Label printing and applying apparatus
AssigneeMonarch Marking Systems, Inc.
InventorPaul H. Hamisch, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is disclosed label printing and applying apparatus by which labels are successively printed and applied to merchandise. The apparatus feeds pressure sensitive labels mounted on a web of supporting material to a printing zone and to a delaminating zone. An applicator disposed downstream of the delaminating zone is used to apply the labels to merchandise.
Claims5
A hand-held label printing and applying machine for printing and applying pressure sensitive labels carried on a web of supporting material, comprising:
- a housing having a handle and a first arcuate bearing surface, printing means, a delaminator downstream of the printing means, feeding means engageable with the web downstream of the delaminator for drawing the web to effect delamination of labels by the delaminator, an applicator for applying the labels, means including an actuator disposed at the handle and movable away from and toward an initial position for operating the printing and feeding means in sequence, the actuator having a second arcuate bearing surface, and a spring assembly disposed in the housing and comprising a sleeve, a plunger slidably received in the sleeve and a captive spring disposed within the sleeve and acting on the sleeve and on the plunger for exerting forces on both the handle and the actuator to effect return of the actuator to its initial position, and means for limiting the extent to which the sleeve and plunger can move apart to prevent the parts from separating and releasing the spring during assembly or disassembly of the machine, the limiting means including a snap-lock connection including a resilient member, wherein one of the sleeve and the plunger has an integrally formed bearing surface cooperable with the first bearing surface and the other of the sleeve and the plunger has an integrally formed bearing surface cooperable with second bearing surface.
For a hand-held machine including housing having a handle, a rack and a feed wheel mounted in the housing, a gear section engaged with the rack, and an actuator disposed at the handle for driving the gear section, the rack, the gear section and the actuator being movable from an initial position to an actuated position upon manual actuation of the actuator and being returned to the initial position upon release of the actuator to complete an operating cycle, the feed wheel being actuated during the cycle in response to release of the actuator, a return spring assembly acting on and movable relative to the housing and acting on and movable relative to the actuator for biasing the rack, the gear section and the actuator to their initial positions, the return spring assembly being disposed in the housing and having relatively movable molded plastics parts, captive spring means for biasing the parts to one position, wherein one of the parts has an integrally formed bearing surface cooperable with a bearing surface formed integrally with the housing and the other part has an integrally formed bearing surface cooperable with a bearing surface formed integrally with the actuator, means providing a resilient snap-lock connection between the movable parts for holding the parts against separational movement against the action of the spring means to prevent the return spring assembly from separating and releasing the spring means during assembly or disassembly of the machine.
For a hand-held machine including a housing having a handle, a rack and a feed wheel mounted in the housing, a gear section engaged with the rack, and an actuator disposed at the handle for driving the gear section, the rack, the gear section and the actuator being movable from an initial position to an actuated position upon manual actuation of the actuator and being returned to the initial position upon release of the actuator to complete an operating cycle, the feed wheel being actuated during the cycle in response to release of the actuator, a return spring assembly acting on and movable relative to the housing and acting on and movable relative to the actuator for biasing the rack, the gear section and the actuator to the initial positions, the return spring assembly being disposed in the housing and having relatively movable molded plastics parts, captive spring means for biasing the parts to one position, means providing a resilient snap-lock connection between the movable parts for holding the parts against separational movement against the action of the spring means to prevent the return spring assembly from separating and releasing the spring means during assembly or disassembly of the machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.