Article hold-down for labeling machines

Claim 1

IN COMBINATION, IN A LABELING MACHINE WHICH INCLUDES A CONVEYOR OPERATIVE TO ADVANCE ARTICLES ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH, MEANS OPERATIVE TO ARRANGE ARTICLES IN ACCURATELY SPACED RELATION UPON THE CONVEYOR, MEANS FOR DRIVING THE CONVEYOR AT A PREDETERMINED ACCURATE AND UNIFORM LINEAR VELOCITY, AN ENDLESS HOLD-DOWN BELT COMPRISING A RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE ARTICLE-CONTACTING PLY, THE BELT INCLUDING UPPER AND LOWER RUNS AND PORTIONS CONNECTING THE UPPER AND LOWER RUNS, THE MAJOR PART OF THE LOWER RUN BEING PARALLEL TO THE ARTICLE PATH AND SPACED FROM THE LATTER A DISTANCE SUCH, RELATIVELY TO THE HEIGHT OF THE ARTICLE, THAT WHEN AN ARTICLE IS OPERATIVELY POSITIONED BETWEEN THE CONVEYOR AND SAID LOWER RUN OF THE BELT, THE RESILIENT PLY CONVEYOR AND SAID LOWER RUN OF THE BELT, THE RESILIENT PLY OF THE BELT IS COMPRESSED, AND WHEREIN THAT PORTION OF THE BELT WHICH IS MOVING DOWNWARDLY FROM THE UPPER TO THE LOWER RUN IS DEFINED BY A ROTARY BELT-POSITIONING DEVICE, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT SAID BELT-POSITIONING DEVICE IS SO CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED THAT, AS IT ROTATES, IT FIRST PROVIDES A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL PORTION OF THE BELT ABOVE EACH SUCCESSIVE ARTICLE AND THEN MOVES EACH SUCH SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL PORTION OF THE BELT DIRECTLY DOWN INTO CONTACT WITH THE TOP OF THE ARTICLE WHICH IS DIRECTLY BELOW IT.