Article Selection And Placement Assembly And Method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021237213-A1
Application number	US-202117238405-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 23, 2021
Priority date	Jun 9, 2009
Publication date	Aug 5, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed for applying tags with attached elastic anchor bands onto the tops of objects such as bottles in a high speed packaging application. The apparatus includes an infeed assembly for feeding a web, a conveyor assembly that receives a web and conveys it along a path in an upstream direction, a rotating selector wheel, a placement assembly, a pair of rotating jaw assembles, a vacuum cup of the selector wheel, and stretched elastic bands over the tops of respective bottles being conveyed along a path below the placing assembly. The elastic bands then snap onto the tops of their respective bottles to secure the tags to the bottles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An infeed assembly for feeding a web to a conveyor assembly of an article selection and placement assembly, the infeed assembly comprising:
a first reel carrying a first web and a second reel carrying a second web; a first guide assembly associated with the first reel and a second guide assembly associated with the second reel, the first guide assembly comprising a first guide plate for supporting the first web as it is fed to the conveyor assembly and the second guide assembly comprising a second guide plate for supporting the second web as it is fed to the conveyor assembly; a first roller assembly associated with the first reel and a second roller assembly associate with the second reel; each of the first roller assembly and the second roller assembly are configured to queue and end portion of a respective first web or respective second web in position to be fed to the conveyor assembly while the other of the first web and the second web is in operation and being fed to the conveyor assembly.

2 . The infeed assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the first roller assembly and the second roller assembly is moveable between an operative position wherein the roller assembly transitions a respective one of the first web and the second web to the conveyor assembly and an idle position wherein the roller assembly is spaced apart from the conveyor assembly.

3 . The infeed assembly of claim 2 , further comprising a first cylinder assembly operatively connected to the first roller assembly and a second cylinder assembly operatively connected to the second roller assembly.

4 . The infeed assembly of claim 3 , wherein each of the first cylinder assembly and the second cylinder assembly comprises an air cylinder, a first bar, and a second bar, the first bar and the second bar being moveable between a first position away from a respective first roller assembly and second roller assembly and a second position wherein the first bar and the second bar engages a respective roller of the respective first roller assembly and second roller assembly.

5 . The infeed assembly of claim 4 , wherein the first position of the first bar and the second bar corresponds to a de-energized position of the air cylinder and the second position corresponds to an energized position of the air cylinder.

6 . The infeed assembly of claim 4 , wherein in the first position of the first bar and the second bar the first bar engages a first roller of the roller assembly and the second bar engages a second roller of the roller assembly.

7 . The infeed assembly of claim 6 , wherein the first position of the first bar and the second bar corresponds to a queued position of a respective one of the first web and the second web, wherein the respective one of the first web and the second web is pinched between the first bar and the first roller and the second bar and the second roller.

8 . The infeed assembly of claim 7 , wherein a respective first roller assembly and second roller assembly is moveable with a respective first cylinder assembly and second cylinder assembly from the idle position to the operative position adjacent the conveyor assembly with the respective one of the first web and the second web in the queued position.

9 . The infeed assembly of claim 7 , further comprising pins that protrude between the respective first roller and second roller in the idle position of the respective first roller assembly and second roller assembly.

10 . The infeed assembly of claim 9 , wherein the pins engage respective openings in the respective first web and second web in the queued position.

11 . An infeed assembly for feeding a web to a continuously operating machine comprising a first reel carrying a first web and a second reel carrying a second web, a first guide assembly associated with the first reel and a second guide assembly associated with the second reel, each guide assembly comprising a queuing member configured to queue the end portion of a respective web in position to be loaded into the machine while the other web is being used by the machine.

12 . The infeed assembly of claim 11 , wherein the queuing member is a roller block cooperating with pins that hold the web in a predetermine position.

13 . An apparatus comprising:
a rotatable hub; an array of elongated members attached at one end to the rotatable hub, each elongated member having a cam follower projecting therefrom; a rotatable wheel disposed adjacent the rotatable hub and being axially offset with respect thereto; an array of slots formed in the rotatable wheel and having distal ends adjacent the periphery of the wheel that are spaced further apart than opposite proximal ends of the slots; the cam follower of each elongated member extending slidably into a respective one of the slots; rotation of the hub and the wheel rotating the elongated members and moving their cam followers between proximal and distal ends of their respective slots to cause the elongated members to spread apart and bunch together as they are rotated by the hub.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the elongated members comprise a plurality of jaw assemblies that are positionable between a closed position and an open position.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the cam follower is a first cam follower projecting from a first side of a respective jaw assembly of the plurality of jaw assemblies, each of the jaw assemblies further comprise a second cam follower extending from a second side of the jaw assemblies, the second side being opposite the first side.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a cam disc located adjacent to the plurality of jaw assemblies and having a cam track formed therein, the second cam follower of a respective jaw assembly is moveable in the cam track to open and close the jaw assemblies as they rotate about the hub.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein each jaw assembly further comprises a third cam follower extending from the second side of the jaw assemblies, the cam track of the cam disc is a first cam track for receiving the second cam follower, the cam disc comprises a second cam track for receiving the third cam follower.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising at least one pin on each jaw assembly having an extended position and a retracted position, the third cam follower is moveable in the second cam track to position the at least one pin between the retracted position and the extended position as the jaw assemblies rotate about the hub.

Assignees

• Graphic Packaging Int Llc

Inventors

• Ziegler Kelly

Classifications

• B65H19/10 Primary

  in unwinding mechanisms or in connection with unwinding operations · CPC title

• B65C7/00

  Affixing tags (in combination with filling of tea bags B65B29/04 {; multi-step processes for making labels or tags B31D1/02}) · CPC title

• Y10T29/4987

  Elastic joining of parts · CPC title

• B65H20/22

  to effect step-by-step advancement of web · CPC title

• B65H2701/1942

  Web supporting regularly spaced non-adhesive articles · CPC title