Patent Application
20220009190
The invention relates to a method of cutting off self-adhesive linerless endless tape labels or carrier tape labels using a cutter of a label printer, wherein the cutter comprises a transport roller, which is rotatable about an axis of rotation, and a blade unit that is linearly travelable in parallel with the axis of rotation of the transport roller and that has a cutting blade directed in the direction toward the transport roller, in which the endless tape or carrier tape labels pass between the transport roller and the blade unit, the endless tape or carrier tape labels are transported further step-wise in a motorized manner, in each case by one label, and, in each case between two consecutive further transport steps, the blade unit is linearly traveled in a motorized manner between a start position and a target position in order to cut off a label.
To be able to process linerless endless tape labels coated with an adhesive at one side, which are also called linerless labels, or carrier tape labels in which the labels are attached to a carrier tape, a cutter or a label printer having a cutter, by which the labels are cut off, is required. In the case of a batch production, the labels can be collected in a collection box after the cutting process and can be kept ready for a use. If only individual labels should be printed on demand, a so-called presenter can be connected downstream of the label printer or the cutter, said presenter peeling off the respective cut-off label when it leaves the label printer or the cutter. The next label will in this respect only be printed when the cut-off label is removed by the presenter. Such presenters can be integrated in a label printer from the start or retrofitted as accessories. In both cases, it is an additional and thus costly component.
It is the underlying object of the invention to provide a method of the initially mentioned kind that provides a more cost-effective possibility of individually removing cut-off labels on the use of endless tape or carrier tape labels.
This object is satisfied by a method having the features of claim 1, and in particular in that the blade unit is traveled such that the label is completely cut off and is held at the transport roller by the blade unit in the target position of the blade unit.
Provision is therefore made in accordance with the invention that the label is indeed completely cut off, but is nevertheless still held by the cutter so that the cut-off label does not simply fall downwardly at an output of the label printer, but is held there until the cut-off label is removed by an operator. An additional presenter, such as is known from the prior art, is thus not necessary.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the cutting blade projects with a fixed overhang over an end face of a blade holder of the blade unit, said end face being disposed in the direction toward the transport roller, with the endless tape or carrier tape labels being disposed with a lower side on the transport roller and, on the travel of the blade unit, the end face of the blade holder contacting an upper side of the endless tape or carrier tape labels such that the endless tape or carrier tape labels are clamped between the transport roller and the end face of the blade holder, and with the cut-off label being held in a clamping manner at the transport roller by the end face of the blade holder in the target position of the blade unit. A secure holding of the cut-off label is thus possible.
The blade unit is in this respect in particular only traveled so far that, in the target position of the blade unit, the end face of the blade holder, with a trailing section, is still located in the region of the endless tape or carrier tape labels. The trailing section is responsible for the holding of the cut-off label.
The blade unit is in particular traveled such that the end face of the blade holder runs along a surface line of the transport roller that is disposed closest to the end face of the blade holder and/or such that the cutting blade runs along a surface line of the transport roller that has a predefined offset from the surface line disposed closest to the end face of the blade holder. The cut-off label can hereby be particularly reliably held at the transport roller by the end face of the blade holder.
It can be detected by means of a detector device whether the cut-off label has been removed from the transport roller, with the blade unit only being automatically traveled out of the target position when it has been detected that the cut-off label has previously been removed from the transport roller. The detector device can e.g. be a light barrier.
On the travel of the blade unit out of the target position, the blade unit can be traveled back into the start position or further into a further start position going beyond the target position and the endless tape or carrier tape labels can subsequently be transported further by one label. The label printer is then ready again for the cutting off of a next label. A return into the start position in particular takes place when the cutting blade has a blade edge only in one direction of travel of the blade unit. A further travel into the further start position going beyond the target position can take place if the cutting blade has a respective blade edge in both directions of travel of the blade unit, i.e. if labels can be cut off in both directions of travel.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, to cut off the next label, the blade unit is traveled from the further start position in the reverse direction of travel into a further target position, with the blade unit in this respect again being traveled such that the next label is completely cut off and is correspondingly held at the transport roller by the blade unit in the further target position of the blade unit, with the blade unit being traveled back into the start position after the removal of the next label. Cut-off labels can thus be held at the transport roller in both directions of travel.
The cutting off of labels is in particular continuously repeated first in the direction of travel and then in the reverse direction of travel, but in particular under the condition that the respective previously cut-off label has previously been removed from the label printer or the transport roller by an operator.
It is preferred if the blade unit is traveled such that the cutting blade slides along the surface of the transport roller seated on the surface of the transport roller without penetrating into the transport roller. Otherwise, the cutting blade would successively damage and wear out the transport roller. This would in particular be disadvantageous with self-adhesive linerless endless tape labels that are disposed on the transport roller with their adhesive-coated side. However, for a trouble-free transport of the endless tape labels, it is essential that the surface of the transport roller offers the adhesive no adhesion or only as small as possible an adhesion. This property of the transport roller would be lost over time through the wear due to the penetration of the cutting blade.
The cutting blade is preferably displaceably supported and is preloaded in the direction of the transport roller by means of a spring device, in particular a compression spring. It is hereby in particular made possible that the cutting blade slides along the surface of the transport roller seated on the surface of the transport roller without penetrating into the transport roller since the cutting blade can then deflect in the direction away from the transport shaft on contact with the surface of the transport shaft. Nevertheless, sufficient pressure is exerted onto the cutting blade by the spring force to achieve a clean cut on the cutting off of a label.
Provision can furthermore be made that a reference travel is carried out at a respective predefined point in time, in particular on a start of the label printer, and a reference position of the blade unit, in particular the start position, is calibrated by means of a sensor device that in particular comprises a magnet traveling along with the blade unit and an associated fixed-position magnetic field sensor, in particular a Hall sensor. The knowledge of the reference position of the blade unit makes it possible to travel the blade unit with a high accuracy with respect to the absolute position between the respective start position and the respective target position and vice versa.
The blade unit is in particular linearly travelable transversely, in particular perpendicular, to a transport direction of the endless tape or carrier tape labels. The transport roller is preferably a driven transport roller such that the endless tape or carrier tape labels are also pulled and held under tension in the region of the cutter. A driven print roller of the label printer, into which the cutter is installed, as a rule nevertheless provides a controlled transport of the endless tape or carrier tape labels. However, the transport roller can generally also be a non-driven transport roller that runs along.
Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims, in the description of the Figures, and in the drawing.
The invention will be described in the following by way of example with reference to the drawing. There are shown
The exemplary store scale 11 shown in
The label printer 19 is shown from the front in an individual representation in
The label printer 19 can in particular be operated with self-adhesive linerless endless tape labels. Therefore, the label printer 19 has a cutter 27 (which is partly concealed by a cover plate 28 in
The blade carriage 33 is configured as a spindle nut that has a passage 35 having an internal thread and that is driven in a travelable manner via a threaded rod 37, with which it forms a threaded spindle, by the electric motor 39 in both axial directions of the threaded rod 37. To ensure a stable guidance of the blade carriage 33 on the travel of the blade carriage 33, the cutter 27 furthermore comprises a straight-line guide that extends in parallel with the threaded rod 37 and that is configured as a guide bar 41 that is round in cross-section and that extends through an aperture 43 formed in the blade carriage 33. The aperture 43 has a cross-section in the form of an elongate hole such that tolerances in the spacing between the threaded rod 37 and the guide bar 41 can be compensated.
The self-adhesive linerless endless tape labels are led between the transport roller 29 and the blade unit 31, wherein the adhesive-coated side of the endless tape labels faces the transport roller 29 that acts as a counterholder for the blade unit 31, in particular the cutting blade 34 of the blade unit 31. The two mutually opposite directions of travel of the blade carriage 33 in this respect run perpendicular to the transport direction of the endless tape labels. In
The blade carriage 33 has a base body 45 and a plate-shaped prolongation 47 which projects from the base body 45 in the direction toward the transport roller 29 and at which the cutting blade 34 is held by means of a plate-shaped blade holder 49 of the blade unit 31. The cutting blade 34 is in this respect arranged between the prolongation 47 and the blade holder 49. The prolongation 47, the cutting blade 34, and the blade holder 49 are in this respect arranged contacting one another with their flat sides. The flat sides of these components are thus oriented in parallel with the plane of movement of the cutting blade 34 on the travel of the blade carriage 33. The passage 35 for the threaded rod 37 and the aperture 43 for the guide bar 41 are each provided in the base body 45.
The blade holder 49 and the cutting blade 34 form an assembly 51 (cf.
The cushioned support of the cutting blade 34 or of the assembly 51 has the advantage that the cutting blade 34 or the tip of the cutting blade 34 does not penetrate or at least hardly penetrates into the surface of the transport roller 29 on the cutting off of a label, but is rather urged back by a distance with respect to the extended position that is predefined by the distance relationships between the blade unit 31 and the transport roller 29. It can hereby be prevented that the surface of the transport roller 29 is roughened by a continuous cutting in. A surface roughened in such a manner would namely have the result that the endless tape labels adhere more strongly to the transport roller 29 with their adhesive-coated sides over time, whereby a smooth transport of the endless tape labels would be disrupted.
As can in particular be seen from
The blade unit 31 is preferably oriented such that, on the travel of the blade carriage 33, the cutting blade 34 or the tip of the cutting blade 34 runs along a surface line of the transport roller 29 that is disposed closest to the cutting blade 34 or the tip of the cutting blade 34. However, it is generally also possible that, on the travel of the blade carriage 33, the cutting blade 34 or the tip of the cutting blade 34 runs along a surface line of the transport roller 29 that has a predefined offset from the surface line disposed the closest.
The displaceable fastening of the assembly 51 comprising the blade holder 49 and the cutting blade 34 is ensured by an elongate hole arrangement. For this purpose, a respective elongate hole 57, 59 is formed in the blade holder 49 and the cutting blade 34, which elongate holes 57, 59 are arranged congruently with one another and through which a fastening screw 61 extends such that the assembly 51 is displaceable along the two elongate holes 57, 59. The fastening screw 61 is fixedly screwed in a fastening hole 33 formed in the prolongation 47 of the blade carriage 33.
So that the assembly 51 is not immovably stuck at the prolongation 47, the assembly 51 is received with clearance between the head of the fastening screw 61 and the prolongation 47 in the axial direction of the fastening screw 61. The clearance is achieved in that a spacer sleeve 65 is provided whose extent in the axial direction of the fastening screw 61 is greater than the corresponding extent of the assembly 51 and through which the shaft of the fastening screw 61 is inserted such that the spacer sleeve 65 also extends through the two elongate holes 57, 59. The head of the fastening screw 61 abuts the spacer sleeve 65 at the one axial end and the prolongation 47 of the blade carriage 33 abuts said spacer sleeve 65 at the other axial end.
The blade holder 49 and the cutting blade 34 are plugged together to form the assembly 51. For this purpose, the blade holder 49 has two pins 67 that project in the direction of the cutting blade 34 and that engage into corresponding openings 69 formed in the cutting blade 34. These two plug-in connections are disposed opposite one another with respect to the fastening screw 61 or the spacer sleeve 65. The two pins 67 of the blade holder 49 extend through the two openings 69 formed in the cutting blade 34 and each engage into a corresponding elongate hole 71 formed in the prolongation 47. It can hereby be reliably prevented that the assembly 51 rotates about the longitudinal axis of the fastening screw 61 or of the spacer sleeve 65.
The blade carriage 33 is travelable to and fro between a first end position to the right of the transport roller 29 (cf.
An alternative method in accordance with the invention of cutting off the endless tape labels 55 is shown in
The holding of the cut-off label in the target position of the blade unit 31 is achieved in that the endless tape labels 55 are disposed on the transport roller 29 with their lower sides and, on the travel of the blade unit 31 from the start position into the target position, are clamped between the end face 56 of the blade holder 49, which is disposed in the direction toward the transport roller 29 and which is disposed on the upper side of the endless tape labels 55, and the transport roller 29. This then in particular also applies to the cut-off label in the target position of the blade unit 31. Finally, the blade unit 31 or the blade carriage 33 is not completely traveled into the aforementioned second end position, but only so far that the end face 56 of the blade holder 49, with a trailing section, is still located in the region of the endless tape labels 55 or of the cut-off label. On the travel of the blade unit 13, the cutting blade 34 is slidingly seated on the surface of the transport roller 29.
In this respect, it is advantageous if, on the travel of the blade unit 31, the end face 56 of the blade holder 49 runs along a surface line of the transport roller 29 that is disposed the closest to the end face 56 of the blade holder 49 since the cut-off label can hereby be held particularly well. The cutting blade 34 or the tip of the cutting blade 34 then runs along a surface line of the transport roller 29 that is offset, in particular slightly offset, therefrom.
It is then waited until the cut-off label is removed by an operator. For this purpose, a detector device, not shown, is provided by which it is detected whether the cut-off label has been removed by an operator. Only when this is the case does the blade unit 31 automatically travel out of the target position. The blade unit 31 can in this respect either return to the start position or travel further into a further start position, which goes beyond the target position and which corresponds to the aforementioned second end position, and the endless tape labels 55 can be retracted up to the respective label start at which the label was cut off (reversing) before the printing of the next label that has already partly run through the printing region. Then, the method steps explained above are repeated for the next label to be cut off.
If the blade unit 31 has traveled further into the further start position, the blade unit 31, in order to cut off the next label, in this respect travels in the opposite direction of travel, i.e. in the direction of the start position, up to and into a further target position (not shown) that corresponds to the position shown in
To calibrate the start position of the blade unit 31, a reference travel of the blade unit 31 takes place on the switching on of the label printer 19. For this purpose, the blade unit 31 is provided with a magnet 75 that cooperates with a stationary magnetic field sensor 77, in particular a Hall sensor, that detects the magnet 75 moving past (cf.
A flowchart that illustrates the method steps explained above is shown in
In
The alternative blade unit 31 in accordance with
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20185206.8 | Jul 2020 | EP | regional |
