1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a marking object with at least one object carrier and at least one object blank held by the object carrier, the object being markable by a marking device. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a marking device for marking such a marking object with at least one marking unit, at least one marking object holding device and at least one defined or definable marking pattern, the marking unit and the marking object holding device being movable relative to one another in the main transport direction.
2. Description of Related Art
Marking objects of the type under consideration have long been known and are used in industrial and commercial practice, often within the framework of housing and connection identifications, for example, in the form of labels, of self-adhesive or clip-in identification strips, in the form of identification cards, notch strips, stick-in tags, tag plates, clamp strips, marking sleeves, marking tags or other molded articles. These objects are generally held in a larger number of items by the object carrier. For molded articles, the object carriers are often frames, for example, of plastic, the object being joined to the object carrier which is made as a frame by way of a crosspiece which constitutes a scored site. By separating the crosspiece, the molded part can then be released from the object carrier.
For flat object blanks, therefore especially for labels or marking tags, several labels or marking tags are located next to one another on a flat object carrier, often a flat, coated paper web or preferably a plastic injection molding.
The marking objects for marking of the object are conventionally inserted into a marking device or into a marking object holding device of the marking device and are drawn in by the marking device, whereupon the object blanks are provided with a marking pattern, generally alphanumeric characters. The marking unit responsible for the actual marking is generally a printer or a printing head which performs marking by applying ink. These printers have been known for a long time, the printer generally being intended for printing on paper. A printer with which marking objects of plastic which have several marking tags as the object blanks can be printed is known, for example, from German Patent Application DE 10 2006 003 056 A1.
However, the marking unit can also be a pressing or engraving tool which by applying pressure or by metal cutting delivers the given marking pattern into the respective object blank.
The marking of a marking object with known marking devices is subject to some disadvantages. For example, in practice, often only a few of the objects encompassed by the marking object are needed at the same time so that marking objects are only partially marked in one pass, i.e., only some of the object blanks are marked, and the marking objects with the remaining unmarked object blanks are generally not further used, but are disposed of unused as scrap.
Furthermore, in the operation of a marking device, it must be accurately watched that the marking objects are held and guided in the uniquely correct orientation by the marking object holding device since the marking pattern otherwise is incorrectly applied to the marking object. In particular, for asymmetrical marking objects or object blanks located asymmetrically in the object carrier, misalignment of the marking object in the marking object holding device leads to faulty marking of the object blanks which then can no longer be further used.
Therefore, when using different marking objects, for example, when using marking objects of different manufacturers or also only when using different types of marking objects, suitable set-up—parameterization—of the marking device must be observed. This parameterization conventionally comprises consideration of the material comprising the marking object because, for example, it dictates how thickly the ink is applied when executing the marking, or for example, also with what temperature the inscribed object should be subsequently dried or with which irradiation intensity the object should be irradiated. Faulty parameterization of the marking device, therefore parameterization which does not consider the particulars of the marking object used, likewise leads to the marking objects not being correctly marked and only becoming scrap.