IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SPOTTING LABELS ON TO A SURFACE

摘要

A system for registering boxes carried on one conveyor line with wraps carried on another conveyor line, in which the boxes and wraps are viewed by electronic cameras that provide respective digitized images of the boxes and wraps, and a computer determines from those images sufficient information to effect such registration by a mechanical arm that spots the boxes on the wraps regardless of their original orientation, responsively to commands from the computer. A vacuum plenum is disposed beneath the wrap conveyor for maintaining a negative pressure that releasably retains the wraps on a surface of the wrap conveyor. The wrap conveyor comprises a flexible, pneumatically porous, light-transmissive conveyor belt for moving the wraps for viewing by a camera against the upper surface of the belt, the belt being supported over the vacuum plenum on an apertured, light-transmissive frame. A diffuse light source is also provided for lighting the opposite surface of the belt so as increase the optical contrast between the wraps and the upper surface of the belt.