WO1991018793A1 - Labelling machine for vessels - Google Patents

Abstract

A labelling machine for vessels with a different shape and/or labelling has a turntable (2) which can be driven in rotation and which has at least one labelling station (23, 24), followed by coating and pressure elements (4, 5), arranged on its periphery. The turntable (2) has at least one rotatably mounted rotary plate (6) associated with a plurality of control elements (20, 32) which are permanently engaged with an equivalent number of control cams (18, 19, 30, 31). To convert a vessel and/or labelling shape, the control cams can be brought selectively into engagement with the rotary plate (6) by means of a switchable coupling (11, 12, 13, 38, 40) in order to execute different rotational programmes.

Description

 Equipment machine for the treatment of vessels

description

The invention relates to an equipment machine for treating vessels according to the preamble of claim 1.

It is known for the application of equipment material to vessels to slide them onto a turntable, which is attached to a rotating driven turntable of an equipment machine, the turntable rotatably mounted on the turntable being controlled by means of a cam roller by a groove or tooth curve, which is usually under the turntable is arranged in a fixed manner and contains a specific turning program defined by its shape and course. Especially with molded bottles or complex equipment, as is often the case with spirits, various turning programs, ie control cams, are required in order to be able to carry out special movements when transferring the equipment and also when painting and / or pressing. It is known, for example, to carry out a rotation with the turntable opposite to the direction of rotation of the turntable in the case of vessels with different diameters on the trunk and neck area or conical surface at the moment of the label transfer, while in other cases again the container is driven in the same direction in the direction of rotation of the turntable during the label transfer in order to be able to transfer labels as long as possible onto cylindrical surfaces. With standard equipment, the container can pass through the transfer station to apply the label without having to rotate. The shape of the vessel and the equipment also determine the course of the painting and pressing section in the area after the equipment station. Up to now, it was possible to make use of the fact that the control curve of a machine comprised a corresponding section for each type of vessel or equipment provided, on which the brushing bodies, sponge rollers, etc. were placed, while the remaining sections were passed through unused. This construction has the disadvantage that the required control curve and thus the turntable had to be considerably larger in diameter due to the universal turning program than with a machine specially designed for only one particular type of vessel or equipment.

This applies, for example, to DE-OS 33 07 662, which describes a labeling machine for wrapping vessels with an all-round label. The labeling process takes place in this machine by removing a label from a label box by rolling a glued container on the foremost label in the label box. In order to be able to guarantee a slip-free rolling during this process, the control curve causing the rolling movement of the vessel must be specially adapted to the diameter of the vessel currently being processed. In the previously known labeling machine are for the different tube formats Corresponding sections are provided in the control curve under the turntable, and the adjustment is made by adjusting the label box, ie the label box is placed on the section of the control curve belonging to a vessel format.

Furthermore, a design has already become known from DE-OS 33 23 919 in which two complete groove curves, which can contain different turning programs, are provided under the turntable for controlling a turntable. A disadvantage of this embodiment is the fact that each rotary table with its control device having a roller lever must be individually released from the rotary table by hand, raised and inserted into the second groove curve in order to change over the rotary program. A quick conversion of an equipment machine from one type of vessel or equipment to a different version is hardly possible with this design, especially since the groove curves are very precisely designed to avoid undesired play, so that the re-introduction of the cam rollers is particularly problematic and improper handling can lead to damage. In addition, dirt can get into the groove curve when the turntable is lifted off the turntable.

The German utility model 87 08 031.1 shows a machine whose groove curve is equipped with controllable switches, so that the cam rollers in sections be able to drive through different branches of the groove curve. The disadvantage of this solution is

The switches are susceptible to wear and, due to the joints in the groove curve in the area of a switch, the high wear of the cam rollers is considered. In addition, if the turnout control fails, the entire machine can be seriously damaged.

The invention has for its object to provide an equipment machine for the treatment of vessels with different shapes and / or equipment, which allows a user-friendly, quick adjustment of the turntable control when changing the machine from one type of vessel or equipment to another, several individual, independently configurable turning programs should be available.

This object is achieved by the features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1.

Due to the fact that, according to the invention, several control cams with a complete, individual turning program are provided and for each turntable there is an equivalent number of control cams corresponding to the number of control cams, which can be permanently interacting with these control members and which can optionally be brought into engagement with the rotary table, the individual control cams can be largely independent be designed from each other, and it is possible to switch from one turning program to another in an extremely convenient manner during operation.

HE Another advantage is the compact, space-saving design of a turntable for equipment machines for treating a wide variety of vessels. Any suitable switchable coupling can be used for the optional switching of the control elements. For example, dog clutches, sliding wheels or pull-wedge clutches integrated in the turntable shafts can be used axially displaceably on the turntable shafts.

In addition to positive-locking coupling elements, friction-locking ones can also be provided, provided that it is ensured that no inadmissible deviations due to slippage occur during the execution of the turning program. This can be ensured by sufficiently high contact forces on the friction surfaces of the clutch.

A particularly simple and quick handling of the couplings during a changeover is possible if they can be operated simultaneously and centrally. Pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical or magnetic actuation devices are particularly suitable for this, which can manage with a ring system with only one central supply and actuation device.

A construction of a turntable with several turntables and individually, ie individually operable, clutches offers the advantage that, if necessary, an alternate switching between the control elements from a control curve to a while passing through the turntable when passing certain switching points others will be possible. It is thereby also conceivable to have neighboring rotary tables execute different turning programs, for example to bring about a group-wise alignment of vessels even before they reach the outlet of the equipment machine. This can be advantageous for the subsequent packaging process.

The implementation of the invention is not limited to special control cams, but can be practically for all types of control cams known in labeling machines, e.g. Tooth or groove curves can be realized. For example, two toothed curves arranged one below the other can be provided under the rotary table, in which one roller star per control curve and rotary plate engages, i.e. With two control cams, two roller stars per turntable, which can be freely rotatably offset from one another on the turntable shaft. By means of a non-rotatable but axially displaceable clutch on the turntable shaft, an associated actuating device can optionally be used to establish a rotary connection from the turntable shaft to one of the two roller stars. Such an embodiment would be particularly advantageous for equipping vessels of different diameters with all-round labels.

Control curves of different designs can also be combined in the same way, e.g. a tooth curve with a roller star and underneath a groove curve with a roller lever, so that either a rotating plate can be driven rotating or oscillating according to a program.

ERSA Two exemplary embodiments are described below with reference to the figures.

Show it :

1 is a plan view of an equipment machine without its upper part,

2 shows a vertical section through the outer ring of the turntable in FIG. 1,

3 shows a horizontal section through part of the rotary table along the line A-B in FIG. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the wreath of a

Rotary table according to a second embodiment,

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through part of the

Rotary tables along the line C-D in Fig. 4 and

Fig. 6 shows a horizontal section through the turntable shaft in Fig. 4 in the disengaged state.

As can be clearly seen in FIG. 1, the vessels 45 to be equipped, which are to be supplied by a conveyor belt, are first pulled apart onto the machine division and, by means of a feed conveyor 1 designed as a revolving star, are pushed onto a rotary table 6 carrying a rotary table 2 in the correct position. Even before an incoming vessel 45 through the feed conveyor 1 is released, the vessel is axially clamped between the turntable 6 receiving the vessel bottom and a centering bell controlled by a curve and descending from above onto the vessel head. For this purpose, the centering bells are usually fastened to an upper part which rotates synchronously with the rotary table and is not shown in FIG. Immediately afterwards, the vessel receives, for example, a body label and a tinfoil film for the bottle neck through a first equipment station 23. Then the vessel passes through a brushing and rolling channel, with fixed brushes 4 and sponge rollers 5, which are arranged interchangeably on the periphery of the turntable 2. These painting and pressing elements as well as guide bends and other format-dependent parts of the machine are exchanged when changing containers or when changing the equipment. Correspondingly adapted turning programs for the turntable 6 must be available in these areas. This applies in the same way to a second equipment station 24, to which, for example, a back label can be applied, which in turn is painted or pressed on the way to the conveyor 3 by brushes 4 and sponge rollers 5. By means of a conveyor 3 cooperating with a guide bend 25, the labeled vessel is delivered from the turntable 2 to a conveyor belt, while a final treatment of the tinfoil film by rotating brushes or the like can be carried out during this process. A first embodiment of a control device for driving a turntable 6 is shown in FIG. 2.

A rotary table 6 is rotatably mounted on the housing of the rotary table 2, which can be driven in rotation by a machine drive. The turntable shaft 8, which is non-rotatably connected to the turntable 6, carries a first toothed wheel 9 and, with an axial distance below it, a second toothed wheel 10. Both toothed wheels 9 and 10 are freely rotatably mounted on the turntable shaft 8 and secured against displacement in the axial direction. On the mutually facing sides of the gears 9 and 10, pin-like claws 11 are arranged, which can optionally be brought into engagement with the bores 12 of the switching ring 13 arranged between the two gears 9 and 10. For this purpose, the switching ring 13 is rotatably but axially displaceably guided on a toothing 14 on the turntable shaft 8. The actuation of the switching ring 13 is carried out by a switching fork 15 with pins 16 attached to it, which engage in an annular groove 17 provided on the switching ring 13.

The exemplary embodiment of a turntable control shown in FIG. 2 comprises two groove curves 18 and 19 molded radially next to one another in a fixed groove curve carrier 7. The course of the groove curves 18 and 19 is scanned by cam rollers 20. The cam roller 20 engaging in the radially outer groove curve 18 is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to a first toothed segment 21 which is pivoted freely on a bearing pin 26 which is fastened to the rotary table 2 and rotates therewith and with which Upper gear 9 meshes, while the cam roller 20 engaging in the radially inner groove curve 19 is connected to a second toothed segment 22 meshing with the lower gear 10. This second toothed segment 22 is pivotally mounted in the same way as the first toothed segment 21 on a bearing journal 26 attached to the rotary table 2.

Depending on the selected pitch circle diameter on the gears 9 and 10 and the toothed segments 21 and 22, a sufficiently high transmission ratio can be achieved, so that only comparatively small swivel angles of the toothed segments are necessary for controlling the rotary plate 6. In this way, the space required for the groove curves 18 and 19 in the radial direction can be reduced.

The actuating device required for axially displacing the switching ring 13 along the turntable shaft 8 can be seen better in FIG. 3. The shift fork 15 is fastened in a rotationally fixed manner to a shift shaft 27 which is pivotably mounted in the radially outer housing wall 28 of the turntable 2 and which carries a roller lever 29 at its end projecting outward from the turntable 2. By means of a cam piece (not shown) arranged in the orbit of the roller lever 29, each turntable 6 can be selectively brought into engagement with one of the two gear wheels 9 or 10 and thus with the groove curves 18 and 19 by shifting the switching ring 13.

In Fig. 2, the switching ring 13 is shown in an intermediate position during a switching process, wherein just none of the peg-shaped claws 11 is in engagement with the bores 12 of the switching ring 13. Deviating from this, the length of the claws can also be dimensioned such that the claws of the one gearwheel are only released during a changeover process when the opposite claws of the second gearwheel are already in contact with the switching ring 13, so that the turntable 6 is never used can perform an undefined rotary movement. For this purpose, it is necessary that the groove curves 18 and 19 have a section in which the claws 11 are axially aligned for switching the switching ring 13.

3, the switching rings 13 of all turntables 6 of a turntable 2 can also be fastened on a common, for example annular, support body, so that all turntables 6 can be switched over simultaneously by actuating the common support body. However, either the claws 11 or the switching rings 13 would then have to be flexible in the axial direction in order to enable the claws 11 which are not yet aligned with the bores 12 at the moment of the changeover to snap into place.

4 to 6, a second embodiment of a turntable control is shown. In this embodiment, the control cams 30 and 31 are axially offset from one another. Each of the two control cams 30 and 31 is scanned by two cam rollers 32, which are fastened together freely rotatable on a carrier 33 and 34, respectively. The carrier 33 is on an internal toothed ring 35 and the carrier 34 attached an inner toothed ring 36 below. Both internal toothed rings 35 and 36 are pivotally mounted on the turntable shaft 37, which in turn is rotatably held by the turntable 2. The internal toothed rings are not axially displaceable to the turntable shaft 37 during operation.

As can be seen particularly well in FIGS. 5 and 6, the internal toothed rings 35 and 36 are equipped with a plurality of axially extending grooves 39. Balls 40 can engage in these grooves 39 in a form-fitting manner and are guided in radially movable bores in the rotary plate shaft 37. The radial position of the balls 40 is determined by a pulling wedge 38 which is axially displaceably guided in an inner bore 41 of the turntable shaft 37. The pulling wedge 38 has sections with different outer diameters, so that when the pulling wedge 38 is axially displaced, the section with a larger outer diameter can be moved into one of the two spherical planes, while at the same time a section of the pulling wedge with a smaller diameter is assigned to the other spherical plane. 4, the section with the larger outer diameter of the pulling wedge 38 is in the lower position and thus presses the balls 40 lying in the plane associated with the lower inner toothed ring 36 radially outward, so that these form-fit into the grooves 39 of the inner toothed ring

36 engage and in this way a rotary connection between the lower cam 31 and the turntable shaft

37 manufacture. Since at the same time the section of the drawing wedge 38 assigned to the balls 40 of the upper toothed ring 35 has a smaller outside diameter, they are located in FIG this plane lying balls 40 in a radially inner position, and can not make a connection between the turntable shaft 37 and the internal toothed ring 35. The inner toothed ring 35 and the associated carrier 33 can therefore - regardless of the rotational movement of the turntable shaft 37 determined by the lower control curve 31 - follow their own control curve 30. 6, which shows a horizontal section through the rotary plate shaft 37 and the internal toothed ring 35 in FIG. 4. There is no rotary connection between the inner toothed ring 35 and the turntable shaft 37.

The actuation of the pull wedge 38 in the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 4 takes place pneumatically. The pulling wedge 38 can optionally be pressurized with compressed air or vacuum at its upper or lower end and thereby be axially displaced in the inner bore 41 of the turntable shaft 37. For this purpose, an upper and lower ring distributor 42 and 43 are rotatably mounted on the turntable shaft 37. Both ring distributors 42 and 43 each have an inner channel 44 into which the connecting bores 46 integrated into the rotary plate shaft 37 open from the upper and lower ends of the inner bore 41. If both a compressed air and a vacuum source are available on an equipment machine, the lower ring distributor 43 can be dispensed with, since the switching process can be carried out by optionally applying a single ring distributor with overpressure or underpressure. One of the two ring distributors 42 and 43 can also be dispensed with if one of the two possible axial ones Positions of the drawing wedge 38 can be adjusted by a spring (spiral spring). In this case, an externally controllable compressed air or vacuum source is only required to bring about the position opposite the spring force.

The inner channels 44 of the upper ring distributor 42 and that of the lower ring distributor 43 can either be supplied individually by separate lines (not shown), which enables independent, selective switching of the individual turntables, or by a ring line that summarizes the adjacent ring distributors of the other turntables can be supplied and controlled centrally and enables a simultaneous changeover of all turntable controls. In both conceivable designs, a rotary distributor (not shown) is required for the supply of compressed air or vacuum in the area of the rotary table hub.

Claims

AS equipment machine for the treatment of vessels 1. Equipment machine for the treatment of vessels (45) with different shapes and / or equipment, in particular bottles, with a feed conveyor (1), a rotating table (2) which can be driven in rotation, with at least one equipment station (23, 24) arranged on its circumference with subsequent ones Painting and pressing elements (4, 5) and a discharge conveyor (3), the rotary table (2) having at least one rotatably mounted turntable (6) with an associated control member (20, 32), which has a fixedly arranged control cam (18, 19, 30, 31) cooperates, characterized in that at least two different control cams (18, 19, 30, 31), each having a complete rotary program for one turn of the rotary table (2), are provided, each of which Turntable (6) is assigned an equivalent number of control elements (20, 32) corresponding to the number of existing control cams (18, 19, 30, 31), which are permanently assigned to the respective nets / • (* Control cams (18, 19, 30, 31) are engaged and for switching from one vessel and / or equipment configuration to another by means of a switchable coupling (11, 12, 13, 38, 40) optionally with the turntable (6) in Intervention can be brought. 2. Equipment machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the control cams (30, 31) are assigned to the control members (32) accordingly, are arranged offset from one another under the rotary table (2) parallel to the rotary plane thereof. 3. Equipment machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the control members (32, 33, 34) or at least parts thereof are axially offset freely rotatably mounted on a common, with the turntable (6) in connection with the shaft (37). 4. Equipment machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the coupling (11, 13, 38, 40) or at least parts thereof are axially displaceable along a common shaft (8, 37). 5. Equipment machine according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coupling is designed as a switchable claw coupling (11, 13). Λ 6. Equipment machine according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coupling is designed as a pull wedge coupling (38, 40). 7. Equipment machine according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in a turntable (2) with a plurality of turntables (6) the change from one vessel and / or equipment form to another is carried out centrally and simultaneously for all turntables (6) . 8. Equipment machine according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a control cam (18, 19, 30, 31) associated control member (20, 32) when switching only then by the switchable clutch (11, 13, 38, 40) is released when a control member assigned to another control cam is in engagement with the turntable (6).