JP2000255825A - Tag printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tag printer capable of drawing out a tag efficiently from a storage part having laminated tags on it. SOLUTION: This tag printer sucks and retains the front end lower side of a tag 12 stored in a storage part 16 under a laminated condition by a pad 50 to slide the pad 50, so that the tag 12 is taken out through a gate formed at the storage part and fed to a printing part to print a prescribed printing data on a surface. The tag 12 stored in the storage part 16 whose one end on drawing out side is placed on a rotatable assortment roller 90.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tag printer and, more particularly, to a tag printer for printing print data such as a bar code on a threaded single leaf tag such as a price tag.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tag printer is a device that prints print data such as a bar code on the surface of a tag used as a price tag for clothing or decorative articles. This tag printer is
Generally, the tags stored in the storage section in a stacked state are taken out one by one from the lower side by a supply mechanism and supplied to the printing section, and the printing section prints predetermined print data on the surface of the tag. It is configured. Then, a suction pad is generally used for the supply mechanism. That is, the lower surface of the tag stored in the storage unit is sucked and held by the suction pad, and the suction pad is slid in the lateral direction so that the tag is pulled out of the storage unit and supplied to the printing unit.

In the conventional tag printer, when removing the tags from the storage section, the lower surface of the lowermost stacked and stored tags is sucked by a pad, and the pad is slid horizontally to store the tags. I was pulling from.

[0004]

However, when the tag is pulled out of the storage section by the conventional method, the tag may be pulled out in a state where two tags are overlapped. That is, if a tag having a narrow width or a thick or hard tag is used, it cannot flexibly bend unless a high suction force is applied to the suction pad, and cannot be pulled out by the suction pad or pulled out together. Something went wrong.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tag printer that can efficiently pull out a tag from a storage section in which the tags are stacked.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the lower surface of the leading end of the tags stored in the storage section in a stacked state is suction-held by a pad and the pad is slid. In a tag printer that takes out the tag through a gate formed in the storage section and supplies it to a printing section and prints predetermined print data on the surface, the tag stored in the storage section rotates at one end on the drawer side. It is mounted on a free sorting roller.
Further, the sorting roller can enable fine adjustment in the height direction and the front-back direction.

According to the present invention, since one end of the tag placed on the stage of the storage section on the drawer side is placed on the rotatable sorting roller, a high suction force is not applied to the suction pad. (First) tag and next 2
A gap is reliably provided between the tag and the sheet, and fine adjustment in the height direction and the front-rear direction of the sorting roller is enabled. The tag can be easily pulled out, for example, the thickness can be adjusted.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a tag printer according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a tag printer according to the present invention. As shown in the figure,
The tag printer 10 of the present embodiment mainly includes a tag 12
A printing section 14 for printing predetermined print data on the surface of the storage section, a storage section 16 for storing the tag 12, and a tag supply section 18 for supplying the tag 12 stored in the storage section 16 to the printing section 14. ing.

The printing section 14 includes a thermal print head 20 and a platen roller 22. A thermal transfer carbon ribbon (not shown) is used on the surface of the tag 12 supplied between the thermal print head 20 and the platen roller 22. To print predetermined print data (if the tag 12 is of a heating color type, the thermal transfer carbon ribbon is unnecessary).

The printing section 14 prints the tag 12 by sending the tag 12 in a direction perpendicular to the supply direction of the tag 12. As a result, the tag 12 supplied from the horizontal direction (right to left) in FIG. 1 is fed out in the front direction while being printed by the printing unit 14.

The storage section 16 is arranged in parallel with the printing section 14, and stores a large number of tags 12 in a stacked state. The storage section 16 has a stage 24 on which the tag 12 is placed.

The stage 24 is made of an elastic body (for example, a synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate or nylon 6, or a metal such as stainless steel or copper) in a plate shape (formed in a so-called leaf spring shape), and has one end ( The right end (in FIG. 1) is fixed on the base plate 46. In addition, as shown in FIG.
A suction pad 50 described later along the supply direction of the tag 12,
50, 50 passages 24A, 24A, 24A and slits 24B are formed. Since the stage 24 is formed of an elastic body as described above, the stage 24 can flexibly bend around the support portion.

The stage 2 is located between the front side and the back side of the apparatus.
The reason why the lengths 4 are different is that the double feed prevention plate 30 is provided on the front side of the apparatus, as described later, so that the double feed prevention plate 30 does not contact the stage 24.

A side plate 26 is erected vertically on the left side of the stage 24. The side edge of the tag 12 is pressed against the side plate 26 to position the tag 12 in the horizontal direction.

A gate 28 through which the tag 12 passes is formed at a lower portion of the side plate 26 as shown in FIG. A rubber double feed prevention plate 30 is attached to the upper part of the gate 28, and when the double feed prevention plate 30 contacts the upper surface of the tag 12 passing through the gate 28,
Double feed is prevented.

On the other hand, a tag guide 32 is provided on the right side of the stage 24. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tag guide 32 includes a horizontal position adjusting table 34, a height adjusting frame 36, a horizontal width adjusting plate 38, an auxiliary stage 40, a tip positioning plate 42, and a vertical width adjusting plate 44. ing.

The horizontal position adjusting table 34 includes a base plate 46.
It is slidably provided on the upper side and moves in the lateral direction to adjust the position. A pair of guide rods 48, 48 are erected vertically on the horizontal position adjustment table 34, and the height adjustment frame 36 is slidably provided on the guide rods 48, 48.

The height adjustment frame 36 includes the guide rod 4
A pair of sliders 36A slidably provided at 8, 48;
36A, and a pair of guide bars 36B, 36B (only one is shown) connecting the pair of sliders 36A, 36A, and fixing screws 36C, 36C provided on the sliders 36A, 36A. It can be fixed to the guide rods 48 by tightening.

The width adjusting plate 38 is provided with a height adjusting frame 36.
The tag 12 is housed between the lateral width adjusting plate 38 and the side plate 26. The distance between the lateral width adjusting plate 38 and the side plate 26 can be changed by sliding the lateral position adjusting table 34 in the lateral direction.

The auxiliary stage 40 is attached to the lower part of the width adjusting plate 38, and the right side of the tag 12 is placed thereon. The auxiliary stage 40 is provided with the height adjustment frame 3
6 is moved up and down by moving it up and down along the guide rods 48 and 48.

The leading end positioning plate 42 is formed by bending the leading end of the lateral width adjusting plate 38 vertically, and the leading end edge of the tag 12 is pressed against the leading end positioning plate 42 so that the longitudinal direction of the tag 12 is Positioning is performed.

A vertical width adjusting plate 44 is provided on a pair of guide bars 36B, 36B of the height adjusting frame 36 with sliders 44A.
Is slidably provided via the. This vertical width adjustment plate 4
4 slides along the guide bar 36B to move back and forth with respect to the tip positioning plate 42,
Can be fixed at any position by tightening the fixing screws 44B, 44B. Tag 12
Is stored between the vertical width adjusting plate 44 and the tip positioning plate 42.

In the storage section 16 configured as described above, the tags 12 are stored in a state of being stacked in the space defined by the side plate 26 and the width adjustment plate 38 and the tip positioning plate 42 and the length adjustment plate 44. You.

The tag supply unit 18 includes a suction pad 50 for pulling out the tags 12 stored in the storage unit 16 one by one from below.
50, 50, a sorting roller 90 for easily sorting the tags 12, and a pair of upper and lower feed rollers 54, 56 for supplying the tags 12 pulled out by the suction pads 50, 50, 50 to the printing unit 14. ing.

The pair of feed rollers 54 and 56 are disposed between the printing unit 14 and the storage unit 16. A motor (not shown) is connected to the upper feed roller 54 (hereinafter, referred to as “drive feed roller 54”), and the drive feed roller 54 rotates by driving this motor. On the other hand, a motor is not connected to the lower feed roller 56 (hereinafter, referred to as “follower feed roller 56”), and the shaft 56 </ b> A is inserted into long holes 62, 62 formed at the tip of the base frame 60.
Are fitted at both ends. Thus, the lower feed roller 56 is rotatably supported and vertically supported.

The suction pad 50 includes a slide frame 64
It is provided on the upper side and is arranged in series in a direction orthogonal to the supply direction of the tag 12. A vacuum pump (not shown) is connected to the suction pad 50. By driving the vacuum pump, the lower surface of the tag 12 is vacuum-sucked.

The sorting roller 90 is connected to the base frame 60
And is rotatably supported by a shaft 92 provided at a position near the suction pad 50 at the forefront (lower portion in FIG. 2). The upper surface of the sorting roller 90 is placed on the stage 2
The height of the lowermost tag 12 placed on the bottom surface of the tag 12 is set so as to abut the lower surface of the tag 12 on the drawer side. When the lower surface of the tag 12 is vacuum-sucked, as shown mainly in FIG.
With the sorter roller 90 and the drawer side of the tag 12 placed on substantially the same height as the stage 24, the suction pad 50
As a result, the tag 12 is forcibly bent. The sorting roller 90 can be finely adjusted in the height direction and the front-rear direction (the left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) by a known means in which a slot and a mounting bolt (not shown) are combined.

The slide frame 64 provided with the suction pad 50 has a pair of left and right cam followers 6 on both sides thereof.
6, 68 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction. The cam followers 66 and 68 are attached to the base frame 6
0, cam grooves 70 formed on both side wall surfaces 60A, 60A,
72.

Here, each of the cam grooves 70 and 72 in which the cam followers 66 and 68 are fitted has a horizontal portion formed from the front end toward the rear end side, and a predetermined inclined portion formed at the rear end portion. Have been. Therefore, when sliding from right to left in FIG. 1, the slide frame 64 once slides obliquely downward, and then slides horizontally.

A motor 74 is provided on the base frame 60, and a drive gear 76 is fixed to a spindle of the motor 74. The driving gear 76 meshes with a driven gear 78, and the driven gear 78 is rotatably supported by a bearing 80 provided on the base frame 60. A cam follower 82 is provided upright on the upper surface of the driven gear 78 at a position eccentric from the center of rotation, and the cam follower 82 is fitted into a cam groove 84 formed in the slide frame 64.

When the motor 74 is driven, a driving gear 76 is driven.
The rotation of the drive gear 76 is transmitted to the driven gear 78, and the cam follower 82 rotates eccentrically. The slide frame 64 moves back and forth by the action of the cam follower 82 and the cam groove 84 that rotate eccentrically. At this time, as described above, when sliding from right to left in FIG. 1, the slide frame 64 once slides obliquely downward and then horizontally.

When the slide frame 64 slides, the suction pad 50 moves from the suction position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 to the supply position indicated by the two-dot broken line in FIG. At this time, the suction pad 50 slides once obliquely downward like the slide frame 64 and then slides horizontally (when moving from the suction position to the supply position).

When the slide frame 64 slides, the driven feed roller 56 rises and comes into contact with the drive feed roller 54. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a tapered portion 64A is formed at the tip of the slide frame 64, and the slide frame 64
Of the driven feed roller 56, the shaft 56A of the driven feed roller 56 is pushed up, and the driven feed roller 56 is raised. The tag 12 pulled out of the storage section 16 by the suction pad 50 is supplied between the raised driven feed roller 56 and the drive feed roller 54, and is sandwiched between the pair of feed rollers 54, 56. After the suction by the pad 50 is released, the held tag 12 is supplied to the printing unit 14 by driving the drive feed roller 54 by a motor (not shown).

The operation of the tag printer 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above is as follows.

First, the operator places the tag 1 in the storage section 16.
Set 2 That is, the side plate 26 and the width adjustment plate 3
8, and the tags 12 are stored in a space defined by the tip positioning plate 42 and the vertical width adjusting plate 44 in a stacked state. At this time, the operator determines that the left edge of the tag 12 is
The position of the horizontal width adjusting plate 38 is adjusted so as to abut the front end positioning plate 42, and the position of the vertical width adjusting plate 44 is adjusted so that the front end of the tag 12 abuts on the front end positioning plate 42.

When the tag 12 is set, the apparatus is operated. At this time, the suction pad 50 is located at a suction position indicated by a solid line in FIG. In this state, as shown mainly in FIG. 4, each suction pad 50 is in contact with the lower surface of the lowermost tag 12. Also, the tag 12
At one end (drawer side), the upper surface of the sorting roller 90 is disposed so as to substantially abut.

First, a vacuum pump (not shown) is operated. As a result, the lower surface of the tip (left end in FIG. 5A) of the lowermost tag 12 (first sheet) is
Is adsorbed in vacuum. At this time, as shown mainly in FIG. 5, one end of the tag 12 is adsorbed while being placed on the sorting roller 90, so that the tag 12 is bent even if the adsorbing force is weak, and the tag 12 being suctioned is A gap is forcibly formed between the (first sheet) and the next tag 12 (second sheet), so that the tags 12 stacked in the storage section 16 have good releasability.

Next, the motor 74 is driven, and the suction pad 50 holding the tag 12 by suction is advanced toward the printing unit 14. Here, the suction pad 50 slides obliquely downward to pull out the tag 12 from the gate 28. At this time, since the sorting roller 90 is rotatably provided, the tag 12 can be pulled out from the gate 28 smoothly.

The stage 24 on which the tag 12 is mounted
Is formed of an elastic body, when the tag 12 bends, the tag 12 can be bent in accordance with the bending of the tag 12.
Accordingly, the tag 12 can be smoothly pulled out from the gate 28 by the synergistic effect of the separation property of the sorting roller 90 and the sliding of the suction pad 50 obliquely downward, and the supply failure or the bending of the tag 12 occurs. Can be prevented.

Since the sorting roller 90 can be finely adjusted in the height direction and the front-back direction, by changing the height or the front-back position according to the paper thickness and size of the tag 12, the sorting roller 90 can be changed to a different paper thickness and paper width. Is easy to handle.

Then, as shown mainly in FIG. 6, the suction pad 50 that has passed through the gate 28 slides horizontally and moves to the supply position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. When the suction pad 50 moves to this supply position, the tag 12 is supplied between the driving feed roller 54 and the driven feed roller 56, and the tag 12 is supplied between the driving feed roller 54 and the driven feed roller 56. Is pinched. That is, when the suction pad 50 moves forward, the tag 1 sucked and held by the suction pad 50 is moved.
2 is supplied between the drive feed roller 54 and the driven feed roller 56, and at the same time as the suction pad 50 advances, the driven feed roller 56 rises to pinch the supplied distal end portion of the tag 12. I do.

When the suction pad 50 moves to the supply position and the tip of the tag 12 held by suction on the suction pad 50 is sandwiched between the feed rollers 54 and 56, the operation of the vacuum pump (not shown) is stopped. Thereby, the suction of the tag 12 by the suction pad 50 is released.

Next, a motor (not shown) connected to the drive feed roller 54 is driven. Thereby, tag 1
2 is supplied between the thermal print head 20 of the printing unit 14 and the platen roller 22. Thermal print head 20
And the tag 12 supplied between the platen roller 22 and
Predetermined print data is printed on the front surface by the thermal print head 20 and is fed out to the front side.

On the other hand, the tag 1 is attached to the feed rollers 54 and 56.
The suction pad 50 that has received the second hand returns to the suction position and stands by while holding the tag 12 to be printed next. Then, after the printing of the tag 12 supplied previously is completed, the tag 12 is moved to the supply position again and the tag 12 is supplied to the feed rollers 54 and 56.

Hereinafter, the same operation is sequentially repeated, and predetermined print data is printed on all the tags 12, 12,... Stored in the storage section 16 and processed.

As described above, in the tag printer 10 according to the present embodiment, one end of the tag 12 on the pull-out side is placed on the rotatable sorting roller 90, and this end is suctioned by the suction pad 50. Since the tag 12 can be forcibly bent, the detachability of the tag 12 can be improved with a small suction force, and the tag can be efficiently pulled out from the storage section.

[0048]

As described above, according to the tag printer of the present invention, the tag is forcibly bent by sucking the one end of the tag with the suction pad while being placed on the rotatable sorting roller. Therefore, the detachability of the stacked tags can be realized with a small suction force.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a tag printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration of a tag supply unit.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory views illustrating the operation of a sorting roller, wherein FIG. 4A is a front view and FIG.

5A and 5B are explanatory views for explaining the operation of the sorting roller, wherein FIG. 5A is a front view and FIG. 5B is a side view of a main part.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory views illustrating the operation of the sorting roller, wherein FIG. 6A is a front view and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Tag printer 12 ... Tag 14 ... Printing part 16 ... Storage part 18 ... Tag supply part 28 ... Gate 50 ... Suction pad 54 ... Driving feed roller 56 ... Driven feed roller 90 ... Sorting roller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A lower surface of a tip of a tag housed in a storage section in a stacked state is suction-held by a pad, and the tag is taken out through a gate formed in the storage section by sliding the pad, and printed. A tag printer that supplies predetermined printing data to a surface by supplying the tag to a storage unit, wherein the tag stored in the storage unit is mounted on a rotatable sorting roller at one end on a drawer side. Tag printer. 2. The tag printer according to claim 1, wherein the sorting roller can be finely adjusted in a height direction and a front-back direction.