Article selection and placement assembly and method
AssigneeGraphic Packaging International, Inc.
InventorKelly Ziegler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims14
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, wherein each of the first roller assembly and the second roller assembly is moveable between an operative position and an idle position;
- each of the first roller assembly and the second roller assembly are configured to queue an 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.
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 of the first guide assembly and the second guide assembly comprising a queuing member configured to queue the end portion of a respective one of the first web and the second web in position to be loaded into the machine while the other web is being used by the machine, wherein, for each of the first guide assembly and the second guide assembly, the queuing member is a roller assembly cooperating with pins that hold the respective first web and second web in a predetermined position, and wherein the end portion of the respective one of the first web and the second web is placed on the pins of the respective first guide assembly and the second guide assembly when the end portion of the respective one of the first web and the second web is queued.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.