BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMMATIC DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a composite label web used for date coding;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the composite label web;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a thermal hand-held portable labeler used to print and apply date-coding pressure sensitive thermal labels from the composite label web; and
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary partly sectional view of the hand-held portable thermal labeler shown in FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, there is disclosed a longitudinally extending composite label web C including labels L releasably adhered to a longitudinally extending carrier web W. Upper surface 10 of the carrier web is provided with a uniform coating of a release material such as silicone 11. The labels L are comprised of label material 12. Pressure sensitive or tacky adhesive 13 is adhered to lower surface 14 of the label material 12. A uniform thermal coating 15 is applied to upper surface 16 of the label material 12. An optional barrier coating 17 can be applied over the thermal coating 15.
The composite label web C is paid out of a roll R (FIG. 5) and can be printed in a thermal hand-held portable labeler shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Lines of complete severing 18 (FIGS. 1 and 2) are shown to divide the label material 12 into end-to-end labels L. The labels L in the roll R can be preprinted with zones Z1 through Z7 during the label making process. According to one convention, the days of the week Monday through Sunday are represented by the colors blue for Monday, yellow for Tuesday, red for Wednesday, brown for Thursday, Green for Friday, orange for Saturday and black for Sunday in zones Z1 through Z7, respectively. The zones Z1 through Z7 are printed directly onto the barrier coating 17, or if a barrier coating 17 is omitted, then directly onto the thermal coating 15. The zones Z1 through Z7 are shown to be generally rectangular with the long dimension extending longitudinally, although other shapes such as circular, square and so forth can be used instead. The labels can be printed with text T as shown in FIG. 1 and/or with graphics, bar codes and other indicia.
FIG. 3 shows the underside of the composite web C with printed registration marks as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,462 for registering the labels L in the labeler.
With reference to FIG. 1, the composite label web is shown to move in the direction of arrow A. The leading label L, is shown to have been encoded by thermally printing a highlighting mark 19 around the zone Z3 representative by color of Wednesday. The mark 19 is shown to be a rectangle formed by a continuous line but the line can be intermittent, or a different mark such as an arrow (not shown) pointing to the zone Z3 can be used. Also the zones Z1 through Z7 can be circles and the marks 19 can be larger circles. The mark 19 shown to be slightly spaced from zone Z3, but it can be a continuous border around zone Z3 if desired. The mark 19 can be used to highlight any selected zone Z1 through Z7. There can be encoding of text T relating to date coding as shown in FIG. 1.
The composite label web C is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 to be used in a hand-held portable thermal label printer or labeler 110. The composite label web passes from the roll R beneath a roller 125 to between a platen roll 119 and a cooperating thermal print head 120 to print on the labels. L. An electric motor 122 drives the platen roll 119 while the print head 120 prints. The platen roll 119 advances the composite label web C to and beyond the platen roll to a delaminator 121. As the carrier web W makes a sharp bend about the delaminator 121, the label L projects from the front of the printer 110 beneath and in label applying relationship to an applicator 147 shown to be in the form of an applicator roll. The carrier web W passes from there to and partially around a direction changing roll 123, from there the web W passes between a feed roll 125′ driven by the motor 122 and a back-up roll 127, and from there the web W passes out of the printer through an exit opening 129.
As shown, the roll R is mounted in a space within the housing 112 on a label roll holder 131.
The printer 110 also includes a bar code scanner 126 aligned with a window 126′ for scanning bar codes and a radio card 145 for communicating with a host computer (not shown). The housing 112 includes a movable upper housing section 112a and a lower housing section 112b to which a handle 116 is attached. A keyboard 140 is used to enter data and a display 144 displays data, prompts and the like.
Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080090724
