CA2014632A1 - Assembly of flat marker sleeves recessed in carrier and retained therein by support tape - Google Patents
Assembly of flat marker sleeves recessed in carrier and retained therein by support tapeInfo
- Publication number
- CA2014632A1 CA2014632A1 CA 2014632 CA2014632A CA2014632A1 CA 2014632 A1 CA2014632 A1 CA 2014632A1 CA 2014632 CA2014632 CA 2014632 CA 2014632 A CA2014632 A CA 2014632A CA 2014632 A1 CA2014632 A1 CA 2014632A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- carrier
- assembly
- marker
- sleeves
- sleeve
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Abstract
Abstract of the Disclosure The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
An assembly of flattened tubular marker sleeves including a carrier having integral longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of evenly spaced transverse bridge members with rectangular apertures between the bridge members, a support tape or tapes having a pressure sensitive adhesive layer secured to the back of the carrier over the apertures, and a marker sleeve in each aperture of the carrier and retained therein by the pressure sensitive adhesive layer of the support tape(s).
An assembly of flattened tubular marker sleeves including a carrier having integral longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of evenly spaced transverse bridge members with rectangular apertures between the bridge members, a support tape or tapes having a pressure sensitive adhesive layer secured to the back of the carrier over the apertures, and a marker sleeve in each aperture of the carrier and retained therein by the pressure sensitive adhesive layer of the support tape(s).
Description
2 ~ 3 ~
ASSl~MBLY OF l?LAT MaRRE:R SLI :l~VES R~CE:SSED Il~
Ci~RRIER A~D RE:TAINED THE:RlEIN BY SUPPORT TAPE:
Our present invention relates to assemblies of flattened tubular marker sleeves; more specificallyl such assemblies that are particularly adapted to facilitate printing of identification legends on the marker sleeves by end users with various types of computer controlled printing devices.
Tubular marker sleeves are typically used as an identification device for electrical wires, such as identifying wires in a harness or bundle of wires with a distinctive legend such as serial number to identify a specific wire in the harness or bundle. The marker sleeves are often made of heatshrinkable plastic material so they can be shrunk after being applied to a wire to tightly conform to the periphery o the wire and thereby be retained securely in place.
It is generally preferable to supply the marker sleeves to an end user in the form of an assembly including a plurality of marker sleeves. One style of ma~rker sleeve assembly is described in U.S. Patent 3,894,731 comprising flatt~ned sleeves carried on tines extending from a supporting spine., More recent developments are described in U.S. Patents 4,361,230, Downing et al., 4,363,401, Savagian, and 4,442,939, Downing, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. These latter patents disclose marker sleeve assemblies made from two or more webs joined together to define individual sleeves, and marker t~
sleeve assemblies according to one or more of these patents have proved to be commercially successful.
` Another ~tyle of marker sleeve assemblies is described in U.S. Patent 4,198,451, Johnston, wherein the marker sleeves are secured to pressure sensitive adhesive on a surface of a traction sheet, such as a sheet of paper with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on one of its surfaces, and in which the traction sheet further includes a cover coating of friction material on its opposite or back side in order to facilitate feeding the assembly through a typewriter. Our present invention relates generally to an assembly of marker sleeves that utilizes pressure sensitiYe adhesive to retain individual marker sleeves in the assembly until ready to be removed therefrom for use, but provides a novel construction that has important advantages as compared to the construction disclosed in this patent.
Many end users of marker sleeves, particularly those using a large number of sleeves, prefer to obtain unprinted marker sleeves that do not carry preprinted identification information as they can apply identification legends to the unprinted marker sleeves in their own plants, generally with one form or another of a computer controlled printer. One of the main objectives of the present invention is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves having a construction that will enable individual sleeves in the assembly to be printed with identification legends by any type of computer controlled printing mechanism, including a dot matrix printer, daisy wheel printer, ink jet printer, laser 3 2 ~ 3 2 printer, etc. In this connection, it is particularly important to provide an assembly of marker sleeves that can be printed with a dot matrix type of printer mechanism in which the assembly eliminates problems arising from interfer.ing with the pins of the dot matrix printhead as the printhead moves across marker sleeves of the assembly.
Accordingly, a more specific object of our inYention is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves in which the marker sleeves are at least partially recessed within supporting members in such fashion that the s]eeves will not interfere with transverse movement of a dot matrix printhead across the assembly. Another main objective is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves recessed in a carrier that also imparts structural integrity to the assembly. Additional objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.
Our invention provides an assembly of flattened tubular marker sleeves comprising a carrier consisting of a one-piece element including spaced longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members, the side members and bridge members being integral connected portions of the carrier, the bridge members being equally spaced to define a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular apertures between each adjacent pair of bridge members that are arranged in at least one longitudinal row along the carrier; a support tape comprising a substrate and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer, the suppor~ tape being combined with the carrier with the pressure sensitive 2 ~ 3 2 adhesive layer adhered to a bottom surface of the carrier and having a portion exposed inside each aperture of the carrier; and at least one flattened tubular marker sleeve positioned in each aperture of the carrier and having a bottom surface releasably adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesive of the support tape in an aperture and also having an exposed top surface. The marker sleeves are at least partially recessed within the carrier-support tape combination, thereby reducing the extent to which a sleeve protrudes from the top surface of the carrier. This, in turn, reduces or eliminates the likelihood that a protruding portion of a sleeve can interfere with the operation or movement of a printhead mechanism. Further, the carrier structure of side members interconnected with bridge members results in an assembly ~hat has structural integrity during printing of the marker sleeves and after removal of sleeves from the assembly.
The ensuing detailed description is made by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly of marker sleeves of the invention wound into roll-form;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the assembly of Fig. 1, with part of one marker sleeve broken away;
; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the assembly taken along the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 3a is a sectional view along the same plane as Fig. 3 of an alternate structure for the assembly;
2 ~ 2 Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the assembly taken along the plane of line 4-4 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of an initial step in the application of a marker sleeve from the assembly ; 5 illustrating the removal of a marker sleeve from ~he assembly using a sleeve remo~al tool;
Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an intermediate step in the application of a marker sleeve from the assembly;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a marker sleeve from the assembly applied onto a wire;
Fig. 8 is a plan view of a second assembly of marker sleeves of the invention;
Fig. 9 is a plan view of a third assembly of marker sleeves of the invention;
Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the third assembly along the plane of line 10-10 of Fig. 9;
Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the third assembly along the plane of line 11-11 of Fig. 9;
Fig. 12 is a plan view of an alternate construction of the assembly of Fig. 1;
Fig. 13 is a plan view of a first prior art assembly of sleeve markers;
Fig. 14 is a sectional view along the plane of line 14-14 of Fig. 13;
Fig. 15 is a plan view of a second prior art assembly of sleeve markers;
2~4632 Fig. 16 is a sec~ional view along the plane of line 16-16 of Fig. 15;
Fig. 17 is a plan view of a third prior art assembly of sleeve markers; and Fig. 18 is a sectional view along the plane of line 18-18 of Fig. 17.
De~cription of Preferred EmbodLments (a) Fir~t ~mbodiment, Figs. 1-7 An assembly 10 of marker sleeves constructed in accordance with our present invention is shown in perspective, plan and sectional views in Figs. 1-3 respectively. The as~embly 10 is illustrated as wound in the form of a roll on a core 9 of suitable diameter.
The assembly 10 comprises three principal elements: a carrier 11, a support tape 12 and marker sleeves 13.
The carrier 11, see especially Fig. 2, is a continuous web of material in this first e~bodiment having a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular windows or apertures 15 that have ~een cut out of the web so as to provide a carrier structure consisting of spaced opposed longitudinal side members 16 and 17 connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members 18. The carrier ll is a one-piece element and the side members 16 and 17 and bridge members 18 comprise integral connected portions of the carrier. Bridge members 18 are evenly-spaced longitudinally of the carrier, to define the apertures 15 between each neighboring pair of bridg~ members. The carrier 11 can be made of any suitable material such as plastic, paper, card stock material. etc.
The carrier can be of any selected length and widkh, depending upon the number and size of the marker sleeves to be included in a specific assembly.
Support tape 12, see especially the sectional views of Figs. 3 and 3a, comprises a substrate 20, which preferably is a web of plastic film or paper, and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer 21 over one surface of thP substrate.
Adhesive layer 21 of the support tape 12 is adhered to the bottom surface lla of the carrier 11. Support tape 12 is wider than the bridge members 18 and apertures 15 of the carrier 11 and is shown as sligh~ly narrower than the carrier; the tape extends longitudinally along the carrier under all the apertures formed in the carrier, so that the tape 12 undexlies the apertures 15, bridge members 18 and side members 16 and 17 of the carrier. Also, support tape 12 can be of ~he same width as carrier ll, if so desired. With this arrangement of these two elements, a portion of the adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12 is exposed within each aperture 15 of the carrier, preferably extending entirely across an aperture which is illustrated ~ in Fig. 2 by the cut-away portion of sleeve 13'.
- The marker sleeves 13 are in the form of flattened tubular sleeves of any selected size. A marker sleeve 13 is positioned inside each aperture 15 of the carrier 11 with its bottom surface 13a releasably adhered to the portion of adhesive layer 21 of the support tape extending across an aperture. Each marker sleeve 13 is thereby held in place in the assemhly 10 in an aperture 15 by means of the adhesive 20~ ~632 layer 21 of the support tape 12. The apertures 15 are sized slightly larger than the marker sleeves so that an aperture can accommodate a marker sleeve in this fashion.
Referring specifically to Figs. 3 and 3a, it will be noted that a marker sleeve 13 is partially recessed in an aperture 15 of the carrier. The assembly of the invention thus provides for reducing the height of the top sur~ace 13b of a marker sleeve above the kop surface llb of the carrier strip by the thickness of the carrier strip relative to the thickness of a marker sleeve. In Fig. 3, the top surface 13b of marker sleeve 13 projects for only about 1/2 the thickness of the sleeve above top surface llb of the carrier. In Fig. 3a, marker sleeve 13' is thinner than sleeve 13 of Fig. 3 so that its top surface 13b protrudes above top surface llb of the carrier by only approximately 0.001 to 0.003 inches. The recessed arrangement of the marker sleeves in the assembly of the invention has important advantages as explained in detail later in this description.
It should be noted at this point, that a bridge member 18 of the carrier 11 is adjacent each marker sleeve 13 of the assembly. As shown in the sectional view of Fig. 4, side members 16 and 17 are connected together between each marker sleeve by a bridge member 18, so that these three members are integral structural components of the carrier that remain intact when marker sleeves are releasably adhered to the support tape and also when marker sleeves are removed from the support tape. This construction provides a 2 ~ 3 2 carrier 11 having a ladder-like structure that has a high degree of structural integrity. The carrier 11 is dimensionally stable in that one side member is accurately positioned relative to the other and held in such position by the bridge members.
Returning to Figs. l and 2, a row of pin feed holes 22 is formed along longitudinal side member 16 of the carrier and a similar row of pinfeed holes 22 is formed alon~ the opposite longitudinal side member 17 of the carrier. The pinfeed holes 22 are evenly spaced from one another and are included in the assembly lO when it is intended for use with a pinfeed or tractor type of printer drive mechanism. An assembly 10 is normally furnished to an end user in the form illustrated in Figs. 1-3 wherein the marker sleeves are blank, and not pre-printed. This enables the end user to print selected alphanumeric identification data on each marker sleeve, most generally with a computer and printer, particularly by those who may employ a larger number of marker sleeves. Therefore, it is ~ital, to be useful, that an assembly of marker sleeves can be fed through a computer controlled printer with little or no likelihood of problems arising duriny the printing operation.
Fig. 5 shows identification legends 25 printed on each marker sleeve 13, depicted as serial numbers "ABCDE 1" -"ABCDE 4" for purposes of illustration. As noted above,printing the legends 25 on the marker sleeves is most often accomplished with a computer controlled printer.
20~ ~32 After the marker sleeves have been printed with the selected legends, a specific sleeve can be removed from the assembly 10 by peeling it off the adhesive layer 21 of the support tape within an aperture 15. A person can do this manually by grasping a sleeve with their fingers and lifting it from the assembly for application to an article.
Figs. 5-7 illustrate another way to remove sleeves 13 from assembly 10. Fig. 5 shows an initial step in removing a marker sleeve from the assembly using a sleeve removal tool 30 that has a flat blade 31 which is inserted through an open end of a flattened marker sleeve 13. After blade 31 is inserted through all or most of the length of a sleeve, -the sleeve is lifted off the adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12. As described above, the sleeve 13 is releasably adhered to the adhesive layer 21 o the support tape so that a sleeve 13 can be readily removed from the adhesive layer and in such fashion that the adhesive does not transfer onto a sleeve. Next, referring now to Fig. 6, sleeve removal tool 30 is rotated 90 so that its blade 31 is perpendicular to the walls of the sleeve 13 which cause~ the flattened sleeve to become partially or completely open, thereby facilitating inserting the sleeve onto a wire to be marked.
Fig. 7 illustrates a marker sleeve 13 after it has been applied to an insulated electrical wire 35. When the sleeve is of heatshrinkable material, appropriate heating is employed so that the sleeve will fit tightly about the periphery of the insulation of the wire.
-11~
Example Three assemblies 10 of marker sleeves as illustrated in Figs. 1-3 were produced as follows. The carrier ll was made from flexible plastic cardstock material about 0.013"
(O.33mm) thick and 3.5" (89mm) wide. Pinfeed holes 22 were 5/32~l (4mm) in diameter spaced about 0.50" tl3mm) on center were diecut along the opposed longitudinal side members of the carriers located O.25~l (6mm) in from each edge thereof.
Rectangular apertures 15 of varying sizes were diecut in the lO carri.ers as follows:
Assembly Carrier_ Apertures 15 lOa lla 0.215~ wide x 2.04ll long (5.5mm wide x 52mrn long) lOb llb 0.376~ wide x 2.04ll long (9.5mm wide x 52mm long) lOc llc 0.922" wide x 2.04" long (23.4mm wide x 52mrn long) A support tape 12 that was 2.5" (63.5mm) wide consisting of polyester film O.001" (O.025mm) thick with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive Q.002" ~O.05mm) thick on one surface was adhered to the bottom surface of each carrier.
The apertures 15 of the carriers for assemblies lOa-lOc were of different sizes in order to acco~nodate marker sleeves 13 of different sizes, as shown below:
A~semblv llar}er SIGeV ~S 1~
lOa 0.207" wide x 2.0" long (5.25n~ wide x 51mm long) lOb 0.364" wide x 2.0l' long (9.2mm wide x 51mm long) 2 ~ 3 2 lOc 0.892" wide x 2.0`' long (22.6mm x 51mm lon~) Carrier lla of assembly lOa was 1,250~ (31.75m) long and the assembly held 2,500 marker sleeves. Assembly lOb included 1,000 marker sleeves on a carrier llb that was 625"
(15.9m long). Assembly lOc had a carrier 1,250~' ~31.75m) long and included 1,000 marker sleeves.
The marker sleeves were combined with the carrier by adhering their bottom surface to the pressure sensitive adhesive in each aperture of the respective carriers; there was about 0.004" (O.lmm) clearance between the top and bottom edges of each sleeve and the adjacent top and bottom edges of each aperture 15, and about 0.02" (0.5mm) clearance between the ends of each sleeve and the adjacent ends of each aperture 15. Each assembly was wound into a roll on a 3" (76mm) diameter core. The marker sleeves were made of flattened heat shrinkable polyolefin tubing, and were 0.026"
(0.66mm) thick; thus, the sleeves protruded from the top surface of the carriers for only 1/2 of their thickness.
Testing demonstrated that each assembly lOa-lOc can be readily fed past dot matrix, ink jet and daisy wheel compu~er controlled printers having tractor feed drives and that the marker sleeves can be printed with identification legends without smearing of ink or interference with movement of the printer mechanism. Further, the sleeves were easily removed from each assembly and applied to wires as described above.
Additional embodiments of the invention are described in sections (b)~(d) and illus-trated in Flgs. 8-12;
2 ~ 3 ~
structural elements whi~h are the same as corresponding elements in the first embocliment of Figs. 1-7 are identified with the same reference numeral in these additional embodiments.
(b) Second Embodiment, Fig. 8 The concepts of this invention also can be embodied in an assembly of marker sleeves that does not include pin feed holes along the carrier.
In assembly lOa illustrated in Fig. 8, side members 16 and 17 of carrier 11 do not ha~e the pin feed holes 22 of assembly 10 of Figs. 1-7. Carrier 11 has notches 36 evenly spaced along side member 16 and is of the type covered by U.S. Patent 4,844,629 assigned to the assignee of this invention. ~his provides a carrier with two different width dimensions for use in a microprocessor controlled printing apparatus of the type also covered by the above patent 4,844,629 wherein detection of the two different width dimensions is utilized to register a sleeve with a printing station of the apparatus.
Further, however, carrier 11 can be made with neither pin feed holes nor notches 36 in or along either of the side members, which will be appropriate for some ~ypes of printer feed mechanisms. Also, one or both side members of the carriers may include printed registration marks that can be read optically to register the carrier relative to the printing station; other types of registration symbols or elements can be applied to or defined in one or both of the side members of the carrier.
6 ~ 2 (c) Third Embodiment, Figs. 9-11 The foregoing assemblies 10 and 10a are of a construction in which one surface of a marker sleeve is exposed for printing with identification indicia, the top surface 13b of sleeves 13 being accessible for this purpose in the first two embodiments. There are instances, however, in which an end user desires to print legends on both the top and bottom surfaces of a flattened marker sleeve, and assembly 10b illustrated in Figs. 9-11 meets this re~uirement.
Carrier 11 of assembly 10b is of the same structure as the carrier of assembly 10 first described above. However, assembly 10b has tWQ support tapes 12-1 and 12-2, both of which are narrow webs of tapes such as about 3/16 inch to 3t8 inch ~4 to 10mm) wide. Adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12-1 is adhered to bottom surface lla of the carrier along a longitudinal portion of side member 16 and portions of bridge members 18; support tape 12-1 also extends across the end portions of the apertures 15 of the carrier. One end of sleeve 13-1 is cut away in Fig. 9 to illustrate the manner in which part of the adhesive layer 21 of tape 12-1 is exposed within the apertures 15. Support tape 12~2 is arxanged in the same fashion along side member 17 and bridge members 18. One end portion of sleeve 13-2 is cut away in Fig. 9 to illustra~e the manner in which part of the adhesive layer 21 of tape 12-2 is exposed within the apertures 15.
2 ~ 3 2 Turning now to the sectional view of E'ig. 10, the two end portions of a sleeve 13 are releasably adhered to the adhesive layer of tapes 12-1 and 12-2 within an aperture 15 to thereby hold the marker sleeves on the assembly. Top surface 13b of the sleeve is exposed for printing as in the previous embodiments. In addition, however, bottom surface 13a of the sleeve is exposed between the spaced support tapes 12-1 and 12-2 and is thereby also accessible for printing.
As can be seen from the sectional view of Fig. 11, which is taken across a bridge member 18, side portions 16 and 17 and bridge members 18 are integral members of the carrier 11 as in the prior embodimentsO
(d) Fourth Embodiment, Fig. 12 - 15 Fig. 12 illustrates an alternate construction for assembly 10, which is identified as assembly 10~ in the drawing. When short marker sleeves are required by the end usert such as marker sleeves in the range of about 1/2" to 1" (about 12.5 - 25mm) long, a plurality of marker sleeves 13 can be carried within each aperture 15 of the carrier 11.
Fig. 12 is an example of this type of construction wherein four marker sleeves 13 are positioned within each aperture 15 of assembly 10'. This construction can be made conveniently by first applying a single piece of flattened tubing within each aperture and then subdividing it into the requisite number of individual marker sleeves by means of slits 40 so that individual marker sleeves can be separated from the assembly for application. Slits 40 can be formed, 201~63~
for example, by die cutting a piece of flattened tubing and controlling the depth of cuts so that a slit 40 extends only through the tubing and does not sever the support tape 12 along the bottom of the carrier 11. Assembly lOa of Fig. 8 also can be manufactured in a construction similar to that of Fig. 12.
(e) Manufacture; Materials An advantage of the marker sleeve assemblies of our invention is that they can be manufactured easily with known techniques and at an economical cost. The carrier 11 to be used in the assemblies may be manufactured by die cutting rectangular apertures in a web of suitable material to thereby form a carrier having integral side members and spaced transverse bridge members connecting the side members, with at least one column of evenly spaced rectangular apertures. The support tape or tapes used in the assembly can be of plastic film such as a polyester film, vinyl film, etc.~ coated on one surface with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive having release properties selected to enable easy removal of a marker sleeve from the adhesive layer without the adhesive transferring to the marker sleeve. The support tape or tapes can be joined to the carrier by standard laminating manufacturing techniques.
At present, we prefer a flexible plastic material for the carrier, such as films or webs of flexible polystyrene, nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, rigid vinyl, gapton~, Tyvek~, and Nomex~; also, however, a moisture resistant or stabilized paper can be used for the carrier.
2 ~ 3 2 The carrier is to form a relatively rigid ~tructure that is substantially dimensionally stable. Pin feed holes and notches or other forms of registration structures can be defined in the side members of the carrier by means of typical die cutting techniques. Flattened marker sleeves can then be fed over the apertures of the carrier and releasably adhered to the adhesive layer of support tape exposed within an aperture to thereby complete the manufacture of an assembly of the invention. The flattened marker sleeves can be made of various materials appropriate to their expected end use; plastic tubing is most useful for typical marker sleeve identification end uses, and the tubing is flattened before being joined in an assembly. If the marker sleeves are not to be heatshrinkable, various types of plastic tubing can be used, such as vinyl tubingr polyolefin tubing, nylon tubing, etc. Marker sleeves that are to be heatshrinkable are made by cross-linking selected plastic tubing, such as by irradiation, prior to flattening;
various types of irradiated heat shrinkable vinyl tubing and polyolefin tubing are commercially available for this purpose. The marker sleeves can be printed or unprinted, as desired, and they can be in various colors where some form of color coding identification is required. Flattened tubular marker sleeves can, for example, be in the range of about 0.015 to 0.040 inches (0.38 to 1 mm) thick, and the carrier of the assemblies can be in the range of about O.0075 to 0.020 inches (0.19 to 0.5 mm) thick so that at least one half the thickness of a marker sleeve will be 2~4~32 recessed within the carrier, whereby a marker sleeve will project from the top surface of the carrier by only one half or less of its thickness.
(f) Prior Art Sl~eve As~emblies, Figs. 13-18 Three prior art assemblies of flattened marker sleeves are illustrated in Figs. 13-18.
Figs. 13 and 14 show an assembly 50 said to be made under U.S. Patent 4,198,451 described in the background section of this specification, which is sold in the V.S. by Critchley Inc.
Assembly 50 comprises a traction sheet 51, generally a sheet of paper, and a plurality of flattened tubular marker sleeves 52 that are adhered to the front surface of sheet 51 by means of a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 53, which is best visible in the sectional view of Fig. 14. Th~re is a separate localized pressure sensitive adhesi~e layer 53 under each row of marker sleeves. Pin feed holes 54 are formed along opposed side margins of sheet 51 50 that the assembly can be fed through a printing apparatus with a tractor or sprocket type of drive mechanism. Patent 4,198,451 further requires a coating of a friction material on the back side of the assembly disclosed in the patent, such as the coating strip 55 sh~wn in dashed line in Fig. 14; strips of friction coating are found on assemblies similar to assembly 50 that do not include the pin feed holes 54, but are not included as part of the assembly 50 illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14 that has pin feed holes. As indicated in Fig. 13, the marker sleeves 52 are formed of a 2 ~ 3 2 long piece of flattened tubing having spaced slits 56 to define three marker sleeves in each row of the assembly.
The assemblies of marker sleeves of the present invention, such as described in parts ~a)-(d) above have a number of important and useful advantages in comparison to prior art assembly 50. In the prior art assembly 50, the traction sheet 51 functions as a carrier for the sleeves and it can be noted from ~igs. 13 and 14 that the rnarker sleeves 52 are on top of a surface of the carrier 51 so that they project from the carrier for their full thickness.
This means that the thickness of the carrier is added to the thickness of the marker sleeves in assembly 50. Nany printing mechanisms have a limited amount of gap available between a printhead and a pla~en or other device over which the assembly is advanced for printing, which thereby imposes a limit on the thickness of the material that can be used for carrier 51 in prior art assembly 50. The effect of this is that the carrier 51 of the assembly must be made of relatively thin material in order to run through a printer;
commercial types of assemblies 50 have generally used a thin 0.004 inch (O.lmm) thick sheet of paper as the carrier, and the carrier is of uniform thickness across the assembly, including underneath ~he marker sleeves. The carrier 11 of the assemblies of this invention was developed to be relatively thick outside of the marker sleeves but thin under the marker sleeves; in the assemblies of the invention, therefore, the carrier 11 can be made as a rigid, dimensionally stable element. Secondly, prior art 2 ~ 3 2 assembly 50 cannot be made in a form in which the marker sleeves can be printed on both surfaces. Again, by contrast, the present invention as shown by the embodiment of Figs. 9-11 can be of a constructi.on that permits printing on both the top and bottom surfaces of the sleeves. Another disadvantage brought about by the construction of assembly 50 wherein the marker sleeves project from a surface of the carrier 51 for their full thickness is that the assembly 50 will not properly feed through some types of printing mechanism and, for example, the sleeves will often be smeared with ink such as from a ribbon; also, the ends of the exposed projecting marker sleeves present a hazard in that the pi.ns of a dot matrix printer can sometimes catch on an end of a sleeve as the printer moves transversely across the assembly at high speeds. ~his is not a problem with the assemblies of the present invention because the marker sleeves 13 in our new assemblies are at least partially recessed within a carrier 11 so that they ex-tend above the surface of the carrier by only a portion, preferably at least only one-half or less, of their thickness. A further disadvantage of assembly 50 is that its commercial versions require pressure sensitive adhesive 53 to be laid down in a pattern on a surface of the carrier 51, with a zone of adhesive under each marker sleeve. Depositing a patterned layer of pressure sensitive adhesive can present manufacturing difficulties and also generally restricts the manufacturer to the use of hot melt adhesives, which may not ~ have the desired release properties. Manufacture of the :
2~S32 assemblies of marker sleeves of the present invention, however, does not require this type of patterned coating of pressure sensitive adhesive and our new constructions thus eliminate problems that arise by reason of the adhesive structure of assembly 50. Alternatively, the assembly 50 may be produced by coating the marker sleeves with transfer adhesive prior to joining the sleeves to the carrier. For reasons we do not know, commercial versions of an assembly 50 are sold in a fan-fold arrangement in which alternating sheets of the carrier are blank and do not hold marker sleeves; perhaps there have been problems having exposed adhesive in the assemblies that causes blocking of overlying layers of the assembly. Whatever the reason, however, the assemblies of our invention carry marker sleeves on each sheet of the carrier when sold in fan-folded form, and also can be wound into roll form with marker sleeves continuously along a web of the carrier, so that there is no need to alternate blank sheets with carrier sheets having marker sleeves and there are no problems of the ~ype caused by exposed adhesive.
Figs. 15 and 16 illustrate prior art assembly 60 that is sold by Thomas & Betts Corporation. Assembly 60 includes a carrier 61 that is made of a sheet of transparent plastic in the commercial product. Carrier 61 includes a plurality of cut-outs 62, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 15, that define tabs 63 in the carrier; there are two tabs for each sleeve of the assembly. Flattened tubular marker sleeves 64 are attached to the carrier 61 by inserting a tab 63 into 2 ~ 3 2 the opposed open ends of each sleeve, which arrangement is shown by the sleeves illustrated in assembly 61 in Fig. 15.
Pin feed holes 65 are formed along the opposed longitudinal edge portions of carrier 61.
Assembly 60 is illustrated in sectional view in Fig. 16 that shows one of ~he marker sleeves 64 and the manner in which it is secured ~o carrier 61. The tabs 63 formed by cutouts 62 of the carrier extend into the opposed open ends of marker sleeves 64.
Returning to Fig. 15, carrier 61 of assembly 60 is formed to include parallel spaced rows of corrugations 67, there being a row of corrugations between each column of marker sleeves and between each outboard column of sleeves and its adjacent side edge portion of the assembly.
The new marker sleeve assemblies of our present invention also have useful advantages in comparison to prior art assembly Ç0. Removal of a marker sleeve 64 from the - carrier 61 of an assembly 60 is a particularly clumsy operation since a person must remove each end of a sleeve from a tab 63. This involves significant time and manipulation of the sleeves. However, removal of a marker : sleeve 13 from an assembly of the present invention is a simple operation requiring merely lifting a sleeve from the support tape attached to the carrier. Moreover, inserting marker sleeves 64 between tabs 63 in the assembly 60 adds : complications and expense to the process for manufacturing the assemblies; our new assemblies are easier to manufacture because there is no need to insert tabs into opposed ends of ;''' , -23- 2~14~32 the sleeves with our conskructions. It appears the corrugations 67 are included in the carrier 61 of assembly 60 in order to impart a measure of structural rigidity.
However, the carrier construction employed in assemblies of this invention do not require corrugations or other forms of reinforcemen~s in order to provide a dimensionally stable carrier.
A third prior art assembly of marker sleeves is illustrated in Figs. 17 and 18. Assembly 70 of these two drawings is of a construction sold commercially by Raychem Corporation. Assembly 70 includes a pair of spaced longitudinal strips 71 and 72 that are separate rom one another. Flattened marker sleeves 73 are secured in place between the strips 71 and 72. As seen in the sectional view of Fig. 18, each end of a sleeve 73 is secured to its adjacent strip 71 or 72 by maans of a pair of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes. One end of sleeve 73 is attached to strip 71 by tape 74 between the upper surface of sleeve 73 and the upper surface of strip 71, and also by tape 75 between the bottom surface of sleeve 73 and bottom surface of strip 71. In similar fashion, the opposite end of each sleeve 73 is joined to strip 72 by tape 76 extending between the top of sleeve 73 and the top of strip 72 and by tape 77 ext~nding between the bottom of sleeve 73 and the bottom of strip 72. Tapes 74-77 each have a layex 78 of pressure sensitive adhesive along one surface of the tapes that is used to join the sleeves to strips 71 and 72 in this 2~14~32 manner. Pin feed holes 79 are formed in strips 71 and 72 as shown in Fig. 17.
The prior art assembly 70 is a very flimsy assembly because there is no fixed rigid connection between the strips 71 and 72. The strips are easily moved longitudinally relative to one another. Marker sleeves are not generally very rigid articles, so that the strips 71 and 72 can easily be moved towards one another upon bending of the sleeves. ~hus, assembly 70 has little dimensional stability. In sharp contrast, the assemblies of marker sleeves of our present invention have dimensionally stable carriers as a result o-f the construction incorporating longitudinal side portions and connecting transverse bridge elements that are integral elements of the carrier. It is expected that manufacture of an assembly 70 will be particularly cumbersome and ~xpensive because of a need to correctly register a number of parts relative to one another. That is, two independent strips 71 and 72 must be registered with one another, tapes 74-77 must be properly registered relative to each strip, and sleeves 73 must be properly regis~ered between the tapes and the strips. It is apparent that manufacture of the assemblies of our invention does not require any of these ~ime consuming and additional registration steps. Thirdly, there is a significant possibility of a strip 71 or 72 moving longitudinally relative to the other strip as the sleeves are ~eing printed in a printer mechanism, and improper registration of the sleeves relative to the printer mechanism is a potential 2~4~32 disadvantage of the assembly 70. However, there is no such disadvantage found with the assemblies of our invention since the construction of the carrier 11 as described above assure proper and accurate registration between opposite sides of the assembly as it is being fed through a printing mechanism. Lastly, removing a printed sleeve from the assembly 70 for application to a wire is especially cumbersome. A person must, for example, first remove pressure sensitive tape 74 from one end of a marker sleeve and then remove tape 76 from the opposite end of the marker sleeve; next, the person must remove the sleeve from the tapes 75 and 77 or remove the tapes from the marker sleeves.
Removing a printed sleeve 13 from the assemblies of this invention does not require any of these types of manipulations, inasmuch as ~he sleeve 13 can simply be lifted from the support tape of the assembly.
The foregoing enabling description presents several specific embodiments of new marker sleeve assemblies incorporating the concepts of our present invention that e~hibit significant new advantages to both the end users of marker sleeves as identification devices and the manufacturer of marker sleeve assemblies. The several embodiments described herein are presently-preferred exemplary constructions according to our invention and it is anticipated that those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to devise alternatives to them that will remain within the true spirit and scope of this invention and are intended to be encompassed within the claims of this patent.
ASSl~MBLY OF l?LAT MaRRE:R SLI :l~VES R~CE:SSED Il~
Ci~RRIER A~D RE:TAINED THE:RlEIN BY SUPPORT TAPE:
Our present invention relates to assemblies of flattened tubular marker sleeves; more specificallyl such assemblies that are particularly adapted to facilitate printing of identification legends on the marker sleeves by end users with various types of computer controlled printing devices.
Tubular marker sleeves are typically used as an identification device for electrical wires, such as identifying wires in a harness or bundle of wires with a distinctive legend such as serial number to identify a specific wire in the harness or bundle. The marker sleeves are often made of heatshrinkable plastic material so they can be shrunk after being applied to a wire to tightly conform to the periphery o the wire and thereby be retained securely in place.
It is generally preferable to supply the marker sleeves to an end user in the form of an assembly including a plurality of marker sleeves. One style of ma~rker sleeve assembly is described in U.S. Patent 3,894,731 comprising flatt~ned sleeves carried on tines extending from a supporting spine., More recent developments are described in U.S. Patents 4,361,230, Downing et al., 4,363,401, Savagian, and 4,442,939, Downing, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. These latter patents disclose marker sleeve assemblies made from two or more webs joined together to define individual sleeves, and marker t~
sleeve assemblies according to one or more of these patents have proved to be commercially successful.
` Another ~tyle of marker sleeve assemblies is described in U.S. Patent 4,198,451, Johnston, wherein the marker sleeves are secured to pressure sensitive adhesive on a surface of a traction sheet, such as a sheet of paper with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on one of its surfaces, and in which the traction sheet further includes a cover coating of friction material on its opposite or back side in order to facilitate feeding the assembly through a typewriter. Our present invention relates generally to an assembly of marker sleeves that utilizes pressure sensitiYe adhesive to retain individual marker sleeves in the assembly until ready to be removed therefrom for use, but provides a novel construction that has important advantages as compared to the construction disclosed in this patent.
Many end users of marker sleeves, particularly those using a large number of sleeves, prefer to obtain unprinted marker sleeves that do not carry preprinted identification information as they can apply identification legends to the unprinted marker sleeves in their own plants, generally with one form or another of a computer controlled printer. One of the main objectives of the present invention is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves having a construction that will enable individual sleeves in the assembly to be printed with identification legends by any type of computer controlled printing mechanism, including a dot matrix printer, daisy wheel printer, ink jet printer, laser 3 2 ~ 3 2 printer, etc. In this connection, it is particularly important to provide an assembly of marker sleeves that can be printed with a dot matrix type of printer mechanism in which the assembly eliminates problems arising from interfer.ing with the pins of the dot matrix printhead as the printhead moves across marker sleeves of the assembly.
Accordingly, a more specific object of our inYention is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves in which the marker sleeves are at least partially recessed within supporting members in such fashion that the s]eeves will not interfere with transverse movement of a dot matrix printhead across the assembly. Another main objective is to provide an assembly of marker sleeves recessed in a carrier that also imparts structural integrity to the assembly. Additional objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.
Our invention provides an assembly of flattened tubular marker sleeves comprising a carrier consisting of a one-piece element including spaced longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members, the side members and bridge members being integral connected portions of the carrier, the bridge members being equally spaced to define a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular apertures between each adjacent pair of bridge members that are arranged in at least one longitudinal row along the carrier; a support tape comprising a substrate and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer, the suppor~ tape being combined with the carrier with the pressure sensitive 2 ~ 3 2 adhesive layer adhered to a bottom surface of the carrier and having a portion exposed inside each aperture of the carrier; and at least one flattened tubular marker sleeve positioned in each aperture of the carrier and having a bottom surface releasably adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesive of the support tape in an aperture and also having an exposed top surface. The marker sleeves are at least partially recessed within the carrier-support tape combination, thereby reducing the extent to which a sleeve protrudes from the top surface of the carrier. This, in turn, reduces or eliminates the likelihood that a protruding portion of a sleeve can interfere with the operation or movement of a printhead mechanism. Further, the carrier structure of side members interconnected with bridge members results in an assembly ~hat has structural integrity during printing of the marker sleeves and after removal of sleeves from the assembly.
The ensuing detailed description is made by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly of marker sleeves of the invention wound into roll-form;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the assembly of Fig. 1, with part of one marker sleeve broken away;
; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the assembly taken along the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 3a is a sectional view along the same plane as Fig. 3 of an alternate structure for the assembly;
2 ~ 2 Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the assembly taken along the plane of line 4-4 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of an initial step in the application of a marker sleeve from the assembly ; 5 illustrating the removal of a marker sleeve from ~he assembly using a sleeve remo~al tool;
Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an intermediate step in the application of a marker sleeve from the assembly;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a marker sleeve from the assembly applied onto a wire;
Fig. 8 is a plan view of a second assembly of marker sleeves of the invention;
Fig. 9 is a plan view of a third assembly of marker sleeves of the invention;
Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the third assembly along the plane of line 10-10 of Fig. 9;
Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the third assembly along the plane of line 11-11 of Fig. 9;
Fig. 12 is a plan view of an alternate construction of the assembly of Fig. 1;
Fig. 13 is a plan view of a first prior art assembly of sleeve markers;
Fig. 14 is a sectional view along the plane of line 14-14 of Fig. 13;
Fig. 15 is a plan view of a second prior art assembly of sleeve markers;
2~4632 Fig. 16 is a sec~ional view along the plane of line 16-16 of Fig. 15;
Fig. 17 is a plan view of a third prior art assembly of sleeve markers; and Fig. 18 is a sectional view along the plane of line 18-18 of Fig. 17.
De~cription of Preferred EmbodLments (a) Fir~t ~mbodiment, Figs. 1-7 An assembly 10 of marker sleeves constructed in accordance with our present invention is shown in perspective, plan and sectional views in Figs. 1-3 respectively. The as~embly 10 is illustrated as wound in the form of a roll on a core 9 of suitable diameter.
The assembly 10 comprises three principal elements: a carrier 11, a support tape 12 and marker sleeves 13.
The carrier 11, see especially Fig. 2, is a continuous web of material in this first e~bodiment having a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular windows or apertures 15 that have ~een cut out of the web so as to provide a carrier structure consisting of spaced opposed longitudinal side members 16 and 17 connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members 18. The carrier ll is a one-piece element and the side members 16 and 17 and bridge members 18 comprise integral connected portions of the carrier. Bridge members 18 are evenly-spaced longitudinally of the carrier, to define the apertures 15 between each neighboring pair of bridg~ members. The carrier 11 can be made of any suitable material such as plastic, paper, card stock material. etc.
The carrier can be of any selected length and widkh, depending upon the number and size of the marker sleeves to be included in a specific assembly.
Support tape 12, see especially the sectional views of Figs. 3 and 3a, comprises a substrate 20, which preferably is a web of plastic film or paper, and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer 21 over one surface of thP substrate.
Adhesive layer 21 of the support tape 12 is adhered to the bottom surface lla of the carrier 11. Support tape 12 is wider than the bridge members 18 and apertures 15 of the carrier 11 and is shown as sligh~ly narrower than the carrier; the tape extends longitudinally along the carrier under all the apertures formed in the carrier, so that the tape 12 undexlies the apertures 15, bridge members 18 and side members 16 and 17 of the carrier. Also, support tape 12 can be of ~he same width as carrier ll, if so desired. With this arrangement of these two elements, a portion of the adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12 is exposed within each aperture 15 of the carrier, preferably extending entirely across an aperture which is illustrated ~ in Fig. 2 by the cut-away portion of sleeve 13'.
- The marker sleeves 13 are in the form of flattened tubular sleeves of any selected size. A marker sleeve 13 is positioned inside each aperture 15 of the carrier 11 with its bottom surface 13a releasably adhered to the portion of adhesive layer 21 of the support tape extending across an aperture. Each marker sleeve 13 is thereby held in place in the assemhly 10 in an aperture 15 by means of the adhesive 20~ ~632 layer 21 of the support tape 12. The apertures 15 are sized slightly larger than the marker sleeves so that an aperture can accommodate a marker sleeve in this fashion.
Referring specifically to Figs. 3 and 3a, it will be noted that a marker sleeve 13 is partially recessed in an aperture 15 of the carrier. The assembly of the invention thus provides for reducing the height of the top sur~ace 13b of a marker sleeve above the kop surface llb of the carrier strip by the thickness of the carrier strip relative to the thickness of a marker sleeve. In Fig. 3, the top surface 13b of marker sleeve 13 projects for only about 1/2 the thickness of the sleeve above top surface llb of the carrier. In Fig. 3a, marker sleeve 13' is thinner than sleeve 13 of Fig. 3 so that its top surface 13b protrudes above top surface llb of the carrier by only approximately 0.001 to 0.003 inches. The recessed arrangement of the marker sleeves in the assembly of the invention has important advantages as explained in detail later in this description.
It should be noted at this point, that a bridge member 18 of the carrier 11 is adjacent each marker sleeve 13 of the assembly. As shown in the sectional view of Fig. 4, side members 16 and 17 are connected together between each marker sleeve by a bridge member 18, so that these three members are integral structural components of the carrier that remain intact when marker sleeves are releasably adhered to the support tape and also when marker sleeves are removed from the support tape. This construction provides a 2 ~ 3 2 carrier 11 having a ladder-like structure that has a high degree of structural integrity. The carrier 11 is dimensionally stable in that one side member is accurately positioned relative to the other and held in such position by the bridge members.
Returning to Figs. l and 2, a row of pin feed holes 22 is formed along longitudinal side member 16 of the carrier and a similar row of pinfeed holes 22 is formed alon~ the opposite longitudinal side member 17 of the carrier. The pinfeed holes 22 are evenly spaced from one another and are included in the assembly lO when it is intended for use with a pinfeed or tractor type of printer drive mechanism. An assembly 10 is normally furnished to an end user in the form illustrated in Figs. 1-3 wherein the marker sleeves are blank, and not pre-printed. This enables the end user to print selected alphanumeric identification data on each marker sleeve, most generally with a computer and printer, particularly by those who may employ a larger number of marker sleeves. Therefore, it is ~ital, to be useful, that an assembly of marker sleeves can be fed through a computer controlled printer with little or no likelihood of problems arising duriny the printing operation.
Fig. 5 shows identification legends 25 printed on each marker sleeve 13, depicted as serial numbers "ABCDE 1" -"ABCDE 4" for purposes of illustration. As noted above,printing the legends 25 on the marker sleeves is most often accomplished with a computer controlled printer.
20~ ~32 After the marker sleeves have been printed with the selected legends, a specific sleeve can be removed from the assembly 10 by peeling it off the adhesive layer 21 of the support tape within an aperture 15. A person can do this manually by grasping a sleeve with their fingers and lifting it from the assembly for application to an article.
Figs. 5-7 illustrate another way to remove sleeves 13 from assembly 10. Fig. 5 shows an initial step in removing a marker sleeve from the assembly using a sleeve removal tool 30 that has a flat blade 31 which is inserted through an open end of a flattened marker sleeve 13. After blade 31 is inserted through all or most of the length of a sleeve, -the sleeve is lifted off the adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12. As described above, the sleeve 13 is releasably adhered to the adhesive layer 21 o the support tape so that a sleeve 13 can be readily removed from the adhesive layer and in such fashion that the adhesive does not transfer onto a sleeve. Next, referring now to Fig. 6, sleeve removal tool 30 is rotated 90 so that its blade 31 is perpendicular to the walls of the sleeve 13 which cause~ the flattened sleeve to become partially or completely open, thereby facilitating inserting the sleeve onto a wire to be marked.
Fig. 7 illustrates a marker sleeve 13 after it has been applied to an insulated electrical wire 35. When the sleeve is of heatshrinkable material, appropriate heating is employed so that the sleeve will fit tightly about the periphery of the insulation of the wire.
-11~
Example Three assemblies 10 of marker sleeves as illustrated in Figs. 1-3 were produced as follows. The carrier ll was made from flexible plastic cardstock material about 0.013"
(O.33mm) thick and 3.5" (89mm) wide. Pinfeed holes 22 were 5/32~l (4mm) in diameter spaced about 0.50" tl3mm) on center were diecut along the opposed longitudinal side members of the carriers located O.25~l (6mm) in from each edge thereof.
Rectangular apertures 15 of varying sizes were diecut in the lO carri.ers as follows:
Assembly Carrier_ Apertures 15 lOa lla 0.215~ wide x 2.04ll long (5.5mm wide x 52mrn long) lOb llb 0.376~ wide x 2.04ll long (9.5mm wide x 52mm long) lOc llc 0.922" wide x 2.04" long (23.4mm wide x 52mrn long) A support tape 12 that was 2.5" (63.5mm) wide consisting of polyester film O.001" (O.025mm) thick with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive Q.002" ~O.05mm) thick on one surface was adhered to the bottom surface of each carrier.
The apertures 15 of the carriers for assemblies lOa-lOc were of different sizes in order to acco~nodate marker sleeves 13 of different sizes, as shown below:
A~semblv llar}er SIGeV ~S 1~
lOa 0.207" wide x 2.0" long (5.25n~ wide x 51mm long) lOb 0.364" wide x 2.0l' long (9.2mm wide x 51mm long) 2 ~ 3 2 lOc 0.892" wide x 2.0`' long (22.6mm x 51mm lon~) Carrier lla of assembly lOa was 1,250~ (31.75m) long and the assembly held 2,500 marker sleeves. Assembly lOb included 1,000 marker sleeves on a carrier llb that was 625"
(15.9m long). Assembly lOc had a carrier 1,250~' ~31.75m) long and included 1,000 marker sleeves.
The marker sleeves were combined with the carrier by adhering their bottom surface to the pressure sensitive adhesive in each aperture of the respective carriers; there was about 0.004" (O.lmm) clearance between the top and bottom edges of each sleeve and the adjacent top and bottom edges of each aperture 15, and about 0.02" (0.5mm) clearance between the ends of each sleeve and the adjacent ends of each aperture 15. Each assembly was wound into a roll on a 3" (76mm) diameter core. The marker sleeves were made of flattened heat shrinkable polyolefin tubing, and were 0.026"
(0.66mm) thick; thus, the sleeves protruded from the top surface of the carriers for only 1/2 of their thickness.
Testing demonstrated that each assembly lOa-lOc can be readily fed past dot matrix, ink jet and daisy wheel compu~er controlled printers having tractor feed drives and that the marker sleeves can be printed with identification legends without smearing of ink or interference with movement of the printer mechanism. Further, the sleeves were easily removed from each assembly and applied to wires as described above.
Additional embodiments of the invention are described in sections (b)~(d) and illus-trated in Flgs. 8-12;
2 ~ 3 ~
structural elements whi~h are the same as corresponding elements in the first embocliment of Figs. 1-7 are identified with the same reference numeral in these additional embodiments.
(b) Second Embodiment, Fig. 8 The concepts of this invention also can be embodied in an assembly of marker sleeves that does not include pin feed holes along the carrier.
In assembly lOa illustrated in Fig. 8, side members 16 and 17 of carrier 11 do not ha~e the pin feed holes 22 of assembly 10 of Figs. 1-7. Carrier 11 has notches 36 evenly spaced along side member 16 and is of the type covered by U.S. Patent 4,844,629 assigned to the assignee of this invention. ~his provides a carrier with two different width dimensions for use in a microprocessor controlled printing apparatus of the type also covered by the above patent 4,844,629 wherein detection of the two different width dimensions is utilized to register a sleeve with a printing station of the apparatus.
Further, however, carrier 11 can be made with neither pin feed holes nor notches 36 in or along either of the side members, which will be appropriate for some ~ypes of printer feed mechanisms. Also, one or both side members of the carriers may include printed registration marks that can be read optically to register the carrier relative to the printing station; other types of registration symbols or elements can be applied to or defined in one or both of the side members of the carrier.
6 ~ 2 (c) Third Embodiment, Figs. 9-11 The foregoing assemblies 10 and 10a are of a construction in which one surface of a marker sleeve is exposed for printing with identification indicia, the top surface 13b of sleeves 13 being accessible for this purpose in the first two embodiments. There are instances, however, in which an end user desires to print legends on both the top and bottom surfaces of a flattened marker sleeve, and assembly 10b illustrated in Figs. 9-11 meets this re~uirement.
Carrier 11 of assembly 10b is of the same structure as the carrier of assembly 10 first described above. However, assembly 10b has tWQ support tapes 12-1 and 12-2, both of which are narrow webs of tapes such as about 3/16 inch to 3t8 inch ~4 to 10mm) wide. Adhesive layer 21 of support tape 12-1 is adhered to bottom surface lla of the carrier along a longitudinal portion of side member 16 and portions of bridge members 18; support tape 12-1 also extends across the end portions of the apertures 15 of the carrier. One end of sleeve 13-1 is cut away in Fig. 9 to illustrate the manner in which part of the adhesive layer 21 of tape 12-1 is exposed within the apertures 15. Support tape 12~2 is arxanged in the same fashion along side member 17 and bridge members 18. One end portion of sleeve 13-2 is cut away in Fig. 9 to illustra~e the manner in which part of the adhesive layer 21 of tape 12-2 is exposed within the apertures 15.
2 ~ 3 2 Turning now to the sectional view of E'ig. 10, the two end portions of a sleeve 13 are releasably adhered to the adhesive layer of tapes 12-1 and 12-2 within an aperture 15 to thereby hold the marker sleeves on the assembly. Top surface 13b of the sleeve is exposed for printing as in the previous embodiments. In addition, however, bottom surface 13a of the sleeve is exposed between the spaced support tapes 12-1 and 12-2 and is thereby also accessible for printing.
As can be seen from the sectional view of Fig. 11, which is taken across a bridge member 18, side portions 16 and 17 and bridge members 18 are integral members of the carrier 11 as in the prior embodimentsO
(d) Fourth Embodiment, Fig. 12 - 15 Fig. 12 illustrates an alternate construction for assembly 10, which is identified as assembly 10~ in the drawing. When short marker sleeves are required by the end usert such as marker sleeves in the range of about 1/2" to 1" (about 12.5 - 25mm) long, a plurality of marker sleeves 13 can be carried within each aperture 15 of the carrier 11.
Fig. 12 is an example of this type of construction wherein four marker sleeves 13 are positioned within each aperture 15 of assembly 10'. This construction can be made conveniently by first applying a single piece of flattened tubing within each aperture and then subdividing it into the requisite number of individual marker sleeves by means of slits 40 so that individual marker sleeves can be separated from the assembly for application. Slits 40 can be formed, 201~63~
for example, by die cutting a piece of flattened tubing and controlling the depth of cuts so that a slit 40 extends only through the tubing and does not sever the support tape 12 along the bottom of the carrier 11. Assembly lOa of Fig. 8 also can be manufactured in a construction similar to that of Fig. 12.
(e) Manufacture; Materials An advantage of the marker sleeve assemblies of our invention is that they can be manufactured easily with known techniques and at an economical cost. The carrier 11 to be used in the assemblies may be manufactured by die cutting rectangular apertures in a web of suitable material to thereby form a carrier having integral side members and spaced transverse bridge members connecting the side members, with at least one column of evenly spaced rectangular apertures. The support tape or tapes used in the assembly can be of plastic film such as a polyester film, vinyl film, etc.~ coated on one surface with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive having release properties selected to enable easy removal of a marker sleeve from the adhesive layer without the adhesive transferring to the marker sleeve. The support tape or tapes can be joined to the carrier by standard laminating manufacturing techniques.
At present, we prefer a flexible plastic material for the carrier, such as films or webs of flexible polystyrene, nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, rigid vinyl, gapton~, Tyvek~, and Nomex~; also, however, a moisture resistant or stabilized paper can be used for the carrier.
2 ~ 3 2 The carrier is to form a relatively rigid ~tructure that is substantially dimensionally stable. Pin feed holes and notches or other forms of registration structures can be defined in the side members of the carrier by means of typical die cutting techniques. Flattened marker sleeves can then be fed over the apertures of the carrier and releasably adhered to the adhesive layer of support tape exposed within an aperture to thereby complete the manufacture of an assembly of the invention. The flattened marker sleeves can be made of various materials appropriate to their expected end use; plastic tubing is most useful for typical marker sleeve identification end uses, and the tubing is flattened before being joined in an assembly. If the marker sleeves are not to be heatshrinkable, various types of plastic tubing can be used, such as vinyl tubingr polyolefin tubing, nylon tubing, etc. Marker sleeves that are to be heatshrinkable are made by cross-linking selected plastic tubing, such as by irradiation, prior to flattening;
various types of irradiated heat shrinkable vinyl tubing and polyolefin tubing are commercially available for this purpose. The marker sleeves can be printed or unprinted, as desired, and they can be in various colors where some form of color coding identification is required. Flattened tubular marker sleeves can, for example, be in the range of about 0.015 to 0.040 inches (0.38 to 1 mm) thick, and the carrier of the assemblies can be in the range of about O.0075 to 0.020 inches (0.19 to 0.5 mm) thick so that at least one half the thickness of a marker sleeve will be 2~4~32 recessed within the carrier, whereby a marker sleeve will project from the top surface of the carrier by only one half or less of its thickness.
(f) Prior Art Sl~eve As~emblies, Figs. 13-18 Three prior art assemblies of flattened marker sleeves are illustrated in Figs. 13-18.
Figs. 13 and 14 show an assembly 50 said to be made under U.S. Patent 4,198,451 described in the background section of this specification, which is sold in the V.S. by Critchley Inc.
Assembly 50 comprises a traction sheet 51, generally a sheet of paper, and a plurality of flattened tubular marker sleeves 52 that are adhered to the front surface of sheet 51 by means of a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 53, which is best visible in the sectional view of Fig. 14. Th~re is a separate localized pressure sensitive adhesi~e layer 53 under each row of marker sleeves. Pin feed holes 54 are formed along opposed side margins of sheet 51 50 that the assembly can be fed through a printing apparatus with a tractor or sprocket type of drive mechanism. Patent 4,198,451 further requires a coating of a friction material on the back side of the assembly disclosed in the patent, such as the coating strip 55 sh~wn in dashed line in Fig. 14; strips of friction coating are found on assemblies similar to assembly 50 that do not include the pin feed holes 54, but are not included as part of the assembly 50 illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14 that has pin feed holes. As indicated in Fig. 13, the marker sleeves 52 are formed of a 2 ~ 3 2 long piece of flattened tubing having spaced slits 56 to define three marker sleeves in each row of the assembly.
The assemblies of marker sleeves of the present invention, such as described in parts ~a)-(d) above have a number of important and useful advantages in comparison to prior art assembly 50. In the prior art assembly 50, the traction sheet 51 functions as a carrier for the sleeves and it can be noted from ~igs. 13 and 14 that the rnarker sleeves 52 are on top of a surface of the carrier 51 so that they project from the carrier for their full thickness.
This means that the thickness of the carrier is added to the thickness of the marker sleeves in assembly 50. Nany printing mechanisms have a limited amount of gap available between a printhead and a pla~en or other device over which the assembly is advanced for printing, which thereby imposes a limit on the thickness of the material that can be used for carrier 51 in prior art assembly 50. The effect of this is that the carrier 51 of the assembly must be made of relatively thin material in order to run through a printer;
commercial types of assemblies 50 have generally used a thin 0.004 inch (O.lmm) thick sheet of paper as the carrier, and the carrier is of uniform thickness across the assembly, including underneath ~he marker sleeves. The carrier 11 of the assemblies of this invention was developed to be relatively thick outside of the marker sleeves but thin under the marker sleeves; in the assemblies of the invention, therefore, the carrier 11 can be made as a rigid, dimensionally stable element. Secondly, prior art 2 ~ 3 2 assembly 50 cannot be made in a form in which the marker sleeves can be printed on both surfaces. Again, by contrast, the present invention as shown by the embodiment of Figs. 9-11 can be of a constructi.on that permits printing on both the top and bottom surfaces of the sleeves. Another disadvantage brought about by the construction of assembly 50 wherein the marker sleeves project from a surface of the carrier 51 for their full thickness is that the assembly 50 will not properly feed through some types of printing mechanism and, for example, the sleeves will often be smeared with ink such as from a ribbon; also, the ends of the exposed projecting marker sleeves present a hazard in that the pi.ns of a dot matrix printer can sometimes catch on an end of a sleeve as the printer moves transversely across the assembly at high speeds. ~his is not a problem with the assemblies of the present invention because the marker sleeves 13 in our new assemblies are at least partially recessed within a carrier 11 so that they ex-tend above the surface of the carrier by only a portion, preferably at least only one-half or less, of their thickness. A further disadvantage of assembly 50 is that its commercial versions require pressure sensitive adhesive 53 to be laid down in a pattern on a surface of the carrier 51, with a zone of adhesive under each marker sleeve. Depositing a patterned layer of pressure sensitive adhesive can present manufacturing difficulties and also generally restricts the manufacturer to the use of hot melt adhesives, which may not ~ have the desired release properties. Manufacture of the :
2~S32 assemblies of marker sleeves of the present invention, however, does not require this type of patterned coating of pressure sensitive adhesive and our new constructions thus eliminate problems that arise by reason of the adhesive structure of assembly 50. Alternatively, the assembly 50 may be produced by coating the marker sleeves with transfer adhesive prior to joining the sleeves to the carrier. For reasons we do not know, commercial versions of an assembly 50 are sold in a fan-fold arrangement in which alternating sheets of the carrier are blank and do not hold marker sleeves; perhaps there have been problems having exposed adhesive in the assemblies that causes blocking of overlying layers of the assembly. Whatever the reason, however, the assemblies of our invention carry marker sleeves on each sheet of the carrier when sold in fan-folded form, and also can be wound into roll form with marker sleeves continuously along a web of the carrier, so that there is no need to alternate blank sheets with carrier sheets having marker sleeves and there are no problems of the ~ype caused by exposed adhesive.
Figs. 15 and 16 illustrate prior art assembly 60 that is sold by Thomas & Betts Corporation. Assembly 60 includes a carrier 61 that is made of a sheet of transparent plastic in the commercial product. Carrier 61 includes a plurality of cut-outs 62, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 15, that define tabs 63 in the carrier; there are two tabs for each sleeve of the assembly. Flattened tubular marker sleeves 64 are attached to the carrier 61 by inserting a tab 63 into 2 ~ 3 2 the opposed open ends of each sleeve, which arrangement is shown by the sleeves illustrated in assembly 61 in Fig. 15.
Pin feed holes 65 are formed along the opposed longitudinal edge portions of carrier 61.
Assembly 60 is illustrated in sectional view in Fig. 16 that shows one of ~he marker sleeves 64 and the manner in which it is secured ~o carrier 61. The tabs 63 formed by cutouts 62 of the carrier extend into the opposed open ends of marker sleeves 64.
Returning to Fig. 15, carrier 61 of assembly 60 is formed to include parallel spaced rows of corrugations 67, there being a row of corrugations between each column of marker sleeves and between each outboard column of sleeves and its adjacent side edge portion of the assembly.
The new marker sleeve assemblies of our present invention also have useful advantages in comparison to prior art assembly Ç0. Removal of a marker sleeve 64 from the - carrier 61 of an assembly 60 is a particularly clumsy operation since a person must remove each end of a sleeve from a tab 63. This involves significant time and manipulation of the sleeves. However, removal of a marker : sleeve 13 from an assembly of the present invention is a simple operation requiring merely lifting a sleeve from the support tape attached to the carrier. Moreover, inserting marker sleeves 64 between tabs 63 in the assembly 60 adds : complications and expense to the process for manufacturing the assemblies; our new assemblies are easier to manufacture because there is no need to insert tabs into opposed ends of ;''' , -23- 2~14~32 the sleeves with our conskructions. It appears the corrugations 67 are included in the carrier 61 of assembly 60 in order to impart a measure of structural rigidity.
However, the carrier construction employed in assemblies of this invention do not require corrugations or other forms of reinforcemen~s in order to provide a dimensionally stable carrier.
A third prior art assembly of marker sleeves is illustrated in Figs. 17 and 18. Assembly 70 of these two drawings is of a construction sold commercially by Raychem Corporation. Assembly 70 includes a pair of spaced longitudinal strips 71 and 72 that are separate rom one another. Flattened marker sleeves 73 are secured in place between the strips 71 and 72. As seen in the sectional view of Fig. 18, each end of a sleeve 73 is secured to its adjacent strip 71 or 72 by maans of a pair of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes. One end of sleeve 73 is attached to strip 71 by tape 74 between the upper surface of sleeve 73 and the upper surface of strip 71, and also by tape 75 between the bottom surface of sleeve 73 and bottom surface of strip 71. In similar fashion, the opposite end of each sleeve 73 is joined to strip 72 by tape 76 extending between the top of sleeve 73 and the top of strip 72 and by tape 77 ext~nding between the bottom of sleeve 73 and the bottom of strip 72. Tapes 74-77 each have a layex 78 of pressure sensitive adhesive along one surface of the tapes that is used to join the sleeves to strips 71 and 72 in this 2~14~32 manner. Pin feed holes 79 are formed in strips 71 and 72 as shown in Fig. 17.
The prior art assembly 70 is a very flimsy assembly because there is no fixed rigid connection between the strips 71 and 72. The strips are easily moved longitudinally relative to one another. Marker sleeves are not generally very rigid articles, so that the strips 71 and 72 can easily be moved towards one another upon bending of the sleeves. ~hus, assembly 70 has little dimensional stability. In sharp contrast, the assemblies of marker sleeves of our present invention have dimensionally stable carriers as a result o-f the construction incorporating longitudinal side portions and connecting transverse bridge elements that are integral elements of the carrier. It is expected that manufacture of an assembly 70 will be particularly cumbersome and ~xpensive because of a need to correctly register a number of parts relative to one another. That is, two independent strips 71 and 72 must be registered with one another, tapes 74-77 must be properly registered relative to each strip, and sleeves 73 must be properly regis~ered between the tapes and the strips. It is apparent that manufacture of the assemblies of our invention does not require any of these ~ime consuming and additional registration steps. Thirdly, there is a significant possibility of a strip 71 or 72 moving longitudinally relative to the other strip as the sleeves are ~eing printed in a printer mechanism, and improper registration of the sleeves relative to the printer mechanism is a potential 2~4~32 disadvantage of the assembly 70. However, there is no such disadvantage found with the assemblies of our invention since the construction of the carrier 11 as described above assure proper and accurate registration between opposite sides of the assembly as it is being fed through a printing mechanism. Lastly, removing a printed sleeve from the assembly 70 for application to a wire is especially cumbersome. A person must, for example, first remove pressure sensitive tape 74 from one end of a marker sleeve and then remove tape 76 from the opposite end of the marker sleeve; next, the person must remove the sleeve from the tapes 75 and 77 or remove the tapes from the marker sleeves.
Removing a printed sleeve 13 from the assemblies of this invention does not require any of these types of manipulations, inasmuch as ~he sleeve 13 can simply be lifted from the support tape of the assembly.
The foregoing enabling description presents several specific embodiments of new marker sleeve assemblies incorporating the concepts of our present invention that e~hibit significant new advantages to both the end users of marker sleeves as identification devices and the manufacturer of marker sleeve assemblies. The several embodiments described herein are presently-preferred exemplary constructions according to our invention and it is anticipated that those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to devise alternatives to them that will remain within the true spirit and scope of this invention and are intended to be encompassed within the claims of this patent.
Claims (6)
1. An assembly of flattened tubular marker sleeves including the combination of:
(a) a carrier consisting of a one-piece element including spaced longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members, the side members and bridge members being integral connected portions of the carrier, the bridge members being equally spaced to define a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular apertures between each adjacent pair of bridge members that are arranged in at least one longitudinal row along the carrier;
(b) a support tape comprising a substrate and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer the support tape being combined with the carrier with the pressure sensitive adhesive layer adhered to a bottom surface of the carrier and having a portion exposed inside each aperture of the carrier; and (c) at least one flattened tubular marker sleeve positioned in each aperture of the carrier and having a bottom surface releasably adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesive of the support tape in an aperture and an exposed top surface.
(a) a carrier consisting of a one-piece element including spaced longitudinal side members connected by a plurality of spaced transverse bridge members, the side members and bridge members being integral connected portions of the carrier, the bridge members being equally spaced to define a plurality of evenly-spaced rectangular apertures between each adjacent pair of bridge members that are arranged in at least one longitudinal row along the carrier;
(b) a support tape comprising a substrate and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer the support tape being combined with the carrier with the pressure sensitive adhesive layer adhered to a bottom surface of the carrier and having a portion exposed inside each aperture of the carrier; and (c) at least one flattened tubular marker sleeve positioned in each aperture of the carrier and having a bottom surface releasably adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesive of the support tape in an aperture and an exposed top surface.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 further characterized in that the carrier is in the range of about 0.0075 to 0.020 inches thick and the flattened tubular marker sleeves are in the range of about 0.015 to 0.040 inches thick.
3. An assembly according to claim l further characterized in that the carrier has a thickness equal to at least one-half the thickness of the marker sleeves in the assembly.
4. An assembly according to claim 1 further characterized in that the top surface of the marker sleeves projects about 0 to 0.003" above a top surface of the carrier.
5. An assembly according to claim 1 further characterized in that the carrier has at least two rows of apertures in side-by-side arrangement, and at least one flattened marker sleeve is positioned in each aperture and releasably adhered to the pressure sensitive layer of the support tape therein.
6. An assembly according to any one of claims 1-5 further characterized in that it includes a pair of spaced support tapes, each extending along a side member and having a portion of its adhesive layer exposed inside each aperture of the assembly, and a marker sleeve in each aperture having a bottom surface releasably adhered to both support tapes with a portion of its bottom surface exposed therebetween.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US47901690A | 1990-02-12 | 1990-02-12 | |
| US07/479,016 | 1990-02-12 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2014632A1 true CA2014632A1 (en) | 1991-08-12 |
Family
ID=23902310
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2014632 Abandoned CA2014632A1 (en) | 1990-02-12 | 1990-04-17 | Assembly of flat marker sleeves recessed in carrier and retained therein by support tape |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2014632A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6929415B2 (en) * | 2003-08-12 | 2005-08-16 | Brady Worldwide, Inc. | Wire marker label media |
| GB2567474A (en) * | 2017-10-13 | 2019-04-17 | Silver Fox Ltd | Heat shrink label Printing |
-
1990
- 1990-04-17 CA CA 2014632 patent/CA2014632A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6929415B2 (en) * | 2003-08-12 | 2005-08-16 | Brady Worldwide, Inc. | Wire marker label media |
| GB2567474A (en) * | 2017-10-13 | 2019-04-17 | Silver Fox Ltd | Heat shrink label Printing |
| GB2567474B (en) * | 2017-10-13 | 2019-12-04 | Silver Fox Ltd | Label strip |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US5370420A (en) | Pressure sensitive label for high speed laser printers | |
| US7208212B2 (en) | Label applicator system | |
| AU744889B2 (en) | Labeling media and method of making | |
| US6890112B2 (en) | Method and system for handling a linerless label web | |
| US5340427A (en) | Method of making an index tab label assembly | |
| US6594933B2 (en) | Partial fold printable tab product | |
| US5702127A (en) | Form with selectively spaced appliance labels | |
| US5103583A (en) | Protected print label | |
| PL185668B1 (en) | Pressure-sensitive adhesive labels and their production | |
| CA2310455A1 (en) | Laminated article | |
| CA2014830A1 (en) | Quick-aligning, laser-printable index tabs | |
| US5766705A (en) | Marker sleeve assembly | |
| US7691462B2 (en) | Wire label with carrier | |
| US20060040083A1 (en) | Wire label with carrier | |
| CA1144507A (en) | Marker layup | |
| CA2014632A1 (en) | Assembly of flat marker sleeves recessed in carrier and retained therein by support tape | |
| US6737140B2 (en) | Web of record members | |
| US20020154933A1 (en) | Print medium for a label printer | |
| IE63690B1 (en) | Marker sleeve assembly | |
| US5090943A (en) | Document carrier | |
| WO1991014581A1 (en) | Continuous donor strip for use in thermal printers | |
| JP4322489B2 (en) | Label continuum | |
| CA1127201A (en) | Continuous manifolded pocketed record card system | |
| KR19990064160A (en) | Marker sleeve assembly | |
| JP2004133364A (en) | Linerless label |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Dead |