Package making – Group forming of contents unit and subsequent or further... – Layer – stack – or column
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-01
2002-08-20
Rada, Rinaldi I. (Department: 3721)
Package making
Group forming of contents unit and subsequent or further...
Layer, stack, or column
C053S154000, C053S238000, C053S240000, C053S247000, C414S797800, C221S211000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06434914
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to machines for placing tags into soil-filled plant containers used in the nursery and greenhouse industries and related markets.
2. Description of the Art to which the Invention Relates
The art to which the invention relates incorporates tagging machines and other tagging devices capable of placing identification labels or tags (hereinafter “tags”) into communication with a flat, pot, cup or tray (hereinafter referred to as “container(s)”) which typically contain soil or other growing media, seedlings or small plants. The tags placed by the inventive apparatus claimed herein as well as those comprising some of the art to which the invention relates are formed of a thin sheet of plastic or polymeric material, have a spiked end and a placard end extending upward and opposite the spiked end.
The apparatuses comprising the art to which the invention relates typically take possession of a tag from a supply of tags residing within a tag reservoir and insert the spiked end of the tag into the soil or other growing media within the cell portion of the container. It is known that manual placement of tags is a tedious and somewhat time-consuming job. Furthermore, considering the seasonal number of trays and variety of containers used by the various growers in the nursery and greenhouse industry the hand placement of tags could entail the positioning of millions of tags. Hand placement of tags is, therefore, in many cases inefficient and expensive particularly with respect to the large growing operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,942,392 granted to McCain on Jun. 28, 1960 is directed to an apparatus for transferring articles in abutting relation to each other from one magazine into another magazine in spaced relationship. The McCain device uses a ratcheting mechanism for movement of the placement apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,627 granted to Roda on Dec. 25, 1973 is directed to a machine for the automatic formation and insertion of container partitions. The Roda apparatus does not use a vacuum placement arm for positioning the container partitions being placed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,556 granted to Schmidt, et. al. on Mar. 11, 1986 is directed to a label-inserting apparatus. The Schmidt et. al. apparatus is a device for automatically inserting identification labels in plant containers. The Schmidt device comprises a conveying track for conveying the containers along a predetermined path, a horizontal label storage magazine positioned above the path for holding the labels in the stack, and an insertion mechanism mounted transversely to the outer end of the storage magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,820 and its parent U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,579 are granted to Harrison, et. al. and Harrison, Jr. respectively. The '579 and '820 patents are directed to tagging machines for seedling transplants. The tagging portion of the Harrison patents can be described as an automatic tagging machine where the tags are stacked and retained in individual vertically extending magazines in a transversely spaced apart array.
The conveyor indexes a tray having a plurality of plant receiving cells along the path of travel. A tagger arm fitted with a suction mechanism takes possession of a tag rotates the tag into an insertion position, and places the spiked portion of the tag into the growing media. The rotation of the tag placement arm is constrained by a central rod which pivots through more than 90 degrees of reciprocal rotary displacement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,666 granted to Hamilton on Mar. 1, 1994 is directed to an apparatus for applying label tags. The Hamilton apparatus can be generally described as a tagging machine capable of automatically inserting label-type tags into selected compartments of a seedling tray as the tray passes under the tagging machine. A cartridge loaded with tags feeds the tags one by one to a breech channel.
A pair of extractor fingers lift the tags in the breech channel onto a deflector which deflects the emerging end of the tag between a pair of displacement fingers. Once displacement fingers have received the tag, they drive the tag back along the channel in the opposite direction to discharge the tag into the seedling tray by inserting the spiked end of the tag into the soil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,887 granted to Lucas et al., is directed to a tagging apparatus which includes a cylinder driven picker arm which reciprocates between a first and second position along a J-shaped channel of a cam plate. The J-shape of the cam plate provides is believed to be the point of novelty as compared to the other prior art patented devices because it controls the movement of the picker arm and thus the positioning of the tag during use.
A common problem not addressed by any of the aforementioned devices as well as other devices comprising the art to which the invention relates is the inability of the tagging apparatus to effectively prevent whipping or bending of the tag during the time when the tag is removed from its reservoir until it is briskly moved and placed into communication with the tray or container. This whipping is quite common as the tag stock itself has diminished in density and thickness over the years, thereby making the tags less stiff and more susceptible to bending and whipping. Furthermore, the brisk movement of the tag through a greater than 90 degree arc travel has been found to cause significant bending and whipping because of the rather abrupt start and stop as well as the associated momentum of the tag during the placement stroke.
The present invention is believed to overcome this problem which translates into better tag placement and consistent insertion into the trays into which the tags are to be placed by minimizing the directional rotation of the tag during its placement operation.
Another drawback associated with the art to which the invention relates is the inability of the aforementioned machines, as well as others comprising the art to which the invention relates, to consistently tag on the fly. “On the fly” tagging often refers to the process of extracting a tag from its reservoir and inserting it into a tray while the conveyor which supports the soil-filled and plant-filled trays continuously moves along its predetermined path. Of course this relates to an element of speed associated with the tagging apparatus and the quickness with which the tag is withdrawn from its reservoir and rotated much more than 90 degrees prior to its placement into the tray or container to complete the tagging operation.
Furthermore, the phenomenon associated with tag bending and whipping is also known to be caused by the vacuum pressure generated by the suction cup portion of the devices comprising the art to which the invention relates. Oftentimes the suction pressure of such devices must be relatively high in order to take possession of the tag and allow it to be forcibly inserted into the tray soil. Thus, it would be desirable to minimize the travel of the tag and lessen the vacuum pressure exerted on the tag immediately prior to its placement into the soil container.
Still further, the known tagging machines comprising the art to which the invention relates cannot be considered modular to enable the tag placement portion of those devices to be positioned in the path of the container, off to one side, or any user-selectable and variable position by virtue of the supporting frame structure and removable tagging head portion. For example, the tagging machines comprising the art to which the invention relates do not allow for tagging from the side of the plant container due to the difficulty of setup and consistent tag placement. The art to which the invention relates also does not synchronize belt travel with the cycling of the tagging head and thus may become out of time with the container in which the tag is to be placed thereby causing errant or non-existent tag placement, and making tagging on the fly virtually impossible.
Virtually all of the known disadvantages associated with the art to wh
Bouldin E. Lloyd
Goodenough Graham
Bouldin & Lawson, Inc.
Rada Rinaldi I.
Truong Thanh
Wascher Rick R.
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