GB1602546A

GB1602546A - Label-printing machines

Info

Publication number: GB1602546A
Application number: GB21179/78A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Sato Corp
Current assignee: Sato Corp
Priority date: 1977-05-27
Filing date: 1978-05-22
Publication date: 1981-11-11
Also published as: BR7803151A; AU517593B2; CH624630A5; ATA383778A; BE867561A; AT365519B; NO781844L; ZA782712B; MX145693A; DK215778A; NL7805706A; IT7823794A0; JPS60232B2; FI781684A; JPS53146821A; SE7806019L; ES470225A1; AU3607278A; IT1095543B

Abstract

The aim of this machine is to provide a simple but effective structure for producing clearly and precisely printed labels with an intensity which is independent of the force with which it is actuated. It comprises a constant-pressure printing device carrying a control member (A) arranged on a manual lever (12) or a handle (11) of the machine and a pressure-absorption member (B) arranged on the other element, either the manual lever (12) or the handle (11). The control member (A) includes at least one movable roller (22), a member (25) for guiding this movable roller and an elastic member (20) which constantly stresses the latter in the same direction. The pressure-absorption member (B) includes at least one contact surface (28) and one curved surface (30) which are intended to be brought into contact with the movable roller (22) when pressure is exerted on the manual lever (12). <IMAGE>

Description

(54) LABEL-PRINTING MACHINES (71) We, KABUSHIKI KAISHA SATO, a Japanese Conapany, of 15-5 l-chome, Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to portable label printing machines having a constant pressure printing mechanism which has a simplified structure but is effective in clear and precise printing of labels with even darkness of printed characters by regularizing the intensity of printing strokes.

In constant pressure printing mechanisms in the conventional art, the structures of the mechanisms were complicated and the numbers of necessary parts were large and they were liable to become out of order. In addition, fine regulation or adjustment was required for controlling the pressure of printing so that a great deal of skill was required for the operation of such constant pressure printing mechanisms, while with portable label printing machines which are not provided with the constant pressure printing mechanism, the darkness of printed characters on labels depends upon the intensity of hand lever squeezing so that printing with stable darkness is quite difficult to obtain.That is, when the hand lever of such a label printing machine is squeezed strongly, the printed characters on labels become very dark, on the other hand, when the hand lever is squeezed weakly, the printed characters on labels naturally become faint.

In recent years, what is called P.O.S. (point of sale) system has widely been employed in various commercial fields, in which the information that is printed on labels is read out optically, not with the naked eye. Therefore, precise and clear printing of labels is inevitably required in such cases.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable label-printing machine (hereinafter called a hand-labeller) having an improved constant pressure printing mechanism.

The invention provides a hand-labeller of the type in which a hand lever is pivotally secured to a hand grip and a printing head which is opposed to a platen is disposed in the front end portion of the hand lever, and by squeezing the hand lever the printing head is moved toward a label which is supported on the platen to attain the printing of the label, including a constant pressure printing mechanism which consists of a driving member which is disposed on a portion of either the hand lever or the hand grip, and a pressure receiving member which is disposed on a portion of the other of the hand lever and the hand grip, the driving member comprising at least one movable roller, a guiding means to allow the at least one movable roller to move therethrough and resilient means which always urges the at least one movable roller in one direction, and the pressure receiving member comprising at least a contact surface and an arcuate surface to bebrought into contact with the at least one movable roller of the driving member, and the constant pressure printing mechanism being characterised in that the printing head is moved toward the platen under a constant pressure by the interaction between the at least one movable roller of the driving member and the arcuate surface of the pressure receiving member when the hand lever is squeezed for printing.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the above driving member comprises a pair of movable rollers, a pair of guiding slots as the guiding means and a tension spring as the elastic means, and the pressure receiving member comprises a pair of contact surfaces and a pair of arcuate surfaces.

A hand-labeller constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to, the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side view of the labeller in the rest position, with one side removed; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same in the printing position (actuated state); and Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view of the main part of the constant pressure printing mechanism.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the hand-labeller comprises a pair of opposed frames 10 of which the rear parts are extended rearwards to form a hand grip 11 which is integrally provided with a driving member A.

In opposed relation to, the hand grip 11 is a hand lever 12 having a pressure receiving member B. The hand lever 12 can be rocked back and forth relative to the hand grip 11 about the fulcrum of a pivot shaft 16 which is fixed between the frames 10.

The front end of the hand lever 12 is integrally provided with a pair of yoke arms 13 which carry a printing head 14 having a series of type faces 15 on its bottom side.

Within the hand grip 11 is a return spring 17 which is stretched between a spring hole 18 formed in the front end portion of the hand lever 12 and a spring pin 19 formed on the inside wall of the hand grip 11. The hand lever 12 is thus always urged clockwise as seen in Fig. 1 into the open position relative to the hand grip 11. In the open rest position, accordingly, the printing head 14 that is attached to the yoke arms 13 is moved up in the labeller body.

Further, the lower part of the hand grip 11 is provided with a driving member A which comprises at least a guide member 25, a movable roller 22 which is guided by the guide member 25 and a spring 20 which returns the movable roller 22, and the hand lever 12 is provided with a pressure receiving member B which comprises a contact surface 28 which may be brought into, contact with the movable rollers 22, and an arcuate surface 30 which is formed on the rear end of the contact surface 28. The printing pressure between the printing head 14 and the opposed platen 31 is determined by the mutual action between the driving member A and the pressure receiving member B.

More particularly, as shown in Fig. 3, the above-mentioned driving member A may be provided with a pair of movable rollers 22 which are respectively fitted to both ends of a shaft 21. Each of the roller 22 is retained by a stopper 24 on one side and by the opposite side of the flange 23 of the roller pressing against the inside wall of the hand grip 11.

The guide member 25 is formed longitudinally on the bottom part of the hand grip 11 and is provided with a slot 26 which receives therein the girth of the movable roller 22. In Fig. 1, one end of the spring 20 is attached to the main shaft 21 of the movable roller 22 and the other end of the spring 20 is attached to a spring pin 27 which is formed on the inside wall of the hand grip 11. By the tension of the spring 20, the movable roller 22 is always urged toward the root portion of the hand grip 11, i.e., leftwards in Fig. 1.

In the surface of the hand lever 12 which is opposed to the hand grip 11, a pair of relief grooves 29 are formed to receive the guide members 25. The end portion of the hand lever 12 is rounded to, form the arcuate surface 30 so as to facilitate the movement of the rollers 22 onto and along the surface 30.

A label feeding roller 34 is supported by a main shaft 33 and is intermittently turned in the releasing of the hand lever 12 after the squeezing. To this main shaft 33 is pivotally secured a platen 31 which is elastically urged toward the bottom cover 35 that is attached in the bottom portion of the labeller body, by means of a spring 32.

Further, a label holder 36 for carrying a rolled label strip 37 is formed in the upper middle portion of the machine body adjacent to, the hand grip 11. From this label holder 36, the tape-like label strip 38 is fed on and caught by the feeding roller 34 by way of a label guide member (not sho,wn). Thus, the label strip 38 is fed onto the platen 31 by one pitch in each intermittent rotation of the feeding roller 34.

With reference to Fig. 1, the operation of the label printing machine is as follows.

When the hand lever 12 is squeezed, it is turned upwards toward the hand grip 11 about the fulcrum of the pivot shaft 16, and accordingly the printing head 14 that is carried by the yoke arms 13 is moved down towards the platen 31. When the hand lever 12 is further squeezed, the contact surface 28 of the hand lever comes into contact with the movable rollers 22 of the driving member A that is formed on the underside of the hand grip 11. The movable rollers 22 are then moved toward the free end of the hand grip 11 through the slot 26 and against the force of the spring 20.

When the hand lever 12 is squeezed still further, the movable rollers 22 reach the arcuate surface 30 that is formed on the end portion of the contact surface 28 of the hand lever 12.

Immediately following that, since the outer surfaces of the movable rollers 22 slip on the arcuate surface 30, the hand lever 12 is abruptly turned up. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 2, the type faces 15 of the printing head 14 are brought into contact with the label strip 38 held on the platen 31 to attain the printing.

In the return motion of the label printing machine, when the hand lever 12 is released, the hand lever is turned down and the printing head 14 is moved up by the force of the return spring 17. Further, the movable rollers 22 are pulled back toward the rest position as shown in Fig. 1 by means of the tension spring 20.

In the above-described embodiment, the driving member A having the movable rollers 22 is disposed on the side of the hand grip 11, while the pressure receiving member B having the arcuate surfaces 30 to receive the movable rollers 22 is disposed on the side of the hand lever 12. It is to be noted, however, that these members A and B may be disposed reversely.

Further, the positions of these members A and B are, of course, not restricted to the abovedescribed embodiment. Therefore, various kinds of modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention as defined by

Claims

the claims. As described above, the mechanism of the invention is used in a label printing machine having a hand grip and a hand lever which can be turned in relation to the hand grip and is provided with a printing head. That is, the label printing machine is provided with the driving member having a pair of movable rollers with the guiding means and elastic means, and the pressure receiving member having contact surfaces and arcuate surfaces. The following advantages can be expected: (1) When the hand lever is squeezed, the movable rollers of the driving member are firstly brought into contact with the contact surfaces of the pressure receiving member, the movable rollers are then shifted toward the rear end portion of the driving member and the movable rollers finally reach the arcuate surfaces of the pressure receiving member, thereupon, the hand lever is squeezed further abruptly so that the printing head is brought into contact with the label carried on the platen under the inertia. Accordingly, as compared with the printing strokes in the conventional known mechanisms, the printing stroke in the mechanism of the present invention is always constant and the precise and clear printing of labels can be attained without fail. (2) Further, with the above described struc- ture of the present invention, the intensity of the squeezing of the hand lever does not affect so much the intensity of the printing stroke, therefore, irrespectively of the intensity of the squeezing of hand lever, a constant printing pressure can be exerted to attain the precise printing of labels. (3) Still further, the mechanism of the present invention is simple and the number of parts is small as compared with previously known constant pressure mechanisms, so that the production cost is low, adjustment of the mechanism is not required and the operation of the mechanism can be performed without any trouble and difficulty. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A hand-labeller of the type in which a hand lever is pivotally secured to a hand grip and a printing head which is opposed to, a platen is disposed in the front end portion of the hand lever, and by squeezing the hand lever the printing head is moved toward a label which is supported on the platen to attain the printing of the label, including a constant pressure printing mechanism which consists of a driving member which is disposed on a portion of either the hand lever or the hand grip, and a pressure receiving member wihch is disposed on a porition of the other of the hand lever and the hand grip, the driving member comprising at least one movable roller, a guiding means to allow the at least one movable roller to, move therethrough and a resilient means which always urges the at least one movable roller in one direction, and the pressure receiving member comprising at least a contact surface and an arcuate surface to be brought into contact with the at least one mow- able roller of the driving member, and the constant pressure printing mechanism being characterized in that the printing head is moved toward the platen under a constant pressure by the interaction between the at least one movable roller of the driving member and the arcuate surface of the pressure receiving member when the hand lever is squeezed for printing.

2. A hand-labeller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driving member comprises a pair of movable rollers, a pair of guiding slots as the guiding means and a tension spring as the resilient means, and the pressure receiving member comprises a pair of contact surfaces and a pair of arcuate surfaces.

3. A hand-labeller as claimed in claim 2, wherein the movable rollers are pivotally supported by a shaft and are movably fitted be- tween the inside walls of the guiding slots.

4. A hand-labeller as claimed in claim 2 ot claim 3, wherein the pressure receiving member is provided with a pair of relief grooves so as to receive therein the edge portions of the guiding means of the driving member.

5. A hand-labeller as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the driving member is disposed on the hand grip and the pressure receiving member is disposed on the hand lever.

6. A hand-labeller substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.