwardly slightly above the top 11. The rollers 12 are spaced sufiiciently so that when a jug I to which a label is to be applied is placed with its axis in a horizontal position on the rollers 12, the periphery of the jug will extend slightly downwardly into the space between the rollers 12. A starting switch 13 has a wire-like actuating arm 14 projecting upwardly into space between the rollers 12 a distance such that when a jug is placed on the rollers the actuating arm 14 is moved so as to actuate the switch 13. The starting switch 13 is connected to a motor ,15 to start the motor when the switch is actuated. The motor 15 is coupled to the rollers 12 by means (not shown) to drive the rollers 12 in the direction of the'arrows to rotate the jug I about its horizontal axis in the direction of arrow 1'.

- Inclined upwardly from one end of the frame 10 is alabel storage and feed table 16supported by a bracket j 17. A label feed roller 18 is mounted beneath the table 16 and projects through the table against the under side of a stack of labels L for feeding them one at a time under a guideroller 19 mounted above the table 16 toward and under a guide roller 20 at the lower end of the table 16.

' The label is then guided by a guide 23 over the surface of a glue applying roller 21 which is driven by motor 16 in the direction of the arrow to pick up glue from a reservoir22 and which carries the glue to the label movf ing along the guide 23. The guide 23 is movable up and down with respect to the glue applying roller 21 by means (not shown), and in the raised position, the label is not contacted by the glue applying roller, while in the lowered position the label is contacted by the glue applying roller to have glue applied to the under side thereof. Label guides 24, which are a series of vertical plates having the shapeas shown and which are spaced at intervals along the rollers 12 receive the label with the glue applied thereto and guide it around the right-hand roller 12 and guide the side of the label having the glue applied thereto against the surface of the jug being rotated on the rollers 12.

-In order to start the feed of the labels at the proper time so that they are applied at the right location on the jug, there is provided a label feed switch 25 which has a relatively long actuating arm 26 which extends upwardly in the vicinity of the location of the neck N of the jug when it is in place on the rollers 12. The actuating arm 26 extends almost to the position of the neck and the end thereof is in the path of the handle H of the jug as it is rotated on the rollers 12. The label feed switch is connected to two timers, a label position timer 27 and a glue timer 28. The label position timer 27 is connected to drive means (not shown) for the label feed roller 18, and when actuated causes the label feed roller 18 to feed a label; The glue timer is in turn connected to the means for raising and lowering the guide 23. When actuated, it raises the guide 23 after a certain length of time, and then after a further length of time lowers it again.

In operation, a jug J is placed onthe rollers 12, actuating the actuating arm 14 of. the switch 13, thereby dl'iV-r ing the motor to rotate the rollers 12 and the glue apply- 7 ing roller 21. This rotates the jug I until the handle H' strikes the actuating arm 26 of the switch 25, which in turn actuates the timers 27 and 28. The label .position timer causes the feed of a label, and when the front edge of the label reaches the guide 23, it has glue applied thereto by the rotating glue applying roller 21. At that time the glue timer actuates the means for raising and lowering the guide 23 to raise the guide 23. The further feed of the label across the guide 23 does not cause the application of glue to the label. After an appropriate length of time sufficient for the rear edge of the label to reach the guide 23, the timer 28 actuates the means for raising and lowering the guide 23 to lower it, whereupon the roller 21 applies glue to therear edge of the label. The label is then fed around the right-hand roller 12 along the guides 24 and fed against the surface of the jug with the glue containing face against the surface of the jug. Further. rotation of the jug I causes the label to be rolled between the jug and the right-hand roller 12. t

As pointed out above, when the jug is distorted due to the weight of liquid contained therein, the distorted shape will not be rotated by the rollers 12, and moreover the neck will be shifted so that it contacts the actuating arm 26 of the switch 25 at all times. This causes constant ac tuation of the timers 27 and 28 with consequent improper operation of the label feed and glue applying steps.

According to the present invention, and as more clearly shown in FIG. 2, 'a bracket is added to the machine which supports the neck N of the jug I when it is in position on the rollers 12. The bracket has a body member 30 which is secured by bolts 31 or the like in an upright position to the frame 10 of the machine. On the upper end of the bracket is a bearing means, which in this embodiment, is a pair of side by side neck supporting rollers 32 rotatably mounted on the body member 30 for rotation around axes parallel to the axes of rotation of the rollers 12. The peripheries of the neck supporting rollers 32 are tangent to the .peripheral surface of the neck N of the jug when the ing is in the proper position on the rollers 12. Other appropriate bearing means can be substituted for said rollers.

In operation, when the jug is placed on the machine the neck supporting rollers 32 support theneck N of the jug and carry a portion of the weightof the liquid in the jug. As a result, the jug is not distorted, and the position of the neck N relative to the actuating arm 26 is kept' proper at all times. Therefore, not only is the jug rotated properly on the rollers 12, but also the neck N of the jug I is kept above the level of the actuating arm 26 so that the actuating arm 26 is struck only by the handle H. Thus all of the operations of the machine can be performed properly.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for applying a label to a jug having a neck with a handle thereon while the jug is rotated'while on its side around a horizontal axis, the machine having a pair of parallel horizontal rollers, driving means coustarting switch actuating arm is engaged, a label feed.

switch having an actuating arm extending upwardly to a position in the path of the jug handle as the jug is rotated, a label position timer connected between the label feed switch and the label feed means for controlling the feed of labels when the label feed switch is actuated, and

a glue timer connected between said glue applying means for controlling the application of glue to the fed labels, that improvement comprising a support means for the neck of the jug, comprising a bracket vertically mounted on said machine adjacent the position of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on said rollers, and bearmg means on the upper end of said bracket lying along the periphery of the neck of the jug when the jug is in position on the rollers.

2. The improvement as claimed in claim 1 in which said bearing means are a pair of side by side neck supporting rollers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 RALPH S. KENDALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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