JP2006056584A - Label pasting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label pasting apparatus which pastes a label neatly on a fragile and curved surface such as the surface of eggs or fruit. <P>SOLUTION: According to the label pasting apparatus, a label 12 is peeled from a release sheet 11, on which a plurality of labels 12 are pasted temporarily, by a peeling means 5, and is sucked and held by a pasting means 7 located downstream in the apparatus, then is pasted on an article 8 by a press means 15. The pasting means 7 comprises a plurality of endless belts 18 which are laid over to bridge a first roller 16 arranged near the peeling means 5 and a second roller 17 arranged downstream with each belt 18 spaced longitudinally of the rollers 16, 17, a suction means 19 which sucks and holds the peeled label 12 on the outer surfaces of the endless belts 18, and a driving source 20 which rotates the endless belts 18 to transfer the peeled label 12 to the central part between the first and second rollers 16, 17. The press means 15 is made to proceed to the article 8 transferred by a transfer means 9 to paste the label 12 on the article 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

In particular, the present invention relates to a label sticking device capable of neatly sticking a label to an article to be pasted having a rounded shape such as an egg or fruit and having a sticking surface that is easily damaged.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a label applicator for attaching a sheet material without causing scratches on the surface of the sheet material (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
According to this label affixing device, the sheet material is applied from the sheet material transfer member by transferring the image tube in a state where the sheet material coated with the adhesive on one side is pressed against the screen of the object to be adhered (the image tube) by the pressing roller. In a device that gradually transfers the material to the screen of the picture tube and attaches the sheet material to the screen of the picture tube with an adhesive, the housing with one side opened and the suction port formed, and the entire opening surface of the housing An adsorbing belt that is arranged so as to be closed and has a large number of through holes for adsorbing the sheet material and is movably supported along the transfer of the picture tube in the housing, and constitutes a sheet transfer member. The sheet material is supplied onto the sheet material transfer member, and the sheet material is sucked and held on the suction belt of the sheet material transfer member. Then, a part of the sheet member pulled out from the sheet material transfer member is pressed against the screen of the picture tube (object to be pasted) by the press roller, and the image tube is horizontally moved forward to be held by the sheet material transfer member. A sheet material is attached to the screen of the picture tube.
However, in the above-mentioned pasting apparatus, although the suction belt has an area (width and length) and is effective for an object to be pasted having a smooth surface such as a picture tube, eggs and fruits For example, it is not suitable for an article to be applied which has a rounded shape such as, and is soft and easily damaged. That is, when trying to stick the sheet material to a sticky material such as an egg or fruit using the sticking device, it is necessary to press the sheet material against the sticking object with a presser roller, and the target material to which the sheet material is to be stuck. Since the sticking material is small, there is a problem that it is difficult to fix the sheet material by the presser roller. Furthermore, because the sticking material has a rounded shape (spherical shape), the sheet material sucked and held by the suction belt Since the spherical object (spherical surface) comes into contact with the spherical surface (spherical surface) at “points”, the sheet material is likely to be stuck poorly, and the sheet material is “pointed” to the spherical surface of the object to be adhered. If the sheet is to be attached to the surface instead of the surface, it is necessary to press the sheet material against the moving object (egg or fruit) with the presser roller, and the object (egg or fruit) is likely to be damaged. Q There was.
In order to solve the above problem, there is known a pasting device for pasting a label (sealing material) on an object to be pasted having a rounded pasting surface (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
According to this apparatus, the pressing member to be pressed against the sticking surface is formed in a concave shape in advance by a member that can be elastically deformed, and the label (seal) temporarily attached to the sticking surface formed in the curved shape of the adherend (test tube) When the material is pressed, the pressing member elastically deforms into a concave shape following the curved shape of the sticking surface, and a label (seal material) is attached by a pressing force acting in a direction in which this elastic deformation is restored. Yes.
However, the sticking device of Patent Document 2 is suitable for sticking objects that are soft and easily damaged, such as eggs and fruits, as compared to the device of Patent Document 1, but with a rounded shape. Depending on the size of the object to be pasted, there is a problem that it is more efficient to change the pressing member. In other words, in order to paste a pasting object from the size of an egg to a watermelon-sized fruit using the same pressing member, a large-area pressing member suitable for the watermelon-sized pasting object is prepared in advance, and a large area pressing is performed. It is necessary to attach a label to an egg with a member, and there is a problem that an object to be attached may be damaged depending on the pressure.
JP 2000-294172 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-7119

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above-mentioned problems, and has a simple structure and a rounded shape such as an egg or fruit, and has a label on an object to be pasted that is easily damaged. It is an object of the present invention to provide a label sticking device capable of sticking neatly.

The label sticking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the strip mount temporarily attached with a plurality of labels is transported by the peeling means to peel the label from the strip mount, and the peeled label is disposed in the vicinity of the downstream of the peel means. In the label affixing device for adhering and holding the label by adhering / holding by the affixing means located at the position and pressing by the pressing means moving movably forward and backward with respect to the object to be adhered conveyed by the conveying means, The affixing means includes a first roller provided in the vicinity of the peeling means, a second roller provided on the downstream side at an appropriate distance from the first roller, the first roller, and the second roller. A plurality of endless belts that are stretched between the rollers and provided at an arbitrary interval in the longitudinal direction of the rollers, and a suction hand that sucks and holds the peeled label on the outer surface of the endless belt And a drive source that rotationally drives the endless belt via the first and second rollers and transfers the peeled label to a central portion between the first and second rollers, The label transferred to the central portion between the first and second rollers of the endless belt by the driving source while being sucked and held by the suction means is applied to the object to be pasted which has been transported by the transport means. It sticks by making the said press means advance toward.
Further, at least one of the first roller and the second roller may be provided with a tensioning means for biasing the endless belt stretched between the two rollers in the tensioning direction.
Further, the tensioning means can be formed of an elastic member or a solenoid that acts in a direction to separate the first and second rollers.
In addition, at least one of the first roller and the second roller can be provided with a loosening means that acts in a direction of loosening an endless belt stretched between the two rollers.
The loosening means operates either the first roller or the second roller when the label sucked and held on the lower surface of the endless belt is attached to the object to be stuck, between the first and second rollers. An eccentric cam or a solenoid that acts in the direction of loosening the endless belt that is stretched can be provided.
Further, the endless belt can be a round belt.

The label sticking apparatus according to the present invention sucks and holds a label on a plurality of endless belts stretched between first and second rollers, and advances the pressing means to the object to be stuck that has been conveyed. Since the label is attached, there is an effect that an object to be pasted such as fruit is hardly damaged.
Further, if at least one of the first roller and the second roller is provided with a tensioning means for biasing the endless belt stretched between the two rollers in the direction of tensioning, the endless belt is bent. Therefore, the label peeled off by the peeling means can be smoothly transferred.
Further, if the tensioning means is formed of an elastic member or solenoid that acts in the direction of separating the first and second rollers, the biasing force in the direction of tensioning the endless belt can be easily applied.
Further, if at least one of the first roller and the second roller is provided with a loosening means that acts in the direction of loosening the endless belt stretched between the two rollers, the endless belt can be easily loosened. realizable.
In addition, when the label that is sucked and held on the lower surface of the endless belt is affixed to the object to be adhered, either the first roller or the second roller is actuated between the first and second rollers. If it is formed by an eccentric cam or solenoid that acts in the direction of loosening the spanned endless belt, the endless belt can be loosened easily.
In addition, if the endless belt is a round belt, the endless belt formed by the round belt, together with the looseness of the endless belt by the loosening means, has a gentler contact with the object to be adhered, such as fruit. The object to be attached becomes difficult to be damaged.

    Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of the label sticking device 1 as seen from the side. The label sticking device 1 includes a supply shaft 3 of a label continuous body 2, a printing mechanism 4, a peeling plate 5 as a peeling means, A mount winding shaft 6, a label sticking mechanism 7, a pressing means 15 that moves the label sticking mechanism 7 so as to move forward and backward, a transport belt 9 as a transport means for the article 8 to be pasted, and a controller 10. . Reference numeral 35 denotes a mounting table for the object 8 to be pasted.

    The supply shaft 3 rotatably supports the label continuous body 2 in which a label 12 is temporarily attached to a belt-like mount (hereinafter simply referred to as “mount”) 11 and wound in a roll shape.

    The printing mechanism 4 can be provided as necessary. The printing mechanism 4 has a print head, for example, a thermal head 13 and a platen 14, and a desired one is placed on the label 12 of the label continuous body 2 to be transferred therebetween. Apply printing.

The release plate 5 peels off the label 12 from the mount 11 of the label continuum 2 by performing a rearward change (reverse conveyance direction) in which only the mount 11 is turned in the release plate 5.

    The mount winding shaft 6 winds the mount 11 after the label 12 is peeled off.

Next, the label attaching mechanism 7 will be mainly described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
2 is a schematic perspective view of the label attaching mechanism 7 as viewed obliquely from the lower side of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view as viewed from the direction of arrow III in FIG.
The label sticking mechanism 7 includes a sticking machine body 21, a first roller 16, a second roller 17, an endless belt 18, a suction plate 19 as a suction means, a tensioning / relaxation means 24, and a drive. Source 20.
The 1st and 2nd rollers 16 and 17 are rotatably provided in the lower part in FIG. The first roller 16 is provided on the peeling plate 5 side of the pasting machine main body 21, and the second roller 17 is provided on the downstream side appropriately spaced from the first roller 16. And the 1st roller 16 is freely rotatable in the lower part of the sticking machine main body 21 with the motor 20 as a drive source.
In the above and the following, “downstream” refers to the front in the transport direction F in which the label continuous body 2 is fed out when the supply shaft 3 side is upstream.
The endless belt 18 is a plurality of “round belts” stretched between the first and second rollers 16 and 17, and the longitudinal direction of the first and second rollers 16 and 17 (the transport direction). (Direction intersecting with F) at an arbitrary interval.
The suction plate 19 is provided in the lower part of the pasting machine main body 21 and between the first and second rollers 16 and 17, and a plurality of suction holes 22 are formed to be inserted into “hollow portions” described later. Has been. The details of the suction plate 19 will be described later.

Next, an example of the suction plate 19 and the tension / relaxation means 24 will be described mainly with reference to FIG.
The suction plate 19 is provided with a hollow portion 26 as shown in a partially cutaway view. The hollow portion 26 is connected to an air source such as a compressor (not shown), and is operated by operation of the compressor (not shown). Air is sucked from the suction hole 22 through the hollow portion 26. When the air is sucked from the suction hole 22, the label 12 peeled off by the peeling plate 5 (shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 3) is sucked and held at the lower part of the endless belt 18 in FIG. It has come to be. Then, when the first roller 16 is rotated through the rotation of the motor 20, the label 12 is transferred to the transport direction F side while being sucked and held at the lower part of the endless belt 18, and the first and second Are positioned at a predetermined position in the central portion between the rollers 16 and 17.

The tensioning / relaxation means 24 includes a solenoid 30 and a rotating arm 31.
The solenoid 30 includes a plunger 32 that is fixed to the attachment machine main body 21 and that can move forward and backward. A distal end of the plunger 32 is engaged with one end of the rotating arm 31.
The rotation arm 31 is rotatably supported by a rotation pin 33 fixed to the attachment machine main body 21, and the other end (an end portion not engaged with the plunger 32) is the other end of the first roller 16. The shaft 27 is engaged. When the solenoid 30 is actuated to advance the plunger 32, the upper end portion (the engagement side with the plunger 32) of the rotating arm 31 is pushed out to the right in FIG. The side of the first roller 16 that is engaged with the shaft 27 moves the first roller 16 inward (in the opposite direction of the separating direction T), and between the first and second rollers 16 and 17. When the endless belt 18 is loosened and the plunger 32 is retracted into the solenoid 30, the upper end of the rotating arm 31 is centered on the rotating pin 33 in FIG. The side that is pulled to the left and engaged with the shaft 27 of the first roller 16 moves in the direction T in which the first roller 16 is released, and spans between the first and second rollers 16 and 17. The endless belt 18 is stretched.

Returning to FIG. 1, the pressing means 15 includes an arm 23 that performs an advance / retreat operation with respect to the object 8 that is conveyed on the conveyance belt 9, and the label is attached to the tip of the arm 23. A pasting machine main body 21 of the pasting mechanism 7 is attached. Then, the label 12 sucked and held at the lower part of the endless belt 18 is affixed at a predetermined timing to a predetermined position of the article 8 to be conveyed by the conveying belt 9 by the proximity movement of the arm 23. ing.

    The control unit 10 is connected to each of the above-described units. For example, the control unit 10 controls the printing mechanism 4 to time the desired printing on the label 12 of the label continuum 2 via the thermal head 13, or the conveyance belt 9 And a label attaching mechanism 7, which synchronizes to apply the label 12 to a predetermined position on the attaching surface of the object 8 to be attached conveyed on the conveying belt 9, and further activates the solenoid 30. This is an apparatus for performing control such as moving the first roller 16 to the second roller 17 side and loosening the endless belt 18 immediately before the label 12 is stuck to the article 8 to be pasted.

Next, the use state of the label sticking apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the label 12 peeled off by the peeling plate 5 is sucked and held at the lower end of the endless belt 18 by air (not shown) sucked from the suction hole 22 of the suction plate 19. The state in which the arm 23 of the pressing means 15 is advanced with respect to the spherical object 8 to be transferred, for example, watermelon, which has been transferred by the transfer belt 9 is shown.
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the label 12 reaches the spherical surface of the article 8 and is lightly pressed.
FIG. 7 further shows a state in which the arm 23 has advanced, and shows a state in which the endless belt 18 that sucks and holds the label 12 is bent by the advancement of the arm 23. At this time, since the endless belt 18 is formed of a “round belt”, even if the pasted article 8 is a fruit that is easily damaged, the hit is soft and hardly damaged. Further, the solenoid 30 of the tensioning / relaxing means 24 is actuated at a timing when the endless belt 18 is pressed to such an extent that the endless belt 18 bends against the object 8 to be adhered, and the first roller 16 is moved to the inner side (the second roller 17 side). And the endless belt 18 stretched between the first and second rollers 16 and 17 is loosened.
FIG. 8 shows a state where the arm 23 has further advanced, and the endless belt 18 is gently pressed against the spherical surface in combination with the loosening of the endless belt 18 due to the operation of the tensioning / relaxation means 24. As a result, objects to be pasted, such as fruits, are not easily damaged.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view as seen from the direction of arrow IX in FIG. 8. Even when the endless belt 18 is loosened by the operation of the tensioning / relaxation means 24, the endless belt 18 is placed on the spherical surface. Since the label 12 is pressed against the object 8 from above while sliding along, the label 12 is attached in good condition.
FIG. 10 shows a state in which the arm 23 is retracted. In this retracting stage, the solenoid 30 of the tensioning / relaxation means 24 is operated to move the position of the first roller 16 away from the second roller 17. It moves in the direction T and returns to the state where the endless belt 18 stretched between the first and second rollers 16 and 17 is tensioned. The arm 23 is positioned by moving the pasting machine body 21 back to the vicinity of the peeling plate 5 and waits for the next label 12 to be peeled off.

  As described above, the label 12 is sucked and held on the endless belt 18 stretched between the first and second rollers 16 and 17, and the arm 23 of the pressing means 15 is applied to the object 8 to be transferred. And the tensioning / relaxation means 24 is actuated at the timing when the label 12 is pressed against the object 8 to be pressed and the first and second rollers 16 are moved by moving the position of the first roller 16. In order to loosen the tension of the endless belt 18 spanned between 17 and 17, the object 8 such as fruit is damaged in combination with the contact of the endless belt 18 formed of a round belt with the object 8 There is something difficult.

  Further, even when the endless belt 18 is loosened by the operation of the tensioning / relaxing means 24, the label 12 is pressed against the object 8 from above while the endless belt 18 slides along the spherical surface. No. 12 sticking state becomes good.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another embodiment.
In the following description, the same parts as those in the previous embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
FIG. 11 is a schematic explanatory view of the vicinity of the tensioning means 25 and the relaxing means 40.
The tension means 25 is formed by an elastic body 29 such as a coil spring that is installed between the shaft 27 of the first roller 16 and a locking pin 28 provided in the pasting machine main body 21. The first roller 16 is always urged in the direction T away from the second roller 17, and the endless shape stretched between the first and second rollers 16, 17 by this urging force. The belt 18 is kept in a tensioned state. Further, when the arm 23 of the pressing means 15 is advanced and the label 12 sucked and held on the endless belt 18 is attached, the endless belt 18 that sucks and supports the label 12 with the advance of the arm 23 is: The first roller 16 comes into contact with the object 8 and bends inside (suction plate 19 side), and is pulled by this bend to resist the biasing force of the elastic body 29 (on the second roller 17 side). Pulled on. As described above, the endless belt 18 has an elastic force due to the elastic force of the elastic body 29 via the first roller 16, so that the adherend 8 such as fruit is not easily damaged, and the label 12 is Since the elastic force of the endless belt 18 is pressed against the object 8 to be attached, the label 12 is attached in a good state.
Further, the loosening means 40 is formed by a rotation pin 41 and an eccentric cam 42 that rotates around the rotation pin 41. The eccentric cam 42 includes an arc-shaped portion 42a having a long distance from the rotation pin 41 and a linear portion 42 having a short distance from the rotation pin 41, and is indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. As described above, when the arc-shaped portion 42 a comes into contact with the shaft 27 of the first roller 16, the first roller 16 is moved inward (to the second roller 17 side) against the urging force of the elastic body 29. When the eccentric cam 42 is rotated to the right in FIG. 11 from this state and the arcuate portion 42a in FIG. The roller 16 pulls the first roller 16 away from the second roller 17 in the direction T by the urging force of the elastic body 29. The loosening means 40 operates when the endless belt 18 that sucks and holds the label 12 comes into contact with the article 8 and the arm 23 advances, and the arc-shaped portion 42a of the eccentric cam 42 is moved. The first roller 16 is brought into contact with the shaft 27 so as to move the position of the first roller 16 inward (second roller 17 side). The first roller 16 is controlled to be pulled in the direction T away from the second roller 17 by the urging force of the elastic body 29.
Even without using the loosening means 40, as described above, the label 12 is stuck on the article 8 by the elastic force of the endless belt 18 via the elastic body 29 and the first roller 16, and is not easily damaged. However, for higher-grade fruits, if it is not desired to damage, the relaxation means 40 can be used together (selective use).
Other configurations, operations, and effects are substantially the same as those of the previous embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

It should be noted that the configuration and operation of the above-described embodiment are examples, and it goes without saying that they can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, for the convenience of explanation, the label continuous body 2 has been described as a peel-off type in which the label 12 is temporarily attached to the mount 11. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead of this, it may be a “label sticking device” that cuts a label piece using a “cutter device” or the like and sticks it.

    The tension / relaxation means 24 has been described in the example provided on the first roller 16, but is not limited to this, and may be provided on the second roller 17 side, or the first and first The two rollers 16 and 17 may be provided on both.

    Furthermore, although the suction plate 19 is described in a fixed state for convenience of description, for example, the suction plate 19 may be moved upward (on the pasting machine main body 21 side) in conjunction with the operation of the tensioning / relaxation means 24. Good. When the label 12 is attached, the suction plate 19 is moved and retracted toward the affixing machine main body 21 side, so that the arm 23 is further advanced toward the object 8 and the endless belt 18 is moved to a deeper position of the spherical body. It can be bent, so that a large label can be reliably attached.

It is the schematic explanatory drawing which looked at the label sticking apparatus of this invention from the side. It is a schematic perspective view of a label sticking mechanism. It is explanatory drawing seen from the arrow III direction in FIG. It is a principal part expansion explanatory drawing of the suction plate and the tension / relaxation means vicinity. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which attracted | sucked / held the label 12 to the endless belt. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which the endless belt which attracted | sucked and hold | maintained the label was contact | abutted to the sticking object. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which pressed the endless belt more on the to-be-adhered thing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state by which the endless belt was further pressed to the to-be-bonded object, and the label was affixed to the to-be-bonded object. It is explanatory drawing seen from the arrow IX direction in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which retracted the sticking mechanism from the to-be-pasted thing same as the above. It is a principal part expansion explanatory drawing of the tension means and relaxation means of other embodiment same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Label sticking apparatus 2 Label continuous body 3 Supply axis 4 Printing mechanism 5 Peeling plate (peeling means)
6 Mount winding shaft 7 Label sticking mechanism 8 Sticking object 9 Conveying belt (conveying means)
10 Control Unit 11 Strip Mount (Mount)
12 Label 13 Thermal head (printing head)
14 Platen 15 Pressing means 16 First roller 17 Second roller 18 Endless belt 19 Suction plate (suction means)
20 Motor (drive source)
21 Pasting machine body 22 Suction hole 23 Arm 24 Tensioning / relaxation means 25 Tensioning means 26 Hollow part 27 Shaft 28 Locking pin 29 Elastic body (spring)
30 Solenoid 31 Rotating arm 32 Plunger 33 Rotating pin 35 Mounting table 40 Loosening means 41 Rotating pin 42 Eccentric cam 42a Arc-shaped part 42b Straight line part

Claims (6)

The strip-like backing sheet on which a plurality of labels are temporarily attached is turned and conveyed by a peeling means to peel off the label from the belt-like backing sheet, and the peeled label is adsorbed and held by a sticking means located in the vicinity of the peeling means. Along with the label affixing device for affixing the label by pressing with a pressing means that moves forward and backward with respect to the object to be adhered that has been conveyed by the conveying means,
The pasting means is
A first roller provided in the vicinity of the peeling means;
A second roller provided on the downstream side at an appropriate distance from the first roller;
An endless belt provided between the first roller and the second roller and provided in plural at an arbitrary interval in the longitudinal direction of the roller;
Suction means for sucking and holding the peeled label on the outer surface of the endless belt;
A drive source that rotationally drives an endless belt via the first and second rollers and transfers the peeled label to a central portion between the first and second rollers,
The label transferred to the central portion between the first and second rollers of the endless belt by the driving source while being sucked and held by the suction means is applied to the object to be pasted which has been transported by the transport means. A label sticking device for sticking by pushing the pressing means forward. The at least one of the first roller and the second roller is provided with a tensioning means for biasing the endless belt stretched between the two rollers in a tensioning direction. The labeling device described. The label sticking device according to claim 1, wherein the tensioning unit is formed of an elastic member or a solenoid that acts in a direction in which the first and second rollers are separated from each other. 4. At least one of the first roller and the second roller is provided with a loosening means that acts in a direction of loosening the endless belt stretched between the two rollers. The labeling device described. The loosening means operates either the first roller or the second roller when the label sucked and held on the lower surface of the endless belt is attached to the object to be pasted, between the first and second rollers. The label sticking device according to claim 1, further comprising an eccentric cam or a solenoid that acts in a direction of loosening the endless belt stretched over the belt. 6. The label sticking device according to claim 1, wherein the endless belt is a round belt.

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