Patent GB-1376169-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for adhesively applying sealing strips to container  closures
IPC: B65C3/24
Filed: 1971-12-20
Abstract: 1376169 Labelling machines ATO Inc 20 Dec 1971 59053/71 Heading B8F [Also in Division B2] Apparatus for adhesively-fixing sealing strips over the tops of capped bottles comprises a bottle conveyer 20, a sealing strip magazine 30, a transfer wheel 22, an adhesive applicator roll 92, a guide plate 102 extending tangentially to the applicator roll, a plurality of transfer wheelmounted radially-reciprocable strip-holding and applying assemblies 26, 28 for engaging and  applying the strips after they have been adhesively-coated over the bottle caps and down the sides of the caps, pairs of transfer wheel-mounted fixed and pivoted gripping jaws 66 and 68 adapted to grip, and longitudinally bend, the leading end only of respective sealing strips pulled from the magazine by a suction picker 56, and squeezers 252 downstream of the transfer wheel for pressing the remaining end portions of each strip against opposite sides of the bottle. Each approaching bottle is sensed by a detector 250 which causes actuation of the picker to pull the leading end of the lowermost strip from the magazine. The pivotal one of the pair of gripping jaws adjacent the magazine, which jaw has been moved away from the fixed jaw against a spring bias by a cam 86, is allowed to reengage the fixed jaw thus gripping and longitudinally bonding the leading strip end to induce the remainder of the strip to hinge away from the wheel. As the wheel rotates to carry the strip past the applicator roll, the centrifugal force throws the free trailing strip end away from the wheel into engagement with the guide plate. This action is augmented by an air blast from nozzle 90. The strip is guided for tangential movement past the applicator roll by the plate, which is provided with suction ports 110 and strip-guiding lugs 106 and 108. The applicator roll has a central groove 96, Fig. 6 (not shown), so that only the side edges of the strip are adhesively-coated and is driven at the same peripheral speed as that of the transfer wheel but higher than that of an adjustable pick-up roll 94. The strip then passes over a medially-grooved and heated guide 102a. A respective holder and applying assembly comprising a reciprocable block 116, Figs. 9-12 (not shown), mounting a pivoted suction arm 112 on either side of a presser 146, is moved radially outwardly by a follower engaging a track 155 in a cam disc 153 adjacent the wheel, Fig. 28 (not shown), so that the suction arms engage and hold the coated strip across the presser. On further radial movement, as the assembly approaches over a bottle, the presser applies the strip to the top of the bottle cap followed by downward-pivoting of the suction arms as the latter continue to move radially-outwardly whilst the presser is constrained by its engagement with bottle against further movement to fold and press the strip down and against the sides of the bottle cap by means of pads 164. During folding of the strip against cap sides on short-necked bottles, the strip ends are held outspread by the suction arms until retraction of the assembly, the freed strip ends then being pressed against the bottle neck by the squeezers. Alternatively if the bottles are long necked, the strip ends may be released from the suction arms, as by cutting of the vacuum or replacing the same, as the arms are moved downwardly and inwardly. Furthermore, by mounting the gripping jaws. by means of a block 28, Figs. 22-24 (not shown), located for circumferential adjustment on the wheel periphery, the strip may be applied centrally-offset on the cap. The transfer wheel is driven through a gear train including a pair of meshing eccentric gears 262, 264, Figs. 18-21 (not shown), such that the wheel has a peripheral speed which is the same as the bottle conveyer when a holding and applying assembly is brought into its operative applying position but which can be increased or decreased during intervening periods. By using different gear pairs, the wheel speed can be suitably varied to accomodate different bottle delivery rates. A safety device is incorporated in the machine should a bottle having a height greater than that which can be accommodated by the inward yielding movement of the presser against a spring 154, Fig. 10, is conveyed to the machine. This device comprises a gate 157, Fig. 28, in the cam track which yields on passage of the bottle and actuates a switch S through a rod 165 to stop the machine. The bottles are held upright on the conveyer by the clamps 21 of a synchronously moving conveyer 257.