Patent Publication Number: US-2006011307-A1

Title: Labeling machine

Description:
The invention relates to a labeling machine.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Labeling machines are known which comprise a rotating carousel for supporting a plurality of pans, each designed to support a bottle to be labeled and provided with means adapted to rotate them about their own axis.  
      The rotation rate of the carousel is linked to the productivity of the machine: if such rate is increased, the number of bottles processed in the time unit increases also.  
      The rotation rate of the pans that support the bottles to be labeled is linked to the diameter of such bottles: as said diameter changes, it is necessary to vary the rotation rate of the pans.  
      It is therefore evident that there must be no rigid link between such two rotation rates, and, in the background art, the means suitable for turning the pans comprise a motor with controllable rotation rate which operates independently of the motor drive of the rotating carousel.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      However, this solution entails a very high installation cost, and therefore the aim of the present invention is to provide a labeling machine in which the means adapted for turning the pans for supporting the bottles to be labeled are constructively very simple and highly functional, in that they allow to vary the rotation rate of the pans independently of variations of the rotation rate of the carousel.  
      This aim is achieved by a labeling machine according to the invention comprising a rotating carousel for supporting a plurality of pans, each designed to support a bottle to be labeled and provided with means adapted for turning them about their own axis, characterized in that said means comprise a kinematic chain which draws motion from the shaft of the carousel and comprises at least one element which is interchangeable in order to allow variations of the rotation rate of said pans for an equal rotation rate of said carousel. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the labeling machine according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic front view of a labeling machine of the invention, with some parts shown in cross-section;  
       FIGS. 2 and 4  are views of a detail of the machine equipped with pulleys that are different from the one shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIGS. 3 and 5  are schematic plan views of the machine equipped respectively with the pulleys shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , the reference numeral  1  generally designates the rotating carousel of the machine, which supports a plurality of pans  2  and  3 , each designed to support a bottle  4  and  5  to be labeled; the shaft  6  of the carousel  1  is turned by means of a gear  7  rigidly coupled thereto, and meshes with a pinion  8  which is keyed on an output shaft  9  of a gearmotor  10 .  
      All this occurs in a known manner.  
      An important feature of the invention consists in that the pans  2  and  3  are provided with means adapted for turning them about their own axis, which comprise a kinematic chain, which in turn comprises a belt  11 , which works in combination with individual pulleys which are rigidly coupled to said pans, such as  12  and  13  for the pans  2  and  3  respectively, and the belt  11  is driven by means of a pulley  14 , which is keyed to a shaft  15  which receives motion, by virtue of a toothed pinion  16 , a gear  17  and a pinion  18 , from the toothed gear  7 , which is keyed to the driving shaft  6  of the carousel.  
      The pulley  14  is interchangeable, and it is therefore possible, by replacing such pulley with one having an appropriate different diameter, to vary the rotation rate of the pans, giving such rate the optimum value in relation to the diameter of the bottles to be labeled, for an equal rotation rate of the carousel.  
      Accordingly,  FIGS. 2 and 3  illustrate the installation on the machine of a pulley  19 , which has a smaller diameter than the pulley  14  which has been replaced, and  FIGS. 4 and 5  instead illustrate the machine equipped with a pulley  20 , which has a larger diameter than said pulley  14 : accordingly, the belt  11 , and the bottle supporting pans with it, is respectively slower and faster than in the presence of the pulley  14 , and this occurs for an equal rotation rate of the shaft  6  of the carousel  1  and therefore of the shaft  15  on which the pulleys are keyed.  
      The described invention is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.  
      The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MN2004A000017 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.