Tag attaching apparatus

Claim 2

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members to feed the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a pawl for engaging successive teeth of the wheel to advance the wheel, the pawl being movable between first and second positions, and means for actuating the push rod and the pawl in sequence, the actuating means including a spring for urging the pawl to the first position, a manually engageable actuator, a gear segment, a gear section driven by the gear segment for driving the push rod, an abutment carried by the pawl, a projection carried by the gear segment for driving the pawl from the first position to the second position to cause the feed wheel to feed the fastener assembly, and return spring means for returning the actuator, the push rod, the pawl, the gear segment and the gear section to their initial positions.

Claim 3

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including means mounting the pawl for generally reciprocable movement, the spring comprising a compression spring having opposed ends, the one end of the spring abutting the body and the other end of the spring abutting the pawl.

Claim 4

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the spring is a relatively light spring and the return spring means includes a relatively heavy spring.

Claim 5

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the spring and the return spring means are in force opposition at the end portion of the sequence, but the return spring means exerts a greater effective force than the effective force exerted by the spring.

Claim 6

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, the projection acting on the abutment only at the beginning and end portions of the sequence, the spring being effective between the beginning and end portions of the sequence to drive the pawl to a position out of cooperation with the wheel, thereby enabling the fastener assembly to be removed from the apparatus.

Claim 7

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a pawl for engaging successive teeth of the wheel to advance the wheel, the pawl being movable between first and second positions, and means for actuating the push rod and the pawl in sequence, the actuating means including a spring for urging the pawl to the first position, a manually engageable actuator, a gear segment driven by the actuator, a gear section driven by the gear segment for driving the push rod, an abutment carried by the pawl, a projection carried by the gear segment for driving the pawl from the first position to the second position to cause the feed wheel to feed the fastener assembly, and return spring means for returning the actuator, the push rod, the pawl, the gear segment and the gear section to their initial positions, the pawl comprising a link member which carries the abutment and a toothed member coupled to the link member and having a tooth for engaging a tooth of the wheel.

Claim 8

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a pawl for engaging successive teeth of the wheel to advance the wheel, the pawl being movable between first and second positions, and means for actuating the push rod and the pawl in sequence, the actuating means including a spring for urging the pawl to the first position, a manually engageable actuator, a gear segment driven by the actuator, a gear section driven by the gear segment for driving the push rod, an abutment carried by the pawl, a projection carried by the gear segment for driving the pawl from the first position to the second position to cause the feed wheel to feed the fastener assembly, and return spring means for returning the actuator, the push rod, the pawl, the gear segment and the gear section to their initial positions, the pawl comprising a link member which carries the abutment and a toothed member coupled to the link member and having a tooth for engaging a tooth of the wheel.

Claim 9

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a manually engageable hand lever, a gear segment, a gear section driven by the gear segment for driving the push rod, a pivot carried by the hand lever, a pawl pivotally mounted on the pivot, a tooth carried by the pawl, a spring acting on the pawl and on the hand lever for urging the pawl into contact with the wheel, the hand lever being effective upon actuation to cause the push rod to be driven to drive a fastener through the needle and to drive the pawl from a first position to a second position, and return spring means for returning the hand lever, the push rod, the gear segment and the gear section to their initial positions and for driving the pawl from the second position to the first position to advance the fastener assembly.

Claim 10

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a manually engageable hand lever, a gear segment, a gear section driven by the gear segment for driving the push rod, a pivot carried by the hand lever, a pawl pivotally mounted on the pivot, a tooth carried by the pawl, a spring acting on the pawl and on the hand lever for urging the pawl into contact with the wheel, the hand lever being effective upon actuation to cause the push rod to be driven to drive a fastener through the needle and to drive the pawl from a first position to a second position, and return spring means for returning the hand lever, the push rod, the gear segment and the gear section to their initial positions and for driving the pawl from the second position to the first position to advance the fastener assembly.

Claim 11

Apparatus as defined in claim 7, including a manually engageable handle on the pawl for enabling disengagement of the pawl from the toothed wheel to enable the assembly to be removed.

Claim 12

Apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the feeding means further includes an indexing wheel secured against rotation of the toothed wheel for engaging the coupling members of the fastener assembly.

Claim 13

Apparatus as defined in claim 7, including a plate secured to the hand lever and the pivot being secured to the plate.

Claim 14

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a manually engageable hand lever, a pivot carried by the hand lever, a pawl mounted on the pivot and cooperable with the toothed wheel, a spring acting on the pawl and the hand lever for urging the pawl into contact with the wheel, the hand lever being effective upon actuation to cause the push rod to drive a fastener through the needle and to drive the pawl from a first position to a second position, and return spring means for returning the hand lever, the coupling means and the push rod to their initial positions and for driving the pawl from the second position to the first position.

Claim 15

Apparatus for attaching tags using fasteners, the fasteners being arranged in an assembly, each fastener including a bar section and a head section joined by a filament section, the fasteners being coupled to a common carrier member by respective coupling members, the apparatus comprising: a body, a hollow needle having an elongated slot along one side supported by the body and extending outwardly of the body, a push rod supported by the body for driving a bar section of a fastener through the needle with a filament section of the fastener extending through the slot, means engageable with the coupling members for feeding the fastener assembly so that one bar section of one fastener at a time can be brought into position to be pushed through the needle by the push rod, the feeding means including a toothed wheel, a manually engageable hand lever, a pivot carried by the hand lever, a pawl mounted on the pivot and cooperable with the toothed wheel, a spring acting on the pawl and the hand lever for urging the pawl into contact with the wheel, the hand lever being effective upon actuation to cause the push rod to drive a fastener through the needle and to drive the pawl from a first position to a second position, and return spring means for returning the hand lever, the coupling means and the push rod to their initial positions and for driving the pawl from the second position to the first position.

Claim 16

Apparatus as defined in claim 11, including a plate secured directly to the hand lever, the pivot being mounted on the plate.