Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65C—LABELLING OR TAGGING MACHINES, APPARATUS, OR PROCESSES
  • B65C9/00—Details of labelling machines or apparatus
  • B65C9/08—Label feeding
  • B65C9/18—Label feeding from strips, e.g. from rolls
  • B65C9/1803—Label feeding from strips, e.g. from rolls the labels being cut from a strip
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J11/00—Devices or arrangements  of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in sheet or web form
  • B41J11/02—Platens
  • B41J11/04—Roller platens
  • B41J11/057—Structure of the surface
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J3/00—Typewriters or selective printing or marking mechanisms characterised by the purpose for which they are constructed
  • B41J3/407—Typewriters or selective printing or marking mechanisms characterised by the purpose for which they are constructed for marking on special material
  • B41J3/4075—Tape printers; Label printers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65C—LABELLING OR TAGGING MACHINES, APPARATUS, OR PROCESSES
  • B65C9/00—Details of labelling machines or apparatus
  • B65C9/46—Applying date marks, code marks, or the like, to the label during labelling

Definitions

• This invention relates to a labelling machine.
• the invention relates to an automatic labelling machine of the type which uses an adhesive-coated web and which cuts the web into separate labels to be applied to containers or packs.
• Automatic labelling machines which comprise a silicone roller round which the adhesive-coated web is partly wound and a cutting device located downstream of the roller relative to the direction of feed of the adhesive-coated web in order to cut the web into lengths forming the labels.
• a printing device also operates at the roller to press the adhesive-coated web against the silicone roller and leave on the web a caption, a shape or, more generally, a graphic design as, for example, a brand logo.
• prior art systems contemplate the use of a succession of fixed diverting blades partly inserted in radial grooves made in the silicone roller in such a way that, as the roller rotates, the adhesive-coated web wound round the roller meets the blades which detach it from the roller.
• the diverting blades are positioned between the aforesaid belts in such a way as to act on the central strip of the adhesive-coated web in order to detach it from the silicone roller.
• the use of the aforesaid fixed diverting blades constitutes a potential obstacle to the web's feed movement towards the cutting device, basically because the adhesive-coated web tends to adhere to the diverting blades and to come to a stop.
• the web must be laterally supported and guided by the aforementioned belts, which are driven in the same direction of feed as the web.
• the web that can be used on the machine must, accordingly, be of a single, predetermined size.
• the technical purpose which forms the basis of this invention is to propose a labelling machine which overcomes the above mentioned disadvantage of the prior art.
• this invention has for an aim to provide a labelling machine which offers a high level of operating flexibility and, more specifically, which works correctly with adhesive-coated webs of different sizes.
• FIG. 1 schematically represents a labelling machine according to this invention
• FIG. 2 is a simplified perspective view of a part of the machine of Figure 1.
• the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a labelling machine according to this invention.
• the labelling machine 1 is of the type designed to use a continuous, adhesive-coated web 2, preferably of paper or plastic, which can be fed by unwinding a roll not illustrated.
• the adhesive-coated web 2 is of the type having a first side 2a which is suitable for printing with graphical designs, captions or the like, and an adhesive- coated second side 2b which is suitable for direct application on a product to be labelled.
• the second, adhesive-coated side 2b is the underside of the web
• the web After being unwound from the roll, the web is made to advance in a direction of feed "A" in order to receive a graphic design and/or a caption and then cut into lengths, each of which forms a single label.
• the labelling machine 1 comprises a supporting roller 3 which the adhesive-coated web 2 rests on or is partly wound round during its feed movement.
• the supporting roller 3 is rotatable about a fixed axis "X", preferably horizontal, and is preferably made entirely of, or coated with, a silicone material for reducing adhesiveness to the adhesive-coated web 2 (the adhesive side of the web 2 faces the supporting roller 3).
• the supporting roller 3 has an outside surface 3 a which occupies a preferably cylindrical space. Alternatively, however, it might also occupy a space having a different shape, provided always that it is suitable for supporting the continuous web as the latter advances.
• peripheral grooves 4 Formed on the outside surface 3 a of the supporting roller 3 are one or more peripheral grooves 4, annular in shape and preferably centred on the axis of rotation "X" of the supporting roller 3.
• peripheral grooves 4 which do not alter the overall space occupied by the supporting roller 3, extend preferably in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation "X" so that during the rotation of the supporting roller 3, the grooves 4 are positioned according to a stationary profile.
• the labelling machine 1 comprises a plurality of diverting discs 5 and the same number of peripheral grooves 4, equally spaced from each other along the axis of rotation "X" of the supporting roller 3.
• each diverting disc 5 may be circular, elliptic or serrated, depending on different requirements.
• it might consist of a cam with two or more teeth.
• each diverting disc 5 partly penetrates into the space occupied by the supporting roller 3 in such a way as to intersect the imaginary extension of the outside surface 3 a of the supporting roller 3 at the grooves 4.
• the adhesive-coated web 2 adheres to the outside surface 3a of the supporting roller 3, it encounters at least one of the diverting discs 5 when the supporting roller 3 rotates.
• the diverting discs 5 are rotatable about the same, common axis of rotation "Y" which is preferably parallel to the axis of rotation "X" of the supporting roller 3.
• the diverting discs 5 are made to rotate as one about the axis of rotation "Y", for example by being mounted on a single shaft 6 with fixed axis.
• the shaft 6 is preferably driven rotationally through the use of a drive device (not illustrated), such as, for example, an electric motor.
• a drive device such as, for example, an electric motor.
• the drive device is the same device that drives the supporting roller 3.
• the drive device can adjust the rotation speed of the diverting discs 5 as a function of the rotation speed of the supporting roller 3.
• the direction of rotation of the diverting discs 5 is concordant with the direction of rotation of the supporting roller 3 so that during the rotation of the supporting roller 3, the diverting discs 5 can intercept a front portion of the adhesive-coated web 2 and move it away from the supporting roller 3 itself.
• a print head 7 which is designed to impress a caption or graphic design on the first side 2a of the adhesive-coated web 2.
• the print head 7 is of substantially known type and requires the use of a print ribbon 8 which is fed in the same feed direction as the adhesive-coated web 2 and above the latter.
• the print head 7 is designed to cause the print ribbon 8 to transfer ink to the adhesive-coated web 2 using dot-by-dot electric charges.
• the print ribbon 8 is unwound from a respective first reel 9 and then wound onto a respective second reel 10.
• the print ribbon 8 is guided by a pair of tensioning rollers 11, 12 which keep the print ribbon 8 oriented according to a substantially straight line above and close to the adhesive-coated web 2 so as to allow the print head 7 to correctly impress the graphic design on the adhesive-coated web 2.
• a cutting station 13 Downstream of the diverting discs 5, there is a cutting station 13 of substantially known type which cuts the adhesive-coated web 2 (with the captions and/or graphic designs previously printed on it) into lengths forming the labels to be applied to the products.
• the supporting roller 3 is provided with reciprocating rotational motion which, once the front portion of the adhesive-coated web 2 has been cut off to form the label, feeds the web backwards in such a way as to move the next front portion of it under the print head 7.
• feed means 14 are interposed between the diverting discs 5 and the cutting head 13 there are feed means 14 designed to contribute to the feeding of the adhesive-coated web 2 towards the cutting head 13.
• the feed means 14 are preferably of the belt type and comprise one or more pairs of pulleys 15, 16, round each pair of which a respective belt 17 is trained.
• Each belt 17 has a straight stretch 18 extending between the two pulleys 15, 16, facing the adhesive-coated web 2 and forming a support for the adhesive- coated web 2 itself.
• the straight stretch of the belt 17 lies in a plane whose extension is tangent to the respective diverting disc 5. That guarantees a uniform surface on which the adhesive-coated web 2 is fed forward from the supporting roller 3 to the cutting station 13.
• the pulleys 15, 16 are rotatable about respective axes of rotation "Zl", “Z2" which are parallel to each other and parallel to the aforementioned axes of rotation "X” and “Y” of the supporting roller 3 and diverting discs 5.
• the pulley 15 which is closer to the diverting disc 5 partially occupies a space between two adjacent diverting discs 5 in such a way that part of it provides added support for the adhesive-coated web 2 as it passes from the diverting discs 5 to the belt of the feed means 14.
• a belt 17 is provided for each of the diverting discs 5.
• a plurality of belts 17 might be provided, each alternated between two adjacent diverting discs 5.
• blower means 19 are provided for directing a jet of air towards the second side 2b (the underside) of the adhesive-coated web 2 in order to cool the latter after it has undergone the heating effect created by the print head 7.
• the machine 1 according to the invention can use an adhesive-coated web 2 having a minimum width (measured perpendicularly to the direction of feed "A") of 50 mm and a maximum width of 150 mm.
• the belts 17 are spaced apart by a distance (measured along the axis of rotation Zl" or "Z2") of between 15 and 20 mm from each other.
• the diverting discs 5 are also spaced apart by a distance (measured along the axis of rotation "Y") of between 15 and 20 mm from each other.

Landscapes

• Agricultural Chemicals And Associated Chemicals (AREA)
• Labeling Devices (AREA)
• Registering, Tensioning, Guiding Webs, And Rollers Therefor (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=42542945

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2009
  • 2009-12-24 IT ITBO2009A000826A patent/IT1396872B1/it active
• 2010
  • 2010-12-21 WO PCT/IB2010/055984 patent/WO2011077373A2/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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