FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2006
COMPLETE
Specification
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
ALIGNMENT MECHANISM FOR PRINTING ON ARTICLES
TECHNOFOUR ELECTRONICS PVT. LTD.
an Indian Company,
of Khed Shivapur Saswad road, opp Hotel Yogiraj Resort,
Kasurdi, Dist. Pune-411 001,
Maharashtra, India.
Inventors:
KULKARNI RAMAKANT GURUPRASAD KUDEKAR SHRIKANT KRISHNARAO
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE NATURE OF
THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure relates to the field of printing information on articles.
BACKGROUND
Articles are required to be printed with relevant product information necessary to be informed to end users. The printed product information is printed at a printing station accurately so as to be legible to the end user besides being checked by a print quality inspection system. Further, in order to be versatile and economical, a single printing station is required to print product information on articles conveyed to the printing station in batches of varying article dimensions. The accurate and legibly printed product information necessitates precise positioning of the printing station depending on the dimension of the article in each batch. The articles are conveyed to the printing station from a conveying depot on a conveyor belt along a conveying plane.
Conventionally, the printing station includes a printer head for printing product information on the article and a camera for scanning the printed product information to enable comparison between the printed product information with desired product information. A conveyor belt enables supportingly conveying articles of various sizes to the printing station. In order to enable the printing station to accurately print legible product information on the articles, the distance of the printer head, the camera and the width of the conveying plane are required to be adjusted in between batches of varying article dimensions. Conventionally, the width of the conveying plane and the distance of the printer head and the camera from the article to be printed are independently adjusted. The independent adjustment of the width of the conveying plane and the distance of the printer head and the camera from the article are required to be carried out with precision in order to accurately align and convey the articles to

the printing station for sequentially printing legible and clear product information on the articles. The necessity for independent adjustment involves considerable time and causes inaccuracy in maintaining the precise distance of the printer and the camera from the article. The inaccurate positioning of the printer head and camera leads to improper and obscure printing of the product information on the article and hence results in rejection of articles with improperly printed product information.
Hence, there is felt a need for an adjustment mechanism which will eliminate the drawbacks of conventional system of aligning only the printing station with respect to the dimension of the article.
OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure aimed to ameliorate one or more problems of the prior art or to at least provide a useful alternative are described herein below:
An object of the present disclosure is to enables precise adjustment of the printing station mechanism in between batches of varying article dimensions for accurately printing the articles with product information.
Another object of the present disclosure is to enable simultaneous adjustment of a conveyor belt with the adjustment of the printing station to convey articles of various dimensions.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a low cost and quick adjustment mechanism for the accurate printing of product information.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide an efficient and easy to use adjustment mechanism.

Further another object of the present disclosure is to reduce the cost incurred due to rejection of articles with improperly and obscurely printed product information.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
In accordance with the present disclosure there is disclosed an alignment mechanism for printing information on articles of varying dimensions conveyed along a conveying plane of a conveyor arrangement to a printing station, the mechanism comprising:
an operatively horizontally displaceable first slide;
a conveyor belt and a guide mounted on the first slide, the conveyor
belt and the guide being spaced apart by a first predetermined
distance;
an operatively vertically displaceable second slide cooperating with
the first slide for simultaneous displacement with the first slide; and
a printer head and a scanning camera mounted on the second slide,
the printer head and the scanning camera being spaced apart by a
second predetermined distance.
Accordingly, the guide is adapted to supportingly guide the articles to the printing station. Typically, the guide is made of a transparent material selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramic glass and polymeric material.
Preferably, the second slide is orthogonally displaceable with respect to the conveying plane.

Typically, the height of the conveyor belt with the guide and the height of the printer head with the scanning camera are independently adjustable operatively vertically with respect to the conveying plane to accommodate articles of varying dimensions.
Additionally, the guide and the printer head are provided with discrete horizontal adjustment screws for initial fine position adjustment along a plane lateral to the conveying plane, the scanning camera being provided with a coarse horizontal adjustment along the plane lateral to the conveying plane.
Additionally, the first slide and the second slide are operatively vertically adjustable individually with respect to the conveying plane through at least one vertical adjustment knob.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The alignment mechanism of the present disclosure will now be described with the help of accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates the conveyor arrangement with the alignment mechanism in accordance with the present disclosure;
Figure 2 illustrates a printer of the conveyor arrangement with a printer head in accordance with the present disclosure; and
Figure 3 illustrates a scanning camera of the conveyor arrangement with a camera in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
Conventionally, printing of product information on articles is carried out at a printing station which includes a printer and the camera. The articles are conveyed to the printing station via a conveying plane defined by a conveyor belt having an adjustable width. In order to accurately print product information on the articles, the position of the camera, the printer head and the width of the conveyor belt are required to be adjusted independent of each other in between batches of varying article dimensions. The independent adjustment of the camera, the printer head and the width of the conveyor belt corresponding to the size of the articles conveyed in a batch, is required to be carried out with extreme precision for accurate printing of product information on the articles.
The present disclosure of the alignment mechanism stems from the observation that product information are inaccurately printed on the articles due to inaccurate positioning of the camera, the printer head and the width of the conveyor belt which are required to be independently adjusted. The inaccurate printing of the product information results in rejection of the article.
A preferred embodiment of the alignment mechanism of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The preferred embodiment does not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and

to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The following description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
The alignment mechanism, illustrated particularly in Figure 1 of the accompanied drawing, in accordance with the present disclosure is operable to ensure accurate printing of product information on articles (11) conveyed to a printing station by a conveyor belt (12) defining a conveying plane. The conveyor belt (12) conveys the article (11) in a conveying plane along a direction indicated by the arrow X in Figure 1 towards the printing station. The width of the conveying plane and the position of the printing station are required to be adjusted in between batches of varying article dimensions by means of the alignment mechanism.
The alignment mechanism comprises a first slide (13) and a second slide (22) cooperating with the first slide (13). The first slide (13) provides a mounting surface for the conveyor belt (12) and a guide (14) through suitable mounting

arrangements. The conveyor belt (12) and the guide (14) are spaced apart by a first predetermined distance on the first slide (13). The guide (14) supportingly guides the articles (11) to the printing station. The guide (14) is a transparent material typically made of glass, ceramic glass or polymeric material. The first slide (13) is operatively horizontally displaceable along a lateral plane parallel to the conveying plane of the articles (11). The operatively horizontally displacement of the first slide (13) is effected by the operation of a lateral displacement screw (24).
The conveyor belt (12) conveys the articles (11) towards a printing station, which includes a printer head (15), shown in Figure 2, housing a cartridge and a scanning camera (18), shown in Figure 3, having a lens. The printer head (15) and the scanning camera (18) are mounted on the second slide (22) though a printer mounting bracket (not shown in Figure) and a block (20) respectively. The printer head (15) and the scanning camera (18) are spaced apart by a second predetermined distance on the second slide (22). The printer head (15) is provided with a horizontal adjustment screw for fine adjustment of the printer head (15) on a micro-adjustment slide (16) with respect to the conveying plane conveying the article (11) on which product information is required to be printed. The printer head (15) enables printing of product information on the article while the scanning camera (18) enables scanning the printed product information and transmitting the image of the printed product information to a comparator for comparing the printed product information with desired product information. The articles (11) with illegible or obscure printed product information are rejected at a rejection station.
The second slide (22) is operatively horizontally displaceable simultaneously with the displacement of the first slide (13) by the operation of the lateral displacement screw (24). The second slide (22) is also provided with a vertical

displacement knob (26) for orthogonally displacement of the second slide (22) with respect to the conveying plane on the first slide (13).
In accordance with one aspect of the alignment mechanism, the height of the conveyor belt (12), the guide (14), the printer head (15) and the scanning camera (18) are adjustable operatively vertically with respect to the conveying plane corresponding to the dimension of the article (11) to be printed with product information in each batch. Additionally, the guide (14) and the printer head (15) are provided with discrete horizontal adjustment screws for fine position adjustments along a plane lateral to the conveying plane. Further, the scanning camera (18) is provided with coarse position adjustment along the plane lateral to the conveying plane.
TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The technical advancements offered by the present disclosure include the realization of:
• precise adjustment of a printing station in initial setting for a batch of articles to accurately print the articles with product information;
• simultaneous adjustment of a conveyor belt with guide and the printer head with camera to convey and print articles between batches of various dimensions;
• a low cost adjustment mechanism for the accurate printing of product information on articles of varying dimensions;
• an efficient and easy to use adjustment mechanism; and
• reduction in the cost incurred due to rejection of articles with improperly and obscurely printed product information.

Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
The use of the expression "at least" or "at least one" suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
The numerical values given of various physical parameters, dimensions and quantities are only approximate values and it is envisaged that the values higher or lower than the numerical value assigned to the physical parameters, dimensions and quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure unless there is a statement in the specification to the contrary.
Wherever a range of values is specified, a value up to 10% below and above the lowest and highest numerical value respectively, of the specified range, is included in the scope of the disclosure.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.

We claim:
1. An alignment mechanism for printing information on articles of varying
dimensions conveyed along a conveying plane of a conveyor arrangement
to a printing station,
said mechanism comprising:
an operatively horizontally displaceable first slide;
a conveyor belt and a guide mounted on said first slide, said
conveyor belt and said guide being spaced apart by a first
predetermined distance;
an operatively vertically displaceable second slide cooperating with
said first slide for simultaneous displacement with said first slide;
a printer head and a scanning camera mounted on said second slide,
said printer head and said scanning camera being spaced apart by a
second predetermined distance.
2. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guide is adapted to supportingly guide the articles to the printing station, said guide being made of a transparent material selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramic glass and polymeric material.
3. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second slide is orthogonally displaceable with respect to the conveying plane through at least one vertical adjustment knob.
4. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein height of said conveyor belt, said guide, said printer head and said scanning camera are adjustable operatively vertically with respect to the conveying plane to accommodate articles of varying dimensions.

5. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guide and said printer head are provided with discrete horizontal adjustment screws for fine position adjustment along a plane lateral to said conveying plane, said scanning camera being provided coarse position adjustment along said plane lateral to said conveying plane.