CA1129380A - Application of indicia to articles - Google Patents

Abstract

APPLICATION OF INDICIA TO ARTICLES

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A compact and inexpensive decorator for transferring labels by heat and pressure from a carrier strip to articles such as bottles. The decorator is designed as a unit, including infeed and outfeed conveyors, a turret for holding articles during label-ling and maintaining their shape by inflation, a deck bearing a transport for the carrier web and a device for impressing labels from the strip onto the articles, and a control module. For round articles the turret includes interchangeable Index and Decorator cups, while for oval articles an easily removed turret base with article cutouts is used. The deck may be adjusted in its height and angular orientation with respect to the turret to permit decoration of a wide variety of article faces. The carrier web transport includes a capstan web drive for pulling the web, a double gate, and a dancer roll, which provide label-by-label advance of the web controlled by signals from a photoelectric web monitor and a container detector. The double gate and dancer roll are included to avoid regions of slack or high tension in the web during intermittent advance.

Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the decoration of articles such as bottles, and more particularly to decoration of articles by means of heat transfer labelling.
Systems using heat transfer labels are widely employed to decorate bottles and similar articles. The type of which the present decorating apparatus is an example includes input and output conveyors for feeding the obJect to be labelled; a turret for sequentially positioning the bottles at a labelling station;
and a deck which includes a feed mechanism for transporting labels supported by a carrier strip to the labelling station as well as a device for pressing the label against an ad~acent bottle at the labelling station. Examples of such systems appear in U.S. Patent Nos. 2,981,432j 3,036,624; 3,064,714; 3,208,897; 3,231,448;
3,261,734; 3,313,667; 3,709,755; and 3,861,986.
These prior art decorators are generally suitable for the user with a high volume of production, for whom the cost of the decorator is of lesser lmportance as compared with production rates. Such a user places relatively little emphasis on the ease with which a decorator may be adapted to articles of various shapes and sizes. These prior art decorators are not satisfactory, however, for the user with small production runs for whom machine cost and adaptability is of paramount importance. Compact design and ease of operation are also primary considerations for this user.
~he label carrier webs in these prior art devices typically include a series of regularly spaced punch holes to allow the fitting of the web onto a sprocket drive roll which establishes a basic transport speed for the web. While this is a generally viable transport method, it suffers certain practical disadvantagqs.

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Suitable punching equlpment represents a ~igniricant expense. The¦
punchlng of the web weakens lt, and requires more expensive paper for a given application than would be required without punching.
I In addition, driving the carrier strip at the punch holes provides 1 less control than would be available if the entire width of the web were used. Greater control over web transport in turn allows ' enhanced label transfer quality.
The carrier web transport in decorating apparatus o~ this l! type advantageously includes some means for alternately accelerat-l ing and retarding the basic carrler web speed (established by the drive roll) in the area of label transfer. This is necessary to ensure that the web will be advanced essentially only during an actual transrer, thus allowing a close spacing o~ the labels on the carrier web. In the above prior art devices, this function was generally performed by winding the web around two shuttle rolls straddling the labelling site, which shuttle rolls were appended to a reciprocating slide. Thls method o~ intermittent web transport allows only limited control over the web advance, which may present a problem in low speed and manual decorating ~ applications.
Commercially acceptable decorating apparatus for articles such as bottles should be ad~ustable to allow the placement of the transrer label at any helght on the bottle surface that the j~ user may speclfy. Prior art decorators allow a certaln leeway ln ~ the height Or the sprocket drlve wheel, but this is insur~icient j to assure a suitable range Or label locations. Such devlces may !
- there~ore addltlonally require a raislng or lowering o~ the turret¦ -bases ~or holding articles. A related problem is tbat of slanted~
bottle surfaces (such as conical surfaces). Proper label transfe~
1 onto such surraces entails conslderable design changes in the

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3~) turrets of these prior art decorators (see, for example, U.S.
Patent No. 3,313,667).
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide compact, low-cost decorating apparatus. A related ob-ject of the invention is to achieve a machine with change-over features, to allow economical utilization of such apparatus in low volume production runs.
SUl~MARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a device for transferring labels from a carrier web to articles, comprising a turret for rotating the articles past a site of label transfer and a carrier web transport for directing the carrier web at a des-ired speed along a prescribed route which includes the site of label transfer, characterized in that, the carrier web trans-port includes: a web dispensing and collecting mechanism; acapstan web drive near the web collecting mechanism for pull~
ing the carrier web through the prescribed route during a period of label transfer without exerting pull on the web dur-ing interim periods between the periods of label transfer; and a dancer roll which is movable in a slot and is subjected to a force toward one end of the slot, which force is less than the pull exerted in the opposite direction by the capstan web drive during periods of label transfer.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention provides a method of decorating an article of circular cross section using heat transfer labels compris-ing the steps of:
(a) conveying the article to an index cup, .

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l~Z93~30 (b) rotating the article in the index cup to a desired labelling orientation, (c) transferring the article from the index cup to a decoration cup, 5(d) rotating the article in the decoration cup past a label transfer site, (e) pressing a heated label onto the article during the rotation of the previous step; and (f) removing the article for further processing.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and additional aspects of the decorator Or the invention are illustrated in the drawings in which:
~ FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the turret area and infeed and ' outfeed conveyors ln an embodiment for round articles;
FIGURE 2 is a section along the lines 2-2 in FIGURE l;
FIGURE 3 is a partial elevation view of a turret for oval articles;
FIGURE 4 is a plah view Or the carrier web transport and label application areas of the invention;
FIGURE 5 is an elevation view of the carrier web transport housing and attached turret assembly;
FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram Or the label and turret drive system.

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Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings ~or a , detailed description of the invention. FIGURE 1 depicts an em-, bodiment of the turret and infeed and outfeed conveyors ~or 1 handling round articles, illustratively bottles. The bottles are loaded automatically or by hand onto in~éed conveyor 20, which comprises a moving belt with guide rails. The bottles llne up against gate 11, which is a suitable restraining member acti~ated by an air cylinder. Gate 11 opens to let a single bottle pass.
~ Turret 10 includes two bottle holding cups, an Index cup 12 and a Decorating cup 13. These cups include rims o~ a suitable design for holding a given bottle, and internal stripper devices (not shown) for removing the bottle ~rom the recessed rim. The Index cup additlonally includes an index pin (not shown) for ~ rotationally positioning each bottle (the bottom of whlch contains an indentation for this purpose) preparatory to labelling. These cups are designed to be easily connected to and disconnected from the turret assembly. Both are rotated by belts which are driven .2~o from turret clutch ~ (see FIGURE 6), and which have a pitch equal to the bottle diameter.
A bottle which has passed air gate 11 settles into the Index cup 12. During this period the bottle rotates to a desired label-ling orientation. The bottle is removed rrom the Index cup by a stripper pin, and urged by air pusher 14 into the Decoration cup ~ 13 where it is labelled during rotation past transfer platen 150 (see FIGURE 4). The label carrier web 105 is rorced into ' pressure contact with the bottle by an applicator roll in the transfer platen. When labelling has been completed, a stripper pin removes the bottle from the Decorator cup 13 and the Dottle i~
~` 30 ~ pushed onto outreed conveyor 30 by a second air pusher 15. Both '~5 ,/ '~

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air pushers consist o~ pusher members of appropria~e shape to ` engage a bottle surface, placed at the end of a plston rod extend-ing from an air cylinder.
The turret also includes a superstructure 16 which carries inflating air cylinders and nozzles (not shown) which lower into the bottle mouths. This is necessary to force air into the non-~ rigid bottles during labelling and thereby maintain their shape.
! A preferred embodiment o~ the Index and Decorating cups o~ a turret for round articles is shown in the cutaway view of FIGUR~ 2, which is a section along the lines 2-2 in FIGURE 1. A bottle B
in Index cup 12 rotates with the cup until index pin 41 is aligned ; with an indentation in the bottle's bottom. This ensures label-ling of a desired portion of the bottle perimeter. Index cu~ 12 and Decorator cup 13 are rotated together by drive belts 290,2g5.
Advantageous air pushers 14 and 15 are shown respectively in side and end views.
Bottle B is raised from Index cup 12 by a stripper pin whlch is similar to stripper pin 45 in Decoration cup 13. The bottle ls pushed across dead plate 43 to position B', where labelling occurs. Both cups are placed in a universal cup mount ; for easy insertion and removal. This is shown in section at 47for the Decoration cup.
A turret 50 for labelling oval bottles in accordance with the ` invention is somewhat different in design, as can be seen with reference to FIGURE 3. In place of the Index and Decorating cups, a continuously rotating turretrotor 60 is employed, with bottle holding cutouts. A bottle which has come off the input conveyor is pushed by air pusher 65 into a cutout. A nozzle 70 is lowered into the bottle to introduce lnflating air and the b~ftl^ is 3 rotated to the labelling position. The inflating nozzle is raisea . `" . ~ , .,,, . ~ ., , ," :
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and lowered by means of actuating cylinder 80 which illustratively;
contains a compresslon spring (not shown), and cam surface 85 built into superstructure 90. After labelling, the bottle is re-moved from the turret by guide rails (not shown) on the outfeed conveyor 30. Only one drive belt is included to rotate ~he ent~re turret at the desired rate.
Both turrets include a decorating control 35 (see ~'IGURE 1) for introducing a dif~erential between the llnear speed of rota-tion of the bottle to be decorated and the rate of advance of the label carrier web past the transfer platen.
Both turrets are characterized by their ready adaptability to a variety of bottle sizes and shapes. In the turret of FIGURES 1 and 2, the cups, dead plates, inflating noz~les, pusher ; members, and drive belts are interchangeable. In the turret of FIGURE 3, the turret base, nozzles, pusher member, drive belt, and outfeed guide rails are similarly adaptable.
; FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the carrier web transport and label transfer area 100. The label carrier web lQ5 is fed from .~ unwind roll 110 through dancer and idler rolls 112, 114 to a jaw 122 of double gate 120. The label passes around dancer roll 124, then through a second ~aw 126 Or double gate 120 and around idler roll 128. At this point the web moves past a photoelectric ! detector 130, around roll 136, and along a preheat platen 140.
After preheating, the carrier web passes between transfer platen 150 and bottle B, where label transfer occurs. At this point, . all the labels are removed. Finally, the carrier web moves along ad~ustable guide 152 past idler rolls 154 and 156, around capstan drive 160, and is wound onto takeup roll 170.
The above web transport scheme is a mixture Or co,~ e~tional 3 an~ novel elements. The most notable aspects are the capstan ~ -.'~'' ~ l . - : . :' ` .;.: - - ... .'; ~

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Capstan carrier web drive 160, acting on control signals generated by photoelectric detector 130 and a container detector (not shown) in the turret, intermittently advances the label web over the length of a single label during the time when the turret presents an article to be la~elled. This control is effected by means o~
a label clutch which connects ~he capstan with main drive motor (see FIGURE 6). The container de~ector ~not shown) in the turr~t assembly prevents the advance of the web when no article is pre-sen~ed for labelling. The use o~ a capstan drive for carrier web advance provides a precise control oyer web tension in acting on the label carrier web over its entire width.
Photoelectric detector 130 scans carrier web 105 in the area bearing labels, and is sufficiently sensitive to register the presence or absence of a transfer label. Detector 130 is mounted in a linear slot 132 for the purpose of ad~ustment in the event of a chan~e in label size. Detector 130 provides means for regu-lating the advance of the label carrier webj label by label. This is a preferred method for monitoring the amount of carrier web advance, but other detection means may be employed. No punching of the web, nor printlng Or registration marks, is required.
The u~e of a capstan drive to provide an intermittent pull on the carrier web requires some means of controlling web advance in other segments of the web transport, so that regions of unmanage-;
able slack and regions of undesirably high ~eb tenslon will be avoided durlng thls start and stop process. This is accomplished , by dancer roll 124 and double gate 120. ~ouble gate 120 comprises;
~ a pair o~ ~a~s (the locations o~ which are sho~n at 122 and 126) ~ ~hich are alterna~ively activated according to the posltion o~ an 3 internal air cylinder (not shown). Dancer roll 124 is mounted in ;
a long slot 125, and iæ pneumatically sub~ected to a ~orce in .j i J O
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direction A. The position of the air cylinder within double gate 120 is electronically regulated by signals from photoelectric detector 130 and the container detector (not shown).
When a signal from the container detector indicates that a ) 5 container is moving into labelling position, label clutch ~
activates capstan drive 160 and causes ~aw 126 to open while ~aw 122 closes. At this point, dancer roll 124 is in the extreme outer position in direction A, providing a stored surplus of carrier web approximately equal to twice the length o~ slot 125.
The capstan label drive 160 pulls a quantity of carrier web at a prescribed tension out of this stored surplus, causing dancer roll 124 to move in direction B. This occurs because the tensioning force of the label drive ls greater than the countervailing pneufflatic pull in direction A on dancer roll 124. Photoelectric detector 130 has been calibrated to register the advance of one label's length. When label drive 160 has pulled carrier web 105 to this extent, detector 130 electronically causes label drive 160 to cease its pull, and slmultaneously causeg ~aw 126 to close while ~aw 122 opens. During this interim between labelling periods, the dancer roll 124 moves in direction A back to its extreme outer positions, pulling a quantity of carrier web off unwind roll 110.
The method o~ intermittently advancing the carrier web allows the transfer of labels which are considerably longer than those per-mitted by prior art decorators. In avoiding a reciprocating web motion in the labelling area, this transport ensures an even pre-heating Or the transrer labels.
FIGURE 5 is an elevation view of the deck area o~ the decorator. The label transport 100 is mounted on an ad~ustable top plate 200. Top plate 200 is connected to supportin~ shafts 205 and 210 at pivotal connectlons 207 and 212. Shafts 205 and r~ p~ ;

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3~!) i 210 are mounted in housing 220 in such a manner that they may be raised or lowered by turning hand wheels 225 and 230. This allows~
an adJustment of the height of the web 105 with respect to the turret 10 and additionally permits an angular align~ent o~ the web with respect to an article B presenting a slanted face to be labelled. Illustratively, the deck may be angled as much as 15 above or below the horizontal orientation.
Capstan 160 is mounted through plate 200 onto a sha~t 240, which advantageously has a splined connection with a shart 245 driven rrom DC motor 250, thus allowing a telescoping coupling for the label drive. DC motor 250 drives shaft 245 by way of a label clutch (not shown). This is shown more rully in the schematic view of FIGURE 6, an embodiment for round articles. Main drive motor 250 has a dual connection to turret clutch 260 and label clutch 270. Label clutch 270 is connected to capstan label drive 160. Turret clutch 260 is linked by belt 265 to variable speed connection 280, which in turn controls the rotation of Decorating cup 13 and Index cup 12 by means of connecting belts 290 and 295.
Variable speed connection 280 comprises a variable drive pulley 285, the action of whlch is controlled by a decorator control wheel 35 on the turret assembly ~see FI~URE 1). This may be used to introduce a ai~ferential between the ~inear speed Or article rotation and the speed of label advance, controlled by capstan 160. Such a differential has the e~fect of stretching or shrinking the heat transfer label as it is applied to the article , surface, whlch may be used to produce desired decorating efrects~, as is well known to skilled practitioners of the art.

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It is evident that those skilled in the art, once given the benefit of the foregolng disclosure, may now make numerous other uses and modifications of, and departures from the specific embodiments described herein without departing from the inventive concepts. Consequently, the invention is to be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features present in, or possessed by, the apparatus and techniques herein disclosed and limited solely by the scope and spirit Or the appended claims.

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Claims (10)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A device for transferring labels from a carrier web to articles, comprising a turret for rotating the articles past a site of label transfer and a carrier web transport for directing the carrier web at a desired speed along a prescribed route which includes a web dispensing mechanism, the site of label transfer, and a web collecting mechanism, characterized in that the web transport further includes:
a capstan web drive near the web collecting mechanism for pulling the carrier web through the prescribed route during a period of label transfer without exerting pull on the web during interim periods between the periods of label transfer;
a dancer roll which is movable in a slot and is subjected to a force toward one end of the slot, which force is less than the pull exerted in the opposite direction by the capstan web drive during periods of label transfer; and web feed control means for allowing web fed from said web dispensing mechanism to said dancer roll only during the interim periods, and for allowing web fed from said dancer roll to said capstan web only during periods of label transfer.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the force exerted on the dancer roll is of constant magnitude.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the web feed control means includes:
a double gate at the other end of the slot including first and second jaws which alternately clamp the carrier web, the first jaw only during periods of label transfer and the second jaw only during interim periods;
wherein the prescribed route includes respectively the web dispensing mechanism, the first jaw, the dancer roll, the second jaw, the site of label transfer, the capstan web drive, and the web collecting mechanism.

4. A device for transferring labels according to claim 3, further characterized in having an article monitoring mechanism in the turret for activating the capstan web drive and opening the second jaw when the article monitoring mechanism detects an article to be labelled.

5. A device for transferring labels according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising a web monitoring mechanism for deactivating the capstan web drive and closing the second jaw when the web monitoring mechanism detects an index of web advance.

6. A device for transferring labels according to claim 5, wherein the web monitoring mechanism comprises a photoelectric detector which is trained on the label-bearing portion of the carrier web and detects the presence or absence of a label.

7. A device for transferring labels according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein the double gate comprises a reciprocating air cylinder with first and second positions, wherein the first position closes the first jaw and opens the second jaw, while the second position closes the second jaw and opens the first jaw.

8. A device according to claim 1, further including a device for pressing the web and label onto articles at the site of label transfer, a housing to which the turret is firmly attached, and a deck bearing the carrier web transport and the pressing device which is attached to the housing in a manner permitting variation in its height and angular orientation.

9. A device according to claim 8, wherein the deck is pivotally mounted at two points on shafts extending from said housing.

10. A device according to claim 1, wherein said turret comprises:
a turret base;
an index cup which is insertable and removable from the turret base comprising a rim for holding the article, an index pin for engaging an indentation in the bottom of the article and a first stripper pin for removing the article from the rim;
a decoration cup for rotating the article past the labelling site which is insertable and removable from the turret base including an article holding rim and a second stripper pin;
a first pusher for urging an article from the index cup to the decoration cup;
a second pusher for urging the article from the decoration cup to an output device; and a mechanism for jointly rotating the index cup and decoration cup.