| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus orient, position and spin print indicia on pellet shaped articles, such as pharmaceutical capsules and the like. More specifically, the method and apparatus use a rotating pick-up drum that receives and transports the pellet shaped articles to a rotating positioning drum that is synchronized with the pick-up drum. The positioning drum receives the pellet shaped articles from the pick-up drum and properly aligns the pellet shaped articles so that they may be transferred to a rotating printing drum which is also synchronized with the positioning drum. The printing drum contains a vacuum source that maintains the pellet shaped articles within pockets as the pellet shaped articles are passed through a printing station. The printing station contains a movable printing roller capable of being moved toward and away from the printing drum such that the printing roller accurately spin prints indicia onto the pellet shaped articles. A servo controller unit is connected to the apparatus and is configured to control the length of a band of the indicia by adjusting at least one of the (a) a distance from the printing roller to the printing drum, (b) a contact force between the printing roller and the printing drum, (c) an amount the printing roller frictionally engages pellet shaped articles, and (d) a speed of the printing roller with respect to the printing drum. This adjustment may be performed "on the fly," i.e., during operation of the printing apparatus.
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