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AssigneeCustom Printers, Inc.
InventorsDavid F. Bremmer, Jr., Ray D. Deeter, Daniel L. Goetz, William L. Behnken, Julian F. Madden
Estimating the term…
A strip of label material is fed from a supply roll to a preprint unit which incorporates a set of strip feed rolls driven by an electric motor-reducer drive unit. The drive unit is adapted to be stopped by a rotary solenoid actuated brake controlled by a photocell which senses the advancement of the strip. A print drum is rotatably supported above the generally horizontal path of the strip and has peripherally spaced axially extending rows of printing characters. A set of hammer members are positioned under the print drum and are selectively actuated by a corresponding set of solenoids. The print drum is indexed at a high speed by an electric stepping motor which automatically returns to a start position, and the printing characters are inked by a ribbon which is advanced by another electric motor-reducer drive unit pivotally supported to provide for automatically reversing the feed direction of the ribbon. A post-print unit includes a solenoid actuated rotary cutter which is positioned in the path of the strip for shearing each label from the strip, and each label is printed by a rotary print cylinder which carries an axially removable peripheral print key and encloses a plurality of individually adjustable endless flexible printing bands. The print cylinder is driven through a friction clutch by another electric motor-reducer drive unit, and a releasable latch positively stops the print cylinder after each revolution.
Apparatus for printing a series of labels and adapted for use with a computing scale system, said apparatus comprising a frame, means in substantially fixed relation to said frame for supporting a strip of labels in a supply roll, electrically operated first drive means for advancing the strip along a predetermined path in predetermined increments each corresponding to a printing cycle, a print drum including a plurality of circumferentially spaced printing positions, each of said printing positions including a plurality of the same printing character forming an axially extending row of common printing characters, means on said frame for rotatably supporting said drum for presenting each said row of common printing characters to a printing station adjacent the path of the strip, means for inking said rows of printing characters, electrically operated second drive means for producing high speed indexing of said print drum and including a stepping motor, said stepping motor being effective to step said print drum through a revolution for each said printing cycle to position sequentially each row of common printing characters at said printing station, means for holding said stepping motor and said print drum at a home position after each printing cycle, a plurality of hammer members arranged in a row adjacent said print drum on the opposite side of said path, each of said hammer members corresponding to one of said printing characters in each of said rows on said print drum, a corresponding plurality of electrically actuated solenoids connected for selectively moving said hammer members and cooperating with said stepping motor to print a line of different information across each label during each said printing cycle, a printing mechanism positioned to receive each label printed with different information by said print drum, and said printing mechanism includes means for printing interchangeable common information across each label after the label arrives at said printing station for receiving the different information whereby when the common information is changed, the next successive label printed with different information also receives the new common information to avoid the need for purging labels after the common information is changed.
Apparatus for printing a series of labels and adapted for use with a computing scale system, said apparatus comprising a frame, means in substantially fixed relation to said frame for supporting a strip of labels in a supply roll, an electric motor having a motor shaft, a gear reducer driven by said motor shaft and having an output shaft, drive means connected to said output shaft and responsive to starting and stopping of said electric motor for advancing the strip along a predetermined path in predetermined increments each corresponding to a printing cycle, means for sensing the advancement of the strip, means responsive to said sensing means for stopping said electric motor and releasably braking said motor shaft, a print drum including a plurality of circumferentially spaced printing positions, each of said printing positions including a plurality of the same printing character forming an axially extending row of common printing characters, means on said frame for rotatably supporting said drum for presenting each said row of common printing characters to a printing station adjacent the path of the strip, means for inking said rows of printing characters, electrically operated second drive means for producing high speed indexing of said print drum and including a stepping motor, said stepping motor being effective to step said print drum through a revolution for each said printing cycle to position each row of common printing characters at said printing station, means for holding said stepping motor and said print drum at a home position after each printing cycle, a plurality of hammer members arranged in a row adjacent said print drum on the opposite side of said path, each of said hammer members corresponding to one of said printing characters in each of said rows on said print drum, and a corresponding plurality of electrically actuated solenoids connected for selectively moving said hammer members and cooperating with said stepping motor to print a line of different information across each label during each said printing cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.