Patent Application
20100147454
This patent application claims priority of German Patent Application No. DE 10 2008 061 976.0, filed on Dec. 12, 2008, the application is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for applying labels supplied from a roll to containers.
The invention further relates to a method for applying labels supplied from a roll.
For labeling processes at high throughput mostly endless label dispensers are used, which are spooled onto a roll core to form a roll of labels. This type of labeling facilitates rather uninterrupted labeling, as it is also possible to provide several rolls of labels in a storage unit, which are supplied to the labeling machine without interruption, if required.
A labeling machine is known for example from the German utility model DE 20 2005 002 793 U1, which provides amongst other things a high speed cutting unit for endless label bands, wherein the rolls are used in a labeling machine. The cutting unit comprises a rotating vacuum roll with an also rotating cutting element. In order to achieve as large as possible variation of the cut length, both the vacuum roll and the cutting element are provided with a drive each. With the apparatus of the utility model various lengths of the labels can be provided, which are applied as wrap-around labels to various types of container like cans, PET-bottles, glass bottles, tins, glass jars or buckets.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,443 also discloses a method and an apparatus for applying labels to containers. The labels are transported by a revolving belt and lie on separate pads. These pads are separated from each other by gaps. A cutting device engages these gaps to separate the labels. In order to use a different label length it is necessary to retrofit the transport belt for the labels, so that labels of a different length can be produced. The length of the labels is determined by the distance between the gaps on the belt.
The European patent application EP 2 042 437 A1 filed on Sep. 3, 2007, (internal document number ROPE 01 254-EP) discloses a wrap-around labeling apparatus. Here, too, a roll of labels is used and supplied to a corresponding cutting device, which separates the individual labels from the rolled material. However, the apparatus disclosed herein only provides labels of a length to completely wrap around the container to be labeled. Furthermore this document discloses how to design the cutting device taking into consideration the thermal expansion coefficients of the individual components so that also at high throughput of the cutting device there is no shift of the length of the labels and no change in the cutting quality of the cutting device due to thermal expansion.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for applying labels supplied from a roll to containers, wherein the labels are designed to allow for an environmentally friendly and resource-efficient application of the labels to the containers.
This object is achieved by the apparatus for applying labels supplied from a roll for labeling containers comprising:
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for applying labels supplied from a roll to containers, which allows for an environmentally friendly and resource-efficient application of the labels.
The above object is achieved by the method for applying labels supplied from a roll, comprising the steps of:
For this purpose the cutting device has assigned a control unit provided with an input unit. The length of the label can be set via the input unit. Thus it is easy to reduce the length of the label so that the label does no longer form a full wrap-around label for the container. If, for example, a label is applied whose length corresponds to only half the circumference of the container, half the material for the label is saved. This reduces the environmental impact and in view of the high number of labels applied to containers, also a substantial reduction of costs is achieved.
The input unit can be a touch screen. Therefore it is easy for an operator of the labeling station to adjust the length of the labels to thus achieve the required reduction of environmental impact and costs. The adjustment of the cutting device is done in a simple way with two servo motors. The adjustment entered via the input unit is passed to the cutting device via these servo motors.
The glue unit is designed in such a way that an adhesive is applied at least on the leading region and at least on the tail region of the label. It is also conceivable that the glue unit applies, at least additionally and partially, adhesive between the leading region and the tail region. After the label has been applied to the container, the leading region and the tail region are spaced apart from each other. The label thus can no longer be considered a wrap-around label. Only by this reduction of the label material a reduction of the environmental impact and of the costs is possible.
In the method according to the invention for applying labels supplied on a roll to containers first the rolled material for the labels is removed from a roll. Via a control unit the cutting device is adjusted to cut the required length of the label from the rolled material. In the glue unit adhesive is applied at least on a leading region and at least on a tail region of the label. In the labeling station the cut label with adhesive applied is applied to the circumference of the container. The length of the label is such that the leading region and the tail region of the label applied to the container are spaced apart from each other.
In the following, embodiments will explain the inventive method and the inventive apparatus and their advantages in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Identical reference numerals are used for like elements of the invention or elements of like function. For the sake of clarity only those reference numerals are shown in the individual figures, which are required for the description of the respective figure.
The labeling machine comprises a feeding conveyor 24, an infeed star wheel 25 with an infeed worm 23 before it, a guide curve 22, a carousel 27 with a plurality of turn tables 26 arranged equidistantly on a common arch, a discharge star wheel 8 and a discharge conveyor 9. The transport elements mentioned, which move the bottles 10 through the machine, are driven continuously in synchronicity with speed and position.
In the region between the infeed star wheel 25 and the discharge star wheel 8 a labeling station 12 is provided at the outer circumference of the carousel 27 for applying the labels. The labeling station comprises two receptacles 14 for rolls of labels, which supply the labels in the form of rolled material, with a splicing station 15 in between, a cutting device 1, a glue unit 18, and a gripper cylinder for transferring a cut label with adhesive on its, in the direction of transport, leading and tail edge onto a bottle 10 moving by.
The labeling process of the bottle 10 in detail is as follows: a bottle 10 supplied from the feeding conveyor 24 is, in cooperation with the infeed worm 23 positioned sideward, introduced into the infeed star wheel 25 correctly oriented and is pushed from there onto a turn table 26 of the rotating carousel 27 in a continuous motion with the help of the opposing guide curve 22. There the bottle 10 is axially clamped on the turn table 26 in such a way that the bottle 10 can rotate with the turn table 26 by a centering bell (not shown) that can be raised and lowered with respect to the turn table. The bottle 10 is transported tangentially to the cylinder 17 of the labeling station 12 by the rotary motion of the carousel 27.
Moving sideward in parallel the label band is taken in a controlled manner from one of the label band rolls 14 and supplied to a cutting device 1. The cut label, which during the cutting step is on the rotating vacuum roll 2 with the printed side facing outwards, is passed to the vacuum operated gripper cylinder 7 after the cutting step, from where it is moved past the glue roll with the backside facing outwards and has strips of adhesive 50 applied on the leading region 101 and on the tail region 102 of the label 100. This label with the strips of adhesive 50 on the leading region 101 and the tail region 102, is tangentially fed to the carousel 27, on which the bottles 10 are located. The strip of adhesive 50 on the leading region 101 of the label 100 is brought into contact with the bottle 10 and the label is spooled off by rotation of the bottle 10 about its axis, wherein the adhesive 50 on the tail region 102 of the label 100 is brought into contact with a further region on the circumference of the bottle 10, so that the label 100 sticks to the bottle 10 completely. The length of the label 100 is such that the label 100 does not reach around the circumference of the bottle 10. It is emphasized again that the label 100 does not constitute a wrap-around label. The length 103 of the label is smaller than the circumference of the bottle 10 or of the container to be labeled, respectively. The application of the label 100 described above is done during a continuous motion of the carousel 27. After passing the labeling station 12 and after termination of the spooling process the labeled bottle 10 reaches the discharge star wheel 8 and is passed to the discharge conveyor 9.
The invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments. However, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that alterations and modifications can be made without leaving the scope of the subsequent claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE 102008061976.0 | Dec 2008 | DE | national |
