Patent ID: 7021353

Claim:
A labeling apparatus, comprising: a label supply and a label applicator, said label supply being operable to supply preselected labels to said label applicator at a label transfer position and said applicator being operable to apply said preselected labels to fruit and vegetables at a label applying position, said label supply being driven by a label drive mechanism and said label applicator being driven by an applicator drive mechanism, each of said drive mechanisms comprising a stepper motor drive, said labeling apparatus further comprising a first sensor which senses movement of the applicator and a second sensor for sensing movement of the labels, each of said sensors being operatively connected to said label drive mechanism and said applicator drive mechanism, said apparatus being operable to undergo an initiation sequence in which said label drive mechanism drives said label supply in a reverse direction until no preselected label is detected by said label sensor and then in a forward direction until a leading edge of a preselected label is positioned at a predetermined distance from said label transfer position, and said applicator drive mechanism drives said label applicator until said applicator is positioned a predetermined distance from said label transfer position, said predetermined distance of said label applicator and said preselected label from said label transfer position being dependent upon said preselected label.