JP2005280954A - Card stocker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card stocker reliably and neatly accommodating cards therein. <P>SOLUTION: In the card stocker 30, a card S carried out from a card printing device 1 is introduced into a cylindrical part 32 from an opening part 36 of the cylindrical part 32. The card S is freely dropped while being guided by the cylindrical part 32, and stacked on a card stacking face 34a. Since the card stacking face 34a is inclined to the forward side of the carrying-out direction (X-axis direction) of the card S, a lower end of the card S slides toward a valley of the card stacking face 34a, and the cards S to be thrown into the stocker 30 one by one are continuously stacked in an inclined state. Thus, erection of the cards S in the stocker 30 is suppressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a card container that accommodates a card carried out from a card printing apparatus.

  Conventionally, a card container in the field of this technology is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below. The card container (stocker) shown in the drawing of this publication is a box-shaped container having an open upper end and a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a card discharged from the transport unit is freely dropped and stored. Then, the cards are stacked in order in the container. A card container of the type in which cards are stacked one after another by such free fall can be manufactured at a very low cost with plastic or the like.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-261951

  However, the conventional card container described above has the following problems. That is, when the transport conditions such as the card transport speed are not appropriate, there is a case where the card stands up in the card container. In such a case, the operator needs to organize the cards accommodated in the card container, and such an ordering operation is very troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a card container that can more reliably accommodate cards in an orderly manner.

  A card container according to the present invention is a card container that is attached to a carry-out port of a card printer and accommodates a card that is carried out from the carry-out port, and has an opening at the top for introducing the card. A cylindrical portion that guides the card introduced from the substantially vertical direction, and a bottom portion having a card stacking surface that is positioned at the lower end of the cylindrical portion and on which the card guided by the cylindrical portion is stacked, It is a surface inclined front and rear in the card conveying direction.

  In this card container, the card carried out from the card printing apparatus is introduced into the cylinder part from the opening part of the cylinder part. Then, after the card falls freely while being guided by the tube portion, it is stacked on the card stacking surface at the bottom. At this time, since the card loading surface is a surface inclined in the front-rear direction in the card carrying-out direction, the lower ends of the cards inserted into the card container one after another slide toward the valley of the card loading surface and are inclined. Continue to be loaded in the state. Therefore, the situation where the card stands up in the card container is suppressed.

  Also, a finger insertion part cut out from the edge toward the inside is formed at the bottom, and the tube part has a finger insertion part from the bottom part to the upper end of the cylinder part at a position corresponding to the finger insertion part. An extending slit is preferably formed. In this case, the operator can easily take out the card from the card container by inserting a finger from the slit and picking up the cards stacked in the card container along the slit.

  Moreover, it is preferable that each inner wall surface on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the cylindrical portion is a surface inclined inward from the opening toward the bottom. When the card collides with the inner wall surface, the card is not compared with the case where each inner wall surface of the cylinder portion is inclined outward from the opening toward the bottom, or when each inner wall surface of the cylinder portion is upright. It becomes difficult to stand up in the card container. Moreover, the situation where the card is turned over is also suppressed. Furthermore, there is an effect of suppressing exposure when the card falls.

  According to the present invention, cards can be accommodated more reliably and orderly.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a card container (stocker) according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an intermediate transfer type thermal transfer printing apparatus (card printing apparatus) 1 is also called a card printer. After a printed image is once transferred to a transparent film F having a thickness of about 20 μm, An apparatus for retransferring to a recording medium (for example, a plastic cash card, credit card, prepaid card, IC card, etc.) S. Such a thermal transfer printing apparatus 1 is used when issuing the card S, and can print a high-quality image on the surface of the card S. Therefore, it is possible to issue a card S containing a face photo for the purpose of improving security.

  Such an intermediate transfer type thermal transfer printing apparatus 1 has a stock unit 2 for setting a plastic card S to be printed in a stacked state. The cards S are fed out one by one from the bottom of the stock unit 2 by the forward and backward movement of the delivery claw 3, and the cards S fed out from the stock unit 2 are once loaded into the reversing unit 4. After the reversing unit 4 is rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal state, when the card S is raised by the feed roller 6, the card S is fed into the magnetic reading / writing unit 7. The magnetic reading / writing unit 7 writes predetermined information in the magnetic stripe of the card S or reads predetermined information in the magnetic stripe.

  On the other hand, when the card S is lowered by the feed roller 6, the card S is fed into the non-contact IC reading / writing unit 8. Then, the non-contact IC reading / writing unit 8 writes predetermined information in the IC of the card S or reads predetermined information in the IC. After that, the card S sent out from the reversing unit 4 passes through the detachable cleaning roller 10, and then the card S is moved by the conveying roller 11 until just before image printing while being supported on both sides by the guide groove 12.

  In addition, when magnetic detection or non-contact IC detection is not necessary, the reversing unit 4 is maintained horizontally. The card S determined to be inappropriate by the magnetic reading / writing unit 7 or the non-contact IC reading / writing unit 8 is discharged into the eject box 9 by the feed roller 6 after the reversing unit 4 rotates.

  Next, in order to enable image transfer to the card S, the thermal transfer printing apparatus 1 includes a recording unit (primary transfer unit) A that thermally transfers an image to the film F, an image transferred to the film F, and the card S. And a re-transfer portion (secondary transfer portion) B that thermally transfers the image to the card S, and a warp correction portion C that corrects the warp of the card S after the image transfer.

  Further, the thermal transfer printing apparatus 1 includes a film cartridge 13 and a ribbon cartridge 14 that can be exchanged by inserting and removing. In the film cartridge 13, the film F is wound around a pair of upper and lower bobbins 15 and 16, and in the ribbon cartridge 14, the color ink ribbon R is wound around a pair of upper and lower bobbins 17 and 18. The color ink ribbon R in the ribbon cartridge 14 is periodically coated with ink of three colors (or four colors including black) of meltable or sublimable yellow, magenta, and cyan as one frame. ing.

  Here, in the recording unit A described above, the film F is wound around a substantially half circumference of the platen roller (commonly called “platen”) 20, and the color ink ribbon R is pressed against the film F on the platen roller 20 by the thermal head 21. . Then, the film F and the color ink ribbon R are sent downward while being synchronized, so that the first color (cyan) of the color ink ribbon R is thermally transferred onto the film F by the heated thermal head 21.

  Next, the thermal head 21 is moved backward by the rack and pinion drive mechanism 22 so that the film F and the color ink ribbon R are separated from each other, while the platen roller 20 is reversed and the film F is raised to the original position. Return. Thereafter, while repeating the above-described transfer operation, colors are layered on the film F in the order of magenta, yellow, and black to create a desired color image on the film F.

  Thereafter, the recording image on the film F is moved to the front of the heat roller 23 by the rotation of the platen roller 20. At this time, the leading edge of the card S is aligned with the leading edge of the recorded image on the film F, and the card S and the film F are sent to the retransfer section B in a state of being superimposed.

  In the re-transfer section B, the aligned card S and film F are sandwiched between the heat roller 23 and the pressure roller 24 in a superimposed state, and pressed with the heat roller 23 heated to 160 to 200 ° C. The recorded image on the film F is gradually transferred onto the surface of the card S while the card S and the film F are conveyed under pressure in cooperation with the roller 24. At this time, the film F is wound around the bobbin 16 while being peeled from the card S. Further, since the card S heated by the heat roller 23 is warped, the card S is sent to the warp correction unit C, subjected to pressure treatment, and then discharged out of the apparatus 1 in a straight state.

  At this time, the card S is carried out of the apparatus 1 through the carry-out port 25. A stocker (card container) 30 is attached to the carry-out port 25.

  Hereinafter, the stocker 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the stocker 30 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape extending in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction in FIG. 2), and has dimensions (for example, a size that can accommodate a standard-sized card S (for example, 70 mm × 100 mm × 160 mm). The stocker 30 includes a cylindrical portion 32 having a circular cross section and a bottom portion 34 provided at the lower end of the cylindrical portion 32. The stocker 30 is made of resin, and the cylindrical portion 32 and the bottom portion 34 are integrally molded.

  First, the cylinder part 32 is demonstrated.

  The cylinder part 32 is constituted by four side plate parts 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d. More specifically, the cylindrical portion 32 is configured so that the front side plate portion 32a and the rear side plate portion 32b that face each other in the conveyance direction of the card S conveyed from the apparatus 1 (X-axis direction in FIG. 2), and the card S carry-out direction. The left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d are opposed to each other in a direction orthogonal to the Y axis direction (Y-axis direction in FIG. 2).

  Of these side plate portions 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d constituting the cylindrical portion 32, the rear plate portion 32b located on the device 1 side is formed with an opening 36 that is cut out along the edge of the upper end. Yes. The card S carried out from the apparatus 1 enters the stocker 30 through the opening 36 from the rear plate portion 32b side. Therefore, the length of the opening 36 is set longer than the width of the card S at the time of conveyance. In addition, an inclined portion 37 that is inclined toward the inner side of the cylindrical portion 32 is formed at the lower edge of the opening portion 36 of the rear side plate portion 32b. By forming such an inclined portion 37, a situation in which the card S is caught by the rear side plate portion 32b when passing through the opening 36 is suppressed.

  A slit 38 that divides the front plate portion 32a from the middle is formed in the front plate portion 32a that faces the rear plate portion 32b (see FIG. 4). The slit 38 is formed along the virtual center line L of the front plate part 32a extending in the vertical direction.

  The left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d are respectively formed with locking portions 44A and 44B protruding outward at a right angle on the rear plate portion 32b side of the upper end. Each of the locking portions 44A and 44B has a rectangular plate shape with a curved corner, and extends along the vertical direction. The stocker 30 is attached to the device 1 by hanging the pair of locking portions 44A and 44B on a pair of J-shaped hook portions 46A and 46B provided in the device 1.

  Next, the bottom 34 will be described.

  The bottom portion 34 is a flat plate-like portion integrally projecting from the four side plate portions 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d described above, and closes the lower end of the cylindrical portion 32 at a height d from the lower end of the cylindrical portion 32. It is formed as follows. The bottom 34 is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane P1 by an angle α so that the front side in the card S transport direction (X-axis direction) is lowered (see FIG. 3). Therefore, the upper surface (card stacking surface) 34a of the bottom 34 on which the cards S are stacked is also inclined with respect to the horizontal plane P1 by the angle α. For example, 15 ° is selected as the angle α. The card stacking surface 34a is preferably a smooth surface so that the frictional force between the bottom 34 and the card S is reduced.

  Further, a U-shaped notch (finger insertion portion) 40 is formed on the bottom 34, and this notch 40 is formed on the bottom 34 corresponding to the virtual center line L of the front side plate 32a described above. It extends from the edge toward the center. Since the stocker 30 is formed with such a notch 40 and the slit 38 of the front plate portion 32a described above, the card S in the stocker 30 is pinched from the front plate portion 32a side of the stocker 30. Can do. That is, the slit 30 is designed to have a width that allows a finger to enter (for example, 30 mm). A skirt portion 42 that hangs down along the edge is formed at the edge of the cutout portion 40.

  Next, the inclination of the four side plate portions 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d constituting the cylindrical portion 32 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d are inclined inwardly from the upper end of the cylindrical portion 32 to the bottom portion 34, whereby the inner wall surface 33c of the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d. The inner wall surface 33d is also inclined inward. That is, the distance between the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d is gradually narrowed downward. Therefore, the card S that has entered the stocker 30 is guided so as to gradually converge by the inner wall surface 33c of the left side plate portion 32c and the inner wall surface 33d of the right side plate portion 32d, and is stacked on the card stacking surface 34a of the bottom portion 34. The

  That is, by tilting the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d in this manner, the blowout in the direction (Y-axis direction) orthogonal to the card S carrying-out direction during stacking is suppressed. Note that the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d have an angle β (for example, 1.5) with respect to a virtual plane P2 orthogonal to the direction in which the left side plate portion 32c and the right side plate portion 32d face each other (Y axis direction). It is inclined inward by (°).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the front side plate portion 32a and the rear side plate portion 32b are also inclined inward from the upper end to the bottom portion 34 of the cylindrical portion 32, whereby the inner wall surface 33a and the rear side plate portion of the front side plate portion 32a. The inner wall surface 33b of 32b is also inclined inward. That is, the distance between the front side plate portion 32a and the rear side plate portion 32b is gradually narrowed downward. Therefore, the card S entering the stocker 30 is not only the inner wall surface 33c of the left side plate portion 32c and the inner wall surface 33d of the right side plate portion 32d, but also the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a and the inner wall surface 33b of the rear side plate portion 32b. Are also guided so as to converge gradually, and are stacked on the card stacking surface 34a of the bottom 34.

  That is, by tilting the front side plate portion 32a and the rear side plate portion 32b in this manner, the blowout in the card S carry-out direction (X-axis direction) during stacking is suppressed. The front side plate portion 32a is inclined inward by an angle γ (for example, 1.5 °) with respect to the virtual surface P3 orthogonal to the card S carry-out direction, and the rear side plate portion 32b is similar to the virtual surface. It is inclined inward by an angle δ (for example, 1.5 °) with respect to P3.

  Next, a state in which the card S is accommodated in the stocker 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The card S carried out from the apparatus 1 is introduced into the stocker 30 through the opening 36 at the upper end of the stocker 30 as shown in FIG. Then, the card S introduced into the stocker 30 falls freely in the cylinder portion 32.

  As shown in FIG. 9B, the card S collides with the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a during the free fall. Here, since the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a is inclined inward, when the card S that has entered the stocker 30 from diagonally above collides with the front side plate portion 32a, the card S approaches a horizontal state. To be repelled. On the other hand, when the front side plate portion 32a is inclined outward or when the front side plate portion 32a is upright in the vertical direction, the card S tends to be in a standing state rather than a horizontal state. Therefore, in the stocker 30 in which the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a is inclined inward as described above, the situation in which the card S stands up in the stocker 30 is suppressed, and the situation in which the card S turns over. It is suppressed.

  In addition, while the card S is freely falling, not only the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a but also the inner wall surfaces 33b, 33c, 33d of the rear side plate portion 32b, the left side plate portion 32c, and the right side plate portion 32d. May also collide. The inner wall surfaces 33b, 33c, and 33d of the rear side plate portion 32b, the left side plate portion 32c, and the right side plate portion 32d are also inclined inward in the same manner as the inner wall surface 33a of the front side plate portion 32a. Thus, the situation where the card S stands up in the stocker 30 and the situation where the card S turns over are suppressed.

  The card S that has reached the bottom 34 after the free fall is placed on the card stacking surface 34 a of the bottom 34. At this time, since the card stacking surface 34a is inclined by an angle α so that the front side in the card S transport direction (X-axis direction) is lowered (see FIG. 3), the lower end of the card S in contact with the card stacking surface 34a. Slides toward the valley of the bottom 34. And the card | curd S slides on the card | curd stacking surface 34a in the trough direction of the bottom part 34, contacts the front side board part 32a, and stops.

  As shown in FIG. 9C, the cards S are successively introduced into the stocker 30 and stacked in order. Since the upper surface of the card S stacked on the bottom 34 has the same inclination as that of the card stacking surface 34a, the card S stacked on the card S is also in the direction of the valley of the bottom 34 as described above. Slide. And the card | curd S slides on the card | curd S in the trough direction of the bottom part 34, contact | abuts to the front side board part 32a, and stops. That is, the plurality of cards S to be loaded are all collected on the front side of the stocker 30 and stored in a neat state.

  When the necessary amount of cards S is accommodated, the cards S are taken out from the stocker 30 by the operator. When taking out the card | curd S, an operator inserts a finger | toe from the slit 38 formed in the front side board part 32a, and pinches the card | curd of the part corresponding to the notch part 40. FIG. Then, the card S is lifted along the slit 38 and the card S is taken out from the stocker 30. Therefore, the operator can easily remove the card S from the stocker 30 without removing the stocker 30 from the apparatus 1. When the operator pinches the card S, there is a gap with a height d surrounded by the skirt portion 42 below the notch 40, so that the operator can easily insert his finger under the card S. Can do.

  As described in detail above, in the stocker 30, the card stacking surface 34a of the bottom 34 is inclined forward in the card S transport direction, so that the cards S successively inserted into the stocker 30 are inclined. Can continue to be loaded. Therefore, the stocker 30 can suppress the situation where the card S stands in the stocker 30, and can accommodate the card S more orderly than the stocker according to the related art.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the inclination angle of the bottom portion (that is, the angle α) is not limited to 15 ° and can be changed as appropriate. The bottom portion may be inclined so that the rear side in the card conveying direction is lowered. Furthermore, the inclination angles (that is, the angle β, the angle γ, and the angle δ) of the side plate portion of the cylindrical portion are not limited to the above-described angles, and can be increased or decreased as appropriate.

1 is a side view showing an intermediate transfer type thermal transfer printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the stocker which concerns on this invention. FIG. 3 is a side view of the stocker shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a front view of the stocker shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a rear view of the stocker shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the stocker shown in FIG. 2. It is the VII-VII sectional view taken on the line of the stocker shown in FIG. It is the VIII-VIII sectional view taken on the line of the stocker shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the state in which a card | curd is accommodated in a stocker.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Intermediate transfer type thermal transfer printing apparatus, 25 ... Outlet, 30 ... Stocker, 32 ... Tube part, 32a ... Front side plate part, 32b ... Rear side plate part, 32c ... Left side plate part, 32d ... Right side plate part, 33a, 33b 33c, 33d ... inner wall surface, 34 ... bottom, 34a ... card stacking surface, 36 ... opening, 38 ... slit, 40 ... notch, S ... card.

Claims (3)

A card container that is attached to a carry-out port of a card printing apparatus and contains a card carried out from the carry-out port,
An upper portion having an opening for introducing the card, and a cylindrical portion for guiding the card introduced from the opening in a substantially vertical direction;
A bottom portion having a card stacking surface on which the cards guided by the tube portion are stacked, and located at a lower end of the tube portion;
The card container is characterized in that the card loading surface is a surface inclined in the front-rear direction in the card conveying direction. The bottom part is formed with a finger insertion part cut out from the edge toward the inside,
The slit which extends from the said finger insertion part of the said bottom part to the upper end of the said cylinder part in the position corresponding to the said finger insertion part is formed in the said cylinder part. Card container.   3. The card container according to claim 1, wherein the inner wall surfaces on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the cylindrical portion are surfaces inclined inward from the opening toward the bottom.

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