Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
113S663
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PRESSURE SENSITIVE LAREL STRIP
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
-Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape-like, pressure
sensitive la~el strip for use in a hand-held label
printing and dispensing machine (hereinafter referred to
- as a ''label printing machine"l. More particularly, the
invention relates to the feeding cuts in the label strip
by means of whi:ch the label strip is advanced through the
label printing machine when the feeding cuts are engaged
lQ by feeding pins formed on a feeding roller. These
feeding cut lines may also serve for preventlng the
unauthorized switching.of labels.
Descripti~on of the Prior Art
- The conventional pressure sensitive label strip
comprises a long, thin strip layer o~ label material
having an adhesive coating layer on its underside and a
long, thin strip layer of backing material having a
releasing agent coating layer on its top side. The strip
of label material has ~ plurality of transverse parting
cut lines which define unit label pieces between these
parting cut lines. ~eeding cut lines are formed across
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each parting cut line in the label material for defining
small tabs. At the positions corresponding to the
feeding cut lines, additional feeding cut lines are
defined in the backing material. Such a label strip
according to the prior art can be easily advanced through
a label printing machine.
When the respective feeding cut lines of the
label material and the backing material are brought into
engagement with the feeding pins of the feeding roller in
a label printing mach~ne, the pins force the tabs to
stand up out of the plane of the strip. After that, the
erected feeding tabs, or tongues, are depressed flat by a
label correcting member which is attached to the printing
head, and the label strip is advanced into the printing
section. The label material is then printed. One
drawback of this arrange~ent is that each erected tongue
of the backing material is often pressed do~n over the
front edge portion of a label during the flattening of
the erected feeding tongue because the feeding cu* line
of the backing material is located just underneath the
parting cut line of the label material. The overlapped
portion in the front side of the unit label piece cannot
be printed.
Each printed label material is then ~eeled off
from the backing material and the peeled label is applied
to the surface of merchandise. During this operation,
the feedIng tongue is liable to be erected again.
- Erected tongues on the front and rear edges of a label
can be flattened by Tubbing them with an applicator
3~ roller upon their being applied to merchandise, but an
erected feeding tongue on the front side is often left
standing because it is outside the ran~e of the applicator
roller. As a result, the appearance of the label is
unsatisfactory and~, in addition, it is easy to grasp the
tongue to switch labels or merchandise.
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SU~ RY O~ THE INVENTION
_ _ .. ..
It is the principal object of the present
invention to provide an improved label strip with feeding
tongues.
It is another object of the present invention
to provide such a label strip which prevents the occurrence
of unprinted portions in the marginal portions of the
labels.
Another object of the present invention is to
provide a pressure sensitive label strip which gives
labels a good appearance without the occurrence of
erected feeding tongues when the labels thereof are
applied to the surface of an article.
A further object of the present inven~ion is to
provide a pressure sensitive label strip with cuts to
prevent the unauthorized switching of labels.
Still a further object of the present invention
is- to provide a pressure sensitive label strip which is
simple in structure and which can be mass-produced
without dificulty.
In accordance with the present invention, a
pressure sensitive label strip comprises a tape-like
- strip of label material having an adhesive coating layer
on its underside and a tape-like strip of backing material
having a release layer on its top side. The strip of
label material is temporarily overlaid on and attached to
the strip of backing material. Parting cut lines extend
transversely across the strip o label material. The
parting cut lines are spaced at regular intervals to
diYide the label strip material into a plurality of unit
label pieces. The unit label pieces can be peeled off
from the strip of backing material by bending the backing
material away from the label material.
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The improvement in the pressure sensitive label
strip of the invention is characterized in that at least one
feeding cut line defining a feeding tongue is provided in
the interior of each unit label piece ~hereinafter referred
to as "effective area"), rather than in the periphery
thereof and additional feeding cut lines are provided in the
backing material. The latter feeding cut lines have a shape
which is different from the shape of those in the label
material.
Each feeding cut line in the label material is
generally of a V-shape and each feeding cut line in the
backing material is generally of a U-shape. Thus, the
feeding cut lines in both the label material and the backing
material define respective tongues there. The top end
portions or webs of the generally V-shaped feeding cut lines
of the label material and also of the generally U-shaped
feeding cut lines of the backing material are oriented
contrary to the direction of the advance of the label strip.
The shapes of the feeding cut lines are selected so that
each tongue defined by a feeding cut line in the label
material has a greater surface area than the surface area of
the respective overlaid tongue defined by a feeding cut line
in the backing material.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects and features of the present in-
vention will be apparent from the following description of
the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which like reference characters refer to like elements,
and in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of
the pressure sensitive label strip of the invention, wherein
the label strip is shown rolled up;
Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a fragment of
the same label strip;
Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the
same label strip, taken on the line III-III in Fig. 2;
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Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a
label printing machine with which the label strip of the
present invention can be applied;
Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing
the engagement of the label strip with the feeding pins;
Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of a fragment of a
second embodiment of a label strip according to the present
invention;
Fig. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a fragment of a
third embodiment of a label strip according to the present
invention; and
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an example of a
label strip according to the prior art.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRE~ EMBODIMENTS
In order to explain the present invention more
clearly, a label strip according to the prior art will first
be described. A description of the prior a-rt now discussed
can be found in U.S. Patent 4,210,688.
As shown in Fig. 8 of the present invention, the
conventional pressure sensitive label strip 100 comprises a
long, thin strip layer of label material 101 having an
adhesive coating layer on its undersurface, which is attached
face-to-face to the upper surface of a long, thin strip
layer of backing material 102 having a releasing agent
coating layer. The strip of label material 101 has a
plurality of transverse parting cut lines 103 that are
spaced at regular intervals along its length, defining unit
label pieces L' formed between these parting cut lines 103.
A pair of feeding cut lines 104 cross each parting cut line
103. At the positions corresponding to the feeding cut
lines 104 9 generally U-shaped feeding cut lines 105 are
defined in the backing material.
~,i ~.
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The label strip 100 in which the feedln~ cut
lines 104 cross the parting cut lines 103 can be smoothly
brought into engagement with feeding pins disposed around
a feeding roller when the label strip 100 is passed
through a label printing machine.
The respect~ve feeding cut lines 104 and 105 of
label material 101 and backing material 102 are temporarily
made to stand up when brought into engagement with *he
feeding pins of the fee~ing roller in a label printing
mach~ne. The erected feeding tongues are then depressed
flat by a la~el correcting mem~er 32 (see Fig. 4) attached
to the printing head, and the label strip 100 is advanced
into the printing section and printed. The erected
tongues of the bac~ing material lQ2, however, are often
pressed down over the front edge portion of a respective
unit label piece L' of the label material 101 during the
correction of the erected tongue of the feeding cut line
105 because the feeding cut line 105 of the backing
material 102 corresponds exactly to and is located
directly under the parting cut line 103 of the label
material 101. The portion of the front side oE the unit
label piece 1" covered by the tongue cannot be printed.
The printed label material 101 is then peeled
off from the backing material lQ2 by bending the backing
material 102 rear~ard, and the peeled unit label piece L'
is applied to the surface of merchandise. In this
oReration, the feeding tongue of label L' is liable to be
erected aga~n into the tongue 104'. The erected tongues
on the front and rear edges of the unit lahel piece L
can be flattened by rubbing them with an applicator
roller 34 Csee ~ig. 4) when it is applied to an article,
but the tongue piece 104' on the front side is often left
standing since it lies outside the range of the applicator
roller 34. Such a label is unsatisfactory in appearance
and in addition, is easy to remove, allowing labels to be
switched easily without authorization.
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The improved label strip of the present invention
does not suffer from the above-described disadvantage of the
label strip of the prior art, as will be described in
detail.
In the first embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3,
inclusive, the label strip 1 comprises a long, thin strip
layer of label material 2 and a long, thin strip layer of
backing material 4. The strip of label material 2 and the
strip of backing material 4 are put together in face-to-face
layers. The rear surface of the label material 2 is provided
with a release layer 5, such as a layer of silicone, to
facilitate the peeling of the temporarily stuck label material
2 from the backing material 4.
The strip of label material 2 has a plurality of
transverse parting cut lines 6 spaced at regular intervals
along its length, defining unit label pieces L. In each
label L are defined a pair of feeding cut lines 7, which are
generally in the shape of a V. The feeding cut lines 7 are
disposed in about the middle portion of each label L and are
positioned side by side in the direction perpendicular to
the length of the label strip 1. More broadly, the pair of
feeding cut lines 7 are defined in the inside area of each
unit label piece L away from the marginal portions thereof.
Other feeding cut lines 8 in the shape of a U are defined in
the backing material 4 at positions corresponding to the
positions of the feeding cut lines 7 of the label material
2. The shape of the feeding cut lines 8 of the backing
material 4 is different from the shape of the feeding cut
lines 7 of the label material 2, so that the combination of
the two sets of feeding cut lines are not through cut lines.
The feeding cut lines 7 and 8 are oriented contrary to the
direction of the advance of the label strip 1. Finally the
shapes of the feeding cut lines 7, 8 are selected so that
each tongue 7' (described further in connection with Fig. 5)
defined by a feeding cut line 7 in the label material 2 has
a greater surface area than the surface area of the respective
~4
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overlaid tongue 8' defined by a feeding cut line 8 in the
backing material 4.
The tape-like label strip 1 of the present
invention is set to the main body 10 of a label printing
i;' ~
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machine as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The process of
advancing the tape 1 and peeling the labels off is now
described.
The label printing machine shown in Fig. 4
comprises a hand lever 12 that is pivotally secured to a
pivot shaft 13 that is fitted to the opposed, spaced
apart machine frames 19 disposed on both sides of it. An
integrally formed hand grip 11 extends rearwardly from
the frames 19. A return spring 16 is stretched between
spring supporting members 14 and 15 that are respectively
formed on the hand lever 12 and the hand grip 11. The
force of spring 16 returns the hand lever 12 to *he
original downward rest position when t~e lever is released
after it has been squeezed.
The hand lever 12 extends forward tto the left
in the drawing) of its support shaft 13, and this section
of the hand lever 12 comprises a printing section 12a
remote from shat 13 and an actuating section 12b nearer
!~ to th~ shaft 13. The printing section 12a carries a
printing head 1~ ~hich is provided wlth a plurality of
types 18 which can be selected by turning stamp wheels or
stamp belts. The actuat~ng section 12~ is provided,with
a known $ector drive gear Cnot shown~, near the pivot
shaft 13.
A main shaft 20, ~hich is attached to the pair
of machine frames 1~, rotatably supports a feeding roller
21 having a ~,a~Yl wheel (not shownl that is engaged with
the drive gear of the actuatlng section 12b of the hand
leve,r 12. T~e circumferential surface o~ the feeding
roller 21 is provided with a plurality of feeding pins 22
that are spaced at regular intervals for advancing the
tape-like label strip 1 of the present invention that is
comprised o the label material 2 and the backing material
4.
. .. ... ..
1~3S663
~ hen the label strip 1 is advanced through the
label printing machine, a rolled label strip 1' is supported
by a label strip supporting section 23 of the machine.
The free end of the unrolling label strip 1 is passed
through the space between the feeding roller 21 and a
label pushing member 25 by way of a label guide member
24. The free end of the label strip 1 is further led
onto a platen 26 which is supported inside the machine
frame in opposition to the printing head 17. In this
advancing of the label strip 1, the feeding cut lines 8
and 7 in the strip of the backing material 3 and of the
label material 1 are brought into engagement with the
feeding pins 22 on the feeding roller 21, and the label
pushing member 25 is then fitted over the upper surface
of the label strip 1.
IYhen the hand lever 12 is released after it is
squeezed, the feeding roller 21 is turned counterclock~ise
by the length of one label piece. This correspondingly
! advances the label strip 1 by the length of one label
2~ since the label strip engages ~ith the feeding pins 22 on
the feeding roller 21. During the advancing of the label
strip 1, as shown in ~ig. 5, as each of the feeding cut
lines 8 of the backing material 4 engages a feeding pin
22, it is raised up by the feeding pin 22 to form feeding
tongue 8t. When eac~ feeding tQngue 8' is bent upright,
it comes into surface contact with the flat feeding face
22' o~ the feeding p~n 22. Therefore, any instability in
~eeding owing to concentrated loading can be eliminated
by distributing the load throughout the entire contacting
surfaces. As a feeding pin 22 lifts a feeding tongue 8'
of the backing material 4, it is also inserted into the
feeding cut line 7 of the label material 2, and the
feeding pin 22 also lifts the feeding tongue 7'. The
pushing force of the feeding pin 22 can be borne by both
~f the feeding tongues 7' and 8' ~hen the label strip 1
is advanced.
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The label strip 1 that is in engagement with
the feeding pins 22 is then intermittently advanced onto
the platen 26 by the squeezing and releasing operation of
the hand le~er 12.
The feeding tongues 7' and 8 t of the label
strip 1 are stood up 6y the above feeding pins 22 But,
when the printing head 17 is moved down to the platen 26
by squeezing the hand lever 12, the erected feeding
tongues 7' and 8' are flattened simultaneously with the
printing of the preceding unit label piece. More par-
ticularly, the label correcting member 32 that is disposed
at the rear end of the printing head 17 presses down the
label strip 1 on the platen 26 to depress the erected
feeding tongues 7' and 8' into the original flat position.
This corrective action is performed one pitch before the
above printing action.
The feeding cut lines 7 and 8 of the label
strip 1 that are in engagement with the feeding pins 22
of the feeding roller 21 do not cross the parting cut
lines~ 6 between unit label pieces L, and the generally
U-shaped feeding-tongues 8' of the backing material 4 are
smaller than the wide-angled V-shaped feeding tongues 7'
of the label material 2. As a result, the feeding
tongues 8' are not folded over the label material- 2 in
the corrective operation, which prevents the occurrence
of unprinted portion.
- After the printing step, the layer of backing
material 4 of the label strip 1 ls shifted in front of
the platen 2~ and is bent downward and rearward, forming
3Q a bending portion 2~ of a loop in the narrow space 2~
between a keep plate 27 and a bottom cover 30 beneath the -
platen 26. Once it is bent~rearward, the backing material
4 is further led rearward and is brought into engagement
- with the feeding pins 22 on the underside of the feeding
roller 21. Two label pushing members 31 are attached on
.. . ... . .. .. . .. . .. . .
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the inside of the bottom cover 30. Thus, both side edge
port~ons of the backing strip 4 are pressed against the
feeding roller 21, and the backing strip 4 is brought
into engagement with the feeding pins 22 of the feeding
roller 21 so as to be passed out from the rear portion of
the machine body by the intermittent rotation of the
feeding roller 21.
The printed label material 2 is peeled from the -
- bending portion 29 of the backing mateTial 4 in the form
of single labels L. As a result of the bending of the
backing material 4, the feeding tongue 7' of the label
material 2 becomes upright temporarily. This can be
corrected by the pressing on the labels of an applicator
roller 34 which is rotatably attached to the shaft 33 in
the lower front portion of the machine body. In this
case, since the feeding cut line 7 is positioned almost
in the middle of the unit label piece L, the erected
feeding tongue 7' can be completely corrected by rolling
t~e applicator roller from the front or leading edge to
the rear or trailing edge of the label.
In contrast, in the case of the prior art label
strip 100 shown in Fig. 8, the feeding tongues 104'
between the feeding cut lines 104 are erected on the
front and rear edges of a label L'~ Although the erected
feeding tongue 104' on-the rear edge of the unit label
piece L' can be corrected by using the above-mentioned
applicator roller 34, ~he erected feeding tongue 104' on
the front edge is outside the range of the roller 34, and
in any event it stands up contrary to the direction of
the rolling of the roller 34. As a result, the feeding
tongue 104' on the front edge of the label L' cannot be
corrected and is left as it stands on merchandise.
The second embodiment of the label strip of the
present invention is shown in Fig. 6. The construction
o~ the feeding cut l~nes 7 of the label material 2 and
that of the feedxng cut lines 8 of the backing material
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1135663
are the same as those of the first embodiment. In the
unit label piece La o this embodiment, two pairs of
wide-angled V-shaped cuts 9a and 9b for preventing
unauthorized switching of labels are defined, one pair to
either side of the feeding cut lines 7. One pair of the
label switching preventive cuts 9a, in the rear portion
of the label La, are pointed rearwardly like the V-shape
of the feeding cut lines 7, while the other pair of such
cuts 9b are pointed in the opposite direction.
~fter the la~el La is applied to merchandise,
the above-described wide-angled generally V-shaped
feeding cut lines 7 of the label material 2 are effective
for preventing the switching of labels. However, if cuts
~a and 9b are additionally defined in the label material
and the top ends of the cuts 9a to the rear of the label
La are pointed in one direction, and the cuts 9b are
pointed in the opposite direction, the switching of
labels can be prevented more effectively. When a label
La has been applied to merchandise, the label La is
generally peeled off the merchandise from one side, and
the tabs defined by either the cuts 9a or the cuts 9b,
whichever point contrary to the direction o peeling, are
torn away.
- The third emBodiment of the label strip 1 of
the present invention is shown in Fig. 7. The feeding
cuts 7 and 8 of the label material 2 a~d the backing
material ~ are the same as those of the flrst embodiment.
In this embodiment, cut lines 9c to 9f or preventing
switching o labels are provided only in the label material
2. These cuts 9c-f are short, slanted cut lines which
run in the direction from the center o* the label Lb
toward the respective corners thereof.
When a person tries to peel off a label Lb that
has been applied to merchanidse, at least one of the cuts
9c to 9f is also torn, S-~itching of labels thus becomes
quite difficult.
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Since the feeding cut lines 7 and 8 of the
label material 2 and the backing material 4 are pointed
contrary to the direction of the advance of the label
strip 1 in the label printing machine, the end portions
of the feeding cut lines 7 and 8 will not be torn,
because of the inertia of the advancing movement in the
front end portion of the platen 26. Moreover, the
feeding tongue 8' is not re-erected after the rearl~ard
bending of the backing material 4 but is maintained flat.
As a result, the backing material 4 can be smoothly
passed through the tapered narrow space between the
platen 26 and the bottom cover 30 of the machine body.
Accordingly, the label strip of the present invention is
also quite effective for avoiding the tearing of feeding
tongue portions of the backing material 4.
In the label strip of the present invention,
- the feeding cut lines to form the eeding tongues are
defined in the effective area of the label material.
Therefore, unprinted portions in the marginal portions of
!- 20 the Iabel do not occur. In addition9 the feeding tongues
that are erected when the label is peeled off from the
backi~ng material can be flattened by pressing the applicator
roller against the surface of the label that is applied
to an article.
~ccordingly, not only is the label of the
present i~vention esthetically pleasing, but it cannot be
switched wi*h anothçr label, since no feeding tongues are
left erect. Moreover, since the feeding cut lines have a
wide-angled ~-shape, the label is liable to be torn away
from the feeding cut portions if it is peeled off the
article to which it has been affixed.
Although the present invention has been described
in connection with several preferrçd embodiments thereof,
many variations and modifications will now be apparent to
those skilled in the art. The scope of the present
. .: - - - . .
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invention, accordingly, is to be limited not by the
details of the above description, but only by the terms
of the appended claims.
... ,....... . . ~........ . . .
