EP0065172A1 - Portable labelling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine intended for printing two lines of characters of different color (8, 9) on self-adhesive labels comprises two printheads mounted in a rocking housing (7). This housing comprises two holding elements (14, 16) engaged in two guide slots (17, 19), and a drive finger (15) engaged in a fork (18) of a drive lever (13) actuated by a trigger (3). The slots have shapes which are so adapted that upon the printing impact of the two lines of characters on a print platen (12) the rocking of the housing is transformed into a translation which is not affected by the play and movements of the drive lever and is oriented towards the print platen. Two inking rollers of different color (22, 23) are mounted in a common retractable support (24) by means of a mechanism (26, 29, 30) intended to assure the selective inking of the two lines of characters.

Description

The present invention relates to a portable labeling machine intended to be actuated by hand to print indications of different colors on self-adhesive labels and to paste the latter on articles intended for sale.

Machines of this kind are already known which, like that of the present invention, comprise a housing provided with an actuating trigger handle and comprising at least two tilting printheads for printing at least two lines of colored characters different on self-adhesive labels carried by a continuous support strip, a control lever connected to the trigger and to the printheads to move the latter, guide slides integral with the housing to guide the tilting of the printheads from a raised inking position to a lowered printing position, a printing table secured to the housing, and at least two ink rollers of different colors arranged in the path of the character lines of the print heads in position noted from these.

These machines also include, as in all portable labeling machines, a device for the step-by-step transport of the support strip, capable of advancing the latter by a length of label each time the trigger is actuated, and a device for separating and distributing the printed labels from the continuous strip towards the outside of the case to allow their fixing by adhesive pressure on the articles to be labeled.

On these machines, which must be as compact and light as possible, the problem consists in giving the printing device the minimum size and weight while ensuring the selection of the inking of the lines of characters and the quality of the 'impression.

Indeed, compared to current machines with one single print line, the increase in the number of print heads and ink rollers as well as the space necessary for their relative movements of selective inking in different colors, by tilting the print heads, have the consequences an increase in the weight of the machine and its internal volume. In addition, the impact of printing being consecutive to a rocking movement whose curvilinear trajectory is not directed towards the impact zone, relative slippages between the lines of character. res and the print table can occur and affect the print quality.

In a known machine, described in published patent application PCT / GB-79/00075, the two printheads are independent of each other and travel two tilting trajectories substantially symmetrical with respect to the vertical of the printing impact area to be able to move away from each other in the raised position in order to independently ink their two lines of characters on two ink rollers of different colors and to be able to move closer together in the lowered position on the other before this impact. To achieve this result, the two print heads are articulated independently by their upper ends at two points spaced from the control lever and are guided independently by their lower ends in two curvilinear slides situated on either side of the vertical of the impact zone, in relation to the plane of the printing table. In this structure, the two ink rollers are at fixed positions inside the housing and also located in spaced apart positions and substantially symmetrical on either side of the vertical in question, at the end of the head-up path. impression. In order to preserve the quality of the printing of the two lines of characters, the lower end of the two curvilinear slides is oriented perpendicular to the printing table, in order to avoid any relative sliding between the printing lines and the printing table at the time of impact.

The objects of the invention are, by a different design for guiding the print heads and for selecting the inking of their characters, to increase the quality of the printing and to reduce the size of the printing device. , while guaranteeing easy access to elements intended to be replaced, checked or periodically manipulated, such as the ink rollers, the printheads and the label support strip.

To this end, the portable labeling machine according to the invention is characterized in that the two printheads are mounted and fixed side by side in a common tilting box comprising on at least one of its two side walls a pivot, a drive finger and a guide finger all three spaced from one another in the order cited, in that the pivot is engaged in a first rectilinear slide and oriented towards the printing table, in that the drive finger is placed in permanent abutment on the control lever, in that the guide finger is engaged in a second slide having an upper part in an arc centered on the upper part of the first slide, considered with respect to the printing table, and a straight bottom part also oriented towards the printing table, in that the two ink rollers are mounted side by side in position corresponding to that of the two printing heads, and in that at least that of e these two rollers located on the passage of the two lines of characters of different colors is mounted in an erasable mobile support actuated by an erasure mechanism controlled by the tilting of the tilting box.

In this way, selective inking by erasing at least one ink roller, which allows the mounting and fixing of the two printheads in a common tilting case as well as the grouping of the two ink rollers in one place on the circular trajectory of their two lines of characters, makes it possible to halve the space necessary for the tilting of these two heads, since a single tilting trajectory is enough. Because of this also, everything any residual slippage of the character lines at the time of impact is not aggravated by the sum of their individual effects, since these two lines are here spatially immobilized relative to each other in a common housing tilting. In addition, in the tilting guidance mode adopted, the two printheads are fully supported and guided by fixed slides secured to the machine housing, while the movable control lever acts only as a driving element, by press on the drive finger; therefore, the precision of the printing impact is no longer dependent on the functional clearances of said control lever and the quality of printing is improved. Finally, the grouping in one place of the two printheads and the two ink rollers gives more ease in the choice of the position to be given to them inside the housing of the machine to facilitate access.

Other advantages inherent in the invention, such as in particular the possibility of a choice of the point of application of the force given by the control lever as a function of the chosen distribution of the forces developed by the tilting of the heads appear clearly from the description which follows.

• La figure 1 est une vue d'ensemble en élévation et en coupe partielle de la forme d'exécution, représentée en configuration de repos.
• La figure 2 en est une vue de dessus partielle,
• ₁ La figure 3 en est une seconde vue d'ensemble en élévation et en coupe partielle, représentée en configuration d'impression,
• La figure 4 en est une vue en élévation partielle et en coupe, représentée en configuration intermédiaire,
• La figure 5 est une vue détaillée, en élévation également, de l'un de ses éléments.
• La figure 6 est une vue en élévation de la variante.

The appended drawing represents, by way of example, an embodiment of the subject of the invention, as well as a variant of one of its constituent elements.

• Figure 1 is an overall elevational view in partial section of the embodiment, shown in the rest configuration.
• FIG. 2 is a partial top view thereof,
• ₁ FIG. 3 is a second overall view of it in elevation and in partial section, represented in printing configuration,
• FIG. 4 is a view in partial elevation and in section thereof, shown in an intermediate configuration,
• Figure 5 is a detailed view, in elevation also one of its elements.
• Figure 6 is an elevational view of the variant.

The portable labeling machine shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 comprises a housing 1 provided with a handling handle 2 with an actuating trigger 3 articulated on a pin 4.

This machine comprises, in this example, two printheads 5 and 6 with incorporated character selector mounted and fixed side by side in a common tilting box 7 and intended to print two lines of characters 8 and 9 of different colors on self-adhesive labels carried by a continuous strip 10 coming from a roller 11 housed in the upper part of the housing 1.

This assembly is located above a printing table 12 integral with the housing 1 over which the circuit of the continuous strip 10 passes and between the two arms of a control lever 13 intended to animate the tilting and articulated housing 7 pin 4. This lever 13 is here constituted by an extension of the trigger 3.

The tilting box 7 has on each of its two side walls a pivot 14, a drive finger 15 and a guide finger 16, all three spaced apart from each other in the order mentioned, here from left to right in the rest configuration according to FIG. 1.

Each pivot 14 is engaged in a first straight slide 17, hollowed out in each side wall of the housing 1 of the machine and oriented perpendicularly to the plane of the printing table 12.

Each drive must 15 is placed in permanent support in an end fork 18 of an arm of the control lever 13.

Each guide finger 16 is engaged in a second guide slide 19, also hollowed out in each side wall of the housing 1 of the machine and having a high part 20 in an arc centered on the high part of the first slide 17, considered with respect to the printing table 12, and a straight bottom part 21 aligned with the first straight slide 17 and therefore also perpendicular to the plane of the printing table 12 along a straight line D.

From this assembly, it follows that the actuation of the trigger 3 produces a force applied to the drive finger 15 which has the effect of first of all tilting the tilting housing 7 around its pivot 14 retained in the upper part of the first slide 17 during the travel of the part in an arc of a circle 20 of the second slide 19 by the guide finger 16, then of bringing it down perpendicular to the printing table 12, until the moment of the impact of typing characters- on the printing table 12, during a common and equal translation path of the pivot 14 in the first rectilinear slide 17 and of the guide finger 16 in the straight bottom part 21 of the second slide 19. During this combined and forced movement of tilting and translation of the tilting box 7, the latter is only guided by the two slides 17 and 19 and the precision of the impact of the characters on the printing table 12 is not influenced by functional games u lever 13 on the pin 4 and the drive finger 15 in the fork 18 of said lever.

When the trigger 3 is released, the latter is returned to the lowered rest position by a return spring, not shown, braced between the latter and the handle 2, the control lever 13 rises and causes the tilting housing to travel 7 and in the opposite direction the aforementioned trajectory. Shortly before the end of this ascent, the two lines of characters 8 and 9 are inked by two ink rollers 22 and 23, of different colors, mounted side by side in position corresponding to that of these two lines of characters and on their trajectory. , between the two side walls of an erasable mobile support 24 articulated here by their upper parts by a pin 25 engaged in a bearing carried by the two walls of the housing 1.

The selective inking of the two lines of characters in different colors is obtained by a mechanism for erasing the mobile support 24 established in relation to the tilting box and controlled by the tilting of the latter, which has the effect of avoiding the encounter of the upper character line 9 with the lower ink roller 23 which is not of the color intended for it, both during the descent and during the ascent of the two character lines. This erasing mechanism is here constituted by the association of a cam 26 constituted by an arcuate outline of each side wall of the tilting housing 7, centered on the pivot 14, following a lifting 27 and terminated by a hollow 28, of a pusher 29 constituted by a projection of the two lateral walls of the movable support 24 which are for this purpose at the same spacing as the aforementioned walls of the tilting housing 7, and of a spring 30 ensuring the contact of these elements as well as the ink pressure.

The mounting of the two ink rollers 22 and 23 in the erasable mobile support 24 is detailed in FIG. 5. In this figure we see first of all that the two walls of this support 24 are connected by a flat bottom 31 and by an upper crosspiece 32 , close to the pin 25, also visible in FIG. 2, on which the pressure of the spring 30 is applied.

The two ink rollers 22 and 23 are supported at a fixed spacing corresponding to that of the two character lines 8 and 9 of the print heads by a rocker 33 articulated by its middle part on a pivot 34 carried by a removable drawer 35. This drawer has two lateral projections 36 in the form of rails engaged in two slides 37 hollowed out in the two lateral walls of said movable support, as well as a central retaining projection 38, in the form of a spherical cap, engaged in a cylindrical hole 39. An extension 40 of this drawer 35, having a grip imprint 41, forms a grip facilitating its removal and its insertion into the movable support, the elasticity of the flat bottom 31 of the latter allowing the release or engagement of the projection 38 in the hole 39. An end-of-stroke stop 42, constituted by a projection of the extension 40 ensures the exact positioning of the drawer in the movable support.

This particular mounting of the two ink rollers, which is not essential for ensuring the proper functioning of the printing device described, however has the advantage of distributing the ink pressure equally over the two lines of characters 8 and 9 as well as that of fa-, ciliterle replacement of the two ink rollers, without requiring the dismantling of each of them in situ. These advantages are inherent in the possibility offered by the invention to mount side by side in one place the two ink rollers of different colors.

The combined kinematics of the control lever 13, the tilting box 7 and the erasable mobile support 24 can easily be followed by observing FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

In Figure 1 where this assembly is shown in the rest configuration, which precedes and follows the movements of the tilting housing 7, it can be seen that the close position of the drive finger 15 relative to the pivot 14 makes it possible to transmit a force to the tilting housing relatively mild at the start of the actuation cycle. It is thus possible to define this relative position as a function of the importance of the force chosen to be transmitted. This advantageous possibility is inherent in the possibility offered by the invention to separate the point of application of the force of the lever 13 from the guide points of the tilting housing. In this same figure, it can be seen that the two ink rollers 22 and 23 are held in elastic contact, by the spring 30, with the two lower plates of the two printing units 5 and 6, ready for inking in colors different from the two. lines of characters 8 and 9, which is done at the start of the actuation cycle, the pusher 29 not yet in contact with the cam 26.

During the tilting of the tilting box 7, pro invoked by actuation 3, and when the upper line of characters 9 will meet the lower ink roller 23 which is not of its color, in the intermediate configuration shown in FIG. 4, the pusher 29 meets the lifting 27 of the cam 26 and spreads the movable support 24 sufficiently so that any limited oscillations of the rocker 33 (FIG. 5) released, do not result in an undesirable residual inking. This spacing is then maintained along the arcuate part of the cam 26 until the arrival of the guide finger 16 of the tilting housing 7 in the straight part 21 of the second slide 19. It is noted here that during this tilting cycle of the housing 7, the force transmitted by the lever 13 gradually increases.

On arrival of the guide finger 16 in the aforementioned rectilinear part, the retention of the pivot 14 in the upper bottom of the first rectilinear slide 17 is released, and the tilting housing 7 moves towards the printing table 12 in a translation whose rectilinear vector is perpendicular to the latter. At the end of this translation, in the printing configuration shown in FIG. 3, the printing impact of the two lines of characters 8 and 9 occurs on a label carried by the continuous strip 10 applied to the printing table 12 Also at the end of this translation, the pusher 29 of the mobile support 24 is engaged in the terminal hollow 28 of the cam, but this feature is not essential in view of the object of the invention.

It can be seen in this FIG. 3 that the printing of the two lines takes place in the zone of the printing table 12 closest to the front wall of the machine, which usually comprises a separation edge 42 of the labels printed from the support strip 10 and a pressure roller 44 intended for bonding by pressing said labels on the articles to be labeled. This possibility inherent in the invention which makes it possible to have only one tilting trajectory for the two printheads and that it is therefore possible to orient the inside of the housing 1, avoiding the loss of a label each time the characters of the printing lines are changed.

The mechanism for erasing the tilting housing 24 can also consist of a link of the connecting rod-crank type shown in FIG. 6.

In this figure, this connection as well as the two members which it connects, the tilting box 7 and the movable support 24, are represented in two configurations differentiated by the thickness of the lines.

The configuration in thick lines corresponds to that of rest in FIG. 1 while the configuration in fine lines corresponds to that in between in FIG. 4.

This connection is constituted by a connecting rod 45 articulated by one end on a crank pin fixed to the tilting box 7, constituted here by the drive finger 15 of this box and by the other end on a second pivot 46 fixed to the erasable movable support 24 instead of the center of curvature of the pusher 29 of the embodiment described above. In top view, this connecting rod 45 must be located between the alignment of the side walls of the housing 7 and of the support 24, and the internal face of an arm of the control lever 13, with reference to FIG. 2, this arm being designed set aside enough for this purpose.

In this connection, the top dead center corresponds to the desired maximum erasing position of the movable support 24. The articulation points of the connecting rod 45 may be different from those given. The locations of these points will be chosen each time according to the geometrical locations of encounter and erasure defined by the lever arms of the moving bodies and the trajectory of their active elements.

• - Une tête double d'impression peut être montée à la place des deux têtes indépendantes 5 et 6 dans le boîtier basculant 7.
• - Le levier de commande 13 peut être articulé indépendamment de la gâchette 3, comme par exemple dans les machines à étiqueter connues à commande assistée et à pression uniforme.
• - tous les éléments disposés en double de part et d'autre du plan vertical de symétrie de la machine, tels que le pivot 14, le doigt d'entraînement 15, le doigt de guidage 16, la came 26 et le poussoir 29 peuvent être disposés en simple unité d'un seul côté dudit plan.
• - La fourchette d'extrémité 18 du levier de commande 13 peut être remplacée par une coulisse, ou bien cette disposition peut être inversée; c'est-à-dire que le levier 13 peut porter un doigt d'entraînement engagé dans une coulisse pratiquée dans le boîtier 7, ce qui constitue un équivalent du point de vue fonctionnel.
• - Un seul rouleau encreur, le rouleau inférieur 23, peut être monté dans le support effaçable 24, puisque seul ce rouleau peut rencontrer les deux lignes de caractères 8 et 9 pendant le basculement du boîtier 7. Dans ce cas, l'autre rouleau 22 peut être monté à poste fixe, mais les avantages supplémentaires offerts par le montage décrit ne sont alors plus obtenus.
• -La mobilité du support effaçable 24 peut être obtenue par une translation au lieu d'un pivotement.
• -Enfin l'alignement de la partie basse 21 de la seconde coulisse avec la première coulisse 17 ainsi que leur perpendicularité avec le plan de la table d'impression pourront être supprimés ou modifiés dans certains cas particuliers.

Other variants, not shown, may be made:

• - A double print head can be mounted at the place two independent heads 5 and 6 in the tilting box 7.
• - The control lever 13 can be articulated independently of the trigger 3, as for example in known labeling machines with assisted control and at uniform pressure.
• - all the elements arranged in duplicate on either side of the vertical plane of symmetry of the machine, such as the pivot 14, the drive finger 15, the guide finger 16, the cam 26 and the pusher 29 can be arranged in a single unit on one side of said plane.
• - The end fork 18 of the control lever 13 can be replaced by a slide, or this arrangement can be reversed; that is to say that the lever 13 can carry a drive finger engaged in a slide formed in the housing 7, which constitutes an equivalent from the functional point of view.
• - A single ink roller, the lower roller 23, can be mounted in the erasable support 24, since only this roller can meet the two lines of characters 8 and 9 during the tilting of the housing 7. In this case, the other roller 22 can be mounted in a fixed position, but the additional advantages offered by the described assembly are no longer obtained.
• The mobility of the erasable support 24 can be obtained by a translation instead of a pivoting.
• Finally, the alignment of the lower part 21 of the second slide with the first slide 17 as well as their perpendicularity with the plane of the printing table can be deleted or modified in certain particular cases.

Thus in the first place the slide 17 may not be aligned with the lower part 21 of the second slide but simply parallel to it on the condition however that the upper part of this slide 17 always constitutes the center of the part 20 in second neck arc smooth 19. This variant can be usefully applied for practical reasons of space, for example.

Depending on the location of the center of gravity of the tilting housing 7 - print head 5 and 6 assembly, there may be a slight shift in the point of application of the striking force of this assembly at the time of impact compared to the two lines of characters 8 and 9, due to the inertia developed by this set during its tilting, and which would have the result of differentiating the printing forces applied to these two lines-of characters and thereby producing a difference in the intensity of their impression. In this case it is advantageous either to slightly incline the two aforementioned slides 17 and 21 relative to the vertical of the printing table 12, while retaining their alignment or their parallelism, or to keep the perpendicularity of the lower part 21 of the second slide with the printing table and orient the first slide 17 so as to form an acute angle A with the straight line D (fig. 1) open on the side opposite to the arc portion 20 of the second slide 19 so as to counterbalance the aforementioned undesirable effect.

Claims (10)

1. Portable labeling machine comprising a housing (1) provided with a handle (2) with actuating trigger (3) and comprising at least two tilting print heads (5, 6) for printing at least two lines of characters of different colors on self-adhesive labels carried by a continuous support strip, a control lever (13) connected to the trigger and to the printheads for moving the latter, guide slides secured to the housing to guide the tilting the print heads from a raised position d ^! inking to a lowered printing position, a printing table (12) secured to the housing and at least two ink rollers (22, 23) of different colors arranged in the path of the character lines of the printing heads in raised position of the latter, characterized in that the two printheads (5, 6) are mounted and fixed side by side in a common tilting box (7) comprising on at least one of its two walls lateral a pivot (14), a drive finger (15) and a guide finger (16) all three spaced from one another in the order cited, in that the pivot is engaged in a first slide (17), rectilinear and oriented towards the printing table, in that the drive finger is disposed in permanent support on the control lever, in that the guide finger is engaged in a second slide (19) having an upper part (20) in an arc centered on the upper part of the first slide, considered by comparison t to the printing table, and a straight bottom part (21) also oriented towards the printing table, in that the two ink rollers (22, 23) are mounted side by side in position corresponding to that of the two character lines and in that at least that of these two rollers located on the passage of these two character lines is mounted in an erasable mobile support (24), actuated by an erasing mechanism (26, 29, 30 - 15, 45, 46) controlled by the tilting of the tilting housing (7). 2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the first straight slide (17) and the straight bottom part (21) of the second slide are parallel. 3. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the first straight slide (17) and the straight bottom part (21) of the second slide are aligned. 4. Machine according to claim 2 or claim 3, characterized in that the first straight slide (17) and the straight bottom part (21) of the second slide are perpendicular to the printing table (12). 5. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the straight bottom part (21) of the second slide is perpendicular to the printing table (12) while the first straight slide (17) forms an acute angle (A) with said lower part, this angle being open on the side opposite to the part in an arc (20) of this second slide. 6. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the two ink rollers (22, 23) are arranged side by side in a rocker (33) articulated and mounted in the movable erasable support (24). 7. Machine according to claim 6, characterized in that the rocker (33) in which the two ink rollers are arranged is removably mounted in the erasable mobile support (24). 8. Machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the lever (33) in which the two ink rollers are arranged is articulated by its middle part on a pivot (34) carried by a removable drawer (35) mounted in the erasable mobile support (24). 9. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the erasing mechanism of the erasable mobile support is constituted by the association of a cam (26) integral with the tilting housing (7) of a pusher (29) integral with said mobile support and a spring (30.) ensuring the contact of these two elements as well as the inking pressure. 10. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanism for erasing the erasable mobile support is a link of the connecting rod-crank type comprising a crank pin (15) fixed to the tilting housing (7) in a position remote from the pivot of the latter and a connecting rod (45) established between this crankpin and a second pivot (46) fixed to the erasable mobile support, the neutral point of this link corresponding to the erasing position.

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