Abstract:
The invention relates to a machine for removing circular labels or shrinkwrap from bottles or similar items. In order to achieve a simple and compact embodiment of such a machine, the cutting agents are set up in the intake section of the machine.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the invention 
     The invention relates to a machine for removing circular labels or shrinkwrap from bottles or similar items. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A similar machine is known from the international patent application WO 95/32 814. This machine has a rotary table with cutting tools for cutting through the circular labels or sleeves and a separate chain conveyer to keep the bottles away from the floor. On the chain conveyer are blast nozzles for loosening the labels from the bottles. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the invention is to provide a compact machine that does not take up much space for removing the circular labels or shrinkwrap from bottles and similar items. 
     The object is achieved by providing for the circular labels or shrinkwraps a separating or perforated line at the feed part of the machine. 
     This solution has the advantage that the carousel of the machine can be used for loosening the labels or sleeves, and in this way the chain conveyer used by the generic machines can be left out without a substitute. 
     The carousel is designed, i.e., equipped, with appropriate holding mechanisms, so that the bottles can be held hanging by the area around the head free of the floor. The devices required to loosen the labels, e.g., the spray nozzles, are set up on the circular path of the carousel. 
     According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the cutting tools necessary to create the separating line or perforated line in the labels are set up in the feed wheel of the machine, or integrated into this. 
     Advantageous further developments of the invention are indicated in the subclaims. 
     Details of a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the figures are given below. The figures show the following: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG.  1 : a top view of a label-removing machine in diagrammatic representation. 
     FIG.  2 : a vertical section through the feed wheel of the machine according to FIG.  1 . 
     FIG.  3 : a top view of a section of the periphery of the feed wheel of the machine according to FIG. 1, in enlarged view. 
     FIG.  4 : a vertical section through the carousel of the machine according to FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As can be seen in FIG. 1, the label-removing machine  50  has a carousel  51 , which has a feed wheel  52  and a delivery star wheel  53 . The carousel  51  and the delivery star wheel  53  are indicated only with partial circles which touch each other at the point of transfer. Between feed wheel  52  and delivery star wheel  53  there is a guide section  54 . Feed wheel  52  is provided with a tangentially directed distributor worm gear  55 , and together with the feed wheel this forms the intake area E of the machine. The distributor worm gear  55 , the feed wheel  52 , the carousel  51 , and the delivery star wheel  53  are driven synchronously. 
     As they pass through the circular segment of worm gear  55  up to the transfer point to carousel  51 , the bottles  1  are transported glidingly into the feed wheel  52  on a transferring plate  56  that is stationary, while bottles  1  on the side opposite the feed wheel  52  are laterally supported and guided by guide section  54 . 
     The feed wheel  52  has a power-driven shaft  57  (not shown in more detail) positioned vertically in the machine frame, and on this shaft a horizontal mounting disk  58  is mounted. Over the mounting disk  58  a cylinder  59  is positioned to rotate freely on the shaft  57 ; the cylinder  59  has a groove molded into its outer circumference, and is prevented from rotating by a torque prop. On one sector of the mounting disk  58  guide rods  69  are fastened in a vertical arrangement, and their upper ends are joined by a ring  60 . In addition, the bottle centering attachments  61  on the mounting disk  58  can also be seen in FIG.  1 . 
     Two adjacent bottle-centering attachments  61  together form a receptacle for a bottle  1 . A vertical slot between any two adjacent bottle-centering attachments  61  is penetrated by a cutting blade  62 , which is mounted at one end to swivel on a horizontal axis  63 , and is loaded on its opposite end, containing the blade, by a compression spring  64  in the direction of the bottle wall. The aforementioned axis  63  is a bed plate  65  mounted to shift vertically in the slot of a pair of guide rods  69 . On the side of the bed plate  65  with the shaft  57 , a cam roller  66  is set up, engaging in the groove of the cylinder  59 . 
     The shape of the groove is such that during a downward movement of bed plate  65 , the cutting blade  62  with its tip comes from above between the upper label border and the bottle wall and cuts through the circular label  2  from the inside facing the bottle wall in the direction of the outer side, while a bottle passes through the circular segment of the distributor worm gear  55  up to carousel  51 . According to the length of the circular segment available and the properties of the label material, the label can either be chamfered only on its upper edge or, if necessary, cut all the way through to the lower edge of the label. 
     An important factor is that a predetermined breaking point is created on the circumference of the circular label  2 , that subsequently, when the bottle passes through the carousel  51 , makes it possible for the label to be blown away by fluid jets, e.g., compressed air jets. For this purpose, bottles  1  are gripped beneath the mouth at the neck when they are transferred from the feed wheel  52  to carousel  51 , by elastic clamps  90  that encircle the carousel  51 , and hanging free of the floor, they are guided past spray nozzles  91 , which release, obliquely from above, jet streams essentially directed axially to the bottle wall onto the upper edge of the label, (FIG.  4 ). The spray nozzles  91  are mounted stationarily on the circumferential edge of the carousel. 
     As a variant of the previously described embodiment, in place of the cutting blades  62  mounted at each receptacle, a high-pressure water jet or a laser beam can be used. A laser light source can be positioned advantageously on the feed wheel  52 , when the laser beam can be guided, by means of a controllable mirror, e.g., a vibrating mirror, appropriately for the bottle movement, for a short period, for cutting the label material. Instruments for creating a perforated line in the label material can also be used. 
     FIG. 3 shows a further development of the feed wheel  52  from FIG. 1, and here only a small section of the upper periphery of the feed wheel  52  is shown in an enlargement of the region of the distributor worm gear  55  (FIG.  1 ). 
     On the upper side of the centering attachments  61  forming the receptacles for the bottles  1 , two cams  80  and  81  are set up. The cam  80  forwarding a bottle  1 —seen in the rotary direction D of the star wheel—is rigidly clamped to a bolt, while the following cam  81  is clamped on a shaft  82 , set up to rotate vertically on the centering attachment  61 ; the lower end of the shaft  82  protrudes from the mounting disk  58  (not shown in FIG.  2 ). A control lever  83  is fastened to this lower end of the shaft  82  (FIG.  3 ); during operation, the lever circulates together with the power-driven mounting disk  58  and thereby, in the area of the distributor worm gear  55  (FIG. 1) engages in a cam  84  (FIG. 3) set up rigidly on the mounting disk. Cam  81  equipped with a gripping rubber lining is swivelled in a counterclockwise direction toward the cutting blade  62  by the radial cam  84  lying inside the circular path of the control lever; in this way the cam  81  lies against the label material with frictional contact and lifts it from the bottle wall in sections during the swiveling movement. The second, uncontrolled cam  80 , positioned on the opposite side, prevents rotation of the label around the body of the bottle during this rotary movement of cam  81 , so that the label forms a loop for the cutting blade  62  between the cams  80  and  81 . 
     The point of attack A of the swiveling cam  81 , at the beginning of the swiveling movement, lies in front of the imaginary line V connecting the control lever axis of rotation of the shaft  82  and the vertical axis of the bottle, or on a plane formed between these two axes. During the swiveling motion of the cam  81 , the side wall of a flexible bottle, e.g., PET bottle, is radially curved. Immediately after the cessation of the cam swiveling movement, the cutting knife  62  positioned between the two cams  80  and  81  assigned to the bottle  1  is lowered and thereby, as shown in FIG. 2, introduced from above between the bottle outside wall and the back side of the label. During this activity, in addition, air sprays can be directed from above (not shown) onto the upper edge of the label, in order to assist in the removal of the label border from the bottle wall. 
     For viscous elastic label materials, the cutting movement of the cutting blade  62  can be continued down to the lower label border, i.e., the label is completely cut through. Cams  80  and  81  prevent the axial sliding of the circular label downwards, especially when there is no glue or only a small amount of glue between a label  2  and a bottle  1 .