Abstract: A high speed labeling machine especially designed for use in food or pharmaceutical processing environments. It can be periodically washed down in accordance with applicable governmental standards without entry of washing fluid into an interior of an enclosure assembly containing servo motors and the electronics for driving shafts that penetrate through a wall of the enclosure assembly and on which a label web supply reel and a web take-up reel are removably mounted. A plurality of idler rollers and a pinch roller are used to route the label carrying web from the supply reel, over an edge of a peel plate, where the labels are separated from the web, and back to the web take-up reel. The idler rollers and the pinch rollers are journaled on shafts in a way precluding entry of wash fluids into their interior. The enclosure assembly is cantilever-mounted on a jack stand for vertical adjustment relative to items to be labeled.

Abstract: A high speed labeling machine especially designed for use in food or pharmaceutical processing environments. It can be periodically washed down in accordance with applicable governmental standards without entry of washing fluid into an interior of an enclosure assembly containing servo motors and the electronics for driving shafts that penetrate through a wall of the enclosure assembly and on which a label web supply reel and a web take-up reel are removably mounted. A plurality of idler rollers and a pinch roller are used to route the label carrying web from the supply reel, over an edge of a peel plate, where the labels are separated from the web, and back to the web take-up reel. The idler rollers and the pinch rollers are journaled on shafts in a way precluding entry of wash fluids into their interior. The enclosure assembly is cantilever-mounted on a jack stand for vertical adjustment relative to items to be labeled.

Abstract: A sheet feeder feeds product, one at a time, from the bottom of a stack onto a second stage discharge conveyor in which the serialized products are brought into precise registration prior to being deposited onto a moving web. To achieve registration, the products are transported at a higher rate than the speed of a pair of timing belts having regularly spaced lugs projecting therefrom. The lug timing belts are positioned beneath the belts transporting the product with the lugs projecting into the product's path of travel. The speed deference is that a leading edge of the products is brought into engagement with the trailing edge of a laterally aligned pair of lugs before the product arrives at the discharge point of the second stage discharge conveyor. The transport rate on the second stage discharge conveyor is controlled to match the speed of the moving web.

Abstract: A sheet feeder feeds product, one at a time, from the bottom of a stack onto a second stage discharge conveyor in which the serialized products are brought into precise registration prior to being deposited onto a moving web. To achieve registration, the products are transported at a higher rate than the speed of a pair of timing belts having regularly spaced lugs projecting therefrom. The lug timing belts are positioned beneath the belts transporting the product with the lugs projecting into the product's path of travel. The speed deference is that a leading edge of the products is brought into engagement with the trailing edge of a laterally aligned pair of lugs before the product arrives at the discharge point of the second stage discharge conveyor. The transport rate on the second stage discharge conveyor is controlled to match the speed of the moving web.

Abstract: A method and apparatus to facilitate accurately matching and placing non-uniformly spaced tip-on products from a friction feeder onto non-uniformly spaced base products that are traveling on a base conveyor while both the friction feeder and the base conveyor are continuously moving. Using encoders on the conveyor drive motors to track conveyor position and electronic sensors to detect the arrival on tip-on products and base products at predetermined points along their respective conveyors, a programmed microcontroller implements an algorithm for adjusting the speed of the sheet feeder's discharge conveyor so that the tip-on product and base product arrive at a matchpoint simultaneously.