Web transport system with electro-optical label detection
AssigneeDennison Manufacturing Company
InventorJacek A. Nechay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A label carrier web transport for use in heat transfer decorators and the like, in which labels are optically registered to control web transport. A timing assembly coordinates the rotation of a cam shaft with the actuation and deactuation of clutch and brake assemblies within a metering roll. An optical scanner trained on the web registers a predetermined contrast location to actuate the brake and deactuate the clutch, subject to the presence of an enabling signal from the timing assembly. The metering roll, in combination with a reciprocating label shuttle, provides intermittent web motion to achieve controlled label advance.
Claims7
An improved label transfer machine of the type including a web bearing a plurality of labels;
- means for routing the web through a transport path sequentially including a web source, a rotatable metering roll for controlling web advance, a labelling site and means for collecting the web;
- shuttle rolls straddling the labelling site for regulating web advance at the labelling site;
- means for transferring labels onto articles at the labelling site;
- and a cyclical drive source for providing a periodic mechanical input for the shuttle rolls and other moving parts of the label transfer machine, wherein the improvement comprises means for controlling the routing of the web comprising:
- electro-optical registration means for generating a timing signal in response to a predetermined optical contrast within a label;
- means for generating an enabling signal at a first point within each drive cycle;
- means for generating a disabling signal at a second point within each drive cycle;
- means for starting the rotation of the metering roll in response to a given disabling signal;
- and
- means for halting the rotation of the metering roll in response to a given timing signal, subsequent to an enabling signal but prior to the next disabling signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.