US2088196A - Machine for printing on bottles - Google Patents

Description

July 27, 1937. J. H.- FRIDEN I MACHINE FOR PRINTING 0N BOTTLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb; 20, 1935 INVENTOR.

JOHN FR\DE N ATTORN 5 July 27, 1937.

J. H. FRIDEN MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20. 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTQR. JOHN HFRmEN BY Wwms July 2-7, 1937. J. H. FRIDEN 2,038,196

MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I INVENTOR- J0HN H. FRIDEN WIT EYS Jul 27, 1937. J. H. FRI DEN v 2, 88,1 6

'MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON' BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR- JOHN HFRw EN ATTORNEYS Patented July 27, 1937 MACHINE non PRINTING'ON BOTTLES John H. Friden, Maplewood, N. J'., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Anigraphic Process, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 20, .1935, Serial No. 7,344 '12 Claims. (01. 101- 10) 'This invention relatesto a new and useful improvement in a'printing press, and particularly a printing press to be used for printing on a hard, uneven surface, such as a glass bottle. 'The ma- 5 chine may, of course, be used for printing on other surfaces, but is particularly adapted to use in printing on a surface which is more or less uneven and generally of a curved shape, and more particularly on a cylindrical surface.

The particularobject of the invention is to provide a machine which may be used to print on glass bottles, which are continuously and rapidly fed through the machine, with one or more colors, by the offset method of printing.

If the surface of an ordinary glass bottle, such as is used in commerce for a large variety of com modities, such as. beer or milk, for example, is

examined carefully, it. will be noted that the surface instead of being smooth and regular, as appears from a casual inspection, is actually quite uneven and irregular. In order to print evenly on such a surface it is, therefore, necessary to provide means for overcoming the irregularity of the surface itself. In a glass bottle the hardness 5 of the surface presents an additional problem in this respect.

A feature of my invention is the provision of means for overcoming the irregularities in a surfaceparticularly the surface of a cylindrical or curved object, so that a legend or label may be printed thereon evenly, smoothly, and clearly.

Another feature of my invention is the provision 'of springs which hold an object, such as a bottle, in resilient engagement with the platen of an offset printing press.

Another feature of my invention is the provision of a rubber blanket, mounted on the platen roller of an offset printing press, beneath the rubber platen, in order to provide a resilient engagement with the object 'on which the printing is to be impressed. I I

Another feature of my invention is the provision of means for feeding a bottle or similar object to an offset printing press in such a manner that the feeding mechanism is stopped during the printing operation to permit the printing to be done, and then during a portion of the revolution of the platen operation of the feeding mechanism is resumed for removing the bottle which has been printed and for feeding a new bottle to the printing position.

Still another feature of. my invention is the provision of mechanism for intermittently feeding a succession of bottles or similar objects to an offset printing press, combined with means for stopping said mechanism without. damage to the mechanism or the bottle when the bottles become jammed, or for any other reason damage would result if the mechanism were not stopped.

. Another feature of my invention is the provi- 5 sion of a pair of jaws for gripping a bottle or similar object, said jaws being resiliently mounted and having tapered sides for centering the bottle and lifting it clear of the feeding mechanism.

A-further feature of my invention is the pro-. 10 vision of a pair of jaws as just described combined with suitable mechanism for moving'one jaw towards and away from the other in timed relation with the rotation of the feeding'mechanism and the platen. of an ofiset printing press. 15

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a-front view of my new machine as adapted to effect single color printing on bottles or similar objects;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the lines 3--3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial view of the mechanism for feeding the bottle to the machine and for gripping the bottle, centering it, and lifting it clear of the feeding mechanism, while permitting its rotation;

Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4 showing the position of the appa- 30 ratus when the bottle has been gripped and lifted by the jaws and the platen has come into engagement with the bottle; I

Fig. 6 is a side view of a portion of the apparatus in Fig. 5, looking from the left, showing ,the v35 position of the bottle with respect to the feeding mechanism while the printing is being impressed thereon;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the platen roller with the cover removed and shows the rubber 40 blanket and platen-over the blanket;

Fig. 8 is a partial front view of a machine hav-- ing a modified form of feeding mechanism;

looking from" the left in Fig. 2, and associated 45" mechanism; and

Fig.'10is a view of an alternative shape of selfcentering jaws; L 1

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout.

A suitable frame work I is provided, to which the apparatus of the machine is attached. A slide 2 is mounted on the front oi. the machine and tilted at an angle such that the bottles twill be fed to the machine by gravity. A second slide 55 3 is mounted on the other side of the machine and tilted at an angle such that the bottles 4 delivered from the machine will be removed from it by gravity. The bottles are fed to a spider consisting of a pair of discs 8, 8, having semicylindrical grooves in their peripheries. The spider is rotated until it reaches the position shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6, when it is momentarily stopped. A bottle is then in position to be grabbed by the self-centering jaws I and 8. The jaw 8 moves to the left, Figs. 2, and 4 (up Fig. 3), so that the bottle is grabbed between the two jaws, as shown in Fig. 5. The jaw I will ordinarily engage the open end of the bottle while the jaw 8 will engage the closed end.

As may be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the sides of these jaws are beveled so that when they approach one another the bottle will be lifted clear of the spider and centered between the jaws, as indicated in Fig. Sand in the full lines of Fig. 6. The jaws l and 8 are mounted in suitable bushings 9 and "I so they are free to rotate. The jaws may alternatively take the form indicated in Fig. 10, in which the left jaw is numbered 68, or any other suitable form to lift the bottle clear of the spider.

As the bottle is being fed to the machine and the jaws are picking it up, the platen roller is rotated so that when the bottle is in position the platen has come to a point where printing is to commence. The platen thenengages the bottle and, as it is free to rotate, rotates the bottle with the platen and the impression is printed on the [5 and i6 terminate in the bushings 9, ill in which the jaws I, .8 are mounted. When the bottles are engaged by the jaws and lifted clear from engagement with the'spider they are therefore resiliently held against downward displacement by the springs l1 and I8 which provide sufficient pressure against the rubber platen 26 to maintain.

a strong pressure of the bottle against the platen, and permit sufficient downward movement to overcome the irregularities in the surface of the bottle. Additional means for overcoming these irregularities isprovided by a rubber blanket 2| (Figs. 1 and 7) which is placed on the platen roller 21 and held in position by the rubber platen 26 which is placed thereover and tightenedand held firmly by means of ratchets 22 and 23 and pawls 24 and 25. The machine is provided with suitable ink feeding mechanism, indicated generally at A, and an impression cylinder 28 for supplying the ink to the rubber platen in accordance with the usual practice of the prior The motive power for the machine is provided by a motor-28, Figs. 2 and 3, which drives apulley 30 by means-of a pulley 3| and belt 32. Pulley 33 is keyed to a shaft, not shown, on which is also mounted a sprocket, not shown, which is engaged by chain 33,- Flg. 2. Chain 33 engages sprocket 34 keyed to a shaft 38 to which is alsokeyed a sprocket 35 which is engaged by a second chain 38 to rotate another sprocket 31. The platen roller 21 is also keyed to shaft 33. This shaft, and consequently the platen roller, will be in continuous rotation during the operation of the machine. Keyed to the same shaft is a gear 39 which engages directly or indirectly additional gears to operate the distribution rollers and the impression cylinder of the ink feeding mechanism, indicated at A. The shaft. also has suitable cam surfaces for engaging arms 48 and 4| to feed the ink to the rollers in accordance with the usual practice of the prior art.

It is obvious, of course, that additional colors may be supplied by providing additional impression cylinders, distribution rollers, ink supply etc., similar to that shown, in accordance with the usual practice of the prior art.

Mounted on the outer or right hand surface of the gear 38, Figs. 2 and 3, is a cam 42 which is engaged by a follower 43 mounted on an arm 44. The arm 44 is pivoted on a support 45 and terminates in a fork which engages a pin 48 on connecting rod 41 which is journaled for reciprocating movement in a bushing 48. The rod 41 is secured to bracket l3 which is slidingly mounted on arm I I. frame I, pulls the arm 44 toward the machine, or upwardly in Fig. 3, whenever the follower 43 is not engaged by the cam 42.

After the printing has been completed on one bottle, the follower 43 engages cam 42 and moves the forked end of arm 44 to the right in Fig. 2. This moves the rod 41 to the right and moves the bracket 13 and consequently the "jaw 8 to the right. The bottle which has been removed from engagement with the spider for the printing operation is thus released by the jaws, returns to the spider, and is delivered from the machine by the spider to the slide 3.

v The sprocket 31 is keyed to a shaft 50 which is journaled in bushing 5| mounted on a support 52. A disc'53 is mounted on the other end of shaft 50 and engages by friction a second disc 54 to form a frictiori clutch. The disc 54 is.

mounted on a shaft 55, on which is also mounted the spider which feeds the bottles to the platen roller. A spring SG'surrounds the shaft 50 between the bushing 5| and disc 53 to provide the force necessary to maintain the friction discs 53 and 54 in contact. A'bell crank lever 51 is pivoted in a support 58. Disc 54 is provided with a number of notches, equal in number to the number of grooves in the discs 5 and 8 which constitute the spider.

Tension spring 59 holds the finger on the lower arm 60 of .the bell crank 51 in engagement with one of these notches to prevent movement of the spider. Gear 38 has on its'left face a finger 8|, Fig. 3. The upper arm of the bell crank lever 51, terminates in a finger 62. Once for each revolution of the sprocket 28, and consequently A spring 48, which is secured to the once for each revolution of platen roller 21, the

end of arm 83 engages anotch in disc 54 and stops the spider at this position. As the spider has been moving the bottle to this position, follower 44 has been in engagement with cam 42. When the spider is stopped at this position the follower 44 has reached the end of the cam surface andsprlng4lpullsthearm44totheleft,?ig.

v and lift it clear of the spider. The platen roller' 3, consequently moving the jaw 8 to the left, causing the jaws I and 8 to engage the bottle After it has been returned to the spider, finger 6| engages finger 82, causing the finger at the endof arm 68 to leave its engagement with a notch on disc 54 and permit friction disc 53 to turn disc 54, and consequently to turn shaft 55' and the spider to deliver the printed bottle to the delivery slide 3 and to pick up another bottle from the feeding slide 2 and move it to the position at which it is to be engaged by the jaws and printed upon by the platen.

Fig. 8 shows analtemative feeding mechanism in which a sprocket 63 is mounted on shaft 55 instead of the spider being mounted thereon. This sprocket engages a chain 84 which has a plurality of brackets 65, each adapted to hold a bottle or other object to be printed. The chain 64 rotates around a pair of idler whee1s 66, only one of which is shown. As the sprocket 63 is mounted on the shaft 55, the chain 64 will move until a bottle is placed in position to be grabbed by the jaws I and 8. At this'point, the shaft 85 will stop long enough to permit the jaws to grab, the bottle, raise it to position, engage the platen, and returnit to the bracket. The shaft 55 will then move as before until the next bottle is in position.

It has been stated above that it is obvious that additional colors may be added to the machine by simply providing additional ink supply and mechanism similar to that shown at A. It will be also noted that the machine is capable of a variety of, adjustments. The jaw 1 may be adjusted for different size bottles by simply moving it to a new position along arm II. The jaw 8 may also be adjusted to print on a portion of the bottle which is closer to or farther from the bottom thereof by adjusting the position of jaw 8 along shaft 41. be made adjustable, if desired, to provide a different degree of resiliency against the platen roller. The rubber blanket 2| being of soft rubber is also capable of a quite precise adjustmentas to resiliency by regulating the degree of ten sion of the rubber platen over the blanket. The spider may, of course, have grooves of any configuration to take care of different shapes and sizes of bottles and the jaws may also take a variety of shapes and positions for the same P pose.

In the event a bottle becomes lodged, or in any way the spider becomes jammed,- the jamming will have the same effect upon the disc 54 as .would the engagement of a groove in that disc by the finger on the end of, arm That is, the shaft 55 being moved by friction, when the friction becomes sufficiently great the spider will no longer turn, and consequently will be stopped before any damage is done.

The springs l1 and I8 and the rubber blanket 2|, as well as the rubber platen 26, all contribute to provide the necessary'flexlbility to overcome the unevenness of the surface of a bottle.

As has been indicated above, this application is particularly designed for use in printing on The springs I! and 18 may 'bottles and is'thus related to co-pending application Serial No. 704,456, of Donald W. Knaggs, flied December 29, 1933.-

From the above description it will be apparent that this invention involves certain principles of construction and operation which may be embodied in other physical forms. I do not, therefore, desire to be strictly limited to this disclosure as given for purposes of illustration, but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A printing machine comprising means for feedingan object to be printed into alignment with a pair of jaws, means for causing said jaws to engage and center said object for the printing operation and resilient supporting means for said jaws to provide proper printing pressure.

2. A printing machine comprising means for feeding an object to, be printed into alignment with a pair of jaws, means for causing said jaws to engage said object, said jaws having beveled edges which cause them to lift the object clear of the feeding mechanism, and means for resiliently supporting said jaws. I

3. A printing machine comprising a frame, an arm attached to said frame, a pair of jaws mounted on said arm, a pair of brackets mounted on said arm beneath said-jaws, apair of springs, one on each bracket supporting said jaws, and means for reciprocating one of said jaws to cause the jaws to grasp and release an object to be printed.

4. A printing machine comprising feeding and delivering mechanism, a spider for receiving an object to be printed from said feeding mechanism, bringing it into position to be moved into engagement with the platen of the machine and delivering it to the delivery mechanism, a platen roller, means for rotating said platen roller, means for causing saida spider to rotate in steps, one step for each, revolution of the platen roller,

in order. to permit the object to be stopped at printing position long enough for the printing operation to be performed, and means for lifting said object clear of said spider during the print- 7 ing operation.

5. In a printing machine, feeding mechanism,

delivery mechanism, a spider for receiving an' the rotation of said roller, whereby an object to be printed may be engaged by said roller while held by said jaws, and resilient means supporting said jaws to press the object to be printed against said roller.

7. In a printing machine a shaft, a platen roller keyed to said shaft, a gear wheel also keyed to said shaft, a cam surface on one side of said gear wheel, a finger on the other side of said gear wheel, an arm having a cam follower for engagement with said cam'surface, a reciprocating shaft actuated by said arm in response to the engagement of said follower by said cam, a jaw secured to the other end of said reciprocating shaft, 9. bell crank, the upper arm of said bell crank being positioned for engagement by said finger, a second-shaft, a disc keyed to said second shaft, a plurality of notches in said disc, a second disc, means for driving said second shaft by frictional engagement of said second disc with said disc,v a finger on the lower arm of said bell crank for engaging successive notches in said disc to prevent rotation thereof, whereby said second shaft is rotated in steps, successive steps being permitted by the engagement of said sprocket finger with the upper arm of the bell crank to remove the bell crank finger from successive notches in said disc in which it has lodged and a spider secured to said second shaft for feeding objects to be printed.

8. In a printing machine, means for feedin objects to be printed to said machine, a spider I for moving said objects to printing position, a pair of jaws, means to actuate said'jaws to cause them to grab said object, lift it clear of the spider, hold it in resilient engagement with the printing roller, and then return it to the spider, and means forfurther actuating said spider to cause it to deliver said object from the machine.

9. A machine for printing on bottles comprising an endless chain feeding and delivering mechanism, a plurality of brackets mounted on said chain for holding the bottles, means for 10. In a printingjriachine, an endless chain feeding and delivering mechanism, said mechanism comprising brackets on said chain for bolding articles, a platen roller, means for rotating said platen roller, means for causing step by step movement of said mechanism, one step for each revolution of said platen roller, in order to permit an article to be placed in position beneath said platen roller and the preceding article to be removed from such position, and means for lifting the article from said mechanism and holding it in resilient engagement withsaid platen roller during the printing operation.

11. In a printing machine, a shaft, a platen roller keyed to said shaft, a gear wheel also keyed to said shaft, a cam surface on one side of said gear wheel, a finger on the other side of said gear wheel, an arm having a cam follower for engagement with said cam surface, a reciprocating shaft actuated by said arm in response to the engagement of said follower by said cam, a jaw secured to the' other end of said reciprocating shaft, a bell crank, the upper arm of said bell crank being positioned for engagement by said finger, a second shaft, a disc keyed to said second shaft, a-plurality of notches in said disc, 9. second disc, means for driving said second shaft by frictional engagement of said second disc with said disc, a finger on the lower arm of said bell crank for engaging successive notches in said disc to prevent rotation thereof, whereby said second shaft is rotated in steps, successive steps beingpermitted by the engagement of said sprocket finger with the upper arm of the bell crank to remove the bell crank finger from successive notches in said disc in which it has lodged, and a sprocket secured to said second shaft for driving a mechanism for feeding the articles to be printed.

J OKN' H. FRIDEN.

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