Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering to stack and feeding therefrom – With sheet sensor for selective location
Patent
1984-05-07
1986-08-12
Stoner, Jr., Bruce H.
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering to stack and feeding therefrom
With sheet sensor for selective location
271128, 271147, 271157, 221198, 414119, B65H 108
Patent
active
046052143
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to label handling apparatus.
British Patent Specification No: 1,380,047 describes and claims means for controlling the sale of goods in a self-service store which comprise for inter-related use price/weight tokens which may be attached to, or otherwise associated with, each item of merchandise and which carry or embody machine-readable means in code or otherwise identifying both the price of the item and its weight, a basket, trolley or the like for carrying goods and having an identified tare weight, a weight platform on to which the merchandise including the basket, trolley or the like may be placed, means for reading the price and weight data from a plurality of price/weight tokens and for totaling the price and weight data and means for displaying the total weight on the weighing platform.
Such systems are valuable in speeding check-out procedures in supermarkets.
The present invention is directed specifically to label handling apparatus for use in carrying out the method of Patent No: 1,380,047.
According to a first feature of the present invention there is provided a label handling system comprising a plurality of label-receiving boxes, apparatus including a box-receiving station, means for ejecting the labels from a box placed in the box-receiving station into a downwardly facing hopper and means for removing labels sequentially from the top of the stack in the hopper and passing labels so removed through a data reading station at which price and weight data are read from the labels and subsequently further processed.
In accordance with the invention, a plurality of label-receiving boxes are provided for the shopper. Each time an article of merchandise is selected by the shopper and placed in the basket, trolley or the like, its label is detached and placed in the box. Preferably, in accordance with the invention the box consists of a generally rectangular parallelepipedic box having a base, four walls and a lid, the lid being smaller than the size of the box or having one or more apertures therein to enable insertion of the labels into the box.
Preferably, the interior of the lid bears deflector plate means ensuring that labels, however inserted, stack neatly in the box. Preferably, the base of the box has one or more apertures therein through which means may be inserted to eject a stack of labels from the box into the downwardly facing hopper.
The lid of the box is preferably hinged and the entire box is preferably made as a one-piece resilient plastics moulding. The shape and dimensions of the box will naturally correspond to those of the tickets or labels with which it is designed to be used.
At each check-out, a box receiving station is arranged into which a box is inserted either by the shopper or by the check-out operative. This may conveniently take the form of a hinged flap having box-receiving and aligning means thereon which can be hinged from an open position in which a box may be placed therein by hand to a closed position in which label ejection means may remove the labels from the box. The label ejection means may consist, for example, of a mechanically or hydraulically operated lifting table arrange to pass through an aperture in the bottom of the box and to lift the labels thereon upwardly into a downwardly facing hopper located above the lifting table.
The stroke of the lifting table may be in two sections, a first section designed to eject the labels from the box and feed them into the hopper and a second section during which the label stack is gently biased towards the top of the hopper from which the labels are successively removed.
The labels are preferably removed by means of a label engaging blade which is reciprocated to one end of the generally rectangular section hopper, which serves to eject the labels one by one from a slot at the top of the hopper into the nip between a pair of constantly rotating rollers. These rollers may then feed the label through a further pair of rollers, optical reading heads being located to each side of the label path bet
REFERENCES:
patent: 3741537 (1973-06-01), Lange
patent: 3887106 (1975-06-01), Charlson et al.
patent: 3987911 (1976-10-01), Euverard et al.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, "Stub Ticket Cartridge", by D. F. Colglazier and R. J. Ullmer, vol. 15, No. 11, Apr. 1973, pp. 3410 and 3411.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, "Paper Bin", by J. A. Craft, vol. 17, No. 5, Oct. 1974, p. 1308.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, "Automatic Mail Tray Loader and Unloader", by J. S. Brancke, J. M. Fuscoe and M. P. Nashman, vol. 16, no. 6, Nov. 1973, p. 1886.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, "Envelope Loading Module", by R. E. Hunt and W. M. Jenkins, vol. 17, No. 6, Nov. 1974, p. 1549.
Dent John N.
Hanning Bernard W.
Graham Matthew C.
Stoner Jr. Bruce H.
LandOfFree
Label handling apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Label handling apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Label handling apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1932759