PRINTER FOR SUPPORTS MADE OF COMPOSTABLE MATERIAL Technical field

This invention relates to a printer for supports made of compostable material used in particular in large-scale distribution to integrate devices for weighing fruit and vegetable products.

Background art

A printer for supports made of compostable material has been devised with a view to eliminating any type of label, on which various information is printed, in such a way as to make the supports on which it is applied fully compostable and biodegradable.

However, it is known that the supports made of compostable material, such as the handles of bags made of compostable and biodegradable material, have a considerable flexibility, unlike supports made of plastic material or made of paper-based material, which make their handling difficult.

Aim of the invention

In this context, the need has been felt of making a printer for supports made of compostable material which facilitates as much as possible the insertion of the compostable material to be processed, as described in independent claim 1 .

Advantageously, the printer according to the invention allows the user to insert the flap to be processed, holding it taut with both hands.

Brief description of the drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention are more apparent in the detailed description below, with reference to a preferred, non-limiting, embodiment of a printer for supports made of compostable material as schematically illustrated in Figure 1 .

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

The numeral 1 denotes a printer for supports made of compostable material according to the invention. The printer 1 has an access opening 2 configured for inserting and extracting a flap 3 of the support made of compostable material.

Preferably, the support is a bag and the flap 3 is a portion of the bag, for example part of a handle of the bag or part of a bottom portion of the bag. The printer 1 comprises a thermal transfer printing unit 5 comprising a roller 6 for unwinding a reel 7 of carbon-coated tape 8, a print head 9, configured to heat, and a contact element 10 of the print head 9.

Advantageously, the heat transfer tape gives an autonomy in metres at least 3 times greater than the typical paper label.

The print head 9 and the contact element 10 are positioned relative to each other to define a printing direction S along which the flap 3 is processed.

The printer 1 comprises a first body 15, comprising at least the print head 9, and a second body 16, comprising at least the contact element 10, spaced from each other in such a way as to define the access opening 2.

According to the invention, the access opening 2 extends along a direction parallel to the printing direction in such a way as to allow the insertion and extraction of the flap 3 in the gap between the print head 9 and the contact element 10.

Advantageously, the user inserts the flap 3 to be processed in front of the printing unit 5 in an easy manner.

A further advantage is the possibility of suitably stretching the flap to be processed, thus facilitating the operation of inserting in the printing unit 5.

In this way, the processed flap 3 is expelled through the access opening 2 in a direction parallel to the printing direction S.

The print head 9 has a face, designed to make contact with a portion of the carbon-coated tape 8, configured to heat itself in such a way as to transfer onto the flap 3 ink deriving from the carbon-coated tape.

The face of the print head 9 is configured to transfer information comprising letters and/or numbers and/or bar codes and/or special characters. The print head 9 is configured to pass from a non-operating position, at which it is positioned raised relative to the contact element 10, to an operating position, at which the print head 9 lowers towards the contact element 10 in such a way as to bring into contact a respective portion of the carbon-coated tape 8 with the flap 3.

Alternatively, the contact element 10 is configured to pass from a nonoperating position, in which it is positioned far from the print head 9, to an operating position, in which the contact element 10 approaches the print head 9 in such a way as to bring into contact a respective portion of the carbon-coated tape 8 with the flap 3.

In other words, with reference to the embodiments described, at the operating position, the carbon-coated tape 8 is interposed between the print head 9 and the flap 3 and in contact with the latter.

The contact element 10 is in the form of a roller rotating about a relative axis of rotation 10a.

The axis of rotation 10a is a horizontal axis.

Downstream of the print head 9, in a feed direction of the carbon-coated tape 8, the printing unit 5 comprises a roller 12 for winding the carbon- coated tape 8 after its ink has finished, coming out from the print head 8.

The roller 12 for winding the carbon-coated tape 8 empty of its ink and the roller 6 for unwinding the reel 7 of carbon-coated tape 8 have respective horizontal axes of rotation 6a and 12a.

The printing unit 5 comprises means 11 for detecting the flap 3 configured for detecting the presence of the flap 3 inserted between the print head 9 and the contact element 10.

For example, the detection means 11 are in the form of an optical sensor. A control unit 18 is connected electronically to the detection means 11 .

The control unit 18 is configured for controlling the passage of the print head 9 from the non-operating position to the operating position, and vice versa.

Actuator means 13 are configured for moving the print head 9, the contact element 10, the roller 6 for unwinding a reel 7 of carbon-coated tape 8 and the roller 12 for winding the carbon-coated tape 8.

The control unit 18 is configured to control the activation and deactivation of the actuator means 13.

The detection means 11 are configured to send a signal 14 for detecting the flap 3 to the control unit 18.

The control unit 18 is configured to receive the signal 14 for detecting the flap 3 and for activating the actuator means 13 of the printing unit 5.

The activation of the actuator means 13 results in the passage of the print head 9 from the non-operating position to the operating position.

At the operating position of the print head 9, the actuator means 13 control the rotation of the contact element 10 in such a way that the flap 3 is fed along the printing direction S towards the outlet opening 4.

According to the embodiment illustrated, the contact element 10 rotates about its axis of rotation 10a in an anticlockwise direction.

The releasing of the ink on the flap 3 occurs during the step of expelling the flap 3 from the printing unit 5 through the access opening 2.

The invention also relates to a weighing device 25 comprising the printer 1 as described configured for printing a flap 3 of a bag made of compostable material.

The flap 3 is, for example, a portion of the handle of the bag, illustrated with the reference numeral 30.

The handle is preferably longer than the handle of a known bag made of compostable material.

The weighing device 25 comprises at least one plate 26 on which to position the articles to be weighed, preferably fruit and/or vegetables, a unit 27 for selecting the product to be weighed, positioned on the plate 26.

The plate is connected to weighing means, not illustrated, configured for measuring the weight of the products positioned on the plate 26.

Preferably, the selection unit 27 is a touch screen having a plurality of icons having a respective identification mark referable to the product to be weighed.

The identification sign may be, for example, an image and/or a letter and/or a number.

An electronic unit 28 is connected electronically to the selection unit 27 and to the weighing means, not illustrated, in such a way as to process the product information and send the information to be printed on the handle 3 of the bag using the printing unit 5 of the printer 1 , such as, for example, weight, product, bar code, price etc.

The electronic unit 28 of the weighing device 25 is connected electronically to the control unit 18 of the printer 1 .

By means of the weighing device 25, the user, after positioning the product on the plate 26, defines, by means of the selection unit 27, the product and inserts the flap 3 of the handle of the compostable bag, designed to house the weighed product, in the access opening 2 of the printer 1 which releases the printed flap 3 through said opening 2.

Advantageously, it has been found that this solution allows a reduction of more than 50% in the costs of wear parts.