MANDREL TRIP SUBASSEMBLY FOR CONTINUOUS MOTION CAN DECORATOR

摘要

A continuous motion decorator (Fig. 1) of the type in which cans 16 are supported on freely rotatable mandrels 20 during decorating is provided with a plurality of equally spaced mandrel actuator subassemblies 40 mounted along the periphery of a rotating carrier 18. Each subassembly 40 is mounted for radial movement toward and away from the carrier's rotational axis 19 with the radial position of the subassembly 40 being controlled by a stationary closed loop cam track 52 on which a follower roller 48, 49 of the subassembly 40 is disposed. The subassembly 40 also includes a rotary operator 42-44 having a rotor 43 that supports the mandrel 20 and is on a pivot axis 47 that is parallel to the axis 19 of the carrier as well as being parallel to and laterally offset from the rotational axis 46 of the mandrel 20. Sensors 33 detect unloaded and misloaded mandrels 20, and upon doing so cause the rotary operator 42-44 that is unloaded or misloaded to be actuated to withdraw the rotor 43 from its normal decorating path so that it will not engage the printing blanket 21 of a decorating unit 22.