Patent GB-737686-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to a machine for applying circles of ink or the like around cylindrical objects
IPC: B41F17/36
Filed: 1953-01-02
Abstract: 737,686. Printing on curved surfaces. SCHERER CORPORATION, R. P. Jan. 2, 1953 [Aug. 2, 1952], No. 136/53. Class 100 (2). Apparatus for putting circles of ink &c. round cylindrical articles such as capsules, comprises an article holding chuck having a resilient socket to receive one end of an article, a feed tube with means for supplying a column of articles thereto and for discharging an article therefrom towards the holding chuck, and means for encircling the article with a line of ink. In the machine shown two series of holding chucks 70, Figs. 6 and 7, one on each face of a rotor 28 indexed clockwise (Fig. 7), are presented in turn to a loading station A, a marking station B, and a discharge station C, the travel from B to C allowing time for the ink to dry. A main shaft 58 is driven by a belt 61 from an electric motor mounted, with its reduction gear, on a hinged support clamped at its free edge between a pair of nuts adjustable to vary the tension of the belt 61. A countershaft 80 geared 1 : 1 to the shaft 58 carries a cam 79 which actuates the rotor pawl 72 through a rod 73 having a roller 78 pressed against the cam by a spring 92 in a guide sleeve 76; the pawl contacts a fixed stop 88 at the cam peak, and phase-adjustments between the gear 82 and shaft 80 to determine the time of indexing, and between the ratchet 71 and rotor shaft 29 to determine the dwell position, are provided by projections 96, 85 clamped between adjustable setscrews 97, 86. The rotor has an adjustable brake 98. The holding chucks 70 are rotatably held in bearing sleeves 124, Fig. 18, by eccentrics 126 on the ends of springs 125 allowing easy exchange; they each have a rubber &c. insert 127 which holds the capsule 162a after it leaves the marking station B, but during loading and marking a vacuum connection to the interior of the holding chuck is established via the centre of the spring 125, a cavity 128 and a passageway 129 leading to an interior surface 134 of the rotor 28, against which a stationary shoe 131 connected to a vacuum hose 138, Fig. 7, is pressed by springs 133; the shoes (one on each side of the rotor) are positioned by adjusting screws 136 so that their elongated ports 130 overlap stations A and B. Loading.-A hopper, with a pair of outlets leading to selectors as described in Specification 712,592, [Group XXX], for rejecting faulty capsules, feeds coil spring conduits 38, Fig. 6, leading to feed tubes 39 into which compressed air is continuously injected through hoses 122; the inclined end of a fixed spring-wire retainer 114 holds the leading capsule in each feed tube until the end of a slot 119 pushes the retainer aside as the feed tube is reciprocated on its slide rod 101 in a fixed bearing sleeve and with the bifurcated lower end of its mounting block 100 straddling a fixed guide bar 103. Cams 112 on the main shaft 58 engage rollers 111 on the ends of two levers 106, pivoted at 107, which engage pins 109 in the blocks 100. Marking.-Ink rings 166, Figs. 6 and 22, are applied to the two capsules 162a at the marking station by rotating them in contact with the inked rims of marking wheels 168, both capsules and wheels being driven at the same peripheral speed. Each capsule is gripped by the rubber &c. insert 161 of a rotating chuck 140 on a shaft 141 slidably keyed within a sleeve journalled in a fixed bearing 144, the sleeve being continuously rotated by a chain drive 164 from the main shaft 58; to reciprocate the shafts 141, cams 156 on the shaft 58 engage rollers 155 on the ends of two levers 154-146, pivoted at 147, the slotted limbs of a fork at the upper end of each arm 146 engaging rollers on a block within which the shaft 141 may rotate but not slide; the arms 154, 146 are connected by an adjustable screw 158 and a spring 157 which yields when the chuck 140 meets the capsule; a spring-loaded ejector pin 159 within the shaft 141 prevents the capsule from remaining in the retracted chuck 140. The marking wheels 168 are continuously rotated from the shaft 58 through a chain drive 188, shaft 186, gears 185, 184, a shaft 183, Fig. 9, double pulleys 182, and individual flexible belts; they are each mounted on a separate arm 171, which is pivoted on a fixed shaft 172, has hardened wear buttons 177 sliding on the opposite faces of a fixed guide plate 176, and is pressed upwards by an adjustable spring 191 acting on an extension at its rear end; a cam 193, Fig. 6, on the shaft 58 actuates a rock arm which depresses a frame 199, 200, 201 against springs 202, the top bar 201 engaging adjusting screws carried by brackets beneath each arm 171 to retract the wheels 168 from the capsules 162a. Ink supply.-Each pair of marking wheels 168 dips into a cup 207, Figs. 7 and 9, supplied on the bird fountain principle from an ink reservoir 210. Capsule discharge.-After drying during clockwise travel, Fig. 7, from station B to station C, the marked capsules are knocked from the holding chucks 70 by the limbs of a fixed U-shaped abutment 212, Figs. 7 and 9, and fall into shoots 213.