Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The invention refers to a lable strip with self-adhesive
labels attached end to end adhering to a carrier strip for use in
label printing and dispensing apparatuses, such apparatuses being
equipped with a pull-off device intermittently advancing the labels.
Such label strips are known from the United States Patent
No. 2~095,437, West German PS 12 05 ~88 and the ~est German
AS 14 86 149. These label strips are used in price-marking
apparatuses wherein the labels are printed and then brought into a
dispensing position, in which position they are at least substantial-
ly released from the ~rrier strip and can be pressed by a pressuremember, for example an elastic roller, against an article to be
labelled.
With the help of label printing and dispensing apparatuses
it is also possible to dispense a chain of printed labels when label
strips are used, wherein the labels are separated merely by a simple
separation cut or even by a perforation. If such label strips are,
for example, inserted into a manually operated marking apparatus
according to the Wes~ German PS 12 24 661 and the manually operated
labelling apparatus is used only as a label printer, then a chain
of contiguous printed self-adhesive labels released from the carrier
strip will be dispensed from the apparatus. The self-adhesive
labels adhere to one another by means of a glue bridge or a per-
foration an~ can be easily separated from one another. The printed
labels can then be applied by hand to an article to be labelled.
In this way it is possible to apply labels effortlessly to
surfaces which are inaccessible or only accessible with difficulty
to the pressure member of the labelling apparatus. Using this
method, however, there is the disadvantage that the self-adhesive
layer of the printed labels will no longer be protected by the
carrier strip. For this reason only relatively few labels can be
printed in succession and adhered by hand to the surfaces to be
labelled, because otherwise there is a risk that the printed self~
adhesive labels will stick together or that the self-adhes~ve
layer of the labels will come into contact with surfaces to
which they are not intended to adhere. ~lso it is difficult to
store such self-adhesive labels once they are freed from the
carrier strip.
The task of the invention is to create a label strip of
the initially named type, whereby the disadvanta~es portrayed do
not occur and the printed labels can either be pressed by the
pressure member of the labelling apparatus onto an article to be
labelled or a series of printed labels can be dispensed, the
self-adhesive layer thereon being at least mostly protected.
This problem is solved according to the invention by
arranging a continuous backing strip which is bonded, yet easily
removable, by a relatively slight adhesive force to the carrier
strip or the self-adhesive labels. If such a label strip is in-
serted in a price-marking apparatus then the label feed can be
effected by either gradually pulling off only the backing strip
using the pull-off device of the labelling apparatus or by
progressively pulling off the backing strip together with the
carrier strip by means of the pull off device. In the first
case the carrier strip and the self-adhesive labels are freed
from the backing strip at the deflection guide device of the
price-marking apparatus. By this action a band is obtained which
is made up of a carrier strip and the thereto adhered printed
labels.
- Such a band of printed labels can be used for various
purposes. For example it is possible to mark articles not
easily accessible using the price-marking apparatus, such as,
for example, textiles on a shelf or in a cupboard, stacks of
washing, towels, and bedlinen, or other articles of a kind such
that a label brought into the dispensing position of the price-
marking apparatus can only be pressed on with difficulty using
the pressure roller; for example, in the case of extremely
small articles such as jewellery, small toys, glass and china
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animal figures, or for adhering prices on tie-on labels, it is
necessary to use several people~ each provided with a band of
printed labels, who remove the self-adhesive labels from the band
by hand and then press them onto the article for labelling.
Another possible use for such label strips is to supply
sales assistants with strips of self-adhesive labels upon which
is printed a symbol identifying the sales assistant. ~Iaving sold
an article the sales assistant can apply the self-adhesive label
identifying himself or herself alongside the price label, so that,
for example, at the cash desk the sale of the article and also
the identity of the sales assistant is registered, recording the
sales success of the individual sales assistants.
If-the label strip according to the invention is inserted
into a price-marking apparatus such that the pull-off device pulls
off the backing strip as well as the carrier strip, then with the
help of the labelling apparatus the labels can be printed and the
printed label, once brought into the dispensing position, can be
pressed by means of the pressure member against an article to
be labelled. In order to reset the price-marking apparatus the
carrier strip need only be guided around the deflection edge and
be placed together with the backing strip into t~e pull-off
device, said pull-off device consisting, for example, of a pair
of rollers.
An adhesive agent is arranged between the carrier strip
and the backing strip in order to achieve a certain adherence of
the carrier strip to the backing strip. It can be advantageous to
use a wax type adhesive or an adhesive which is non self-adhesive
or only very slightly self-adhesive.
The carrier strip can also be bonded with the backing
strip by means of embossing.
To achieve a bond between the backing strip and the re-
maining label strip it can also be advantageous to make the carrier
strip somewhat narrower than the backing strip and the self-
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adhesiv~ labels. In the case of such a label s-trip the edges
of the self-adhesive labels adhere to the backing strip. A label
strip of this type has the advantage that in the case of a strip
of printed labels said labels can be very easily removed.
Depending on the type and design of the pull-off device
of the labelling apparatus, care must be taken that the backing
strip passes through the feed device of the labelling apparatus
free of adhesion. One must prevent adhesive particles frqm
settling on the feed device of the labelling apparatus which
would cause malfunctions. In the case of the known labelling
apparatuses the devices for pulling off the carrier strip or
backing strip consist of a pair of rollers, or a forward and
backward-moving gripper, or a pinch roller provided with pro-
jections which engage into recesses in the carrier strip or the
backing strip.
There are pull-off devices for labelling apparatuses
which only come into contact with the carrier strip or backing
strip to be pulled off over a certain section of the width of
the strip. For these apparatuses a label strip is-particularly
advantageous whereby the carrier strip has on both its sides an
adhesive repellent, in particular a siliconized layer, and the
backing strip is provided with a self-adhesive layer at places on
the side adjacent to the carrier strip. In the case of this label
strip the self-adhesive agent does indeed adhere to the backing
strip but nevertheless the self-adhesive agent is successully
applied to the backing strip in such a way that it does not come
into contact with the elements of the ~eed device of the label-
ling apparatus. The self-adhesive layer can be arranged as a
very narrow strip in the central area of the backing strip or as
two narrow strips in the proximity of the margins of the backing
strip, depending on how the transport device of the labelling
apparatus is shaped. As the backing strip is only intended to
adhere to the carrier strip with a slight adhesive strength, the
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self-adhesive layer can be applied very sparingly, i.e. very
thinly and on relatively small surface areas of the backin~ strip.
This labelling strip has the advantage that the carrier strip is
completely free of adhesive on its underside when it leaves the
label printing and dispensing apparatus together with the pre-
printed labels.
It is, however, also possible to arrange between the
backing strip and the carrier strip a continuous bandlike self-
adhesive layer and to provide the carrier strip on both sides
an~ the backing strip on at least the side adjacent to the
carrier strip with an adhesive repellent, in particular a
siliconized layer. In the case of this label strip the self-
adhesive layer would have to form a continuous band in order that
the label strip be able to be fed into the price-marking appara-
tus at the deflection device together with the carrier strip and
then to be able to be separated from the carrier strip.
There now follows a more detailed explanation of four
embodiment examples with reference to the drawings.
Figures 1, 3, 5 and 7 show top views of four embodiment
-~orms of the label strip according to the invention;
i Figures 2, 4, 6 and 8 show sectional views of the label
- strips portrayed in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 7, wherein the thickness
of the strips is greatly increased for purposes of illustration.
The label strips consist of a carrier strip 1, self-
adhesive labels 2 adhering to the carrier strip 1 and a backing
strip 3 arranged under the carrier strip 1. - ~`
In Fig. 1 a label strip is shown with smooth lateral
marglns whereby the width of the rectangular self-adhesive labels
2 corresponds to the width of the backing strip 3, and the
directly contiguous labels 2 are separated from one another by
smooth separation cuts.
As Fig. 2 shows, the self-adhesive labels 2 aahere by
way of their self-adhesive layer 4 to both the carrier strip 1
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and to the margins of the backing strip 3. If the sel~-adhesive
labels 2 are only printed with a price-marking apparatus then the
carrier strip 1 is released from the backing strip 3 at the de-
flection guide device of the labelling apparatus with the thereto
adhered labels 2. The margins of the self-adhesive labels pro-
trude laterally beyond the carrier strip and can now be very
easily removed from the carrier strip 1. Nevertheless, the
carrier strip 1 protects the greater part of the self-adhesive
layer 4 of the labels 2.
Fig. 3 shows a label strip with undulating lateral
margins whereby the edges of the carrier strip 1, the backing
strip and the band on self-adhesive labels 2 are congruent.
As Fig. 4 shows, an adhesive agent 5 is arranged between the
carrier strip 1 and the backing strip 3 which produces a slight
adhesive bond between the carrier strip 1 and the backing strip 3.
Wax or stearin can be used as adhesive agents. The adhesive agent
can be applied as a thin layer or in a spot grid.
In the case of the embodiment example according to Fig.
5 orbicular labels adhere to the carrier strip 1. The carrier
strip l is bonded with an identical sized backing strip 3 by means
of an embossing 6, said embossing being arranged in the longltu~
dinal centre o the label strip. In the longitudinal centre of
the carrier strip l and the backing strip 3 punched holes are
arranged equidistant between the labels 2. Elements o~ the pull-
off device of a price-marking apparatus can engage in these
punched holes, whereby an exact indexed feed of the labels is
effected.
In the case of the label strip according to Figs. 7 and
8 the adhesive agent 5 is applied in strip form to the backing
strip 3 and in such a way that it does not come into contact with
the elements of the pull-off device of the labelling apparatus
which engages with the backing strip 3. In the case of this label
strip the carrier strip 1 is provided on both sides with an ad-
` hesive repellent layer.
