Tag Attachment System

This invention relates to a tag attachment system for the attachment of tags to the necks of bottles and similar necked articles by mechanical means.

According to this invention, there is provided a tag attachment system comprising a carrier strip having adhesive on one surface thereof and a plurality of tags releasably secured at spaced intervals along the length of the strip by said adhesive, each tag having an aperture adjacent one end thereof for facilitating the engagement thereof about the neck of a necked article, the face of the tag facing said one surface having thereon a coating of release material, and the areas of the strip not covered by the tags not being adhesive.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the end of each tag remote from said one end has means by which said remote end can be adhesively secured to the article. Preferably said means comprises a portion at said remote having a surface of facing the strip and carry an adhesive operative to releasably secure said portion to the strip.

The tag may have a folded leaflet attached thereto. The leaflet may be held closed against the tag by a cover sheet detachably secured to the tag at opposite ends of the folded leaflet.

The invention also provides a method of attaching tags to the necks of respective necked containers moving in succession along a flow path with the necks of the containers projecting at right angles to the flow path, comprising the steps of feeding a carrier strip, in the same general direction as the movement of the containers, along a path which is inclined towards the tops of the necks of the containers deposing, at a location adjacent the flow path of said tops, a guide from which the strip moves in a direction generally opposite to the direction of movement of the containers. The strip has adhesive on a surface thereof remote from the guide and a plurality of said tags releasably secured thereto at intervals spaced along the length of the strip by said adhesive. Each tag has a hole therein adjacent its leading end with respect to the movement of the strip for receiving the neck of a container. The face of each tag facing said surface of the strip has thereon a coating of a release material, and the areas of the strip not covered by the tags are not adhesive. Thus, the leading end of each tag as it comes to the guide peels from the strip so that the hole thereof is in the path of movement of and receives the top of the neck of one of the containers and the tag becomes attached to the container.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tag application system according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2--2 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1 of a tag in which an additional feature is incorporated,

FIG. 4 is a side view taken in the direction of the arrow 4 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 illustrates a method according to the invention of employing the tag application system, and

FIG. 6 illustrates a modification of the method illustrated in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the system employs a carrier strip 10 for carrying a succession of tags 11 each formed with an aperture 12 near its leading end and by which the tags are to be looped over the necks of bottles traveling along a conveyor line.

The carrier strip 10 is coated with a layer 14 of pressure-sensitive adhesive by which the tags 11 are secured to the strip. Each tag has a coating 15 of silicone or other release material on the face thereof secured to the carrier strip.

A leaflet 16 attachment is adhesively bonded to the upper face of the tag and overlies the tag entirely except for a narrow strip 11a at the trailing end of the tag. The leaflet is in this instance formed from a strip of paper material the leading part 17 of which is a single layer and overlies the corresponding part of the tag and the trailing part 18 of which is folded inward. The leading part 17 of the leaflet has an aperture in register with the aperture 12 in the tag and is secured to the tag by three parallel transversely extending lines of adhesive spaced apart along the length of the tag. Thus, there is a double thickness of paper about the neck of the bottle for strength while at the same time, the use of the transverse parallel lines of adhesive improves the flexibility of the leading part to facilitate the reeling of the strip. The trailing part 18 of the leaflet comprises a top part 19 which is a continuation of the leading part 17, a first continuation part 20 underlying the top part 19 and connected to the top part along a fold line 21, and a second continuation part 22 which is connected along a fold line 23 to the first continuation part and which lies between the top and first continuation parts. A transverse line of adhesive 24 extending along the trailing edge of the first continuation part 20 secures the trailing end of the leaflet to the tag. A line of perforations 25 is provided between the leading and trailing halves and when torn open allows access to the inner parts of the leaflet. These inner parts may or may not be separable from the outer parts, as desired.

Initially, the entire upper surface of the carrier strip is coated with adhesive 14 but the adhesive in the areas not covered by the tags is subsequently rendered inactive by a varnish applied to these areas and exposure thereof to ultra-violet light in a known manner, so that the strip carrying the tags can be formed into a roll. Preferably a narrow band extending under the periphery of the tag is similarly treated to render its adhesive inactive.

A notch 26 is formed in the top sheet 19 at each end of the line of perforations 25 and straddles the line so as to expose the location of the line.

In use, referring now to FIG. 5, the strip is fed, with the apertured ends of the tags leading, along a downwardly inclined path towards the tops of a succession of bottles 30 standing on a conveyor and moving in the same general direction as the strip. At the lower end of the path is a roller 31 have a small diameter about which the strip is led, the tags being on the face of the strip remote from the roller.

At the downstream side of the guide roller the strip is engaged in a clutch and brake mechanism 28 which feeds the strip forward in a stepwise manner one tag at a time in response to a signal from a sensor 29 actuated by the passing of a container on the conveyor. When the clutch is thus operated, the strip beneath a tag commences to move about the roller, and the relative stiffness of the tag and the release material on its lower surface cause the tag 11 to commence to part from the strip 10. A bottle 30 on the conveyor is arranged to pass under the roller 30 at the same time so that its neck engages in the aperture in the tag and the tag with its leaflet is transferred to the neck of the bottle. The strip less the tags is fed to a take-up spool (not shown) and is discarded.

In a modification illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, a means is provided by which the trailing end of the tag can be adhesively secured to the bottle. A piece of paper material 33 carrying a pressure-sensitive adhesive 34 is placed partly overlapping and secured to the trailing end 11a of the tag, and the portion not attached to the tag is releasably bonded to a deactivated area of the strip, the varnish operating as a release material when the tag is detached from the strip so that the adhesive surface on the piece of paper material can be used to secure the trailing end of the tag to the bottle.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a modified form of the apparatus and method is illustrated. In this apparatus, a vacuum box 35 is disposed above the guide roller 31 and has an apertured bottom plate 36 which is inclined downward towards the tops of the containers. When a leading tag has become attached to its container, the mechanism 28 causes a forward step movement of the strip, and as the strip is drawn about the roller 31, the next tag peels off and becomes attached to the underside of the plate by suction generated in the vacuum box at the time that the apertured leading end of the tag projects beyond the plate and rests in the path of the top of a container. The neck of the container thus engages the tag in the aperture thereof and the tag becomes looped on the container. The container may pull the tag from the plate, overcoming the suction, or air may be blown into the vacuum box to discharge the tag from the plate, as desired.

Holes in the vacuum plate may be blocked off to define the area of which suction is required.

It will be understood that the leaflet may incorporate as many sheets as desired, may be in any desired form and may be detachably or non-detachably secured to the tag with or without detachable parts, or that the leaflet may be omitted entirely.