Avery Dennison Corporation

Tomoyasu Ito

Charles L Deschenes

Hitoshi Kogiso

Hidekatsu Kimbara

William J Cooper

Clark L Grendol

Apparatus for dispensing attachments from continuously connected ladder stock of the type comprising a pair of plastic side members coupled together by a plurality of plastic cross links includes a mount, a support movably mounted on the mount, and a pair of carrier blocks mounted on the support. A needle block is mounted on each carrier block and a hollow, slotted needle is mounted on each needle block. A feed mechanism including a pair of feed wheels, is mounted on said support for advancing the ladder stock into the hollow slotted needles and a pair of feed tracks, one for each hollow slotted needle, are provided through which the ladder stock passes from the feed wheels into the pair of hollow slotted needles. A pair of knifes are provided for severing an attachment from the ladder stock, and a pair of ejector rods are provided for ejecting the severed attachment through the hollow slotted needles. The carrier blocks are disposed parallel to each other and movable sideways relative to each other so that the spacing between the hollow slotted needles can be changed for different applications and the feed wheels are disposed parallel to each other and movable sideways relative to each other so that their spacing can be changed to accommodate different widths of ladder stock. In order to provide a path for the ladder stock from the feed wheels to the hollow slotted needles for different feed wheel spacings and/or needle spacings each feed track assembly includes a pivotally mounted section.

Dispensing of attachments

A device for dispensing plastic attachments of the type which are formed as part of a roll of continuously connected ladder stock. In one embodiment, the device includes a pair of hollow slotted needles each having a tip, a rear end and a longitudinal axis. A feed wheel, placed proximate to the rear ends of the pair of needles, is used to feed individual attachments of a roll of ladder stock into the pair of needles through their respective rear ends at angles relative to the longitudinal axes thereof. Once inserted into the needles, an attachment is severed from the remainder of the ladder stock by a knife and is then expelled from the needles by a pair of ejector rods movable along the longitudinal axes of the pair of needles. Because attachments are fed into the pair of needles at angles relative to their longitudinal axes, no shuttling of the needles between an attachment feeding position and an attachment ejecting position is required. The pair of needles, the feed wheel, the knife, and the pair of ejector rods are all mounted on a vertically movable head member. An electric motor assembly is used to move the head member between an attachment dispensing position and a withdrawal position. The vertical movement of the head member drives the operation of the feed wheel, the knife and the ejector rods.

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Mizunami, Japan

Tomoyasu Ito