EP0356437A1

EP0356437A1 - Hand-held labeller.

Info

Publication number: EP0356437A1
Application number: EP88902805A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Klaus-Dieter Hermann
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-04-09
Filing date: 1988-04-01
Publication date: 1990-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2008-04-01
Also published as: EP0356437B1; DE3711960A1; WO1988007960A1; DE3711960C2; US5013390A

Abstract

Une étiqueteuse à main (10) comporte un boîtier (11) et un levier de manoeuvre (14) pivotant autour d'un premier axe (13) et que l'on fait pivoter, à partir d'une position de repos, en direction d'une poignée (12) solidaire du boîtier. Un dispositif de transport (34 à 36) d'une bande d'étiquettes (31) est actionné pendant le pivotement du levier de manoeuvre (14), ladite bande (31) provenant d'un rouleau d'alimentation (32) et étant guidée jusqu'au dispositif de transport (34 à 36) par l'intermédiaire d'un bord de renvoi (33). Un frein de bande est agencé entre le rouleau d'alimentation (32) et le bord de renvoi (33) pour bloquer ou libérer la bande d'étiquettes (31) dans le sens longitudinal, ce frein de bande présentant un levier de freinage (27) pivotant autour d'un deuxième axe à l'encontre de la force d'un premier ressort de rappel (45). Lorsque le levier de manoeuvre (14) est en position de repos, le ressort de rappel (45) presse, avec l'extrémité (29) d'un bras du levier de freinage (27), la bande d'étiquettes (31) contre une plaque de guidage (30), l'autre bras dudit levier coopérant avec le levier de manoeuvre (14) de telle manière que, lorsque ce dernier est actionné, le frein de bande constitué par l'autre bras (29) est soulevé. Un élément (55) est disposé sur un levier (22) actionné par le levier de manoeuvre (14), lequel élément, dans la position de repos du levier de manoeuvre (14), bloque le levier de freinage (27) dans sa position de repos, concuremment à l'action du ressort de rappel (45).A hand labeller (10) comprises a housing (11) and an operating lever (14) pivoting around a first axis (13) and which is pivoted, from a rest position, towards a handle (12) integral with the housing. A device (34 to 36) for transporting a label strip (31) is actuated during the pivoting of the operating lever (14), said strip (31) coming from a feed roller (32) and being guided to the transport device (34 to 36) via a return edge (33). A band brake is arranged between the feed roller (32) and the return edge (33) to block or release the label strip (31) in the longitudinal direction, this band brake having a brake lever ( 27) pivoting about a second axis against the force of a first return spring (45). When the operating lever (14) is in the rest position, the return spring (45) presses, with the end (29) of an arm of the brake lever (27), the strip of labels (31) against a guide plate (30), the other arm of said lever cooperating with the operating lever (14) so that, when the latter is actuated, the band brake constituted by the other arm (29) is raised . An element (55) is arranged on a lever (22) actuated by the operating lever (14), which element, in the rest position of the operating lever (14), locks the brake lever (27) in its position rest, concurrently with the action of the return spring (45).

Description

Hand labeling device

The invention relates to a hand-held labeling device with a housing and an operating lever which can be pivoted about a first axis and which is pivoted out in the rest position relative to a handle fixed to the housing, with a transport device for a label strip which is actuated during the pivoting out of the operating lever and which is pulled off a supply roll and via a deflection edge the transport device is guided, with a tape brake arranged between the supply roll and the deflecting edge for pest holding or releasing the label tape in the longitudinal direction, the tape brake moving about a second axis against the force of a has the first return spring pivotable brake lever, wherein in the rest position of the operating lever, the return spring with the end of one arm of the brake lever presses the label tape against a guide plate and the other lever arm cooperates with the operating lever so that when this lever is actuated, the band brake formed by the other arm is aired.

Such a hand labeling device is known from DE-OS 26 38 441.

In known hand-held labeling devices, the label detaches from the carrier tape when the carrier tape is pulled around a pointed deflection edge by the transport device. The detachable label then comes directly under a pressure roller and can be pressed onto the object to be labeled while it is completely detached from the carrier tape. At the beginning of the press-on process, the label still adheres to a large extent on the carrier tape due to the immediate vicinity of the deflection edge and pressure roller, this applies all the longer the longer the label is viewed in the direction of the carrier tape.

Such hand-held labeling devices are often used in order to provide the same number of objects in rapid succession with the same labels. For example, in wholesale stores, outer cartons that contain a large amount of individual cartons or cans are torn open at the top and the individual cartons or cans are labeled in quick succession. The jerky movements carried out and the speed of the labeling result in a considerable pull during the pressing process the carrier tape is exerted, the larger the longer the portion of the label still adhering to the carrier tape. The exact step-by-step transport of the carrier tape through the transport device, which is essential in order to ensure that the individual labels are printed in register-correct manner, can be significantly disturbed thereby, in particular if label tape is pulled off the supply roll in an uncontrolled manner by the train on the carrier tape.

Tape brakes of various types have therefore already been proposed, which are effective at different times during the usual cycle of a hand-held labeling device. Such a usual cycle normally consists in that the operating lever, which can be pivoted with respect to the housing, is pivoted out in the rest position and is first drawn in by the user. During the pulling-in process, a printing unit is pivoted in the hand-held labeling device and a label is printed on each. The user now lets go of the fully retractable pivoting operating lever so that it returns to its pivoted-out end position under the force of a return spring. During this swiveling-out movement, the transport mechanism is actuated which conveys the label belt by one register step (label length) and during this conveyor movement the label detaches from the carrier belt at the deflection edge.

In a known hand-held labeling device, as described in the aforementioned DE-OS 26 38 441, the pivotable operating lever is extended at the front by two narrow support arms, which carry a print head at their front free end. The support arms are nearby of the front free end connected in the transverse direction by means of a shaft. For braking, ie for either fixing or releasing the label tape in the longitudinal direction, a two-part brake lever is provided which presses the label tape against a guide plate fixed to the housing. A brake lever element is continuously biased by a spring and constantly exerts a certain pressure on the label tape. A second brake lever element is under the force of a relatively strongly prestressed leg spring which, in the rest position of the brake lever, presses a brake foot with great force onto the label tape resting on the guide plate. Another upward-facing lever arm of this brake lever is provided on its front with profiled guide beads and the shaft that connects the support arms of the pressure head rests on these profiled beads at the front. If the pivotable operating lever is now retracted, the shaft slides down on the beads and pivots the brake lever against the force of the leg spring in such a way that the brake foot lifts off the label tape. In the known hand-held labeling device, this occurs twice during a labeling cycle, namely once when the pivotable handle is drawn in, while the shaft slides down on the beads, and - for reasons of symmetry - again when the pivotable handle is extended again when the shaft is again on the same beads slides back up to the rest position.

However, the known hand-held labeling device has the disadvantage that the braking force in the rest position when the operating lever is pivoted out is determined exclusively by the force of the leg spring which prestresses the brake lever So if the braking force is as high as possible, in order to prevent the label tape from being pulled out accidentally, the leg spring must be dimensioned appropriately strong. However, this has the disadvantage that the actuating force of the hand-held labeling device becomes correspondingly large because the brake lever is deflected against the force of the leg spring during each dispensing process. However, the force required to actuate a hand-held labeler must not be too high, because such hand-held labelers are operated many times by the users during their work and therefore everything should be done to prevent signs of fatigue. Although one could in turn reduce the actuating force by appropriately dimensioning the lever arms of the brake lever even with a strongly dimensioned leg spring, this is hardly possible for reasons of space, especially since the actuation of the brake lever should only take place over a limited pivoting range of the pivotable handle, so that one can move in the Dimensioning of the lever arms of the brake lever is not free.

Another hand labeling device is known from DE-AS 25 18 782, which also has a brake lever which can be pivoted about an axis fixed to the housing. The brake lever is pivoted by means of a transport bracket, which in turn is actuated by the pivotable operating lever. In this case, however, the kinematics is chosen so that the brake, except in the rest position of the pivotable operating lever, is released during its entire movement sequence, so that the label tape can be pulled out of its defined register-accurate position with a corresponding pull. In a further known hand-held labeling device, as described in DE-OS 31 30 373, a construction similar to that of the hand-held labeling device according to DE-AS 25 18 782 is selected, but with the difference that the brake lever is no longer actuated directly by the pivotable operating lever becomes. In this known hand labeling device, a spring presses a lever end against the label tape and this against a roll. If the operating lever is retracted, in the retracted end position a projection of the handle abuts the brake lever and lifts it off the label tape. At the same time, a locking member is relaxed, which had initially held the brake lever, so that the brake lever remains released even during the pivoting-out movement of the operating lever. Only at the end of the swing-out movement is the locking element locked again and the brake is applied.

Although with this hand labeling device the tape brake is only released during the swiveling-out movement of the operating lever, it is precisely synchronized with. the transport device is neither provided nor possible and the braking force is not adjustable in the desired manner in the applied position of the band brake.

In a hand-held labeling device known from DE-PS 30 17 843, the brake lever, which can be pivoted about an axis, is provided on its front side with a control edge against which a control member rests in the form of a shaft, which is similar to the hand-held labeling device of DE-OS 26 described at the outset 38 441 is arranged between two support arms for the printing unit. When the control lever is pulled in, it lifts Control element, however, from the control edge and only hits the control edge again in the almost fully retracted position of the operating lever. At the same time, a locking arm is provided which, similar to the locking element in the previously described hand labeling device of DE-OS 31 30 378, is able to lock the brake lever in its released position. As a result of these elements, the hand-held labeling device of DE-PS 30 17 843 results in a released state of the band brake from a certain retraction angle of the operating lever up to its completely released state. This also has the disadvantage that the brake is released over a very long pivoting range of the handle, which is considerably larger than the range in which the transport device is actuated.

Finally, a further hand labeling device is known from EP-PS 0 059 392, in which a linearly displaceable transport carriage for the label tape is provided with a hook at its front end, which then, when the transport carriage has reached its foremost end position with the operating lever retracted , grips around a brake lever and pivots it away from the label strip when the transport carriage moves back again when the operating lever is swung out. In this known hand-held labeling device, too, the band brake is released during the entire swiveling-out movement of the operating lever.

The invention has for its object to develop a hand-held labeling device of the type mentioned in such a way that even with rapid succession of label dispensing is avoided with certainty that in the swung-out rest position of the operating fog label tape from the Supply roll is withdrawn without this having to be bought through an increase in the operating force of the hand-held labeling device.

This object is achieved in that an element is arranged on a lever operated by the operating lever, which holds the brake lever in the rest position in addition to the return spring in the rest position of the operating lever.

The problem underlying the invention is solved completely in this way, because in the extended state of the operating lever, the brake lever is not only held firmly by the force of a leg spring but also also positively, so that the band brake even with strong vibration of the device by handling always with their full braking force rests on the label tape.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the element actuated by the operating lever has an inclined surface which acts as a wedge, on which a stop arranged on the brake lever lies at least on the last part of the movement leading to the rest position of the operating lever and the brake lever in this rest position by wedging action in it Rest position presses. As a result, the brake lever is held not only by the force of a leg spring but also by the effect of the wedging, whereby an almost arbitrarily large braking force can be set by suitable wedge angles.

In particular, the element actuated by the operating lever is arranged on two parallel strips, the extensions form the lever, and the strips are provided on their top with an arcuate recess, one arc section of which forms the wedge surface.

These measures have the advantage that a particularly effective and space-saving arrangement arises, in which the design of the narrow lever strips, which are present in any case, is used to realize the wedge surface by providing an arcuate cutout, on which the pin rests with low friction.

Further advantages result from the description and the attached drawing.

It goes without saying that the features mentioned above and those yet to be explained below can be used not only in the respectively specified combination but also in other combinations or on their own without departing from the scope of the present invention.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and is explained in more detail in the following description. Show it:

Figure 1 is a highly schematic side view of an embodiment of a hand labeling device according to the invention.

Fig. 2 shows two movement phases to illustrate the and 3 operation of the hand labeling device according to the invention. In FIG. 1, 10 denotes as a whole a hand-held labeling device with a housing 11, which is only indicated schematically and which can be made, for example, of plastic in a two-shell construction or in one piece. A handle 12 fixed to the housing is formed on the rear part of the housing 11. A movable operating lever 14 is pivotably arranged about a first axis 13 fixed to the housing in the rear part of the housing 11 and has its rest position by means of a return spring 15 in the pivoted-out position shown in FIG. 1.

The operating lever 14 has a handle part 20 protruding from the housing 11, which can be gripped by the user in order to pull it in by pressing the return spring 15 towards the handle 12 fixed to the housing and then to pivot it out again under the force of the return spring 15.

On the opposite side of the first axis 13, the operating lever 14 has a lever arm extending forward into the housing 11, which is formed by two lateral narrow lever strips 21, which are on the inside of the side walls of the housing 11 up and down about the first axis 13 are pivoted around when the handle part 20 is retracted or pivoted out. In the area of the front free ends 22 of the lever strips 21 there is a printing unit, not shown separately in FIG. 1, as is known per se.

In the area of the front free ends 22, the lever strips 21 are connected by means of a transverse web 23. The web 23 has an angular shape and an end 24 projecting horizontally in the direction of the movable handle 14 of the web 23 rests on a profile piece 25 provided with an arcuate contour 16. The profile piece 25 is in turn arranged on a brake lever 27.

The brake lever 27 can be pivoted about a second axis 28 fixed to the housing. A lower lever arm of the brake lever 27 is designed as a brake foot 29, which is arranged opposite a guide plate 30 fixed to the housing.

A label tape 31 leads from a supply roll 32 arranged in the upper part of the housing 11 through the space between the brake foot 29 and the guide plate 30 to a front pointed deflection edge 33 and then runs backwards in the bottom region of the housing 11 to a transport roller 34. The transport roller 34 is, for example, provided with laterally projecting pins 35 into which a pawl 36 engages, which is actuated by the movable handle 14, as is known per se.

The arrangement of FIG. 1 is such that the brake foot 29 presses the label strip 31 onto the guide plate 30 and thus fixes it in the longitudinal direction.

Fig. 1 also shows that the brake lever 27 merges rearward into two plate-shaped free ends 38 which lie laterally on the lever strips 21, so that tilting of the brake lever 27 is avoided.

One leg spring 45 rests at one end against a stop 46 fixed to the housing, while its other end loads the brake lever 27 in FIG. 1 in the counterclockwise direction, so that the brake foot 29 presses the label strip 31 firmly against the guide plate 30 in the rest position. 2 and 3 show the units essential for the actuation of the brake lever 27 in a view similar to FIG. 1, but offset somewhat upwards relative to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 1, namely up to the front free end 22 of the extension of the operating lever 14 «

It can be seen that the free ends 22, which are designed as narrow strips, are provided on their upper side with arcuate recesses 55, protrude into the pins 56 of the brake lever 27. The pins 56 protrude laterally on both sides from the upper edge of the brake lever 27. In the pivoted-out rest position of the operating lever 14 shown in FIG. 2, the pins 56 rest against a surface of the arcuate recess 55, which acts as a wedge surface 57. As is known, when the operating lever 14 is in the extended rest position, it is moved under the force of the relatively strong return spring 15 in the clockwise direction up to a stop fixed to the housing and the pivoting movement of the free ends 22 in the clockwise direction has the effect that, with suitable dimensioning of the wedge surface 57, the pin 56 around the second Axis 28 is pivoted in the counterclockwise direction, so that the contact pressure of the brake foot 29 is again significantly increased beyond the action of the leg spring 45. The resulting total contact pressure of the brake foot 29 secures the label tape 31 with high force against unintentional slipping in the longitudinal direction.

If the hand-held labeling device 10 is now actuated by pulling in the operating lever 14, this is pivoted about the first axis 13 in the clockwise direction and in the illustration in FIG. 3 it can be seen that the free ends 22 move down. This has the effect that, on the one hand, the pins 56 are released from the wedge connection with the wedge surface 57 and thus the contact pressure on the label strip 31 initially decreases. In addition, the front end 24 of the web 23 now slides on the contour 26 of the profile piece 25, the arrangement and dimensioning being such that the brake lever 27 is pivoted clockwise in this way, as can be clearly seen from FIG. 3. The brake foot 29 then lifts off the guide plate 30 or the label strip 31 and releases it.

Claims

Patent claims

1.Hand labeling device (10) with a housing (11) and a handle (14) which can be pivoted about a first axis (13) and which is extended in the rest position relative to a second handle (12) fixed to the housing, with a handle (1) during extension of the movable handle ( 14) actuated transport device (34 to 36) for. a label tape (31) which is pulled off a supply roll (32) and is guided to the transport device (34 to 36) via a dispensing edge (33), with a tape brake arranged between the supply roll (32) and dispensing edge (33) for holding or Releasing the label tape (31) in the longitudinal direction, the tape brake having a brake lever (27) which can be pivoted about a second axis against the force of a first return spring (45), the return spring (45) with the ends in the rest position of the movable handle (14) (29) one arm of the brake lever (27) presses the label tape (31) against a guide plate (30) and the other lever arm cooperates with the movable handle (14) so that when this handle is actuated, the other arm (29 ) formed band brake is released, characterized in that an element (57) is arranged on a lever (22) actuated by the movable handle (14), which in the rest position of the handle (14) the brake holds lever (27) in the rest position in addition to the return spring (45). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the element (55) actuated by the operating lever has an inclined surface (57) which acts as a wedge and on which a stop (56) arranged on the brake lever (27) at least on the last part of the in the rest position of the Operating lever (14) leading movement rests and presses the brake lever (27) in this rest position by wedging into its rest position.

Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the element (56) cooperating with the inclined surface (57) is designed as a pin arranged on the brake lever (27).

Device according to one of the preceding claims 2, characterized in that the element (57) actuated by the operating lever is arranged on two parallel strips (21, 22) which form extensions of the lever (14), and in that the strips (21, 22) are provided on their top with an arcuate recess (55), an arc section of which forms the wedge surface (57).