Patent Publication Number: US-6702170-B1

Title: Media separating apparatus and method

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to apparatus for separating media from a uniform sheet and more particularly to a separating apparatus which bends a first portion of a semi-compliant material in at least two directions to separate an individual medium from the remainder of the material. Subsequent media are separated sequentially in a similar manner as the material moves through the separating apparatus. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The advent of thermal printers and the like have revolutionized the industry of efficiently and cheaply inscribing indicia or other identificational material on numerous types of media ranging from clothing, plastics and ceramics to soft/ductile metals such as aluminum. The types of indicia range from simple company logos and company advertising materials to complex bar coding systems which track inventory, expiration dates and consumer spending trends. The printers typically print the indicia on blank continuous sheets or strips which are fed through the printers and later either stacked in sheets or collected in large rolls for subsequent separation. In order to save on manufacturing costs and to facilitate transportation and storage of the media after it has been imprinted, the indicia is typically repeated (or arranged, e.g., sequenced or grouped) on the sheet or roll and the individual medium are later separated for distribution or use. 
     Such labels and tags are used by many industries including retail, medical manufactured products and the horticultural industry. 
     One particular industry which has benefited from the use of the thermal printer is the plant growing industry which typically places plant information tags on various plants to quickly and cheaply identify the various plant varieties and keep an accurate inventory of all the plants in a particular greenhouse or farm. Generally, the plant tags are made from a semi-compliant material such as plastic which tends to withstand environmental conditions and various pesticides typically used in the floral and plant industries. 
     As mentioned above, since the manufacturers of plant tags typically imprint the tags on large sheets or rolls for transportation and storage purposes, which must be separated later by the grower, wholesaler, nursery, or florist and placed with the appropriate plants for identification or inventory purposes. As can be appreciated, organizations who typically order these plant tags in the thousands are stuck with the task of manually separating each plant tag from the large sheet or roll before the tags can be used which is both tedious and time consuming. 
     Typically, the prior art devices of the past have employed complex cutting and scoring systems to separate the tags from the remainder of the material. As can be appreciated, these systems require considerable maintenance, i.e., sharpening of the cutting blades, which can be both time consuming and costly. Some tag manufactures have tried to simplify the manual tag separation process by providing a series of scores or notches along each individual tag on the sheets to facilitate separation. However, although simplified, the manual separation of these plant tags remains tedious and costly. 
     Thus, there exists a need to develop an apparatus which quickly and easily separates individual medium from a continuous sheet or roll in an efficient manner without requiring frequent maintenance of internal component parts, i.e., sharpening of cutting blades. 
     SUMMARY 
     Accordingly, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for separating a stock of semi-compliant material into discrete portions which includes a housing having a drive mechanism disposed therein which bends the material in a first direction thus forming a line of weakening along the material and subsequently bends the material in a second direction which separates a portion from the remaining material along the line of weakening. Preferably, a feeder feeds the material into the drive mechanism of the housing. 
     In one embodiment, the drive mechanism includes a plurality of rollers and belts and a variable-speed motor which controls the speed of the rollers and/or belts of the drive mechanism. Preferably, a series of notches or score marks are disposed at various positions along the material stock to facilitate separation of the tags from the remainder of the material. 
     In another embodiment, the housing includes at least one drive mechanism which moves the material stock through the housing about a first flex point and a second flex point. Preferably, the first flex point bends the material in a first direction as the material moves through the housing thus forming at least one line of weakening along the material and the second flex point bends the material in a second direction thus separating the material along the line of weakening into individual portions (tags). Preferably, the drive mechanism includes a belt which has an inner facing surface treated with a silicon-based or other non stick finish to facilitate handling and separation. In yet another embodiment, the drive mechanism includes two sets of rollers which are connected by a two belts which carry the material through the housing about the two flex points to separate the tags from the remaining material. 
     In yet another embodiment, the flex points are selectively adjustable to accommodate for differently-sized material and/or the diameter of the flex points are selectively expandable and contractible to adjust to the dimensions, i.e., width, of the tags. Preferably, the housing has a base disposed on an angle to facilitate dispersement of the tags once separated. The base can also be treated with a silicon-based or other non stick finish material to also facilitate dispersement of the tags once separated. 
     Preferably, the drive mechanism includes belts or chains and is driven by a fixed or a variable speed motor which can be independently operated and/or connected to an existing printer, imprinter and/or other fabricating device. 
     The present disclosure also includes a method of separating a stock of semi-compliant material into discrete portions which includes the steps of: 
     a) feeding the material into a housing having at least one drive mechanism which moves the material through said housing; 
     b) bending the material in a first direction thus forming a line of weakening along the material; and 
     c) bending the material in a second direction which separates a portion of the material from the remaining material along the line of weakening. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of a media separator according to the present disclosure; 
     FIG. 2 is a front, perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a rear, perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a side, perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 showing an internal section of a housing and a driving mechanism; 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic representation the roller configuration of FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a piece of material stock. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The drawings in which like reference numerals identify similar or identical components throughout several views, there is illustrated an apparatus which separates semi-compliant and/or ductile tags from a sheet, continuous strip or roll in a quick, easy and efficient manner. For the purposes herein, the term “semi-compliant material” includes, but is not be limited to, plastic, styrene, vinyl, polyvinylchloride, graphite, kevlar, and/or aluminum. The media separating apparatus is generally identified by reference numeral  10  and includes a chassis/housing  12  having two sides  14  and  16  joined by a common base  18 . As best shown in FIG. 1, base  18  is disposed at an angle alpha (α) relative to ground  13  which facilitates dispersement of the tags  23  once separated from the stock or strip  20  which will be explained in more detail below with reference to the other figures. It is contemplated that angle α can be selectively adjusted depending upon a particular purpose or depending upon a particular type of material being separated. 
     A drive mechanism  30  is housed between side portions  14  and  16  and can be connected to a crank handle (not shown) for manual operation and/or connected to a motor  50  (See FIGS. 3 and 5) to automate the separation process. It is also contemplated that the drive mechanism  30  can be engaged with or electrically coupled to an existing drive mechanism associated with a printing or imprinting device, e.g., a thermal printer. In the embodiment shown in the various figures drawings, the drive mechanism  30  includes a pair of drive rollers  31   a  and  33  (See FIGS. 3 and 5) which are each chain driven and are ultimately connected to a crank handle (not shown) or a motor  50  (See FIG. 5) to move the stock through the housing  12 . More particularly, a first spindle  75  is rotatingly mounted between side  14  and  16  and carries a pair of spindle gears  41   a  and  46   a  at either end which when rotated moves chains  45  and  47 , respectively. A second spindle  77  is also rotatingly mounted between sides  14  and  16  and carries a spindle gear  43   a  which is mounted along side  14  to engage chain  45  to form a first drive loop. 
     Likewise, third and fourth spindles  78  and  79  also traverse sides  14  and  16  and carry spindle gears  41   b  and  43   b  at their ends which engage chain  47  to form a second drive loop. As best shown in FIG. 3, with the exception of spindle  75 , each spindle carries a roller, e.g., spindle  77  carries roller  33 , spindle  78  carries roller  31   b  and spindle  79  carries roller  31   a . As can be appreciated, mechanical or automatic rotation of spindle  75  will thus rotate all of the spindles, e.g.,  75 ,  77 ,  78  and  79  within housing  12 , which, in turn, rotates rollers  31   a ,  33   a  and  31   b  to move the stock  20  through the housing as explained in greater detail below. 
     Drive rollers  31   a  also includes a second spindle gear  43  disposed about spindle  75  on the outer side of spindle gear  41   a  which couples to a second chain  49  which, in turn, engages a drive shaft  61  of motor  50 . Rotation of drive shaft  61  causes spindle  75  to rotate and drive the drive mechanism  30 . It contemplated that either or both of the drive rollers  31   a  and  33  can be separately connected to a motor(s)  50  depending upon a particular purpose. 
     As best illustrated in FIG. 5, the drive mechanism  30  also includes a carry roller  31   b , bearing roller  39  and guide roller  37  which are generally offset relative to one another. Drive rollers  31   a  and  33  are associated with two drive belts  34  and  32 , respectively, which form two continuous driving loops around drive rollers  31   a ,  33 , carry roller  31   b  and rollers  37 ,  39  which all cooperate to move the stock  20  through the housing  12 . More particularly, the driving loop associated with drive roller  31   a  consists of the following components: drive roller  31   a , bearing roller  39 , carry roller  31   b  and guide roller  37 . The driving loop associated with drive roller  33  consists of the following components: drive roller  33 , bearing roller  39  and carry roller  31   b . Preferably, drive rollers  31   a ,  33 , carry roller  31   b , bearing roller  39  and guide roller  37  all move according to the direction of the arrows shown on the FIG. 5 schematic diagram which causes the stock  20  to move through the housing  12 . It is contemplated that guide roller  37  and bearing roller  39  can also be arranged to engage chains  45  and/or  47  to ensure consistent motion of the rollers  37  and  39  with the other internal components, e.g., drive rollers  31   a ,  33  and carry roller  31   b.    
     As can be appreciated and as best shown in FIG. 5, the stock  20  is fed off a roll  21  across a feed roller  35  and between belts  32  and  34  which inwardly converge at point “A” as belt  34  moves over drive roller  31   a  and belt  32  moves over bearing roller  39 , respectively. The stock  20  in then trapped between the two belts  32  and  34 . As the stock  20  moves over roller  39 , the stock  20  bends in a first direction as the stock  20  rotates around roller  39  at a first flex point “B” to form a line of weakening  60  in the stock  20  between each tag  23  (See FIG.  6 ). Stock  20  may include a plurality of notches  56  and/or scores  67  which facilitate the formation of multiple lines of weakening  60  along the stock  20  as it rotates about guide roller  39 . It is also contemplated that the stock  20  can be preformed with multiple lines of weakening  60  to facilitate bending and separation. Stock  20  can also be manufactured in other fashions which may facilitate separation after printing or imprinting, e.g., pre-scored, indented, hollowed, concave, sunken printed, embossed and/or diecut. 
     The stock  20  is then guided by belts  32  and  34  towards carry roller  31   b  which causes the stock  20  to bend in a second direction as the stock  20  rotates around carry roller  31   b  at a second flex point “C” which causes the stock  20  to separate along the line of weakening  60  forming individual tags  23 . The stock  20  is then released from between the two belts  32  and  34  as the belts  32 ,  34  continue along their respective driving loops, i.e., belt  34  moves toward and over guide roller  37  and belt  32  moves towards and over drive roller  33 . Once released, the individual tags  23  each fall away from the drive mechanism  30  towards angled base  38  where the tags  23  are dispersed to a collection site or carriage belt. It is contemplated that moving air or suction devices can also be employed to disperse or move the tags  23  to a collection site or other desired location. 
     Preferably, the belts are coated with a silicon-based substance which facilitates the release of the stock  20  from the belts  32 ,  34  once separated. It is anticipated that a scraper (not shown) may also be employed to facilitate the release of the tags from the belts  32 ,  34  once separated. 
     The present disclosure also includes a method of separating a semi-compliant material into discrete tags which includes the steps of: 
     a) feeding the material stock  20  into the drive mechanism  30  proximate point “A” (See FIG. 5) which moves the stock  20  through the housing  12 ; 
     b) bending the stock  20  in a first direction (at flex point “B”) thus forming a line of weakening  60  along the stock  20 ; and 
     b) bending the stock  20  in a first direction (at flex point “B”) thus forming a line of weakening  60  along the stock  20 ; and 
     c) bending the stock  20  in a second direction (at flex point “C”) thus separating a tag  23  from the stock  20  along the line of weakening  60 . 
     From the foregoing and with reference to the various figure drawings, those skilled in the art will appreciate that certain modifications can be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, it is contemplated that the drive mechanism can include additional drive rollers, carry rollers and guide rollers which operate to move the stock  20  through the housing. In addition, it is contemplated that additional driving loops can be employed to bend or manipulate the material stock  20  in additional directions depending upon a particular purpose or particular material being separated. 
     In addition, it is contemplated that any of the rollers,  31   a ,  31   b ,  33 ,  37  and  39  can be adjustable to increase or decrease the tension associated with each belt and/or to facilitate engagement of the drive belt atop the rollers. Moreover, it is also contemplated that the diameter of guide roller  39  and the diameter of carry roller  31   b  may be expandable or easily changeable to accommodate for tags having larger or smaller widths. Moreover, although spindle gears and chains are shown in the drawings for regulating and synchronizing the rotation of the various rollers, other mechanisms may be employed to achieve the same result, e.g., belts, pulleys, wires and/or electrically synchronized motors. 
     While the present disclosure has been generally described and shown as a stand alone unit, it is contemplated that the media separating apparatus  10  can be affixed to or removable engaged with a thermal printer or other imprinting/stamping device. 
     While particular embodiments of the disclosure have been described, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto, as it is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplications of preferred embodiments. Those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended hereto.