JP2967330B2 - Tube printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent wrinkles from generating in an ink ribbon caused by winding of the ink ribbon around a tube at a preceding side of a printing position, in a tube printer for printing characters on tubes. CONSTITUTION: This tube printer comprises a tube conveying roller, a thermal head 10, a platen roller 11, and a protrusion 12 arranged at a position opposite to the platen roller 11 near the upstream side of the thermal head 10. At a preceding side of the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 11, a tube 4 and an ink ribbon 62 are pinched with pressure by the protrusion 12 and the platen roller 11, and the cylindrical tube 4 is conveyed being crushed in stages, so that the ink ribbon 62 hardly winds around the tube 4 and generation of wrinkles in the ink ribbon 62 can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tube printer for printing characters and the like on a tube attached to an electric wire wired to a switchboard or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer method is generally used as a printing method of a conventional tube printer. As shown in FIG.
8 and the ink ribbon 19 were sandwiched between the thermal head 20 and the platen roller 21, and printing was performed while pressing.

[0003]

However, since the tube has a cylindrical shape, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, before the thermal head 20 and the platen roller 21 sandwich the ink ribbon 19 into the tube 18. Since the ink ribbon 19 is conveyed so as to be wrapped around, the ink ribbon 19 may be wrinkled. As shown in FIG. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to prevent the ink ribbon from winding around a tube and prevent printed characters from having white spots.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems A tube printer according to the present invention includes a conveying means for conveying a tube, a platen roller, an ink ribbon, and a contact / separation mechanism with respect to the platen roller.
With a thermal head that can move in
Tube and ink ribbon by roller and thermal head
In a tube printer that prints while crushing
The thermal head tube when printing the tube.
Near the upstream side of the feeding direction and viewed from the tube
Position from the tip of the thermal head.
Contact the tube and move the tube
It is characterized in that it has a tube regulating protrusion having a width wider than the width of the tube, and it is preferable that the tube regulating protrusion is provided integrally with the thermal head. Tube shape transfer
Are preferably formed in an arc shape in the orthogonal direction.

[0005]

The tube printer of the present invention has a tube pre-
A near the upstream side of the tube carrying direction of the thermal head during cement with a thermal head as viewed from the tube conveyor line
The tube is conveyed between the thermal head and the platen roller while crushing the tube in a stepwise manner by the tube restricting projection at a position pulled from the tip of the tube . Thereby , the winding of the ink ribbon around the tube is prevented.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of a printing unit of the tube printer according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an overall plan view of the printer, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a printing unit of the tube printer.

The tube printer 1 is a thermal transfer type printer, and has a display unit 2 and an input unit 3 using a keyboard.
And a printing unit 5 for printing characters and the like on the tube 4. The ink ribbon cassette 6 is detachable.

The tube transport roller 7 transports the tube 4 and is driven by a motor (not shown).
The tube insertion path 8 is an insertion opening of the tube 4 and guides the tube 4 toward the tube transport roller 7. The tube guide 9 is paired with a part 61 of the ink ribbon cassette 6 and connects the tube 4 with the thermal head 10. It is guided between the platen rollers 11.

The thermal head 10 is provided so as to be able to freely move toward and away from the platen roller 11 via a motor (not shown) and a known mechanism, and moves toward the platen roller 11 during printing shown in FIG. And the ink ribbon 62 is pressed.

[0010] protrusion 12 is provided in the vicinity of the upstream side in the conveying direction of the tube 4 from the thermal head 10, Ji
From the tip of the thermal head when viewed from the tube transfer line
It is located in the retracted position. Also, as shown in FIG.
The width of the tube transport in the orthogonal direction is wider than the tube width
In addition, the central portion 13 has an arc shape closer to the platen roller 11 than both ends . The distance between the protrusion 12 and the platen roller 11 is configured to be smaller than the diameter of the tube 4.

The platen roller 11 is rotated by a motor (not shown), and the tube 4 is conveyed by a pair of rollers 14 toward the half-cutting means 15 and the cutter 16. The half cut means 15 is a cutter for cutting while leaving a part of the tube 4, and the cutter 16 is for cutting the tube 4.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the user inputs an instruction to start printing, first, the tube 4 is transported leftward in the figure by driving the tube transport roller 7.

When the distal end of the tube 4 passes through the tube guide 9 and reaches between the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 11, the transportation of the tube 4 is temporarily stopped, and the thermal head 10 is moved toward the platen roller 11. The tube 4 and the ink ribbon 62 are pressed. At this time, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the tube 4 and the ink ribbon 62 are slightly crushed by the protrusion 12 and the platen roller 11 on the upstream side (left side in FIG. 1) of the thermal head 10.

Subsequently, the tube transport roller 7 and the platen roller 11 are rotated to transport the tube 4 again, and at the same time, transport the ink ribbon 62 to print predetermined characters. At this time, the tube 4 on the upstream side of the thermal head 10
Then, printing is performed with the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 11 completely crushed.

By crushing and deforming the cylindrical tube 4 in a stepwise manner as described above, the ink ribbon 62 is hardly wound around the tube 4, and the protrusion 12 is formed in an arc so that the ink ribbon 62 is formed. The tube 4
Is prevented from winding around the tube 4.

Next, when a predetermined character is printed on the tube 4 and the tube 4 is conveyed to a predetermined length, the tube 4 is half-cut by the half-cutting means 15, and the printing process on the tube 4 and the half-cut process are performed. When the cutting process is repeatedly performed for a predetermined number of times, the user cuts the tube 4 with the cutter 16 to complete the creation of the mark tube.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a printing portion of a tube printer according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the projection 17 has a straight line in contact with the ink ribbon 62, and The tube 4 is slightly crushed by the platen roller 12, whereby the tube 4 is deformed step by step, so that the ink ribbon 62 is hardly wound around the tube 4.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the tube transfer line is located near the upstream side of the thermal head in the tube transfer direction.
From the top of the thermal head
Contact with the tube and
Tube control protrusion with width in the cross direction wider than tube width
By providing a part, the ink ribbon and the cylindrical tube
Before crushing with thermal head and platen roller
Crushed and transported to the thermal head.
Printing without wrapping the ribbon around the tube
Thus, it is possible to prevent printing white spots due to wrinkles of the ink ribbon. Further, by providing the tube regulating protrusion integrally with the thermal head, the movement of the tube regulating protrusion can be linked with the movement of the thermal head, and the configuration can be simplified. This tube regulatory impact further
The shape of the contact surface of the tube with the tube
By making the direction of the arc, the ink ribbon is warped in the opposite direction to the tube, and the winding around the tube can be further prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of a printing unit of a tube printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an overall plan view of the tube printer.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a printing unit of the tube printer.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a printing unit of a tube printer according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a printing unit of a conventional tube printer.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a printing unit of a conventional tube printer.

FIG. 7 is a printing state diagram of a conventional tube printer.

[Description of sign]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tube printer 4 Tube 6 Ink ribbon cassette 62 Ink ribbon 10 Thermal head 11 Platen roller 12 Projection 17 Projection

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transporting means for transporting a tube, a platen roller, an ink ribbon, and a platen roller.
And possess a movable thermal head contact and separation direction, Pla
Tube and ink by ten roller and thermal head
In a tube printer that prints while squeezing the ribbon, the tube transport line is located near the upstream side of the thermal head in the tube transport direction during tube printing.
From the tip of the thermal head
Positioned and in contact with tubes and orthogonal to tube transport
A tube printer comprising a tube restricting projection having a width in a direction wider than a width of a tube. 2. The tube printer according to claim 1, wherein the tube regulating projection is provided integrally with the thermal head. Wherein the shape of the contact surface between the tube of the tube restricting projection, the tube printer according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that an arc-shaped in an orthogonal direction of the tube conveying.