The present invention relates to bottling, and in particular to an improved label holder.
Conveyor systems have been developed for quickly filling and capping a multitude of bottles in a very short period of time. The conveyor systems move empty and uncapped bottles along a line and/or along a periphery of a wheel and fill the bottles (with, for example, water, soda or any other liquid), cap the bottles while the bottles continuously move, and apply labels to the bottles.
The present invention, according to one aspect, is directed to a vacuum station comprising a main housing and a pair of arms extending from the main housing. The arms are configured to hold a roller. The main housing has a front face and a rear face, with the front face having a recess therein. An air path extends from the front face to the rear face. The vacuum station also includes a removable plate having a plurality of suction holes therethrough located within the recess in the front face of the main housing. The removable plate is removably connected to the main housing by magnets. A sheet of labels can be held to the removable plate by a suction force through the air path in the main housing and the suction holes in the removable plate.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a bottling label switching assembly comprising a switching housing, with the switching housing including a plurality of rolls and each of the rolls having a sheet of labels. The bottling label switching assembly further comprises a plurality of vacuum stations, with each of the vacuum stations corresponding to one of the plurality of rolls. Each of the vacuum stations comprises a main housing and a pair of arms extending from the main housing, with the arms configured to hold a roller. The main housing has a front face and a rear face, with the front face having a recess therein, and an air path extending from the front face to the rear face. Each of the vacuum stations also includes a removable plate having a plurality of suction holes therethrough located within the recess in the front face of the main housing, with the removable plate being removably connected to the main housing by magnets. The sheet of labels can be held to the removable plate by a suction force through the air path in the main housing and the suction holes in the removable plate.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of changing the suction area of a bottling label switching assembly. The method comprises providing a switching housing, with the switching housing including a plurality of rolls with each of the rolls having a sheet of labels. The method also includes providing a vacuum stations corresponding to one of the plurality of rolls and providing the vacuum station with a main housing and a pair of arm extending from the main housing, with the arms configured to hold a roller. The main housing has a front face and a rear face, with the front face having a recess therein, and an air path extending from the front face to the rear face. The method further includes providing a plurality of removable plates, with each of the removable plates having a plurality of suction holes therethrough. The method also includes removably positioning via magnets a first one of the removable plates within the recess in the front face of the main housing, removing the first one of the removable plates from the recess and replacing the first one of the removable plates with a second one of the removable plates within the recess by removably positioning via magnets a second one of the removable plates within the recess in the front face of the main housing, and holding the sheet of labels to the first one of the removable plates and then the second one of the removable plates by a suction force through the air path in the main housing and the suction holes in the first one of the removable plates and then the second one of the removable plates.
One or more embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example and should not be construed as being limited to the specific embodiments depicted in the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements.
The specific devices and processes illustrated in the attached drawings and described in the following specification are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts. Hence, specific dimensions and other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed herein are not to be considered as limiting.
For purposes of description herein, it is to be understood that the invention may assume various alternative orientations, except where expressly specified to the contrary. It is also to be understood that the specific devices and processes illustrated in the attached drawings and described in the following specification are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts defined in the appended claims. Hence, specific dimensions and other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed herein are not to be considered as limiting, unless the claims expressly state otherwise.
The reference number 10 (
The bottling label switching assembly 10 allows for a continuous feed of a sheet of labels to the bottling assembly line. The bottling label switching assembly 10 includes a housing 12 including a plurality of drawers 14 of label reels. Each drawer 14 has a large reel of a sheet of labels wrapped thereon. The drawers 14 can be pulled out of the housing 12 to allow for an empty reel to be replaced with a full reel of a sheet of labels before being slid back into the housing 12. Once the drawer 14 with the full reel of a sheet of labels is slid into the housing 12, a leading end 16 of a sheet of labels 18 is pulled over an alignment wheel 20 and placed on top of a vacuum station 22. The vacuum station 22 holds the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18 via suction.
During use, the sheet of labels from a particular drawer 14 are run over the alignment wheel 20 and picked up by a splicing assembly 24 comprising a cutting table 26 and a movable splicing station 28. The splicing assembly 24 supplies the sheet of labels to a label buffer (not shown), which in turn supplies the sheet of labels to the label application station of the bottle assembly line. When the reel within a particular drawer 14 is empty of the sheet of labels, the splicing assembly 24 quickly moves laterally to another vacuum station 22 and splices the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels at this new area onto the trailing end of the sheet of labels from the now empty reel of the adjacent drawer 14. The label buffer works to ensure that the sheet of labels can be supplied to the label application station of the bottle assembly line without any pause in the process.
The arm connection area 48 of the prior art vacuum station 22 is used to hold the roller arms 32, which in turn hold one of the alignment wheels 20. The arm connection area 48 includes a bottom portion of the front surface 34, bottom portions of the side surfaces 38 and the bottom surface 42. As shown in
The suction area 46 of the prior art vacuum station 22 is used to hold the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18 as outlined above. The suction area 46 includes a removable suction module 64 located in module slot 66 in the front surface 34. A pair of counterbores 68 are located between the module slot 66 and the top surface 40 of the suction area 46. The counterbores 68 are configured to accept fasteners therein for connecting the vacuum station 22 to the housing 12 of the bottling label switching assembly 10. As shown in
The prior art removable suction module 64 is replaceable and can be replaced when worn through use. The removable suction module 64 includes a perforated plate 74 having a holding panel 76 connected to the front of the perforated plate 74. As shown in
In the prior art, most of the prior art vacuum station 22 is made of metal. However, the holding panel 76 of the removable suction module 64 can be made of a softer material (e.g., rubber). During use of the prior art vacuum station 22, the holding panel 76 can degrade, thereby requiring replacement of the removable suction module 64. However, replacing the holding panel 76 of the prior art vacuum station 22 required the prior art vacuum station 22 to be removed from the prior art bottling label switching assembly 10. This often caused shutdown of the prior art bottling label switching assembly 10 and possible shutdown of the bottling assembly. Moreover, the prior art vacuum station 22 would sometimes have issues lining the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18 up straight for connection to a trailing end of another sheet of labels and did not always hold the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18 down completely flat (e.g., corners of the leading end 16 would roll up) to make a complete and proper connection to the trailing end of another sheet of labels, thereby not making a proper connection to the trailing end of another sheet of labels which could lead to a weak splice of the two sheets of labels and a break at the splice causing excessive downtime to correct. Since the bottling assemblies work continuously, any shutdown of the bottling assemblies can prevent thousands of bottles from being ready for shipping, costing the factories large amounts of money. Therefore, there is a desire to prevent and/or lessen the shutdown time of bottling assemblies. The vacuum station of the present invention as outlined below prevents and/or lessens the shutdown time of bottling assemblies.
The reference numeral 100 (
In the illustrated embodiment, the suction area 46a of the vacuum station 100 includes a reusable suction plate 102 that is more durable than the prior art removable suction module 64 and also easier to replace/change than the prior art removable suction module 64. As illustrated in
One side of the illustrated rectangular recess 104 includes a suction area 110 for providing suction to the reusable suction plate 102. The suction area 110 has an oval seal ring 112 within the recessed bottom surface 106 and a plurality of openings 114 within the area defined by the oval seal ring 112. The openings 114 are connected to the internal hole 72a that connects the suction line 70a to the openings 114. Therefore, the openings 114 have a suction force. In the illustrated embodiments, there are three openings 114. However, it is contemplated that any number of openings 114 could be used.
In the illustrated example, the reusable suction plate 102 (
The illustrated reusable suction plate 102 is configured to rest in the rectangular recess 104 of the vacuum station 100 in a plurality of positions. As shown in
In the illustrated example, the reusable suction plate 102 is configured to cover the suction area 110 having the plurality of openings 114 within the area defined by the oval seal ring 112 of the vacuum station 100. As illustrated in
The illustrated reusable suction plate 102 is configured to have multiple positions for holding the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18.
During use of the vacuum station 100 of the present invention, the reusable suction plate 102 can have a vacuum force therethrough as outlined above to hold the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18 via suction as outlined above. Once one of the suction areas 136 of the reusable suction plate 102 gets worn, the reusable suction plate 102 can easily be rotated such that the side with a new/fresh suction area 136 is used to hold the leading end 16 of the sheet of labels 18. Once both suction areas 136 of the reusable suction plate 102 are worn, a new reusable suction plate 102 can be substituted for the worn reusable suction plate 102. Therefore, the bottling label switching assembly 10 can run easily and efficiently with little or no shutdown time.
The reference numeral 200 (
Although particular preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention.