Patent ID: 8714224

Claim:
A labelling machine to dispense and apply labels from a web to articles travelling along an article path, said labelling machine comprising: a web supply reel; a dispenser to unwind the web from the supply reel and direct the web along a feed path to an affixing station that sequentially applies the labels to the articles as each article travels along the article path; a driver to control the advancement of the web along the feed path in accordance with the advancement of the articles along the article path such that individual labels are applied to each one of the articles; and a web tension control element which is selectively actuated to exert on said supply reel a torque directed against the unwinding sense of the web, said web tension control element being configured to respond to a variation in the linear velocity of said web at said dispenser with a corresponding variation in the torque exerted on said supply reel such as to maintain the web tension within a predetermined range.