Labeling apparatus for applying labels to bottles at different levels to areas of different radius of curvature at the two different levels, for example, the body and neck of a bottle, comprising applicators supported for movement in unison about a common axis relative to a conveyor on which are bottles to which labels are to be applied for movement along a predetermined rectilinear path at a predetermined speed wherein one of the applicators is supported at a fixed radial distance from the common axis of rotation of the applicators about said common axis such that at its place of engagement with the body of the bottle, it moves at a speed corresponding to the speed of the bottle, wherein the other is supported for radial movement relative to the common axis of rotation of the applicators for rotation about said common axis at a radial distance from the common axis to have engagement with the neck of the bottle, wherein the latter applicator is rotatable relative to the common axis of rotation of the applicators as it is rotated about said common axis in a direction opposite to its direction of rotation about said common axis and wherein there is an arm mounted to the latter applicator movable into engagement with the trailing side of the neck of the bottle as the latter applicator is moved into engagement with the neck of the bottle to constrain movement of said latter applicator as it is moved into engagement with the neck of the bottle to the speed of movement of the bottle.

In a labeling station for applying labels onto objects, having at least one pickup element mounted eccentrically on a rotatable carrier for movement about an axis, a gripper cylinder comprising a rotating carrier having eccentrically disposed gripping and pressing elements thereon, which elements are tangent to the circulation path of the pickup elements approximately in synchronism, the labels being transferred by the gripping and pressing elements to objects moved along a transport path, the part of the gripper cylinder which carries the pressing elements being eccentrically mounted on the gripper-cylinder shaft in such a way that the areas to be labeled of the objects are tangent to or slightly intersected by the path of rotation of the pressing elements, and the part carrying the pressing elements and the part carrying the gripping elements rotate with the same angular velocity, the improvement comprising means for adapting the rotative speed of the pressing elements to the path speed of the areas to be labeled of a first group of objects being conveyed along an arcuate path whose areas to be labeled are, in relation to the areas to be labeled of another group of objects being conveyed along an arcuate path, at a different distance from the gripper-cylinder axis including means for releasably replacing the part carrying the pressing elements with another part of a different diameter carrying pressing elements.

A bottle labeling method and machine has a bottle conveyor which transports bottles past two labeling stations and which rotationally controls the bottles to place them into different positions appropriate to the affixing and pressing on of labels. In the first labeling station in the direction of bottle travel, the simultaneous transfer of a bottle-neck foil and of a back label is effected and in the second labeling station the simultaneous transfer of one of at least one partial neck label and a neck ring label and of a belly label is effected.