JP2541627Y2 - Printhead cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a print head, and more particularly to a cleaning device for polishing a discharge electrode of a print head provided in a discharge breakdown type line printer for printing and displaying magnetic information on the surface of a magnetic card. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printer which prints and displays magnetic information such as date of use, amount of use, balance, and the like recorded on a magnetic card such as a prepaid card, for example, as shown in FIG. 2. Description of the Related Art A discharge breakdown type line printer having a configuration as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, a line printer 1 discharges a magnetic card 3 such as a prepaid card along a card path 2.
At least one pair, two pairs in the illustrated case, of the earth roller 4 and the rubber roller 5 disposed opposite each other, a print head 7 supported by a cam 6 so as to be able to move up and down, and the print head 7 is lowered. At this time, the platen 8 disposed at a position facing the discharge electrode 7a of the print head 7
And is composed of In the case of the drawing, the print head 7 has a large number of discharge electrodes 7a arranged in the width direction of the magnetic card 3 to be printed perpendicular to the paper surface.

[0003] According to the line printer 1 of the discharge destruction system configured as described above, when the print surface of the magnetic card 3 is brought to the print position on the platen 8, the print head 7
Is lowered, the discharge electrode 7a of the print head 7 presses the magnetic card 3 against the platen 8 with a predetermined contact force. From this state, a desired pattern is printed on the print surface of the magnetic card 3 by appropriately electrically controlling the discharge electrode 7a, and then the print head 7 is raised, whereby the magnetic card 3 3, the magnetic card 3 is ejected from the passage by being transported again.

[0004]

However, in the line printer 1 of the discharge breakdown type configured as described above, an oxidized scale or the like due to discharge adheres to the tip of the discharge electrode 7a of the print head 7. If printing is performed on the magnetic card 3 by discharge breakdown while the oxide scale or the like is attached, good discharge between the discharge electrode 7a and the magnetic card 3 cannot be obtained due to the presence of the oxide scale or the like. There has been a problem that the quality of printing on the printing surface of the magnetic card 3 is reduced, and in some cases, printing cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device capable of performing a good discharge by keeping a print head of a discharge-break type line printer always in a clean state.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a print head cleaning apparatus according to the present invention moves a print head having a large number of discharge electrodes arranged in the width direction of printing up and down during printing. Thus, the discharge electrode is brought into contact with a magnetic card to be printed which is conveyed in the passage, facing the platen, and the magnetic layer is discharged by discharging the conductive layer provided on the magnetic card and the discharge electrode of the print head. In a discharge-type line printer designed to display a print on the surface of a card, the platen has a peripheral length longer than the length of the magnetic card to be printed in the longitudinal direction, and the magnetic card is used for printing. At a position in front of the tip of the platen, a part in the peripheral direction of the platen is formed as a polished portion, preferably a polished portion that has been subjected to a diamond electrodeposition process, and printing When, prior to the printing of at least a magnetic card, by contacting a discharge electrode of the indicia shaped heads polishing portion of the platen, is characterized in that so as to clean the tip of the discharge electrode.

[0007]

According to the above arrangement, when printing is performed on a magnetic card, first, before the discharge electrode of the print head comes into contact with the surface of the magnetic card conveyed with the rotation of the platen, the discharge electrode is first partially applied in the circumferential direction of the platen. It comes in contact with the provided polishing section.
By the contact with the polishing portion, the tip of the discharge electrode is cleaned, and the oxide scale and the like adhering thereto are polished and removed. Thereafter, the cleaned discharge electrode comes into contact with the print surface of the magnetic card, and by appropriately electrically controlling the discharge electrode, a desired pattern is printed on the print surface of the magnetic card. become. Therefore, at the time of printing due to discharge breakdown on the print surface of the magnetic card, the discharge electrode cleaned by contacting the polishing portion of the platen comes into contact with the print surface of the magnetic card, and the discharge electrode and the magnetic card come into contact with each other. Since the discharge is performed during this period, good discharge is performed, and therefore, printing with high print quality can always be performed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an electric discharge breakdown type line printer having a print head cleaning device according to the present invention. The discharge-discharge type printer 10 includes a pair of ground rollers 13 for conveying a magnetic card 12, such as a prepaid card, along a card path 11, which is provided at least one set, and two sets shown in FIG.
And a print head 16 supported by a cam 15 so as to be movable up and down. When the print head 16 is lowered, the discharge electrode 16 of the print head 16
and a platen 17 disposed at a position facing the magnetic card 12 in the width direction of the magnetic card 12 to be printed, which is perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. It has a disposed discharge electrode 16a.

The above configuration is the same as that of the conventional electric discharge breakdown type line printer 1 shown in FIG. 2, but in the electric discharge breakdown type line printer 10 according to the present invention,
The platen 17 has a perimeter longer than the length of the magnetic card 12 to be printed in the longitudinal direction, and is located around the platen 17 at a position forward of the front end of the magnetic card 12 during printing. A part of the direction is formed as a polishing part 18. The polishing portion 18 can obtain good polishing characteristics by, for example, a diamond electrodeposition process formed by bonding diamond particles to a metal surface and then performing nickel plating. Necessary polishing characteristics can also be obtained by the satin finish of the surface. The polishing section 18 may be formed directly on the platen 17 or a metal plate formed as described above may be attached to a predetermined position on the surface of the platen.

The electric discharge type line printer 10 according to the present invention is configured as described above.
2, the magnetic card 12 is conveyed such that the leading end of the magnetic card 12 is located slightly outside the edge of the polishing portion 18 in the rotation direction of the platen 17, and during printing, The magnetic card 12 is brought into contact with a region of the platen 17 other than the polishing portion 18, for example, a region 17a where rubber is exposed. Thus, when printing is performed on the print surface of the magnetic card 12, the discharge electrode 16 a of the print head 16 first contacts the surface of the magnetic card 12 conveyed with the rotation of the platen 17 in the circumferential direction of the platen 17. Polishing part 18 provided in a part of
Will come into contact with By the contact with the polishing portion 18, the tip of the discharge electrode 16a is cleaned, and the oxide scale and the like adhering thereto are removed by polishing.

Next, the discharge electrode 16a thus cleaned comes into contact with the print surface of the magnetic card 12, and by appropriately electrically controlling the discharge electrode 16a, the print surface of the magnetic card 12 is controlled. Is printed in a desired pattern. Thus, at the time of printing due to discharge breakdown on the printing surface of the magnetic card 12, the previously cleaned discharge electrode 16 a comes into contact with the printing surface of the magnetic card 12 by contacting the polishing portion 18 of the platen 17. Good discharge can be performed between the discharge electrode and the magnetic card. Therefore, high-quality printing is always performed.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, when printing on a printing surface of a magnetic card or the like, before the discharge electrode comes into contact with the surface of the magnetic card conveyed with the rotation of the platen, Prior to this, it comes into contact with a polishing portion provided on a part of the platen in the circumferential direction, and the discharge electrode is cleaned by this contact, and the oxide scale and the like adhering thereto are polished and removed. The printed surface of the magnetic card is brought into contact with the printed surface, and a desired printed display is performed by discharge breakdown. Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided an extremely excellent cleaning device for a print head, in which the polishing portion of the discharge electrode can be formed with a simple configuration, and the pin head at the tip of the discharge electrode can be constantly maintained in a polished state. You.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of an electric discharge type line printer incorporating a print head cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a conventional discharge breakdown type line printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electric discharge destruction type line printer 11 Card passage 12 Magnetic card 13 Earth roller 14 Rubber roller 15 Cam 16 Print head 16a Discharge electrode 17 Platen 18 Polishing part

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A print head having a large number of discharge electrodes arranged in the width direction of a print is moved up and down at the time of printing, so that the discharge electrodes are transported through a passage. In a discharge breakdown type line printer that performs printing on the surface of the magnetic card by discharging the conductive layer provided on the magnetic card and the discharge electrode of the print head, the platen includes:
It has a peripheral length longer than the length of the magnetic card to be printed in the longitudinal direction, and at the position in front of the front end of the card at the time of printing, a part of the platen in the circumferential direction serves as a polishing portion. And at the time of printing, at least before printing the card, by contacting the discharge electrode of the print head with the polishing portion of the platen, whereby the tip of the discharge electrode is cleaned. To clean the print head. 2. The print head cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the polishing portion of the platen is subjected to a diamond electrodeposition process.