Coating apparatus – Immersion or work-confined pool type – Capillary passages or barometric column feed
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-29
2001-07-03
Lamb, Brenda Adele (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Immersion or work-confined pool type
Capillary passages or barometric column feed
C118S216000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254679
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a device for uniformly moistening a flexible strip such as a strip of paper or of any other commercially-available pre-gummed flexible medium used for sticking the postage on or “franking” letters, packets and parcels, for packaging, and for labelling.
PRIOR ART
The simplest and therefore the most common type of device for moistening a pre-gummed flexible strip comprises a moistening element constituted by a sponge or by a felt. It is known that that type of moistening element does not wear well over time.
European Patent Application No. 0 293 316 describes a device for moistening pre-gummed labels. That device comprises a moistening element in the form of a brush made up of a sheet of bristles. The brush is placed in a tank filled with a moistening liquid suitable for diluting the glue. The bottom portion of the brush remains immersed in the moistening liquid which is maintained at a constant level. The top portion of the brush is moistened with liquid by capillary action, and it is maintained in contact with the gummed faces of the labels while they advance past the brush. Although the brush wears better over time than does a sponge or a felt, it suffers from the drawback of not distributing the moistening liquid over the gummed faces of the labels uniformly, over time, because it gathers glue. The ends of the bristles of the brush scraping over the gummed faces of the labels causes glue to be deposited between the bristles of the brush. As a result, the brush clogs up because glue remains trapped between the bristles of the brush, without it being possible for the trapped glue to be removed while the labels are advancing. That gives rise to poor transfer of moistening liquid to the labels, with certain portions of the gummed faces of the labels being scrubbed, and, as a result, moistening of the labels is not uniform over time.
French Patent FR 91 16369 filed in the Applicants' name discloses a rigid moistening element provided with parallel capillary action slots which enable glue residue to be removed continuously by channeling the moistening liquid through the capillary action slots. Unfortunately, although that element is entirely satisfactory for numerous uses, it has become apparent that, when labels are not provided with enough glue, and therefore require extra moistening liquid, the moistening becomes less effective, thereby giving rise to poor sticking of the labels or of an envelope opening when the flexible strip to be stuck is constituted by an envelope flap.
DEFINITION AND OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for moistening a flexible strip, which device comprises a moistening element and does not suffer from the above-mentioned drawbacks, and in particular maintains moistening that is uniform even with a surplus of moistening liquid.
To this end, the invention provides a device for moistening a flexible strip having a face that is gummed at least in part, the device comprising a moistening element in the form of a rigid bar having a bottom portion immersed in a moistening liquid and a top portion moistened with said liquid by capillary action and in contact with the gummed face while said strip is advancing in an advance direction against said moistening element, said top portion of the moistening element being provided with a plurality of capillary action slots passing through said bar in said advance direction, which slots have respective bottoms immersed in the moistening liquid, wherein said capillary action slots slant relative to the advance direction in a manner such as to enable the entire width of the gummed face of the flexible strip to be moistened.
By slanting the moistening slots, the degree of moistening is increased because the entire gummed surface of the strip is swept, and it is thus moistened uniformly. In a prior art device, since the edges of the bar are not moistened, they can cause a label to be damaged or to come unstuck even if the label has already been stuck. In addition, compared with prior art devices, the priming time is reduced to a few seconds because of the larger volume of liquid that is displaced.
Advantageously, an end portion of a capillary action slot located in alignment in said advance direction with an end portion of an adjacent capillary action slot.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2686607 (1954-08-01), Zander
patent: 5455062 (1995-10-01), Muhlfriedal et al.
patent: 5622560 (1997-04-01), Haroutel et al.
patent: 0 550 326 A1 (1993-07-01), None
Lamb Brenda Adele
Neopost Industrie
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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