EP0059392B1 - Portable labeling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The present machine is intended for the printing of selected characters on labels borne by a continuous tape (13) passing over a print table (11) and driven by a chassis (22) imparted a reciprocating movement by the operating of a trigger. In order to prevent the strip of labels from being pulled towards the outside at the time of the pulling off of the label said machine has a hand brake (28, 30) located in front of the print table. This brake comprises a pivoting brake shoe (28) which is placed out of operation during the transport stroke of the continuous strip (13) by an interceptor (32) which is fastened to the transport chassis (22). This arrangement is established in order to permit a precise and effective braking action without requiring recourse to tolerances which are incompatible with mass production.

Description

The present invention relates to a portable labeling machine intended to be actuated with one hand for printing and sticking labels on selected articles intended for sale.

Certain known labeling machines capable of performing this function include, like that of the present invention, a housing provided with a handling handle, a printing unit and a printing table situated in this housing and capable of meeting each other for the typing of selected characters, a step-by-step drive device for a continuous strip carrying self-adhesive labels along an internal circuit passing over the printing table and comprising a transport frame for said continuous strip, a lever-shaped trigger connected on the one hand to the printing unit to cause with each pull the typing of the characters chosen on a label of the continuous strip and on the other hand to the transport chassis to cause each release of the advance of said continuous strip by a step corresponding to the length of a label, a device for separating and distributing the labels of the continuous strip towards the outside of the housing to allow their r fixing by gluing to the items to be labeled and a device for retaining the continuous strip of labels, with periodic action, arranged on its circuit in front of the printing table and of the separation and distribution device for retaining it between its successive movements in advance, which retaining device comprises a brake shoe capable of moving towards and away from the label strip and a unidirectional continuous action spring on the brake shoe to press the latter against the label strip and against a stopper.

On the label-carrying strip, generally consisting of a ribbon with an icy or paraffinized surface, the labels form a continuous series, each of them separated from the previous one by a more or less pronounced cutting line intended to facilitate its tearing off after bonding on the item to be labeled and when the machine is removed by the operator to go to the next item.

In the aforementioned known machines, the presence of a device for retaining the label strip in front of the printing table and of the separation and distribution device is motivated by the need to oppose resistance to the effect of traction resulting from this tearing of the label in order to avoid any possible entrainment of the strip which would have the effect of a shift of the next label relative to the place of typing of the characters and / or a modification of the final result of the stroke of transporting the tape, by distorting it

The retaining device of these labeling machines, illustrated for example in the Swiss patents No 573 843 and American patents 4 041 863 and 3 934 507, consists of a brake lever actuated by the trigger. The end of this lever carries a brake shoe pressed by a uni-directional continuous action spring on the label strip and against a rear extension of the printing table by the trigger release movement, and released from this support by its pulling movement.

It follows from this design that the braking system acts only at the end of the trigger release travel, that is to say in the rest position of the latter, and that this braking action ceases at the slightest trigger pressure. In this same type of design, a retaining device is also known, described in German patent No. 3,017,843, in which the braking action is gradually released until cessation during the pulling of the trigger, which already constitutes an improvement but does not solve the problem in an absolute way. In another type of design, a retaining device is known, mounted on the labeling machine described in the French patent application published under No. 2351 863, in which a brake shoe, fixed to an arm mounted on a pivot is mounted. pivoting between two positions separated by a neutral point and is sometimes pressed on the label strip and against a stop and sometimes kept raised and released from the strip by a bi-directional continuous action spring by passing from neutral point, and in which two spaced stops are carried by the printing unit to move the brake shoe sometimes in the direction of the strip and sometimes in the opposite direction to make it pass neutral each time. Due to the need to shift into neutral before the brake shoe is put into service, it is essential to pivot this shoe beforehand by a sufficient clearance angle before the end of the trigger actuation stroke which causes the print characters. Thereby the label strip is released, here too, before the end of the trigger actuation stroke.

On the other hand, the precision of the synchronization of the release time of the brakes thus constituted with the duration of the transport of the strip by the transport chassis after each labeling operation cannot be perfectly guaranteed in mass production; in the choice of tolerances, a certain margin of safety is therefore applied in the direction of a slight increase in the time of release of the brake compared to the duration of transport of the strip, rather than in the other direction.

With strips of labels corresponding well to the standards from which these machines were designed, and in normal use, these two characteristics inherent in the aforementioned design have no adverse effect on the final result of the operation d labeling.

On the other hand, on the occasion of improper use of the machine and / or when the labels strips deviate too much from the standards, faults and irregularities in the transport of the strip can however occur.

Thus for example when the trigger is retained or already undergoes a start of pressure from the user at the precise moment when the label which has just been stuck is torn off from the next one still retained by the carrier strip, the latter n not being retained by the brake can be driven over a greater or lesser distance depending on the amount of traction resulting from this tearing, causing a shift in the printing of the characters on a certain number of subsequent labels, before this distance is not absorbed by the movements of the transport chassis.

This phenomenon also occurs, but to a lesser extent, when the removal of the label occurs during the time of the aforementioned safety margin applied to the duration of the release of the brake.

On the other hand, this phenomenon is aggravated when the cutting line separating the labels is insufficient and opposes too great resistance to tearing. In the current state of the art, in order to avoid this drawback, there is a tendency to cut the labels more deeply, at the risk of reaching the continuous strip which carries them, which can cause outright rupture of the strip at the transport traction and interruption thereof.

These labeling machines therefore require both the application of strict tolerances in the choice of label strips to be used and compliance with the standards for optimal use.

The main object of the invention is to avoid these two constraints.

For this purpose, the portable labeling machine according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises a hooking means controlled by the trigger to be moved initially in a first direction towards the brake shoe when pulling the trigger , to hook said brake shoe without moving it at the end of said traction, and to be subsequently moved in a second direction opposite to the first when the trigger is released by driving the brake shoe to move it away from the band d 'tags against the action of the spring, and a means for releasing the hooking means to release the latter from the brake shoe and simultaneously allow the elastic return of this shoe under the action of the spring against the label strip at the end of said trigger release, so that the brake shoe remains continuously pressed against the label strip throughout the pull stroke on the trigger and during the striking of the c characters on the label.

In this way also, the operation of the brake of this device for retaining the label strip is only linked to the process of transporting the strip, which ensures optimal synchronism of the time when the brake is put out of service with that of the duration of the transport of the strip without requiring recourse to manufacturing tolerances which are too tight for mass production of the machine as well as strips of labels. This type of connection also makes it possible to eliminate any influence of untimely pressure on the trigger during the bonding and tearing-off phase of a label, since any movement of the transport chassis back to empty between its two positions limit switch caused by such pressure has no influence on the braking of the label strip.

Other advantages, made possible by this original design of the retaining device, will emerge from the description which follows.

• La fig. 1 en est une vue d'ensemble de son mécanisme interne.
• La fig. 2 en est une vue partielle agrandie.
• La fig. 3 est une vue de dessus de la fig. 2 selon l'axe de coupe I-I de cette dernière.
• Les fig. 4 et 5 sont deux vues partielles semblables à la fig. 2 mais montrant deux phases différentes de fonctionnement.

The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example, an embodiment of the subject of the invention.

• Fig. 1 is an overview of its internal mechanism.
• Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial view thereof.
• Fig. 3 is a top view of FIG. 2 along the cutting axis II of the latter.
• Figs. 4 and 5 are two partial views similar to FIG. 2 but showing two different phases of operation.

• - un boîtier 1 muni d'une poignée de manutention 2;
• - une unité d'imprimerie comprenant une tête d'impression 3 à sélecteur rotatif de caractères intégrés, fixée en bout d'un levier 4 articulé sur un pivot 5 et comportant un doigt d'entraînement 6 et un cran d'arrêt 7, et un dispositif d'encrage desdits caractères constitué par un rouleau encreur escamotable 8 porté par un levier à rappel à ressort 9 articulé sur un pivot 10;
• - une table d'impression 11 fixe en travail, portée par un support 12 rabattable vers l'extérieur du boîtier pour faciliter la mise en circuit d'une bande continue 13 d'étiquettes auto-collantes 14 provenant d'un rouleau 15 logé dans la partie supérieure du boîtier 1;
• - une gâchette 16 en forme de levier, articulée sur le pivot 5 déjà cité, du type assisté à pression uniforme par détente dont l'action combinée est assurée par un ressort d'armement 17, un cliquet de retenue 18 à ressort de rappel 19 engagé en position de repos représentée sur cette fig. 1 dans le cran d'arrêt 7 du levier 4 et s'opposant dans cette position à l'action dudit ressort, et d'un déclencheur 20 solidaire de la gâchette 16 et destiné à libérer cette action par dégagement du cliquet 18 hors du cran d'arrêt 7. Cette gâchette 16 est liée à la poignée 2 par un écarteur à ressort 21 ayant pour fonction de ramener l'ensemble gâchette 16 - levier 4 - tête d'impression 3 en position de repos représentée au moment de son relâchement;
• - un dispositif d'entraînement pas-à-pas comprenant un châssis de transport 22 de la bande continue 13, animé par un levier 23 qui est articulé sur un pivot 24 et qui comporte une coulisse oblique 25 dans laquelle est engagé le doigt d'entraînement 6 du levier 4 déjà cité. Ce châssis de transport 22 est animé d'un mouvement de va-et-vient à chaque pression-relâchement de la gâchette 16 et a pour fonction première de faire avencer la bande continue 13 d'une longueur correspondant à la longueur d'une étiquette à chaque relâchement de la gâchette 16. Sa structure est détaillée sur les fig. 2 et 3 suivantes et sera décrite plus loin;
• - un dispositif de séparation et de distribution des étiquettes 14 portée par la bande continue 13. constitué par l'association d'une extrémité de renvoi en épingle à cheveux 26 de la table d'impression 11 qui a pour fonction de séparer les étiquettes de la bande continue et par un rouleau presseur 27 permettant de coller ces étiquettes par pression de la machine sur l'article à étiqueter.

The portable labeling machine shown as a whole fig. 1 includes:

• - a housing 1 provided with a handling handle 2;
• a printing unit comprising a printing head 3 with a rotary selector for integrated characters, fixed at the end of a lever 4 articulated on a pivot 5 and comprising a drive finger 6 and a stop notch 7, and a device for inking said characters constituted by a retractable inking roller 8 carried by a spring return lever 9 articulated on a pivot 10;
• a printing table 11 fixed in work, carried by a support 12 which can be folded out of the housing to facilitate the switching on of a continuous strip 13 of self-adhesive labels 14 coming from a roll 15 housed in the upper part of the housing 1;
• - A trigger 16 in the form of a lever, articulated on the pivot 5 already mentioned, of the type assisted at uniform pressure by expansion, the combined action of which is ensured by an arming spring 17, a retaining pawl 18 with return spring 19 engaged in the rest position shown in this fig. 1 in the catch 7 of the lever 4 and opposing in this position the action of said spring, and of a trigger 20 secured to the trigger 16 and intended to release this action by releasing the pawl 18 out of the notch 7. This trigger 16 is linked to the handle 2 by a spring spacer 21 having the function of bringing the trigger 16 - lever 4 - print head 3 assembly back to the rest position shown when it is released. is lying;
• - A step-by-step drive device comprising a transport frame 22 for the continuous strip 13, driven by a lever 23 which is articulated on a pivot 24 and which comprises an oblique slide 25 in which the finger of the drive 6 of lever 4 already mentioned. This transport frame 22 is driven back and forth with each pressure-release of the trigger 16 and has the primary function of feeding the continuous strip 13 of a length corresponding to the length of a label. each time the trigger 16 is released. Its structure is detailed in FIGS. 2 and 3 following and will be described later;
• a device for separating and distributing the labels 14 carried by the continuous strip 13. constituted by the association of a hairpin return end 26 of the printing table 11 which has the function of separating the labels from the continuous strip and by a pressure roller 27 making it possible to stick these labels by pressing the machine on the article to be labeled.

• - d'un frein dont l'organe mobile, constitué par un sabot de freinage pivotant 28 articulé sur un pivot 29, porté par le support rabattable 12 est pressé sur la bande d'étiquettes 13 et contre une butée 30 par un ressort à action permanente 31. La butée 30 est constituée par un rouleau tournant libre garni ici d'une matière élastique, mais ce détail n'est pas indispensable;
• - d'un intercepteur 32, fixé ici au châssis de transport 22, orienté vers le sabot de freinage 28 et comportant deux éléments de saisie et de relâchement 33 dudit sabot, dont un seul est visible sur cette fig. 1.

This mechanism is completed by a device for retaining the continuous strip of labels, with periodic action, arranged on its circuit in front of the printing table and of the device for separating and distributing the labels. This retaining device, which meets the aim of the invention, consists of:

• - a brake, the movable member of which, consisting of a pivoting brake shoe 28 articulated on a pivot 29, carried by the folding support 12, is pressed on the label strip 13 and against a stop 30 by an action spring permanent 31. The stop 30 is constituted by a free rotating roller lined here with an elastic material, but this detail is not essential;
• - An interceptor 32, fixed here to the transport frame 22, oriented towards the brake shoe 28 and comprising two gripping and release elements 33 of said shoe, only one of which is visible in this fig. 1.

This interceptor 32 is intended to cooperate with the brake shoe 28 at each stroke of transport of the label strip to synchronize the duration of the deactivation of the braking with the duration of said transport.

Like the transport frame 22, this interceptor is shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The transport frame 22 is in the form of a small box guided in its rear part, on the right in the drawing, by two side fingers 34 engaged in two slides 35 of the side walls of the box 1, and driven in its part. before by the two lateral arms of the lever 23 already mentioned and which carry a shaft 36 passing through said chassis. Inside this chassis, the interceptor 32 and a drive shoe 37 are articulated on the shaft 36. The rear part of the interceptor 32 and the drive shoe 37 are subjected to the action of a spring 38 which has the effect of pressing the first named against the upper wall of the chassis and the second against hooking elements 39 projecting from the bottom of said chassis. The continuous strip 13, which is not shown in FIG. 3 so as not to overload the drawing unnecessarily, is taken between the shoe 37 and the hooking elements 39 and exits from the rear on a fixed plate 40 where it is again pressed under a non-return shoe 41. This shoe 41 is articulated on a shaft 42 held by the walls of the housing 1 and is subjected to the action of a spring 43. The aforementioned shoes 37 and 41 have braking pads 44 made of semi-elastic material which are offset towards the rear relative to the vertical alignment of their axis of rotation in order to present a re-entrant braking trajectory to the left on the elements 39 and on the pad 40.

The interceptor 32 is in top view (fig. 3) in the form of a fork, the two branches of which comprise at their ends and on their internal faces the gripping and release elements 33 already mentioned. These two elements are in the form of inclined protruding bars and are intended both to intercept, to grasp and to release the body of the brake shoe 28. This brake shoe 28 comprises a shoe 45 also offset from the roller. abutment 30 in order to present a re-entrant braking trajectory on said roller; it further comprises on each of its two lateral faces an inclined plane 46, made visible in partial section of said shoe in FIG. 3, and a drive ramp 47, these two elements being intended to facilitate the gripping and the driving of said shoe by the interceptor 32. For this purpose: the width E of each of the two ramps 47 of shoe 28 and the projection of each of the two gripping elements 33 of the interceptor are chosen to be substantially equal and arranged in alignment with the trajectory of the transport chassis, the two inclined planes 46 of the shoe 28 are arranged on the trajectory of the two gripping elements 33 of the two branches of the interceptor 32, and these must have sufficient elasticity to deviate from the meeting of these two inclined planes and to close behind said shoe, in the position shown in FIG. 4.

Figs. 2, 4 and 5 illustrate four significant phases in the operation of the retaining device which has just been described.

Fig. 2 shows the rest phase as shown partially in fine dotted lines, the release phase of the brake shoe 28 by the interceptor 32, FIG. 4 shows the phase of gripping of said shoe by said interceptor, and FIG. 5 shows the training phase of this shoe by this interceptor.

When the trigger 16 is pulled (fig. 1), the transport frame 22 moves with the interceptor 32 which is associated with it in the direction of the brake shoe 28. During this movement, the non-return shoe 41 (fig. 4) retains the continuous strip 13 pressed on the pad 40, the drive shoe 37 releases the latter from its retained on the hooking elements 39 and the brake shoe 28 remains pressed on the stop roller 30, the latter preventing any movement of the continuous strip 13 on the printing table 11, in accordance with the desired goal.

At the end of this return movement of the transport chassis 22, the direction of which is signified in FIG. 4 by the arrow f _i , the two gripping elements 33 of the interceptor 32 slide while opening on the two ramps 46 of the brake shoe 28 and close behind the latter, in the position shown in this figure. At the same time, the characters selected on a label of the continuous strip are typed by the printing head 3.

The device is thus ready for the phase of transport of said continuous strip 13 with a step of advance corresponding to a length of label, while its braking is always ensured by the braking shoe 28.

It is reported here an advantage resulting from the offset of the pad 45 of the brake shoe 28 already mentioned. The re-entrant trajectory thus obtained on the thrust roller 30 means that any traction on the continuous strip 13 resulting from the tearing of the label following the withdrawal of the machine from the object to be labeled has the effect of increasing the force of braking opposed by the shoe 28 to this traction. This feature is not essential but constitutes an additional advantage enabled by this embodiment.

When the trigger 16 is released, the transport chassis 22 moves in the opposite direction, in the direction indicated by the arrow f ₂ in FIG. 5, the gripping elements 33 of the interceptor 32 meet the ramps 47 of the brake shoe and drive the brake shoe in this movement, thereby releasing the braking of the continuous strip 13 on the thrust roller 30, at the same time as said continuous strip is gripped by the driving shoe 37 by pressure on the hooking elements 39 of the transport frame 22. During this transport the printed label 48 is released from the strip 13 and advances under the presser water. 27.

Shortly before the end of this transport stroke, in the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2, the gripping elements 33 of the interceptor 32 disengage from the ramps 47 of the brake shoe 28 and release the latter which is then launched by the spring 31 against the support roller 30, which causes the terminal braking of the continuous strip on said roller. The difference between the instant of this relaxation and the end of the transport stroke, signified by the distance D listed in this fig. 2, is determined to compensate for the travel time of the brake shoe to meet the roller of the stop, so that the start of braking of the continuous strip 13 coincides with the end of said transport stroke. This difference being a function of stroke length and spring force will be adapted to the choice of these two characteristics. Therefore this difference can go as far as being considered practically zero in the case of the choice of a large spring force and a very short stroke.

At the end of this transport stroke, the members of the retaining device re-open in the rest position according to fig. 2, ready for a new cycle of the same phases.

The principle of gripping and releasing a brake shoe by an interceptor linked to the chassis for transporting the continuous strip makes it possible to ensure good synchronization of the release time of the braking with the duration of transport of said continuous strip without requiring a precision incompatible with mass production. This possibility, which also meets the desired goal, is enabled by the direct dependence thus created on these two bodies responsible for said functions, and their immediate proximity. But it is also possible to fix the interceptor 32 on another member chosen from those actuated directly or indirectly by the trigger 16, on the condition however that said member is animated with movements synchronous with the step-by-step drive movements. of the label strip, such as for example the lever 23 for animation of the transport frame 22 or else the printing unit 3 or its support lever 4. In the latter case, in FIG. 1, the brake-interceptor assembly will be oriented from bottom to top instead of from left to right, the shoe 28 directed in the opposite direction and bearing on the printing table 11 which would act as the stop 30 and the interceptor 32 fixed on the support lever 4 of the printing unit and oriented in the same way towards said shoe.

This design of the retaining device being independent of the type of animation of the printing unit can be applied both to non-assisted direct trigger labeling machines as well as to machines comprising a mobile printing table 11 in work associated with a mobile or fixed printing unit 3.

The illustrated mounting of the brake shoe 28 in a tilting support 12 carrying the printing table 11 is advantageous because it greatly facilitates the switching on of the continuous bance 13 at the same time as the control of said shoe, but this feature is not not essential and this shoe can be mounted on a pivot carried by the housing 1 of the machine, for example on machines that do not have a folding support of this kind.

Similarly, the type of mobility of the brake shoe 28 can be different from a pivoting. It can in particular be movable by translation.

The action of gripping and releasing the interceptor 32 can be obtained by another means than that described for the elasticity of the two branches of a fork. For example, this action can be obtained by a system of engagement and disengagement by cam of a pivoting latching arm articulated to the transport frame 22 and in which the cam is concealed during the movement of said chassis. However, the structure described has the advantage of simplicity over this variant. Of course, the stop roller 30 cooperating with the brake shoe 28 may be of a different nature.

Finally, the very structure of the transport chassis 22 shown as an example being indifferent to the action of the interceptor 32, the latter can be associated with all known types of chassis, whether these are independent or integral with a drive lever such as lever 23.

Claims (8)

1. A portable labelling machine comprising a housing (1) provided with an operating handle (2), a printing unit (3) and a print table (11) located in this housing and adapted to meet each other for the typing of selected characters, a device for step-by-step driving a continuous strip (13) bearing self-adhesive labels along an internal circuit passing over the print table and comprising a transport chassis (22) for said continuous strip, a lever-shaped trigger (16) connected on the one hand to the printing unit to cause upon each pull the typing of the selected characters on a label of the continuous strip and on the other hand to the transport chassis to cause upon each release the advance of said continuous strip by one step corresponding to the length of one label, a device (26, 27) for separating and distributing the labels of the continuous strip towards the outside of the housing to permit adhesive attachment thereof on articles to be labeled, and a periodically acting device for the retention of the continuous strip of labels arranged on its circuit before the print table and the separating and dispensing device to retain it between its successive movements of advance, which retention device comprises a brake shoe (28) adapted to move towards and away from said continuous strip of labels and a spring (31) with permanent uni-directional action on the brake shoe to press the latter against the strip of labels and against an abutment (30), characterized in that it comprises a gripping means (33) driven by the trigger (16) to be initially displaced in a first direction towards the brake shoe (28) upon trigger pull to grip said brake shoe without displacement thereof at the end of said trigger pull and to be subsequently displaced in a second direction opposite to the first one upon trigger release while driving said brake shoe to draw it away from the strip of labels against the bias of spring (31), and a release means (47) for the gripping means (33) to free the latter from the brake shoe and simultaneously permit the elastic return of this brake shoe under the bias of the spring against the strip of labels at the end of said trigger release, whereby the brake shoe remains continuously pressed against the strip of labels during all the stroke of trigger pull and during the typing of the characters on the label.

2. A machine according to claim 1, comprising a print table (11) borne by a support (12) which is swingable towards the outside of the housing (1), characterized in that the brake shoe (28) is mounted on said swingable support.

3. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the gripping means (33) is formed on a fork (32) the two arms of which are resilient so as to spread apart upon encountering the brake shoe (28) and to close again behind it at the end of said trigger pull.

4. A machine according to claim 3, in which the brake shoe is pivotable, characterized in that this brake shoe comprises lateral inclined planes (46) for easing the spreading apart of the arms of the fork (32).

5. A machine according to claim 3, in which the brake shoe is pivotable, characterized in that this brake shoe comprises lateral ramps (47) adapted to be engaged by the gripping means (33) at the start of said subsequent movement of the latter upon release of the trigger to pivote the brake shoe against the bias of the spring (31) and to subsequently cause the releasing of said gripping means from the brake shoe.

6. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the release of the gripping means (33) precedes by a distance (D) the end of the trigger release so as to compensate for the time of return of the brake shoe against the strip of labels.

7. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the gripping means (33) is fastened to the transport chassis (22) of the strip of labels.

8. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the gripping means (33) is fastened to a support of the printing unit (3).

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