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A machine for applying tax stamps or like adhesive labels to articles such as cigarette packages arranged in two or more rows in a carton, including mechanism for advancing the carton lengthwise with exposed ends of the packages facing upwardly, and a head disposed above the path of carton advance f

A machine for applying tax stamps or like adhesive labels to articles such as cigarette packages arranged in two or more rows in a carton, including mechanism for advancing the carton lengthwise with exposed ends of the packages facing upwardly, and a head disposed above the path of carton advance for transporting a corresponding number of rows of spaced-apart labels into contact with the advancing package ends while the labels and packages are moving in the same direction and at the same velocity. The head, which is movable vertically to accommodate packages of different heights, carries a supply of the labels in the form of an adhesive-backed web bearing spaced longitudinal rows of label imprints; a device for advancing the web lengthwise; a slicer for removing from the advancing web a longitudinal strip portion between the rows of imprints; a knife for cutting the separated rows of imprints into individual labels; and vacuum means for receiving the cut labels and transporting them, lengthwise of the rows, into contact with the package ends. The vacuum means may include a drum, having a preforate periphery on which the spaced rows of labels are held by suction, mounted for rotation in a plane containing the path of carton advance and positioned for tangential contact with the exposed package ends. Each time a carton is advanced, the web is intermittently advanced and the requisite number of labels for one carton are cut and transferred to the drum periphery, which applies them to the ends of the packages in the carton.

대표청구항 ▼

Apparatus for applying adhesive labels to upwardly facing surfaces of each of a multiplicity of articles arranged contiguously, with their upwardly facing surfaces substantially coplanar, in at least two parallel rows each including a plurality of the articles, using labels supplied as a continuous

Apparatus for applying adhesive labels to upwardly facing surfaces of each of a multiplicity of articles arranged contiguously, with their upwardly facing surfaces substantially coplanar, in at least two parallel rows each including a plurality of the articles, using labels supplied as a continuous elongated web of flexible sheet material having a surface bearing an adhesive material and an opposite surface bearing at least two spaced-apart rows of label imprints, with the spacing between adjacent twos of imprints corresponding to a predetermined desired spacing between applied labels on adjacent rows of said articles, said apparatus comprising: (a) means for defining a rectilinear path for concurrent lengthwise advance of said rows of articles; (b) means for applying adhesive labels to the articles in said last-mentioned rows at a predetermined first locality in said path, said means including (i) a cyclically movable endless surface disposed and dimensioned for simultaneous tangential engagement with the upwardly facing surfaces of adjacent articles in all said rows of articles at a predetermined locality in said path as said rows of articles advance together in said path, said endless surface being mounted above said path for movement in the same direction as said rows of articles at said predetermined locality, and (ii) means for releasably holding individual labels on said endless surface at plural spaced rows of plural spaced sites positioned for register with the upwardly facing surfaces of the articles in said rows of articles as said surface moves and said articles advance in said path, the spacing between adjacent rows of said sites corresponding to the spacing between adjacent rows of said imprints; (c) means for delivering separated labels to said endless surface, at a second locality spaced from said predetermined locality, in positions to be held on said endless surface at said spaced sites and transported by said endless surface to said predetermined locality for contact with and transfer to the upwardly facing surfaces of articles in said advancing rows of articles, said delivering means including (i) means for advancing the web longitudinally along a path leading toward the second locality, (ii) means, positioned in said last-mentioned path, for slicing out and removing from the advancing web a longitudinal strip portion between said two rows of imprints, and (iii) means, positioned in said last-mentioned path beyond the slicing means, for cutting the advanced web transversely to separate the rows of imprints into individual labels and delivering the individual labels to said sites at said second locality with the adhesive-material-bearing surfaces of the labels facing away from the endless surface; and (d) drive means for undirectionally advancing said articles in said first-mentioned path and said endless surface at the same speed, such that said endless surface and the upwardly facing surfaces of the articles in said rows of articles have the same surface velocity and direction of movement at said predetermined locality.