Abstract: A hopper assembly for feeding literature to a literature dispenser. The literature dispenser and a label dispenser are positioned on opposite sides of a conveyor on which products being furnished with literature and labels are transported. The hopper assembly includes a chute which is designed to have an upstream chute portion adjacent the conveyor. The upstream chute portion is positioned within the reach of an operator who is stationed on the same side of the conveyer as the label dispenser, and a single operator can load both the hopper assembly and the label dispenser without moving from one side of the conveyor to the other. The hopper assembly also includes a literature escapement having a plurality of retaining members mounted on a pair of support elements. The retaining members engage a forward facing surface of a piece of literature and are arranged in spaced relationship to provide an opening through which the piece of literature is removable from the hopper assembly in the forward direction.

Abstract: A labelling machine has an apparatus for the automatic loading of the main magazine of a labelling machine with a label stack including of a number of individual labels. The label stack can be inserted from a supply magazine by means of a feed device into the main magazine, which supply magazine makes possible both a smaller size and a smooth insertion of the label stack into the main magazine, because the supply magazine can be pivoted from a standby position into an insertion position, in which an ejection opening of the supply magazine is flush against the insertion opening of the main magazine.

Abstract: A system for dependably supplying stacks of labels to a high speed labeling machine. The system includes four primary parts. A plurality of cartridges for carrying stacks of labels, each of the cartridges has a release mechanism at the lower end of the cartridge. A carousel for carrying the cartridges in a vertical orientation with release mechanism of the cartridges directed downward. An arcuate chute having a centerpoint of the arcuate pathway defined by the chute. The upper port of the chute is situated in the system to receive the release mechanism of the cartridges carried on the carousel. A retractable paddle carried on a first end of a lever arm, the lever arm having a pivot mount in common with the centerpoint of the arcuate chute, and a counterweight at a second end of the lever arm. The carousel includes a vertical movement to sequentially lower each of the cartridges into contact with the upper port of the chute and release any stack of labels therein onto the retractable paddle.

Abstract: This invention relates to a label box for a label stack in a labelling station. The label box has a front part, which is designed as a slide which can move forward and backward in relation to the other part. If a label is not to be extracted from the stack, this front part is moved back, compressing the label stack, so that the front end surface of the label stack is in an idle position, in which the pickup surface of the extractor element for the labels can no longer make contact against the end surface of the label stack as it rolls past.

Abstract: Labeling machine of the stack fed type in which the labels are precut and arranged vertically in a horizontal stack. Pressure is applied to the rear of the stack to move the stack forwardly as the labels are dispensed to a label transfer mechanism such as a vacuum drum. Air is blown into the stack from the bottom at the forward end of the stack to separate the foremost label, which is picked up from the stack by a rotating vacuum wheel.

Abstract: An in-mold label dispenser (42) for supplying labels to a plastic blow molding machine mold (32) whose mold sections open and close along a first direction (A) is disclosed as including a dispensing head (48) mounted for rectilinear movement between withdrawn and inserted positions along a second direction (B) perpendicular to the first direction (A) and supporting at least one label carrier (52) that provides transfer of labels (57) from a label supply (46). An actuator (50) moves the dispensing head (48) and a cam mechanism (58) moves each label carrier (52) between a retracted position and a label transfer position to provide the in-mold label operation.

Abstract: A system for applying folded outserts to conveyed products utilizing a pressure sensitive tape for transportation from the magazine type hopper to the products. The tape with a pressure sensitive adhesive is routed in front of the outfeed of the outsert hopper. A reciprocating tape tamping device and vacuum manifold mounted on an air cylinder are used to first bump the adhesive-coated tape in contact with the outsert and then withdraw the outsert from the hopper. The withdrawal occurs after the initial precise placement of the outsert to the tape. The method of withdrawal requires further forward movement of a pair of bellow style cups which contact the outsert after adhesion. The initiation of vacuum on contact and termination on withdrawal permit the outsert to be retained individually on the tape. The outsert is then indexed forward where it is transferred to a conveyed product.

Abstract: A labeling robot system comprises a suction plate which uses vacuum action to pick up an adhesive label by its printed surface. Air cylinders operated by compressed air orient and move the suction plate to the object to be labeled to stick the label thereon, and limit switches linked to a sequence controller define the limit of the strokes and the degree of turning involved.

Abstract: Wrap-around labels are applied with a hot-melt adhesive in a labelling machine in which upstream of the label box, the containers have the glue or adhesive applied to them by at least one, and preferably two, alternately operable nozzles while the rotary plates on which the containers are mounted are temporarily held stationary. This provides for highly precise gluing and the containers can then be rotated counter to the direction of rotation of the turntable carrying the plates at the label box so that a precise removal of the wrap-around label from the box is effected without allowing glue to accumulate on other labels in the box and impairing the labelling operation.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method and device for applying an object (11), e.g. an antibiotic patch onto a receiving adhesive surface (19), e.g. an agar surface. The objects (11) are piled in a storage container (10), which is upwardly open, and the receiving surface (19) located above this is turned downwards. For application of the object (11) onto the surface (19) the whole pile is lifted towards the surface while the storage container (10) is not moved so that the uppermost object in the pile is pressed against and adheres to the receiving surface (19), after which the pile is lowered again.

Abstract: This relates to a label separator which is operative to separate a foremost label from a stack of labels in advance of such label being picked by a picker so as to assure that only one label is picked at a time and that the other labels in a stack of labels will not be disturbed. One end or edge portion of a foremost label is displaced relative to the remainder of the stack and after a gap has been formed between the displaced label and the next adjacent label in the stack, a blade enters in between these two labels so as to separate completely the foremost label from the remaining labels in the stack. The apparatus which effects the initial displacement has associated therewith a label support whereby the displaced label remains supported in its original alignment for reception by the picker.

Abstract: Apparatus for applying revenue stamps to cigarette packets known as soft packs, includes an oscillating transfer arm 12 and a continuously driven suction drum 6 formed with projections, e.g. pairs of pins 10. The projections engage the rear edges of successive stamps transferred from a stack 2 by the arm, and thereby accurately align the stamps on the drum. The two modified arrangements shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are particularly adapted for applying banderoles to hinged lid cigarette packets.

Abstract: A machine design is taught for automatically applying adhesive coated labels to folded cartons at a precisely adjusted location on a carton. Both labels and cartons are supplied singularly from bottom feed magazines. A cam oscillated vacuum picker curls one end of a label out of the magazine to be vacuum gripped to the peripheral surface of a rotating transfer drum. Continued rotation of the drum withdraws the remainder of the label from the magazine stack bottom and lays it to the drum periphery surface. A singular carton is slidably removed from the bottom of a respective magazine stack by a lugged conveyor belt and pushed into a timed nip proximity with the label carrying transfer drum. Between the label receiving and delivery positions, the label is carried past a fountain roll for surface coating of water or adhesive.

Abstract: A container labeling machine for applying one or the other of normal length body labels or extra-length boy labels has a rotating rotary table with container supporting controllable rotary plates. Adjacent its periphery is arranged a first labeling station for applying the normal length labels with a rotating labeling cylinder and a second labeling station for the extra-length labels with a stationary label container contacting the path of rotation of the containers. Two independent drives are provided for rotating the plates, one of which regulates the positioning and/or rotation of the rotary plates in the area of the first labeling station, and the second for continuous rotation of the rotary plates in the area of the second labeling station. The rotary plates are selectively connectible with the first or second drive. The two labeling stations and their common brush-on station overlap one another, whereby a very short total treatment stretch is possible.

Abstract: A device for the application of labels onto the periphery of cylindrical containers, which are advanced at intervals from each other, comprises a continually rotating drum which carries a stationary gripping member and a movable gripping member, which receive cold glue from a glue supply device and grip the uppermost label from the stack of labels to transmit this label to one of the advanced containers. The movable gripping member is movable under the control of a cam arrangement toward the front end of the label being transmitted and carries that front end therealong whereas the stationary gripping member while passing the rear end of the label applies glue to that rear end.

Abstract: Apparatus for pasting inserts (13) into publications (11) which are advanced by means of a conveyor (10) for publications in a straddling position. The apparatus comprises a magazine (12) for the inserts, a picker (14) for pulling the inserts one at a time from the magazine, and transfer means (15) for transporting an insert which has been pulled out, to a publication on the conveyor. This transfer means comprises a transfer member which can be driven continuously in a path about a substantially vertical axis (44) and which is arranged to pass at the movement thereof tangentially past the picker and the conveyor, respectively, at diametrically opposite sides of the axis. The suction nozzles are controlled to remove an insert from the picker and deliver said insert to a publication on the conveyor.

Abstract: A tag assembling machine feeds tag bodies and tag ties from opposite directions along a lineal path into a centralized work station in predetermined alignment for assembly. In the preferred embodiment, the work station includes a welding apparatus for bonding the tag tie to the tag body.

Abstract: Stamps, labels and the like are affixed to moving packages, for example cigarette packages, by a process which includes the withdrawal of individual stamps or labels from a magazine, the application of an adhesive to spaced points along laterally separated linear regions thereof and the transfer of the stamps or labels with the adhesive applied thereto to a fork-like mechanism which conveys the stamps or labels into registration with the path of movement of the articles to which they are to be affixed, the articles contacting the side of the stamps or labels having the adhesive thereon and passing between the tines of the fork-like mechanism. Adhesive is applied to the stamps or labels by a roller defined by a plurality of spacially separated discs, some of the discs functioning as vacum-assisted holders for the stamps and the other discs having surface depressions for receiving the adhesive which is subsequently transferred to the stamps or labels.

Abstract: A labeling machine has a rotationally driven wheel on which there are can supporting disks supported for rotation on respective shafts. Each shaft has a gear composed of a circular member having angularly spaced apart rollers that engage in the teeth of stationary cam rings. Consecutive sections of the teeth have increasingly large pitches in the direction of wheel rotation so that by engagement of the rollers in the teeth the rotational velocity of the cans supported on the shafts increases. The label holder is mounted on an arm and is concentric with the axis of the wheel. By unclamping the arm and rotating it to proximity with one of the toothed cam sections, the can will be rotating with a particular peripheral velocity that results in a can of the proper diameter to roll onto a label without any skidding or slipping action such that the label will always be picked up at its leading edge by means of a glue strip which has been previously applied to the can.

Abstract: An improvement in a labeling station for bottles having pivoting extractors 2, 3, 4 with convex pickup surfaces, means for applying adhesive to the extractors and means for rolling the extractors over a stack of labels so as to pick up the front-most label which is thereafter supplied to a gripping cylinder, all in conventional manner. In accordance with the invention the labels are present as stacks in a magazine which can be moved from operative to inoperative position by holders which are activated only in the intervals between label removals so that the magazine can be moved to inoperative position when there is a gap in the supply of bottles going through the station.

Abstract: In a labeling station that is intended for articles like bottles, that has at least one revolving or pivoting label grasper-applicator with a capture-and-release surface for taking a label from a stack and applying it to an article to be labeled, and that has holders that hold the edge of the stack of labels, the improvement which comprises controls for the holders (41, 42) or supplementary holders (45, 46) that hold the edge of the stack so that the retentive force the holders exert on the labels can be adjusted to be made greater than the attractive force exerted by the capture-and-release surface of the grasper-applicator (2, 3, 4) and, when the stack is held in a moving magazine, than the inertia exerted by the stack of labels on the stack holders as the magazine (6) moves backwards, the controls having a detector that scans the series of articles to be labeled and actuates the controls and the holders (41, 42 or 45, 46) when it senses a condition calling for a label not to be applied, e.g.

Abstract: In the labeling of articles such as bottles by feeding the articles to a labelling machine having label pickup means, picking up labels from a label box, successively applying such labels to the articles, and periodically replacing the label box when empty with a full label box, the improvement which comprises replacing the empty label box during the time interval between successive label pickups without stopping the machine. An apparatus therefor includes two label boxes disposed alongside one another, guide means for the boxes so as to permit them to move together transversely to the direction in which labels are stacked in the boxes, and means permitting retracting and advancing in label stacking direction of that label box which is in active position.

Abstract: In a labelling machine including label pickup means, for delivering to the machine articles to be labelled and for removing from the machine labelled articles, at least two boxes for labels disposed alongside one another, one of said boxes being in active position, means permitting retracting and advancing in label stacking direction of that label box which is in active position, and guide means for the boxes to permit them to move transversely to the direction in which labels are stacked in the boxes so as to take said one box out of active position and to put another box in active position, the improvement wherein said guide means comprises a common support for said boxes, and means mounting said support for rotation about an axis so that said support can be rotated to place any of said boxes or none of said boxes into active labelling position. The support preferably comprises a circular disk rotatable about its center, the label boxes being arranged radially thereon.

Abstract: Apparatus for applying labels, coupons or the like to articles transported serially along a predetermined path of movement comprising storage means for the labels, delivery means for removing individual labels from the storage means and bringing the labels into contact with the articles, and applicator means for positively engaging the labels to hold them on the articles after delivery.

Abstract: A case labeler for moving a label from a holding magazine in a path to sweep over a glue applying applicator and continue into a position where the glue side of the label is presented to a case moving on a conveyor and acting to trip control switches which cause the glue applicator to move into the sweep path of the label and cause a label carrier head to pick a label off the magazine by negative pressure and begin a sweeping motion in a well defined path. The motion of the carrier head in its sweep path is to rotate the label from a first position at the magazine through a partial amount of rotation to pass the label surface over the applicator and through the remainder of the rotation to present the glue side of the label to the path of case movement.

Abstract: In a labeling station for bottles or the like, a glue scraper is mounted for swinging movement so that it is positionable ahead of a glue roll doctor blade so that any glue applied to the glue roll from a glue nozzle will be scraped off when there is a gap in the delivery of bottles to the labeling station.

Abstract: The present invention consists of labeling apparatus which includes a rotatable turnstile and an oscillating label magazine. The turnstile includes vacuum means which withdraws the label from the magazine and urges it onto an object by pneumatic means.

Abstract: A labeling station of a labeling machine for bottles or the like having a gripping cylinder rotatable in one direction. The station includes a rotatable carrier and at least one glue segment mounted on the carrier for oscillatory rotational movement about an axis of rotation disposed between the center of curvature of its cylindrically curved pickup surface and the pick up surface, to dispose the center of the pickup surface tangential to the gripping cylinder at the center of the oscillatory movement. The rotational movement of the gluing segment is accelerated and retarded to effect rolling of the pickup surface on the gripping cylinder, by rotating the carrier and gripping cylinder in the same direction and rotating the gluing segment in the opposite direction during the rolling contact.

Abstract: A bottle labeling machine is provided with a rotating support which carries a pickup element past a gluing station, a label magazine to pick up a label and a label transfer station. Supplementary means are provided to rotate the pickup element either clockwise or counterclockwise so as to speed it up or slow it down relative to the stations for matching its speed to that required at each station to effect a smooth pass at each station. A pair of cam followers are provided operating on two independent tracks with two lever arms connecting them to the supplementary means for rotating the pickup element. The lever arms may be rigid as one and have an intermediate axis about which they pivot or they may be independently pivoted at one end about one of the cam followers, the other end of one arm being connected to the second cam follower and the other end of the second arm being connected to the supplementary rotating means.

Abstract: A labelling device having a main body member mounted on its frame for rotation about a central axis. The device includes a labelling station, a glue applicator station and a label applicator station circumferentially spaced about a central axis. At least one arm member is slidably mounted on the main body member and projects radially from the central axis. A head is pivotally mounted on each arm for movement about a secondary axis parallel to the central axis. The head has an outer surface which is curved in the plane of rotation of the head about the central axis and is rotatable with the main body with the outer surface disposed in a path passing through the label storage, glue applicator and label applicator stations. The outer surface of the head has a leading edge disposed in the direction of rotation of the main body and a trailing edge disposed in the opposite direction.

Abstract: A labeling system for automatically fixing information bearing labels to articles includes: a conveyor belt; means for placing articles on the conveyor belt at a variable periodic rate; a source of labels providing labels at said periodic rate; and a label transfer wheel, coupled to the drive source, for fixing each of the labels from the source to a different one of the articles. The label transfer wheel has a cylindrical surface, a stationary chamber communicating with a vacuum source, and a plurality of holes on the surface which periodically communicate with the chamber to pneumatically hold labels as they are transferred from the label source to the articles.