Label cutting device for label applying machine
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     This invention relates to a label cutting device, which is built into a label applying machine, for cutting an elongated strip of labels into unit label pieces. The label strip includes label strip advancement perforations in the form of cuts through the label strip which are formed at regular intervals. The connecting portions of the label strip next to the perforations are cut by the cutting device of the invention after the label strip is peeled from a backing paper. 
     For example, a device which performs this function is disclosed in the specifications of Japanese Pat. Nos. 664,065, entitled &#34;Label Cutting Device in Label Applying Machine&#34; and 664,072, entitled &#34;Label Applying Machine&#34; owned by the assignee hereof. In the latter patent, the label strip engaging and advancing roller has cutting blades arrayed around it at regular intervals. A vertically movable blade receiving block is moved toward and away from the blades 41 by the hand lever of the label applying machine. 
     However, when the label strip is cut by pressing the blade receiving block against the cutting blade, a number of disadvantages result. Great pressure must be exerted in order to cut the label strip. This apparatus press cuts and the cutting blade is often damaged, which interferes with the label application. Because the blade receiving block strikes against the cutting blade, impact sound is produced. Such noisy cutting devices are disliked by operators. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved, simplified cutting device for a label applying machine. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a label cutting device which is easily operated and kept in good order throughout long term use. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a label cutting device which can be operated quietly. 
     The label cutting device in accordance with the present invention has a label advancing roller whose peripheral surface is provided with one or more usually a plurality of label advancing pawls spaced at regular intervals around the roller and with a plurality of regularly spaced apart long blade receiving grooves which extend across the advancing roller. A movable cutting blade is supported next to the label advancing roller at a cutting position. The label strip is held against the peripheral surface of the label advancing roller at the cutting position and it is cut by insertion of the cutting blade into one of the long grooves of the roller through operation of the hand lever of the label applying machine. 
     In the label cutting device of the present invention, the label strip is cut through by each thrust of the cutting blade. With this device, the following advantages result: 
     A. The squeezing of the hand lever is made easy so that the fatigue of operator is reduced. 
     B. The cutting blade is seldom broken so that the label cutting can be performed in good order for a long period of time. 
     C. The label applying machine operates quietly as it does not produce impact sounds during cutting work. 
     D. Tamper-proof labels can be formed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In order that the invention may be more fully understood, preferred embodiments and various features will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a label applying machine, which is provided with the label cutting device of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main part of the cutting device of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the component parts of the cutting device shown in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the cutting device in which the hand lever of the label applying machine is released; 
     FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the cutting device in which the hand lever of the label applying machine is partially squeezed; 
     FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the cutting device in which the hand lever of the label applying machine is completely squeezed; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of a label strip; 
     FIG. 8a is a perspective view of a modified embodiment of a cutting blade for a cutting device; 
     FIG. 8b is a perspective view of a portion of a modified embodiment of a label strip; 
     FIG. 8c is a perspective view of a modified embodiment of a label advancing roller; and 
     FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a cutting device in the prior art. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     FIG. 9 shows a label cutting device in a label applying machine disclosed in the above Japanese Pat. No. 664,072. This label cutting device comprises a label advancing roller 31 having label advancing pawls 36 and cutting blades 41 spaced at regular intervals around the peripheral surface of the roller and comprises a blade receiving block 101 that is disposed below the advancing roller 31 and that is movable in the vertical directions. The blade receiving block 101 is moved in the direction of an arrow F by the operation of a hand lever 3, thereby pressing the blade receiving block 101 against the cutting blade 41 so as to cut the peeled label strip 21 and to obtain a single cut label 64. The disadvantages of this prior art arrangement were discussed above. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In FIGS. 1 to 7, the first embodiment of cutting device of the invention is shown. 
     The label applying machine of FIG. 1 has a pair of side plates 1 disposed on both sides of a label applying machine leaving a space between the side plates to receive the component parts of the machine. A hand lever 3 is pivotally secured to a fulcrum shaft 2 that is attached between the side plates 1. A drive spring 27 normally biases the hand lever 3 to pivot to its ungripped condition of FIG. 1 away from the grip toward which the lever is pivoted when gripped. The front half of the hand lever 3 is a forked yoke 4 that supports a printing head 5 comprised of two printing devices 5&#39;. 
     There is an inking device 6 for applying ink to the printing head 5. The inking device 6 comprises a bail member 7 and an inking roller 10 that is attached to the bail member 7 by means of an inking roller holder 9. The upper end of the bail member 7 is attached to the pin 8 that bridges the space between the side plates 1. The inking roller holder 9 is detachable from the bail member 7, and the inking roller 10 is also detachable from the inking roller holder 9. Upon the downward stroke of the printing device 5 caused by the squeezing of the hand lever 3, the inking roller 10 rolls over the type faces of the printing types in the printing head 5 and this inks the type faces. The inking roller 10 is moved along the guide grooves 11 which are formed in the inside walls of the side plates 1. 
     The label cutting device of the present invention includes a label advancing roller 31 which is rotatably supported by a main shaft 32 that is attached between the side plates 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of indexing pins 33 are formed at regular intervals on one side of the advancing roller 31. A hook lever 13 (FIG. 1) is engaged with the indexing pins 33 one by one. The hook lever 13 is pivotally attached to the yoke 4 at the front portion of the hand lever 3. The lever 13 is actuated by a spring 12 which biases lever 13 counterclockwise in FIG. 1. A gear 34 is affixed on the other side of the advancing roller 31 from pins 33. The gear 34 is in engagement with gear 19. The gear 19 is secured to a large roller 16 at the rear portion of a label transferring belt device 14 which is disposed below the printing head 5. 
     The label transferring belt device 14 is comprised of a large roller 16 and a small roller 15 which carry an endless belt 17 that is surface treated with silicone resin. The belt device is supported on platen belt frame 18. The belt device 14 is interconnected through the gears 19 and 34 to the advancing roller 31. 
     The belt device 14 delivers peeled, cut labels to the label applicator 26 at the front of the labeling machine and the applicator applies the labels to commodities. 
     On the outer wall of the gear 34, there are a plurality of positioning recesses disposed in a circle (not shown in drawings). In FIG. 3, auxiliary side plates 67, 68 are illustrated. These are attached to respective side plates 1. As shown in the upper right part of FIG. 3, a projection 70 is fitted into a fitting hole 71 formed in the auxiliary side plate 67 and the projection 70 is urged into hole 71 by a spring 69 that also presses against the adjacent side plate 1. The angular positioning of the advancing roller 31 is obtained through engagement between one of the above recesses in the wall of gear 34 and the projection 70 on the auxiliary side plate 67 that is attached on a side plate 1. 
     The label strip to be operated upon by this apparatus comprises adhesive backed labels joined at perforations and laminated to a separate layer of removable protective backing paper 23. As shown in FIG. 1, the laminated label strip and backing paper 24 are held on and dispensed from a holder 25 at the top of the frame. After peeling of the label strip 21 from the backing paper strip 23, the peeled label strip 21 is pressed against the peripheral surface of the advancing roller 31 by elastic pressure belts 37 which pass around rollers 38a, 38b and 38c which are supported on side plates 1. 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, long grooves 35 are formed at regular angular intervals in the outer surface of the advancing roller 31 and extend across the roller 31 in the direction parallel to the axis of the roller. Inserted into each long groove 35 is a label advancing pawl 36 that has two radially outwardly projecting pawl tips 36&#39; in its upper middle portion. The width of the two pawl tips 36&#39; between both ends thereof corresponds to the length of the transferring perforation 22 which extends across the middle portion of the label strip 21, as shown in FIG. 7. The label strip 21 has side cuts 28 extending in from its sides and it has unbroken connecting portions 30 which join the side cuts 28 and the corresponding perforation 22. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, at both outer side portions of the long grooves 35 of the advancing roller 31 alongside the pawl tips 36&#39; are formed blade receiving slots 39 which have adequate widths and depths for receiving the inward, free sharpened cutting blade edges 40 of a label cutting blade 41. 
     At the bottoms of slots 39, there are dusting holes 73 which accept the cutting waste or chad. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2-4, there is a single label cutting blade 41 which is a U-shaped plate having sideways projecting lugs 42 on both sides and including arms 43 with blade edges 40 at their tip ends. Further, the blade 41 is movably carried by a cutting blade support 44. 
     The cutting blade support 44 comprises an upper supporting member 46 and a lower supporting member 47. The upper supporting member 46 is attached to and extends between the side plates 1 through engagement with the auxiliary side plates 67 and 68 and by means of a shaft 45 that extends through supporting member 46 and into plates 67 and 68. The lower supporting member 47 has a raised portion 49 on its top which is slightly higher than the thickness of cutting blade 41. The raised portion 49 of the lower supporting member 47 is attached to the upper supporting member 46 with a screw 48 that is received in a threaded hole (not shown) in member 46. The raised portion 49 guides the edges 40 on the arms 43 of cutting blade 41 exactly into the blade slots 39 of the advancing roller 31. Both of the outer side walls of the raised portion 49 are parallel to both opposed inside walls of the arms 43 of the cutting blade 41 and the outer walls of portion 49 contact the inside walls of the arms 43. Further, to allow the cutting blade 41 to reciprocate along the length of arms 43, the length of the raised portion along the length of arms 43 is shorter than the length of the arms 43. On the rear lower edge of the upper supporting member 46, there is a stopper 50 (see FIG. 3) for receiving the rear end of the cutting blade 41. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lugs 42 at both sides of the cutting blade 41 are fitted in U-shaped notches that are formed in one end of each first link 51. The first links 51 are pivotally secured at their central regions to the auxiliary side plates 67 and 68 with a shaft 53 that extends across the space between plates 67 and 68 and through a sleeve 29a which properly spaces links 51 apart and narrow sleeves 29b which spaces the links from plates 67 and 68. The end portion of each link 51 opposite to its U-shaped notch is pivotally connected to one end of a second link 52 by a respective pin 55. 
     Each second link 52 is pivotally attached to the auxiliary side plates 67, 68 and to side plates 1 by a shaft 54 that passes through the more central opening through link 52 and through central sleeve 29c, which spaces links 52 apart and narrow outer sleeves 29d which spaces links 52 from plates 67 and 68. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the second links 52 are urged clockwise by torsion springs 56 that are biased by their engagement with shafts 53 and 54. 
     In its normal position, the cutting blade 41 supported by the first links 51 is always held in its lower non-cutting position. The other ends (the right ends in FIG. 4) of the second links 52 carry a rotatable member 57, shaped like a bell crank, which is attached to the links 52 by a shaft 58 that extends between the auxiliary plates 67 and 68 and that passes through openings 52b in links 52, through the central bent portion of member 57, and the spacer sleeves 29e between member 57 and links 52 that define the central location of member 57. Member 57 is normally urged counterclockwise in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4 by a spring 60 that is fitted on a roller 72 in the opening through member 57. The spring 60 engages the member 57 and the underside of a bar 59. The front undersurface 66 of the rotating member 57 is biased by spring 60 into contact with a bar 59 that extends between the second most rearward holes 52c through the second links 52. 
     On both sides of the hand lever 3, vertical arms 61 are rotatably attached to the fulcrum shaft 2. The lower free ends of the arms 61 are joined by a pin 63. The pin 63 passes through holes at the ends of arms 61, a central roller 62 and spacing elements 29f. The roller 62 is attached to move with the lower free ends of the arms 61 by the pin 63. The roller 62 is brought into engagement with the lower end 65 of the rotatable member 57 for rotating same, as described below. 
     The operation of this embodiment of the cutting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. 
     FIG. 4 shows the inoperative condition before lever 3 is squeezed. As shown in FIG. 5, when the hand lever 3 is squeezed halfway, the vertical arms 61 of the hand lever 3 turn counterclockwise about the fulcrum shaft 2 and the upper surface of the roller 62 at the tip ends of the arms 61 pushes the lower end 65 of the rotatable member 57 in the rearward direction and then raises the member 57 and this rotates the member 57 counterclockwise around shaft 58. Because the front undersurface 66 of the rotatable member 57 is held in contact with the bar 59 between the second links 52, the second links 52 are turned counterclockwise about the shaft 54 against the force of the spring 56 by the spring 60. This turns the first links 51 counterclockwise about the shaft 53. As a result, the cutting blade 41, which is carried by the first links 51, is moved forward through the stationary supporting member 44. The edges 40 of the cutting blade 41 enter the blade slot 39 of the long groove 35 of the advancing roller 31 that is then opposed to blade 41. 
     With regard to the label strip 21 at this position, the transferring perforation 22 of the strip is in engagement with the advancing pawls 36 of the advancing roller 31 and the label strip 21 is pushed over the peripheral surface of the advancing roller 31 by the spring belts 37. By means of the blade 41, the connecting portions 30 on both sides of the perforation 22 are cut off, thereby severing the connection between adjacent labels and separating a single label 64. 
     When the hand lever 3 is further squeezed, as shown in FIG. 6, the roller 62 passes completely under the lower end 65 of the rotating member 62, freeing the second links 52 to be returned clockwise by the force of torsion springs 56. This also returns the first links 51 clockwise, and the cutting blade 41 is pulled down through the action of the first links 51. In this return of the blade 41, its rear side is stopped by the stopper 50 of the support 44. 
     After the label strip 21 is cut, when the hand lever 3 is released, the roller 62 held by the tip ends of the vertical arms 61 is moved forwardly under the lower end 65 of the rotating member 57 by the tension of drive spring 27, and the rotatable member 57 is turned clockwise against the force of the spring 60 by the combined action of the roller 62 engaging member 57 from the rear and the then stationary rod 59. When the roller 62 passes the lower end 65, the roller 62 and the lower end 65 of member 57 are completely disengaged and the roller 62 returns to the original position shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. 
     Before the label strip 21 reaches the roller 31, the strip 21 of labels is peeled from the backing paper 23 at the guide roller 20 which is disposed below the label holder 25. The backing paper is led through an outlet passage to the rear of the hand grip. The label strip 21 is then inserted into the space between the outer surface of the advancing roller 31 and the elastic belts 37, and here the transferring perforations 22 of the label strip 21 are engaged by the advancing pawls 36 of the advancing roller 31. During the rotation of the advancing roller 31, the projection 70 for positioning the roller 31 engages the recesses (not shown) formed on the side face of the advancing roller 31. The advancing roller 31 is thus turned for the length of a single label 64 during each cycle of operation of the hand lever and the label strip 21 is transferred to the cutting position one label at a time. Each cut label 64 is then transferred from the advancing roller 31 to the label transferring belt device 14. While each label is on this device, it is printed by the printing head 5 that is placed above the platen belt frame member 18. The printed label is delivered under the label applying member 26 which can then apply it to a commodity. 
     A different embodiment of cutting device is now described. All elements not described below are the same as in the first embodiment. 
     FIG. 8c shows another embodiment of the advancing roller 31, in which the long transverse grooves 35a for blade slots 39 and the shorter transverse grooves 35b for advancing pawls 36 are separately formed in the outer surface of the advancing roller 31 and are angularly spaced apart around the periphery of roller 31 at regular intervals. The grooves 35b having advancing pawls 36 are spaced apart at the same intervals, but they are placed between the grooves 35 for the pawls 36. 
     In the modified embodiment of the label strip 21 shown in FIG. 8b, which is to be used with the roller 31 of FIG. 8c, there are spaced apart transverse rows across the label strip 21 consisting of the transferring perforation 22 formed in the middle portion of the strip, the connecting portions 30 formed on both sides of the perforation 22 and the edge cuts 28 formed outside of the connecting portions 30. These rows are formed at regular intervals along the label strip 21. Midway between adjacent perforations 22, there are auxiliary cuts 60 which are spaced at the same intervals as the above described rows. There are also uncut connecting portions 30 formed between and on both sides of the auxiliary cuts 60. 
     The modified embodiment of a cutting blade 41 shown in FIG. 8a is M-shaped, with three blade edges 40 formed at the lower portion of the blade 41. The number of blade edges corresponds to the number of uncut sections 30 of label material at auxiliary cuts 60 which the blade 41 must cut. 
     A single modified label 64 is cut off by inserting the blade edges 40 through the connecting portions 30 and into the blade slots 39 of a long groove 35a when an arrangement of cuts 60 and uncut portions 30 are indexed under blade edges 40 and over a blade slot 39. The resulting label 64 has three cuts (a perforation 22 and tamper-proof edge cuts 38) remaining at its middle portion. A label 64 having tamper-proof cuts 38 is useful, for instance, when a customer who seeks to buy a high priced commodity at a lower price, peels a low price label off an inexpensive commodity intending to attach the peeled label to an expensive commodity in place of the higher price label that he has also peeled off. However, each applied label is torn at the above mentioned three cuts 28, 22, 28 when it is peeled off, whereby the customer cannot succeed in his attempt. In other words, when the grooves for the blade slots and for the advancing pawls are separately formed, tamperproof labels can be produced. 
     Although the present invention has been described in connection with a number of preferred embodiments thereof, many variations and modifications will now become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited, not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.