JPH05147771A - Card issuing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a card from being damaged by the card discharge mechanism in poor performance of a card issuing machine. CONSTITUTION:A card issuing machine is composed of a transport mechanism 1 to advance and retreat a card 3 using a transport roller 1a to be driven into rotation. a one-way clutch 2a which is actuated when the card 3 is not whole and which makes rotational drive when the transport roller 1a is rotated reversely, a torque limiter 2b operating in pursuit of the one-way clutch 2a, a cam 2c interlocked with the torque limiter 2b, and a discharge mechanism 2 having a guide plate 2e which is energized by a spring 2d in the direction of inclining and is raised by the cam 2c. The discharge mechanism 2 is structured so that the guide plate 2e inclines to open the path for card 3, when the transport roller 1a rotates in regular direction to put the card 3 into advancing, and that the guide plate 2e is raised and the path for card 3 is blocked for leading it in the discharge direction when the transport roller 1a is rotated reversely to cause the card 3 to retreat.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a card ticket vending machine,
The present invention relates to a card issuing machine in which a card guide plate is normally retracted from a card advance path, and only when a defective card is ejected, the card is projected into the card retract path.

With the advent of the cashless era, so-called prepaid (prepaid) cards, in which a fee such as a telephone is paid in advance and used as a card, have been rapidly spread. In recent years, gift certificates for department stores have become more prepaid, and there is a tendency for them to increase in the future.

By the way, a prepaid card for a gift certificate of a department store or the like can be printed on the card in order to know the remaining amount after shopping. For this printing, so-called thermal printing is performed in which a metal vapor deposition film having a low melting point is melted by heat. An Sn film is often used as the metal thin film. However, since the Sn film is easily scratched, it is necessary to handle it carefully.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Prepaid cards (hereinafter abbreviated as cards) are often sold by a card issuing machine in a self-service manner, but magnetic cards are generally used. Therefore, the card issuing machine is a kind of magnetic card reader / writer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of a main part of an example of a card issuing machine, FIG. 4 is a side view of the main part for explaining the operation of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4 (A) shows a normal card conveyance state. , FIG. 4 (B)
Indicates a defective card ejection state. In the figure, 1 is a conveying means, 1a is a conveying roller, 1b is a pinch roller, 2 is a discharge mechanism, 2e is a guide plate, 3 is a card, 4 is a magnetic head, and 5 is a magnetic head.
Is a barcode reading unit, and 10 is a card issuing machine.

In FIG. 3, the transport mechanism 1 linearly moves the card 3 in the horizontal direction, and a drive source often uses a motor (not shown). Then, the rotation speed of the motor is reduced to a predetermined speed by, for example, a gear or a combination of a belt and a pulley, and the conveyance roller 1a is driven. In the example shown here, the cards 3 loaded in the card issuing machine 10 are transported one by one, and the transport roller 1a and the transport roller 1a are loaded.
The pinch roller 1b is rotatably elastically contacted by the pinch roller 1b, and the pinch roller 1b conveys the pinch roller 1b.

The magnetic head 4 is for so-called encoding in which necessary information is magnetically written in a magnetic recording layer provided on the card 3 and for checking whether the information is normally written or not. Further, for the so-called security that guarantees authenticity, for example, a bar code that is not visible is printed in advance on the card 3, and a bar code reading section 5 that reads the bar code with infrared rays is also provided.

On the other hand, a prepaid card that substitutes a gift certificate issued at a department store or the like can be printed on the card in order to know the remaining amount after shopping. For this printing, there is a typesetting method in which ink is printed with a typeface or a rubber plate, but a clean and simple thermal printing method is often used.

In this thermal printing method, a thin film of a low melting point metal such as Sn is vapor-deposited on a brown or black magnetic recording layer to conceal the color of the base, and a thermal head or the like is used to generate heat. When this vapor deposition film is melted in the shape of dots, small holes are made visible and the underlying color is exposed for printing. Since the vapor-deposited Sn film has a metallic luster like smoked silver, it looks good and gives the card a high-class feel.

By the way, a defective card 3 such as a defective encoding of the card 3 or a problem of security cannot be sold as a ticket, so it is sorted and discharged in the card issuing machine 10. There is.

The ejecting mechanism 2 for the card 3 has a construction in which a guide plate 2e made of a spring material is obliquely projected into the conveying path of the card 3. Then, when the normal card 3 is conveyed forward, as shown in FIG.
Moves while sliding so as to bend the guide plate 2e.

On the other hand, if the card 3 has a defect, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the card 3 is retracted by rotating the carrying roller 1a in the reverse direction, the card 3 projects to the carrying path. The card 3 is ejected by being guided by the guide plate 2e.

[0013]

As described above, in the conventional card issuing machine, the card ejecting mechanism using the guide plate composed of the leaf spring has a simple structure, and a demand for a small and lightweight ticket issuing machine. Responds well to. The ejection mechanism having such a configuration is suitable for a card that does not print.

However, in the case of a card for printing,
When the card is normally transported in the ticket vending machine, the thermal printing layer such as the vapor deposition film of Sn slides on the upper end of the guide plate of the ejection mechanism and is scratched, which not only spoils the appearance of the card. However, there was a problem of impairing the print quality.

Therefore, the present invention provides a card issuing machine in which the guide plate of the card is normally retracted and does not touch the card, and the card protrudes only when the defective card is ejected so as not to damage the card. The purpose is to

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned problem has a transport mechanism and a discharge mechanism, and the transport mechanism includes a transport roller that is driven to rotate and a pinch roller that elastically contacts the transport roller. Therefore, the ejecting mechanism is operated when the card is in trouble, and the one-way clutch is rotatably driven when the conveying roller rotates in the reverse direction. A torque limiter that operates by following the one-way clutch, a cam that interlocks with the torque limiter, and a biasing force in a tilt direction by a spring,
Further, the ejecting mechanism has a guide plate that is raised by the cam, and when the transport roller rotates forward and the card advances, the guide plate tilts to open the path of the card. When the transport roller rotates in the reverse direction and the card retracts, a guide plate rises to block the path of the card and guide the card in the ejection direction. Will be resolved.

[0017]

In the present invention, the ejecting mechanism is irrelevant in the state where the card is normally conveyed forward, and is operated only when the defective card is ejected.

That is, the one-way clutch that meshes with the conveying roller does not operate due to overrunning when the conveying roller is rotating in the forward direction, and is driven when rotating in the reverse direction. When the one-way clutch is driven, the cam operates via the torque limiter.

On the other hand, the guide plate, which is biased in the direction of inclination by the spring, rises when the cam operates, and its upper end portion projects into the card transport path. And
The conveying roller is rotated in the reverse direction, and the retreating card is guided by the guide plate in the discharging direction and discharged.

Thus, in the state where the card is normally conveyed forward, the ejecting mechanism does not come into contact with the card at a distance from the card conveying path. Therefore, damage to the card can be prevented.

[0021]

1 is a perspective view of the essential portion of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
2A and 2B are side views of the main part for explaining the operation of FIG. 1. FIG. 2A is a normal card conveyance state, and FIG. 2B is a defective card ejection state. In the figure, 1 is a transport mechanism, 1a is a transport roller, 1b is a pinch roller, 2 is a discharge mechanism, 2a is a one-way clutch, 2b is a torque limiter, 2c is a cam, 2d is a spring, 2e is a guide plate, and 3 is a card. Is.

1 and 2, the transport mechanism 1 includes a transport roller 1a which is rotated by a motor (not shown), and a pinch roller 1b which elastically contacts the transport roller 1a.
It is used to pinch and carry forward and backward.

On the other hand, the discharge mechanism 2 is meshed with the inner ring of the one-way clutch 2a via the gear of the shaft of the conveying roller 1a.
The outer ring of the one-way clutch 2a meshes with the torque limiter 2b to drive the cam 2c. Further, the cam 2c abuts so as to raise the guide plate 2e which is biased by the spring 2d in the tilting direction. This guide board
The upper end surface of 2e escapes from the conveyance path of the card 3 when it is inclined, but when it rises, the upper end surface projects upward from the conveyance path of the card 3 to block the passage.

In FIG. 2A, when the card 3 is normally conveyed forward, the conveying roller 1a is rotating in the forward direction, and the one-way clutch 2a is overrunning as indicated by the broken line arrow. Therefore, the guide plate 2e is pulled by the spring 2d and does not block the path of the card 3. That is, the card 3 is conveyed without contacting the ejecting mechanism 2 regardless of the ejecting mechanism 2.

However, in FIG. 2B, the card 3
If there is a problem with, the transport roller 1a reversely rotates in order to eject the card 3, and the card 3 retracts.
The one-way clutch 2a is driven, and then the torque limiter 2b meshed with the one-way clutch 2a rotates to rotate the cam.
Move 2c. The magnitude of the torque of the torque limiter 2b is set so that when the cam 2c raises the guide plate 2e, the spring 2d balances the force with which the guide plate 2e is inclined.

When the guide plate 2e rises up, the conveying path in the reverse direction of the card 3 is blocked by the upper end of the guide plate 2e.
Therefore, the card 3 is guided by the guide plate 2e from the normal path in the ejection direction.

Thus, after the defective card 3 is discharged, when the reverse rotation of the conveying roller 1a is completed, the cam 2c is returned by the spring 2d pulling the guide plate 2e, and the guide plate 2e is returned to its original tilted state. Return. Then, a series of operations of the ejection mechanism 2 is completed.

[0028]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION In the conventional defective card ejection mechanism, when the card is normally conveyed forward, it often slides on the card surface and scratches the card surface. , It operates only when the card is retracted to eject the defective card, and is always completely unrelated to card transport.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the thermal printing layer of the prepaid card from being damaged, impairing the impression of a high-grade appearance and degrading the printing characteristics. The present invention largely contributes to the quality improvement of prepaid cards which are expected to become more popular in the future.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part for explaining the operation of FIG.
(A) is a normal card conveyance state, and (B) is a defective card ejection state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a main part of an example of a card issuing machine.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part for explaining the operation of FIG.
(A) is a normal card conveyance state, and (B) is a defective card ejection state.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Transport mechanism 1a Transport roller 1b Pinch roller 2 Discharge mechanism 2a One-way clutch 2b Torque limiter 2c Cam 2d Spring 2e Guide plate 3 Card

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G11B 25/04 6255-5D

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transport mechanism (1) and a discharge mechanism (2), wherein the transport mechanism (1) is rotatively driven by a transport roller (1a).
And a pinch roller (1b) elastically contacting the conveying roller (1a) to move the card (3) forward and backward while sandwiching the card (3). A one-way clutch (2a) that is driven when the conveyance roller (1a) reversely rotates, and a torque limiter (2b that operates by following the one-way clutch (2a), which operates when there is a problem. ), A cam (2c) interlocking with the torque limiter (2b), and a guide plate (2e) that is biased in an inclined direction by a spring (2d) and that rises by the cam (2c). The ejecting mechanism (2) opens the path of the card (3) by tilting the guide plate (2e) when the conveying roller (1a) rotates forward and the card (3) advances. However, when the conveying roller (1a) rotates in the reverse direction and the card (3) retracts, the guide plate (2e) rises to block the path of the card (3) and guide it in the ejection direction. You A card issuing machine characterized by being a thing.