APPARATUS FOR PLACING LENGTHS OF FLEXIBLE TUBULAR MATERIAL ON VESSELS

摘要

A device for slipping segments of film, such as originally flattened but tubular segments of plastic film, on vessels such as bottles. A rotor rotates about a horizontal axis. Sucker devices mounted on swivel arms and expanding mandrels are arranged alternately about the circumference of the rotor. The flat sleeve segments are fed toward the rotor and are attracted by a sucker device. As the rotor rotates from the position in which a sleeve is gripped by a sucker device the sucker parts spread to open the tubular sleeve and the arm carrying the sucker is caused to swing and turn the sleeve segment 90 DEG whereupon the sleeve is passed over the presently unexpanded mandrel which is circumferentially adjacent the designated arm and its suckers. The mandrel is caused to expand for holding the sleeve and the sucker is timely released. Meanwhile, the mandrel is caused to turn so the axis of the tubular sleeve changes from a true radial direction to a vertical direction at which time the tubular sleeve begins to slip over one of the moving vessels. As the vessel advances out of a screw conveyor at this time, the vessel enters between parallel belts that decline in the direction of vessel movement. The belts frictionally grip the sleeve and pull it down further onto the vessel. A big advantage of the apparatus is that about 180 degrees of rotor rotation are available to effect gripping a sleeve with the suckers, transferring it to a mandrel and then transferring it to the vessel.