Labeling machine

Details Labeling machine Labeling machine

1998-09-14

2001-01-02

Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor

With work feeding or handling means

C156S578000

Utility Patent

active

06167935

ABSTRACT:

The invention is concerned with a labeling machine for applying labels to containers, with an adhesive station for applying adhesive to a back side of a label whereby the adhesive is prayed on the label, further with label transfer means, having a holding plate with an outer rim for holding the label, which transfer means transfer labels from a label individualisation position to a label applying position, whereby the adhesive is applied to the label while on the label transfer means, between the label individualisation position and the label applying position.
The invention is also concerned with a labeling machine with an adhesive station for applying adhesive to a container and applying thereafter the label on the container by means of the adhesive previously applied to the container.
It is known in the state of the art a labeling machine for example according to French patent 14 46 880 to spray adhesive onto a container and to press the label against the container in the area the adhesive has been applied to. Further it is known from this state of the art, to spray the adhesive through a frame in order to define exactly the area of the adhesive on the bottle. This area should match as much as possible, in its borderlines, with the label.
It has also already been proposed, to spray the adhesive, also through a frame, onto the back side of the label while on a holding plate and to apply the label thereafter to the container (see also the mentioned French patent).
In both cases, it is difficult, to confine the area, the adhesive is applied to. As far as the application to the bottle is concerned, there might be parts of the area which go beyond the rim of the label, applied lateron. In this case the results are unpleasant adhesive accumulations outside of the label. Also, it might be that the adhesive does not cover the whole area upto the rim of the label. In this case, the border of the label may become unsightly due to wrinkles. As far as the adhesive is applied to the back side of the label, there might be some amount of adhesive which goes outside of the rim of the label and does soil the further parts of the label holder or other parts of the labeling machine. In case the adhesive does not cover completely at least the border regions of the back side of the label, again the applied label may become unsightly due to wrinkles.
The invention is concerned with the object to have a labeling machine for linerless pressure sensitive labeling with an application of adhesive by spraying, whereby very precise matching with the borderlines of the label is reached.
According to a first idea of the invention, in order to reach the object outlined before, there is provided an adhesive receiving element surrounding the holding plate for the label. In case of applying the adhesive to the bottle, such adhesive receiving element can be laid over the bottle for the time, the adhesive is applied to the bottle. Or the bottle can be pressed against the element at the moment the adhesive is applied The adhesive receiving element is preferably made framelike. This element is further, in case it is related to a label holding plate, for example on a turret, preferably divided in at least two parts so that it can be removed from the holding plate. Further, the receiving element is located in or moveable in the plane of the receiving plate of the holding element or, in flow direction of the adhesive, behind the plane of the holding plate. The adhesive can be sprayed to the area, especially to the back side of a label, in a manner that it goes clearly beyond the outer rim of such label. The excess adhesive is then received on the adhesive receiving element. The adhesive receiving element has further means or is engagable with means to remove the excess adhesive from time to time from the receiving element. A first means to do so may be to heat the receiving element, which is the made from a metal material, at a temperature above the melting temperature of the adhesive. A further means can be to have the receiving element coated with a non-sticky surface, such a silicone. The adhesive may then fall down from time to time or it can be scraped from time to time from the surface.
The receiving element can be also described as a rear or catcher picture frame which has an outside dimension much larger than the label dimension and an inner hole that is smaller. The rear frame will catch and control the over-spray. By increasing the hole in the picture frame located between the spray source, the spray nozzle and the label (focus picture frame) the adhesive spray will cover the full backside surface of the label all the way to and over the edges. The rear catcher frame located behind the label (between the label and the machine mechanism) will catch all the over-spray. The rear catcher frame can be designed to rotate or index with the turret resulting in a catcher for each station, or it could be designed to stay in a stationary position across from the focus picture frame and adhesive spray equipment. The focus picture frame is heated to allow the over-spray to melt and run down into a collection container. The catcher frame can also be heated or it can be designed to hold a paper or other through-away material that would accept the over-spray. The material could be replaced quickly when needed. The material could be adhered to the catcher frame with a POST IT-type adhesive to hold it in place. This would allow a very fast change.
For the cleaning of the adhesive receiving element also other methods are possible. For example the element can be vibrated from time to time, for example by exposure to ultrasonic. Dried adhesive may then be seperated thereby. It is also possible, maybe also from time to time, as already mentioned, to heat the element to a temperature above the melting temperature of the adhesive. The adhesive may flow thereby into a groove at the bottom of the element and from there into a recycle receptacle.
As to a coating of the receiving element, especially preferred is also a coating as described in german laid open publication 195 44 763. This publication is hereby incorporated by reference.
In case the receiving element is located behind the holding plate, it is further preferred, that the receiving element extends inwardly over the rim of the holding plate. Thereby, it is assured, that any excess adhesive, which goes over the rim of the holding plate, which does match with the rim of label, is received on the adhesive receiving element.
The adhesive receiving element can also be partly behind the holding plate and partly be flush with the holding plate. In this case, it is of advantage to have the receiving element made with a step, matching with the rim of the holding plate. Such element is then moveable from a position, in which the step is flush with the rim of the holding plate to a position, in which the step is distant to the rim of plate.
In order to avoid any threads or threadlets of the adhesive between the label and the label receiving element, it is also of advantage, to heat the respective rim of the holding plate. Additionally or alternatively can be also of advantage to heat the respective rim of the label. This can be done for example by an metallic coating of the respective rim of the label and an electrical induction heating of the rim of the label. As to this, in the label holding plate, electrically insulated from the label, is built an electrical circuit with a coil inducing an electrical current in the label and thereby heating the label or at least the rim thereof. The heating of the label can also be done simply by contact heating of the label on the holding plate, which then only needs to be heated.
It is also proposed by the invention, alternatively or in combination, to apply the adhesive within an electrical field. This can be done in different ways, for example by spraying the adhesive through a metallic net having a negative electrical charge. By such high charge, the molecules, especially the air molecules, get ionizated. Such ionizated molecules go then t

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