Bottle labeling machine

Claim 1

In a labeling machine such as a bottle labeling machine having a circular rotatable support, means for rotating said support, a gluing station, a label magazine station and a rotating gripper cylinder station disposed about said support, the improvement comprising a plurality of gluing segments carried by said support for rotation therewith and for rotation about their own axes, each segment having a pickup-transfer surface for successively contacting said gluing, magazine and gripper cylinder stations, said pickup-transfer surface comprising a segment of the surface of a cylinder and having a constant radius of curvature and the axis of rotation of said gluing segment being located between the center of curvature of said cylindrical transfer surface of the gluing segment and the center of the pickup-transfer surface itself to present a uniform geometric surface at every contact position for a given speed of rotation, means for effecting the rotating of said segments about their own axes to effect at least one complete revolution thereof during one revolution of the support, and means operatively connecting said support, said gripper cylinder and said segments to effect rotation of said support and gripper cylinder in the same direction with each segment rotating in the opposite direction, wherein the means operatively connecting the support, gripper cylinder and segments includes means receptive of any engaging pair of a set of changeable transmission gears each having a given diameter for effecting a desired diameter ratio of integral numbers to define a corresponding motion ratio of integral numbers between the support and the gripper cylinder, whereby for a given label length, the number of segments and therefore the capacity of the machine are dependent upon the diameter ratio and can be selected corresponding to the diameter ratio of the selected gears.