US2646184A - Label machine - Google Patents

Description

C. OUELLETTE LABEL MACHINE July 21, 1953 Filed NOV. 50, 1951 Patented July 21, 1953 7 V LABEL MACHINE Clarence Ouellette, Springfield, Mass., assignor to 7 Wrap-King Corporation,

Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts 7 Application November 30, 1951, Serial No. 259,255 I 1 Claim; (Cl. 216-'-55) This invention relates to improvements in labeling apparatus and this application is a continuation in part of an application filed byme on October 31'," 1950, as Ser. No. 193,2 2, now

Patent Number 2,613,008, issued October 7, .1952.

The principal objects of the invention are the provision of means in association with the heating surface of a heater to prevent contact of labels with said surface as they are moved therepast by a label carrying drum.

According to the prior art apparatus, labels having a thermoplastic surface have been passed over a heated member in direct contact therewith to soften the thermoplastic for subsequent application of the labels to objects or packages.

This is very objectionable for the reason that the thermoplastic adheres to the surface of the heated member. This requires frequent cleaning of the heating surface which results in shutdown time of the apparatus.

According to the novel features of this invention, means isprovided for holding the label outwardly of the heater surface whereby the thermoplastic is adequately softened while the heater surface is not smearedwith the adhesive.

Said means includes relatively spaced blades out of contact with the heater or its surface and these may be made from material having greater heat dissipating characteristicsthan the heater itself to obviate adhesive adhering to the blades.

All of the above objects I accomplish by means. of such structure and relative arrangements of parts thereof, as will fully appear by a perusal of the description below and by various specific features which will be hereinafter set forth.

To the above cited andother ends and with the foregoing and various other novel features 7 and advantages and other objects of my inven- Referring now to the drawings more in detail,

' theginvention will'be fully described. I

So much of label apparatus of the before-mentioried application is shown as will facilitate an understanding of the present invention.

A housing is represented by 2 having a drum shaft 4 rotatable therein and extending forwardly therefrom. A bracket 6 is secured to the housing and extends forwardly therefrom with the outer end of shaft 4 rotatable therein. r

.A drum I0 is rotated by shaft 4 in the direction of the arrow shown andv has a jaw I2 cooperating with a member M to engage and gripv the forward end of-a label and carry it in the direction'of the arrow past a heater indicated Guides 18 are shown for supporting a vertical stack of labels L, and a lever 20 oscillatable by a shaft 22 journalled in the housing has a suction cup 24 for engaging the lowermost label of the stack. V

As the saidlowermost label is engaged by the suction cup, the lever 20 swings clockwise to present the forward edge of the label to the members l2 and I4 ofthe drum.

Said members [2 and I4 grip the label and as the drum rotates said label is carried past the heater H as in the application referred to.

V The heater is secured to the forward side i of the housing 2 and encloses heating. means which maybe a resistance coil connected in an electric circuit; Thearrangement is such that an innercurved surface 26 of the heateris-heated so as to soften the thermoplastic on the labels as they are carried therepast by the drum I 0.

The curved surface 26 of the heater is provided with transversely spaced grooves 28,.the bottoms of which are arranged as is the surface 26'complemental to the outer curved labelsupporting surface 30 of the drum.

Curved blades 32 have upper ends such as 34 which are secured by screws 36 to a member'3 8 that is secured to bracket 6 by a screw or screws such as 40. These blades may'be secured-in other ways.

The blades are curved so as to be complemental to the curvature of the label drum and have inner surfaces 44 spaced outwardly or'awy from the curved surface 26 of the heater.

The sides of the blades are spaced from the sides of the grooves and the rearor inner edges thereof are spaced from the bottoms is of the grooves so as to provide air spaces between the blades and heater.

"The blades not being in contact with the heater, the heat of the heater is not transmitted directly to the blades so that the temperature of the blades may be somewhat less than that of the heater which is desirable.

To provide a lowertemperature of the blades than that of the heater, the blades may be formed from metal which is adapted to dissipate heat more rapidly than the metal at the curved surface of the heater. As an example, the bars may be formed from aluminum and the curved surface of the heater may be formed from cast iron or the like.

It will be desired that the heater besuch as to provide the desired temperature for softening the adhesive while the bars are not intended for this function. To that end, the selection of metals in combination with the relationship of the bars and heater will accomplish the result.

As the label drum rotates to carry alalcel, having thermoplasticor someheat responsive adhesive or coating on the face thereof, past the curved surface of the heater, the coated surface of the label is held out of contact with said curved sur face. The objection of the adhesive adhering thereto which would interfere with the passage of labels therepast and frequent cleaning thereof is obviated. p H M The blades may be relatively thin transversely and the spaces between the blades an'd wallsof the grooves maybe varied in order to accomplish the desired results, In any case, the blades will perform their function without in any way inter- 'fering with the action of the heating surfaceof the heater onthe coating of the labels but will insure that the heating surface is kept clean so that shut-down for cleaning is avoided. I

Heretofore not only has the heating surface of the heater been smeared with adhesive so that the surface requires cleaniii'g, but the adhesive ofiers resistance to the passage of labelsthereover. Furthermore, labels have been devoid of the adhesive adhering to theheating surface.

By means of the bars which 'do not remove any 'appreciableainount of adhesive from the labels if any at all, the labels slide readily along the bars and the cleaningof the heating surface does not c ur. l

The invention may-be embodied in other spa ciflc forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodi'ments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and. not as being restrictive, the scope er the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description, and all "modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

- What it is desired to claim andsecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

Mechanism for heating softenabl adhesive on labels comp-rising, a support, a drum rotatable relative to said support on a horizontal longitudinal axis having a label supporting cylindrical faceconcentrically related to said axis for carrying a label having heat softenable adhesive on an outermost side thereof, a heater secured to said support having an inner cylindrical heating surface arranged concentrically relative to said axis and so disposed relative to the face of said drum as to be spaced outwardly away from the outermost face of a label on said face, the heating surface of the heater provided with grooves thcre around of a certain transverse width and spaced longitudinallyof the axis of rotation of the drum and extending into the heater and having relatively spaced sides and bottoms, bladesin the form of elongated arcuate strips of relatively greater width than thickness disposed in said grooves having an end thereof secured to support, the thickness of said blades being relatively less than the width of said grooves whereby outer sides thereof are out of contact with the sides of said grooves, outer edges of said blades being spaced away from the bottoms of said grooves with opposite inner edges thereof dispo'sed beyond the innersurface of the heater toward the axis of the drum and adapted to be engaged by the outermost sides of labels on said drum to space said sides away from the heating surface.

CLARENCE OUELLETTE.

Reiereiiee's Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,329,669 Tuthill Sept. 14, 1943 2,449,298 Hoppe Sept. 14, 1948 2,527,272 Lyon et a1 Oct. 24, 1950 2,538,520 Holt et al. .a Jan. 16, 2,587,211 Piazze Feb. 26, 1952 min

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