TAG

Abstract: A tag (2) which is intended for provisional fastening to a holding part (18) on a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the destination of the unit and/or possible contents of the pallet container. The special aspect of the tag according to the invention is that the tag itself is configured with a projecting strip part (6), typically consisting merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which serves as binding element when this strip part is configured with an outer locking head part (8, 10) which, after the winding of the strip part (6) around the relevant holding part (18), can be brought into locking engagement in a corresponding locking hole (12, 14, 16) in the tag (2). The tag can also appear as a finished sheet with pre-stamped contours for the individual tag for the printing of information in a computer-controlled printer, and where the tags are separated and applied after the printing.

Description: Tag The present invention relates to a so-called "manilla label", i.e. a tag which is intended for provisional fastening to a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the unit's destination and/or possibly the contents of the pallet container. For many years, these manilla labels or tags consisted of simple tags with a preferably edge-reinforced hole by which the tag could be fastened to a narrow part of the shipping unit by means of a piece of string. This practice has been continued right up to recent times, with certain improvements having been made such as the tags being able to be provided with computer-written labels, and the "pieces of string" having been replaced by binder strips which can be wound around suitably narrow parts of the shipping unit without any special manual tying of knots. In principle, it will hereby be possible in a relatively simple manner to fasten a modern manilla label to more or less any shipping unit, regardless of the thickness of this unit. With the present invention it has been acknowledged that the relevant "narrow parts" involved consist mainly of bars or tube pieces on the more-or-less standardised container pallets, which find widespread use within modern product distribution from wholesaler to detail handler. Therefore, there is no need expressed that the manilla label shall be able to be fastened to narrow parts with distinctly different thickness, in that the variations in thickness which appear are actually quite small. On this basis, with the invention it has been found that it will be possible to form the manilla label/ the tag in such a way that this in itself is configured with a projecting strip part, typically -consisting merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which can completely re- place the otherwise separate binder element, when this strip part is configured with an outer locking-head part which, after the strip part has been wound around the relevant holding part, can be brought into engagement in a corresponding lock- ing hole in the manilla label. These co-operating locking parts can be configured in such a way that the relevant operator can fasten the tag on the container pallet just as easily and quickly as the fastening of a perforated tag by means of a separate binding strip. This will merely involve that the separate binding strip will now consist of a simple, integrated part of the tag itself. This will result in a considerable cheapening of the individual fastening, and herewith a considerable saving in the use of the millions or billions of the current tags from the global point of view. Moreover, it can also be mentioned that the locking hole can consist solely of a stamping through the tag, and thus the locking hole does not need to present a proper cut-out in the tag at the foot of the strip part. In comparison with conventional tags, it can constitute a considerable weakening since the binding part can hereafter consist of a relatively weak carton strip, but after thorough testing of the invention it has been found, however, that this is fully satisfactory in practice. Hereafter, there will be no need for any speculations concerning special hole rein- forcements or concerning means for the binding. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is plan view of a compete tag in accordance with a preferred embodiment, Fig. 2 and 3 are plan views which illustrate the closing of the carton strip part of the tag, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the mounted tag, Fig. 5 is a plan view of a web of tags according to the invention intended for use together with a computer- controlled printer, Fig. 6 A-6D are examples of alternative configurations for the locking hole, where this consists of triangular- shaped slots stamped through the tag, Fig. 7A-7F are example embodiments of alternative configurations of the locking hole, where this comprises a combination of cut-out and a stamped slot in the lower side of the cut-out, .and where the upper side edge of the cut-out is oriented transversely to the slot, and Fig. 8 shows further examples of alternative embodiments of the locking hole, where this comprises a combination of cut-out and a slot stamped in the lower side of the cut-out, and where the upper side edge of the cut-out is upwardly arcuate. The tag item 2 shown in fig. 1 is simply stamped out from a relatively thin carton material, and it consists of a rectangular field 4 with a projecting strip part 6, which outer- most has a widened head part 8 having edges 10 undercut at an angle and facing towards the field 4. In the field 4, near the root of the strip part 6, there is a triangular hole 12 with a downwards-facing apex 14, from which for a distance downwards there extends a cut line 16. The upper edge of the hole 12 is slightly longer than the breadth of the strip 6. For the closing of the strip 6, this is bent to the position shown in fig. 2, in which in principle the widened head 8 is held in more-or-less plane contact with the field 4 on the one side of the cut line 16, and thereafter it is possi- ble to introduce the head of the strip sideways through the area 12, 16 as shown in fig. 3 to a position on the opposite side of the field 4, where the strip will be more-or-less self-aligning to the position which is shown in fig. 4. It will not be of .any real significance whether the strip assumes its fully engaged position (fig. 4) of its own accord or with the help of the operator, in that after insertion through the hole the head part 8 will be effectively blocked against unintentional opening. Merely a slight pull on the strip will bring the head part 8 in fixed locking engagement with the upper edge of the hole 12, which does not need any separate illustration. It will be understood that the practised user will not need to proceed in accordance with figs. 2/3, in that in practice the strip head 8 can simply be squeezed straight in through the area 12,16 with resulting elastic deformation of both the head 8 and the field material around this area. It is possible to open the strip in a corresponding manner by active pressing through the opposite way, but since the tags will hardly be desired to be reused, they can just as well be torn from the respective support parts, e.g. a bar on a container pallet as indicated by the stippled line in fig. 4. With such a tearing off, the strip loop will be stretched so that the said stop contact will be established. This can be utilised in that by the drawing tight of the head part 8 against the upper edge of the hole 12, a local holding engagement between the strip and the field 4 can be arranged in several possible ways, so that after being torn off the tag will still only consist of a single, coherent part, regardless of the point at which the strip breaks. The person effecting the tearing-off will thus be left holding a whole unit, and there will not appear any loose strip ends which, after the tearing-off, can fall down and hereby require sub- sequent separate gathering up. The invention is naturally not limited to precisely that locking system shown for the strip 6, in that a sufficiently effective locking connection can be achieved with many other configurations. Alternative configurations of the locking hole are shown in fig._6, 7 and 8. It can even be a possibility that instead of a mechanical locking system, use can be made of an adhesive connection where a self-adhering adhesive is applied to the relevant surface part(s), while the comple- mentary surface parts on neighbouring tags in a stack are provided with a coating which prevents adhesion. With the invention it will be possible for the tags to be produced from a continuous length of material, cf. fig. 5, which can be suitable for feeding through a computer- controlled printer for direct printing-out of the tags. As will be seen, it is hereby not conditional that the strips 6 shall extend precisely from the centre of a short side of the tags .

Claims: C L A I M S 1. Tag (2) which is intended for provisional fastening to a holding part (18) on a shipping unit such as a sack or, in more recent times, a pallet container, for the marking of the destination of the unit and/or possible contents of the pallet container, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the tag itself is configured with a projecting strip part (6), typically consisting merely of carton or other thin sheet or foil material, which serves as binding element when this strip part is configured with an outer locking head part (8, 10) which, after the winding of the strip part (6) around the relevant holding part (18), can be brought into locking engagement in the corresponding locking hole (12, 14, 16) in the tag (2) . 2. Tag (2) according to claim 1, c h a r a c t er i s e d in that it consists of a tag item 2 of relatively thin carton material or other thin sheet or foil material, and that it comprises a rectangular field 4 with a projecting strip part 6, which outermost has a widened head part 8 with edges 10 undercut at an angle and facing towards the field 4, and where in the field 4 near the root of the strip 6 there is a substantially triangular hole 12 with a downwards-facing apex 14 from which a cut line 16 extends for a distance downwards, and where the upper edge of the hole 12 is slightly longer than the breadth of the strip 6. 3. Tag according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t er i s e d in that the locking hole consists only of a stamping-through of the tag, 4. Tag (2) according to any of the claims 1 - 3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it is produced from plastic foil.

Inventors: OLSEN JENS JACOB THORBJOERN, OLSEN, JENS, JACOB, THORBJOERN
Applicants: OLSEN JENS JACOB THORBJOERN, OLSEN, JENS, JACOB, THORBJOERN
Application year: 2001
Main classification: G09F3
IPC codes: G09F3