A holder for cable identification sleeves matched with printing supports

Abstract

 A holder for cable identification sleeves (10) matched with printing supports comprising at least one vertically-extended ribbon-shaped support (12) provided with a plurality of equidistant tabs (16) on its inner side with an orthogonal development compared to the same support upon which the same sleeves are placed. The tabs project with their free ends from said sleeves and said ends being settled along the upper and/or lower face by means of a continuous adhesive tape (20).

Description

[0001] The present invention refers to a holder for cable identification sleeves matched with printing supports.

[0002] More particularly, the present invention refers to a holder for thermoshrinking identification sleeves in the shape of flat tubular labels prearranged on continuous supports for the printing/stamping of alphanumeric references by means of computer printers and the like.

[0003] The tubular labels can be made of any suitable material, for example plastic material such as polyolefins or PVC and can be of any height or width.

[0004] As known, for the identification of cables and harnesses special flat tubular sleeve-shaped labels which are preferably made of plastic material such as polyolenfins or P.V.C. or other suitable material are used. These labels or flat tubular sleeves are fastened to the opposite ends of a ribbon-shaped support made of flexible plastic material, provided with overlapped and equidistant guiding and driving holes in the printer by means of which the required alphanumeric references are printed on the same sleeves. The connection between said sleeves and the opposite ribbon-shaped supports is obtained by means of conventional adhesive tapes. The sleeves are therefore, parallel, equidistant between them, horizontally placed and delimited on the opposite sides by ribbon-shaped supports and relevant vertically oriented adhesive tapes.

[0005] This kind of fastening of the sleeves to the opposite ribbon-shaped supports has a considerable drawback which particularly occurs when the sleeves connected to the ribbon-shaped supports are placed into the equipment for the printing of the alphanumeric references. In fact, during this step the problem related to the precise steadiness of the sleeves which are prone to misalignment for the action of the mobile printing means frequently occurs. Sometimes the drawback is heightened due to the fact that the sleeves are made of substantially soft and flexible material and even though they show a flat tubular shape, this does not assure an even linear steadiness of the surface upon which said alphanumeric references are printed. Therefore, it may occur that, part of the sleeves show an inadequate printing standard as for the linearity or printing consistency and are consequently rejected.

[0006] A further drawback found in this kind of fastening is due to the fact that the adhesive tapes used to stabilize the sleeves to the ribbon-shaped support overlap, even in the least, the same sleeves; it follows that at the end of the printing step when sleeves are detached one by one from the ribbon-shaped supports, the adhesive tapes overlapping them leave undesirable glue traces upon them which could cause the sticking of foreign bodies. Moreover, when sleeves are detached, the adhesive tapes which partly overlap them, can cause the deterioration of the end of the same sleeves.

[0007] Object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawback.

[0008] More particularly, object of the present invention is the provision of a holder for cable identification sleeves matched with printing supports, being able to keep the exact horizontal layout and the alignment of the same sleeves especially during the printing of the alphanumeric references.

[0009] A further object of the present invention is the provision of a holder for identification sleeves as defined above wherein said alphanumeric references show high accuracy features as for the definition of the references printed by means of the printing equipments.

[0010] A further object of the present invention is the provision of a holder for identification sleeves which does not entail even the partial overlapping of the adhesive tapes for their steadiness compared to said ribbon-shaped supports.

[0011] A further object of the present invention is the provision of a holder for identification sleeves, more particularly, a continuous series of sleeves overlapped between them and fastened to printing supports, being able to assure a high level of resistance and reliability in time, which can also be easily and sparingly arranged for the printing/stamping of the required alphanumeric references.

[0012] According to the present invention, these and other purposes are attained from a holder for cable identification sleeves matched with printing supports comprising at least a first vertically-extended ribbon-shaped support provided with a plurality of tabs on the inner side which are equidistant and orthogonally extend compared to the same support, upon which the same sleeves are put on; said tabs project with their free ends from said sleeves and said ends being settled along the upper and/or lower end by means of a continuous adhesive tape.

[0013] The manufacturing and functional features of the holder for cable identification sleeves of the present invention will be better understood from the detailed description which follows, wherein reference is made to Figure 1 of the attached table of drawing representing the front schematic view of a preferred and non-limitative embodiment of the holder of the present invention provided with one of said sleeves and stabilization supports which are placed into a continuous sequence.

[0014] With reference to the above Figure, the cable identification sleeve marked in its whole with 10 is usually constituted by a tubular element made of any suitable material such as plastic material, polyolefin or P.V.C. of any height and length; its front surface is meant to be provided with stamped or printed alphanumeric references obtained by means of known printing equipments such as a printer connected to a PC. The sleeve 10, and more precisely, each of the several sleeves 10 meant for the printing operation, are overlapped among them, horizontally aligned and equidistant according to any pre-arranged pace and connected to the opposite side ends to the relevant ribbon-shaped supports 12, 14. Said supports 12, 14 are opposite and parallel and they are made of flexible plastic material and vertically oriented compared to the layout of the same sleeves.

[0015] According to the present invention, the first of said ribbon-shaped supports, marked with 12 in the mentioned Figure, is provided with a plurality of integral tabs 16 developing from the inner end 12' of the same support towards the second opposite support 14. Tabs 16 make as many stabilization points of sleeves 10 which are previously formed and normally put on said tabs 16 or by semiautomatic or automatic means which do not relate to the present invention.

[0016] Tabs 16 are advantageously and integrally obtained with the first ribbon-shaped support 12 when manufactured and their height allows to easily put on them the sleeves 10 to be printed. The free end of the tabs 16 facing the second vertically oriented opposite ribbon-shaped support 14 is shaped with a bias lowering or curved profile in order to easily put on the sleeves 10. In its whole the first ribbon-shaped support 12 from which the plurality of tabs 16 orthogonally develops, defines a comb structure wherein the overlapped and equidistant teeth are constituted by tabs 16.

[0017] According to a further and advantageous feature of the present invention, the free and shaped end of each tab 16 engages into complementary seats 18, one of which is schematized in Figure 1, of which the inner end or side of the second ribbon-shaped support 14 is provided with. Similarly to the first support 12 bearing the integral tabs 16, said second ribbon-shaped support 14 is advantageously made of flexible plastic material and is provided with said overlapped and equidistant seats or recesses 18 in order to obtain the horizontal alignment of said tabs 16. Seats 18 are obtained on the second ribbon-shaped support 14 with known means and procedures during the forming or after it. Therefore, the free end of each tab 16, has an exact alignment and matching point in the mentioned seats, wherein they are settled by means of an adhesive tape 20 or similar means which are subsequently affixed. In particular, the adhesive tape 20 is placed at least on one face or end of the second ribbon-shaped support 14 in such a way to overlap to the free ends of the tabs 16 which are abutted into seats 18 and, partly, to the internal edge of the same support, along the areas breaking up said seats, without in the least affecting the sleeves 10. In such a way, the free end of the tabs 16 is accurately settled and sleeves which were previously put on them are positioned in the most suitable and safe way to be printed. During this step, since the sleeves 10 are supported for the whole extension of the tabs 16 making a basically stiff abutment, the printing of the alphanumeric references is accurately and consistently carried out.

[0018] The opposite ribbon-shaped supports 12 and 14 are conventionally provided with dragging pass-through holes 22 during printing or feeding into the relevant equipment.

[0019] As can be seen, the advantages of the holder of the present invention are clear.

[0020] The cable identification sleeves matched with their side supports are constantly settled and aligned to assure an optimum printing of the alphanumeric references upon them. Moreover, the first ribbon-shaped support 12 the tabs 16 are integral with can be reused several times so that its preparation does not imply a considerable increase in the whole production costs. Moreover, the adhesive tape/tapes 20 applied to the ribbon-shaped support 14 do non involve even the slightest portion of the sleeves 10, thus making easy their removal at the end of the printing operations and thus avoiding the presence of glue traces upon them, or even worse, deteriorations of the ends.

[0021] Even though the present invention has been described above with reference to one of its embodiment which is given only by way of non-limitative example, many changes and variants will be clear to people skilled in the art according to the above-mentioned description. Sleeves 10 can be for example put on the tabs 16 of the first support 12 and fastened to the end opposite to said support by means of a conventional adhesive tape covering the free end of the tabs at least on one face, thus excluding the use of the second ribbon-shaped support 14. Therefore the present invention is meant to include all changes and variants falling within the spirit and the protection scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A holder for cable identification sleeves (10) matched with printing supports comprising at least a first vertically-extended ribbon-shaped support (12) and provided with a plurality of equidistant tabs (16) on its inner side (12') with an orthogonal development compared to the same support upon which sleeves (10) are placed, said tabs (16) projecting with their free ends from said sleeves (10) and said ends being settled along the upper and/or lower face by means of a continuous adhesive tape (20).

2. The holder for identification sleeves according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises two parallel, opposite ribbon-shaped supports (12,14) being vertically oriented compared to the layouts of sleeves (10), of which the first support (12) is provided with a plurality of tabs (16) with an orthogonal development on its inner side (12') and the second ribbon-shaped support (14) being provided with a plurality of seats (18) on its inner side to house the free ends of the tabs (16); the continuous adhesive tape (20) being applied at least on one face of said second ribbon-shaped support (14) to cover the free ends of said tabs (16) and the same support along the areas breaking up seats (18) without affecting the sleeves (10) at all.

3. The holder for identification sleeves according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the tabs (16) are integrally obtained with the ribbon-shaped support (12) during its forming.

4. The holder for identification sleeves (10) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the free end of the tabs (16) facing the second ribbon-shaped support (14) is shaped with bias lowering or a curved profile; seats (18) of said second support (14) being shaped in a complementary way.

5. The holder for identification sleeves (10) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the first ribbon-shaped support (12) and the second ribbon-shaped support (14) are made of flexible plastic material.

6. The holder for identification sleeves (10) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the first ribbon-shaped support (12) shows a comb structure wherein the overlapped and equidistant teeth are constituted by tabs (16).

Drawing