Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor – Automatic and/or material-triggered control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-10
2002-06-25
Evanisko, Leslie J. (Department: 2854)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor
Automatic and/or material-triggered control
C156S361000, C156S362000, C156S378000, C156SDIG004, C156SDIG004
Reexamination Certificate
active
06408916
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to labelers generally, and more particularly, to labelers for the application of vinyl labels to fruit and vegetables.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Labels are applied to fruit and vegetables in packing houses, where the speed at which the labels are applied, the accuracy of the label application, and the space required by the labeler, i.e. the labeler footprint, are important. Speed is important because the fruit must be packed and shipped quickly so that the shelf life in stores will be as long as possible and the speed of the labeler is the limiting constraint. This constraint of labeler speed also results in inefficient use of other equipment and personnel in the packing house, thus increasing the overall cost of operation. Accuracy, i.e. the successful application of the proper label to the fruit, is important because packing house profitability is adversely affected when a label that would have permitted a higher selling price is not applied to fruit otherwise capable of commanding such higher price. Space is important because of the physical configuration of any given packing house. The fruit is transported in a series of lanes, each lane conveying fruit on a plurality of cradles connected to an endless belt, each cradle supporting and locating an individual fruit. The fruit in each lane is sized by conventional sizing means and subsequently conveyed past a plurality of labelers arranged in series or banks, each of the labelers in the series of labelers being loaded with a different label, i.e. a label imprinted with indicia to identify the size of the fruit. The physical arrangement of the packing house often limits, without major reconstruction of the building, the number of banks of labelers it is possible to install.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses these important considerations, and provides a labeler which is compact, permitting the installation of three banks of labelers in the space normally required by only two banks of prior art labelers, which can be operated at higher speeds, which can apply labels with greater accuracy than prior art labelers even at higher speeds, which requires fewer parts, and which is relatively simple to manufacture and maintain. These and other attributes of the present invention, and many of the attendant advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent from a perusal of the following description and the accompanying drawings.
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Brochure for TL3 Programmable Tray Labeler, Sinclair International, undated (2 pages).
Brochure for SP-RM6 Labeler, Sinclair International, undated (2 pages).
Brochure for TL-3 Tray Labeler, Sinclair International, Apr. 29, 1999 (1 page).
Brochure for SP-RM6 Self Contained Labeling Head, Sinclair International, Apr. 29, 1999 (1 page).
Anderson David N.
Sherman Wayne C.
Evanisko Leslie J.
FMC Technologies Inc.
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