Article selection and placement assembly
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.
Claims6
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;
- and
- 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 the cam followers of each elongated member between proximal and distal ends of respective slots of the rotatable wheel to cause the elongated members to spread apart and bunch together as the elongated members are rotated by the hub.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.