EP0280829A1 - Hand-held labeler - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine comprises a print-head (3) for printing characters on labels (11) which are borne by a strip (10) which passes over a print-platen (8). In order to prevent, in reliable, rapid and space-saving manner, a second printing as a result of a rebound of the head (3) on the platen (8), this machine comprises: a lever (35) having two arms forming a V (36, 37) of alternate angular movement synchronized with the movements of the head (3), with dihedral (40) of elasitc return, pivoted in the platen (8) and urged alternately in one direction and the other by a pusher (30) which is integral with the head (3) and by a retraction arm (43) which is integral with an inking device (25, 26, 27) for preventing the return of the head (3) as the result of a rebound, by engagement of an arm (36) in a detention notch (32-33) which is integral with the head (3).

Description

The subject of the present invention is a portable labeling machine which can be operated with one hand, capable of being loaded with a roll of detachable self-adhesive labels arranged in succession on a continuous strip, for printing characters chosen from these labels. , to detach them from the strip and to stick them one by one and as and when they are printed on articles intended for sale.

There is already known a labeling machine capable of performing these operations, described in European patent specification No. 0 058 350 B1, which presents with that of the present invention certain common arrangements.

These two machines have in fact this in common that they each comprise a box provided with a handling handle, a printing unit located in the box and comprising at least one print head with character selector and a table of printing capable of meeting for the typing of selected characters, a step-by-step drive device for a continuous strip carrying labels along a circuit passing over the printing table, a trigger connected to the printing unit and the step-by-step drive device to alternately cause the typing of the characters chosen on a label on each actuation and each release of the spacing of the two elements of the printing unit as well as advancing one step of the continuous strip, a device for anchoring the selected characters capable of being placed alternately in retracting condition and in inking condition in synchronism with the respective movements of bringing the two closer and apart é elements of the printing unit, a retaining device intended to oppose a second printing of the selected characters caused by a rebound consecutive to the meeting of the two elements of the printing unit before the release of the trigger and comprising , at least on one side of the two elements of the printing unit, on the one hand a pusher, a lateral stop and at least one retaining notch arranged in a fixed position on one of the two elements of the unit on the other hand, on the other element of the printing unit, a rotary retaining member with sequential actuation synchronized with the relative movements of the elements of the printing unit and urged by the pusher, with element of return subjected to the pressure of a spring, and capable of pressing against the lateral stop by urging the push-button when striking the selected characters and of engaging in the retaining notch during the aforementioned rebound, and a device of separation and distribution of the labels of the continuous strip towards the outside of the case to allow their fixing by gluing on the articles to be labeled.

In the aforementioned known machine, the rotary member of the retaining device comprises on its periphery three equidistant arming control fingers intended to be actuated selectively and sequentially by the pusher during striking and coming successively and respectively against the lateral stop and in the retaining notch. The return element of this rotary member consists of a prism coaxial with said rotary element and whose polygonal outline has three edges each corresponding to one of the three arming control fingers.

At each typing of characters, that is to say at each meeting of the two elements of the printing unit, the pusher meets one of the three cocking fingers of the rotary retaining member and rotates the latter until the following cocking finger meets the lateral stop, ready to engage in the retaining notch in the event of a rebound under spring pressure. When the trigger is released, the spring rotates the rotary member to disengage said next arming control finger from the retaining notch and present it in turn, at the next strike, to the action of the pusher. The rotary member thus presents to the action of the pusher, strikes after strikes and following one another, its three arming control fingers by repetitive rotation and in the same direction of 120 ° each.

By this arrangement of the retaining device, the aforementioned known machine makes it possible to reliably solve the problems of double printing and over-inking linked to the phenomenon of rebound consecutive to the meeting of the two elements of the printing unit, before the release of the trigger, and this thanks to the fact that a rigid spacer element constituted by a finger of the rotary member is introduced between these two elements of the printing unit immediately after said rebound.

The reliability of this retaining device is also dependent on its resistance to external aggressions caused by manipulations of the device, during labeling, and on the speed of response of the rotary member to the stresses of the pusher and to the pressure. of the spring during the bringing together of the two elements of the printing unit causing the typing of the characters and until the instant of the rebound.

This operational phase during which the rotary member must rotate a little less than 120 ° and at the end of which one of its fingers must engage in a retaining notch by single pressure of the spring is indeed very brief, in particular for machines in which the striking is done by instantaneous relaxation of a pretended spring during the actuation stroke of the trigger.

With a view to seeking even greater reliability, the invention aims both to increase the resistance to external aggressions of the retaining device and to increase the speed of response of its rotary retaining member, for all equal functional constraints applied to its elements.

To this end, the machine according to the invention is characterized in that:
the rotary retaining member is a lever comprising a first arm and a second arm forming a V,
- this lever is pivoted at its top and its angular displacement is alternating,
the return element is a cam forming a dihedral integral with the lever, this dihedral being subjected to the permanent pressure of the spring and its edge defining the tilting position of said lever between a first and a second different angular positions,
in the first angular position of the lever, its first arm is in the raised standby position oriented towards the other element of the printing unit, while its second arm is in the lowered retracting position,
- in the second angular position of the lever, its first arm is in the retracted position, however its two tenth arm is in the raised waiting position on the trajectory of the pusher,
- a retraction arm of the first arm of the lever is mounted mobile in the housing, the movement of this retraction arm being alternating and synchronized by mechanical connection to the movements of bringing together and spacing the two elements of the unit printing,
-during the movement of approximation of the two elements of the printing unit, the retracting arm moves in one direction, meets the first arm of the lever and pushes this first arm from its raised standby position to its lowered position retraction, which has the effect of pivoting the lever from its first angular position to its second angular position,
- before the two elements of the printing unit meet, the pusher meets the second arm of the lever and pushes this second arm from its raised standby position to its lowered position of rest, which has the effect of pivoting the lever, in the opposite direction, from its second angular position to its first angular position and to pivot the first arm of said lever until it meets the lateral stop against which it is held in the waiting position for elastic engagement in the retaining notch until the two elements of the printing unit meet, ready to engage in said retaining notch in the event of a rebound following this encounter, by the action of the spring on the dihedral edge ,
- and during the spreading movement of the two elements of the printing unit following the release of the trigger, the action of the spring on the dihedral edge completes to rotate the lever until it first angular position, however, that the retracting arm moves in an opposite direction, meets the first arm and pushes it beyond its raised standby position, which has the effect of pivoting the lever beyond its first angular position and against the action of the spring on the dihedral until this first arm gives way to the retraction arm, after which the lever returns in the opposite direction to resume its first angular position under the action of the spring on the dihedral.

In this way, by the V-shaped lever conferred on the rotary retaining member, which thus comprises only two arms instead of a minimum of three, and by the alternative angular displacement mode based on the passage of an angular position to the other and vice versa, in each of which one of these two arms is always retracted and the other always oriented in the raised position towards the element of the printing unit facing it, the invention responds well to the aim.

Indeed, there is thus never a parking of an arm of the rotary retaining element in the projecting position outside of the assembly of the two elements of the printing unit, therefore close or substantially flush with the limits of the machine housing, in a generally open area exposed to external aggressions, such as in particular under the printing table which is a place likely to meet a hard object, when affixing a label, such as for example a tin can with angular contours.

The thus reduced conformation of the rotary retaining member constituted by this V-shaped lever also offers the advantage of a reduced bulk, which is appreciable for the designer of this type of machine in which still lack space to arrange all the essential functional structures in a minimal space.

Finally, the elimination of one arm in three on the rotary member offers, all proportions and all equal constraints applied in particular to this rotary member of the retaining device, an appreciable gain on its weight, therefore on its inertia, and therefore by redundancy on its rapidity of response to the requests of the pusher and to the pressure of the spring during the very brief phase of typing the characters chosen on a label.

• La figure 1 est une vue d'ensemble de l'objet de l'in­vention, en position de repos.
• Les figures 2, 3, 4 et 5 en sont quatre vues partielles montrant respectivement quatre étapes de son fonction­nement.
• La figure 6 est une vue partielle de la variante.
• La figure 7 est une coupe partielle selon l'axe de coupe I-I de la figure 1.
• La figure 8 est une vue en persepctive d'un élément de l'invention.

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

• Figure 1 is an overview of the object of the invention, in the rest position.
• Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 are four partial views showing respectively four stages of its operation.
• Figure 6 is a partial view of the variant.
• FIG. 7 is a partial section along the cutting axis II of FIG. 1.
• Figure 8 is a perspective view of an element of the invention.

The portable labeling machine comprises, as shown as a whole figure 1:
- a housing 1 provided with a handling handle 2,
- A printing unit located in the housing 1 and comprising here a single printing head 3 with integrated character selector, fixed at the end of a first lever 4 articulated on a first pivot 5 and comprising a finger drive 6 and a stopper 7, and a fixed printing table 8 on which the circuit of a continuous strip 10 of self-adhesive labels 11 coming from a roll 12 housed in the upper part of the housing passes ,
- A trigger 13 articulated on the first pivot 5, here of the known type assisted by uniform pressure by expansion, the combined action of which is ensured by an arming spring 14, an exhaust pawl 15 with return spring 16 engaged in position rest in the stop notch 7, and by a trigger 17 secured to the trigger 13 and intended to release this action by releasing the pawl 15 out of the notch 7; a spring spacer 18 is provided to return this mechanism to the rest position,
- A step-by-step drive device 19 for the continuous strip 10 driven by a second lever 20 articulated to a second pivot 21 and comprising an oblique slide 22 in which the drive finger 6 of the first lever 4 is engaged; this device 19, animated by a back-and-forth movement on each actuation and release of the trigger 13 has the known function of advancing the continuous strip 10 by a length corresponding to that of a label at each step,
a device for inking the printing characters of the printing head 3 constituted here by a retractable inking roller 25 carried by a double lever 26 with articulated spring return on either side of the printing unit and out of it on two pivots 27 carried by two side consoles 28 integral with a support 29 linked to the housing 1, a single lever 26, a single pivot 27 and a single console 28 being visible in the drawing,
- And a device for separating and distributing the labels 11 carried by the continuous strip 10 constituted by the association of a curved end of a hairpin 23 of the printing table 8 which has the function of separating the labels from the continuous strip and by a pressure roller 24 allowing these labels to be affixed by machine pressure on the article to be labeled.

These mechanisms of known type, apart from the special function of the inking device 25-26-27-28 and 29 which will be detailed below, are supplemented by a retaining device specific to the invention and which is intended to to prevent a second printing of characters on the labels by return of the print head consecutive to the phenomenon of rebound announced at the beginning of presentation. This device, subject to variants which will be explained below, comprises objects distributed over the two elements of the printing unit and an object separate from them, and which are:
a pusher 30, a lateral stop 31 and two retaining notches 32 and 33 formed here by the lower contour of a flat piece 34 attached and fixed to the lever 4 on one side of the print head 3 opposite the printing table 8,
a rotary retaining member constituted by a lever 35 carrying a first arm 36 and a second arm 37 forming a V, pivoted by its top on a pivot 38 integral with the printing table 8, and with displacement alternating angular whose plane of rotation is perpendicular to said printing table 8 and extended in the direction of the length thereof. This lever 35, also shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, comprises a return element which is integral with it and which consists of a cam 39 forming a dihedral 40 subjected tangentially to the permanent pressure of a leaf spring 41 fixed to the printing table 8, the edge 42 of which defines the tilting position of this lever, under the pressure of the spring 41, between a first angular position of rest corresponding to that shown in FIG. 1 and a second angular position of rest corresponding to that shown in FIG. 2, these two angular positions being explained below,
- A retraction arm 43 of the first arm 36 of the lever 35, with elastic return, which here consists of an extension of one of the two lateral levers 26 of the inking device, but which could without drawbacks be independent of this last, as will be shown below by the description of the variant shown in FIG. 6.

In FIG. 8, it can be seen that the first arm 36 and the second arm 37 of the lever 35 are in the same plane situated, as shown in FIG. 7, directly above the part 34 comprising the pusher 30, and it also emerges of these same figures as the first arm 36 has at its end a lateral extension 44 located in the pivot plane of the retracting arm 43.

For its part, the inking device which carries the retracting arm 43 is synchronized with the alternative movements of approximation and relative spacing of the two elements of the printing unit, that is to say here with the actual movements of the print head 3, by a mechanical connection comprising here a cam 45 constituted by the outline of the print head 3 located on its side, and by the ink roller 25 itself which is maintained pressed elastically against this contour by a return spring 46. Geometrically, the location of the pivot 27 of the lever 26 carrying both the ink roller 25 and the retraction arm 43, and the lever arms separating these three elements are provided so that during the lowering of the printing head 3 the ink roller 25 passes over the printing characters 47 then retracts from the path of said printing head, however, which the end of the retraction arm 43 passes above and near the printing table 8 over a length sufficient to meet the lateral extension 44 of the first arm 36 of the lever 35.

The operating conditions of the retaining device which has just been described appear from the following:
- In the first angular position of the lever 35, corresponding to FIG. 1, its first arm 36 is in the standby raised position oriented towards the other element of the printing unit, while its second arm 37 is in the position lowered into the printing table 3, the machine being in the rest position,
- In the second angular position of the lever 35, corresponding to FIG. 2, its first arm 36 is in the retracted position in the printing table 3 however its second arm 37 is in the raised waiting position on the trajectory of the pusher 30 secured to the print head 3,
- during the movement of relative alignment of the two elements of the printing unit, that is to say here during the lowering of the print head 3 consecutive to the actuation of the trigger 13, the retraction arm 43 moves in a direction represented by the arc of a circle C1 (fig. 1), under the effect of the pushing of the cam 45 on the ink roller 25, meets the first arm 36 at its lateral extension 44, and pushes this first arm from its raised standby position towards its retracting position, which has the effect to rotate the lever 35 from its first angular position according to FIG. 1 to its second angular position according to FIG. 2,
- before the two elements of the printing unit meet, that is to say of the printing head 3 with the printing table 8, in a phase between those represented by FIGS. 2 and 3 and which precedes the typing of the characters 47 on a label of the strip, 10, the pusher 30 meets the second arm 37 of the lever 35 and pushes this second arm from its raised standby position according to FIG. 2 towards its lowered position of rest, which has the effect of rotating the lever 35, in the opposite direction, from its second angular position according to FIG. 2 and of rotating the first arm 36 of said lever until it meets the lateral stop 31 against which it is held in waiting position for elastic engagement in a retaining notch 32 or 33 until the two elements of the printing unit meet, according to FIG. 3, ready to engage in one of the two retaining notches in the event of a rebound following this encounter, and this by the action of spring 41 on the rear head 42 of the dihedral, as shown in FIG. 4,
- during the spacing movement of the two elements of the printing unit, that is to say here during the raising of the print head following the release of the trigger 13, the action of the spring 41 on the edge 42 of the dihedral completes turning the lever 35 to its first angular position, in a phase between those represented by FIGS. 4 and 5, while the retraction arm 43 moves in an opposite direction, according to the phase represented by FIG. 5, meets the first arm 36 and pushes it beyond its raised standby position, which has the effect of pivoting for a very short time the lever 35 beyond its first angular position and against the action of the spring 41 on the dihedral 40 until this first arm 36 gives way to the retraction arm 43, after which the lever 35 returns in the opposite direction to resume its first angular position of rest according to FIG. 1 under the action of the spring 41 on the dihedral 40.

The machine is thus again in the initial rest position according to FIG. 1, ready for a new work cycle.

In the variant shown in FIG. 6, only the retraction arm 430 and the mechanism for synchronizing its reciprocating movement with the movement of the two elements of the printing unit towards and away from each other are different from their counterparts in the printing device. restraint which has just been described.

This retraction arm 430 is of rectilinear reciprocating movement and for this purpose comprises a rectilinear part 48 guided in translation in a slide 49 secured to a side wall of the housing 1, here connected by a connecting rod 50 to the drive device step 19 of the continuous strip 10.

The end of this retraction arm 430 opposite the connecting rod 50 has a finger 51 offset towards the table 8 and whose straight path crosses that of the first arm 36 of the lever 35, substantially in the same region and to perform the same functions as the retraction arm 43 previously described, but its shorter stroke is however sufficient and corresponds to the travel of the above-mentioned device 19 which is represented by the arrows C2.

The link mechanism ensuring the reciprocating movement of this retraction arm comprises, as can be seen with the aid of FIG. 1, the chain of elements composed of the connecting rod 50, of the step-by-step advance device 19 and the lever 20 for controlling the latter.

Note in this FIG. 6, which represents a working phase corresponding to FIG. 2, the presence of the ink roller 25 and the truncated end of its lever 26, which clearly shows that the retraction arm is not necessarily linked to an inking device and that the latter can therefore be of any other design.

It is also possible to provide, in a variant which is not shown but which is however easily conceivable, both a pivoting inking device, for example like that shown in patent specification EP 0 058 350 cited at the beginning of the description, and a pivoting retractable arm in the type of arm 43 described here, of straight articulated shape directly, sand elbow, to a pivot which would be integral with a side wall of the housing 1.

Likewise, other link mechanisms than those shown can be applied to synchronizing the reciprocating movement of the retracting arm 43 or 430 with the moving in and out of the two elements of the printing unit, provided that 'a race comparable to races C1 or C2 is obtained.

Of course, the concept of the invention is not limited to its application to a machine of the kind described, the printer head 3 of which is movable and the printing table 8 fixed; it is also applicable to machines in which this arrangement is reversed, as well as to those in which these two elements of the printing unit are movable.

The retaining device can be doubled, that is to say disposed on either side of the printing unit, the second lever 35 mounted for example on the same shaft 38 in order to compensate for a possible lack of parallelism natural or elastic transverse between these two elements, in the case for example of a choice of a very small spacing value between the two elements of the printing unit in the retaining position following a rebound.

Finally, the invention is obviously applicable to machines in which the printing unit comprises more than one printing head.

Claims (6)

Portable labeling machine comprising a housing (1) provided with a handling handle (2), a printing unit located in the housing and comprising at least one print head (3) with character selector and a table printing (8) capable of meeting for the typing of selected characters, a step-by-step drive device (19) of a continuous strip carrying labels (10) along a circuit passing over the printing table, a trigger (13) connected to the printing unit and to the step-by-step drive device to alternately cause each actuation to strike the characters selected on a label and each release the spacing of the two elements of the printing unit as well as the advance of one step of the continuous strip, a device for inking the selected characters capable of being placed alternately in retracting condition and in synchronous inking condition with the respective movements of approximation and spacing of the two elements elements of the printing unit, a retaining device intended to oppose a second printing of the selected characters caused by a rebound consecutive to the meeting of the two elements of the printing unit before the release of the trigger and comprising, on one side at least of the two elements of the printing unit, on the one hand a pusher, a lateral stop and at least one retaining notch disposed in a fixed position on one of the two elements of the printing unit, and on the other hand on the other element of the printing unit a rotary retaining member with sequential actuation synchronized with the relative movements of the elements of the printing unit and urged by the pusher, return element under pressure of a spring, and capable of pressing against the lateral stop by pressing the push-button when typing the chosen characters and of engaging in the retaining notch during the aforementioned rebound, and a separation and distribution device ( 23, 24) of the labels of the continuous strip towards the outside of the housing to allow their fixing by gluing on the articles to be labeled, characterized in that:
the rotary retaining member is a lever (35) comprising a first arm (36) and a second arm (37) forming a V,
- this lever is pivoted at its top and its angular displacement is alternating,
- The return element is a cam forming a dihedral (40) solid of the lever, this dihedral being subjected to the premanent pressure of the spring (41) and its edge (42) defining the tilting position of said lever between a first and a second different angular positions,
in the first angular position of the lever, its first arm (36) is in the raised standby position oriented towards the other element of the printing unit, while its second arm (37) is in the lowered retracting position,
in the second angular position of the lever, its first arm (36) is in the retracted position, while its second arm (37) is in the raised standby position on the trajectory of the pusher (30),
- a retraction arm (43, 430) of the first arm (36) the lever is mounted movably in the housing, the movement of this retraction arm being alternating and synchronized by mechanical connection to the movements of bringing together and spacing the two elements of the printing unit,
- during the movement of the two elements of the printing unit, the retracting arm (43, 430) moves in one direction, meets the first arm (36) of the lever and pushes this first arm from its position waiting lift to its lowered retraction position, which has the effect of pivoting the lever from its first angular position to its second angular position,
- Before the two elements of the printing unit meet, the pusher (30) meets the second arm (37) of the lever and pushes this second arm from its raised standby position to its lowered rest position, which has the effect of pivoting the lever, in the opposite direction, from its second angular position towards its first angular position and of pivoting the first arm (36) of said lever until it meets the lateral stop (31) against which it is held in the elastic engagement standby position in the retaining notch (32) until the two elements of the printing unit meet, ready to engage in said retaining notch in the event of a rebound following this encounter, by the action of the spring (41) on the edge (42) of the dihedral,
- And during the movement of separation of the two elements of the printing unit following the release of the trigger, the action of the spring on the edge (42) of the dihedron completes to rotate the lever until its first angular position however that the retracting arm (43, 430) moves in an opposite direction, meets the first arm (36) and pushes it beyond its raised standby position, which has the effect of pivoting the lever beyond its first angular position and against the action of the spring on the dihedral (40) until this first arm gives way to the retraction arm (43, 430), after which the lever returns in the direction reverse to resume its first angular position under the action of the spring on the dihedral. 2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the retracting arm (43) is mounted mobile in the housing by pivoting around a pivot (27), its active stroke thus being an arc of a circle C1. 3. Machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the retracting arm (43) is constituted by a lever (26) of the inking device. 4. Machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the mechanical connection of synchronization of the reciprocating movements of the retracting arm (43) with the movements of approximation and spacing of the two elements of the printing unit, comprises a cam (45) carried by one of these two elements and on which is held elastically pressed by a spring (46) a rotary member for guiding (25) the pivoting of said retraction arm (43) integral with the latter. 5. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the retracting arm (430) is movably mounted in the housing by translation in a slide (49), its active stroke thus being a straight line C2. 6. Machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the mechanical movement synchronization link reciprocating elements of the retraction arm (430) with the movements of bringing together and spacing the two elements of the printing unit comprises a connecting rod (50) articulated on the one hand to said retraction arm (430) and d on the other hand to the step-by-step drive device (19) for the continuous strip of labels.

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