JP2001226004A - Tape guide adapter for tube printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize the running of an adhesive tape in a tube printer capable of printing on the adhesive tape. SOLUTION: A tape guide adapter 17 having fixed guide plates 21, 22 matching to the width of the adhesive tape with a released paper is formed to be mounted on a printer part of the tube printer. The single side of the tube printer at its end to be inserted under an automatic centering tube guide is provided with an inclined guide part 25 elevated up toward the downstream side. The adhesive tape passing through the fixed guide plate 22 or the downstream side after printing is fed between the automatic centering tube guides in inclined attitude such that it is elevated up at the right side by the inclined guide part 25 and discharged in vertical attitude such that it is twisted 90 degrees from horizontal attitude. The running resistance of the adhesive tape is reduced for stable running and the bending of the adhesive tape is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tube printer for printing on a resin tube or the like for displaying terminal numbers, and more particularly to a tape guide adapter for a tube printer used for printing on an adhesive tape with release paper. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to create a terminal number indicating tube to be placed on an electric wire connected to a relay terminal block of electric equipment and a terminal number indicating label to be stuck to the relay terminal block, a tube made of a soft resin or an adhesive with a release paper is used. A tube printer configured to print on a tape is known.

In this type of tube printer, a tube or an adhesive tape and an ink ribbon are sandwiched between a platen roller and a thermal head, and the platen roller is driven to rotate by a motor to run the tube and print characters by the thermal head. In order to print at the center position of the entire width of tubes of various widths or adhesive tape, a tube guide for positioning the tubes and the like before and after the platen roller is provided.

A tube guide in front of the platen roller (upstream side) is formed so that the two guide plates can be manually moved symmetrically to expand or contract the interval. The two tube guides provided in are of an automatic centering type.

The self-centering type tube guide is constituted by two opposing lever type guide plates and a spring, and the springs are urged to close the tips of the two guide plates. The two guide plates sandwich the tube and adhesive tape from the left and right sides,
Guide so that the center of the full width of the tube and the adhesive tape and the left and right centers of the thermal head are aligned. Printed.

[0006]

The conventional tube printer is configured to adjust the interval between the manually adjustable tube guides according to the thickness of the tube to be used and the width of the adhesive tape with release paper. If the width is too narrow, the running resistance increases due to friction, and printing failure may occur. On the other hand, if the interval is too wide, the position of the tube or the like is shifted left and right, and the printing position varies.

[0007] The resin tube is flexible, so that even if the width of the manually adjustable tube guide is adjusted to some extent, printing failure hardly occurs, the adhesive tape with release paper expands and contracts in the width direction. Therefore, running failure and printing failure often occur when the adhesive tape is strongly sandwiched between the tube guides.

When a thin tape such as a device label tape in which a resin label is arranged on a release paper and affixed thereto is sandwiched from the left and right by an automatic centering type tube guide, the tape is not smoothly discharged due to frictional resistance or bent to a middle height. The running route may be disturbed from side to side due to dripping or lifting of one side.

[0009] Then, there arises a technical problem to be solved in order to stably feed the adhesive tape, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above problem.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned object, and it is a manually-adjustable type which can adjust a distance between a pair of guide plates in a feed path of a tube formed in a printer section. A tube guide and an automatic centering type tube guide that sandwiches the tube by urging the two guide plates in the closing direction with a spring,
A tape guide adapter used for a tube printer that prints characters such as terminal numbers on a soft resin tube or adhesive tape with release paper, a fixed guide plate for positioning the adhesive tape with release paper in the left-right direction, and a fixed guide plate The tape guide adapter is attached to the feed path of the adhesive tape of the tube printer on one side on the downstream side of the ascending slope, and the position of the adhesive tape in the left-right direction with respect to the print head is fixed by the fixed guide plate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tape guide adapter of a tube printer which is configured to rotate the attitude of an adhesive tape around an axis in a traveling direction by an inclined guide portion and to guide the tape to an automatic centering type tube guide.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the structure of a tube printer will be briefly described. FIG. 1 shows a part of a laptop-type tube printer 1 in a state in which a flip-up head unit 3 of a printer unit 2 built in a rear portion of a main body is flipped up. A liquid crystal display 4 is arranged in front of the printer unit 2 (left in FIG. 1).
A keyboard (not shown) is arranged in front of.

A guide rail (not shown) is formed on the right side of the printer unit 2, and a resin tube for printing or an adhesive tape with release paper is inserted into the printer unit 2 along the guide rail from the right side of the main body. I do. In the printer unit 2, two front and rear pinch rollers 7, 8 pivotally mounted on vertically movable arms 5, 6 are arranged. When the pinch roller opening / closing lever 9 at the rear of the printer unit 2 is turned to the left in FIG. 1, the arms 5 and 6 are turned upward, and when the roller opening / closing lever 9 is turned to the right, the arms 5 and 6 are turned. The pinch rollers 7, 8 descend and press against the rollers arranged below the pinch rollers 7, 8, so that the tube and the adhesive tape are sandwiched.

On the downstream side (left side) of the pinch roller 8, there is provided an automatic centering type tube guide 10 constituted by a pair of opposing lever type guide plates, and further downstream there is a cutter mechanism which does not appear in the drawing. A self-centering tube guide (not shown) is built in and just before the tube outlet.

A thermal head 1 is provided in the head unit 3.
1 and a motor (not shown) are attached, and when the head unit 3 is pulled down and closed, the thermal head 11
Presses against the platen roller just below to squeeze the tube or the adhesive tape with release paper. Reference numeral 12 denotes an ink ribbon.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the feed mechanism of the printer unit 2. In the running path of the tube or the adhesive tape, a manual tube guide 13, a driven roller 14, a platen roller 15, a feed roller 16, an automatic centering A tube guide 10 is arranged, and a platen roller 15 and a feed roller 16 are driven to rotate by a motor in the head unit 3 via a gear mechanism. When printing,
The two pinch rollers 7 and 8 are pressed against the driven roller 14 and the feed roller 16 to sandwich the tube or the adhesive tape, and the thermal head 11 is pressed against the platen roller 15.

When printing on the tube, the interval between the two guide plates on the left and right sides of the manual tube guide 13 is adjusted according to the thickness of the tube, but when printing on thin adhesive tape, the manual tube guide 13 is used. 2 and 3, the tape guide adapter 17 is attached to the printer unit 2 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, so that the adhesive tape can be fed accurately and stably.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tape guide adapter 17 is formed in accordance with the shape of the guide rail so that the tape guide adapter 17 can be mounted on the guide rail of the printer unit 3. Windows 18, 19, 20 for exposing the feed roller 16 are opened, and fixed guide plates 21, 22 corresponding to the width of the adhesive tape are provided on the upstream side and the downstream side.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a bridge section extending over the driven roller 14 and the pinch roller 7, and the upstream fixed guide plate 2
The adhesive tape that has passed between 1 and 1 proceeds downstream through the slit 24 on the front surface of the bridge portion 23.

The portion ahead of the downstream fixed guide plate 22 is inserted below the self-centering type tube guide 10 of the tube printer 1, and one side (downstream right side) of this portion toward the downstream. An inclined guide portion 25 that rises upward is formed.

Accordingly, the adhesive tape which has been printed and passed through the downstream fixed guide plate 22 is sent to the space between the self-centering type tube guide 10 with the right side ascending.
As shown in FIG. 5, the self-adhesive label tape T with release paper is sandwiched between the automatic centering type tube guides 10 in an oblique posture, passes between the cutter blades of the downstream cutter mechanism, and FIG.
As shown in (1), it is discharged through the automatic centering type tube guide 26 on the discharge port side in a vertical position twisted 90 degrees counterclockwise from the horizontal position in the traveling direction.

Conventionally, since the self-centering type tube guides 10 and 26 using springs sandwich both edges of the adhesive tape, the automatic centering type tube guides 10 and 26 and the adhesive tape make point contact with each other to increase frictional resistance. Although the thin adhesive tape may not be fed smoothly downstream of the feed roller 16, the tape guide adapter 17 of the present invention
Since the adhesive tape is sent to the automatic centering type tube guide 10 in a twisted state from the horizontal posture, the frictional resistance during the travel of the adhesive tape is small, and there is no occurrence of poor discharge of the adhesive tape or horizontal deflection.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the technical scope of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention extends to those modifications. is there.

[0023]

As described above, when the tape guide adapter of the present invention is mounted on a tube printer, the adhesive tape is guided and fed by the fixed guide plate of the tape guide adapter. It is possible to prevent feeding failure and printing failure due to excessive frictional resistance that may occur when guiding. In addition, the tape is twisted from a horizontal position to a vertical position downstream of the feed roller and sent to the automatic centering type tube guide, which may cause the adhesive tape to be bent by the automatic centering type tube guide or poor discharge due to pinching pressure. It is effective in improving the running stability of thin adhesive tapes.

Further, by providing the inclined guide portion of the tape guide adapter on the back side as viewed from the printing operator side,
Since the printing surface of the adhesive tape is ejected from the printer in a vertical position facing the printing operator, the printing operator can easily view the printing state of the adhesive tape.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printer unit of a tube printer.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a tube feeding mechanism of the tube printer.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a tape guide adapter is mounted on a tube printer.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tape guide adapter.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a feeding state of an adhesive label tape with release paper.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a discharged state of the adhesive label tape with release paper.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tube printer 2 Printer part 3 Head unit 7, 8 Pinch roller 10 Automatic centering type tube guide 11 Thermal head 13 Manual adjustment type tube guide 14 Follower roller 15 Platen roller 16 Feed roller 17 Tape guide adapter 21, 22 Fixed guide plate 25 Inclined Guide part 26 Automatic centering type tube guide T Adhesive label tape with release paper

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] February 14, 2000 (2000.2.1
4)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Figure 3

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A manually-adjustable tube guide capable of adjusting a distance between a pair of guide plates in a tube feed path formed in a printer unit, and a tube sandwiched by urging the two guide plates in a closing direction by a spring. A tape guide adapter for use in a tube printer that has an automatic centering type tube guide and prints characters such as terminal numbers on a soft resin tube or adhesive tape with release paper, and positions the adhesive tape with release paper in the left-right direction. A fixed guide plate and an inclined guide portion of an ascending inclined surface are formed on one side on the downstream side of the fixed guide plate, and a tape guide adapter is attached to a feed path of the adhesive tape of the tube printer, so that the fixed guide plate is used to Determine the position of the adhesive tape in the left and right direction, and A tape guide adapter for a tube printer configured to rotate the position of the adhesive tape around an axis in the traveling direction and guide the tape to an automatic centering type tube guide.