Claims
- 1. In a computer controlled labeling system having a computer; article transport means, including a turret plate and a chuck for holding an article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape and a surface peripheral dimension which presents a zone of maximum diameter and one or more adjacent areas of lesser diameter, and means for sensing the angular position, rotational direction, and speed of said turret plate and of said chuck, for transporting said article to be labeled along a fixed article transport path defined by said article transport means; and means for applying stretch labels to said articles including a cutter for cutting an elastic segment of sheet material from a roll of material, and a rotatable vacuum drum for holding said segment of sheet; a method of applying a stretch label to a predetermined location on the surface of said article comprising:
- providing an elastic segment of sheet material having a leading end, and a trailing end, and having an unstretched length between said leading and trailing ends which is less than the length of the surface of said article to be covered by said segment;
- stretching the segment to increase the distance between the leading and trailing ends so that the length of said stretched segment is greater than or equal to the length of the surface of said article to be covered by said segment, the distance between said leading and trailing ends of the portions of the segment overlying the lesser diameter areas will decrease upon allowing said stretched segment to relax back toward said unstretched length so that said stretched segment when allowed to relax back toward said unstretched length is substantially prevented from returning to said unstretched length by a peripheral dimension of said article which is greater than said unstretched length, and upon being allowed to relax back toward said unstretched condition said label adhering closely and tightly to such area or areas and the portion of said zone of maximum diameter remains in a stretched condition;
- applying said segment while so stretched to the article to overlie said zone of maximum diameter and said adjacent area or areas, by adhering the leading end of the stretched segment to the article by applying adhesive to said leading end, wrapping the segment while still in stretched condition around said article so as to overlie said zone and said adjacent area or areas, said adhesive substantially securing said leading edge to said article before said segment is released from said vacuum drum, and securing the trailing end of the stretched segment to said leading end or to the article by applying adhesive to adhere said trailing end or said region underlying said trailing end before said stretched segment is allowed to relax to conform to said article; and
- controlling said stretching and said applying of said segment by:
- selecting a commanded angular orientation numerical value, a commanded rotational direction numerical value, and a commanded rotational speed numerical value for each of said rotatable vacuum drum, said turret plate, and said chuck, and a commanded cutter position numerical value, which values in combination define spatial and temporal relationships between and among said vacuum drum, said turret plate, said chuck, and said cutter which provide for application of said label on said article at said predetermined location; and mathematically characterizing spatial and temporal relationships between said numerical values and spatial characteristics of said article and said label including: at least one circumferential dimension of said article, a linear dimension along the label direction corresponding to said article circumferential dimension for said label to be applied, and a location on said article where said label is to be applied;
- transporting said article along said path;
- sensing the speed of said transport means;
- computing, in said computer, a commanded angular orientation numerical value, a commanded rotational direction numerical value, and a commanded rotational speed numerical value for each of, said rotatable vacuum drum, said turret plate, and said chuck, and a commanded cutter position numerical value, said numerical values in combination defining time and spatial relationships between said drum, turret plate, chuck, and cutter to provide for application of said label on said article at said predetermined location;
- generating, in said computer, a control signal corresponding to each of said commanded numerical values in response to said computed numerical values; and
- applying said control signals to said means for transporting, and to said means for applying stretch labels so that said label is stretched a predetermined amount when applied to said article and at said predetermined location on said article; and
- said stretching being sufficient that, when the applied stretching force is relinquished by relaxation of said material substantially back to said unstretched length, the portion or portions of the segment overlying said adjacent area or areas will upon relaxing adhere closely and tightly to such area or areas or closely enough that the segment can then be heat shrunk onto such area or areas.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said article presents a zone of maximum diameter and one or more adjacent areas of lesser diameter.
- 3. The method of claim 1, in which said applying step includes applying an adhesive to said trailing end of said segment, said adhesive being a fast-acting adhesive which bonds said trailing end to said leading end or directly to said article before said segment is allowed to relax.
- 4. In a labeling machine, an apparatus for labeling an article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape including non-cylindrically shaped articles with a tactilely distinguishable mark, said apparatus comprising:
- a label application station for applying labels to said article including a rotatable chuck for holding and rotating said article at a commanded chuck rotational speed and chuck rotational direction;
- roll material rotating means for unwinding a roll of labeling material at a commanded roll rotational speed and in a commanded roll rotational direction;
- a cutter for cutting a segment from said roll to form a label segment for application to said article;
- liquid application means for applying viscous liquid directly to a section of said labeling material to directly form a tactilely distinguishable pattern upon solidification of said viscous liquid without requiring further deformation of said viscous liquid after application;
- solidifying means for solidifying said liquid in said distinguishable pattern after application;
- a rotatable generally cylindrical vacuum drum for grabbing said label segment at said cutter and positioning said label segment proximate said article, said drum being rotatable to a commanded angular orientation at a commanded drum speed;
- a computer controller for controlling the speed and angular orientation of said vacuum drum, for controlling said liquid application means including generating a first signal specifying the time when said means for applying liquid applies said liquid to said section of said label material and communicating said first signal to said liquid application means and a second signal specifying the time at which said cutter cuts said segment from said roll and communicating said second signal to said cutter, for controlling said roll material rotating means rotational speed and said roll material rotating means rotational direction for performing said unwinding of said roll of labeling material, and for controlling said chuck rotational speed and said chuck rotational direction;
- said computer controlling of said vacuum drum, of said liquid application means, of said cutter, of said roll material rotating means, and of said chuck being performed substantially simultaneously so that article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape is labeled with said label segment at a predetermined desired label location on said article and so that said tactilely distinguishable mark is deposited at a predetermined desired mark location on said label.
- 5. The apparatus in claim 4, wherein said computer control means is coupled to said label application station including said rotatable chuck, said vacuum drum, said rotating means, said cutter, and said means for applying liquid; and wherein said computer control means controls said apparatus for labeling including by processing information received from sensor means coupled to each of said label application station, said vacuum drum, said rotating means, said cutter, and said means for applying liquid, to compute operational status of each of said label application station, said vacuum drum, said rotating means, said cutter, and said means for applying liquid, and for generating control signals in response to said computed status to drive said label application station, said vacuum drum, said rotating means, said cutter, and said means for applying liquid to provide precise control and effect labeling of said articles.
- 6. In a computer controlled labeling apparatus having a computer, a memory coupled to said computer, and at least one glue spit gun and at least one air gun controlled by said computer, a method for computer controlled labeling of an article by depositing a tactilely distinguishable marking on a label for identification of said article by a visually impaired person comprising the steps of:
- storing data in a memory accessible by a computer controller defining a number and spatial distribution of glue droplets and a spatial and temporal distribution of concentrated air streams associated with a particular tactilely distinguishable marking;
- providing a piece of material for use as a label;
- applying said piece of material to said article as said label; and
- forming, on a portion of said label applied to said article, a tactilely distinguishable marking for identifying said article to said visually impaired persons by touch including the steps of:
- (i) simultaneously sputtering a predetermined plurality of glue droplets from said glue spit gun toward said label;
- (ii) while said plurality of glue droplets are traveling from said glue spit gun toward said label, directing at least one concentrated air stream in a predetermined spatial and temporal pattern from said computer controlled air gun at said sputtered glue droplets, said predetermined spatial and temporal pattern being dependent on the particular tactilely distinguishable marking to be applied to said label for said article; and
- (iii) controlling the timing and spatial distribution pattern of said glue sputtering and of said concentrated air stream pattern with said computer by controlling said glue spit gun and said air gun based on said stored data in said memory.
- 7. A method for labeling an article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape including non-cylindrically shaped articles for identification by visually impaired persons comprising the steps of:
- providing a continuous web of sheet of material on an roll;
- unwinding said continuous web of material to expose a particular segment of said sheet of material for use as a label on said article;
- depositing, on said particular sheet segment, a tactilely distinguishable marking comprising a viscous liquid for identifying said article to said visually impaired persons by touch;
- cutting said predetermined sheet portion from said web; and
- applying said sheet portion to said article;
- said tactile marking being deposited on said sheet portion after said material has been unwound from said unwindable roll and immediately before attachment of said label to said article; wherein the label is stretched after attachment of the label leading edge by controlling the article to be labeled in a manner that causes it to spin at a speed at which a tangential speed at a peripheral surface of said article at a location of contact of said label with said article is greater than the tangential speed of a location of contact of said label with the vacuum drum, thereby pulling said label from said drum and stretching the label during said pulling;
- wherein the label is stretched by rotating the vacuum drum such that said vacuum drum has a tangential speed at a peripheral surface of said drum where said label contacts said drum that is greater than the linear speed at which the label is unwound from said roll, and by spinning the article so that the tangential speed at the location of contact of said label with said article is at a speed greater than the tangential speed of a location of contact of said label with the vacuum drum.
- 8. In a labeling machine, an apparatus for labeling an article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape including non-cylindrically shaped articles with a tactilely distinguishable mark, said apparatus comprising:
- a label application station for applying labels to said article including a rotatable chuck for holding and rotating said article at a commanded chuck rotational speed and chuck; rotational direction;
- roll material rotating means for unwinding a roll of labeling material at a commanded roll rotational speed and in a commanded roll rotational direction;
- a cutter for cutting a segment from said roll to form a label segment for application to said article;
- liquid application means for applying viscous liquid to a section of said labeling material in a distinguishable pattern;
- solidifying means for solidifying said liquid in said distinguishable pattern after application:
- a rotatable generally cylindrical vacuum drum for grabbing said label segment at said cutter and positioning said label segment proximate said article, said drum being rotatable to a commanded angular orientation at a commanded drum speed;
- a computer controller for controlling the speed and angular orientation of said vacuum drum, for controlling said liquid application means including generating a first signal specifying the time when said means for applying liquid applies said liquid to said section of said label material and communicating said first signal to said liquid application means and a second signal specifying the time at which said cutter cuts said segment from said roll and communicating said second signal to said cutter, for controlling said roll material rotating means rotational speed and said roll material rotating means rotational direction for performing said unwinding of said roll of labeling material, and for controlling said chuck rotational speed and said chuck rotational direction;
- said computer controlling of said vacuum drum, of said liquid application means, of said cutter, of said roll material rotating means, and of said chuck being performed substantially simultaneously so that article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape is labeled with said label segment at a desired label location on said article and so that said tactilely distinguishable mark is deposited at a desired mark location on said label;
- said rotating means includes a roller for unwinding said material from said roll,
- said apparatus further includes a torque sensor coupled to said roller for sensing a drag force exerted by the stretched label material as it is unwound from said roll; and
- said roller is driven at a speed controlled by said computer to maintain substantially constant torque as measured by said torque sensor so that substantially constant label stretch is maintained even for a label material that has somewhat non-uniform stretch characteristics.
- 9. In a labeling machine, an apparatus for labeling an article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape including non-cylindrically shaped articles with a tactilely distinguishable mark, said apparatus comprising:
- a label application station for applying labels to said article including a rotatable chuck for holding and rotating said article at a commanded chuck rotational speed and chuck rotational direction;
- roll material rotating means for unwinding a roll of labeling material at a commanded roll rotational speed and in a commanded roll rotational direction;
- a cutter for cutting a segment from said roll to form a label segment for application to said article;
- liquid application means for applying viscous liquid to a section of said labeling material in a distinguishable pattern;
- solidifying means for solidifying said liquid in said distinguishable pattern after application;
- a rotatable generally cylindrical vacuum drum for grabbing said label segment at said cutter and positioning said label segment proximate said article, said drum being rotatable to a commanded angular orientation at a commanded drum speed;
- a computer controller for controlling the speed and angular orientation of said vacuum drum, for controlling said liquid application means including generating a first signal specifying the time when said means for applying liquid applies said liquid to said section of said label material and communicating said first signal to said liquid application means and a second signal specifying the time at which said cutter cuts said segment from said roll and communicating said second signal to said cutter, for controlling said roll material rotating means rotational speed and said roll material rotating means rotational direction for performing said unwinding of said roll of labeling material, and for controlling said chuck rotational speed and said chuck rotational direction;
- said computer controlling of said vacuum drum, of said liquid application means, of said cutter, of said roll material rotating means, and of said chuck being performed substantially simultaneously so that article having an arbitrary peripheral surface shape is labeled with said label segment at a desired label location on said article and so that said tactilely distinguishable mark is deposited at a desired mark location on said label; wherein said computer controller further comprises:
- a motor driven article transport means for transporting the article to be labeled;
- a motor driven rotatable vacuum drum;
- a web-feed roller motor;
- a cutter drive motor coupled to said cutter;
- a transport means position sensor coupled to said computer controller;
- a web-feed roller position and velocity sensor coupled to said computer controller;
- a vacuum drum drive motor coupled to said vacuum drum;
- a cutter motor velocity and angular position sensor coupled to said computer controller;
- a memory, coupled to said computer controller, for pre-storing predetermined parameters that characterize static and dynamic properties of each of said vacuum drum, said cutter, said rotating means, said rotatable chuck, and said liquid application means;
- means for reading said transport means position sensor, said web-feed roller position, and velocity sensor, and said cutter motor velocity and angular position sensor, to determine a velocity and orientation value for each said respective motor;
- means for predicting the relative angular orientations and angular velocities of said vacuum drum, said web-feed roller, said cutter, and said transport means prior to said article arriving at the label application point in response to each said determined velocity and orientation value and a predefined set of rules; and
- means for generating and applying velocity and orientation correction signals to each said motor, prior arrival of said article at the label application point, to achieve a predetermined label stretch for wrapping a stretched label on said article.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/484,154 filed 7 Jun. 1995 which is a cip of Ser. No. 08/122,857 filed 16 Sep. 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,422.
US Referenced Citations (41)
Foreign Referenced Citations (9)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0009739 |
Apr 1980 |
EPX |
0011595 |
May 1980 |
EPX |
0011967 |
Jun 1980 |
EPX |
0 074 165 |
Mar 1983 |
EPX |
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May 1984 |
EPX |
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Oct 1981 |
DEX |
31 37201 |
Mar 1983 |
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GBX |
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Gallus, "Instruction Manual," 1978 (and English Language Translation). |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
484154 |
Jun 1995 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
122857 |
Sep 1993 |
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