GB2064471A - Label applicator - Google Patents

Abstract

The label applicator is intended to apply self-adhesive labels to a card- based pack at an edge portion thereof. A reel 14 of such labels is unwound around a triagonal registration device 20 and individual labels are peeled from a backing strip 18 at a dispense edge member 22. A carriage 28 carrying the article 30 to be labelled reciprocates with respect to the dispense edge and dispensing is synchronized to coincide with close approach of the article to the edge. As the carriage 28 moves away from the edge member 22 a latch 41 releases an arm 45 thus allowing a spring 39 to cause a pad 32 to move downwardly and apply pressure to the just dispensed label on the article. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Label dispenser This invention relates to label dispensers and applicators intended for use with labels coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive and mounted on an elongate backing strip of silicone-treated or other adhesive-repellant treated paper.

It has become the practice of recent years in the packaging art to encapsulate articles in a transparent plastics envelope adhered to a backing of card which imparts to the package as a whole the desired rigidity.

Normally, such a card will have printed thereon necessary information regarding the character of the package, the makers name, trade mark matter and so on, but is also a general requirement that the package shall have special information regarding a particular retailer or other merchant, such as the name of the retailer, the price and his stock code. The nature of the packages of the kind in question renders it difficult to apply a pressuresensitive adhesive label because the transparent envelope is too flimsy and the amount of space between the edge of the card and the transparent envelope is often limited and a conventional, hand-held, label applicator because of the presence of parts of the casing at the zone where labels are dispensed cannot normally be used with such packages.Moreover, for certain uses it is desirable that the label shall be accurately applied to a large number of packages, and hand-held label applicators, in general, are not suited to repetition work with high accuracy of location of the labels.

The novel features of the present invention will be readily apparent, from the following description, which is given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing, the sole Figure of which is a perspective view of a label applicator in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the applicator comprises, in broad terms, a base portion 10 and an upstanding side plate 12 carrying various working parts of the applicator and also serving to mount the side plate. The applicator also comprises a reel mounting 14 intended to carry a reel of self-adhesive, pressure-sensitive labels 1 6 which may be butt cut or may be spaced from one another along the length of the silicone-treated backing strip 1 8 of the web. A triangular section registration device 20 downstream of the web mounting 14 is constructed in accordance with copending application No. 78.30511. Thereafter the web passes over a dispense edge member 22 which is secured to the upright plate 12. The spent backing strip 1 8 is rewound on a powered take-up reel 24 carried out by a take-up reel mounting 26.

The fixed dispense edge member 22 lies closely above a movable table 28 which also serves to support a package 30 to be labelled. At the end of its reciprocating stroke the movable table 28 lies in a position such that an article to be labelled and accurately located on the movable table lies close to the dispense edge member 22, and subsequently a reciprocating pad 23 firmly applies a labelled detached or peeled at the dispense edge at the required location on the package. Having outlined the general construction of the applicator, the parts will now be described in greater detail.

The base 10 is of rectangular shape and is large enough to accommodate the full reciprocating motion of the movable table 28 and the remaining parts all lie within the compass of this base.

The upstanding side plate 12 carries drive gear for the operating parts and also an upstanding bracket 34 which supports the non-driven reel 16 of fresh labels mounted on the spindle 36 of the reel mounting 14. Downstream of the fresh label web reel mounting, the web which is being unwound passes around a guide roller 38 with the labels facing outwardly of the roller and the web is accurately guided on to this roller by two upstanding, non-rotary, fingers 40 mounted on the same spindle as the guide roller itself.

The web next passes around the triangular registration device 20 with the labels facing inwardly towards the faces 42 of the device. This device may be of actual triangular form or it may take the form of three strips projecting from a central spindle, as described in copending application No. 78 30511. The registration device is not driven and is rotated by the action of the label web which is drawn through by the take-up reel drive.

The label web 1 6 with the labels uppermost next encounters the dispense edge member 22, which is so disposed that the leading edge of a label begins to be detached in the position, as shown, when the lowermost two edges of the registration device at any given instant are horizontal. The dispense edge member is of shallow triangular section with the apex 23 directed towards the package locating position.

After a given label has been detached, the web passes beneath the dispense edge member, then around a guide roller 25 and on to the take-up reel 24 which is driven by the drive motor (not shown) of the applicator.

The movable table 28 is reciprocated by an appropriate drive mounted on the side plate 12 and includes locating pegs 29 to accommodate a product to be labelled accurately in an appropriate position, such that the desired area to be labelled moves into close proximity to a label just dispensed at the dispense edge when the moving table 28 comes into its closest relationship with the dispense edge.

The pressure pad 32 is mounted on a pivotal arm 33 and is preferably made of foam rubber, the arm 33 being pivoted on an upstanding bracket 35 rigid with the movable table. The pad 32 is timed for application to the label just dispensed and loosely applied to the article as the movable table retreats from the dispense edge.

The pressure pad carrying arm 33 is subjected to a torque through a lower transverse projection 37 by a helical tension spring 39 attached to a latch member 41 having a tooth 43 which can engage a rearward extension 45 of the arm 33 to hold it in position until the instant when it is desired that the pad should engage a label just applied to the article to be labelled. The latch member 41 releases the pressure pad arm 33 when it engages a knock-off pawl 46 secured to the side plate 12.

The pressure pad arm 33 is returned to its latched, upper, position when the movable table 28 is at its extreme righthand location by a pressure pad reset pin or peg 47 rigid with the side plate and arranged to engage an upper transverse projection 49.

The force of the spring 39 which positively drives the pad on to the labels then constrains the tooth 43 of the latch member 41 to re-engage the extension 45 thus holding the pad up until the knock-off pawl 46 again releases the latch tooth.

Depending upon the size of the blister formed by the envelope of the package 30, the reset pin will be located so as to avoid the pressure pad contacting the blister.

It is believed that the foregoing description gives some indication of the manner of operation of the applicator hereinbefore described, but the manner of operation will nevertheless be briefly set forth.

Immediately after a labelling operation has been completed, the labelled article is removed by hand and a fresh article accurately located on the moving table 28 by means of the upstanding pegs 29. This locating operation must, of course, be completed before the moving table during its reciprocating movement comes into juxtaposition with the dispense edge member 22. The continuously driven take-up reel 24 serves to draw fresh labels continuously from the storage reel following the path indicated by arrows A around the guide roller 38, the registration device 20, the dispense edge member 22, the second guide roller 25 and the take-up reel 24. The table 28 is synchronously driven by an appropriate crank mechanism or other reciprocating device (not shown) and, with the pressure pad arm 33 in its latched condition, the article to be labelled can closely approach the dispense edge without risk of fouling the blister portion of the package. As the reciprocating table moves away from the dispense edge member with a label just dispensed, the knock-off pawl 46 causes the latch 41 to release the rearward extension 45 of the pressure pad arm 33 and the helical tension spring 39 causes the pad 32 to move downwardly and apply pressure to the label loosely attached to the article. The labelled article is then removed and the cycle repeated.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for applying a label to an article, the apparatus comprising means for feeding an article to be labelled to a predetermined position, means for dispensing a label onto the article in the said predetermined position, and a pressure member arranged to press the label against the article.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article feeding means comprises a reciprocable support, the article being in the said predetermined position when the support is at one end of the reciprocating stroke thereof.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the support is provided with positive location means for positioning an article thereon.

4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the said predetermined position of the article is directly adjacent a dispense edge of the dispensing means.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the dispense edge comprises the apical edge of a fixed dispensing member of triangular cross section, the dispensing means further comprising drive means downstream of a label web registration device for feeding a web of labels on a backing strip over the said apical edge.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the drive means comprises a driven take-up reel for the backing strip disposed downstream in the web path of the fixed dispensing member.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein a freely-rotatable reel is provided for a web of labels.

8. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the pressure member comprises a pressure pad mounted on an arm pivotal into pressing contact with a label when it is positioned on an article.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the pressure pad is of foam rubber.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the arm pivots in response to movement of the article feeding means.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the pivotal arm is provided with a spring biasing the pressure pad into pressing contact with a label on an article and latching means arranged to hold the pivotal arm out of contact with the label, the pivotal arm and the latching means being rigid with the article feed means, the latching means being releasable by engagement with a first fixed member, so that the pivotal arm moves under the action of the spring bias when a label has been applied to an article.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the latching means is re-engageable with the pivotal arm by engagement with a second member once a pressing operation is complete.

13. Apparatus for applying a label to an article, the apparatus comprising reciprocatory means for feeding an article to be labelled to a predetermined position, means for dispensing a label on to the article at said position and means synchronizing arrival at said position of the article and the dispensed label.

14. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a trigonal label registration device arranged to control the registration of the labels when dispensed.

1 5. Apparatus for applying a label to an article, the apparatus comprising a dispensing system for labels arranged so that a web of self-adhesive labels on a removable backing strip is fed over an edge of a fixed dispensing member such that a label is peeled from the backing strip, a movable support means for an article, the support means being movable directly adjacent to the said edge of the dispensing member so that a label leaving the backing strip at the said edge is applied to the said article at a predetermined position thereon and a pressure member arranged to move into pressing contact with a label once it has been applied to an article.

1 6. Apparatus for applying a label to an article, the apparatus comprising a freely rotatable reel for supporting a web of self-adhesive labels mounted on a backing strip, a driven take-up reel for the backing strip, means defining a web path from the said freely rotatable reel to the take-up reel, said path defining means comprising a trigonal registration device and a label dispensing member having a triangular cross-section, the web path passing over the apical edge of the dispensing member where a label is peeled from the backing strip, a table for supporting an article to be labelled, the. said table having positive location means for positioning the article thereon and being reciprocally movable to bring the article to a position directly adjacent the apical edge of the dispensing member, a plate upstanding from and rigid with the table, a pivotal arm having a pressure pad at one end thereof, the arm being biassed by a spring into a position in which the pressure pad is in pressing contact with a label which has been applied to an article at a predetermined distance from the dispensing member, a latch also mounted on the said plate and arranged to hold the end of the pivotal arm opposed to the said one end so that the pressure pad is out of contact with the applied label, a latch releasing member positioned to contact and release the latch and thereby free the pivotal arm when the support table has retreated the said predetermined distance from the dispensing member, and a latch re-engagement member arranged to contact the latch and re-engage it with the end of the pivotal arm when the table has retreated to its furthest position from the dispensing member.

1 7. Apparatus for applying a label to an article substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.