JP2000143061A - Card conveyance mechanism such as laminator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card conveyance mechanism capable of changing direction of card conveyance properly, realizing efficient conveyance without causing a deviation in an attitude of a card which is being conveyed, and realizing the arrangement requiring no large space in the combination with a printer or the like. SOLUTION: Point contact feed mechanisms due to the combination of rotating drive rollers 8, 9a, 9b and free rollers 10, 11a, 11b having no drive source are provided by using one of them as a feed mechanism 4 for carrying in and the other as a feed mechanism 5 for conveyance and combining them in such a way that conveyance direction of the drive roller 8 and that of the drive rollers 9a, 9b differ by 90 deg. from each other. Moreover, an attitude regulation knocking out face 20 rises at an innermost position in the direction of carrying in and at a side position in the conveyance direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laminator for applying a laminate for protecting the surface of a printed card, for example, a mechanism for transporting a printed card from a printer to a laminating mechanism. The present invention also relates to a card transport mechanism such as a laminator capable of efficiently transporting a card to be carried into a processing unit even in a device other than such a laminator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG.
When the printed card sent from the printer is passed through the laminator 2 and laminated by the laminating section 3 of the laminator 2, the printer 1 and the laminator 2 are linearly arranged in the card transport direction to prevent the card from being deformed. Is customary. In the figure, α indicates the direction in which the card is set in the printer 1, β indicates the direction in which the card is loaded from the printer 1 into the laminator 2, and γ indicates the direction in which the card is discharged from the laminator 2.

[0003]

As described above, conventionally, when the printer 1 and the laminator 2 are arranged linearly, the set (loading) position in the printer 1 and the discharge position in the laminator 2 are separated. However, the occupied area is widened due to the arrangement of the apparatuses, and the transfer efficiency is poor.

[0004] It should be noted that there is no device which sequentially switches the carry-in and transfer of the card so as to change the direction by 90 °. However, such a direction change requires a considerably large-scale mechanism. In addition, instead of the transport drive roller and the transport drive roller, a transport drive unit retracting mechanism, such as a standby belt conveyor, is required, and there is a possibility that the card may be displaced when retracted. therefore,
The mechanism becomes complicated, space is not saved, and reliability is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, to appropriately change the direction of card transport, and to achieve efficient transport without causing a shift in the attitude of the card being transported. An object of the present invention is to provide a card transport mechanism such as a laminator that can realize an arrangement that takes up little space in combination with a printer or the like.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention firstly provides a point contact feed mechanism using a combination of a rotating driving roller and a free roller having no driving source, one for carrying in and the other for contacting. One of them is provided in combination so that the conveyance directions of the drive rollers are different from each other by 90 ° for conveyance, and the posture regulating abutment surface is set up at a depth position in the conveyance direction and a side position in the conveyance direction. Second, the universal roller having no drive source is moved up and down by the solenoid, and the lower portion rotates to hold the print card with the rotating drive roller. Third, the drive of the drive roller and the solenoid of the universal roller are performed. Drive is to process card sensors and timed functions and control them sequentially.
The gist of the invention is that the driving of the driving roller and the driving of the solenoid of the free roller are sequentially controlled by processing a card sensor and a time limit function.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a card printed from a printer is carried into a laminator or the like by a carry-in feed mechanism, and further, the transfer path is moved from the carry-in direction to the carry direction by the carry-in feed mechanism. It is turned 90 ° and transported to the laminating unit. Since the direction is changed by 90 ° in the transport direction, the printer and the laminator can be arranged in parallel.

Further, since both the carry-in feed mechanism and the carry-in feed mechanism are pinched by a point contact with a free roller, the print card can be supported without applying an excessive load, and the transfer from the carry-in feed mechanism to the carry-in feed mechanism can be performed. ° The direction can be changed smoothly.

In addition, the provision of the position restricting butting surface allows the print card sent by the carry-in feed mechanism to hit the position restricting butting surface, and when the card is turned 90 °, the position restricting butting surface is maintained. Since the paper is guided by the surface and fed by the feeding mechanism for conveyance, the position of the card being conveyed does not shift.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above operation, the free roller having no driving source is moved up and down by the solenoid, and the lowering roller is used to hold the print card with the rotating driving roller. Therefore, both the carrying mechanism for carrying in and the mechanism for carrying can accept the print card with the free roller in a raised state, and then lower the free roller as described above to clamp the print card. By transmitting the torque of the drive roller to the print card, the print card can be transported reliably and without damage.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the number of drive rollers in the transporting feed mechanism is larger than that of the transporting feed mechanism. The transfer after the change of direction, such as the transfer by point drive, can be reliably performed. In addition, when the printer is carried into the laminator, by using the delivery mechanism of the printer, the carrying-in feed mechanism requires only a small number of parts and can be inexpensive.

According to the present invention, the driving of the driving roller and the driving of the solenoid of the free roller can be controlled sequentially by processing the card sensor and the time limit function, thereby enabling smooth automatic control. The performance is also improved.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention. As in FIG. 10 showing the conventional example, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer, and 2 denotes a laminator having a laminating unit 3.

In the present invention, the laminator 2 is provided with a carry-in feed mechanism 4 and a transport feed mechanism 5 as print card feed mechanisms. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the carrying-in feed mechanism 4 and the carrying-out feed mechanism 5 has a disk-shaped drive roller 8, which is rotated by drive motors 6, 7.
9a, 9b (the feed mechanism 5 for transport has two parallel drive rollers) and a free roller 1 without a drive source
This is a point contact feed mechanism based on a combination of 0, 11a, and 11b.

The universal rollers 10, 11a and 11b are universal balls
13 is incorporated, and these free rollers 10, 11a, 11
b is attached to the solenoids 15a and 15b, and is moved up and down by the solenoids 15a and 15b. When the solenoids 15a and 15b are lowered, the print rollers 21 and 9b are used together with the drive rollers 8, 9a and 9b. Position so as to make a pinch. In the figure, reference numeral 16 denotes a return spring.

Feeding mechanism 4 for carrying in and feeding mechanism 5 for carrying
Drive roller 8 within the area of one print card 21
And the drive rollers 9a and 9b are combined so that the transport directions differ from each other by 90 °.

In the illustrated embodiment, the drive motors 6, 7 and the disc-shaped drive rollers 8, 9a, 9b are connected by direct shaft drive or by a combination of a pulley 17 and a belt 18. In addition, the drive rollers 9a and 9b may be driven coaxially.

Sensors 19a and 19b are provided in a path for carrying the print card 21 from the printer 1 and a path for carrying out the 90 ° turning.

Further, the posture regulating abutment surface 20 by the vertical wall-shaped rising portion is raised at the back position in the loading direction β and at the side position in the transporting direction γ.

Next, the operation and usage will be described. The card transport mechanism of the present invention is a memory, actuator, driver,
The sequence is controlled by a sensor input, a display driver and the like, and the flow is shown in FIG.

When the print card 21 which has completed printing from the printer 1 enters the laminator 2 by the discharging force of the printer 1 and reaches the sensor 19a in the carry-in path, the sensor 19a
Is output to the microcomputer, and the drive motor 6 is energized by the output of the microcomputer to drive the drive roller 8 to rotate. At the same time, the solenoid 15a is energized to lower the free roller 10 and the drive roller 8 to print the print card 21 with the drive roller 8. In between.

As a result, the torque of the driving roller 8 is sufficiently transmitted to the print card 21, and the carried-in print card 21 is further pushed out and further proceeds between the free roller 10 and the driving roller 8 which are lowered, and the sensor
Even after passing through 19a and the output from the sensor 19a has ceased, the timed timer TO is set, and the carry-in is continued for the time TO.

Since the print card 21 reaches the position regulating abutment surface 20 within the time TO and is further sent in the carrying-in direction, even if the posture is misaligned during carrying-in, it is corrected to the correct posture.

This posture correction will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In order to perform the posture correction, the carriage is carried in by point-contact one-point drive. The relative position of the point contact with the print card 21 was also B = AＢ2.

As shown by the dotted line in FIG.
And the leading edge of the card abuts against the posture regulating abutment surface 20, causing the pinching portion between the free roller 10 and the drive roller 8 to rotate around the center of the transfer torque transmission point, thereby correcting the posture. Is done.

When the time TO elapses, the drive motor 6 stops, the drive roller 8 also stops, and the loading step ends.

At the end of the loading step, the solenoid 15b is energized to lower the free rollers 11a and 11b,
Roller 10 is turned off by the action of return spring 16
Rises, and the drive motor 7 is driven to rotate the drive rollers 9a and 9b.

The print card 21 is conveyed to the laminating section 3 by the rotation of the drive rollers 9a and 9b. The point contact at two points due to the sandwiching of the print card 21 between the drive rollers 9a, 9b and the free rollers 11a, 11b is caused by the corrected print card at the position regulating contact surface 20.
It is suitable for transporting while maintaining the 21 posture,
Further, the side end is guided by the posture regulating abutment surface 20, so that it is appropriately sent to the next process.

When the transported print card 21 reaches the sensor 19b in the carry-out path, the laminating section 3 is driven. As shown in FIG. 7 and the like, the laminating section 3 includes a supply roller 23 for a laminate sheet (film) 22 and a take-up roller 24 for winding only the backing film.
Is a method in which an adhesive layer is provided on a protective film, and a backing film as a release film is laminated on the adhesive layer. In the laminating section 3, the laminate film (film) 22 fed from the supply roller 23 is peeled off from the mount film and the protective film by the claws, and the protective film with the adhesive layer exposed is bonded to the print card 21. Only the film is taken up by the take-up roller 24. At this time, the feeding speed of the laminate sheet (film) 22 of the laminating section 3 and the feeding speed of the print card 21 are synchronized.

When the print card 21 passes through the sensor 19b, the power supply to the solenoid 15b stops, and the universal roller 11a,
At the same time as 11b rises, the drive motor 7 stops, the rotation of the drive rollers 9a, 9b also stops, and the transport process ends.

The next laminating step is automatically stopped after laminating.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show an application example of the present invention. The printer 1 and the laminator 2 are provided on a common base 25, but are provided so as to be slidable by a moving mechanism 26 including rails and rollers. .

A laminating sheet for the laminator 2
When the parallel printers 1 are obstructed due to the supply of 22 or the like, the laminator 2 may be slid in the horizontal direction and shifted from the printer 1 so that the front surface is exposed. Further, the printer 1 can be moved on the base 25.

In the above embodiment, a combination of a printer and a laminator is described as a print card feeding mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to such a card feeding mechanism using a laminator, and a card-like thin material can be used in other apparatuses. The method can be applied to all cases where the efficiency is improved by changing the direction to 90 ° in the transport direction.

[0035]

As described above, the card transport mechanism such as the laminator of the present invention can appropriately change the direction of the transport of the card, and can efficiently change the orientation of the card being transported without causing a shift. Since it can be transported, a space-saving arrangement can be realized in combination with a printer or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.
It is a perspective view showing an embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.
It is a top view of an important section showing an embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.
It is a side view of the important section showing an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view of correcting a posture of a card in a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of correcting a posture of a card in a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of sequence control in a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an application example of a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an application example of a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an application example of a card transport mechanism such as a laminator of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a layout example of a printer and a laminator in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer 2 ... Laminator 3 ... Laminate part 4 ... Feeding mechanism for carrying in 5 ... Feeding mechanism for conveyance 6, 7 ... Driving motor 8, 9a, 9b ... Driving rollers 10, 11a, 11b ... Free rollers 13 ... Free balls 14 ... Supporting brackets 15a, 15b ... Solenoid 16 ... Reversing spring 17 ... Pulley 18 ... Belt 19a, 19b ... Sensor 20 ... Posture regulating butting surface 21 ... Print card 22 ... Laminate sheet 23 ... Supply roller 24 ... Winding roller 25 ... Base 26 ... Moving mechanism

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A point contact feed mechanism comprising a combination of a rotating driving roller and a free roller having no driving source, one for contacting and the other for conveying, and the conveying directions of the driving rollers are mutually 90 °. A card transport mechanism such as a laminator, wherein the card transport mechanism is provided in a different combination, and has a posture regulating abutment surface set up at a depth position in the loading direction and at a side position in the transport direction. 2. A card transport mechanism such as a laminator according to claim 1, wherein the free roller having no drive source is moved up and down by a solenoid and sandwiches the print card with the drive roller which rotates when descending. 3. A card transport mechanism such as a laminator according to claim 1, wherein the transport feed mechanism comprises more drive rollers than the carry-in feed mechanism. 4. A card transporter such as a laminator according to claim 1, wherein the driving of the driving roller and the driving of the solenoid of the free roller are sequentially controlled by processing a card sensor and a time limit function. mechanism.