Sticker Applying Machine

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a machine applying a sticker on fruit surface. The machine comprised (i) 3/4" - 11/2" steel frame (ii) 10 plastic cups lined by sponge to protect fruits from mechanical damage, (iii) conventional sticker-applying equipment and (iv) power transmission operating the sticker applying machine (SAM). Testing of sticker application on mandarin fruits showed that the macine could place a sticker well at low speed while at higher speed its sticking capability dropped. At the chain speed of 17.69 em./scc., the SAM could perfectly place stickers upon 84% of the fruits. 4% of the fruits were not applied and the rest 12% were applied more than one sticker per fruit. Average capacity of the SAM was 214.89 kg./hr. For the chain speed ranging from 17.69 to 31.57 cm./sec. every increasing percentage of the speed incurred a 0.44% reduction of perfect sticking. Manual sticker application showed that on the average, a man could apply stickers on every fruit at the capacity of 144.46 kg./hr. Stickers applied manually did not contact well with fruit surfaces. For each fruit two ends of each stick were all out of contact.