GB1597916A

GB1597916A - Apparatus for labelling

Info

Publication number: GB1597916A
Application number: GB8816/78A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: MFR DE MACHINES DU HAUT-RHIN SA; Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin SA MANURHIN
Current assignee: MFR DE MACHINES DU HAUT-RHIN SA; Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin SA MANURHIN
Priority date: 1977-03-07
Filing date: 1978-03-06
Publication date: 1981-09-16
Also published as: FR2383079B1; JPS53134399A; FR2383079A1; NL7801924A; BR7801337A; DE2809308C2; BE864652A; DE7806517U1; ES467587A1; JPS6028738B2; DE2809308A1; IT7820937A0; IT1093176B; CH627698A5

Abstract

The labelling apparatus for bottles (36) possesses a labelling roller (1) which is provided with cells (41) on its circumference and to which the bottles (36) are fed by a chain (34) having conveying carriers (35). Each bottle (36) is lifted out of its carrier (35) on a curved zone and is provided with a label. A plurality of workstations, at which the labels can be applied, are arranged around the labelling roller (1). The labels can be glued around the product at the point provided for this purpose, without slipping or creasing being possible. <IMAGE>

Description

(54) APPARATUS FOR LABELLING (71) We, MANUFACTURE DE MACHINES DU HAUT-RHIN S.A., a French Company of 10 Rue de Soultz, 68060 Mulhouse Cedex, France, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The invention refers to apparatus for labelling, with continuous kinematic, articles exhibiting symmetry of revolution, especially bottles.

It is known that machines with "continuous kinematic" are in very great use in the bottling industry. The expression "machines with continuous kinematic" is used to denote machines in which the article to be handled passes along with a continuous motion, the handling operations that this article undergoes being carried out during this continuous movement. Especially, machines with continuous kinematic arc already known for the labelling of bottles, in general after their filling. However, these known labelling machines with continuous kinematic displays a certain number of disadvantages. In particular they do not in general ensure accurate positioning of the label on the bottle, which spoils the appearance of the finished bottle.In addition they do not often allow the applying of labels of great length, that is to say labels having a length which is as large as the circumference of the articles to which they are to be applied.

Finally their rate of production is in general limited.

The aim of the invention is to correct the deficiencies of known labelling machines with continuous kinematic and to create a labelling machine with continuous kinematic for objects exhibiting symmetry of revolution and especially for bottles, which enables exact positioning of the label, the possible employment of long labels and a high rate of production.

To do this the invention comprises apparatus with continuous kinematic (as above defined) for applying, to articles exhibiting symmetry of rotation, labels which extend at least part way round the circumference of the articles, such apparatus comprising a labelling drum having peripheral cells, means for feeding a train of article-containing carriages to said drum, one carriage to each cell, means for withdrawing the articles from the carriages and maintaining them in the cells and means for applying a label to each thus withdrawn article arranged so that as the label contacts the article their relative motion in a direction tangential to the article is zero.

The invention will be described in greater detail by referring to an embodiment represented on the attached drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation in plan of the device in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 represents diagrammatically in plan a detail of the device in accordance with Figure 1, Figure 3 is a diagrammatic elevation partially cut away, of the device in accordance with Figure 1, the righthand portion of Figure 3 corresponding with the axial halfplane 0-I in Figure and the lefthand portion of Figure 3 corresponding with the axially 0-II in Figure 1, the viewer being located between the planes 0-I and 0-II, Figure 4 represents diagrammatically a variant upon the means of storage and take-up of the labels, Figures 5a and 5b represent diagrammatically a second variant upon the means of storage and take-up of the labels.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 3, the reference 1 designates as a whole a labelling drum. A fixed vertical column 2 is centred on the vertical axis 0-0 of this drum. Upon this column is mounted coaxially a fixed structure 3 resting upon the baseplate 4 of the drum. Likewise on this baseplate 4 there rests a fixed support 5 in the form of a crown mounted coaxially with the structure 3 and the column 2. An assembly 7 which forms the lower stage of the labelling drum 1 revolves on this support 5 by means of a race 6.

At the top portion of the labelling drum 1 is mounted on the structure 3 a fixed plate 8 which supports a fixed crown 9 centred on the axis 0-0 and upon which by means of a race 10 an assembly 11 revolves, which forms the upper stage of the labelling drum 1.

The revolving assembly 7 on the one hand and the revolving assembly 11 on the other are respectively driven in rotation by means of crowns having internal teeth 12 and 13 respectively fast to these assemblies 7 and 11 and with which mesh respectively pinions 14 and 15 fast to a vertical shaft 16 which in turn is driven in rotation by means of a wheel-and-worm transmission 17, 18 by an electric motor (not shown) located in the baseplate of the drum 1.

The revolving assembly 7 forming the lower stage of the drum 1 includes a certain number of stations uniformly distributed round its periphery. Each of these stations includes a support device movable vertically with respect to the assembly 7, the support device consisting of a bracket 19 fast to two columns 21 and 23. During the course of the vertical movement of the support device the bracket 19 slides on the guide column 20 fast to the assembly 7 and moves with it in the vertical direction the columns 21 and 23.

The column 21 bears at its upPer end a seat 22 for an article to be labelled such as a bottle 36. The column 23 carries on the side a roller 24 which upon rotation of the assembly 7 round the axis 0-0 moves round in a barrel cam 25 fast to the fixed structure 3 and coaxial with the axis 0-0. This travel of roller 24 in the groove in the barrel cam 25 causes the vertical motion of the support device consisting of the column 23, the bracket 19 and the column 21. The upper end of the column 23 includes an inclined plane which acts upon a ratchet mechanism lever 26 upon vertical movement of the column.

The revolving assembly 11 forming the upper stage of the labelling drum 1 includes a certain number of stations distributed round its periphery. Each of these stations has a label holder 27 against the bottom of which a label take-up member 28 carried by a lever 29 capable of rocking about a honzontal spindle 30 can be applied externally.

The rocking of the lever 29 about the horizontal spindle 30 is effected by means of a pinion 31 fast to the lever 29 and actuated by a rack 32 fast to a roller 33 moving round in a cam groove arranged in the fixed plate 8.

Starting from this preliminary description of the mechanisms of the labelling drum 1 and completing this description progressively, the operation of this labelling drum will now be described.

The products to be labelled, which in the example illustrated are bottles, are brought to the labelling drum by a train ot carriages 34 (Figure 1). This train 34 consists of "carriages 35 connected together by hinges thus forming a continuous train flexible in the horizontal plane. The bottles 36 are located inside these carriages 35 which present the appearance of cups open at the top (see Figure 3) and they are held by a stopblock 37 which is applied against the body of the bottle under the force of a leaf spring 38. The train 34 thus conveying the bottles is deflected by a feed drum 9 equipped round its peripheray with cells 40 and revolving in the direction of the arrow G about a vertical axis 0' in synchronism with the labelling drum 1 and tangentially to it.

For its part the labelling drum 1 has cells 41 distributed uniformly round its periphery and designed to receive the carriages 35. In order not to overload the drawing only a small number of these cells 41 have been shown in Figure 1. The synchronous rotation of the feed drum 39 tangentially to the labelling drum 1 has the effect of transferring the carriages 35 from the cells 40 in the feed drum 39 into the cells 41 in the labelling drum 1.

The bottles 36 thus located in the carriages 35 inside the cells 41 in the labelling drum 1 first of all follow an arc a during the course of which a bottle 36 is withdrawn from its carriage 35 and brought up to the level of the upper stage of the labelling drum 1 in the position shown on the right of Figure 3. This upwards movement of the bottle results from the fact that during the following of the arc a the roller 24 moves round in a rising part of the groove in the barrel cam 25 and is moved upwards taking along the column 23 the end of which in the shape of an inclined plane, by way of the ratchet mechanism lever 26 disengages the bottle 36 from the stop-block 37 as shown on the righthand portion of Figure 3.Then the roller 24 continuing its travel upwards, by way of the support device comprising the bracket 19, the column 21 and the seat 22, raises the bottle 36 up to its labelling position. During the following of a second arc b and a third arc c the roller 24 will move in a horizontal part of the groove in the barrel cam 25, with the result that the seat 22 will be held until the end of the arc c at the level which it occupied at the end of the arc a.

The arc c is succedded by an arc d during the following of which the seat 22 is lowered again to its low position by a falling part of the groove in the cam 25. This falling part will be followed by a horizontal part, with the result that the seat 22 will remain in its low position during the following of twe more arcs e and f up the start of the arc a where the cycle which has just been described recommences.

Furthermore, at the end of following the arc c the label take-up member 28 is in the position shown in the righthand portion of Figure 3, the arm 29 upon which this member 28 is mounted being in a nearly vertical position. During the following of the two following arcs of the circle, d and e, the arm 29 is first of all brought to the horizontal position by means of the pinion 31, the rack 32 and the roller 33, because this roller is engaged in a portion of the cam groove the radius of which with respect to the axis 0-0 is steadily decreasing. When the arm 29 is in the horizontal position shown on the left of Figure 3 the upper face of the label take-up member 28 is in contact with the recto of the label located at the bottom of the label holder 27.A suction device 42 not shown in detail because of its conventional employment on labelling machines, then causes powerful adhesion of this label onto the upper face of the take-up member 28.

The roller 33 in continuing its travel along the cam groove arranged in the plate 8 now comes opposite a portion of this groove of which the distance from the axis 0-0 is steadily increasing. The result is that the roller 33 is moved radially towards the outside and the arm 29 folds down in order to adopt at the end of the arc of the circle e the vertical position shown on the right of Figure 3. It will preserve this vertical position during the following of the arcs of the circle f, a, b and c, then the cycle which has just been described will recommence. While following the arc of the circle f the label which is still firmly held by the suction against the takeup member 28, will pass by in contact with a gluing device 43 of conventional construction and which will apply glue to the verso of the label as it goes by.

The label, still being held by the suction against the take-up member 28, will continue the move horizontally until the end of the arc of the circle a, where the bottle carried by the seat 22 will come to be located, as has been seen previously, at a higher level which is with respect to the label the level suitable for applying it. At this time a belt 44 moving in the direction of the arrow H and mounted upon three drums having vertival axes, namely, a driving drum 45, a return drum 46 and a tightener 47, lays the bottle 36 against the bottom of the cell 41 where the body of the bottle becomes centred against two rollers 48 (Figures 2 and 3). This pressing back of the bottle 36 against the bottom of the cell 41 has the effect of applying the outer wall of the bottle against the glued verso of the label.

In order that this application shall be made impeccably in spite of the clearances and tolerances of construction, the label take-up member 28 is, for example, mounted resiliently on the arm 29 so that the bottle in coming to be put in position against the rollers 48 pushes back the member 28 resiliently. The dimensioning of the toothed crowns 12 and 13 on the one hand and that of the toothed pinions 14 and 15 on the other hand, as well as the number of respective stations on the revolving assemblies 7 and 11, will have been determined so that the angular velocity of the label about the axis 0-0 is greater than the angular velocity of the bottle about this same axis.Furthermore, apart from the fact that the belt 44 lays the bottle 36 against the rollers 48, by friction it drives this bottle in rotation about itself in a direction of rotation the opposite of that of the labelling drum 1 and at a tangential velocity equal to the linear velocity of the belt 44 relative to the respective cell 41 in the labelling drum.

The velocity of rotation of the driving drum 45 of the belt 44 is adjusted so that the relative linear velocity of the belt and consequently the tangential velocity of the bottle 36 in its rotation about itself is such that in combination with the velocity of movement of the bottle 36 about the axis 0-0 it yields for a point on the wall of this bottle in contact with the label a tangential velocity about the axis 0-0 equal to that of the label itself. In other words there is no slip between the wall of the bottle and the label and under these conditons the label, the glued verso of which is pressed hard against the wall of the bottle by the combined action of the belt 44 and the resilient mounting of the label carrier member 28, will adhere strongly to this wall and be wrapped round the bottle during the following of the arc of the circle b without slipping or folding.This wrapping of the label round the bottle is facilitated by a progressive reduction or suppression during the following of the arc of the circle b, of the force of suction being exerted on the label by means of the suction device 42.

It is to be observed, furthermore, that when a bottle 36 is brought by the action of the belt 44 into contact with one of the ends of the label the other end of this label is not in contact with the bottle 36 immediately following, which has remained centred on its seat 22 since it has not yet been brought into contact with the rollers 48 by the belt 44.

The result is that labels may be employed of a length which is relatively great with respect to the circumference of the bottle, an advantage which is not found again in the previously known labelling devices with continuous kinematic.

After the finish of the labelling process which has just been described, the bottle during its following of the arc of the circle c is withdrawn from the cells 41 in the labelling drum 1 by a star 49 of conventional construction which deflects it onto a conveyor feeding, for example, a packing-plant.

On the other hand the train 34 of carriages 35 remains associated with the labelling drum 1 during the following of the arc of the circle d, then at the start of the arc of the circle e it is withdrawn from this labelling drum by an outlet drum 50 revolving in synchronism with the labelling drum 1. The end of the train 34 thus withdrawn from the labelling drum 1 is connected in closed circuit to the end of this same train 34 entering the labelling drum 1 as has been seen above, by way of the feed drum 39. At a certain point in this closed circuit the bottles are deposited, as a rule by an automatic device, in the carriages 35. Before reaching the labelling drum 1 these bottles may as is conventional in installations with continuous kinematic, undergo other handling operations (washing, rinsing, drying, filling, stoppering, etc.) on the other intermediate operational drums.

In the foregoing description there are merely being revealed the characteristics of the device which offer an interest specific to the invention but of course the device is endowed furthermore with all the conventional accessories which enable optimum utilization of plants with continuous kinematic. For example, outer guards 51 are provided at spots where the bottle being no longer located in its carriage might under the action of centrifugal force escape from the cells in the drum. These outer guards enable the high speed of progression of the products and hence the high rate of production which the employment in known manner of trains of "carriages" allows in plants with continuous kinematic.

It results clearly from the above description that the relative positions as well as the relative velocities of the bottle and the label remain defined from the start to the end of the labelling operation. This conjointly with the other provisions made such, especially, as the employment of a train of carriages, enables the aims to be fully achieved to which the invention was wedded, namely, the possibility of labelling bottles irreproachably at very high production rates, of the order of some ten bottles a second and of reserving oneself the possibility of making use if necessary, of labels of great length.

By the results thus achieved the device in accordance with the invention is clearly distinguished from the labelling devices with continuous kinematic known hitherto.

Figure 4 represents a variant upon the execution of the means of storage, take-up and positioning of labels, which includes for each station of the upper stage 11 of the labelling drum instead of a label holder as in the previous example a reel 52 for holding a strip 53 of labels joined together. This strip of labels 53 is deflected into horizontal direction by a roller 54 and driven between two guides 55 and 56 by two opposed driving rolls 57 and 58. At the outlet from the guides 55 and 56 the end of the strip of labels 53 passes under an abutment 59 against which it is laid by the label take-up member 28 when the arm moves from the vertical position into the horizontal position as has previously been described.The end of the strip 53 being thus held between the abutment 59 and the label take-up member 28 and in addition laid against the latter by the suction device 42, the label is then separated from the strip 53 by a tool represented diagrammatically at 60. The remainder of the operations of positioning and sticking of the label is carried out in the same way as in the example previously described by means of Figures 1 to 3.

Figures 5a and 5b show another variant upon the execution of the means of storage, take-up and positioning of the labels. In this second variant the reels 52 provided at each of the stations in the upper stage 1 of the labelling drum are replaced by a single reel 61 which is capable of revolving about a preferably vertical axis 62 and which supplies a strip 63 of labels joined together. This strip of labels 63 gets wrapped round a drum 64 fast to the labelling drum and centred upon the axis of rotation 0-0 of the latter. Instead of oscillating between a vertical position and a horizontal position as was the case in the embodiments previously described, the arm 29 and the label take-up member 28 carried by this arm here oscillate between two vertical positions shown especially in Figure 5b.

The vertical position shown in the righthand portion of Figure 5b is the labelling position which corresponds with that shown in the righthand portion of Figure 3, whilst the vertical position shown in the lefthand portion of Figure Sb is the label take-up position, the label take-up member 28 then being laid against the strip of labels 63 wrapped round the periphery of the drum 64 located at the upper end of the labelling drum. Referring to Figure 5a, the operation of the device will now be described.

With the labelling drum revolving continuously in the direction of the arrow F, the arm 29 which is still in the lower vertical position of labelling (righthand portion of Figure Sb) when it passes through the plane 0-I, is raised into the upper vertical position of label take-up through the plane 0-II. The label take-up member 28 is then laid against the strip of labels 63. A tool represented diagrammatically at 65 then separates the label thus held by the members 28, from the remainder of the strip 63 and the arm 29 folds down again into the lower vertical position of labelling where it arrives towards the end of the angle of travel e. Starting from this point and until the arm 29 again meets the plane 0-I everything occurs as for the device described with the aid of Figures 1, 2 and 3.It is as well to point out that at least one member 28 is always led against the strip 63 before it is cut by the tool 65, with the result that this strip is uniformly unwound from the reel 61 under the effect of the rotation if the drum 64.

Of course the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described and illustrated above, from which other ways of execution and other embodiments may be foreseen without thereby departing from the scope of the invention.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus with continuous kinematic (as hereinbefore defined) for applying, to articles exhibiting symmetry of rotation, labels which extend at least part way round the circumference of the articles, such apparatus comprising a labelling drum having peripheral cells, means for feeding a train of article-containing carriages to said drum, one carriage to each cell, means for withdrawing the articles from the carriages and maintaining them in the cells and means for applying a label to each thus withdrawn article arranged so that as the label contacts the article their relative motion in a direction tangential to the article is zero.

2. Apparatus as in Claim 1, characterised in that the labelling drum includes two stages which can be endowed with different speeds of rotation and exhibit different numbers of stations, the upper stage comprising means for storage, take-up and positioning of the labels, the lower stage comprising means for taking over the train of carriages and means for positioning the articles with respect to the label applying means after the articles have been withdrawn from their carriages.

3. Apparatus as in Claim 2, characterised in that the means for storage, take-up and positioning of the labels comprise for each station of the upper stage of the labelling drum a label holder in which the labels are stacked with their recto faces turned downwards, a label take-up member equipped with a suction device which is mounted on an arm capable of rocking about an axis, this rocking taking place during the rotation of the assembly forming the upper stage of the drum because of a pinion fast to the arm being driven by a rack and a roller which is moved in a fixed cam-groove, a label being taken up from the bottom of the holder when the arm bearing the label take-up device comes into the horizontal position, this label then being brought into the vertical position where it will be able to be placed against an article in a said cell when the arm rocks into its vertical position.

4. Apparatus as in Claim 2, characterised in that the means for withdrawal of a said article from its carriage and for positioning this article for labelling, include for each of the stations of the lower stage of the labelling drum a support device consisting of a bracket, a first column and a second column, this device being capable of being moved vertically by sliding along a guide column under the action of a roller mounted on the first column and moving round in a groove in a fixed barrel cam when the assembly forming the lower stage of the labelling drum revolves about the axis of the latter, the first colmun including at its upper part an inclined plane which actuates a ratchet mechanism lever which serves to release the article from the grasp of a stopblock applied by a spring against this article when it is in its carriage, whilst the second column bears at its upper part a seat upon which the article rests and which supports this bottle in its labelling position when the equipment is in the upper position.

5. Apparatus as in one of the Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that in the labelling positions the angular velocities of the label holders with respect to the axis of the labelling drum are higher than the angular velocities of the article containing peripheral cells with respect to this same axis.

6. Apparatus as in one of the Claims 1 to S, characterised in that the number of stations in the upper stage of the labelling drum is less than the number of stations in the lower stage of this labelling drum.

7. Apparatus as in one of the Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that a belt mounted upon three drums having vertical axes, namely, a driving drum, a return drum and a tightener is arranged on the one hand to lay a said article into the back of the cell in the labelling drum between centring rollers and on the other hand to drive the article in rotation about itself in such a way that the tangential velocity of the wall of the article as it is contacted by a said label is identical with the tangential velocity of this label, which enables gluing of the label onto the bottle without slipping or folding.

8. Apparatus as in one of the Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the means for storage and take-up of the labels comprise for each station of the upper stage of the labelling drum a reel of a strip of labels, this strip being guided and driven by guides and rollers until the label located at the free end of the strip comes to be located under an abutment for being taken up by the label take-up member and separated from the strip by a tool.

9. Apparatus as in one of the Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the means for storage and take-up of the labels comprise for the whole of the stations on the upper stage of the labelling drum one reel of a strip of labels, this strip getting wrapped round the periphery of a drum coaxial with the labelling drum and fast to the upper end of

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. 1, 2 and 3. It is as well to point out that at least one member 28 is always led against the strip 63 before it is cut by the tool 65, with the result that this strip is uniformly unwound from the reel 61 under the effect of the rotation if the drum 64. Of course the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described and illustrated above, from which other ways of execution and other embodiments may be foreseen without thereby departing from the scope of the invention. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus with continuous kinematic (as hereinbefore defined) for applying, to articles exhibiting symmetry of rotation, labels which extend at least part way round the circumference of the articles, such apparatus comprising a labelling drum having peripheral cells, means for feeding a train of article-containing carriages to said drum, one carriage to each cell, means for withdrawing the articles from the carriages and maintaining them in the cells and means for applying a label to each thus withdrawn article arranged so that as the label contacts the article their relative motion in a direction tangential to the article is zero.

the latter, the arm bearing the label take-up member being raised vertically to apply the label take-up member against a label next to the end of the strip thus wrapped round the periphery of the drum and a tool then separating this label from the remainder of the strip.

10. Apparatus for labelling articles exhibiting symmetry of rotation with continuous kinematic substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings whether or not modified in accordance with Figure 4 or 5a and 5b thereof.