Labelling apparatus and method for a sheet material cutting system

Claim 2

A labelling apparatus including a labeller for applying labels to the top surface of sheet work material supported in spread condition on a supporting surface to identify parts cut or to be cut from the work material band using a label supply means providing a plurality of pre-printed labels, means supporting said labeller for movement relative to said supporting surface to bring it to any desired position on the top surface of the work material supported by said supporting surface, and means included in said labeller for receiving and holding a label supply means such as aforesaid, said labelling apparatus being characterized by said label supply means (10̸2) providing for each label (50̸) a machine sensible code (130̸) containing position information defining the position at which the label is to be applied to the top surface of the work material (20̸), reading means (10̸8) included in said labeller for reading the sensible codes associated with the labels of the supply means received and held by said labeller (70̸), means (62,72,74) responsive to said reading means (10̸8) for moving said labeller relative to said supporting surface (18) to bring it to the position on said work material defined by the position information associated with a label, and means (140̸) operable after said defined position is reached by said labeller for applying the associated label to the top surface (94) of said work material (20̸).

Claim 3

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 2 further characterized by said means for moving said labeller including a carriage (60̸) cooperable with said supporting surface so as to extend in a first coordinate direction across the work material supported by said supporting surface (18) and movable in a second coordinate direction along the length of the work material supported by said supporting surface, and means (68) supporting said labeller (70̸) on said carriage for movement relative to said carriage in said first coordinate direction.

Claim 4

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 3 further characterized by means adapting said carriage (60̸) for releasable connection with the means providing said supporting surface (18) so as to permit its easily being brought into and out of association with said supporting surface.

Claim 5

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 2 further characterized by said means for moving said labeller (70̸) including a first means (60̸) for moving said labeller in a first coordinate direction relative to said supporting surface (18), a second means (68) for moving said labeller in a second coordinate direction relative to said supporting surface, a first encoding means (156) providing information defining the actual position of said labeller in said first coordinate direction, a second encoder means (152) providing information defining the actual position of said labeller in said second coordinate direction, and a controller (74) responsive to the actual position information provided by said first and second encoding means and to the position information provided by any one of said sensible codes (130̸) for operating said first and second drive means to bring said labeller to the position defined by said position information.

Claim 6

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 5 further characterized by said means for moving said labeller in said first coordinate direction being a carriage (60̸) movable relative to said supporting surface (18) in said first coordinate direction and which carriage carries said controller (74).

Claim 7

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 5 further characterized by means (74) for setting said first (156) and second (152) encoding means to desired starting values when said labeller (70̸) is aligned with a given reference point on the work material supported by said supporting surface.

Claim 8

The labelling apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 7 further characterized by said labels being of generally elongated shape and each of said sensible codes including information defining an angle about a theta axis extending perpendicularly to said supporting surface (18) at which the associated label (50̸) is to be applied to said top surface (94) of said work material (20̸), further characterized by means responsive to said reading means (10̸8) for moving said labeller (70̸) to the angle about a theta axis extending perpendicularly to said supporting surface defined by the position code (130̸) associated with a label (56).

Claim 9

The labelling apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 8 further characterized by each of said sensible codes (130̸) being a bar code and said reading means (10̸8) being a bar code reader.

Claim 10

The labeler defined in any one of claims 1 to 9, further characterized by each of said sensible codes (130̸) consisting of a magnetically encoded strip of magnetic material and said reading means (10̸8) being a magnetically encoded strip reader.

Claim 11

The labelling apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 10 further characterized by said labels (56) being a part of an elongated strip (10̸2;164) of material and said sensible codes (130̸) being located on said elongated strip at areas thereof separate from the areas occupied by said labels, and said labeller including means (134;136) for separating said labels from one another and from the remainder of said elongated strip of material and for applying said labels (56) individually to the top surface of said work material without applying to said top surface of said work material any of said areas of said elongated strip containing said sensible codes.

Claim 12

The labelling apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 11 further characterized by said labels (56) being arranged in succession along the length of an elongated strip (126) of material and wherein said elongated strip of material includes a plurality of marks (132) spaced from one another along the length of the strip material in accordance with the lengths of said labels, and said labeller (70̸) including strip feeding means (112) for feeding said length of said strip material forwardly along its length, mark sensing means (10̸6) for sensing the appearances of said marks as said length of strip material is moved forwardly, and means (74) responsive to said mark sensing means for controlling the operation of said strip feeding means.

Claim 13

The labelling machine defined in claim 12 further characterized by said labels being initially joined end to end with one another, and said labeller including a cutter (134) for severing a label from the remaining ones of said labels and a label applicator (140̸) for moving a severed label from said cutter to the top surface (94) of the work material (20̸) supported by said supporting surface (18) and for pressing it against said top surface, and means (74) responsive to said mark sensing means (10̸6) for also controlling the operation of said cutter and said label applicator.

Claim 14

The labelling apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 13 further characterized by a means for varying the width and/or the length of said labels.

Claim 15

A sheet material cutting system including work material supporting means providing a supporting surface for supporting sheet work material spread thereon, a carriage supportable on said work material supporting means so as to extend in a first coordinate direction across work material supported on said supporting surface and so as to be movable in a second coordinate direction relative to said supporting surface along the length of the work material supported thereon, a labelling device carried by said carriage for movement relative thereto in said first coordinate direction, and said labelling device including means for receiving and holding an elongated strip of material providing a plurality of labels arranged in succession along the length of said strip of material, characterized by said strip of material (10̸2;164) also providing a plurality of machine sensible codes (130̸) each associated with a respective one of said labels (56), each of said sensible codes including position information defining the point at which the associated label is to be applied to the top surface (94) of work material (20̸) supported by said supporting surface (18), a reading means (10̸8) in said labelling device (70̸) for reading the sensible codes associated with the labels of said elongated strip of material received and held by said labelling device, means (74,62,72) carried by said carriage and responsive to said reading means for moving said carriage relative to said supporting surface in said first coordinate direction and for moving said labelling device relative to said carriage in said second coordinate direction to bring said labelling device to the position, on the top surface of work material supported by said supporting surface, defined by the position information associated with a label, and said labelling device including means (140̸) operable after a position defined by position information is reached by said labelling device for applying the associated label to the top surface of the work material supported by said supporting surface.

Claim 16

A labelling apparatus for applying labels to the top surface of work material, consisting of a single sheet of sheet material or a lay-up of sheets of sheet material, to identify parts cut or to be cut from the work material in accordance with a pre-known layout of the pieces, said labelling apparatus including a labeller for receiving a label supply means providing a plurality of pre-printed labels, characterized by said label supply means also providing for each label (56) a machine sensible code (130̸) containing position information defining the position at which the label is to be applied to the top surface (94) of work material (20̸), and means (74,62,72,10̸8) responsive to said sensitive codes for moving said labeller (70̸) relative to said work material to bring it to the positions on the top surface of said work material defined by said sensitive codes.

Claim 17

The labelling apparatus defined in claim 15 or 16 further characterized by each of said sensible codes also including angle information defining the angle at which the associated label is to be applied to the top surface of sheet material, and means (160̸,162) responsive to said sensitive codes for moving at least a part of said labeller about an axis of rotation to cause the label associated with each sensitive code to be positioned at the angle defined by the angle information of said sensitive code.

Claim 18

A limp sheet material cutting system including a plurality of spreading tables for spreading and supporting limp sheet material to be cut, and cutting means for cutting the sheet material spread on each of said spreading tables, characterized by a single unitary labelling apparatus (58) usable alternatively with any one of said spreading tables (10̸) to apply labels (56) to the work material (20̸) spread and supported thereon to identify pieces to be cut from such work material, said labelling apparatus including means (10̸0̸) for receiving and holding a label supply means (10̸2;164) providing a plurality of pre-printed labels (56) and also providing for each label a machine sensible code (130̸) containing position information defining the position at which the label is to be applied to the top surface of the associated work material, said labelling apparatus including reading means (10̸8) for reading the sensible codes associated with the labels of the label supply means received and held by said receiving and holding means, said labelling apparatus also including means (74,62,72) responsive to said reading means for moving said labels relative to the spreading table with which said labelling apparatus is associated to bring them to the positions, on the top surface (94) of the work material (20̸) supported by the associated spreading table (10̸), defined by said sensible codes, and said labelling apparatus also including means (140̸) operable after said defined positions are reached by said labels for applying them to the top surface of the work material supported by the associated spreading table.

Claim 19

A supply of labels for use in conjunction with the cutting of parts from work material, consisting of one sheet or a lay-up of sheets of limp sheet material, in accordance with a pre-known layout of such parts, characterized by said supply of labels comprising a plurality of labels (56) each associated with a respective one of the parts (46) to be cut from said work material (20̸), and a machine sensible code (130̸) associated with each of said labels and containing position information defining the position at which the label (56) is to be applied to the top surface (94) of the associated work material (20̸).

Claim 20

The supply of labels as defined in claim 19 further characterized by an elongated strip (10̸2;164) of material providing said plurality of labels and which labels are arranged in succession along the length of said strip, said sensible codes (130̸) also being carried by said elongated strip of material and being arranged in succession along its length.

Claim 21

The supply of labels defined in claim 20 further characterized by each of said labels (56) including printed information relating to the cut part with which it is associated, each of said labels extending over a predetermined area of said elongated strip (164) of material, and each of said sensitive codes being located within said predetermined area of its associated label (56).

Claim 22

The supply of labels defined in claim 20 further characterized by each of said labels (56) including printed information relating to the cut part with which it is associated, each of said labels extending over a predetermined area of said elongated strip of material (10̸2), and each of said sensitive codes being located on an area of said elongated strip of material separate from said predetermined area of the associated one of said labels.

Claim 24

The method for cutting limp sheet material defined in claim 23 further characterized by preparing said set of label information so that said label position information also includes information defining the angle at which the associated label is to be applied to the work material, and, in the positioning and application of the associated label on and to the work material (20̸), rotating the associated label (56) to bring it to the angular position defined by said angle information.