Portable label printer

• US 4,145,966 A
• Filed: 10/31/1975
• Issued: 03/27/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bio-Logics Products Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bio-Logics Products Incorporated
• Inventors: Peterson, Gerald H., Davis, William P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coughenour, Clyde I.
• Application Number:
  US05/627,513
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 242/55, 242/53, 242/55.2, 242/71.1, 242/71.2, 360/132, 206/387, 197/6.4, 197/6.5, 197/6.6, 197/6.7, 197/157, 197/168, 101/260, 101/228, 101/252, 101/272, 101/269, 101/288, 101/291, 101/292, 352/72, 352/78, 226/52, 226/62, 226/68, 271/84
• US Class Current: 101/260
• CPC Class Codes: B41L 47/04 of flat or curved plates for relief printing
• CPC Class Codes: B41L 47/24 Mechanisms for conveying copy material through addressographs or like series-printing machines in general B65;
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 11/02 having printing equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 283/90 Medical record

Abstract

A portable hand held and manually operated label printer and a method of its use in transferring information from a master plate onto a pressure sensitive label. The printer consists of a magazine section wherein a continuous roll of serially linked pressure sensitive labels are installed with the roll end thereof threaded through an appropriate passage into a manually operated label receiving and printing group. A printing roller arranged on a spring biased slide within the label receiving and printing group, is manually displaced to travel over one of the pressure sensitive labels, sandwiching it against a master plate, transferring raised characters formed on the master plate into the label. A follower arrangement is included with the slide having a hook formed on an end thereof that aligns with and travels into one of a number of strategically placed holes spaced at intervals in the roll of labels to pull the serially connected labels therewith as the slide is biased back to its starting attitude, thereby dispensing a printed label from the printer end.

Claims

1. Apparatus for preparing printed labels comprising a portable lable printer having

a housing capable of being held in one hand by a user;

a label magazine with a cavity therein, said cavity being arranged to receive and maintain a plurality of serially linked, pressure sensitive labels;

a pair of openings into said housing;

means for guiding a flat master plate into the housing through one said opening;

a flat master plate having raised indicia projecting from one face thereof, said master plate being removably positioned by the guide means in the one said opening;

means for sequentially moving said labels into position overlying the raised indicia and out of the housing through the other of said openings, said means including

a hole between each serially linked label;

a follower arm having one end pivotally connected to a support means, a hook on the other end of the follower arm, said hook being aligned with the holes between labels and having a cam surface on the end of the hook most remote from the pivot connection of the arm;

means biasing the hook of the follower arm against the labels; and

means for rolling over each said label to press it against the master plate, whereby the indicia acts on the pressure sensitive label to reproduce the indicia on the label said means including

a roller carried by the support means for the follower arm;

means biasing said roller to a position adjacent to the openings;

means for guiding said roller away from said openings to roll over each label after the label is positioned to overlie the raised indicia; and

means for moving said roller over each label as the label is positioned to overlie said raised indicia and for pressing said label against the flat master plate, in opposition to said means biasing said roller.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1, wherein

the housing is of generally pistol shape, with the magazine forming a handle and with a barrel projecting from the handle;

and wherein

a supply of the serially linked labels is provided in the handle and is distributed through the barrel;

the roller is within the barrel; and

the openings are formed through the end of the barrel opposite to the handle.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2, further including

parallel guide tracks within the barrel;

a slide extending between said guide tracks and forming the support means for the roller and the follower arm; and

a finger projection extending from the slide through the housing as a means for moving the slide within the housing.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the label magazine comprises a cassette housing releasably connected to the barrel.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the label magazine is formed integral with the barrel and forms a gripping handle with an access door thereinto.

6. Apparatus as in claim 1, further including

a plurality of dies;

means for sequentially rotating said dies to a printing position beneath a label and adjacent to the flat master plate when said plate is fully inserted in said one opening,

whereby the roller is rolled over the die in a printing position as it is rolled over the master plate.

7. A cassette for use with a portable label printer having a barrel with parallel guide tracks within the barrel at opposite sides thereof and means including a hook between the guide tracks for advancing serially interconnected labels through the barrel, said cassette comprising

a housing with a cavity therein, said cavity being arranged to receive a roll of labels serially arranged on a continuous backing strip;

means on the housing for releasably attaching said housing to the barrel;

guide means on the housing through which the labels are adapted to be guided, said guide means on the housing including spaced apart parallel guide tracks aligned with the guide tracks on the barrel when said cassette is releasably attached to the barrel; and

a roll of labels serially arranged on a continuous backing strip in the cavity, said continuous backing strip having the edges thereof within the guide tracks of the guide means, the labels arranged between said guide tracks and holes between the labels to be engaged by the hook of the means for advancing labels through the barrel.