BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for applying printed labels to substrate webs; one example being for methods and apparatuses for applying preprinted lithograph labels to corrugated board.

Description of the Prior Art

Manufacturer of a continuous web of a laminate sheet material such as paper products in a web type arrangement is well known in the prior art. For example, the manufacture of single face and double face corrugated board has conventionally been performed in such a manner. In addition, the prior art teaches the application of printing indicia to a surface of a corrugated board, or the application of a separate printing layer via a supply roller. For example, reference is made to U.S. Patents: 4,545,780; 5,147,480; 2,706,944; 2,662,452; 2,166,287; and RE. 21,706. The disclosures of all the above-mentioned patents are hereby incorporated by reference.

However, in the prior art, such printing has typically been accomplished by rotary type printing presses which print upon a continuous web to be attached to the main substrate. Such printing processes suffer the

disadvantages that, for example in manufacture of a laminate sheet material for boxes, the size of the box must be determined in relationship to the diameter of the rotary press cylinder, so as to compensate for the "repeat" of the printing process, as is well known in the art. For similar reasons, when it is necessary to re-tool the apparatus to manufacture a different size box, the rotary cylinder must necessarily be changed. Also, a rotary type printing press does not provide the high quality printing which is demanded under current marketing conditions.

Recently, the demand for high quality printing on laminate material such as corrugated boxes has increased. Such high quality printing can only be obtained by single sheet feed lithograph processing. According, it is currently known to manufacture laminate sheet material for boxes, stamp out the box blanks, and transport the box blanks to a separate machine which applies preprinted labels thereon, wherein the labels are preprinted on a single sheet lithography apparatus. However, such an arrangement is highly undesirable since it both increases the amount of waste generated during the process (since whenever it is necessary to change machines, waste of both material and labor is increased) and it necessarily slows down production. Furthermore, by placing the label onto the box blank, it is necessary to use a "cold" adhesive to attach the label onto the box blank, since the box blank has long

since cooled after its manufacture. Typical cold type adhesives include resins, which are more expensive than heat type setting adhesives. Furthermore, the setting up of the adhesive on one surface of the box blank, tends to deform the shape of the box blank in a curved manner, making it more difficult to transport and store stacks of box blanks.

Summary of the Invention Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-noted deficiencies of the prior art.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for adhering single sheet films to a continuous moving web substrate. Another object of the present invention is to provide methods and apparatuses for providing single sheet lithography formed labels onto continuously moving laminate webs.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus for producing laminate box blanks, comprising an apparatus for producing a continuous web with discrete sheet labels disposed thereon, the apparatus comprising: means for supplying a continuous web; labelling means which are disposed above a top side of the continuous web, the labelling means having means for storing a plurality of discrete labels and selectively adhering individual ones of

the discrete labels to the continuous web to produce a labeled web.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear upon reference to the accompanying drawings and description of the preferred embodiments hereinafter.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the lamina or of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged schematic of the label feeder of the present invention.

Description of the Preferred iEwι*»--»H-inn»τιt-« While the present invention is described below with reference to a laminate web such as corrugated board, it is to be understood that the present invention is equally applicable to the manufacture of any web type material, where it is desirable to provide a printed film thereon. For example, the present invention may be used in conjunction with the manufacture of chip board, card board, wallboard, plywood, styrofoam, etc. That is, the present invention is equally applicable to the manufacture of any web material where it is desired to apply a sheet label on a web in a continuous fashion.

Referring to Fig. 1, the manufacture apparatus of the present invention is designated generally as 10.

The construction and operation of the present invention will be described hereinafter. It is first necessary to manufacture a laminate web by a conventional process. During operation, a continuous laminate web moves substantially horizontally. In the case of corrugated board, a first paper web 12 supplies a corrugating medium 14a to corrugator 16. Corrugator 16 corrugates the corrugating medium 14a, as is well known in the art. For example, corrugator 16 may comprise two gear-like rollers which intermesh with one another, and receive corrugating medium 14a in the nip formed therebetween. Thus, the protrusions of the gear like rollers form the corrugations in medium 14a.

Subsequently, corrugator 16 outputs the corrugated medium in its corrugated form 14b. Simultaneously, a second paper web 18 spools off a top liner 20. Top liner 20 has an adhesive placed thereon at gluer station 22. As schematically illustrated in Fig. 1, gluer station 22 includes a basin for holding an adhesive, and an application roller which rotates in the basin. The application rollers picks up adhesive, from the basin, on its periphery and subsequently rolls the adhesive onto liner 20. A second roller is provided on the other side of liner 20 to support liner 20 against the application roller and to assist in moving forward liner 20. The other gluer stations described infra, are preferably constructed in a similar fashion (although this is not mandatory) .

Next, top 20 is adhered to corrugated medium 14b, via rollers 24a and 24b, so as to form corrugated board 26 (e. g. single face) . Corrugated board 26 is then passed through a second gluer station 28, wherein adhesive is provided on the peaks of the corrugation on corrugated board 26. Simultaneously, a third web 30 spools off a bottom liner 32. Bottom liner 32 is pressed against the corrugated board 26, via press roller 34, so as to form corrugated board 36 (e.g. double face) . The corrugated board 36 is then passed over a treating unit 38 (including, e. g. a heating unit) .

Next, corrugated web 36 moves under a label application section 40 to have a preprinted label placed thereon. The construction and operation of the label section will be described with reference to Fig. 2.

Label section 40 comprises a label feeder 100 which contains a plurality of individual preprinted labels 102 stacked therein. Preferably, preprinted labels 102 are printed in a single sheet feed lithography apparatus. Such lithograph apparatus is well known in the art, and the details of such a construction are thus not necessary here. Labels 102 may be of sufficient size to cover the entire laminate surface area of the box blank to be formed, or may be designed to only cover a portion thereof. In the preferred embodiment, the label feeder 100 is above the corrugated web 36, so that the preprinted label 102 may be easily placed upon the top liner 20 of corrugated web 36.

This is desirable, since the top side 20 (e. g. single face side) is typically smoother than the bottom side 32 (e.g. double face side) of the corrugated web 36, thus enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the final product. Further, this 5 arrangement allows gravitational forces to be used productively in the application of label 102.

Stacked preprinted sheets 102 are individually removed from label feeder 100 by a gluer 104. Gluer 104, includes a glue application roller 106, disposed in association with

10 a drive roller 108. The nip between rollers 106 and 108 is designed to allow a single label 102 to be selectively pulled out from label feeder 100. As may be seen by reference to Fig. 2, adhesive roller 106 applies an adhesive to the underside of preprint labels 102. Rollers

15 106 and 108 operate in association to pass a single preprinted label 102 to a press roller 110, which presses the preprinted label 102 against corrugated web 36. Of course, the driving speeds of rollers 106, 108 and 110 must be kept in synchronism with the linear speed of web 36, and

20 this is done in the conventional synchronization manner. Since the labelling section 40 is provided immediately after the treating unit 38, including a heater, the web 36 is still warm when it reaches label feeder 100. Accordingly, label 102 may be advantageously applied to web

25 36 using a "heat set" type adhesive, which is less expensive than cold type adhesives, which must be used in the prior art.

After label 102 has been applied to corrugated web 36, the web is passed to a setting section 42, which may include a heater and cooler 44 and a pulling arrangement 46 which comprises a plurality of juxtaposed rollers 48a through 48d. Section 42 allows the corrugated web 36 to set, and prevents wrinkling or damage to label 102. Subsequently, the corrugated web 36 is scored into separate box blanks 50 via reciprocating cutting apparatus 52. Of course, it is necessary to synchronize the reciprocation of cutting device 52 with the position of the labels 102 provided on the web, so as to cut box blanks 50 with proper alignment of the labels. This may be accomplished in the conventional manner, as by providing a registration mark on label 102, which is spotted by an optical eye (not shown) adjacent cutter 52, to control operation of cutter 52. Thus, in the present embodiment, a continuous web, with a plurality of labels thereon, is subsequently cut into discrete forms having labels thereon.

It is to be understood that this invention contemplates that the previously referred to laminate web may be a paper web to which a series of labels are applied prior to that web being incorporated into a finished product such as the outer surface layer of wall paper, wall board, chip board or a liner layer of corrugated board. Having thereby described the subject matter of the present invention, it is apparent that many substitutions, modifications and variations of the present invention are

possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that the invention as taught and described herein is only limited to the extent of the appended claims.