EP0855272B1 - Druckkopf für Poststücke mit Ausrichtvorrichtung - Google Patents

Druckkopf für Poststücke mit Ausrichtvorrichtung Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0855272B1
EP0855272B1 EP98400122A EP98400122A EP0855272B1 EP 0855272 B1 EP0855272 B1 EP 0855272B1 EP 98400122 A EP98400122 A EP 98400122A EP 98400122 A EP98400122 A EP 98400122A EP 0855272 B1 EP0855272 B1 EP 0855272B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
nozzles
movement
printhead
module
rows
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP98400122A
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English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0855272A1 (de
Inventor
Jean-Pierre Gregoire
Alain Multignier
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Quadient Technologies France SA
Original Assignee
Neopost Technologies SA
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Neopost Technologies SA filed Critical Neopost Technologies SA
Publication of EP0855272A1 publication Critical patent/EP0855272A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0855272B1 publication Critical patent/EP0855272B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J13/00—Devices or arrangements of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, specially adapted for supporting or handling copy material in short lengths, e.g. sheets
    • B41J13/10—Sheet holders, retainers, movable guides, or stationary guides
    • B41J13/12—Sheet holders, retainers, movable guides, or stationary guides specially adapted for small cards, envelopes, or the like, e.g. credit cards, cut visiting cards
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/145—Arrangement thereof

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the exclusive field of mail processing. It relates more particularly to a device to adjust the alignment of a machine's inkjet print head postage stamping on postage items moved relative to the head in a direction of movement, this head printing system comprising a plurality of nozzles arranged in two rows extending transversely to the direction of travel, these two rows being spaced from each other by a distance D according to this steering and a control means being provided for controlling the chronological succession of ejections of ink droplets from the a plurality of nozzles so as to delay the ejection of ink droplets from the nozzles of one of the two rows relative to that of the nozzles of the other row of delay R based on previously recorded data representative of an estimate of distance D.
  • ink jet franking machine is known from document US-5083153. Inkjet printing brings machines very high flexibility in postage, especially when it comes to print postal items on mail items containing both variable characters, like the numeric symbols of a postage amount, and color layouts, such as advertising flames.
  • the two rows of nozzles can be part respectively of two different housings mutually offset transversely and longitudinally to the direction of travel.
  • housings containing a row of inkjet nozzles for example housings comprising 64 or 128 nozzles, which are now widely distributed at very low prices to equip jet printers ink to be connected to microcomputers.
  • These jet printing boxes have a resolution of about 200 nozzles per inch (i.e. one nozzle every 0.127 mm), which is ideal for printing a postal imprint.
  • the linear mark printed by a box including for example 128 nozzles extends over approximately 16 mm.
  • two housings with a row of 128 nozzles each allow to print a linear mark over a length of approximately 30 mm which corresponds to the height of a postal imprint.
  • Information to be printed by such a machine postage on a mail fold or label intended to be affixed to such a fold for example a linear mark perpendicular to the direction of travel, is recorded digitally in a memory and partially transmitted to an interface circuit which, under the control of the control means, operates simultaneously the nozzles in the uppermost row that the fold or label is moved from distance D, another part of the information in the memory is transmitted to the interface circuit which activates simultaneously all the nozzles in the other row to finish printing the linear mark.
  • the delay R in question can be given by a clock circuit to fixed frequency if variations in the speed of displacement V of the fold or label under the print head or otherwise frequency synchronized to a signal representative of the speed of displacement of the fold or label detected in real time by a appropriate speed, for example an optical sensor.
  • the subject of the present invention is a print head of a franking machine provided with an alignment adjustment device integrated which, based on the previous discovery, overcomes previous adjustment methods.
  • An object of the invention is to obtain a alignment of the nozzles by simply setting them in relation to each other two housings containing these nozzles.
  • Another object of the invention is to allow this calibration to be carried out in a simple and reliable manner with a number minimum of constituents.
  • an inkjet printhead a franking machine intended to print an impression postage on a franking item moved relative to the head according to a direction of movement F
  • this printhead comprising a plurality of nozzles B1-B128, B'1-B'128 arranged in two rows R1, R2 extending transversely to the direction of movement, these two rows of nozzles being mounted in two respective housings mutually offset transversely and longitudinally to the direction of travel and spaced from each other by a distance D in this direction, characterized in that it further comprises first means for moving in a direction transverse to the direction of movement F one of the two housings and second means for moving by an angle determined by relation to this direction transverse to the direction of movement F the other of these two housings, so that during printing, one of the nozzles end of a row coincides with one of the end nozzles of the other row.
  • the first housing is fixed in the body on the one hand transversely between a fixed stop integral with this body and a second elastic element and on the other hand longitudinally between a first support fixed and a first mobile support on which it is pressed by a first elastic element which exerts a compressive force in an area median of this first housing.
  • the first mobile support consists of a end of a first lever which pivots around a first axis, integral of the body, by means of a first screw, so as to cause a angular displacement of one end of the first housing around the first fixed support on which the other end of the first housing rests.
  • the second housing is fixed in the body on the one hand longitudinally between second and third fixed supports on which it is pressed by the first elastic element which exerts a force of compression in the middle zone of this second housing and on the other hand transversely between the second elastic element and a second support mobile.
  • the second mobile support consists of a end of a second lever which pivots around a second axis, integral with the body, by means of a second screw, so as to cause displacement transverse of the second housing.
  • the first and second screws are fine pitch screws lockable and the first elastic element is a leaf spring.
  • the franking machine in Figure 1 includes a conveyor system which moves the mail item 1 to be franked under an inkjet printing head 2 stationary in the direction of displacement F.
  • the print head includes two boxes such as 20 and 21, each housing comprising a row of nozzles, each row including by example 128 nozzles regularly spaced apart by a distance of 1/200 inch, or about 0.127 millimeter. Note that the boxes can if necessary have rows of nozzles of different sizes, for example a housing with 128 nozzles and a housing with 64 nozzles. In the example case, the housings 20 and 21 are identical.
  • the two housings are mounted in the print head 2 of such so that their rows of nozzles extend transversely to the direction F, the two housings being offset relative to each other transversely and longitudinally to direction F.
  • the nozzles are represented by crosses in Figure 1.
  • the arrangement of the two housings 20 and 21 is such that the distance between the last nozzle B'128 (the uppermost one in FIG. 1) of the housing 21 and the first nozzle B1 (the lowest one in Figure 1) of the housing 20 is at less equal to the height H of a postal imprint 10 represented by the dashed rectangle on article 1.
  • the dimension of each row of nozzles and the height of the postal imprint determine the number of nozzles required for printing the postal imprint.
  • these two housings 20, 21 are mounted in such a way than the last nozzle B128 of the housing 20 (that of the uppermost housing 20 in Figure 1) is spaced from the first nozzle B'1 of the housing 21 (that of lower case 21 in FIG. 1), in the direction perpendicular to direction F, from a distance equal to approximately 0.127 millimeter (i.e. the distance between two consecutive nozzles in either of the rows of nozzles).
  • the two rows of nozzles R1 and R2 are spaced from each other by a distance D in the direction F of about 1cm.
  • the franking machine also includes a unit of command 3, like a microprocessor and a program saved in a memory not shown, which is connected to control the chronological succession of ejections of ink droplets from the nozzles, in response to a clock signal 22, 23 synchronized or not with a speed of displacement of the fold or the label under the print head 2, such way it is possible to produce stitches on the fold or the label which is join together with little overlap along lines straight lines parallel to direction F.
  • a unit of command 3 like a microprocessor and a program saved in a memory not shown, which is connected to control the chronological succession of ejections of ink droplets from the nozzles, in response to a clock signal 22, 23 synchronized or not with a speed of displacement of the fold or the label under the print head 2, such way it is possible to produce stitches on the fold or the label which is join together with little overlap along lines straight lines parallel to direction F.
  • unit 3 delays the command ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles of row R2 (the nozzles of the box 21 which is furthest downstream in the direction F) relative to the control of ejection of the ink droplets from the nozzles of row R1 (the nozzles of the housing 20 which is most upstream in the direction F), with a delay R varying as a function of the ratio d / V or d is the setting data previously stored in memory and representative of distance D.
  • the distance D varies from one printhead to another and therefore it is necessary to adjust after mounting boxes 20 and 21 in the machine postage.
  • the print head is an organ interchangeable whose mounting on the franking machine does not requires no adjustment. Only the relative timing of the two rows of nozzles this head is produced with precision according to the principle which will be defined more front facing Figure 4 and which compensates for the chain of manufacturing tolerances specific to the rows of nozzles and to the interchangeable support.
  • the structure of the print head according to the invention provided with a Integrated alignment adjustment device is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.
  • the print head 2 comprises a member, or body 4, for supporting the housings 20, 21 each comprising a row R1, R2 of ejection nozzles.
  • the first housing 20 is mounted longitudinally between a first support fixed 5 and a first movable support 6 constituted by one end of a first lever 7 adjustable in rotation.
  • This first lever is articulated on a first axis 8 fixed to the body 4, against a first elastic element, advantageously a leaf spring 9, which exerts a compressive force in a median area of the first housing 20.
  • a first screw lockable with fine pitch 10 allows the end of the first to be pivoted lever around this first axis, which causes the housing to oscillate around the first fixed support and provides angular displacement.
  • the second housing 21 is mounted longitudinally between second and third fixed supports 11, 12, on which it is pressed by an elastic element, of preferably the same leaf spring 9, which exerts a compressive force in the middle area of this second box.
  • a second lever 13 adjustable in translation constituting a second mobile support and which oscillates around a second axis 14, allows via a second lockable screw to end 15 to transversely move the second housing 21, parallel with fixed supports, against a second elastic element, of the spring type in U 16, which retains this housing by a first end portion 17.
  • the other end portion 18 of this second elastic element 16 serves to transversely apply the first housing 20 against a stop 19 of the body 4 of the print head.
  • R1 and R2 be the two rows of nozzles of the print head 2 corresponding respectively to the housing 20, 21 (see FIG. 4), the adjustment nozzle alignment is achieved very simply by doing all first, for one of the two rows, for example R2, to an adjustment in translation (in a direction transverse to the direction of movement F) by means of the second lever 13 by acting on the second screw 15 and then by proceeding for the other row, that is to say R1, to an angular adjustment (of a angle determined with respect to the direction transverse to the direction of displacement F) by means of the first lever 7 and the first screw 10, such that one of the end nozzles, preferably the last nozzle B128, from this last row R1 is brought into coincidence (of course taking into account the ejection delay R between the rows of nozzles) with one of the end nozzles, preferably the first nozzle B'1, of the nozzle row R2 previously set in translation (linearly).
  • one of the end nozzles of row R2 is positioned on the axis of the nozzles and the other row R1 and spaced by a pitch of the end nozzle of the latter B'1. This coincidence is verified by known manner on an optical adjustment bench or, after mounting on the franking machine during printing, by successive tests.

Landscapes

  • Ink Jet (AREA)
  • Common Mechanisms (AREA)

Claims (9)

  1. Tintenstrahldruckkopf (2) mit einer Vielzahl von Düsen (B1-B128, B'1-B'128), die in zwei senkrecht zu einer Förderrichtung (F) verlaufenden Reihen (R1, R2) angeordnet sind, wobei diese beiden Reihen von Düsen in zwei getrennten Einheiten (20. 21) montiert sind, die sowohl in Quer- wie in Längsrichtung bezüglich der Förderrichtung gegeneinander versetzt sind und einen gegenseitigen Abstand D in dieser Förderrichtung besitzen, und wobei erste Verschiebemittel vorgesehen sind, um eine der beiden Einheiten (21) in einer Richtung quer zur Förderrichtung zu verschieben, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Kopf weiter zweite Verschiebemittel enthält, um die andere dieser beiden Einheiten (20) um einen bestimmten Winkel bezüglich der Querrichtung zur Förderrichtung so zu verschieben, daß eine der Düsen am Ende einer Reihe mit einer der Düsen am Ende der anderen Reihe gemäß einer Längsrichtung parallel zur Förderrichtung zusammenfällt.
  2. Tintenstrahl-Druckkopf (2) mit einer Vielzahl von Düsen (B1-B128, B'1-B'128), die gegeneinander einen bestimmten Abstand besitzen und in zwei senkrecht zu einer Förderrichtung (F) verlaufenden Reihen (R1, R2) angeordnet sind, wobei diese beiden Reihen von Düsen in zwei getrennten Einheiten (20, 21) montiert sind, die sowohl in Quer- wie in Längsrichtung bezüglich der Förderrichtung gegeneinander versetzt sind und einen gegenseitigen Abstand D in dieser Förderrichtung besitzen, und wobei erste Verschiebemittel vorgesehen sind, um eine (21) der beiden Einheiten in einer Richtung quer zur Förderrichtung zu verschieben, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Kopf weiter zweite Verschiebemittel enthält, um die andere (20) dieser beiden Einheiten um einen bestimmten Winkel bezüglich der Querrichtung zur Förderrichtung so zu verschieben, daß eine der Düsen am Ende einer Reihe den bestimmten Rasterabstand von einer der Düsen am Ende der anderen Reihe gemäß der Querrichtung zur Förderrichtung aufweist.
  3. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die erste Einheit (20) in einem Körper (4) einerseits in Querrichtung zwischen einem festen Anschlag (19) an diesem Körper und einem zweiten, elastischen Element (16) sowie andrerseits in Längsrichtung zwischen einem erster festen Stützfläche (5) und einer ersten verschiebbaren Stützfläche (6) befestigt ist, auf die die Einheit durch ein erstes elastisches Element (9) aufgedrückt wird, das einen Kompressionsdruck in einer mittleren Zone auf diese erste Einheit (20) ausübt.
  4. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die erste verschiebbare Stützfläche von einem Ende eines ersten Hebels (7) gebildet wird, der um eine erste mit dem Körper (4) verbundene Achse (8) mithilfe einer ersten Schraube (10) so schwenkt, daß ein Ende der ersten Einheit (20) eine Winkelverschiebung um die erste feste Stützfläche (5) vollzieht, auf der das andere Ende der ersten Einheit (20) ruht.
  5. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die zweite Einheit (21) in dem Körper (4) einerseits in Längsrichtung zwischen einer zweiten und einer dritten festen Stützfläche (11, 12) befestigt ist, auf die die Einheit durch das erste elastische Element (9) gedrückt wird, welches einen Kompressionsdruck in der mittleren Zone dieser zweiten Einheit (21) ausübt, und andrerseits in Querrichtung zwischen dem zweiten elastischen Element (16) und einer zweiten verschiebbaren Stützfläche befestigt ist.
  6. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die zweite bewegliche Stützfläche von einem Ende eines zweiten Hebels (13) gebildet wird, der um eine mit dem Körper (4) fest verbundene zweite Achse (14) mithilfe einer zweiten Schraube (15) geschwenkt werden kann, um eine Querverschiebung der zweiten Einheit (21) hervorzurufen.
  7. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 3 oder 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die erste und die zweite Schraube (10, 15) blockierbare Feingewindeschrauben sind.
  8. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 3 oder 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das erste elastische Element eine Blattfeder (9) ist.
  9. Frankiermaschine zum Drucken eines Poststempels (10) auf einem Poststück (1), der einen Tintenstrahl-Druckkopf (2) nach einem beliebigen der Ansprüche 1 bis 8 enthält.
EP98400122A 1997-01-24 1998-01-22 Druckkopf für Poststücke mit Ausrichtvorrichtung Expired - Lifetime EP0855272B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR9700761A FR2758762B1 (fr) 1997-01-24 1997-01-24 Tete d'impression postale munie d'un dispositif de reglage d'alignement
FR9700761 1997-01-24

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0855272A1 EP0855272A1 (de) 1998-07-29
EP0855272B1 true EP0855272B1 (de) 2001-10-17

Family

ID=9502943

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP98400122A Expired - Lifetime EP0855272B1 (de) 1997-01-24 1998-01-22 Druckkopf für Poststücke mit Ausrichtvorrichtung

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US6048048A (de)
EP (1) EP0855272B1 (de)
DE (1) DE69802020T2 (de)
FR (1) FR2758762B1 (de)

Families Citing this family (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
NL1012812C2 (nl) * 1999-08-12 2001-02-13 Ocu Technologies B V Werkwijze voor het bedrukken van een substraat en een drukinrichting geschikt om deze werkwijze toe te passen.
US6910766B2 (en) * 2000-02-23 2005-06-28 Frama Ag Franking machine
US6955415B2 (en) * 2000-11-17 2005-10-18 Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft Printing devices with a plurality of print heads and method for using a printing device
DE10057062C1 (de) * 2000-11-17 2002-05-23 Koenig & Bauer Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Ausrichten von Druckköpfen
US6966711B2 (en) * 2003-12-18 2005-11-22 Pitney Bowes Inc. Dynamic registration device for mailing system
US20060036556A1 (en) * 2004-08-12 2006-02-16 Peter Knispel Postal printing apparatus and method
US7693803B1 (en) * 2005-12-30 2010-04-06 Stamps.Com Inc. Hybrid postage printer systems and methods
CN102310640B (zh) * 2010-06-30 2013-11-20 北大方正集团有限公司 一种调节装置
US9259931B2 (en) 2012-12-19 2016-02-16 Cimpress Schweiz Gmbh System and method for print head alignment using alignment adapter
US9132660B2 (en) 2012-12-19 2015-09-15 Cimpress Schweiz Gmbh System and method for offline print head alignment
US8851616B2 (en) 2012-12-19 2014-10-07 Vistaprint Schweiz Gmbh Print head pre-alignment systems and methods

Family Cites Families (10)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5747671A (en) * 1980-09-08 1982-03-18 Ricoh Co Ltd Multihead ink jet device
JPS57100081A (en) * 1980-12-15 1982-06-22 Seiko Epson Corp Ink jet recorder
JPS58188661A (ja) * 1982-04-30 1983-11-04 Canon Inc 記録装置
JPS60210468A (ja) * 1984-04-03 1985-10-22 Konishiroku Photo Ind Co Ltd サ−マルプリンタ
JPS6192863A (ja) * 1984-10-13 1986-05-10 Fujitsu Ltd インクジエツトヘツド
JPS61225064A (ja) * 1985-03-29 1986-10-06 Nec Home Electronics Ltd シヤトル方式シリアルラインプリンタにおける印字位置調整装置
EP0352498A1 (de) * 1988-07-14 1990-01-31 Ascom Hasler AG Frankiermaschine
FR2724591B1 (fr) * 1994-09-16 1997-01-31 Neopost Ind Systeme de reglage par effet vernier d'une tete d'impression a jet d'encre dans une machine d'affranchissement
JPH08197721A (ja) * 1995-01-25 1996-08-06 Fuji Electric Co Ltd インクジェット記録装置及び記録ヘッドの調整方法
DE69528959T2 (de) * 1995-03-01 2003-08-21 Hewlett Packard Co Tintenstrahldruckverfahren unter Verwendung von Farbenverstärkung in schwarzen Gebieten

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0855272A1 (de) 1998-07-29
US6048048A (en) 2000-04-11
DE69802020T2 (de) 2002-06-06
FR2758762B1 (fr) 1999-04-16
FR2758762A1 (fr) 1998-07-31
DE69802020D1 (de) 2001-11-22

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