JPH10324432A - Plate-like medium printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the high cleaning effect by using a cleaning roller having viscosity as a pinch roller to be provided most close to a printing head in the upstream of the printing head. SOLUTION: A cleaning roller having viscosity is used for a pinch roller 13 of pinch rollers 13, 14, which form each pair with rollers 10, 11 for stretching a carrying belt 9 opposite to a printing head 37, so as to eliminate the dust at a position most close to the printing head 37 in the upstream of the printing head 37. Furthermore, the position of the pinch roller 13 is moved in response to the tag 2 carrying condition so as to prevent the excessive adhesion of dust to the surface of the pinch roller 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method for printing characters and figures on a hard print medium which is not only smoother than metal, plastic, or other print media having a surface coated thereon. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus for printing on such a printing medium has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-50096.
A printing device for a plastic card as described in No. 5 has been known.

[0003]

The surface of a plastic card, which is a printing medium of this printing apparatus, is smoother and harder than paper or the like, despite the fact that dust tends to adhere due to static electricity. When printing is performed in a state where dust or the like has adhered to the recording medium, the dust is unlikely to sink on the recording medium side, and may damage the recording head.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and to prevent the print head from being damaged by dust even on a hard print medium having a smooth print surface. A cleaner for removing dust is provided at an adjacent position.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a conveying means comprising a plurality of conveying rollers and a plurality of pinch rollers for conveying a printing medium to the next step, or a conveying means stretched by a plurality of rollers. A print head provided in a transport path of a transport unit including a belt and a plurality of pinch rollers paired with a roller for stretching the transport belt so as to be movable toward and away from a print medium in a transport path; The pinch roller on the upstream side of the print head of the apparatus is a cleaning roller having adhesiveness.

[0006] In order to keep the cleaning roller out of contact with the medium other than the recording medium, the cleaning roller is movable in the direction of contact and separation with the conveying roller or the roller on which the conveying belt is stretched. It is desirable to bring the printer closer to the transport roller and separate it during non-transport.

The transport means, the recording head, and the cleaning roller, each of which is provided upright, are used to transport and print with the printing surface of the print medium set upright, and the cleaning roller is positioned only below. It is effective that the cleaning roller can be easily exchanged by supporting it on the machine base side and setting the upper part as a free end and making it detachable from the upper part.

In order to improve the cleaning effect, it is preferable to provide a cleaning brush upstream of the cleaning roller.

With the above configuration, dust can be removed from the printing surface of the printing medium just before the paper is conveyed to the print head. Further, since the position of the cleaning roller moves in accordance with the transport state of the printing medium, the adhesion of dust from anything other than the printing medium to the cleaning roller is prevented.

[0010]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a printing area of the tag printer, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tag printer, FIG. 3 is a view showing a tag printed according to the present embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view, FIG. 5 is a side sectional view on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, FIG. 6 is a side sectional view on the downstream side of the conveyor belt, and FIG.

To explain the outline of the configuration of the printing apparatus, an accommodation section 3 for accommodating a plurality of plastic tags 2 shown in FIG. The accommodation section 3 is movable in the front-rear direction in FIG.
A pressing plate 4 urged toward the side wall 3a on the near side of the drawing, and a regulating plate 5 that is provided to be movable in the left-right direction in the figure and regulates the rear ends of tags of different lengths. A plurality of tags 2 are accommodated with their recording surfaces 201 set upright and the recording surfaces are overlapped in the front-back direction in the figure. The accommodation section 3 has a configuration in which the upper part is opened to facilitate mounting of the tag 2.

The feed roller 6 is provided on the left side of the side wall 3a of the storage section 3 in the drawing, at a position in contact with the tag 2 stored in the storage section 3, and has a substantially half-moon cross section. , And feeds the tag 2 on the front side of the storage unit 3 to the printing area, which is the next step on the left side in the figure, in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the storage units 3 are arranged.

A side wall plate 8 is provided on the side wall 3a of the housing portion 3 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction in the drawing so as to face the holding plate 4, and is provided together with pinch rollers 10 and 11 to be described later.
By the operation of 5, the tag and the other plate-shaped medium are moved in accordance with the thickness. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a tag having a small thickness is accommodated, and at this time, the side wall plate 8 protrudes from the side wall 3 a of the accommodation portion 3.

The transport belt 9 has two rollers 10, 11
And a tension roller 12, which is rotated by the drive of the motor 7, and is rotated by two pinch rollers 13, 14.
At the same time, the tag 2 is conveyed in the left direction in the figure with its recording surface 201 vertical.

The roller 10 on the right side in FIG. 1 is a plastic roller and has a groove 10a for guiding the protrusion 9a of the conveyor belt 9 at a substantially central portion thereof as shown in FIG. Gear 15 for transmitting the drive of the motor 7
And a gear 16 which is driven by the motor 7 via the gear 16, the gear 15 and a transmission means (not shown). A pulley 18 for stretching a timing belt 17 is provided above the gear 16.

The roller 11 on the left side in FIG. 1 is a roller having a high frictional resistance with ceramic particles applied on its surface.
As shown in FIG.
And a pulley 19 under which a timing belt 17 is stretched, and the drive of the motor 7 is transmitted through the timing belt 17 so as to be at the same speed and in the same direction as the roller 10. It is designed to rotate. The pulley 20 applies tension to the timing belt 17.

The pinch roller 13 on the right side in FIG. 1 is rotatable about a shaft 21a provided upright at the end of a swinging rod 21 provided rotatably with respect to the shaft of the roller 11 as shown in FIG. The swinging rod 21 is urged toward the roller 10 by an unillustrated urging means for urging the swinging rod 21 rearward in FIG. The surface of the pinch roller 13 is covered with an adhesive rubber such as silicone or urethane having an adhesive property, and is a cleaner for removing dust on the printing surface 201 of the tag before printing. By removing the screw 22 above the shaft 21a of the rod 21, the shaft 2
1a can be replaced more easily.

The pinch roller 14 on the left side in FIG. 1 is rotatable with respect to the axis of the roller 10 and above the end of a swinging rod 23 provided to intersect the swinging rod 21 described above. The swinging rod 23
Is biased toward the roller 11 by biasing means (not shown) for biasing the rearward in the figure.

The switching means 25 is rotatably provided substantially at the center of the inside of the conveyor belt 9 and, as shown in FIG. 7, a first part involved in the movement of the side wall plate 8 below the shaft 25a. A cam 26 that engages with the swinging rod 28 and a gear 27 that engages with a gear 36 of a shaft of a platen 32 described below are provided below the cam 26. When the switching means 25 is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the pinch roller 1 and the cam 26 and the gear 27 rotate.
The positions 3 and 14 are moved.

The position of the side wall plate 8 is moved by rotating the switching means 25 in accordance with the thickness of the plate-like medium.
6. First swinging rod 28, second swinging rod 29, and sliding rod 30
Done through.

As shown in FIG. 7, the surface of the platen 32 is covered with rubber such as EPDM to have elasticity, and a groove 32a for guiding the protrusion 9a of the conveyor belt 9 is provided at a substantially central portion thereof. It is provided rotatably on a shaft 33 erected substantially at the center of the rollers 10 and 11 and in contact with the inside of the transport belt 9. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the position of the platen 32 is
It is slightly biased toward the thermal head, which will be described later, on the near side in FIG.

Below the platen 32, a cam 34 engaging with the swinging rod 21 described above, a cam 35 engaging with the swinging rod 23, and a gear 3 meshing with the gear 27 of the switching means 25.
6 are integrally rotatably provided on a shaft 33. Therefore, when the above-described switching means 25 is rotated in accordance with the thickness of the plate-shaped medium, the cam 3 is rotated via the gears 27 and 36.
4 and the cam 35 rotate, whereby the swinging rods 21 and 23 swing, and the positions of the pinch rollers 13 and 14 move.

The movement of the pinch rollers 13 and 14 and the side wall plate 8 is carried out by operating the switching means by an operator through a mechanical mechanism such as a cam or a gear, but the motor is controlled by a microcomputer. Alternatively, it may be configured to be performed by driving a solenoid.

The printing means uses a thermal transfer system comprising a thermal head 37 and an ink ribbon cassette 38 (ink ribbon). The thermal head 37 faces the platen 32 with the transport belt 9 interposed therebetween as shown in FIG. So that it is provided substantially at the center of the head angle 39,
The head angle 39 has one end portion 39a connected to the feeding roller 6
And the other end 39b is urged to contact the cam 40 by a spring means (not shown).
When the cam 40 is rotated by the drive of the motor 41, the thermal head 37 moves in the direction of contacting and separating from the platen 32.

The head angle 39 and the swinging rod 21 of the pinch roller 13 are connected by a connecting rod 42. One end of the connecting rod 42 is rotatably provided on a pin 39c of the head angle 39. , The other end has a groove 39a
The pin 39a of the swinging rod is engaged with the groove 39a. By the connecting rod 42, the swinging rod 21 is interlocked with the swing of the head angle 39, and FIG.
As shown in FIG.
2, the pinch roller 13 is separated from the conveyor belt 9 (roller 10).

A discharge roller 43 is provided downstream of the transport belt 9.
The tag 2 conveyed by the conveyance belt 9 and the pinch roller 14 is sent out to the next storage section 45 after printing.

In the storage section 45, the tag 2 discharged from the discharge roller 43 and the pinch roller 44 is placed with its printing surface kept vertical, and the newly discharged tag 2 is located in front of the tag 2 already discharged. In order to align to come to the side,
A pair of pressing plates 46 and an alignment plate 47 are provided. In addition, in order to make it easy to take out the tag 2 after printing, the housing portion 45 is configured to open upward.

The cleaning brush 48 includes the feed roller 6
The pinch roller 13 is provided at a substantially intermediate position between the tag 2 and the print surface 201 of the fed tag 2 to remove dust on the surface. Further, a retractable sensor 49 provided on the upstream side detects the passage of the tag. Further, the feed regulating section 52 regulates the interval between the transport paths so that the two plate-shaped media are not fed from the storage section 3.

A display means 51 such as a well-known liquid crystal display or the like for displaying character data, a format and a length inputted by a keyboard 50 to be described later, and displaying instructions to an operator is provided on the front side of the housing section 45. I have.

The keyboard 50 is provided further on the front side of the display means 51, the ink ribbon 38, and the feeding roller 6, and inputs character data, data on the number of lines, and print data such as the length of a plate-shaped medium. Things.

Next, the operation of printing on the tag 2 will be described. First, when the user inputs print data such as a predetermined character or tag length or format, and then the user instructs to start recording, the motor 7 rotates, and the feed roller 6 interlocks with the rotation. One of the tags 2 that rotates and is accommodated in the accommodating portion 3 with its printing surface vertical is conveyed to the left in FIG. 2 in a direction substantially orthogonal to the arrangement direction.

The tag 2 fed by the feeding roller 6 is
First, detection is performed by the retractable sensor 49, and then dust attached to the printing surface is removed by the cleaning brush 48. Next, the motor 41 is started, the cam 40 rotates, and the head angle 39 swings. Thermal head 37
And the pinch roller 13 moves toward the conveyor belt 9. Here, when the tiltable sensor 49 does not operate, it is determined that there is no tag, and the operation of the present device is stopped.

The timing of driving the motor 41 for rotating the cam 40 is controlled by a CPU (not shown). As shown in FIG. When the thermal head 37 reaches the position between the pinch roller 13 and the pinch roller 13, the motor 41 is started so that the front end of the tag 2 is sandwiched between the pinch roller 13 and the roller 10. I try to stop. Thereby, sufficient driving and cleaning of the printing surface can be performed from the tip of the tag 2, and the thermal head 37 is not damaged.

Next, the tag 2 is transported to the printing area by the rotation of the transport belt 9, and subsequently, the motor 41 is started again by the control of the CPU (not shown), and Is moved to the thermal head 37, the thermal head 37 moves, and the platen 3
2 and the front end of the tag 2.

Subsequently, as the thermal head 37 comes into contact with the print surface of the tag 2, predetermined print data is supplied to the thermal head 37, and predetermined characters and symbols are printed on the print surface of the tag 2.

At this time, since the pinch roller 13 also serving as the cleaning roller is the pinch roller closest to the upstream side of the thermal head 32, the pinch roller 13 is most likely to prevent dust from adhering to the printing surface of the tag 2 after passing the pinch roller 13. It can be said that the position has a cleaning effect. Further, while in this position, the apparatus itself conveys the tag with the printing surface of the tag vertical, and since the upper part of the pinch roller is a free end, it can be easily replaced by removing the screw 22 from above. .

After the predetermined printing, the motor 41 is activated based on the input tag length, and the cam 40 is turned on.
Rotates in the reverse direction, the head angle 39 swings in the reverse direction, the thermal head 37 separates from the tag 2 before the rear end of the tag 2 passes, and the pinch roller 13 also moves to a position separated from the roller 10.

The tag 2 on which characters and the like have been printed is further transported leftward in the figure by the transport belt 9 and the pinch roller 14, and subsequently discharged to the storage section 45 by the discharge roller 43 and the pinch roller 44. The tag 2 discharged into the storage portion 45 is placed in a state where its printing surface is made vertical by a pressing plate 46 and an alignment plate 47 provided in the storage portion 45 from the near side in the front-rear direction in the drawing. They are arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the transport direction.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, an arm 21b is provided behind the swinging rod 21 of the tag printer 1 of the above-described embodiment.
The end of b is engaged with a solenoid 60, and when the solenoid 60 is activated, the swinging rod 21 swings clockwise and the pinch roller 13 is separated from the roller 10.

The timing of driving the solenoid 60 is controlled by a CPU (not shown). As shown in FIG. 9, before the rear end of the tag 2 comes off the roller 10 and the pinch roller 13, the pinch roller 13 Is started so as to swing, and is a timing obtained from the length of a tag or other print medium input in advance.

Thereafter, when the tag 2 is further conveyed and printing is completed, the head angle 39 swings in a direction away from the platen 32 in order to separate the thermal head 37 from the tag 2 as described above. The rod 21 does not need to be operated by the solenoid 60,
3 has been swung to a position away from the roller 10. Therefore, even if the power supply to the solenoid 60 is released, the pinch roller 13 is separated from the roller 10, so that the time for operating the solenoid 60 is such that the rear end of the tag 2 passes between the pinch roller 13 and the roller 10. From the time until the thermal head 37 is passed.

In this embodiment, a tag is used as a plate-like medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plate-like medium such as a card or a display plate such as a nameplate which is longer in the width direction than in the width direction is used. The medium also includes a medium, and the material is not limited to plastic, but may be metal, paper, or the like.

[0043]

According to the present invention, the highest cleaning effect can be obtained by making the pinch roller upstream of the print head closest to the print head a cleaning roller having adhesiveness.

Further, the cleaning roller is brought close to the transport roller or the transport belt during the transport of the printing medium, and is separated during the non-transport, so that the transport and cleaning of the printing medium can be performed without contacting the transport roller or the transport belt. Therefore, it is possible to keep the cleaning effect for a long time without attaching extra dust.

Further, by adopting a configuration in which the printing surface of the medium to be printed is set up vertically and transported, not only is it difficult for dust to adhere to the printing surface of the medium to be printed, but also the upper end of the cleaning roller is a free end. Therefore, it is possible to easily replace the print head by simply pulling it upward, even at a position incompatible with complicated maintenance where various mechanisms such as the vicinity of the upstream of the print head are arranged.

Further, by providing a cleaning brush on the upstream side of the cleaning roller, large dust can be removed before the cleaning roller, and fine dust can be removed by the cleaning roller. The cleaning effect of the cleaning roller can be kept long.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a printing area of a tag printer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tag printer.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a tag printed according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view showing each driving mechanism near a printing area.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the upstream side of the conveyance belt.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a downstream side of a conveyance belt.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a printing area.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a print area of the tag printer at the start of tag conveyance.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view showing the vicinity of a print area of a printer according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 tag printer 2 tag 3 housing section 6 feed roller 7 motor 9 transport belt 10 roller 11 roller 12 tension roller 13 pinch roller 14 pinch roller 15 gear 16 gear 21 rocking rod 22 screw 23 rocking rod 25 switching means 26 cam 27 Gear 32 Platen 33 Shaft 34 Cam 35 Cam 36 Gear 37 Thermal head 38 Ink ribbon 39 Head angle 40 Cam 41 Motor 42 Interlocking rod 45 Housing 48 Cleaning brush 49 Retractable sensor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Atsunobu Takatsuka 1-11-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Inside Japan Taiplier Co., Ltd. (72) Ryuuji Mizuuchi 1-11-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo No. Within Japan Thailand Writer Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transporting means comprising a plurality of transporting rollers and a plurality of pinch rollers for transporting a smooth printing medium having a surface coated with metal, plastic, or the like to a next step; What is claimed is: 1. A printing apparatus comprising: a printing head movably provided in a direction of contact and separation with respect to a printing medium, wherein a pinch roller upstream of the printing head is a cleaning roller having adhesiveness. 2. The cleaning roller according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning roller is movable in a direction of contact and separation with respect to a convey roller opposed thereto, is close to said convey roller during conveyance of a printing medium, and is separated during non-conveyance. Printing device. 3. A transport belt stretched by a plurality of rollers for transporting a smooth printing medium having a surface coated with metal, plastic, or the like to a next step, and a pair of the transport belt stretched by the transport belt. In a recording apparatus, comprising: a transport unit including a plurality of pinch rollers; and a print head movably provided in a direction of contact and separation with respect to a print medium in a transport path by the transport unit, a pinch on an upstream side of the print head. A printing apparatus, wherein the roller is a cleaning roller having adhesiveness. 4. The cleaning roller according to claim 3, wherein the cleaning roller is movable in a direction of contacting and separating from the transport belt, is close to the transport belt during transport of the printing medium, and is separated during non-transport. Printing device. 5. The transporting means according to claim 1, wherein the recording head and the cleaning roller are provided vertically to transport and print while the printing surface of the print medium is set up vertically, and the cleaning roller is moved only downward. A printing apparatus characterized in that the printing apparatus is supported on a table side and has an upper end as a free end and is detachable from above. 6. A printing apparatus comprising a cleaning brush on an upstream side of the cleaning roller according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.