Label dispenser for product-transporting carts at retail facilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11952162-B2
Application number	US-202318201636-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2023
Priority date	Jun 1, 2020
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

A label dispenser coupled to product-transporting carts at retail facilities includes a label roll support arm supporting multiple label rolls thereon, a label guide arm including openings that permit a leading portion of the backing substrate of a label roll to pass therethrough, and a side wall interconnecting the label roll support arm and the label guide arm. The label guide arm also includes an upper portion located above the openings and configured to support the backing substrates of the label rolls thereon. The label guide arm further includes an edge configured to facilitate separation of a leading peelable label from the backing substrate in response to a force applied by the user when pulling the leading portion of the backing substrate of the label roll through the opening of the label guide arm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for dispensing labels from at least one label roll, the system comprising:
a support bar; and
a label dispenser mounted on the support bar and configured to facilitate a user to dispense the labels from the at least one label roll, the at least one label roll including a backing substrate and peelable labels detachably attached to the backing substrate, the label dispenser comprising:
a label roll support arm configured to support at least one label roll thereon, the label roll support arm including:
a hollow interior configured to permit a horizontal portion of the support bar to pass therethrough; and
a notch configured to permit an inclined distal portion of the support bar to pass therethrough; and

a label guide arm including an edge configured to facilitate separation of a leading peelable label of the at least one label roll from an outward-facing surface of the backing substrate at a leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll in response to a force applied by the user to the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll to pull the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll through the at least one opening of the label guide arm; and
a side wall interconnecting the label roll support arm and the label guide arm, the side wall including a gap that permits a vertical portion of the support bar to pass therethrough.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the support bar is non-detachably mounted relative to the cart; and
the label dispenser is detachably coupled relative to the cart via the support bar.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a bracket non-detachably coupled to the cart, wherein the support bar is non-detachably coupled to the support bracket.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inclined distal portion of the support bar passing through the notch in the label roll support arm is configured to:
restrict the label dispenser from sliding off the support bar; and
restrict the at least one label roll from sliding off the label roll support arm.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the label roll support arm is configured as an elongated cylinder that permits the at least one label roll to freely rotate on the label roll support arm.

6. The system of claim 5 ,
wherein the elongated cylinder has an incomplete perimeter such that a portion of a circumference of the elongated cylinder is absent to create two opposing top free ends of the circumference and two opposing bottom free ends of the circumference, the top free ends having a first gap therebetween and the bottom free ends having a second gap therebetween.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein:
the inclined distal portion of the support bar passing through the notch passes through the first gap between the top free ends;
forward rotation of the label roll support arm is restricted by an abutment of one of the top free ends and a first side of the support bar; and
rearward rotation of the label roll support arm is restricted by an abutment of another one of the top free ends and a second side of the support bar opposite to the first side.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the side wall of the label guide arm includes a top edge, a bottom edge opposite the top edge, a rear edge, and a front edge, wherein:
the front edge is generally arcuate from a top end of the front edge to a bottom end of the front edge, and
the top edge of the side wall is interconnected with the top end of the front edge by a linear portion that slopes downwardly from the top edge of the side wall in a direction toward the top end of the front edge of the side wall.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gap in the side wall is defined by:
an interiorly-facing surface of a generally vertical rear edge of the side wall;
an interiorly-facing surface of a generally C-shaped arcuate rib having opposite ends; and
an interiorly-facing surface of a generally vertical arm of the side wall, the generally vertical arm extending generally upwardly from one of the ends of the C-shaped arcuate rib in a direction that is generally parallel to the rear edge of the side wall.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the horizontal portion of the support bar passes through an interior-facing surface of the C-shaped arcuate rib, and wherein the vertical portion of the support bar is positioned in abutment with both the interiorly-facing surface of the rear edge of the side wall and the interiorly-facing surface of the vertical arm of the side wall to restrict the label dispenser from rotating relative to the support bar.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein, a lower portion of the label guide arm is generally arcuate and an upper portion of the label guide arm is a straight and not co-linear with an arc of curvature of the lower portion.

12. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one opening is a plurality of openings, wherein adjacent openings are separated from each other by a rib that defines one side of a perimeter of the adjacent openings, and
wherein the edge is located below each opening such that the edge defines a bottom side of the perimeter of each opening.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the label guide arm further includes a sloped surface that is located between ribs separating the adjacent openings and that extends forwardly and downwardly relative to the edge that defines the bottom side of the perimeter of each opening.

14. A method for dispensing labels from at least one label roll, the method comprising:
providing a label dispenser mounted on a support bar and configured to facilitate a user to dispense the labels from the at least one label roll, the at least one label roll including a backing substrate and peelable labels detachably attached to the backing substrate, the label dispenser comprising:
a label roll support arm configured to support at least one label roll thereon, the label roll support arm including:
a hollow interior configured to permit a horizontal portion of the support bar to pass therethrough; and
a notch configured to permit an inclined distal portion of the support bar to pass therethrough; and

a label guide arm including an edge configured to facilitate separation of a leading peelable label of the at least one label roll from an outward-facing surface of the backing substrate at the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll; and
a side wall interconnecting the label roll support arm and the label guide arm, the side wall including a gap that permits a vertical portion of the support bar to pass therethrough;

in response to a force applied by the user to the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll to pull the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll through the at least one opening of the label guide arm, separating, by the edge, the leading peelable label of the at least one label roll from the outward-facing surface of the backing substrate at the leading portion of the backing substrate of the at least one label roll.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising positioning the at least one label roll on the label dispenser such that the backing substrate passes over an upper portion of the label guide arm, through the at least one opening, and under a lower portion of the label guide arm.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the separating of the leading peelable label of the at least one label roll from the outward-facing surface of the backing substrate at the leading portio

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Lopez Scott L

Classifications

• B65C11/00 Primary

  Manually-controlled or manually-operable label dispensers, e.g. modified for the application of labels to articles (special furniture, fittings, or accessories for shops, storehouses, bars, or the like A47F; for paper towels or toilet paper A47K10/32; for playing cards A63F; movable-strip writing or reading apparatus B42D19/00; adhesive tape dispensers B65H35/002; dispensers for tickets G07B; coin-operated dispensers for stamps G07F {; dispensing devices for pamphlets from vehicles G09F21/22}) · CPC title

• B65H16/005

  Dispensers, i.e. machines for unwinding only parts of web roll · CPC title

• B65H41/00

  Machines for separating superposed webs · CPC title

• B65C2210/0078

  Peeling devices · CPC title

• B65H2701/194

  Web supporting regularly spaced adhesive articles, e.g. labels, rubber articles, labels or stamps · CPC title