Portable label printing applicator apparatus

Claim 1

A portable label printing system, comprising: a self-contained, hand held, main label printer unit, the label printer unit including: means for supporting a roll of labels, printing means for imprinting information on labels, a passageway extending between the label supporting means and the printing means, conveying means for conveying the labels from the label supporting means to the printing means, the printer unit being of a size which permits the holding thereof in one hand while applying inprinted labels to articles, the printer unit further including a first memory for storing therein printing data, a second memory for storing therein a program, and control means for controlling the overall operation of the label printer unit, the label printer unit being suitable for imprinting information on labels which are adhered to a backing sheet and further including peeling means for peeling the labels from the backing sheet and further including label applicator means in the printer unit for applying peeled labels to articles; a self-contained, hand held, data input keyboard unit including a keyboard for entering therewith data which specifices the information to be imprinted on the labels; and first cable; a self-contained, hand holdable, power supply unit suited for being carried by the body of an operator of the label printer unit and directly connected to the printer unit by means of the first cable and effective for supplying electrical power thereto, the printer unit being hand holdable and wieldable independently of the data input keyboard unit and the power supply unit during application of labels to articles and the data input keyboard unit being wieldable independently of the printer unit and the power supply unit during data input operations; and coupling means for enabling the data input keyboard to communicate with the power supply unit.