EP1252617B1

EP1252617B1 - Tag

Info

Publication number: EP1252617B1
Application number: EP01901131A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jens Jacob Thorbjoern Olsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-01-17
Filing date: 2001-01-17
Publication date: 2007-04-25
Anticipated expiration: 2021-01-17
Also published as: DE60128065T2; WO2001054103A3; ES2286090T3; WO2001054103A2; DK1252617T3; EP1252617A2; ATE360868T1; AU2001226649A1; DE60128065D1

Abstract

A tag (2) which is intended for provisional fastening to a holding part (18) on a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the destination of the unit and/or possible contents of the pallet container. The special aspect of the tag according to the invention is that the tag itself is configured with a projecting strip part (6), typically consisting merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which serves as binding element when this strip part is configured with an outer locking head part (8, 10) which, after the winding of the strip part (6) around the relevant holding part (18), can be brought into locking engagement in a corresponding locking hole (12, 14, 16) in the tag (2). The tag can also appear as a finished sheet with pre-stamped contours for the individual tag for the printing of information in a computer-controlled printer, and where the tags are separated and applied after the printing.

Description

The present invention relates to a so-called "manilla label", i.e. a tag which is intended for provisional fastening to a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the unit's destination and/or possibly the contents of the pallet container. For many years, these manilla labels or tags consisted of simple tags with a preferably edge-reinforced hole by which the tag could be fastened to a narrow part of the shipping unit by means of a piece of string.
This practice has been continued right up to recent times, with certain improvements having been made such as the tags being able to be provided with computer-written labels, and the "pieces of string" having been replaced by binder strips which can be wound around suitably narrow parts of the shipping unit without any special manual tying of knots.
One example of such a tag is disclosed in US 4149329 wherein an identification tag for designating a container is disclosed. The tag includes a generally planar body which can be folded double along an axis so that either of two indicia can be displayed by reversing the fold, one of the messages being on one side and the other message being on the other side of the tag. The body of the tag can be attached to the container by an elongated strap extending from one edge of the body and passing through a pair of aligned holes in the body which are generally symmetric with respect to the axis of folding. The strap has a barb-like protrusion at the end which facilitates insertion of the strap into the holes and resists removal of the strap.
A further example of a tag known from the prior art is disclosed in US 2423818 wherein a tag having securing means for securing the tag to an article is provided. The securing means comprises a neck portion having an integral head portion as well as a base portion. The base portion may be attached to a label, for example by a gluing process. On the label, the identification relating to the article to be shipped may be indicated. The base portion, furthermore, comprises an aperture through which the head portion may be inserted and held against accidental withdrawal. The interconnecting neck portion between the base portion and the head portion is then encircling a part of the article such that the tag as such is fastened to the article.
In principle, it will hereby be possible in a relatively simple manner to fasten a modern manilla label to more or less any shipping unit, regardless of the thickness of this unit.
With the present invention it has been acknowledged that the relevant "narrow parts" involved consist mainly of bars or tube pieces on the more-or-less standardised container pallets, which find widespread use within modern product distribution from wholesaler to detail handler. Therefore, there is no need expressed that the manilla label shall be able to be fastened to narrow parts with distinctly different thickness, in that the variations in thickness which appear are actually quite small.
On this basis, with the invention it has been found that it will be possible to form the manilla label/ the tag in such a way that this in itself is configured with a projecting strip part, typically consisting merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which can completely replace the otherwise separate binder element, when this strip part is configured with an outer locking-head part which, after the strip part has been wound around the relevant holding part, can be brought into engagement in a corresponding locking hole in the manilla label.
This is achieved by a tag having the features as set out in independent claim 1.
These co-operating locking parts can be configured in such a way that the relevant operator can fasten the tag on the container pallet just as easily and quickly as the fastening of a perforated tag by means of a separate binding strip. This will merely involve that the separate binding strip will now consist of a simple, integrated part of the tag itself. This will result in a considerable cheapening of the individual fastening, and herewith a considerable saving in the use of the millions or billions of the current tags from the global point of view.
Moreover, it can also be mentioned that the locking hole can consist solely of a stamping through the tag, and thus the locking hole does not need to present a proper cut-out in the tag at the foot of the strip part.
In comparison with conventional tags, it can constitute a considerable weakening since the binding part can hereafter consist of a relatively weak carton strip, but after thorough testing of the invention it has been found, however, that this is fully satisfactory in practice. Hereafter, there will be no need for any speculations concerning special hole reinforcements or concerning means for the binding.
Further advantageous embodiments are set out in the dependent claims 2 to 5.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which

Fig. 1: is plan view of a compete tag in accordance with a preferred embodiment,
Fig. 2 and 3: are plan views which illustrate the closing of the carton strip part of the tag,
Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the mounted tag,
Fig. 5: is a plan view of a web of tags according to the invention intended for use together with a computer-controlled printer,
Fig. 6 A-6D: are examples of alternative configurations for the locking hole, where this consists of triangular-shaped slots stamped through the tag, and
Fig. 7: shows further examples of alternative embodiments of the locking hole, where this comprises a combination of cut-out and a slot stamped in the lower side of the cut-out, and where the upper side edge of the cut-out is upwardly arcuate.

The tag item 2 shown in fig. 1 is simply stamped out from a relatively thin carton material, and it consists of a rectangular field 4 with a projecting strip part 6, which outermost has a widened head part 8 having edges 10 undercut at an angle and facing towards the field 4. In the field 4, near the root of the strip part 6, there is a triangular hole 12 with a downwards-facing apex 14, from which for a distance downwards there extends a cut line 16. The upper edge of the hole 12 is slightly longer than the breadth of the strip 6.
For the closing of the strip 6, this is bent to the position shown in fig. 2, in which in principle the widened head 8 is held in more-or-less plane contact with the field 4 on the one side of the cut line 16, and thereafter it is possible to introduce the head of the strip sideways through the area 12, 16 as shown in fig. 3 to a position on the opposite side of the field 4, where the strip will be more-or-less self-aligning to the position which is shown in fig. 4.
It will not be of any real significance whether the strip assumes its fully engaged position (fig. 4) of its own accord or with the help of the operator, in that after insertion through the hole the head part 8 will be effectively blocked against unintentional opening. Merely a slight pull on the strip will bring the head part 8 in fixed locking engagement with the upper edge of the hole 12, which does not need any separate illustration.
It will be understood that the practised user will not need to proceed in accordance with figs. 2/3, in that in practice the strip head 8 can simply be squeezed straight in through the area 12,16 with resulting elastic deformation of both the head 8 and the field material around this area. It is possible to open the strip in a corresponding manner by active pressing through the opposite way, but since the tags will hardly be desired to be reused, they can just as well be torn from the respective support parts, e.g. a bar on a container pallet as indicated by the stippled line in fig. 4. With such a tearing off, the strip loop will be stretched so that the said stop contact will be established. This can be utilised in that by the drawing tight of the head part 8 against the upper edge of the hole 12, a local holding engagement between the strip and the field 4 can be arranged in several possible ways, so that after being torn off the tag will still only consist of a single, coherent part, regardless of the point at which the strip breaks. The person effecting the tearing-off will thus be left holding a whole unit, and there will not appear any loose strip ends which, after the tearing-off, can fall down and hereby require subsequent separate gathering up.
The invention is naturally not limited to precisely that locking system shown for the strip 6, in that a sufficiently effective locking connection can be achieved with many other configurations. Alternative configurations of the locking hole are shown in fig. 6 and, 7. It can even be a possibility that instead of a mechanical locking system, use can be made of an adhesive connection where a self-adhering adhesive is applied to the relevant surface part(s), while the complementary surface parts on neighbouring tags in a stack are provided with a coating which prevents adhesion.
With the invention it will be possible for the tags to be produced from a continuous length of material, cf. Fig. 5, which can be suitable for feeding through a computer-controlled printer for direct printing-out of the tags. As will be seen, it is hereby not conditional that the strips 6 shall extend precisely from the centre of a short side of the tags.

Claims

Tag (2) which is intended for provisional fastening to a holding part (18) on a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the destination of the unit and/or possible contents of the pallet container and whereby the tag itself is configured with a projecting strip part (6) and typically consists merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which serves as binding element, this strip being configured with an outer locking head part (8, 10) which, after the winding of the strip part (6) around the relevant holding part (18) can be brought into locking engagement in a corresponding locking hole (12, 14, 16) in the tag (2), the tag comprises a rectangular field (4) with the projecting strip part (6) extending therefrom, the strip part (6), at the end opposite the field, has a widened head part (8) with edges (10) undercut at an angle and facing towards the field (4), characterised in that in the field near the root of the strip (6) there is a substantially V-shaped hole or cut line (12) with its apex (14) facing away from the strip and from which apex (14) a cut line (16) extends for a distance away from the strip, and where the upper edge of the V-shaped hole or cut line, i.e. the distance between the upper fork ends of the "V" is slightly longer than the breadth of the strip (6).
Tag (2) according to claim 1, characterised in that the substantially V-shaped hole (12) is comprised of cut lines describing this V-shape.
Tag (2) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that in main the central portion of the substantially V-shaped hole (12) is fully open between the forks of the V-shape (Figs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,).
Tag (2) according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the locking hole consists only of a stamping-through of the tag.
Tag (2) according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that it is produced from plastic foil.