WO2009080059A1

WO2009080059A1 - Method for automatic printing and application of identification cards onto material collected in coils, bundles or packs and a tagging machine carrying out such a method

Info

Publication number: WO2009080059A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/011176
Authority: WO
Inventors: Federico Castellani
Original assignee: SMS Meer SPA
Current assignee: SMS Meer SPA
Priority date: 2007-12-19
Filing date: 2007-12-19
Publication date: 2009-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 2010-06-19
Also published as: EP2234892A1; ATE512888T1; EP2234892B1

Abstract

Tagging method of the type that provides for printing, arrangement for fixing and application of a tag (8) bearing the identification data onto a pack, coil, or bundle (7) forced to advance by means suitable for the movement of the latter and connected by means of at least one cord/strip/band (5) comprising the stages of printing the tag, arrangement for the fixing of said tag by means of the application of a fixing wire (9) through a hole situated on the tag itself characterised in that the following is carried out on said fixing wire (8): • realizing a hook (11) for hooking-fixing at one end, and • realizing a tag-unthreading bend (10) at the opposite end having a shape that serves to prevent the unthreading of the previously inserted tag (8) itself, or vice-versa, and • application of the fixing tag and wire ensemble (9) obtained in this way onto a head border cord/strip/band (5) of said pack, coil or bundle (7), by means of hooking with said fixing hook (11).

Description

METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC PRINTING AND APPLICATION OF

IDENTIFICATION CARDS ONTO MATERIAL COLLECTED IN COILS.

BUNDLES OR PACKS AND A TAGGING MACHINE CARRYING OUT SUCH A

METHOD

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method for printing, arrangement for fixing and automatic application of an identification tag onto a pack, bundle or coil of bars or metal wires according to the characteristics of the pre-characterising part of claim 1 and a tagging machine carrying out such a method with the characteristics of the pre-characterising part of claim 9.

Prior Art

In the field manufacturing of long rolling products, bars, rods and wire rod are packaged in packs, bundles or coils to be transported and stored easily in a warehouse before final delivery. The bars constituting the pack or the bundle are held together by means of the application of several cords placed transversely with respect to the longitudinal development of the bars and that wind around and fasten the entire pack or bundle of bars. In the case of coils, however, each cord winds around all the turns constituting the coil and develops longitudinally to the latter and not transversely as in case of packs or bundles.

In order to allow the subsequent identification of the product and its characteristics and for the traceability of relative movements it is necessary for each packaged element to be made identifiable by means of a mark. Said mark, usually indicated with the name "tag", bears all the information pertaining to the product to which it is applied printed on the surface itself.

Said tag must be applied in a position and in a such a way that the tag itself is always visible even when the packs, bundles or the coils are stacked one on top of the other for storage. In the specific case of packs and bundles stacked on top of each other, the obligatory position for the tag necessarily becomes the head or the tail of the pack or bundle.

Due to the shape of the pack, the tag is applied by means of an iron fixing wire that the operator manually fastens to a bar or to the cord making the tag project from the head of the pack. In the present prior art, the tag is applied automatically only using the cord that holds the bars together on which the tag is directly threaded. In order to facilitate the operator's work, ready-made bent hooking wires are often supplied that facilitate the hooking and the application of the tag.

Problems of the Prior Art

The application of the tag directly using the tying cord of the pack, bundle or of the coil makes facilitates the positioning of the tag in correspondence with and in the vicinity of the cord itself, making the tag invisible if not completely inaccessible for reading when the packs are stored one on top of the other. Worse still, stacking the bundles or coils on top of each other can also damage the tag that could compromise the reading or even bring about the detachment of some tags due to the mechanical stresses to which the tag itself or the string to which it is fixed is submitted.

On the contrary, although manual application by the operator by means of ready- made hooking wires can resolve the problem of the positioning of the tag in an accessible position and minimise the aforementioned drawbacks, application takes longer and there is also the possibility that a human error could occur with the consequent erroneous identification of the pack, bundle or coil.

Aim of the Invention

The aim of this invention is to provide a method for printing and automatic application of the tag onto bundles or coils that can guarantee the positioning of the tag in an accessible position even if the bundles or coils are stacked one on top of another. It is also an aim of this invention to provide a tagging machine that can execute the method in accordance with the present invention.

Concept of the Invention

The aim is achieved with the characteristics of the main claim.

The sub-claims represent advantageous solutions.

Advantageous Effects of the Invention

The proposed solution according to the present invention presents both the advantages from the point of view of the positioning of the tag, as well as from the point of view of practicality since the system works in a fully automatic mode and does not require the operator to carry out particular interventions.

Description of the Drawings

A practical solution is described hereafter with reference to the drawings included that is to be considered as a non-limitative example of the present invention in which: Fig. 1 represents the tagging machine (1) carried out in accordance with the present invention represented in the application stage of the tag (8) onto a pack (7) of bars where it is possible to identify the base (17) on which the device is installed, the printer or puncher (2), the bender (3) of the fixing wire, the manipulator (4), the head border cord (5) of the pack of bars and the roller track (6) for pulling the pack.

Fig. 2 represents the tagging machine (1) carried out in accordance with the present invention represented in the stage in which the manipulator (4) takes the position to extract the tag from the bender (3) of the fixing wire. Fig. 3 represents an enlarged view of the bender (3) of the fixing wire carried out in accordance with the present invention where it is possible to identify the fixing wire (9) that enters in correspondence with the entrance (23), the entrance guides (18), the pulling mechanism (12) and the relative downstream guide of the latter (19), the tail bend shear (14) with the cutter (13), the upstream (20) and downstream (21) guides of the slot (15), the upstream guide (22) of the coiler (16) and the hook (11). The tag (8) that is provided with a hole (24) for threading said fixing wire is present in the slot. Fig. 4 represents an enlarged view of the end of the manipulator (4) in the transportation stage of the tag (8) with the relative fixing wire (9) on which the bend to prevent unthreading (10) and the hook (11) are obtained. Fig. 5 represents the roller track (6) on which the bundle or pack (7) of bars is present on whose head border cord (5) the tag (8) has been fixed. Fig. 6 represents an enlarged view of the area indicated by A in the previous Figure where it is possible to identify the bundle or pack (7) of bars on whose head border cord (5) the tag (8) has been fixed by means of the hook (11) present on the fixing wire (9) that is inserted into the hole (24) present on said tag, the unthreading of which is prevented by the unthreading prevention bend (10) present on said fixing wire in correspondence with the opposite end with respect to that where said hook is found. The tag is placed in correspondence with the head (25) of the bundle or pack.

Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 represent the tagging machine (1) carried out in accordance with the present invention represented in the application stage of the tag (8) onto a coil (7) where it is possible to identify the base (17) on which the device is installed, the printer or puncher (2) the bender (3) of the fixing wire, the manipulator (4), the head border cord (5) of the coil and the roller track (6) for pulling the coil. Description of the Invention

With reference to Figure 2, the tagging machine (1) executing the method in accordance with the present invention consists of a printer or puncher (2), a bender (3) of the fixing wire and a manipulator (4). Said tagging machine rests on a base (17) and is placed in the vicinity of the roller track (6) on which the material to be labelled in the form of bundles, coils or packs (7) is moved. Although the Figures represent the tagging machine operating on material gathered in the form of packs or bundles, it will immediately become evident to those skilled in the art from reading the present text that the invention can be extended in an obvious way to material wound in coils. Furthermore, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that while reference is made in the description to a roller track for the transportation of the material to be tagged, the application of the method and tagging machine in accordance with the present invention is also obvious in the case of other means suitable for the movement of the material to be tagged.

In Figure 2 said tagging machine (1) is represented in the stage in which said manipulator is in the position to extract the tag from said bender of the fixing wire. The printer or puncher (2) provides for the printing of a tag with the data set by the operator or obtained from a remote system (e.g. computerised, not represented) that controls said printer. The printer or puncher (2) sends the tag to said bender (3) of the fixing wire which makes provision for threading the fixing wire through the tag (8), for cutting the fixing wire to the appropriate length and for shaping said fixing wire in a suitable way so as to guarantee that said tag is not unthreaded from the fixing wire and that said fixing wire can be hooked correctly and steadily to the coil or pack (7). The manipulator (4) provides both for the extraction from the bender (3) of said fixing wire with the relative tag threaded on it as well as for the hooking of the tag on the coil or pack (7) in a suitable position where it is still visible even if said coil or pack is stacked together with other coils or packs.

For the purposes of this invention the tag printer is considered as a known device that can be selected from among various devices that operate in different ways such as printers or punchers but that have as a common denominator the supply of a tag that reports the information concerning the product or the data necessary to obtain said information, said tag being supplied automatically to a successive indicated device such as a bender (3) of the fixing wire. For this reason greater detail is not given in the description of such a device. The bender (3) of the fixing wire, represented in greater detail in Figure 3, receives the tag previously prepared by the printer or puncher (2) by means of the slot (15). Said bender is fed with a fixing wire (9) that is provided at the entrance (22) and guided inside said bender by means of entrance guides (18) which convey said fixing wire to the pulling mechanism (12) that provides for the movement of the fixing wire inside the device. One or more guides downstream of the pulling mechanism convey said fixing wire to the tail bend shear (14) that is provided with a cutter (13) for the subsequent cutting of said fixing wire. Said fixing wire then passes through the upstream guide (20) of the slot that is suitable for housing said tagging machine (8). Said upstream guide of the slot conveys said fixing wire through the hole (24) present on the tag so that the tag is thus threaded onto said fixing wire. Another downstream guide (21) of the tag slot provides for the conveying of said fixing wire towards the upstream guide (22) of the coiler (16). Said coiler provides for the formation of the hook (11) on one of the two ends of the fixing wire while the aforementioned tail bend shear cuts the fixing wire by means of the cutter (13) and a bend is formed to prevent the unthreading on the end of the fixing wire opposite to the one where the hook has been made. The sequence of operations carried out by the bender (3) of the fixing wire initially provides for the manual loading of the fixing wire to be considered as an initialisation of the device:

• The bender (3) of the fixing wire is initially loaded manually through the entrance (23) with the fixing wire (9) originating from a coil (not represented).

• The fixing wire is passed through the entrance guides (18) and around the pulling mechanism (12) until reaching the downstream guide (19) of said pulling mechanism.

t

The manipulator unthreads the tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble from the bender (3) as schematically represented in Figure 4 where it is possible to identify in greater detail the tag (8) threaded on the fixing wire (9) opportunely shaped with the hook (11 ) and the unthreading prevention bend (10) capable of preventing the unthreading of the tag itself.

The movement of the manipulator carries said tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble in correspondence with the coil or pack (7) present on the roller track (6) and still to be tagged until reaching the position schematically illustrated in Figure 1 where the manipulator is represented during the fixing of said tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble onto the coil or pack (7).

The method for automatic printing, arrangement for fixing and application of an identification tag onto a pack in accordance with the present invention provides the following stages:

• Printing of the tag bearing the identification data of the coil or pack to be identified by means of said tag

• Arrangement of the fixing of said tag by means of a single operation to apply a fixing wire through a hole obtained on said tag and formation on said fixing wire of a fixing hook and a bend to prevent unthreading at the opposite end, said unthreading prevention bend constituting a bulge with larger dimensions with respect to the dimensions of the hole present on the tag and capable of preventing the tag from unthreading from the fixing wire on which it has been threaded

• Application of the tag and fixing wire ensemble onto the head border cord of the coil or pack (7) that is to be identified by means of said tag so that said tag is positioned frontally with respect to the front end of said coil or pack and in such a way that it remains visible even when said coil or pack is stacked together with other coils or packs that are similar in form and , dimensions thus allowing identification

The tagging machine (1) carrying out the method in accordance with the present invention consists of a printer or puncher (2), a bender (3) of the fixing wire and a manipulator (4) operating automatically in combination with each other according to the following stages that are undertaken to carry out the method described above for automatic printing, arrangement for fixing and application of an identification tag onto a coil or pack: • With reference to Figure 1 , said bender (3) of the fixing wire, printer or puncher (2) and manipulator (4) are fixed on a base (17) in the proximity of the roller track (6) along which the material is made to advance, said material taking the form of a coil or pack (7) on which at least one first cord still not tightened has been placed. • Also with reference to Figure 1 , the printer or puncher (2) provides for the printing of a tag bearing the data relative to the coil or pack to be identified by means of said tag.

• With reference to Figure 2, the tag (8) exiting the aforementioned printer or puncher is sent to the bender (3) of the fixing wire in correspondence with the slot (15)

• The pulling mechanism (12) pulls the fixing wire (9) originating from a coil (not represented) and fed by means of the entrance (23) and guided thanks to the entrance guides (18).

• The pulling mechanism (12) simultaneously also pushes the fixing wire into the downstream guide (19) in such a way that said wire successively crosses the tail bend shear (14), the upstream guide (20) that conveys said fixing wire through the hole (24) present on said tag (8) previously inserted into the slot (15): once threaded through said tag, the fixing wire, also pushed by the pulling mechanism, is gathered and conveyed by means of the downstream guide (21) of the tag and of the upstream guide (22) of the coiler (16).

• When the fixing wire reaches the coiler (16) it is bent until the hook (11) is made on it.

• The fixing wire is pushed further also due to the action of the pulling mechanism in such a way that it forces the hook to exit the coiler.

• The tail bend shear (14) is activated and cuts the tail of said fixing wire (9) by means of the cutter (13) and during this operation also provides for the formation of the unthreading prevention bend on the tail of said fixing wire, said unthreading prevention bend constituting a bulge of larger dimensions with respect to the dimensions of the hole present on the tag that is capable of preventing said tag from unthreading in correspondence with the end of the fixing wire opposite to that of the hook formed previously. • Said unthreading prevention bend (10) is illustrated in greater detail in

Figure 4.

• With reference to Figure 2, the manipulator is moved with respect to Figure 1 to be carried to the position for the extraction of the tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble opportunely shaped with a hook (11) and unthreading prevention bend (10). At the same time the previously tagged coil or pack (7) is made to advance by means of the roller track (6) in order to free the operating area of the manipulator and to allow the advancement of a new coil or pack to be tagged.

• The manipulator unthreads the tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble from the bender (3) as schematically represented in Figure 4 where it is possible to identify in greater detail the tag (8) threaded on the fixing wire (9) opportunely shaped with the hook (11) and the unthreading prevention bend (10) capable of for preventing the unthreading of the tag itself.

• The movement of the manipulator carries said tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble in correspondence with the coil or pack (7) present on the roller track (6) and still to be tagged until reaching the position schematically illustrated in Figure 1 where the manipulator is represented as it carries out the fixing of said tag (8) and fixing wire (9) ensemble onto the coil or pack

(7) positioning it frontally with respect to the front end of said coil or pack so that said tag remains visible even when said coil or pack is stacked together with other coils or packs that have a similar form and dimensions thus allowing its identification.

Figure 5 represents the ensemble of the tag (8) and the relative fixing wire (9) fixed to the border head cord (5) of the bundle or pack (7) in such a way that the tag is found in a frontal front position with respect to said bundle or pack. With reference to Figure 6 that represents an enlargement of the part indicated by "A" in Figure 5, it is possible to identify the unthreading prevention bend (10) that prevents the unthreading of the tag (8) from the fixing wire (9) on the opposite end of which the hook (11) is present that the manipulator has threaded onto the cord (5) by means of the hook (11). Said tag is fixed in position in order to be visible and completely accessible as it is situated frontally with respect to the head (25) of the bundle or pack (7). For this reason the length of the fixing wire is greater than the distance that is found between the border head cord and the head itself of the coil, pack or bundle. In a very similar way, fixing can take place in correspondence with the tail of the bundle, in which case the length of the fixing wire is greater than the distance that is found between the tail cord and the tail itself of the coil, pack or bundle.

The action sequence described previously is repeated for all the coils or packs (7) that are forced to advance one after the other on the roller track for relative tagging and subsequent storage while waiting for final delivery.

As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, the application of the tag onto the bundle or pack (7) in such a way that the said tag is visible even when said coil or pack is stacked together with other coils or packages similar in form and dimensions thus allowing its identification can take place in an identical way on the tail cord of the bundle or pack, said tag being fixed in such a position that it remains visible and completely accessible as it is positioned at the rear with respect to the tail of the bundle or pack itself.

For the purpose of this invention, the bender (3) of the fixing wire is considered to be a known device that can be chosen from among different devices operating in different ways but that have as a common denominator the threading of the fixing wire through the hole present on the tag and the successive operation capable of shaping the fixing wire into the desired form including an unthreading prevention bend that prevents the unthreading of the tag and a hook to be used for hooking to the cord present on the coil, bundle or pack that is to be identified. For this reason, greater detail is not given in the description of such a device.

For the purpose of this invention the manipulator (4) is also considered as a known device that can be chosen from among different devices that have as a common denominator the presence of sufficient levels of freedom with respect to the movement of the arms that allow the extraction and unthreading of the ensemble that consists of the tag/fixing wire and the application of the latter onto the cord present on the coil, bundle or pack that is to be identified. For this reason, greater detail is not given in the description of such a device.

The tagging machine (1) executing the method in accordance with the present invention by means of the integration of the three devices described, namely a puncher or printer (2), a bender (3) of the fixing wire and a manipulator (4), allows the complete automation of all the operations from the printing of the tag (8) bearing the data necessary for the identification of the coil, bundle or pack (7), the application of the fixing wire (9) onto said tag with the successive shaping of the fixing wire itself with the unthreading prevention bend (10) capable of preventing unthreading and the hook (11) suitable for its fixing, to the application by means of the manipulator (4) of the tag/ fixing wire ensemble carried out in this way on the coil, bundle or pack (7).

Furthermore, the tagging machine (1) carrying out the method in accordance with the present invention allows the tag (8) to be applied in an accessible position even if the coils, bands or packs (7) are stacked one on top of the other since said tag is placed in correspondence with the head (25) of the bundle or pack. Moreover, this position makes it possible to prevent the tag from being subjected to mechanical stresses due to the stacking of more coils, bands or packs on top of each other with the consequent risk of damage to said tag that could compromise the reading or, worse still, the detachment of the tag itself.

Finally, the realisation of the tagging machine (1) carrying out the method in accordance with the present invention allows the complete automation of the tagging operation with the considerable reduction in the number of errors made due to the human factor.

Although that disclosed refers predominantly to the tagging machine as operating on material gathered in the form of packs or bundles advancing on a roller track, it will immediately be obvious to those skilled in the art from reading the present text that the invention can be extended in an obvious way to material wound in circular coils that is moved on a roller track or on other means suitable for the movement of the material.

Furthermore, It will be evident that in this case the term "head border cord" loses its meaning as the coil assumes an essentially cylindrical form and each cord winds around all the turns constituting the coil that develop longitudinally to the latter and not transversely as in the case of packs or bundles. As schematically illustrated in Figure 7 and Figure 8, in this case the different cords are arranged circumferentially. In this case it must be understood that the invention is applied to the upper cord among the cords that hold the turns of the coil together in the case where the cylinder in which the coil is integrated is moved and later stacked with the other cylinders in such a way that the surface corresponding to the cylinder head is perpendicular to the ground, in such a way that the tag finds itself, like in the case of the bundles, in a frontal position with respect to the head or to the tail of the coil. On the contrary, in the case where the cylinder in which the coil is integrated is moved and later stacked with the other cylinders in such a way that the surface corresponding to the cylinder head is horizontal to the ground, it must be understood that the invention is applied indifferently to any of the cords that wind around all the turns constituting the coil and the tag is applied so as to take a lateral position with respect to the external surface of the cylinder in which said coil is integrated. Advantageously the locking of the fixing wire (9) takes place by means of extending the cord (5), after which the latter is placed in position by the manipulator and prior to tightening, in such a way that the manipulator withdraws the fixing wire (9) towards the end for threading into the hook (11) when said string (5) is still loose.

Claims

1. Tagging method of the type that provides for printing, arrangement for fixing and application of a tag (8) bearing the identification data onto a pack, coil, or bundle (7) forced to advance by means suitable for the movement of the latter and connected by means of at least one cord/strip/band (5) comprising the stages of printing the tag, arrangement for the fixing of said tag by means of the application of a fixing wire (9) through a hole situated on the tag itself characterised in that the following is carried out on said fixing wire (8):

• realizing a hook (11) for hooking-fixing at one end, and • realizing a tag-unthreading bend (10) at the opposite end having a shape that serves to prevent the unthreading of the previously inserted tag (8) itself, or vice-versa, and

• application of the fixing tag and wire ensemble (9) obtained in this way onto a head border cord/strip/band (5) of said pack, coil or bundle (7), by means of hooking with said fixing hook (11).

2.Tagging method according to the previous claim characterised in that the length of said fixing wire (9) is greater than the distance that is found between the position of the head border cord (5) and the head itself of the pack, coil, or bundle (7) and in that the tag (8) is applied onto the cord in the proximity of the head of the coil, bundle or pack in such a way that the tag is placed frontally with respect to the front end of the coil, bundle or pack.

3. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that said fixing wire (9) is placed substantially orthogonally to the head of the pack, coil or bundle (7) and said tag (8) is placed orthogonally to said fixing wire (9).

4. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that said unthreading prevention bend (10) of said fixing wire (9) is shaped in the form of an eyelet.

5. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that said hook (11) of said fixing wire (9) is shaped in the form of a half-closed ring with the end flap directed towards the exterior in order to facilitate hooking to transversal fixing means (5) by means of traction.

6. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that said fixing wire (9) is rectilinear.

7. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that the length of said fixing wire (9) of the tag (8) is greater than distance found between the tail cord and the tail itself of the coil, bundle or pack (7) and in that the tag (8) is applied onto the cord in the proximity of the tail of the coil, bundle or pack in such a way that the tag is positioned to the rear with respect to the rear end of the coil, bundle or pack.

8. Tagging method according to any of the previous claims characterised in that the fixing wire (9) is locked by means of extending the cord (5), after which the latter is placed in position by the manipulator and prior to tightening, in such a way that the manipulator withdraws the fixing wire (9) towards the end for threading into the hook (11) when said string (5) is still loose.

9. Tagging machine (1) for the printing, arrangement for fixing and the application of a tag bearing identification data onto a coil, bundle or pack (7) connected by means of tying means operating according to the method according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that said tagging machine (1) consists of a printer or puncher (2) a bender (3) of the fixing wire and a manipulator (4), said printer or puncher (2) producing a tag (8) bearing identification data, said bender (3) of the fixing wire carrying out the threading operations of the fixing wire (9) through a hole (24) present on the tag (8), the bending of one of the two ends of said fixing wire (9) into the form of a hook (11) by means of a coiler and the bending of the opposite end of said fixing wire (9) into the form of an unthreading prevention bend (10) by means of the tail bend shear, said unthreading prevention bend (10) constituting a bulge having larger dimensions with respect to the dimensions of the hole (24) present on the tag (8), said manipulator (4) withdrawing the fixing wire and tag ensemble formed in this way so that it can be applied onto the coil, bundle or pack (7).

10. Tagging machine (1) according to the previous claim characterised in that the printer or puncher (2) includes means to supply the tag (8) to the bender (3) of the fixing wire by means of a slot (15) present on the bender itself and said bender comprising means to carry out, thanks to the action of the pulling mechanism (12), both the application of the fixing wire (9) through the hole (24) of the tag (8), and the formation on the fixing wire (9) of the fixing hook (11) by means of the coiler (16), as well as the formation on the fixing wire (9) of the unthreading prevention bend (10) at the opposite end and the cutting of the fixing wire by means of the tail bend shear (14).

11. Tagging machine (1) according to any of claims 9, 10 characterised in that said manipulator (4) includes means for applying the tag (8) onto the cord (5) in the proximity of the head of the coil, bundle or pack (7) in such a way that said tag (8) is placed frontally with respect to the front end of the coil, bundle or pack (7).

12. Tagging machine (1) according to any of claims 9 to 11 , characterised in that said manipulator (4) includes means to apply the tag (8) onto the cord (5) in the proximity of the tail of the coil, bundle or pack (7) in such a way that said tag is placed to the rear with respect to the rear end of the coil, bundle or pack (7).

13. Tagging unit comprising at least one tagging machine (1) according to any of claims 9 to 12, and operating according to the method according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that it comprises: a) means for advancing and bending fixing wire (9); b) means for bending fixing wire (9) in order to form a head hook (11); c) means for cutting the fixing wire (9) to length; d) means for threading a label (8) onto said fixing wire (9); e) means for bending said fixing wire (9) at the tail in order to prevent said label (8) from unthreading from said fixing wire (9); e) means for hooking said fixing wire (9) with label (8) onto tying means (5) of a pack of wires, bars, and/or section, both in bundles as well in coils.

14. Rolling-mill plant for wire, bars or metal sections, characterised in that it comprises at least one tagging unit downstream of the latter according to the previous claim.

15. Fixing wire (9) and identification tag (8) ensemble formed according to the method according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that said fixing wire (9) passes through a hole (24) present on the tag (8) and in which said fixing wire (9) presents a fixing hook (11) at one end and at the opposite end an unthreading prevention bend (10) constituting a bulge having larger dimensions with respect to the dimensions of the hole (24) present on the tag (8).

16. Pack of bars bound by means of cords (5) organised transversely with respect to the longitudinal development of the bars and that wind and fasten the entire pack of bars labelled by means of a tag (8) for head, front or back labelling carried out according to the method according to any of claims the 1 to 8 with fixing wire and tag ensemble according to the previous claim.

17. Coil or wire reel or bar, bound by means of cords, labelled by means of a tag (8) for labelling carried out according to the method according to any of claims 1 to 8 with fixing wire and tag ensemble according to claim 15.