JP2015182329A - Multicolor stamp making device, mask sheet for multicolor stamp, multicolor stamp making method and mask sheet making method for multicolor stamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mask sheet that is used for impregnating each color ink on one stamp face when achieving multicolor stamps (e.g., three colors of blue, red and black), and to provide a making method thereof.SOLUTION: A multicolor stamp making device has: a plate-making unit provided with a plurality of heating elements arranged in a direction along a surface of the stamp face material and the mask sheet material of a medium holder, the medium holder having the porous stamp face material, the mask sheet material thinner than the stamp face material, a holder for removably holding the stamp face material and the mask sheet material in the same height and a covering film, and for performing plate-making on the stamp face material and the mask sheet material; a conveyance unit for relatively moving the medium holder to the plate-making unit; and a control unit for controlling to perform stamp plate-making on the stamp face material and to perform mask plate-making on the mask sheet material, when the medium holder moves relative to the plate-making unit. A mask sheet is overlapped on the stamp face and ink is dropped and impregnated on the stamp face.

Description

  The present invention relates to a multicolor stamp producing apparatus for producing a multicolor stamp by producing a planar stamp surface, and a multicolor stamp used for impregnating ink when producing a planar stamp surface and using it as a multicolor stamp. The present invention relates to a mask sheet, a multicolor stamp, and a method for producing a multicolor stamp mask sheet.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a data making apparatus for stamp plate making that forms plate making data for forming a stamp stamp on a printing material formed of a thermoplastic porous material such as a porous sponge. That is, a stamp producing apparatus for producing a stamp using image data for plate making transmitted from the outside and a method for producing image data for plate making are described.

JP 2009-21842 A

In the technique described in Patent Document 1, a color image is converted into a gray scale image (for example, 256 gradations of black and white) to produce a stamp.
An object of the present invention is to provide a mask sheet used for impregnating one color surface with ink of each color when realizing a multicolor stamp (for example, three colors of blue, red, and black).

  The multicolor stamp manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes the printing surface material and the mask sheet material of the medium holder that hold the porous printing surface material and the mask sheet material that can be made non-porous by heating so that the height is the same. A plurality of heating elements arranged in a direction along the surface where the medium is held, a plate making unit for making a plate on the stamp surface material and the mask sheet material, and the medium holder relative to the plate making unit When the transport unit to be moved and the medium holder are moved relative to the plate making unit, the stamp surface material is made based on stamp plate making data, and the mask sheet material is mask making data. And a control unit for controlling the plate making based on the above.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mask sheet used for impregnating one color surface with ink of each color when realizing a multicolor stamp (for example, three colors of blue, red, and black).

FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of the state in which the stamp face and the mask sheet are overlapped as seen from the side. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a state in which the marking surface and the red ink mask sheet are superimposed and impregnated with red ink. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view showing a medium holder on which a stamp face material and a mask sheet material are placed. FIG. 2B is a plan view showing a medium holder on which a stamp material and a mask sheet material are placed. FIG. 3A is a plan view of the thermal printer for plate making, and FIG. 3B is a side sectional view thereof. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for creating plate-making data for producing a stamp surface. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for creating mask plate making data and stamp plate making data. FIG. 6A shows an image edited by the user as stamp data. FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a state in which processing for extracting pixels of each color is performed. FIG. 6C is a diagram illustrating a state in which a process for adding a blank area to the plate-making data is performed. FIG. 6D is a diagram showing a state in which the plate making data is subjected to the process of horizontal reversal or 180 degree rotation. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing stamp image data. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of arranging plate making data and mask plate making data for creating a stamp face. FIG. 8B is a diagram showing a modified example of a method of arranging plate making data and mask plate making data for creating a stamp face.

<< Summary of Invention >>
It is assumed that a porous sponge having heat-shrinkability (for example, porous EVA) is heated with a thermal head, and a flat marking surface is produced with a stamp producing apparatus (stamp printer).
When impregnating a porous sponge completed as a marking surface with ink, a stamp using two or more colors can be produced by impregnating different positions of the sponge with ink of different colors.
As a method of impregnating a sponge with two or more colors (for example, three colors of blue, red, and black), there is a method of holding an ink bottle by hand and dropping the ink directly onto the sponge to impregnate the sponge. In this case, it is difficult to impregnate the sponge with ink so that the inks of a plurality of colors are not mixed. In particular, delicate manual work is required to create stamps with imprints whose colors change finely. Therefore, in the present invention, a mask sheet is provided so that ink is not mixed during ink impregnation. And this mask sheet shall be made of porous sponge as well as the marking surface, and at the same time as the marking surface, the marking surface and the mask sheet are manufactured at once by passing the paper through the printer. Propose.

<Definition of concept>
The concept used in the present invention is defined.
The stamp surface data is color image data edited so as to be a stamp impression.
The plate-making data is binary image data corresponding to on / off of a bit of a thermal head for producing a stamp.
The main scanning direction is a horizontal direction (width direction of the print medium) with respect to the thermal head line (direction in which the heating elements are arranged).
The sub-scanning direction is a direction (print medium conveyance direction) perpendicular to the thermal head line (direction in which the heating elements are arranged).
The thermal printer for plate making is a printer used for making a printing surface by applying heat to the printing material with a thermal head. Therefore, although it is a printer, it does not use ink. In the present invention, the mask sheet is also manufactured at the same time by using the thermal printer for plate making.
The medium holder holds a print medium. The present invention provides a medium holder that can simultaneously hold a printing surface material and a mark sheet material and pass paper through a plate-making thermal printer at a time. Here, the paper passing means that the thermal head is passed through the printing medium (conveyed) through the printer.
Printing (printing) refers to producing a portion into which ink does not permeate and a portion into which ink permeates by performing a heat treatment on a printing medium with a thermal printer for plate making.

<Procedure for creating stamp and mask sheets>
1. Edit and create stamp face data (color, usable colors are limited to ink colors) with a PC, smartphone, etc.
2. The stamp plate making data and the mask plate making data are automatically created from the printing surface data using a computer program (an application program such as a PC, a device driver incorporated in a PC or the like, or a printer firmware).
3. Based on the data for stamp plate making and the data for mask plate making, plate making is performed by a stamp producing apparatus (thermal printer) to produce a stamp sheet (printing surface) and a mask sheet for each ink color.
4 Overlay each mask sheet on the printing surface and bring it into close contact, and impregnate each color ink.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
《Seal and mask sheet overlapped》
FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of a state in which a red ink mask sheet 51 is superimposed on and closely adhered to the stamp surface 40 as viewed from the side. As shown in FIG. 1A, by being heated by the thermal head of the thermal printer, a portion that is crushed and cannot pass the ink and a portion that the ink penetrates without being crushed are produced. The entire marking surface 40 includes a portion where ink other than red ink should permeate, so that a wider range is a portion where ink permeates, but the red ink mask sheet 51 is overlaid on the marking surface 40. If they are in close contact with each other, a portion of the surface of the marking surface 40 that should be penetrated by ink other than red ink, or a portion that should be penetrated by black ink if red, black, and blue are used as in this embodiment. The portion where the blue ink should penetrate is masked by the red ink mask sheet 51 and does not penetrate even if the ink is dropped from above.

《Infiltration with red ink》
FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a state in which the marking surface 40 and the red ink mask sheet 51 are superimposed and impregnated with the red ink 61. As shown in FIG. 1B, a portion of the marking surface 40 where the blue ing and black ink should permeate is masked by the red ink mask sheet 51, so that the red ink does not penetrate and the red ink 61 does not penetrate. The red ink 61 penetrates only into the portion to be penetrated.

<< Medium Holder 16 and Marking Material 18, Mark Sheet Materials 31, 32, 33 >>
FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view showing the medium holder 16 on which the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are placed. FIG. 2B is a plan view showing the medium holder 16 on which the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are placed.
The printing medium for making the printing surface 40 is the printing material 18. The printing medium for making the red ink mask sheet 51 is the red ink mask sheet material 31. A printing medium for making the black ink mask sheet 52 is the black ink mask sheet material 32. The printing medium for making the blue ink mask sheet 53 is the blue ink mask sheet material 33.
The medium holder 16 integrally holds the stamp material 18, the red ink mask sheet material 31, the black ink mask sheet material 32, and the blue ink mask sheet material 33. It is a member for passing a printer and forming a printing surface and a mask sheet. By the function of the medium holder 16, the stamp surface 40 and the mask sheets 51, 52, 53 are positioned without causing a deviation, and the timing can be adjusted to allow the paper to pass.

《Thickness difference and height adjustment》
The mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 use a sponge (porous EVA) that is thinner than the stamp face material 18. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in order to match the height of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 on the medium holder 16, the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 are used. A sheet for height adjustment (upper thick paper board 21a) is attached to the bottom. Sponge or the like may be used instead of the paper for height adjustment. As shown in FIG. 2A, the medium holder 16 can be configured by laminating the upper cardboard 21a and the lower cardboard 21b.

<Outside area of each print medium>
As shown in FIG. 2 (b), each printing medium of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 has a rectangular shape as viewed from above, but a portion corresponding to the periphery thereof, that is, each printing medium. The outermost region is a portion to be heated unconditionally (margin region). The size of this area is determined according to the deviation that may occur during plate making. The actual stamp face and mask sheet are created by heating the inner part. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the actual stamp surface and mask sheet from protruding from the surface of the print medium even if they are shifted up to the length of this region during plate making.
By sticking a double-sided tape to the outermost region and sticking a sponge for stamping and a sponge for masking, it is possible to prevent the sponge from shifting during ink impregnation after plate making. Paste or the like may be used instead of double-sided tape.

《Film》
Although not shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the surface of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33, that is, the side heated in contact with the thermal head of the thermal printer is frictional. It is protected with film for adjustment. The material, function, action, and effect of this film will be described later.

"Perforation"
The medium holder 16 is provided with perforations at necessary places. This is to help take out the stamp surface 40 and the mask sheets 51, 52, 53 after the plate making. This perforation will also be described later.

<< Notch 22 >>
A notch 22 is provided at one side end of the medium holder 16 near the front end 16a. The position and length of the notch 22 can inform the printer apparatus of information such as the size information of the stamp material 18 stored in the medium holder 16 and the conveyance timing. On the printer side, a sensor 3 for reading information of the notch 22 is provided. The sensor 3 will be described later.

<< Specific Example of System Configuration of Thermal Printer for Plate Making that Can Manufacture Mark 40 and Mask Sheets 51, 52, 53 >>
Hereinafter, a system configuration of the plate-making thermal printer 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as the printer 1) capable of producing the stamp surface 40 and the mask sheets 51, 52, and 53 will be described with reference to FIG. 3A is a plan view of the thermal printer 1 for plate making, and FIG. 3B is a side sectional view thereof.
The printer 1 includes a central control circuit (not shown). The central control circuit includes a sensor 3, a thermal head 4, a power supply circuit (not shown), a motor driver (not shown), a display screen control circuit (not shown), It has a memory control circuit (not shown) and a USB control circuit (not shown).

Further, a stepping motor (not shown) is connected to the motor driver, and a PC (personal computer) (not shown) is connected to the USB control circuit. A PC or a smartphone may be connected by wireless communication means instead of the USB control circuit.
In addition, the sensor 3 is comprised with a reflection-type optical sensor, for example.

  The central control circuit controls the entire system. Most of the circuits are connected to the central control circuit, but the circuits can also perform data communication with each other through a bus. The central control circuit is a circuit including a CPU (central processing unit), and when the CPU reads and executes a computer program as necessary, for example, a conveyance amount detection means, a dimension setting means, a dimension determination means, a position Realizing detection means, etc.

  The memory control circuit includes devices such as a ROM (read only memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory) and controls them. Various correspondence tables (correspondence tables), for example, correspondence tables such as the size of the stamping material and the magnitude of the voltage applied to the thermal head, are stored in the ROM, etc., and are written in the RAM and referred to as necessary. Is done.

The power supply circuit includes a power supply IC (integrated circuit) or the like, and generates and supplies necessary power to each circuit.
The thermal head 4 receives the data and the print signal output from the central control circuit, controls the energized dots by a driver IC inside the head, and makes a porous ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) in contact with the head. Printing (plate making or printing, hereinafter the same) is performed on the stamping material.

In the configuration example of this system, other circuits receive only data and signals from the central control circuit, and power necessary for printing is obtained from the power supply circuit. Incidentally, in the apparatus of this example, the thermal head 4 has an effective print width of 48 mm with a resolution of 200 dots / 25.4 mm.
The motor driver is a driving circuit that drives the stepping motor, receives a signal output from the central control circuit, and supplies a driving pulse signal and electric power to the stepping motor. Note that only the excitation signal is received from the central control circuit, and the actual drive power is obtained from the power supply circuit.

The central control circuit can accurately grasp how much the stepping motor has been rotated by counting the number of pulses of the signal output to the motor driver, that is, how many mm the medium holder has been conveyed.
The printer 1 in this example employs 1-2 phase excitation drive, and the gear ratio is configured to be 16 steps per line (0.125 mm). That is, conveyance of 0.0078 mm is performed in one step.

<Insert the media holder 16>
The medium holder 16 is inserted into the print medium insertion port (plate making insertion portion) 15 of the printer 1, and the leading end 16 a eventually comes out from the discharge port 17. The medium holder 16 holds the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33.
3A and 3B show a state immediately after the medium holder 16 is inserted into the print medium insertion port 15 of the printer 1. The tip 16a of the medium holder 16 is inserted to the vicinity of the position where the sensor 3 is disposed. A thermal head 4 and a platen roller 19 are disposed in front of the conveyance path.

The medium holder 16 that holds the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 holds the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 in a fixed position. The conveyance direction of the medium holder 16 in the printer 1 is from top to bottom in FIG. 3A and from right to left in FIG.
The medium holder 16 is configured by bonding two thick paperboards (upper thick paperboard 21a and lower thick paperboard 21b) made of coated balls. A cutout portion 22 is formed in accordance with a position detected by the sensor 3 on one side (left side in FIG. 3A) of the medium holder 16.

The printer 1 detects the notch 22 along the detection scanning line 23 indicated by the alternate long and short dash line using the sensor 3, and thereby the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33, The starting position of printing (plate making, the same applies hereinafter) is identified.
The upper cardboard 21a is provided with a positioning hole for fixing the stamp material 18 in position. The marking member 18 is fitted into the positioning hole and fixed at its lower portion.
Further, mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are attached to the upper part of the upper thick paperboard 21a by, for example, a double-sided adhesive tape. Since the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are thinner than the stamp face material 18, there is no need to provide positioning holes. The height of the two types of print media is adjusted by adjusting the difference in thickness between the mask sheet material and the stamping material by the thickness of the upper thick paperboard 21a.

Here, the upper surface of the stamp material 18 is configured to slightly protrude from the upper surface of the upper thick paperboard 21a. In this example, the thickness of the stamp material 18 is 1.5 mm, but the thickness of the upper thick paperboard is designed to be 0.79 mm.
This is because the thermal head 4 enables stable plate-making control by performing heat treatment (printing and plate-making) while crushing the EVA of the stamp material 18 slightly.
The thickness of the mask sheet material is 0.7 mm.

The lower cardboard 21b has the same outer shape as the upper cardboard 21a, and the entire inner surface is flat. The lower cardboard 21b and the upper cardboard 21a are integrated by bonding, and the lower cardboard 21b is in contact with the lower surface of the stamp material 18 and holds the stamp material 18 from below.
The lower thick paperboard 21b is perforated along the positioning hole. The upper part of the perforation forms a perforation that extends right and left to both ends of the lower thick paperboard 21b.

<< Seal material 18 and mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 >>
The marking material 18 and the mask sheet material held by the medium holder 16 are composed of a porous sponge body that can be impregnated with ink. As the material of the sponge body, for example, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer is used.
The surface of the upper cardboard 21a and the surfaces and side surfaces of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 exposed to the outside through the positioning holes of the upper cardboard 21a are films (not shown in FIG. 2). Covered).

The film is made of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) or polyimide as a base material and has heat resistance, thermal conductivity, and surface smoothness. As for heat resistance, a material having heat resistance at a temperature higher than the melting point of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 is used.
The upper cardboard 21a and the lower cardboard 21b are bonded by a double-sided adhesive sheet.

The film is adhered to the surface of the peripheral portion of the medium holder 16, that is, the upper cardboard 21 a into which the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are fitted, and the peripheral surface of the positioning hole by a double-sided adhesive sheet. Thus, the surface of the periphery of the medium holder 16 is covered.
The film also covers the side surfaces and surfaces of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 exposed to the upper part from the positioning holes, but are not bonded. Therefore, after the plate making of the stamp material 18 is completed, the lower cardboard 21b is folded back along the perforation and the portion surrounded by the perforation is separated from the upper cardboard, so that the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet material 31 are obtained. , 32 and 33 can be easily removed from the medium holder 16.

《Principle of stamp plate making》
Here, the principle of making the stamp face and the mask sheet by heating the surfaces of the porous EVA constituting the stamp face material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32 and 33 with a thermal head will be briefly described. First, since porous EVA (hereinafter, porous EVA is simply written as EVA) has innumerable bubbles, liquid such as ink can be impregnated inside like a sponge.
Further, since EVA has thermoplastic properties, for example, when heated with heat of 70 to 120 degrees, a portion where heat is applied is softened, and once softened, the portion is cured when cooled. The hardened portion is filled with bubbles and made non-porous, and the portion cannot pass liquid such as ink.
Therefore, by utilizing this characteristic, when an arbitrary portion of the EVA surface is heated by the thermal head for about 1 to 5 milliseconds, the arbitrary portion of the EVA surface is made non-porous, and the ink in that portion is made. Can be prohibited.
That is, in the imprint of the stamp to be created, an ink transmitting portion corresponding to the imprint can be formed by saying that “a portion that transmits ink is not heated and a portion that does not transmit ink is heated”.

When the operation of the heating process by the thermal head is replaced with the operation of the printing process of the conventional thermal printer, the white and black of the print data representing the imprint are reversed. Further, since it is an imprint on the seal surface, the print data is mirror surface data of the seal image data created by the user.
Using this principle, the surface of the EVA is reversed in black and white according to the desired imprinting and selectively heated, thereby prohibiting ink from passing through the heated portion, making the printing surface, and then impregnating the ink impregnated inside. Extrusion can be performed according to the impression formed at the heating portion.
Each mask sheet can also be made on the same principle.

Specifically, the black and white data for the heating margin is added to the imprint data created and edited by the user to perform “black and white reversal” and “mirror reversal” processing, and to prevent extra ink from oozing out. The data added to is the print data finally input to the thermal head.
By using this print data to heat the EVA surface with a thermal head, it is possible to easily make a plate having a user's own impression on the stamp material. In order to take out the stamping plate made by making the stamping material from the medium holder 16, it is only necessary to pull the lower cardboard away from the upper cardboard along the perforation as described above.

<< Cover with film using a media holder >>
By the way, EVA is a member having a thickness of 1.5 mm, and has high elasticity and friction coefficient. For this reason, even if EVA is inserted into a thermal printer as it is and transported, the frictional force between the thermal head and EVA is large, and stable straight transport cannot be performed.
In other words, EVA has a large frictional force and is soft like rubber. Even if a guide for obtaining straight running stability is attached on the thermal printer side, EVA can bend even a little during transportation. Will bend, and as a result, skew will occur immediately.

  The difficulty in transporting the EVA described above is a phenomenon that occurs even in a non-heated state where the thermal head is not generating heat. However, when the thermal head generates heat, the thermal head is about 200 in a few milliseconds after the start of heat generation. Since the temperature rises to a degree close to that, the surface softens at the moment when the EVA surface is heated, and the thermal head is buried in the softened portion, and the EVA cannot be transported at all.

In the case of a method using an end face head or a method in which a carriage is incorporated to move and drive the head, the above problem does not occur. However, this method causes an increase in the size of the mechanism and a significant increase in the cost of the member used. There is an inconvenience.
In the present invention, the EVA having difficulty in transportability as described above is applied to the stamp material and the printer 1 shown in FIG. 3 using a normal thermal head without increasing the size of the mechanism and significantly increasing the cost. In order to perform plate making as a mask sheet material, the medium holder 16 shown in FIG. 3 is used.

First, the four sides of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 held in the positioning holes of the medium holder 16 are cut by a thermal cutter. As a result, the ink impregnated inside after the plate making does not ooze from the four sides of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33.
Further, since the stamping material 18 is fixed in position by the positioning hole of the upper cardboard 21a and is held from the lower surface by the lower cardboard 21b and the upper surface is covered with the film, it remains held in the medium holder 16, It cannot be transformed no matter how external force is applied.
The mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are also fixed on the upper cardboard 21 a with double-sided adhesive tape. Absent.

Accordingly, the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are conveyed as the medium holder 16 is conveyed. If the medium holder 16 is conveyed in a straight line, the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 are also conveyed in the straight line. In addition, the film has heat resistance at a temperature higher than the melting point of the stamp material 18, that is, EVA.
Therefore, even if the surface of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 is melted by the heat generated by the thermal head 4, the film is not melted. That is, the covering property as a film is not lost. Further, the film has an extremely low frictional force with the thermal head 4.
For this reason, the thermal head 4 is not buried in the stamping material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 which have been melted and softened due to the covering property of the film, and also due to the low friction between the thermal head 4 and the film. Heat generation printing (plate making) can be easily continued along the film surface. In this way, plate making to the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 is completed.

<Attaching the stamping material 18 to the stamp base>
The stamping material 18 taken out from the medium holder 16 after the completion of plate making becomes the stamping surface 40 shown in FIGS. The marking surface 40 is fixed by adhering or adhering to a flat plate-shaped marking surface support portion (not shown) made of, for example, a synthetic resin with a double-sided adhesive sheet or a double-sided adhesive sheet. And it is covered and protected by a cap (not shown). The stamp surface 40 and the stamp surface support portion are integrally attached to a stamp base (not shown) in a detachable manner. The stamp pedestal is a member having a portion that is gripped by the user when stamping.

<Impregnation of ink>
If a required amount of ink is immersed in the marking surface 40 for a certain time, the ink is impregnated into the marking surface 40. After the user wipes off the excess ink stains on the surface of the stamp surface 40, the user holds the stamp base 30 and presses it against the object to be stamped, so that the impregnated ink is pushed out from the stamp surface 40 and the imprint is imprinted.
The ink impregnation can be performed in a state where the ink is attached to the stamp base. However, in consideration of the fact that the ink existing on the surface of the stamping surface 40 permeates downward due to gravity, the ink impregnation may be performed. More desirable. For example, selecting the stamping surface 40 used for the day's work, placing the stamping surface 40 and the stamping surface support unit in one piece on a desk, impregnating each with ink, attaching the stamp base after a predetermined time, Used for business.
In this ink impregnation operation, when multicolor ink (for example, three colors of red, black, and blue) is used, as shown in FIG. 1, the mask sheets of the respective colors are overlapped and brought into close contact to perform the impregnation operation. . After this impregnation operation, the ink impregnation state can be maintained for several days to several weeks by holding the above-mentioned cap and maintaining the close contact state.

<< Diversity of shapes and dimensions of stamp material 18 and mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 >>
The stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A are rectangular, and the medium holder 16 is rectangular. However, each shape and dimension are not limited to those shown in FIGS. The shape and dimensions of the medium holder 16 are arbitrary as long as they can be inserted into the printer 1, and the shapes of the stamp face material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 are within the dimensions that can be held in the medium holder 16.・ Dimensions are arbitrary.

<< About the notch 22 and its detection method >>
In this way, the configuration of the medium holder 16 for the control unit of the printer 1 to detect the size and the printing start position of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 having arbitrary dimensions and shapes is the notch portion 22. . That is, the medium holder 16 has a length (α) from the leading end of the medium holder 16 in the insertion direction to the start end of the cutout portion 22, a length from the start end to the end of the cutout portion 22 (β), and the cutout portion. Three values of the length (γ) from the end of 22 to the tip of the stamping material 18 are shown.
The length a of the stamping material 18 can be associated with the correspondence table with α. Further, the length b of the stamping material 18 can be associated with the correspondence table with β. The length from the sensor 3 to the thermal head 4 can be made to correspond to γ by the correspondence table, thereby indicating the print start timing.

  The printer 1 uses the sensor 3 to detect the leading end of the medium holder 16 and the start and end of the notch 22 along the detection scanning line 23 indicated by the alternate long and short dash line, and determines the lengths α and β by using a stepping motor. Measurement is performed with the number of steps of 12, and the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the stamp material 18 are obtained by referring to the correspondence table based on the measurement, and the print start timing is obtained by referring to the correspondence table by obtaining γ.

<< Operation of Printer 1 >>
Hereinafter, the operation of the printer 1 will be described.
When the printer 1 is turned on and imprint data is transmitted from a PC (or smartphone) which is an external device, the operation of the printer 1 is started.
First, the control unit supplies a pulse signal to the stepping motor via the motor driver to rotate it, and waits for the medium holder 16 to be inserted from the print medium insertion port 15. And it is discriminate | determined whether the front-end | tip of the medium holder 16 by the sensor 3 was detected, and it waits until it detects.

When the tip of the medium holder 16 is detected by the sensor 3, measurement of the number of steps of the pulse signal supplied to the stepping motor is started. Subsequently, the control unit rotates the stepping motor by one step and conveys the medium holder 16 by the amount corresponding to the one step rotation.
Next, the control unit determines whether or not the notch start end of the notch portion 22 has reached the position of the sensor 3, and the notch start end (notch start portion) of the notch portion 22 has reached the position of the sensor 3. If the sensor 3 detects this, the control unit calculates the transport distance from the tip of the medium holder 16 to the notch start end of the notch 22 based on the number of steps measured by the stepping motor 12. This calculation result is stored as a first transport distance α in a storage area of a predetermined memory device via a memory control circuit.

Subsequently, the control unit restarts the measurement of the number of steps of the stepping motor from the zero step, rotates the stepping motor 12 by one step, and conveys the medium holder 16 by the amount corresponding to the one step rotation.
Next, the control unit determines whether or not the notch end of the notch 22 has reached the position of the sensor 3, and the sensor 3 detects that the notch end of the notch 22 has reached the position of the sensor 3. For example, the control unit calculates the transport distance (the length of the notch 22) from the start end to the end of the notch 22 based on the number of steps measured by the stepping motor 12. This calculation result is stored as a second transport distance β in a storage area of a predetermined memory device via a memory control circuit.

Here, the control unit reads the first transport distance α stored in the memory device. Then, the length of the stamp material 18 is determined based on a preset correspondence table of α and length a.
Further, the control unit reads the second transport distance β stored in the memory device. Then, the width of the stamp material 18 is determined based on a preset correspondence table of β and width b.
Then, the control unit determines whether or not the length and width obtained by removing the heating margin region from the length a and the width b of the determined stamping material 18 match the length and width of the imprint data transmitted from the PC. If they match, printing is started. When printing is completed, the plate making process is terminated.

In the printing process described above, the second transport distance β is added to the first transport distance α, and the distance obtained by subtracting the constant γ is defined as the distance from the front end of the medium holder 16 to the plate making execution position. Start. In this plate making, print data in which a predetermined heating margin area is added to the front, back, left and right of the seal impression data transmitted from the PC 14 is used.
If the length and width obtained by removing the heating margin area from the length and width of the stamp material 18 determined and determined do not match the length and width of the imprint data transmitted from the PC, the printing process is started. The process is immediately stopped and the discrepancy error is notified to the PC via the USB control circuit, and the plate making process is immediately terminated.

  As described above, the notch portion of the medium holder 16 has unique information for each size and shape of the marking material 18 to be held, and the printer 1 determines the size and shape of the marking material 18 from the information of the notch portion 22. Therefore, the stamp surface 40 can have various shapes and sizes such as a square shape, a rectangular shape, a regular triangle shape, and a round shape.

<How to automatically create print data and send it to the printer>
The operation of the printer 1 has been roughly described above. Next, when creating a multicolor stamp, here, a procedure for creating print data (plate making data) including mask plate making for three inks of red, black, and blue will be described.
The stamp data is an image composed of a color image such as a photograph, an illustration, and text.
Only the color corresponding to the color of the stamp ink can be used for the stamp surface data. When creating stamp data using an image that uses a color that does not correspond to the color of the ink, edit it so that only the color that corresponds to the color of the ink is used in advance. deep. For example, the stamp data shown in FIG. 7 (FIG. 6A) is stamp data created using four colors of black, red, blue, and white (paper color, that is, no ink is used). Black corresponds to black ink, red corresponds to red ink, blue corresponds to blue ink, and white corresponds to a portion where ink does not come out.

Creation and transmission of plate making data are performed according to the flow shown in FIG. The process shown in FIG. 4 is to extract binarized data for plate making using pre-edited seal face data.
When the user edits the stamp data, the image is edited by combining the photographed photo data, illustration data, and input text data, and the ink color to be used for the multicolor stamp is determined. It is set to which part the color is used (step 410). For example, this image editing is performed by a procedure in which the user selects an area and determines a color to be used for the area from a predetermined number of colors (here, red, black, red, and white). .
The plate making data (stamp plate making data and mask sheet plate making data) is extracted from the stamp surface data thus created (step 420). This process will be described later with reference to FIGS.
Next, the margin area data is added to the plate-making data (step 430). The addition of the blank area is a process for making solid printing (a portion through which ink cannot pass) a portion that hits the four sides of the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33 in order to absorb a possible plate-making shift. It is.
Then, in accordance with the way of arranging the plate making data (see FIG. 8), the plate making data is reversed horizontally and rotated 180 degrees (step 440). As shown in FIG. 8, there are a plurality of ways of overlapping the marking surface 40 and the mask sheets 51, 52, and 53. Therefore, in order to cope with this, it is a process of adjusting the orientation.
Thereafter, the completed plate-making data is transferred to the printing unit of the thermal printer 1 (step 450).

《Where to create the plate making data process》
The processing from step 410 to step 450 can be performed by a personal computer (PC) as an external device or an application program on the smartphone side.
Further, the image editing work in step 410 can be performed by an application program of a PC or a smartphone, and steps 420 to 440 can be performed by a device driver. Here, the device driver is a program incorporated in order to mediate with the OS (basic software) of the PC in order to connect the printer to the PC or the smartphone.
Furthermore, all or part of the processing from step 420 to step 440 may be performed by the printer firmware. Here, the firmware of the printer is a program executed by the CPU constituting the central control circuit of the printer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the plate making data extraction process shown in FIG. 4 in more detail.
<Creation of mask plate making data>
Pixels of the same color are extracted for each color from the seal face data (step 510). In the extracted image data, only the portion where the ink comes out (the portion with the color in the stamp surface data, for example, the black portion in the case of black ink mask making data) is black, and the other portion is white 2 This is value image data, which is used as mask making data for each color. During plate making with a stamp printer, the surface of the sponge corresponding to the white portion of the mask plate making data is heated by a thermal head.

<Creation of data for stamp making>
Pixels with the color of the seal face data are extracted (step 520). The extracted image data is binary image data in which only a portion where ink does not come out (white portion in the stamp surface data) is white and the other portion is black, and this is image data for stamping (the stamp material 18). To make the stamp surface 40). During plate making by the plate making thermal printer 1, the surface of the sponge corresponding to the white portion of the stamp plate making data is heated by the thermal head 4.

<Diagram of data processing>
The data processing described above will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6A shows an image edited by the user in step 410. A more detailed image of FIG. 6 (a) is shown in FIG. This image has a color of red (sun part), black (sky part), blue (mountain part), or white (snow part) for each region.
FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a state in which processing for extracting pixels of each color is performed. Only blue pixels are extracted from the image edited by the user, and data for making a mask sheet for blue ink is created. Similarly, data for making a mask sheet for red and black is created. Then, by extracting pixels with any of the colors, data for stamp printing is created.
FIG. 6C is a diagram illustrating a state in which a process for adding a blank area to the plate-making data is performed. The data of the margin area is added to the extracted plate-making data. This is to relieve a possible misalignment of the marking surface.
FIG. 6D is a diagram showing a state in which the plate making data is subjected to the process of horizontal reversal or 180 degree rotation.
The order in which the stamp plate making data and the mask plate making data are transmitted to the thermal printer 1 is matched to the arrangement of the sponges (the stamp material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, and 33) in the medium holder 16.

The on / off data of the bit sent to the thermal head is obtained by adding the data of the blank area to the printing plate making data and the mask making data.
The order of adding the blank area portion and the order of the inversion / rotation processing may be switched. Further, as described above, these processes may be performed by the plate making thermal printer 1.

<How to arrange sponge and binary image data>
As an example, a case will be described in which the stamp data shown in FIG. 7 (a picture in which the sun is applied near the summit of Mt. Fuji) is made. In this case, one stamp material which is a stamp sponge and three mask sheet materials which are mask sponges are required. Further, when the number of mask sheet materials is increased or decreased by increasing or decreasing the color of ink to be used, they can be arranged in the same manner.

<Relationship between thermal head width and stamp size>
Sponges can be arranged in two or more rows when the print face size is less than half the width of the thermal head. In this case, the time required for plate making can be reduced as compared with the case where the sponges are arranged in a line in the sub-scanning direction, but the heights of the respective sponges in the main scanning direction need to be aligned.
When all four sponges are arranged vertically in the sub-scanning direction, the head width can be maximized. The width of the stamp surface that can be created at this time is the maximum value of the stamp surface size.

Regarding the direction of the data for stamp plate making and the data for mask plate making, the following two combinations were considered. This combination can also be applied when two or more rows of sponges are arranged in the main scanning direction.
<< Data arrangement 1 >>
As shown in FIG. 8A, the directions of the stamp plate making data and the mask plate making data are reversed from the direction of the stamp surface data. In this case, the deviation between the scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction during plate making is the same in the stamp sponge and the mask sponge. Therefore, when the deviations in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction at the time of plate making are both equal to or less than the width of the outer margin area, if the mask sponge is bonded so that the four sides of the mask sponge overlap, the surface of each sponge is marked. It can be stacked exactly. When impregnating the ink, the heating surface of the stamp sponge and the non-heating surface of the mask sponge are matched. Since the unheated surfaces of the mask sponge are impregnated together, the sponge needs to be crushed to the non-heated surface of the mask sponge. Therefore, it is necessary to sufficiently heat the mask sponge.

<Data arrangement 2>
As shown in FIG. 8B, the direction of the data for stamp making is assumed to be the direction obtained by horizontally inverting the direction of the stamp surface data. The direction of the mask plate making data is the direction rotated 180 degrees from the direction of the stamp face data. In this case, the deviation in the main scanning direction during plate making is the same in the stamp sponge and the mask sponge. Therefore, when the shift in the sub-scanning direction is equal to or smaller than the width of the outer margin area, the shift in the main scanning direction can be eliminated by bonding the left and right sides of the sponge together. However, since the shift in the sub-scanning direction cannot be resolved by simply combining the upper and lower sides, it is necessary to manually adjust the pasting. When impregnating with ink, the heating surface of the stamp sponge and the heating surface of the mask sponge are matched. Since the heated surfaces are impregnated together, the sponge does not have to be crushed to the non-heated surface of the mask sponge.

<Ink impregnation method>
After making the plate using the data for stamp plate making and the data for mask plate making, as shown in FIG. 1, the stamp sponge (printing surface 40) and the mask sponge (mask sheets 51, 52, 53) are bonded together. By dripping the ink from above the mask sponge, it is possible to impregnate the ink of the target color only in the portion corresponding to each color of the marking surface data of the marking surface 40.

<Summary of invention>
When a plurality of colors of ink is impregnated into the stamp sponge (printing surface 40), the ink can be easily impregnated by using a porous sponge sheet for mask (mask sheets 51, 52, 53). As the mask sponge, a porous sponge having a thickness smaller than that of a sponge usually used for a stamp is used. Heat is applied to areas other than where the color of the stamp data is attached to create a mask sponge for each color. This mask sponge allows the ink to permeate only the portion not heated. By overlaying the mask sponge on the stamp sheet and impregnating the ink from the mask sponge, it is possible to impregnate the stamp sheet with the ink only in the colored portion on the printing surface data.

"Effect of the invention"
Compared with the case where the stamp sheet (printing surface 40) is directly impregnated and impregnated, ink of a plurality of colors can be impregnated more easily and accurately.
In the case where the ink is directly dropped and impregnated, it is possible to create a printing surface that has been difficult to create due to fine color change, and the degree of freedom of the printing surface that can be created is increased.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof. For example, the apparatus and method for making the stamp face 40 are not limited to those using the above-described thermal head, and other apparatuses and methods may be used as long as they can make a plate-like stamp face. The material of the stamp face material 18 and the mask sheet materials 31, 32, 33 is not limited to EVA, and other materials can be applied as long as they can form a sheet-like stamp face. Hereinafter, the invention described in the scope of claims of the present application will be appended.

[Appendix 1]
Arranged in a direction along the surface on which the marking surface material and the mask sheet material of the medium holder holding the porous marking surface material and the mask sheet material that can be made non-porous by heating are detachably held at the same height. A plurality of heating elements provided, and a plate-making part for performing plate-making on the stamp face material and the mask sheet material,
A transport unit that moves the medium holder relative to the plate making unit;
When the medium holder moves relative to the plate making section, the stamp surface material is made based on stamp plate making data, and the mask sheet material is made plate based on mask plate making data. A multi-color stamp producing apparatus having a control unit for controlling such a manner.

[Appendix 2]
The control unit further includes plate-making data extracting means for extracting the stamp plate-making data and the mask plate-making data on the basis of stamp surface data which is color image data to be a stamp imprint. The multicolor stamp manufacturing apparatus according to appendix 1.

[Appendix 3]
A mask sheet for multi-color stamps that is made based on mask plate-making data obtained by extracting pixels of a specific color from stamp surface data that is color image data to be stamp imprints.

[Appendix 4]
The mask sheet for multicolor stamps according to supplementary note 3, wherein a solid print portion is provided in a peripheral portion.

[Appendix 5]
The mask sheet for multicolor stamps according to appendix 3 or 4, wherein the mask sheet is made of the same shape and material as the stamp surface and is thinner than the stamp surface.

[Appendix 6]
A prepress data extraction step for extracting stamp prepress data and mask prepress data based on the stamp surface data, which is color image data to be a stamp imprint,
Based on the stamp plate-making data and the mask plate-making data, a plate-making process for making a plate and a mask sheet,
A method for producing a multicolor stamp, comprising: an ink impregnation step of superimposing the mask sheet on the marking surface and dipping ink from the mask sheet to impregnate the marking surface.

[Appendix 7]
6. The multicolor stamp according to appendix 5, wherein the plate making and the mask sheet making in the plate making step are performed simultaneously by passing a medium holder holding the printing face material and the mask sheet material once through a plate making apparatus. Manufacturing method.

[Appendix 8]
A data making process for mask plate making that creates mask plate making data by extracting pixels of a specific color from stamp surface data that is color image data to be stamp imprints;
A method for producing a mask sheet for a multicolor stamp, comprising: a mask plate making step for making a mask sheet material based on the mask plate making data.

[Appendix 9]
The multicolor according to appendix 7, wherein the mask sheet material is held in the same medium holder as the stamp material, and the mask plate making is performed by the mask plate making process simultaneously with the plate making of the stamp surface on the stamp material. A method for producing a mask sheet for stamps.

[Appendix 10]
The method for producing a mask sheet for a multicolor stamp according to appendix 7 or 9, wherein the mask sheet material is made of the same shape and material as the stamp face material and is thinner than the stamp face material.

  The present invention can be used as a multicolor stamp realized by impregnating a plane-shaped marking surface with inks of a plurality of types.

1 Thermal printer for printing (printer)
3 Sensor 4 Thermal head 15 Printing medium insertion slot (plate making insertion section)
16 Media Holder 16a Tip 17 Discharge Port 18 Stamping Material 19 Platen Roller 21a Upper Thick Paperboard 21b Lower Thick Paperboard 22 Notch 23 Detection Scan Line 31 Red Ink Mask Sheet Material 32 Black Ink Mask Sheet Material 33 Blue Ink Mask Sheet Material 40 Marking surface 51 Mask sheet for red ink 52 Mask sheet for black ink 53 Mask sheet for blue ink 61 Red ink 62 Black ink 63 Blue ink

Claims (10)

Arranged in a direction along the surface on which the marking surface material and the mask sheet material of the medium holder holding the porous marking surface material and the mask sheet material that can be made non-porous by heating are detachably held at the same height. A plurality of heating elements provided, and a plate-making part for performing plate-making on the stamp face material and the mask sheet material,
A transport unit that moves the medium holder relative to the plate making unit;
When the medium holder moves relative to the plate making section, the stamp surface material is made based on stamp plate making data, and the mask sheet material is made plate based on mask plate making data. A multi-color stamp producing apparatus having a control unit for controlling such a manner.   The control unit further includes plate-making data extracting means for extracting the stamp plate-making data and the mask plate-making data on the basis of stamp surface data which is color image data to be a stamp imprint. The multicolor stamp production apparatus according to claim 1.   A mask sheet for multi-color stamps that is made based on mask plate-making data obtained by extracting pixels of a specific color from stamp surface data that is color image data to be stamp imprints.   4. The multicolor stamp mask sheet according to claim 3, wherein a solid printing portion is provided in a peripheral portion.   The multicolor stamp mask sheet according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the mask sheet is made of the same shape and material as the stamp surface and is thinner than the stamp surface. A prepress data extraction step for extracting stamp prepress data and mask prepress data based on the stamp surface data, which is color image data to be a stamp imprint,
Based on the stamp plate-making data and the mask plate-making data, a plate-making process for making a plate and a mask sheet,
A method for producing a multicolor stamp, comprising: an ink impregnation step of superimposing the mask sheet on the marking surface and dipping ink from the mask sheet to impregnate the marking surface.   7. The multicolor according to claim 6, wherein the printing surface and the mask sheet are made simultaneously by passing a medium holder holding the printing surface material and the mask sheet material once through a plate making apparatus. How to make a stamp. A data making process for mask plate making that creates mask plate making data by extracting pixels of a specific color from stamp surface data that is color image data to be stamp imprints;
A method for producing a mask sheet for a multicolor stamp, comprising: a mask plate making step for making a mask sheet material based on the mask plate making data.   The mask sheet material is held in the same medium holder as the stamping material, and the mask plate-making is performed by the mask plate-making process simultaneously with the plate-making of the marking surface on the stamping material. A method for producing a color stamp mask sheet.   The method for producing a mask sheet for a multicolor stamp according to claim 7 or 9, wherein the mask sheet material is formed of the same shape and material as the stamp face material and is thinner than the stamp face material.

Images