WO2009066148A1

WO2009066148A1 - Method and device for arranging an information carrier onto a strap of a strapping machine

Info

Publication number: WO2009066148A1
Application number: PCT/IB2008/003116
Authority: WO
Original assignee: Signode System Gmbh; Cieplik, Klaus, G.
Priority date: 2007-11-19
Filing date: 2008-11-18
Publication date: 2009-05-28

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and apparatus to mount an information carrier to the strap of a strapping machine (10), the latter comprising a strap channel (11) fitted with a strapping head (13) inclusive a locking device (16) and a cutter, initially the strap (17) being impelled to move at its free end (18) into and inside the strap channel around the good being packaged. A free, overlapping end of the strap is pivoted at least partly in the direction of the good being packaged. An information carrier (21) is affixed on one surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap. Following tightening the strap and resting it against the good (12) being packaged, the information carrier is mounted on one side of the free, overlapping end of the strap. A first device (19) is provided to pivot the free, overlapping end of the strap in the direction of the good being packed. A second device (20) is provided to mount the information carrier on a surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap.

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ARRANGING AN INFORMATION CARRIER ONTO A STRAP OF A STRAPPING MACHINE

In the first place, the present invention relates to a method to configure an information carrier on a strapping machine's strap, said machine being substantially constituted by a strap channel bearing a strapping head inclusive the lock and a cutter, the strap being initially impelled to move by its free end into and inside said channel to enclose the good being packaged.

A procedure to identify strap-packed goods is known from the state of the art though not from its literature, and relates to a sheathed information carrier affixed to the strap. Where truck shipping is involved, the purpose of said information carrier is to identify the packaged goods. Such information carriers on one hand may be labels marked by writing or also active or passive transponders to be read by an appropriate reader.

Such a goods-identifying procedure however incurs the drawback that the information carriers frequently are damaged during shipping or may be lost entirely.

Accordingly it is the objective of the present invention to create a novel method to identify packaged goods, in particular allowing identifying packaged goods in simple and durable manner.

This problem is solved by the novel features of the invention, whereby the free end of the strap moves over the locking zone to overlap a remainder of the strap, in that the free, overlapping end of the strap is pivoted at least in part toward the good being packaged, in that an information carrier is affixed to one surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap and in that, following tightening the strap and having it rest against the packaged good, the information carrier shall be configured on one surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap. The method of the present invention for mounting an information carrier on a strapping machine's strap offers the substantial advantage that said information carrier is configured at the packaged good in a manner to virtually preclude damaging the information carrier or tearing it off. Damaging the information carrier during application of the strap to said good shall be precluded because the information carrier is configured at the free, overlapping end of the strap, that is the strap zone which shall not be subjected to elongation when the strap is tightened.

Accordingly the method of the present invention for mounting an information carrier on a strapping machine's strap allows durable identification of the packaged goods in simple manner. Said carrier may be fitted with product and production data, package due dates, suggestions and the like.

In a preferred embodiment mode of the present invention, the information carrier is configured between the strap and the free, overlapping end of the strap. This configuration offers the further advantage that the information carrier is protected not only between two strap plies, but that moreover -- especially in the event said information carrier is an electronic unit — only slight shielding by a strap middle ply is incurred.

The present invention also relates apparatus to mount an information carrier to a strapping machine's strap, said machine substantially including a strap channel fitted with a strapping head inclusive the lock and a cutter, said strap initially being impelled to move by its free end into and inside the strap channel around the good being packaged.

On the basis of the above cited state of the art and the aforementioned problem to be solved, said problem is resolved by a first device for pivoting the strap end constituting a free, overlapping end of the strap toward the good being packaged, as well as a second device for affixing the information carrier on one surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap. The apparatus of the present invention offers the substantive advantage that, prior to tightening the strap, it allows affixing the information carrier on a surface of a free, overlapping end of the strap in a way to protect, following said tightening, said carrier shall be protected.

However a German patent document DE 103 21 687 A1 is known from the unrelated, heterogeneous state of the art. This document discloses a procedure and a system to protect objects against theft, the object to be secured being enclosed by at least one strap, the strap overlaps being connected to one another and at least one electronically detectable securing element being fed to the strap and then being configured within the overlap zone.

Said patent on one hand fails to address -- whereas the present invention's method and apparatus do -- a method and apparatus to affix an information carrier, but instead it addresses theft prevention. On the other hand such theft prevention — unlike the present invention's method and apparatus -- is configured not in the zone of a free, overlapping end of the strap, but in the strap's locking zone, in a way to be omnidirectionally enclosed by the straps or additional plastic(s). The background of said cited document is that the theft-prevention information carrier must be fully covered and can be removed only by destroying the strap.

On the other hand the essential feature of the present invention's method and apparatus is that the information carrier is configured precisely being accessible in the unstressed strap, namely at the free, overlapping end of the strap, and being protected by this strap.

One advantageous embodiment mode of the present invention is characterized by a second device for mounting the information carrier on a free, overlapping end of the strap surface pointing toward the strap. In this manner the information carrier advantageously is configured between the center strap plies, that is between the strap enclosing the packaged good and the free, overlapping end of the strap. In another advantageous embodiment mode of the present invention, the information carrier is an electronic unit which may be a passive transponder or an active one.

In yet another preferred embodiment mode of the present invention, the active and passive transponders are electromagnetic (EM), acousto- magnetic (AM), radio-frequency (RF) or radiofrequency information carrier (RF ID) components.

The actual configuration of the apparatus of the present invention also may be characterized in that the first device for pivoting the strap end constituting a free, overlapping end of the strap is a wedge pointing toward the package and displaceable between the strap and the free, overlapping end of the strap toward the lock system.

In another implementing mode of the present invention, the second device to mount the information carrier on one surface of the strap overlap is constituted by both a lower slide plate acting as a support and configured underneath the information carrier's zone of affixation and an upper slider plate mounted above the information carrier zone of affixation, which is used to press an information carrier on the surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap.

The aforementioned embodiment modes allow mounting an information carrier in the zone of strap overlap before strap tightening takes place, as a result of which said carrier no longer shall be elongated during tightening and moreover, following tightening, it shall be configured at the package surface or between the strap's middle plies.

Further advantages of the present invention are defined in the discussion of an illustrative embodiment mode.

Fig. 1 is a sketch of a strapping machine,

Fig. 2 is a partly enlarged cutaway of an assembly of Fig. 1 in the region of the strapping head, Fig. 3 schematically shows a device for mounting a transponder on an upper slider plate,

Fig. 4 schematically shows a device to mount the information carrier on a surface of the free, overlapping end of the strap,

Fig. 5 is a schematic cutaway view of the free, overlapping end of the strap inclusive the transponder, and

Fig. 6 schematically shows a packaged good at the time of data transmission.

In the drawings, the reference 10 denotes the overall strapping machine.

The strapping machine 10 comprises a strap guiding channel 11 receiving a good to be packaged 12. A strapping head 13 is integrated into the strap guiding channel 11. The strapping head 13 is fitted with a strap drive 14, a separating wedge 15 and a locking component 16.

When operating a strapping machine 10, initially a strap is 17 impelled by the strap drive 12 of the strapping head 13 to move into and inside the strap guide channel 11 in a manner that said strap not only shall completely enclose the package 12 to be strapped, but also that it shall form a free, overlapping end 18 of the strap of which the zone comprises a first device 19 serving to pivot the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap and a second device 20 to affix an information carrier 21 on a surface 22 of said free, overlapping end 18 of the strap. The said first and second devices 19 and 20 are discussed further below.

Basically, after the strap 17 has been impelled into the strap guide channel 11 , it shall be tightened until it rests against a contour K of the good 12 being packaged. At the same time, whether applying heat, or by bonding or by means of an affixation clip, the packaging strap 17 in the locking component 16 is joined to each other and is severed by the cutter 15 from the omitted supply reel. In the present invention, the strapping machine 10 also comprises the first device 19 with which to pivot the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap and which is a so-called separating wedge. Following strap insertion, said separating wedge moves between the packaging strap 17 as well as the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap toward the strapping head 13, as a result of which the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap is pivoted away from the packaging strap.

Moreover the second device 20 serves to mount the information carrier 21 on the surface 22 of the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap. As shown particularly well in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, said second device is constituted by a lower slide plate 23 in the form of a resiliently resting support lamina and of an upper slide plate 24. Also the second device 20 is fitted with two spaced-apart rollers 25 for the purpose of affixing information carriers 21 , said rollers receiving a transponder strip 26 itself bearing numerous information carriers 21 (preferably transponders).

Whereas Fig. 2 shows the basic configuration, namely the separating wedge 19 situated between the strap 17 and the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap near the strapping head 13, further the lower slide plate 23 and the upper slide plate 24 fitted with a transponder 21 , Fig. 3 - in strictly schematic manner - shows the procedure whereby a transponder 21 is transferred from the transponder tape 26 to a lower face 27 of the upper slide plate 24.

Before discussing such a procedure, it must be borne in mind that each transponder 21 is fitted with adhesive spots 28 on its surface away from the transponder tape 26. The mutually opposite rollers 25 and hence the transponder tape 26 are guided between the lower slide plate 23 and the upper slide plate 24 to transfer a transponder 21 to the upper slide plate 24. Bonding between the adhesive spots 28 and the lower surface 27 of the upper slide plate 24 is implemented by pressing the upper slide plate 24 against the lower, resiliently supported slide plate 23, as a result of which the transponder 21 is lifted off the transponder tape 26.

The lower slide plate 23 is already situated underneath the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap (Fig. 4) before the next operational step takes place, the upper slide plate 24 moving above the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap into the zone of the lower slide plate 23. Lastly, the transponder 21 is bonded by pressing the upper slide plate 24 against the lower slide plate 23 on the surface 22 of the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap. Thereupon the separating wedge 19 as well as the lower and upper slide plates 23, 24 are removed from the zone of the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap, enabling tightening the strap 17 and resulting in the state shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5 shows a cutaway of the strap 17 which is connected to itself in the locked zone V, also the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap tightly resting against the contour K of the packaged good 12, the transponder 21 being configured between the surface 22 of the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap and the strap 17.

Lastly, Fig. 8 shows in strictly schematic manner a packaged good 12 inclusive the strap, a double-ply zone of the strap 17 and the free, overlapping end 18 of the strap inclusive transponders 21 being indicated. A data transfer system 29 is present to transfer as needed the data relating said packaged good to the transponder 21.

Claims

1. A method for mounting an information carrier (21) on the strap (17) of a strapping machine (10), said machine comprising a strap channel (11) and a strapping head (13) inclusive a locking component and a cutter (16, 15), initially the strap (17) being impelled by its free end to move in the strap channel (11) around a good (12) being packaged, said free end of the strap (17) moving beyond the locking component (16) to define a free, overlapping end (18) of the strap, said free, overlapping end of the strap) being pivoted at least partly in the direction of the good (12) being packaged, an information carrier (21) being affixed to a surface (22) of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap and, following tightening the strap (17) and having it rest against the good (12) being packaged, the information carrier (21) shall be mounted on a surface (22) of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the information carrier (21) is configured between the strap (17) and the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap.

3. Method as claimed in either of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the information carrier (21) is an electronic unit.

4. Method as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 3, characterized in that the information carrier (21) is a passive transponder.

5. Method as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 3, characterized in that the information carrier (21) is an active transponder.

6. Method as claimed in one of the above claims, characterized in that the passive or active transponders are electromagnetic (EM), acousto-magnetic (AM) radio frequency (RF) or radio frequency information carrier (RF-ID) units.

7. Apparatus to mount an information carrier (21) on a strap (17) of a strapping machine (10), said machine being substantially constituted by a strap channel (11) and a strapping head (13), including a locking device (16) and a cutter (15), being mounted at said channel, the strap (17) initially being impelled to move with its free end in the said channel around a good (12) being packaged, said channel furthermore being fitted with a first device (19) to pivot the end zone of the strap (17) defining a free, overlapping end (18) of the strap toward the good (12) to be packaged and a second device (20) to mount the information carrier (21) on a surface (22) of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, characterized by a second device (20) to mount the information carrier (21) on a surface (22) of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap, said surface pointing toward the strap (17).

9. Apparatus as claimed in either of claims 7 and 8, characterized in that the first device (19) to pivot the end of the strap (17) constituting a free, overlapping end (18) of the strap in the direction of the good (12) to be packaged is a wedge displaceable, in the direction of the locking component (16) between the strap (17) and the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap.

10. Apparatus as claimed in either of claims 7 and 8, characterized in that the second device (20) to affix the information carrier (21) to a surface of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap comprises a lower slide surface (23) acting as a support and being configured underneath the information carrier's zone of affixation and of an upper slide plate (24) configured above said information carrier's affixation zone, said upper slide plate being used to press an information carrier (21) against the surface (22) of the free, overlapping end (18) of the strap.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the second device comprises a component to move the information carrier (21) between the surface (22) pointing to the strap (17) and the upper slide plate (24).

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , characterized in that the component is constituted by a transponder tape (26) bearing information carriers (21), said tape being wound at each of its ends on a roller (25).