JP2008105801A - Ticket printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ticket printing device capable of automatically printing tickets even in the case of issuing a large number of tickets. <P>SOLUTION: In this ticket printing device, a conveying means 10 conveys a long-size ticket sheet 1 in the longitudinal direction, a printing means 20 prints ticket information on the ticket sheet 1, and a cutter unit 30 cuts a rear edge 2a of the ticket sheet by one piece of ticket in the cross direction. A curling means 40 is provided downstream of the cutter unit 30 in the conveying direction of the ticket sheets 1 so as to curl the ticket sheet by one piece of the ticket to be cut, and the rear edge 2a of the ticket 2 cut by the cutter unit 30 is pushed by a tip of the long-size ticket sheet 1 conveyed by the conveying means 10 so as to convey the curled ticket 2 for delivery out of the device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a ticket printing apparatus (printer) that prints ticket information on a long ticket sheet, cuts it into individual tickets, and issues or creates tickets. In particular, a large number of tickets are created in advance. The present invention relates to a ticket printing apparatus suitable for the above.

  In general, this type of ticket printing apparatus (printer) has a roll-type or fanfold-type long ticket sheet that is folded with a perforation for each ticket, and the sheet is sequentially transferred by a conveying means. The sheet is pulled out and transported in the longitudinal direction. After printing the ticket information, the ticket is issued by cutting the trailing edge of one ticket sheet in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction with a cutter.

As a ticket printing apparatus for creating a large number of tickets in advance, for example, as in the printer described in Patent Document 1, the front side of the upper cutter in the printer (printing apparatus) (downstream in the ticket paper conveyance direction) A ticket tray for receiving tickets cut with a cutter was provided on the side, and the issued tickets were stocked there.
JP 2002-79714 A

  However, when printing a large number of tickets with such a conventional printer, the issued ticket becomes complicated if a transport mechanism is provided, and the rigidity of the ticket is so low that it easily hangs down in the longitudinal direction. The stock capacity was about 250 sheets in relation to the space for storing the ticket sheet of the fanfold type or the like. Therefore, every time a ticket stocked in the ticket tray is full, the ticket has to be removed from the tray. For example, the ticket stocked on the ticket tray must be removed four times before all of the issued 1000-sheet fanfold type ticket sheets are issued, so an operator is placed beside the ticket printer. There was a problem that became unclear.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to prevent an operator from having to be near a ticket printing apparatus even when a large number of tickets are issued.

According to the present invention, a conveying unit that conveys a long ticket sheet in a longitudinal direction, a printing unit that prints ticket information on the ticket sheet conveyed by the conveying unit, and ticket information is printed by the printing unit. In order to achieve the above object, a ticket printing apparatus provided with a cutter that cuts the rear end of one ticket sheet in the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is configured as follows.
A curling means for attaching a curl curved in the width direction to the ticket sheet for one ticket to be cut by the cutter is provided downstream of the cutter in the transport direction of the ticket sheet, and the sheet is cut by the cutter. The ticket was transported by pushing the trailing edge of the ticket with the leading edge of the long ticket sheet transported by the transport means, and discharged outside the machine.

The curling means includes a ticket support for supporting both sides of a ticket sheet for a ticket to be cut by the cutter along the side edge, and a central portion in the width direction of the ticket sheet along the longitudinal direction. A ticket pressing roller that rotates while being pushed can be used.
In this case, the ticket pressing roller may be a disk-like roller that rotates about an axis in a direction orthogonal to the ticket paper transport direction, and a plurality of the ticket press rollers may be disposed along the ticket paper transport direction.

In such a ticket printing apparatus, it is preferable to provide a large-capacity ticket storage device capable of sequentially stacking and storing about 1000 discharged tickets outside the machine on the downstream side in the ticket transport direction from the curling means.
The ticket container may include a rectangular tube-shaped casing whose upper surface is opened slightly larger than the outer shape of the ticket, a ticket receiving tray provided in the casing, and a ticket receiving tray base that supports the ticket receiving tray. .
The ticket receiving tray base is provided so as to be movable up and down via a coil spring between the bottom surface of the casing, and the ticket receiving tray has a side that receives a front end portion of a ticket to be placed on the front end of the ticket receiving tray base. If the side receiving the rear end of the ticket to be placed is tilted so as to be higher, and a coil spring is interposed between the higher side and the ticket receiving tray base Good.

With this configuration, the ticket printing apparatus according to the present invention automatically discharges the issued tickets to the outside of the apparatus. Therefore, even when a large number of tickets are issued, an operator needs to be attached to the ticket printing apparatus. There is no.
Furthermore, if a large-capacity ticket storage is provided outside the machine on the downstream side of the ticket sheet conveyance direction from the ticket pressing roller and can stack about 1000 sheets of discharged tickets, all issued tickets will be stored. Since it is stocked in the ticket storage device, it is not necessary to perform the subsequent work of arranging the issued tickets, and the efficiency of the ticket issuing work is further improved.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an embodiment of a ticket printing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cut ticket is conveyed by pushing its rear edge with the front edge of a long ticket sheet. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a large-capacity ticket container in a transparent state.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a long ticket sheet drawn out from a ticket sheet storage unit (not shown), and a feed roller constituting the conveying means 10 along the conveying direction indicated by arrow A of the ticket sheet 1. 11, a pinch roller 12, a thermal head 21 serving as a printing means 20, and a platen roller 22 also serving as a conveying means, a cutter unit 30 having a cutter with a fixed blade 31 and a rotary blade 32, and a pair of ticket supports 41 and two Curling means 40 including ticket pressing rollers 42 are sequentially arranged from the upstream side to the downstream side. The long ticket sheet 1 used in this embodiment is a fanfold type thermal paper folded with a perforation for each ticket, but may be a thermal paper wound in a roll.

And when issuing a ticket, the feed roller 11 of the conveyance means 10 which clamps the long ticket paper 1 is driven to rotate in the arrow B direction, and the pinch roller 12 is driven to rotate in the arrow C direction, The ticket paper 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A. Then, the thermal head 21 as the printing unit 20 sandwiches the ticket paper 1 with the platen roller 22, and prints information for each ticket on the printing surface 1a of the ticket paper 1 by heating coloring. At this time, the platen roller 22 also functions to convey the ticket paper 1 by rotating in the arrow D direction.
When the conveying force of the platen roller 22 is sufficient, the printing unit 20 can also serve as the conveying unit 10 and the feed roller 11 and the pinch roller 12 can be omitted.

When the ticket sheet 1 on which the ticket information is printed by the printing means 20 passes through the cutter unit 30 and enters the curling means 40, both sides thereof are curved so that the upper surface is concave downward along the side edges. Is supported by the pair of plate-shaped ticket supports 41, 41, and the central portion in the width direction of the ticket sheet 1 is pushed downward by two pressing rollers 42, 42 arranged side by side along the longitudinal direction. As shown by arrow E, a curl curved in the width direction is attached.
The ticket pressing roller 42 of this embodiment is a disk-like roller that rotates about an axis in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the ticket paper 1, and is driven to rotate as the ticket paper 1 moves. The shape and number of the ticket pressing rollers 42 can be arbitrarily changed.

  When the ticket sheet 1 for just one ticket has passed through the cutter unit 30 (when the perforation of the ticket sheet 1 reaches the fixed blade 31), it is detected by a photoelectric sensor or the like, and the ticket sheet 1 The conveyance is temporarily stopped, the rotary blade 32 of the cutter unit 30 is moved in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ticket paper 1 to cut the rear end (cut end face) 2a of the ticket paper 1 for one ticket, and the ticket 2.

Thereafter, when conveyance of the ticket paper 1 in the direction of arrow A by the conveyance means 10 is resumed, the rear edge 2a in the longitudinal direction of the ticket 2 is moved in the conveyance direction by the front edge 1b of the ticket paper 1 as shown in FIG. Press in the direction indicated by arrow A to transport the ticket 2 in the direction indicated by arrow F and discharge it outside the machine. At this time, the trailing edge 2a of the ticket 2 is curved, and the leading edge 1b of the ticket sheet 1 is flat, so that they are in contact with each other without overlapping vertically, and the ticket 2 is in the width direction. Since the rigidity in the longitudinal direction is increased by curling, it can be easily conveyed straight.
When the discharge of the ticket 2 is completed, the ticket sheet 1 for the next ticket is transported to the position shown in FIG. 1 and stops, and the curl means 40 attaches a curl curved in the width direction to the ticket sheet 1. It has been.

Large enough to store about 1000 sheets of stacked tickets 2 sequentially as shown by arrow G as shown in FIG. 3 outside the curling means 40 of the ticket printing apparatus on the downstream side in the ticket transport direction. A capacity ticket container 50 is provided.
The ticket container 50 supports a rectangular tubular casing 51 having an opening 51a slightly larger than the outer shape of the ticket 2 on the upper surface, a ticket receiving tray 52 provided in the casing 51, and the ticket receiving tray 52. And a ticket receiving tray base 53.

A pair of guide pieces 51c and 51c that are symmetrically inclined outward along the longitudinal direction of the opening 51a are provided at the upper ends of the side plates 51b and 51b of the casing 51, respectively. Then, the ticket 2 to be discharged is guided so as to fall into the housing 51 as indicated by an arrow G without escaping to the side.
The ticket receiving tray base 53 is provided between the bottom surface 51d of the casing 51 so as to be lifted and lowered via a pair of coil springs 55 and 55. A guide rod 56 is fixed along the width direction at a central portion in the longitudinal direction of the ticket receiving tray base 53, and both end portions thereof are guide slots 51e and 51e formed in the vertical direction on both side plates 51b and 51b, respectively. Inserting and guiding the raising and lowering of the ticket receiving tray base 53 is guided.

  The ticket receiving tray 52 is pivotally attached (buttered) to the front end portion 53a of the ticket receiving tray base 53 so that the side receiving the front end portion 2b (FIG. 2) of the ticket to be placed can be rotated. The end receiving side is inclined so as to be higher, and a coil spring 57 is interposed between the higher side and the ticket receiving tray base 53. At the upper end of the ticket receiving tray 52, a bent piece 52a bent downward in an L-shape is provided.

  When the ticket container 50 is empty, the ticket receiving tray base 53 is in the highest position by the biasing force of the pair of coil springs 55, 55, and the ticket receiving tray 52 also has the largest inclination angle by the biasing force of the coil spring 57. It is in a state. Therefore, the ticket discharged from the main body of the ticket printing apparatus falls into the housing 51 as indicated by an arrow G, immediately contacts the ticket receiving tray 52 and slides along the slope, and the ticket receiving tray 52 Placed on top. Therefore, the ticket does not turn over or twist during the fall.

  Thereafter, as the number of tickets placed on the ticket receiving tray 52 increases, the coil spring 57 is compressed by its weight to reduce the inclination angle of the ticket receiving tray 52 and the coil springs 55 and 55 are also compressed. The ticket receiving tray base 53 also descends gradually. Therefore, the uppermost ticket on the ticket receiving tray 52 is always at a relatively high position, it is easy to receive the ticket to be discharged next, the inclination of the ticket receiving tray 52 gradually decreases, and the ticket receiving tray base 53 is By gradually descending, a large number of tickets can be aligned and securely stored.

For this reason, all issued tickets are automatically stored in the ticket storage device 50 even if the worker is not near them until the issue of the long ticket sheet set in the main body of the ticket printing apparatus is completed. The efficiency of ticket issuing work is greatly improved.
When taking out the ticket stored in the ticket storage unit 50, the ticket storage unit 50 can be taken out of the ticket storage unit 50 by turning it upside down on a receiving plate (not shown), and the subsequent processing is also simple. .

In this embodiment, thermal paper is used for ticket paper, but plain paper is used for printing (printing) by thermal transfer of an ink ribbon, or an ink jet head is used as the printing means 20 instead of a thermal head. Thus, printing may be performed by ink jet. In the present invention, the type of ticket paper and the type of printing means 20 are not limited at all.
Further, the type of cutter is not limited to using a fixed blade and a rotary blade, and may be a movable blade that moves up and down or a blade that moves linearly in the width direction of the ticket paper.
The ticket storage capacity of the ticket storage device 50 is not limited to 1000, and may be 1000 or less.

  The ticket printing apparatus according to the present invention is extremely effective when preparing a large number of tickets and sending them to a sales department as needed. For example, an entrance ticket for a theater, a restaurant meal ticket, a transportation facility, etc. It is suitable for printing various types of tickets such as tickets for amusement parks and amusement parks. Furthermore, it can also be used to issue laundry vouchers at the Klein store, issue of finished clothes receipts at clothes stores and clothing renovation stores, and the like. Tickets that are perforated along the way and can be separated into stubs can be issued.

It is a perspective view which shows the principal part of one Example of the ticket printing apparatus by this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which pushes the cut | disconnected ticket, pushing the trailing edge with the front-end edge of a elongate ticket paper. It is a perspective view which shows a large capacity | capacitance ticket storage device in the see-through | perspective state.

Explanation of symbols

1: Long ticket paper 1a: Printing surface 1b: Front edge 2: Ticket 2a: Rear edge (cut end surface) 2b: Front edge 10: Conveying means 11: Feed roller 12: Pinch roller 20: Printing means 21: Thermal Head 22: Platen roller 30: Cutter unit 31: Fixed blade 32: Rotary blade 40: Curling means 41: Ticket support device 42: Ticket pressing roller 50: Ticket container 51: Housing 51a: Opening 51b: Side plate 51c: Guide 51d: bottom 51e: guide slot 52: ticket receiving tray 52a: bent piece 53: ticket receiving tray base 53a: front end 54: guide plate 55, 57: coil spring 56: guide rod

Claims (5)

A transport unit that transports a long ticket sheet in the longitudinal direction, a printing unit that prints ticket information on the ticket sheet transported by the transport unit, and one ticket on which ticket information is printed by the printing unit In a ticket printing apparatus comprising a cutter that cuts the trailing edge of a minute ticket sheet in a width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction,
Curling means for attaching a curl curved in the width direction to the ticket sheet for one ticket to be cut by the cutter is provided downstream of the cutter in the transport direction of the ticket sheet, and is cut by the cutter. A ticket printing apparatus, wherein the ticket is conveyed by pushing the trailing edge of the ticket with the leading edge of a long ticket sheet conveyed by the conveying means and discharged outside the apparatus.   The curling means includes a ticket support for supporting both sides of the ticket sheet for one ticket to be cut by the cutter along a side edge, and a center part in the width direction of the ticket sheet along the longitudinal direction. A ticket printing apparatus comprising a ticket pressing roller that rotates while being pressed.   The ticket pressing roller is a disk-shaped roller that rotates about an axis in a direction orthogonal to the ticket paper transport direction, and a plurality of the ticket press rollers are disposed along the ticket paper transport direction. A ticket printer.   4. The ticket printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharged tickets can be sequentially stacked and stored about 1000 sheets outside the machine downstream of the curling unit in the ticket transport direction. 5. A ticket printing apparatus comprising a large-capacity ticket container. The ticket storage device includes a rectangular tube-shaped casing whose upper surface is opened slightly larger than the outer shape of the ticket, a ticket receiving tray provided in the casing, and a ticket receiving tray base that supports the ticket receiving tray,
The ticket receiving tray table is provided so as to be movable up and down via a coil spring between the bottom surface of the casing, and the ticket receiving tray has a side that receives a front end portion of a ticket to be placed on the front end of the ticket receiving tray table. It is pivotally attached to the section, tilted so that the side receiving the rear end of the ticket to be placed is raised, and a coil spring is interposed between the higher side and the ticket receiving tray base A ticket printing apparatus.

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