JP2021109360A - Squeegee and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

To surely recover a printing material dropping from a blade.SOLUTION: A squeegee includes: a body part; a blade support member for supporting a blade; a blade lifting part for lifting the blade support member relative to the body part in a vertical direction and thereby switching the blade between a squeegee state of pushing away a printing material with the blade in a second direction and a retreat state of being retreated upward from a plate; a receiving member which is configured so as to receive the printing material dropping from the blade at a position directly under the blade and is provided between a separate position separated from the directly under position in a lateral direction and the directly under position in a reciprocable manner; and a movement mechanism part which moves the receiving member to the separate position while the blade is switched from the retreat state to the squeegee state due to dropping of the blade support member, and moves the receiving member to the directly under position while the blade is switched from the squeegee state to the retreat state due to rising of the blade support member.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5A

Description

In the present invention, the blade extended in the first horizontal direction is moved relative to the plate in the second horizontal direction orthogonal to the first horizontal direction, and the printing material adhering to the plate is pushed in the second horizontal direction. It relates to a squeegee device for retracting the blade upward from the plate after being used and a printing device using the device.

Many printing techniques have been proposed for printing a pattern formed of a printing material such as ink on a flat plate base material (glass plate, resin film, etc.) or a three-dimensional base material (container, bottle, etc.). For example, in the printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, ink is filled in the recesses provided on the plate surface of the intaglio plate corresponding to the above pattern to form an ink pattern (filling step). The ink pattern is received by the transfer roller (acceptance process), and the received ink pattern is transferred to the substrate (transfer process).

JP-A-2018-158499

In the filling step, ink is supplied to the intaglio from a supply unit such as a dispenser. Further, the doctor blade is lowered and the tip portion is pressed against the plate surface of the intaglio plate. In this state, the intaglio moves horizontally. As a result, ink is filled in the recesses on the plate surface of the intaglio plate, and excess ink is scraped off from the plate surface. Further, in order to prevent the ink remaining on the intaglio plate after the ink is received by the transfer roller from drying and sticking to the plate surface, the tip member of the doctor blade for temporary filling is brought into contact with or close to the plate surface. Ink is temporarily filled (temporary filling step).

When the above-mentioned filling step and temporary filling step are completed, each doctor blade moves upward and retracts from the intaglio. At this time, the ink adhering to the tip of the doctor blade may drip downward and stain the device parts. Here, it has been proposed to provide a receiving member such as a saucer for receiving the dripping ink. It is necessary to retract the receiving member from the elevating path of the doctor blade in response to lowering the doctor blade when executing the filling step or the temporary filling step. Further, it is necessary to move the receiving member to a position directly below the doctor blade in response to raising the doctor blade after executing the filling step or the temporary filling step. However, the specific configuration has not been proposed. Therefore, it is conceivable to add a dedicated configuration for moving the receiving member, but in this case, the increase in the drive source causes an increase in the size of the device and an increase in cost. Further, if the movement timings of the doctor blade and the receiving member deviate from each other, not only the dripping ink cannot be collected accurately, but also interference between the doctor blade and the receiving member may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is a squeegee device capable of reliably recovering printing material dripping from a blade without adding a drive source, and a printing device capable of performing printing satisfactorily. The purpose is to provide.

A first aspect of the present invention is to move a blade extended in the first horizontal direction relative to a plate in a second horizontal direction orthogonal to the first horizontal direction to obtain a printing material that adheres to the plate. 2 A squeegee device that retracts the blade upward from the plate after pushing it horizontally, and raises and lowers the main body, the blade support member that supports the blade, and the blade support member in the vertical direction with respect to the main body. As a result, the blade elevating part that switches between the squeegee state in which the printing material is pushed in the second horizontal direction by the blade and the retracted state in which the printing material is retracted upward from the plate, and the printing material dripping from the blade at a position directly below the blade. A receiving member that is configured to be receivable and is provided so as to be reciprocally movable between a separated position laterally separated from the directly below position and a directly below position, and while the blade support member is lowered to switch from the retracted state to the squeegee state. It is characterized by including a moving mechanism portion that moves the receiving member to a separated position and moves the receiving member to a position directly below while switching from the squeegee state to the retracted state by raising the blade support member.

A second aspect of the present invention includes the squeegee device and a transfer unit, in which the squeegee device fills a recess provided on the plate surface with a squeegee of the printing material adhering to the plate surface of the plate and fills the transfer portion. Is characterized in that a printing pattern of a printing material formed by filling a recess with a printing material by a squeegee device is transferred to a transfer target to print the printing pattern.

As described above, in the present invention, by raising and lowering the blade support member, the receiving member is moved between the directly below position and the separated position as well as switching between the retracted state and the squeegee state. Therefore, the printing material dripping from the blade can be reliably recovered without adding a driving source for moving the receiving member. Further, printing can be performed satisfactorily by using a squeegee device having such an action effect.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the schematic configuration example of the printing system equipped with the squeegee unit corresponding to 1st Embodiment of the squeegee apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the plate stage unit and the squeegee head. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical structure of a printing system. It is a front view of the squeegee unit equipped with the printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a side view of the squeegee head which comprises the squeegee unit. It is a side view of the squeegee head which comprises the squeegee unit. It is a partial perspective view which shows the 1st squeegee mechanism which performs this filling process.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a printing system equipped with a squeegee unit corresponding to the first embodiment of the squeegee device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a plate stage unit and a squeegee head. Further, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the printing system. The printing system 100 includes articles having a rotationally symmetric shape around an axis of rotational symmetry parallel to the horizontal direction X, such as glass containers and bottles and resin containers and bottles (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as "articles". This is a system for printing an ink pattern corresponding to the concave portion Pb provided on the plate surface Pa of the concave plate P on the side surface Ba (referred to as "bottle B"). Here, in order to show the directions in each figure in a unified manner, the horizontal direction orthogonal to the X direction is defined as the Y direction, and the vertical direction is defined as the Z direction. Further, in each of the following figures, the dotted arrow attached in the vicinity of the component indicates the movement of the component.

The printing system 100 includes two sets of printing devices, that is, a first printing device 101 and a second printing device 102, each of which prints on the side surface Ba of the bottle B with one ink color. These printing devices 101 and 102 are arranged in parallel in the X direction. More specifically, the printing device 102 points in the arrow direction X1 in the X direction when viewed from the printing device 101, and conversely, the printing device 101 points in the arrow direction X2 in the X direction when viewed from the printing device 102. Since the two printing devices 101 and 102 are provided in this way, the printing system 100 can perform two-color printing on the side surface Ba of the bottle B. It is also possible to configure a single-color printing system in which one set of printing devices is provided, or a multi-color printing system in which three or more sets of printing devices are provided.

The first printing device 101 and the second printing device 102 include a plate stage unit 1, a squeegee unit 2, a transfer unit 3, and a temporary curing unit 4, respectively. These units are arranged side by side in the above order from the Y2 direction side to the Y1 direction side. Further, the main curing device 200 is provided on the Y1 direction side of the second printing device 102. The bottle B is circulated by the bottle transfer device 400 while being held by the bottle holding device 300 between the first printing device 101, the second printing device 102, the main curing device 200, and the bottle attachment / detachment station (not shown). Be transported. In the present embodiment, the bottle B is attached to and removed from the bottle holding device 300 by a manual operation by an operator at the bottle attachment / detachment station. On the other hand, in order to automate other operations, the printing system 100 further includes a control device 900 that controls the operation of each of these units.

The first printing device 101 and the second printing device 102 have the same configuration and execute the same printing process as described below. The printing process in the printing system 100 is
(1) Formation of an ink pattern using photocurable ink by the plate stage unit 1 and the squeegee unit 2,
(2) Acceptance of ink pattern by transfer unit 3,
(3) Transfer of the ink pattern from the transfer unit 3 to the side surface Ba of the bottle B,
(4) Temporary curing of ink by light irradiation from the temporary curing unit 4.
After executing the single-color printing operation consisting of each of the above steps on the printing devices 101 and 102, respectively,
(5) Main curing of ink by the main curing device 200,
It is completed by executing.

More specifically, the bottle B is attached to and detached from the bottle holding device 300 by a manual operation by an operator at the bottle attachment / detachment station. That is, after the printed bottle B is removed from the bottle holding device 300, the bottle B to be printed is attached to the bottle holding device 300. The bottle B thus attached is rotatably held around the axis of rotational symmetry by the bottle holding device 300, and in that state, is conveyed to the first printing device 101 by the bottle conveying device 400 integrally with the bottle holding device 300. In the first printing device 101, each of the above steps (1) to (4) is executed on the bottle B while the bottle B is rotatably held by the bottle holding device 300. After that, the bottle holding device 300 holding the bottle B is conveyed from the first printing device 101 to the second printing device 102.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plate stage unit 1 includes a stage 11 on which an intaglio P for forming an ink pattern is placed on the upper surface. The stage 11 is attached to the base portion 13 via the alignment mechanism 12. An alignment drive unit 12a (FIG. 3) is connected to the alignment mechanism 12, and the stage 11 is moved in the XYZ direction and the rotation direction around the Z axis in response to a control command from the control device 900. In particular, in order to control the height position of the plate surface Pa of the intaglio P mounted on the stage 11, the alignment drive unit 12a moves the stage 11 up and down in the Z direction, and the intaglio mounted on the stage 11 in the vertical direction Z. The plate surface Pa of P is positioned at the scraping height position and the receiving height position. As the alignment mechanism 12, for example, a cross roller bearing mechanism can be used.

The base portion 13 is engaged with a guide rail 14 extending in the Y direction on the pedestal of the printing system 100. A base drive unit 13a (FIG. 3) is connected to the base unit 13, and the stage 11 is reciprocated in the Y direction along the guide rail 14 in response to a control command from the control device 900. The home position of the base portion 13 is the position closest to the Y2 direction side (the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2) in the movable range of the base portion 13.

An alignment camera (not shown) is arranged above the stage 11 when it is positioned at the home position. The alignment camera captures an alignment mark provided on the peripheral edge of the intaglio P or the upper surface of the intaglio P placed on the stage 11, and sends the image data to the control device 900. The control device 900 detects the position of the intaglio P on the stage 11 and operates the alignment mechanism 12 as necessary to adjust the position of the intaglio P to an appropriate position.

A squeegee unit 2 and a transfer unit 3 are provided along a path in which the base portion 13 moves from the home position in the Y1 direction. The squeegee unit 2 includes a nozzle 23 facing the upper surface of the intaglio P mounted on the stage 11 passing directly under the squeegee unit 2. Photocurable ink (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as “ink”) is supplied to the nozzle 23 from the ink supply unit 24 controlled by the control device 900. The supplied ink is ejected from the ejection port provided at the lower end of the nozzle 23, and is applied to the plate surface Pa of the intaglio P.

Photocurable inks are made from pigments as color initiators, polymer materials (including at least one of monomers and oligomers) that form a strong polymer layer by polymerization, and active species produced by chemical changes upon exposure to light. It contains a photopolymerization initiator that promotes the polymerization reaction of the polymer material.

A first blade mechanism 21 that functions for main filling is provided on the Y1 direction side of the nozzle 23, and a second blade mechanism 22 that functions for temporary filling is provided on the Y2 direction side. The doctor blade provided in the first blade mechanism 21 executes the main filling process, and the doctor blade provided in the second blade mechanism 22 executes the temporary filling process. By performing these two types of filling treatments, ink is filled in the recess Pb provided on the plate surface Pa of the intaglio P while preventing ink sticking, while excess ink other than that is removed to form an ink pattern. .. The configuration and operation of the squeegee unit 2 will be described in detail later.

The intaglio P filled with ink in this way further moves in the Y2 direction and reaches the arrangement position of the transfer unit 3. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transfer unit 3 includes a blanket roll 30, a roll rotating portion 33 for rotating the blanket roll 30, and a roll horizontal moving portion 34 for moving the blanket roll 30 in the Y direction (FIG. 3). And have. More specifically, the blanket roll 30 includes, for example, a blanket cylinder 31 which is a metal cylinder and a blanket 32 wound around the surface thereof, and has a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole. The blanket roll 30 is rotatably supported by a frame (not shown), and is rotationally driven around the central axis shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1 by the roll rotating portion 33 controlled by the control device 900.

The blanket 32 is made of an elastic resin material, for example, a silicon resin, and can support an ink pattern on its surface. The blanket 32 has a thickness sufficiently larger than the unevenness that may occur on the surface of the bottle B, which is the side surface Ba of the bottle B. As shown in FIG. 2, when the intaglio P placed on the stage 11 passes directly under the blanket roll 30, the surface of the blanket 32 comes into contact with the upper surface of the intaglio P. At this time, the ink filled in the recess of the intaglio P is transferred to the surface of the blanket 32. In this way, the ink pattern on the intaglio P is accepted by the blanket 32.

The ink pattern once received (primary transfer) on the blanket 32 is secondarily transferred to the surface of the bottle B, which is the final transfer body. As described above, the blanket 32 functions as an intermediate transfer body that temporarily supports the ink pattern that is finally transferred to the side surface Ba of the bottle B. In this embodiment, two printing devices 101 and 102 are provided to form two types of ink patterns.

In the printing system 100 configured in this way, the bottle transfer device 400 is controlled by the control device 900, so that the bottle holding device 300 becomes a bottle attachment / detachment station, a first printing device 101, a second printing device 102, and a book. It is circulated and conveyed in the order of the curing device 200. Of these, at the bottle attachment / detachment station, the operator manually attaches / detaches the bottle B to the conveyed bottle holding device 300. That is, when the printed bottle B is attached to the bottle holding device 300, the holding of the bottle B by the bottle holding device 300 is released and the printed bottle B is removed from the bottle holding device 300. On the other hand, when the bottle B before printing is not attached to the bottle holding device 300, the operator carries the bottle B before printing to the bottle holding device 300 and holds the bottle B before printing by the bottle holding device 300. When the bottle B mounting operation is completed in this way and an input to that effect is input to an input device (not shown) such as an operation panel, the control device 900 that receives the bottle B mounting operation sets the bottle holding device 300 that holds the bottle B to the first printing device. It is transported to 101 for printing processing.

This printing process is realized by the control device 900 executing a program stored in advance and causing each part of the device to execute a predetermined operation. In this printing process, the intaglio P is carried into the first printing apparatus 101, set on the stage 11, and undergoes alignment adjustment. On the other hand, in the bottle holding device 300 conveyed to the first printing device 101, a motor (not shown) starts operating in response to a drive command from the control device 900, and the bottle B rotates about an axis of rotational symmetry. .. The printing start position of the bottle B is detected during the rotation, and the rotation amount of the bottle B is adjusted based on the detection result, so that the bottle B is positioned so that the printing start position faces the printing device 101. The positioning process may be performed based on an image obtained by imaging the bottle B with a camera in the same manner as the alignment adjustment process of the intaglio P, or the sensor detects a specific part of the bottle B with a sensor. It may be performed based on the detection signal output from. In any case, in the present embodiment, the positioning process of the bottle B with respect to the printing apparatus 101 is automatically performed in parallel with the alignment adjusting process of the intaglio P. Of course, the positioning process of the bottle B may be configured to be performed in parallel with the ink pattern receiving process in the printing apparatus 101 described below.

Subsequently, the stage 11 of the first printing apparatus 101 starts moving in the Y1 direction, the photocurable ink is applied to the plate surface Pa of the intaglio P from the nozzle 23 of the squeegee unit 2, and the doctor blade of the first blade mechanism 21. By scraping off the excess ink, the recess Pb of the plate surface Pa is filled with the ink. As the stage 11 moves further and passes directly under the rotating blanket roll 30, the ink pattern formed on the intaglio P is received on the surface of the blanket 32. After that, the bottle holding device 300 moves in the Y1 direction, and the printing start position of the side surface Ba of the bottle B is pressed against the surface of the blanket 32. As a result, the transfer of the ink pattern from the blanket 32 to the bottle B is started. In this transfer process, the ink pattern on the surface of the blanket 32 is sequentially transferred to the bottle B by rotating the blanket 32 receiving the ink pattern and the bottle B with each other while abutting against each other.

Here, the body portion Bb of the bottle B is in contact with the backup roller (not shown), and when the ink pattern reaches the contact position with the backup roller as the bottle B rotates, uncured ink is discharged from the bottle B. It may be transferred to the backup roller. Further, when the bottle B rotates one turn or more, the ink pattern on the side surface Ba of the bottle B may be re-transferred to the blanket 32. These disturb the ink pattern on the side surface Ba of the bottle B and contaminate the blanket 32 and the backup roller with ink.

In order to prevent this problem, a temporary curing treatment is performed by irradiation with a relatively low exposure amount of ultraviolet rays. That is, light (ultraviolet rays) is irradiated from the temporary curing unit 4 toward the surface of the bottle B immediately after the ink pattern is transferred from the blanket 32. As will be described later, the light emitted from the temporary curing unit 4 increases the viscosity of the ink by polymerizing a part of the polymer material contained in the ink, but has a property of not curing the entire ink. It is a thing.

As the viscosity of the ink increases in this way, the adhesiveness to other objects decreases, and when the side surface Ba of the bottle B carrying the ink comes into contact with the backup roller or the blanket 32, the ink may be transferred to these. Be prevented.

When the printing process in the printing device 101 is completed, the bottle holding device 300 is conveyed from the first printing device 101 to the second printing device 102 while holding the bottle B on which the ink pattern is printed. Then, the printing process is performed by the second printing device 102 in the same manner as in the first printing device 101. As a result, another ink pattern by the second printing apparatus 102 is superimposed and printed on the already printed ink pattern. After that, the bottle holding device 300 is conveyed from the second printing device 102 to the main curing device 200 while holding the bottle B on which these ink patterns are printed.

At this point, the ink is not completely cured. In order to completely cure this, the main curing device 200 irradiates the bottle B with light (ultraviolet rays) having a higher output than the temporary curing unit 4. As a result, the ink is completely cured and printing is completed. After that, the bottle holding device 300 is returned from the main curing device 200 to the attachment / detachment station while holding the bottle B. Such a series of operations is repeatedly executed.

Next, the configuration of the squeegee unit 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 4, 5A and 5B, and then the operation of the squeegee unit 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A, 5B and 6B.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the squeegee unit mounted on the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and is a view of the entire squeegee unit 2 viewed from the Y1 direction side toward the Y2 direction. 5A and 5B are side views of the squeegee head constituting the squeegee unit. Further, FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view showing a first squeegee mechanism that performs the main filling process. Of these drawings, FIG. 5A shows the blade posture when performing the main filling process as described in detail later, while FIG. 5B shows neither the main filling process nor the temporary filling process as described in detail later. Shows the blade posture when performing standby processing.

As shown in FIGS. 4, 5A and 5B, the squeegee unit 2 includes a squeegee head 2H and a head elevating portion 2E that raises and lowers the squeegee head 2H in the vertical direction Z.

The squeegee head 2H includes a head body 20, a first blade mechanism 21, a second blade mechanism 22, a nozzle 23, and an ink supply unit 24. On the other hand, the head elevating portion 2E has rails 25 and 25 extending in the vertical direction Z, support plates 26 and 26, air cylinders 27 and 27, and connecting members 28 and 28.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rails 25 and 25 extending in the Z direction are fixedly arranged apart from each other in the X direction at intervals slightly narrower than the size of the head body 20 in the X direction. The head main body 20 is vertically movable in the vertical direction Z along these rails 25 and 25. Support plates 26 and 26 are fixedly arranged on the X1 direction side and the X2 direction side of the head body 20, respectively. An air cylinder 27 is attached to the plane of each of the support plates 26, 26 on the Y1 direction side. Each air cylinder 27 is connected to the head body 20 via a connecting member 28. Then, when each air cylinder 27 moves the connecting member 28 in the Z2 direction in response to a lowering command from the control device 900, the squeegee head 2H is located directly above the plate surface Pa of the intaglio plate P as shown by the solid line in FIG. Hereinafter, it is positioned at the "head lowering position"). At this time, the stage 11 is positioned so that the plate surface Pa is located at the scraping height position in the vertical direction Z.

On the contrary, when each air cylinder 27 moves the connecting member 28 in the Z1 direction in response to the ascending command from the control device 900, the squeegee head 2H is located at the highest position of the blanket roll 30 as shown by the dotted line in FIG. Is also positioned high. In the present embodiment, the head elevating unit 2E uses the air cylinders 27 and 27 as the elevating drive source, but other elevating drive sources such as a motor may be used.

The first blade mechanism 21 and the ink supply unit 24 are attached to the Y1 direction side of the head body 20 driven up and down in this way, while the second blade mechanism 22 is attached to the Y2 direction side. Further, at the lower end of the head body 20, four nozzles 23 are arranged in the X direction with the discharge ports facing downward.

The ink supply unit 24 has four syringes 241. In each syringe 241, the upper end is connected to an ink tank (not shown) and the lower end is connected to the nozzle 23 via a tube 242. Therefore, when all the syringes 241 are operated in response to a command from the control device 900 while the stage 11 holding the intaglio P is positioned at a predetermined ink supply position, ink having a relatively high viscosity is ejected from the nozzle 23. It is discharged downward from the outlet and supplied to the plate surface Pa of the intaglio plate P.

The first blade mechanism 21 is provided for so-called main filling, in which the ink supplied to the plate surface Pa is filled in the recess Pb (FIG. 1) to form an ink pattern, and as will be described later, after the acceptance process. A second blade mechanism 22 is provided for temporary filling. The first blade mechanism 21 and the second blade mechanism 22 have a substantially symmetrical configuration with the head body 20 interposed therebetween. Therefore, in the following, the configuration of the first blade mechanism 21 will be described, and the configuration of the second blade mechanism 22 will be designated with corresponding reference numerals to simplify the configuration description.

The first blade mechanism 21 includes a doctor blade 211 for main filling, a blade elevating portion 212, an ink receiving member 213, and a moving mechanism portion 214. The doctor blade 211 is moved up and down in the vertical direction Z with respect to the head body 20 by the blade elevating portion 212 in a posture in which the tip portion 211a extends diagonally to the lower right in FIGS. 5A and 5B (hereinafter referred to as “main filling posture”). .. That is, in the blade elevating portion 212, the sliders 212b and 212b are movable in the vertical direction Z with respect to the rails 212a and 212a mounted in parallel with each other by a predetermined distance in the X direction on the Y1 direction side of the head body 20. It is provided. The upper end of the blade support member 212c is fixed to these sliders 212b. The blade support member 212c extends in the Z2 direction, and the doctor blade 211 is attached in the Z2 direction from the lower end thereof in the main filling posture. In this way, the blade elevating portion 212 movably supports the doctor blade 211 in the vertical direction Z while maintaining the doctor blade 211 in the main filling posture.

Further, the blade elevating part 212 has an air cylinder 212d as a drive source for moving the doctor blade 211 in the vertical direction Z. The air cylinder 212d is fixed to the head body 20 by a cylinder support member 212g (FIG. 6) with the piston portion 212e facing the Z2 direction. The piston portion 212e is connected to the upper end portion of the blade support member 212c via the connecting member 212f. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 6, when the piston portion 212e of the air cylinder 212d extends downward in response to a command from the control device 900, the doctor blade 211 descends to the downward position while maintaining the main filling posture. The 1-blade mechanism 21 is in a squeegee state. More specifically, when performing the main filling process, the blade support member until the tip portion 211a of the doctor blade 211 is pressed against the plate surface Pa of the plate P placed on the stage 11 located at the scraping height position. 212c descends. After that, the stage 11 moves relative to the doctor blade 211 in the Y direction, so that the ink adhering to the plate P is pushed in the moving direction Y and the recess Pb (FIG. 1) is filled with ink to form an ink pattern. Form. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the piston portion 212e of the air cylinder 212d contracts upward in response to a command from the control device 900, the doctor blade 211 retracts upward from the plate P in the main filling posture and the first The blade mechanism 21 is in the retracted state. As described above, in the present embodiment, the blade elevating portion 212 switches the first blade mechanism 21 between the squeegee state and the retracted state.

The ink receiving member 213 has a dish shape extending in the X direction, and is separated from the position directly below the doctor blade 211 (FIG. 5B) in the Y1 direction while being supported by the moving mechanism portion 214. Moved to and from position (FIG. 5A). The size of the ink receiving member 213 in the X direction is longer than that of the doctor blade 211, and both ends of the ink receiving member 213 in the X direction are supported by the lower ends of the swing plates 214a and 214a of the moving mechanism portion 214, respectively. .. Each of the swing plates 214a and 214a has a substantially hook shape when viewed from the paper surface side (X1 direction side) of FIGS. 5A and 5B. The upper ends of the swing plates 214a and 214a are swingable around the swing shaft AX extending in parallel with the X direction by the shaft support portion 214b (FIG. 6) projecting from the head body 20 in the Y1 direction. There is.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5B, the swing plate 214a is in a state where the ink receiving member 213 is positioned directly below the doctor blade 211 while no external force is acting on the swing plates 214a and 214a. , 214a are stationary. On the other hand, when an external force acts on the swing plates 214a and 214a, the swing plates 214a and 214a swing accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5A. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the shaft support portions 214c and 214c (FIG. 6) are attached to the side surface on the Y1 direction side at the lower end portion of the blade support member 212c so as to be separated from each other in the X direction. Further, a roller 214d that functions as a cam is rotatably supported on each shaft support 214c. Further, a cam follower portion 214e projecting toward the roller 214d is provided on the side surface of each swing plate 214a on the Y2 direction side. Therefore, as the blade support member 212c descends, the doctor blade 211 descends in the Z2 direction, and at the same time, the roller 214d displaces in the Z2 direction. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5A, the moving mechanism unit 214 swings the swing plate 214a along the arrow R1 while sliding the peripheral surface of the roller 214d against the cam follower portion 214e. As a result, the ink receiving member 213 moves from the position directly below the doctor blade 211 to the separated position. On the contrary, when the doctor blade 211 rises in the Z2 direction as the blade support member 212c rises, the swing plate 214a swings in the direction R2 opposite to the arrow direction R1 as shown in FIG. 5B, and the ink receiving member 213 Moves from the separated position to the position directly below the doctor blade 211. As described above, in the moving mechanism unit 214, the "first cam mechanism" of the present invention is configured by the roller 214d on the X1 direction side and the cam follower portion 214e of the swing plate 214a on the X1 direction side, and on the X2 direction side. The "second cam mechanism" of the present invention is configured by the roller 214d and the cam follower portion 214e of the swing plate 214a on the X2 direction side. Then, by providing these cam mechanisms, the two swing plates 214a and 214a swing around the swing shaft AX in synchronization with the raising and lowering of the blade support member 212c. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5A, the ink receiving member 213 is moved to the separated position while the first blade mechanism 21 switches from the retracted state to the squeegee state due to the lowering of the blade supporting member 212c (arrow R1). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5B, the ink receiving member 213 is moved to a position directly below while the first blade mechanism 21 switches from the squeegee state to the retracted state due to the rise of the blade support member 212c (arrow direction R2).

The second blade mechanism 22 has the same configuration as the first blade mechanism 21 and operates in the same manner, except that the squeegee state is partially different. That is, in the second blade mechanism 22, the doctor blade 221 is in a posture in which the tip portion 221a extends diagonally downward to the left in FIGS. 5A and 5B (hereinafter referred to as “temporary filling posture”) with respect to the head body 20 by the blade elevating portion 222. Is moved up and down in the vertical direction Z. Further, when the piston portion of the air cylinder 222d extends downward in response to a command from the control device 900, the tip portion 221a of the doctor blade 221 remains slightly lower than the scraping height position while the doctor blade 221 remains in the temporary filling posture. It is lowered until it comes into contact with or approaches the plate surface Pa of the plate P placed on the stage 11 located at the position. After that, as the stage 11 moves in the Y direction, the ink adhering to the plate P is pushed and the ink is leveled on the plate surface Pa to perform temporary filling. As described above, in the second blade mechanism 22, the state in which the tip portion 221a of the doctor blade 221 is in contact with or close to the plate surface Pa of the plate P corresponds to the "squeegee state" of the present invention. On the other hand, when the piston portion of the air cylinder 222d contracts upward, the doctor blade 221 retracts upward from the plate P in the temporarily filled posture, and the second blade mechanism 22 is retracted in the same manner as the first blade mechanism 21.

In the second blade mechanism 22, similarly to the first blade mechanism 21, the moving mechanism portion 224 has a configuration corresponding to the "first cam mechanism" and the "second cam mechanism" of the present invention. Therefore, the ink receiving member 223 is moved to the separated position while the second blade mechanism 22 is switched from the retracted state to the squeegee state by lowering the blade supporting member 222c. On the other hand, the ink receiving member 223 is moved to a position directly below while the second blade mechanism 22 switches from the squeegee state to the retracted state due to the rise of the blade support member 222c.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the first blade mechanism 21, only switching between the retracted state and the squeegee state is performed according to the raising and lowering of the blade support member 212c by one air cylinder 212d. Instead, the ink receiving member 213 is moved between the directly below position and the separated position. Therefore, the ink dripping from the doctor blade 211 can be recovered without adding a dedicated drive source for moving the ink receiving member 213. Moreover, since the ink receiving member 213 is moved in conjunction with the raising and lowering of the doctor blade 211, the ink receiving member 213 can be moved to a position directly below the doctor blade 211 at an appropriate timing, and the tip portion of the doctor blade 211 can be moved. The ink dropped from 211a can be reliably recovered.

Further, the second blade mechanism 22 is the same as the first blade mechanism 21. That is, not only the retracted state and the squeegee state are switched according to the raising and lowering of the blade support member 222c by one air cylinder 222d, but also the ink receiving member 223 moves between the direct position and the separated position. Will be done. Therefore, the ink dripping from the tip portion 221a of the doctor blade 221 can be reliably recovered without adding a dedicated drive source for moving the ink receiving member 223.

Further, since the ink dripping from the doctor blades 211 and 221 is surely collected by the ink receiving members 213 and 223 after the main filling process and the temporary filling process, the printing process can be performed satisfactorily.

Further, in the above embodiment, since the cam mechanism is adopted to move the ink receiving members 213 and 223 according to the raising and lowering of the blade support members 212c and 222c, the first is more than the case where another drive source is added. The configuration of the blade mechanism 21 and the second blade mechanism 22 can be simplified.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the doctor blades 211 and 221 correspond to an example of the "blade" of the present invention. Further, the head main body 20 corresponds to an example of the "main body portion" of the present invention. Further, the X direction and the Y direction correspond to the "first horizontal direction" and the "second horizontal direction" of the present invention, respectively. Further, the swing plates 214a and 224a and the rollers 214d and 224d on the X1 direction side correspond to examples of the "first swing member" and the "first cam member" of the present invention, respectively, and the swing plates 214a on the X2 direction side. , 224a and rollers 214d and 224d correspond to examples of the "second swing member" and the "second cam member" of the present invention, respectively. Further, the ink receiving members 213 and 223 correspond to an example of the "receiving member" of the present invention, and their end portions on the X1 direction side correspond to the "one end portion of the receiving member" of the present invention, and they correspond to the X2 direction. The side end corresponds to the "other end of the receiving member" of the present invention. Further, the ink supply unit 24 corresponds to an example of the "supply unit" of the present invention. Further, the transfer unit 3 corresponds to an example of the "transfer unit" of the present invention. Further, the ink and the ink pattern correspond to an example of the "printing material" and the "printing pattern" of the present invention, respectively. Further, the bottle B corresponds to an example of the "transferred body" of the present invention.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the cam mechanism is adopted to move the ink receiving members 213 and 223 by utilizing the raising and lowering of the blade support members 212c and 222c, but other power transmission mechanisms such as a link mechanism are used. You can.

Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a squeegee device having a blade elevating part 212, 222 and a head elevating part 2E and capable of raising and lowering the doctor blades 211 and 221 in two stages. The range is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to a device that raises and lowers the doctor blades 211 and 221 only by the blade raising and lowering portions 212 and 222, and a device that raises and lowers only one doctor blade.

Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a printing device that performs main filling and temporary filling, but it is also applied to a printing device that performs only main filling and a squeegee device equipped in the printing device. The present invention can be applied. Further, the present invention is not limited to printing using a plate, and the present invention can be applied to a squeegee device equipped in another printing device.

Further, although the present invention is applied to a printing apparatus for printing an ink pattern on a bottle B, the present invention is also applied to a printing technique using another three-dimensional base material and a flat plate base material (glass plate, resin film, etc.) as a transfer target. can do.

Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to a printing apparatus using the blanket roll 30 as an intermediate transfer body, but the present invention can also be applied to other printing apparatus.

The present invention is applicable to all intaglio printing squeegee devices and all printing devices using the intaglio printing squeegee device, which scrapes the printing material adhering to the plate surface of the intaglio plate and fills the recesses provided on the plate surface with the printing material.

2 ... Squeegee unit (squeegee device)
3 ... Transfer unit (transfer unit)
2H ... Squeegee head 20 ... Head body (main body)
21 ... 1st blade mechanism 22 ... 2nd blade mechanism 24 ... Ink supply unit 101 ... 1st printing device 102 ... 2nd printing device 211,221 ... Doctor blades 211a, 221a ... (Doctor blade) tip 212, 222 ... Blade elevating part 213, 223 ... Ink receiving member 214, 224 ... Moving mechanism part 214d, 224d ... Roller (first cam member, second cam member)
214e, 224e ... Cam follower part (of the swing plate) B ... Bottle (transferred body)
P ... Intaglio Pa ... Plate surface Pb ... Recessed X ... First horizontal direction Y ... Second horizontal direction

Claims (6)

The blade extended in the first horizontal direction is moved relative to the plate in the second horizontal direction orthogonal to the first horizontal direction, and the printing material adhering to the plate is pushed in the second horizontal direction. A squeegee device that retracts the blade upward from the plate afterwards.
With the main body
A blade support member that supports the blade and
By raising and lowering the blade support member in the vertical direction with respect to the main body portion, between the squeegee state in which the printing material is pushed in the second horizontal direction by the blade and the retracted state in which the printing material is retracted upward from the plate. The blade evacuation part to switch and
It is configured to be able to receive the printing material dripping from the blade at a position directly below the blade, and is provided so as to be reciprocally movable between a separation position laterally separated from the position directly below and the position directly below the blade. With the receiving member
The receiving member is moved to the separated position while switching from the retracted state to the squeegee state by lowering the blade support member, and the receiving member is switched from the squeegee state to the retracted state by raising the blade support member. With a moving mechanism unit that moves the
A squeegee device characterized by being equipped with. The squeegee device according to claim 1.
The receiving member is extended in the first horizontal direction,
The moving mechanism unit
A first swinging member that is oscillatingly supported above the receiving member with respect to the main body while supporting one end of the receiving member in the first horizontal direction.
A second swinging member that is oscillatingly supported above the receiving member with respect to the main body while supporting the other end of the receiving member in the first horizontal direction.
While the first cam member attached to the blade support member is slidably contacted with the first swing member, the first swing member is swung by the displacement of the first cam member in response to the elevating and lowering of the blade support member. The first cam mechanism to make it
While the second cam member attached to the blade support member is slidably contacted with the second swing member, the second swing member is swung by the displacement of the second cam member in response to the elevating and lowering of the blade support member. The second cam mechanism to make it
Squeegee device with. The squeegee device according to claim 1 or 2.
While the blade support member is lowered and switched to the squeegee state until the tip of the blade is pressed against the plate surface of the plate, the blade is relatively moved in the second horizontal direction to adhere to the plate. A squeegee device that scrapes off the printing material. The squeegee device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
A squeegee device having a supply unit for supplying the printing material to the plate. The squeegee device according to claim 1 or 2.
While the blade support member is lowered to switch to the squeegee state until the tip of the blade abuts or approaches the plate surface of the plate, the blade is relatively moved in the second horizontal direction to the plate surface. A squeegee device that leveles the printing material above. The squeegee device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and a transfer unit are provided.
The squeegee device fills the recesses provided on the plate surface with the printing material by the squeegee of the printing material adhering to the plate surface of the plate.
The transfer unit is a printing apparatus characterized in that a printing pattern of the printing material formed by filling the recesses with the printing material by the squeegee device is transferred to a transfer body to print the printing pattern.

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