JP2008030240A - Processing apparatus and processing method for ink ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a collecting apparatus and a collecting method for ink ribbons which can prevent ink ribbons after printing from appearing on the market for a third person in a heat-transfer type printer. <P>SOLUTION: This processing apparatus includes a pair of taking-up rolls 6 and 7, a cutter 11 for cutting an ink ribbon, a contact roll 10, and a control apparatus. In this case, The pair of taking-up rolls 6 and 7 take up the ink ribbon by which a heat transfer has been performed. The contact roll 10 is used for making the taking-up rolls at a first position take up the ink ribbon being located on the upstream side of the cutting position. The control apparatus arranges the taking-up roll which has taken up the ink ribbon at the first position at a second position while stretching the ink ribbon, and drives the contact roll 10. Then, the control apparatus brings the stretched ink ribbon into contact with the taking-up roll 6 which is arranged at the first position from the second position, makes the cutter 11 cut the ink ribbon which is stretched between the first and second taking-up rolls, and makes the taking-up roll 7 being located at the first position take up the ink ribbon being located on the upstream side of the cutting position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink ribbon recovery device and recovery method provided in a thermal transfer printer.

A thermal transfer type printer that performs printing by thermal transfer with a print head in contact with an ink ribbon is used for various applications. For example, as described in Patent Document 1, a photograph using a print sealing machine such as a so-called Prikla (registered trademark) is used. Used for printing.
JP 2000-118077 A

  By the way, in recent years, with the emphasis on protecting personal information, this problem also occurs in the above-described print sealing machine. That is, since information related to printing remains on the ink ribbon after the thermal transfer, if the ink ribbon is discarded carelessly, there is a problem that personal information is distributed to a third party. Such a problem is not limited to a print seal machine, but is a problem common to thermal transfer printers in which information remains on the ink ribbon, and there is a need for a solution.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and in the thermal transfer type printer, an ink ribbon processing apparatus and processing method capable of preventing the printed ink ribbon from circulating to a third party. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention is an apparatus for processing an ink ribbon after thermal transfer, which has been made to solve the above-described problem. A positioning member rotatably supported so as to rotatably support the take-up rolls and selectively arrange the take-up rolls at the first and second positions, and a cutting means for cutting the ink ribbon. A winding auxiliary means for winding the ink ribbon on the upstream side from the cutting position on the winding roll in the first position, the two winding rolls, the positioning member, the cutting means, and the winding auxiliary means. And a control means for driving the positioning member, wherein the control means drives the positioning member and winds up the ink ribbon at the first position. In the second position while the ink ribbon is stretched, the winding assisting means is driven, and the ink that has been stretched on the winding roll disposed from the second position to the first position. The ribbon is brought into contact, the ink ribbon extending between the first and second take-up rolls is cut by the cutting means, and the ink ribbon on the upstream side from the cut position is applied to the take-up roll at the first position. Take it up.

  According to this configuration, each winding roll can be selectively disposed at the first and second positions by rotating the positioning member that rotatably supports the two winding rolls. In the first position, after winding the ink ribbon after the thermal transfer with one winding roll, the ink ribbon is stretched and moved to the second position by the positioning member, and the first position is moved to the first position. The ink ribbon is cut after arranging the other winding roll. Therefore, if the ink ribbon is taken up by the take-up roll disposed at the first position, printing can be continued. On the other hand, if the ink ribbon is removed from the take-up roll at the second position, the ink ribbon on which information is written can be collected, and the ink ribbon can be prevented from remaining in the printing press. As a result, the ink ribbon can be prevented from passing over to a third party. For example, when such an apparatus is applied to a print sticker, an ink ribbon can be returned to a user together with a printed photograph, and personal information can be protected.

  In the above apparatus, it is preferable that the apparatus further includes a recovery unit that removes the ink ribbon wound on the winding roll in the second position. As a result, if the ink ribbon is removed from the take-up roll at the second position by the collecting means, then it is possible to continuously print and collect the ink ribbon by arranging the take-up roll at the first position. It becomes.

  The recovery means can be configured as follows, for example. That is, a rotation shaft that is close to and spaced from a winding roll in the second position and is rotatably supported, and a recovery bobbin that is supported by the rotation shaft, and applies an adhesive to the outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin. It can be constituted as follows.

  According to this configuration, since the adhesive is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin, the ink ribbon can be taken up by abutting and rotating the take-up roll around which the ink ribbon is taken up. The ink ribbon can be collected from the take-up roll.

  In addition, an ink ribbon processing method according to the present invention is made to solve the above-described problem, and the step of winding the ink ribbon after thermal transfer by a first winding roll at a first position; Disposing the first take-up roll in the second position while stretching the ink ribbon; disposing the second take-up roll in the first position; and cutting the stretched ink ribbon. And a step of winding the ink ribbon on the upstream side from the cutting position by the second winding roll, and a step of removing the ink ribbon of the winding roll in the second position.

  In the step of cutting the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon stretched between the first and second take-up rolls is brought into contact with the second take-up roll while the stretched ink ribbon is brought into contact with the second take-up roll. It is preferable to cut.

  In the step of removing the ink ribbon, it is preferable that the recovery bobbin is bonded to the ink ribbon of the take-up roll and the ink ribbon is wound up by the recovery bobbin.

  According to the present invention, in a thermal transfer type printer, it is possible to prevent the ink ribbon after printing from circulating to a third party.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which an ink ribbon recovery apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer printer will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer provided with a collection device according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printer includes a feed roll 1 that feeds out an ink ribbon R, and a print head 2 and a paper feed unit 3 that are arranged on the downstream side thereof. A plurality of inks are arranged in the longitudinal direction on the ink ribbon R used here, and these are repeatedly applied. In this embodiment, cyan C, magenta M, and yellow Y are repeatedly applied in this order. The print head 2 and the paper feed unit 3 are arranged so as to sandwich the ink ribbon R from above and below. That is, the print head 2 is disposed above the ink ribbon R, and the paper feed unit 3 is disposed below the ink ribbon R. The print head 2 is configured to press the print paper P in the paper feed unit 3 via the ink ribbon R. On the other hand, a platen roller 31 that supports the printing paper P from below is rotatably disposed in the paper feeding unit 3 so as to face the printing head 2. The ink ribbon R is configured to be fed further downstream while being supported by a support roller 5 disposed downstream of the paper feed unit 3.

  In the printer configured as described above, a processing device for the ink ribbon R is disposed on the downstream side of the print head 2 and the paper feed unit 3. This processing apparatus includes a pair of winding rolls 6 and 7 that winds the printed ink ribbon R, and a positioning member 8 that rotatably supports the winding rolls 6 and 7. The positioning member 8 is formed in a rod shape and is supported so as to be rotatable around a shaft portion 9 provided at the center in the longitudinal direction. And the winding rolls 6 and 7 mentioned above are arrange | positioned at the both ends, respectively. With this configuration, when the positioning member 8 rotates 180 degrees around the shaft portion 9, the take-up rolls 6 and 7 take up the first position for taking up the printed ink ribbon R and the ink ribbon R described later. It arrange | positions so that the 2nd position which performs a process can be taken selectively. In FIG. 1, the left side of the positioning member 8 disposed horizontally indicates the first position, the right side indicates the second position, the first winding roll 6 is disposed at the first position, The second take-up roll 7 is disposed at the position 2.

  As shown in FIG. 1, below the winding roll 6 in the first position, a contact roll (winding auxiliary means) 10 that is supported so as to be movable up and down and can come into contact with the winding roll 6, and A cutter (cutting means) 11 for cutting the ink ribbon is disposed. Also, below the positioning member 8, two driven pins on which the ink ribbon R is bridged, that is, the first and second driven pins 12 and 13 are supported so as to freely advance and retract from the upstream side. That is, the driven pins 12 and 13 can be moved forward and backward in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. Further, on the second position side of the positioning member 8, a collection unit (collection means) that winds up and collects the ink ribbon R from the take-up roll at this position is provided. The recovery unit includes a rotary shaft 14 that is rotatably supported in parallel with the take-up roll, and a recovery bobbin 15 that is detachably attached to the rotary shaft 14. The rotating shaft 14 is supported so as to be proximate to the winding roll in the second position. That is, it is possible to move in the horizontal direction with the recovery bobbin 15 attached, and the outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin 15 can be brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the winding roll. An adhesive is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin 15. Although not shown, the recovery unit is provided with a device that removes the recovery bobbin 15 from the rotating shaft 14. The operation of the above-described device is controlled by a control device (control means) (not shown).

  Next, the operation of the processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the ink ribbon R is fed out from the feed roll 1 and positioned so that the yellow Y ink is sandwiched between the print head 2 and the print paper P. Then, the print head 2 is pressed against the ink ribbon R, and the yellow Y ink is thermally transferred to the printing paper P. Subsequently, magenta M and cyan C inks are sequentially positioned, and these inks are sequentially thermally transferred to the printing paper P. Printing is completed by thermal transfer of three colors.

  Subsequently, the region of the ink ribbon R on which the thermal transfer has been performed is fed downstream, and is wound by the first winding roll 6. Following this, the positioning member 8 is rotated to move the first winding roll 6 to the second position. The process will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, when the positioning member 8 is rotated, the ink ribbon R is stretched with the movement of the first winding roll 6. And the 1st driven pin 12 is advanced in the position which the positioning member 8 rotated about 90 degree | times. At this time, since the first driven pin 12 is above the stretched ink ribbon R, when the first take-up roll 6 further moves, the ink ribbon R is bridged on the first driven pin 12. Passed. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the rotation is advanced and the first winding roll 8 passes the position of the second driven pin 13, the second driven pin 13 is advanced, and the ink ribbon R is moved to the driven pin. Cross over 13 Thus, when the positioning member 8 rotates 180 degrees, as shown in FIG. 4, the first take-up roll 6 is moved to the second position in a state where the ink ribbon R is stretched over the two driven pins 12 and 13. The second winding roll 7 is disposed at the first position while being disposed.

  In this state, as shown in FIG. 5, the contact roll 10 is raised, and the ink ribbon R is held between the second winding roll 7 and the contact roll 10. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, the cutter 11 is raised, and the ink ribbon R that is stretched between the second winding roll 7 and the first driven pin 12 is cut. Thereafter, the take-up roll 7 in the first position takes up the ink ribbon R after thermal transfer, and lowers the contact roll 10 and the cutter 11. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, at the second position, the rotating shaft 14 is moved horizontally, and the recovery bobbin 15 is brought into contact with the take-up roll 6. As a result, the outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin 15 adheres to the ink ribbon R of the take-up roll 6. When the rotating shaft 14 is rotated in this state, the ink ribbon R adhered to the recovery bobbin 15i is wound around the recovery bobbin 15. Thereafter, the recovery bobbin 15 is separated from the take-up roll 6, and the bobbin 15 is removed from the rotating shaft 14. Thereby, the ink ribbon after the thermal transfer is collected.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by rotating the positioning member 8 that rotatably supports the two take-up rolls 6 and 7, the take-up rolls 6 and 7 are in the first and second positions. Can be selectively arranged. At the first position, after the ink ribbon R after the thermal transfer is wound up by one of the winding rolls 6, the ink ribbon R is stretched and moved to the second position, and at the first position. The ink ribbon R is cut after the other winding roll 7 is disposed. Therefore, if the ink ribbon R is taken up by the take-up roll 7 arranged at the first position, printing can be continued. On the other hand, in the second position, the ink ribbon R of the take-up roll 7 is taken up by the collection bobbin 15, so that the ink ribbon R on which information is written can be collected, and the ink ribbon R remains in the printing press. Can be prevented. As a result, the ink ribbon can be prevented from passing over to a third party, and personal information can be protected. In particular, when the present apparatus is applied to a print sealing machine, the collected bobbin 15 can be returned to the user together with the printed photo, and personal information can be protected.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this, A various change is possible unless it deviates from the meaning.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the ink ribbon R is recovered by bringing the recovery bobbin 15 having the adhesive applied onto the surface thereof into contact with the take-up roll 6, but the ink ribbon can be recovered from the take-up roll. Any other method may be used. For example, the ink ribbon can be collected by exchanging the take-up roll 6 itself at the second position.

  In the above embodiment, the abutment roll 10 is brought into contact with the take-up roll 7 so that the ink ribbon is pinched and the cut ink ribbon is taken up by the take-up roll. As long as the ink ribbon can be taken up by the take-up roll, other methods may be used.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the driven pins 12 and 13 are configured to be able to advance and retract, and the driven pins 12 and 13 are advanced in accordance with the rotation of the positioning member 8, and the ink ribbon extended from the take-up roll 6 to this is driven The path of the ink ribbon R is formed by bridging R, but it can also be configured as shown in FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in this example, two pairs of driven rollers are provided so as to sandwich the positioning member 8. Here, the side closer to the first winding roll 6 will be referred to as first and second driven rolls 21 and 22, respectively. These first and second driven rolls 21 and 22 are arranged in parallel with the positioning member 8 and are configured to rotate together with the positioning member 8 around the shaft portion 9. Next, the operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 9, when the positioning member 8 starts to rotate, the ink ribbon R is stretched, and accordingly, the four driven rolls 21 and 22 also rotate around the shaft portion 9. When the rotation further proceeds, as shown in FIG. 10, the first driven roll 21 disposed above the positioning member 8 is bridged over the ink ribbon R. When further rotated from this state, the ink ribbon R is also laid over the second driven roll 22, and the state shown in FIG. 11 is obtained. That is, while the positioning member 8 rotates 180 degrees, the ink ribbon R is stretched over the two driven rolls 21 and 22 and the path extends, so that the ink ribbon R can be easily cut by the cutter 11.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows one Embodiment at the time of applying the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon which concerns on this invention to a thermal transfer type printing machine. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of other embodiment of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of other embodiment of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of other embodiment of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of other embodiment of the processing apparatus of the ink ribbon which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

6 First take-up roll 7 Second take-up roll 8 Positioning member 10 Contact roll (winding auxiliary means)
11 Cutter (cutting means)
14 Collection bobbins

Claims (6)

An apparatus for processing an ink ribbon after thermal transfer,
A pair of take-up rolls for taking up the ink ribbon that has been thermally transferred;
A positioning member that rotatably supports the winding rolls at both ends, and is rotatably supported so as to selectively arrange the winding rolls at the first and second positions,
Cutting means for cutting the ink ribbon;
A winding assisting means for winding the ink ribbon on the upstream side from the cutting position on the winding roll in the first position;
Control means for controlling both the winding rolls, positioning members, cutting means, and winding auxiliary means,
The control means includes
The positioning member is driven, and a winding roll that winds up the ink ribbon at the first position is disposed at the second position while the ink ribbon is stretched,
Driving the take-up assisting means to bring the stretched ink ribbon into contact with the take-up roll arranged from the second position to the first position;
Cutting the ink ribbon extending between the first and second winding rolls by the cutting means;
An ink ribbon processing apparatus for winding an ink ribbon on the upstream side from a cutting position on a winding roll in the first position.   2. The ink ribbon processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recovery unit that removes the ink ribbon wound up by the winding roll located at the second position. The recovery means includes
A rotating shaft that is rotatably supported in proximity to and away from the winding roll in the second position;
A recovery bobbin supported by the rotating shaft,
The ink ribbon processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an adhesive is applied to an outer peripheral surface of the recovery bobbin. Winding the ink ribbon after thermal transfer by a first winding roll at a first position;
Disposing the first winding roll in the second position while stretching the ink ribbon;
Disposing a second winding roll at the first position;
Cutting the stretched ink ribbon, and winding the ink ribbon on the upstream side from the cutting position by the second winding roll;
Removing the ink ribbon of the take-up roll at the second position.   In the step of cutting the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon stretched between the first and second take-up rolls is cut while the stretched ink ribbon is brought into contact with the second take-up roll. The ink ribbon processing method according to claim 4.   The method for processing an ink ribbon according to claim 4 or 5, wherein, in the step of removing the ink ribbon, the recovery bobbin is bonded to the ink ribbon of the take-up roll, and the ink ribbon is wound up by the recovery bobbin.

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