Patent GB-624246-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to labelling machines for bottles and the like
IPC: B65C3/16
Filed: 1947-06-20
Abstract: 624,246. Labelling-machines. BANKS, S. E. June 20, 1947, Nos. 16293 and 16602. [Class 73] A labelling machine for cylindrical bottles and like  articles comprises means to apply gum to one face of a label, means to transfer the label gummed side out to a delivery plate having suction openings so that the label may be held by suction applied to its non-gummed face, and means to roll the article over the delivery plate to apply the label to the article. In the embodiment described, the means for applying gum to a label comprises a pick-up box 63, intermittently rotatable in successive quarter revolutions about its vertical axis, each side of which has a centrally disposed vertical slot 144, Fig. 8, extending through its bottom edge and each side of which in turn is brought adjacent a pair of gumming rollers 139 which apply gum to that side whilst the pick-up box is stationary. Three pairs of gumming rollers 139, carried by arms mounted on a rotatable shaft 132, are urged outwardly from the shaft by springs 141 and are themselves coated with gum as they are rolled along a pair of endless rotating belts 120 which carry gum from a container. After a side of the pick-up box has been gummed, two subsequent quarter revolutions in a clockwise manner, Fig. 1, position that side alongside a label feed device 62, which is reciprocated in synchronism with the quarter revolutions of the pick-up box, and which by means of a pusher 92 applies a label to the side so that it adheres to the gummed surface, thus removing the label from the stack. The next quarter revolution positions the label adjacent a delivery plate which comprises one of the sides 148 of a delivery box 40. Each side of the delivery'box is faced with rubber, cork-impregnated rubber, rubber covered with chamois leather or sponge rubber and has a plurality of suction openings spaced to correspond with the shape of the label. The means for transferring the label from the pick-up box to the delivery box comprises a pusher 65, which passes from within the pick-up box, out through the slot 144 in the side of the pick-up box, and which retains the label to itself by means of suction applied, during the transfer period, through a passage 165. The label is thus carried, gummed side out, to the side 148 of the delivery box to which it is held by suction applied through said openings. The delivery box is rotated intermittently through quarter revolutions, presenting each side in turn to a gap 38 formed between walls 36, 39 alongside an endless chain conveyer 5. Reduced suction is applied to each side when it occupies the gap 38 and during this period, a bottle 34, carried by the conveyer 5, is rolled over the side of the delivery box to attach the label thereto, by the action of a rotating wheel 43. The wheel 43 has a rubber rim 56 and is journalled upon arms 45 pivotally mounted at 46 and urged in a direction towards the gap 38 by a spring 52. The spacing between the bottles and the timing of their delivery to the labelling position are controlled by a rotating worm 32 having a pitch which increases towards the release end so that bottles, at first held back where the pitch is smallest, gradually take up the speed of the conveyer, to be released at the correct instant. The wheel 43, the guiding walls 37, 42 and the worm 32 are mounted upon a slide 54 so that their spacing from the opposite walls 36, 39 may be adjusted for different sizes of bottle. Suction to the pusher 65 and to the delivery box 40 is supplied by means of a common suction pump and is controlled by rotating valve systems by which means suction is applied to the pusher and to the respective sides of the box 40; only whilst these parts are actually in contact with a label.