JP2002137859A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent wasteful carriage of a printed matter while an adhesive roller is cleaned. SOLUTION: A pair of upper and lower carrier parts made of a first driving roller to be driven by a first power source and an adhesive roller to be interlocked with the first driving roller by pressurizing the printing matter and a storage part to store the belt type printing matter wound around in a rolled state are arranged. A second roller to be driven synchronously with the first driving roller is provided in the storage part. The adhesive roller is formed free to move by a second driving source between the driving roller and a roller cleaning mechanism provided in correspondence with the adhesive roller, and it is devised so that motive force from the first power source is transmitted to the cleaning mechanism when the adhesive roller moves to the side of the roller cleaning mechanism. Then, a link mechanism 7 to temporarily release transmission of power to the second driving roller when the adhesive roller 13b moves to the side of the roller cleaning mechanism 16 is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus in which a printing material is continuously delivered from a storage portion for storing a printing material in a roll shape.

2. Description of the Related Art A printing apparatus of this kind includes a printing unit including a print head for printing predetermined characters and a platen roller. On the upstream side of the printing section, a first driving roller driven by power from a driving source and a first driving roller which presses the printing medium to supply the printing section to the printing section at a constant feeding speed. And a pair of upper and lower transport units including the drive roller and an idle roller that rotates together.

Here, in the case where predetermined printing is continuously performed on a belt-shaped printing material wound in a roll shape, it is necessary to supply the printing material to the conveyance unit so that the feeding speed in the conveyance unit does not change. There is. For this reason, it is possible to provide an accommodation section for accommodating a band-shaped printed material wound in a roll shape on the upstream side of the transport section, and to provide a second drive roller for sending out the printed material from the accommodation section in the accommodation section. Suggested. In this case, in order to reduce the number of parts and reduce the manufacturing cost, it is preferable that the first drive roller is driven synchronously with the second drive roller by the power from the drive source that drives the first drive roller.

Further, if particles such as dust in the air adhere to the printing surface of the printing material due to static electricity while the printing material is transported from the storage section to the printing section, a printing failure occurs. Therefore, as in the prior art printing apparatus, at least the roller located on the printing surface side to remove particles just before printing is formed as an adhesive roller having sufficient adhesiveness to remove particles attached to the printing surface. It is possible to do.

In order to automatically clean the adhesive roller, for example, a cleaning mechanism made of an adhesive tape having sufficient adhesiveness for rolling contact with the adhesive roller and removing particles transferred to the adhesive roller. (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-136748). In this case, the adhesive tape is installed so as to be wound from the delivery roller to a take-up roller having a power source via a cleaning roller arranged to be in line contact with the adhesive roller via the adhesive tape.

Here, in order to reduce the consumption of the adhesive tape and reduce the running cost, it is necessary to periodically clean the adhesive roller. For this reason,
It is proposed to form the adhesive roller movably by a second drive source between a driving roller and a roller cleaning mechanism provided corresponding to the adhesive roller. In this case, in order to reduce the number of components and reduce the manufacturing cost, when the adhesive roller is moved to the cleaning mechanism side, the power from the first power source is transmitted to the winding roller.

[0006]

However, when the printing apparatus is configured as described above, the first drive source cannot be stopped to clean the adhesive roller. In addition, there has been a problem that the printing medium is continuously sent out by the second driving roller, and the printing medium is wasted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus which prevents a printing medium from being sent out of a storage unit while cleaning an adhesive roller.

[0008]

In order to solve this problem, a printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing section on a transport path for transporting a printing material, and a first power source is provided upstream of the printing section. A pair of upper and lower transport units including a first driving roller to be driven and an adhesive roller that rotates together with the first driving roller by pressing the printing material, and a belt-shaped printing material wound in a roll shape are accommodated. A printing apparatus in which an accommodating section is disposed, and the adhesive roller is movably formed by a second drive source between a driving roller and a roller cleaning mechanism provided corresponding to the adhesive roller, wherein the accommodating section includes: A second drive roller is driven in synchronization with the first drive roller and capable of delivering an object to be conveyed. When the adhesive roller moves toward the roller cleaning mechanism, power is transmitted to the second drive roller. Temporarily release Characterized in that the so that.

According to the present invention, when the adhesive roller is moved to the roller cleaning mechanism side by the instruction to clean the adhesive roller, the transmission of the power to the second drive roller is temporarily released, so that the printing medium from the storage section is released. Since the sending is temporarily stopped, the printing material is not wasted.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, for example, a printing apparatus 1 of the present invention for continuously printing predetermined characters on a plastic plate having a predetermined length dimension controls the operation of the apparatus. A control unit (not shown) is provided. A personal computer 2 that allows input of print data such as fonts, print widths and character intervals is connected to the control unit via a communication cable 3.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a thermal transfer type print head 11 driven by a gear train 11a is provided at the center of the printing apparatus 1 for printing based on print data. I have. A platen roller 12 is disposed below the print head 11 so as to face the print head 11, and forms a printing unit. A rotating shaft 12a is provided through the inside of the platen roller 12, and the rotating shaft 12a is rotatably supported by the frame 4 of the apparatus. In the drawing, a pair of upper and lower transport units 13 and 14 are provided on the left and right sides of the printing unit. The transport section 13 on the upstream side (right side in FIG. 2) of the transport path includes a first drive roller 13a and an adhesive roller 13b that rotates together with the drive roller 13a by pressing the printing material S. The transport section 14 on the downstream side of the transport path (left side in FIG. 2) also includes a drive roller 14a and an idle roller 14b that rotates together with the drive roller 14a by pressing the printing material S. Each drive roller 13a, 14 whose outer peripheral surface is made of rubber
The rotating shafts 13c and 14c are provided through the inside of a, and the rotating shafts 13c and 14c are rotatably supported by the frame 4. The rotating shafts 13c and 14c and the rotating shaft 12a of the platen roller 12 are synchronously driven by a first drive motor M1 as a first drive source via a first gear train 15 provided inside the frame 4. .

An accommodation section 5 having a semicircular cross section is provided upstream of the transport section 13 for accommodating a band-shaped printing material S wound in a roll shape. The second driving roller 51 and the idle roller 52 are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the storage unit 5 on the inner peripheral surface of the storage unit 5 in order to send the print target from the storage unit 5 so that the feeding speed of the print target S in the transport unit 13 does not change. It is arranged at intervals.

Here, if a separate power source is provided to drive the drive roller 51, the number of parts increases and the manufacturing cost increases. In the present embodiment, the second drive roller 52 is driven by the power of the first drive source M1 via the belt transmission mechanism 6 connected to the first drive roller 13b. In this case, the belt transmission mechanism 6 is formed by winding a belt 63 around a driving gear 61 connected to the first driving roller 13a and a driven gear 62 connected to the second driving roller 51. Thus, the driving roller 51 is driven in synchronization with the driving of the driving roller 13b.

The printing medium S from the storage unit 5 to the printing unit
If particles such as dust in the air adhere to the printing surface of the printing material due to static electricity during transport of the paper, printing failure occurs. In the present embodiment, the adhesive roller 13b is provided with an adhesive force capable of removing particles attached to the printing surface of the printing object so that the particles are removed immediately before printing.

Further, the printing material S is removed from the adhesive roller 13b.
It is necessary to remove the particles transferred to the surface. For this reason, the roller cleaning mechanism 1 provided with the adhesive tape 16a having an adhesive force capable of removing particles transferred to the adhesive roller 13b.
6 were provided. The adhesive tape 16a is attached to the delivery roller 16b.
It is installed so as to be taken up by a take-up roller 16d driven by power from a drive source via a cleaning roller 16c arranged corresponding to the adhesive roller 13b. Thus, the adhesive roller 16a is cleaned by feeding the adhesive tape 16a in a state where the adhesive roller 13b and the cleaning roller 16c are in contact with each other over the entire width via the adhesive tape 16a.

Here, if the adhesive tape 16a is always fed, the consumption of the tape increases. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the adhesive roller 13b is formed to be swingable between the drive roller 13a and the cleaning roller 16c by the power from the drive motor M2 as the second power source, and the adhesive roller 13b is cleaned. Roller 1
The power from the first drive motor M1 is transmitted to the cleaning mechanism 16 when swinging to the side 6c.

As shown in FIG. 4, the support shaft 13d inserted through the adhesive roller 13b is rotatably supported by two swing arms 17 arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval. Each swing arm 17 is connected to a driven portion 18b of a cam device 18 so as to swing synchronously, and a driving portion 18a of the cam device forming a pair is driven by a second drive source via a second gear train 19. It is connected to a certain drive motor M2.

A gear 151 serving as a power transmitting member connected to the first gear train 15 is provided at an upper end of the driven portion 18b.
Is installed. The gear 151 is driven by transmitting its power via the first gear train 15 while the first drive motor M1 is driven to convey the printing medium. Then, the second drive motor M2 is driven to clean the adhesive roller 13b and the adhesive roller 13b
To the cleaning roller 16c of the cleaning mechanism 16.
When the gear 151 is swung to a position where the gear 151 comes into contact via the adhesive tape 16a, the gear 151 is connected to the take-up roller 16d and
The power from the drive motor M1 is transmitted to the winding roller 16d.

The second gear train 19 is connected to one end of a slide arm 20 which can move in parallel along the transport path in synchronization with the driving portion 18a of the cam device 18. First and second position sensors 21a and 21b are provided on the upstream side of the transport unit 13 located on the loading side and on the downstream side of the transport unit 14 on the unloading side, respectively (see FIG. 2). A linear sensor 22 of a slide volume type that engages with a protruding portion 20a formed at the center of 20 is provided. When the first position sensor 21a detects the conveyance of the article S,
The second drive motor M2 is driven to transmit the power to the second gear train 19, to move the slide arm 20 to the unloading side (the right side in FIG. 4: the left side in FIG. 2), and to move the swing arm 17 Rock it. When the change in the resistance value of the linear sensor 22 stops, the second drive motor M2 stops.

In this case, the adhesive roller 13b is
Is pressed. Here, the stop position of the swing arm 17 is set such that the gap between the drive roller 13a and the adhesive roller 13b is smaller than the thickness of the printing material by 0.5 mm. Further, the idle roller 14b is configured to oscillate in synchronization with the adhesive roller 13b on the loading side. In this case, the support shaft 14d of the idle roller 14b penetrating therethrough is rotatable by two swing arms 24 driven synchronously by a cam device 23 connected to the other end of the slide arm 20. It is supported by.

The periodic cleaning of the adhesive roller 13b is performed in response to a cleaning instruction from a control unit of the apparatus. In this case, the control unit determines the cleaning time based on the transport amount of the transported object in the transport unit 13. Therefore, the control unit accumulates and calculates the feed amount of the conveyed object from the print data input to the personal computer 2. When the feed amount of the printing material S calculated from the print data reaches a predetermined set value, the second drive motor M2 is driven by a cleaning instruction from the control unit, and the driving of the cam device is driven via the second gear train 19. The portion 18a is driven to swing the arm 17
Swings upward and contacts the cleaning roller 16c over the entire width via the adhesive tape 16a.

At the same time, the gear 151 attached to the driven portion 18b is connected to the take-up roller 16d by the first drive motor M.
1 to transmit power. Thereby, the adhesive tape 16
a is fed out from the delivery roller 16b, and the co-rotating adhesive roller 13b is cleaned. In this case, the cleaning of the adhesive roller 13b is performed at least until the adhesive roller 13b makes one rotation. The adhesive roller 1
The cleaning time 3b can be set from the operation panel 10 on the front of the printing apparatus.

By the way, in the printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment,
Since the first drive source M1 cannot be stopped to clean the adhesive roller 13b, the adhesive roller 13b
While the cleaning is performed, the printing material S is continuously sent out by the second driving roller 51 connected to the first driving roller 13a, so that the printing material is wasted. In the present embodiment, when the adhesive roller 13b moves toward the roller cleaning mechanism 16, the transmission of power to the second drive roller 52 is temporarily released.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the driven gear 62 of the belt transmission mechanism 6 is connected to the slide arm 20 via the link mechanism 7, and the second drive roller M2 for cleaning the adhesive roller 13b. Is driven to move the slide arm 20, the driven gear 62 is moved by the link mechanism 7, and the connection with the second drive roller 51 is temporarily released. After the cleaning of the adhesive roller 13b is completed, when the second drive motor M2 is driven to return the adhesive roller 13b to the pressing position of the printing medium, the first drive motor M1 is controlled to stop once. You.

Although the cleaning mechanism 16 is made of the adhesive tape 16a, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the cleaning roller 16c itself is driven by the first drive motor and has a stronger surface adhesive force than the adhesive roller. The adhesive roller may be provided. In this case, the adhesive roller is periodically replaced.

As described above, in the printing apparatus according to the present invention, when the adhesive roller is cleaned during continuous printing on the belt-shaped printing material, the printing material is sent out of the storage section and is wasted. Is prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal structure of a printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a drive system by a first drive motor.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a drive system using first and second drive motors.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing apparatus 13 Transport part 13a Drive roller 13b Adhesive roller 16 Roller cleaning mechanism 16a Adhesive tape 5 Housing part 51 Drive roller S Printed material

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C060 BA03 BC03 BC04 BC12 BC15 BC34 BC38 2C061 AS06 BB08 CM07 3F103 AA02 BA01 3F104 AA02 JC00 KA09

Claims (1)

[Claims] A printing section is provided in a transport path for transporting a printing medium, and a first driving roller driven by a first power source and a first printing roller are pressed upstream of the printing section so as to press the printing medium. A pair of upper and lower transport units including an adhesive roller that rotates together with a drive roller of the same type, and an accommodation unit that accommodates a band-shaped print material wound in a roll shape are arranged, and are provided corresponding to the drive roller and the adhesive roller. Second between roller cleaning mechanism
A printing apparatus in which an adhesive roller is movably formed by a driving source of the printing apparatus, wherein the housing section is driven in synchronization with a first driving roller,
A second drive roller is provided to enable delivery of the conveyed object, and the transmission of power to the second drive roller is temporarily released when the adhesive roller moves toward the roller cleaning mechanism. Printing device.