JP3174284B2 - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing by transferring ink applied to a printing plate onto a printing surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a pad printing machine for printing on a curved printing surface such as a golf ball, ink is repeatedly applied to the pad plate every time the pad plate reciprocates, and the ink applied to the pad plate is transferred. Printing is performed by the member being sequentially transferred to the surface of each golf ball.

[0003]

In a printing apparatus such as a pad printing machine, an ink containing a volatile solvent is used. Therefore, the solvent contained in the ink volatilizes during printing, and the viscosity of the ink changes with time. However, there is a problem that the print quality varies. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to maintain a constant ink viscosity by suppressing a change in ink viscosity over time in a printing apparatus using a volatile ink.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus.
An ink chamber for storing the ink to be applied to the pad plate is formed in a hermetically sealed state so that the pad plate can be inserted into and taken out of the ink chamber. Characterized in that a solvent container for containing a solvent that is maintained in a saturated state filled with is provided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, while the ink in the ink chamber formed in a densely open state is applied to the pad plate and printing is performed, the volatile gas generated by the solvent in the solvent container charged into the ink chamber is discharged. The ink chamber is filled, the ink chamber is saturated with the volatile gas, the volatilization of the solvent contained in the ink is suppressed, and the temporal change of the ink viscosity is suppressed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a scraping blade scrapes off excess ink applied to the printing plate when the pad plate advances outside the ink chamber. Are sealed in a closed manner.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the ink scraping function, the scraping blade for scraping excess ink out of the ink applied to the pad plate has a function of sealingly closing the entrance and exit of the ink chamber. Will be added.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In a printing apparatus (pad printing machine) for printing a work having a curved printing surface such as a golf ball using a volatile ink, a work W to be printed on a front portion of the base 1. Is mounted on a set table 3 attached to the upper end.

As shown in FIG. 1, a rear end of a print head 5 having a front end extended above a clamp member 2 is joined to an upper end of a pillar 4 erected on the rear of the base 1. The print head 5 is provided with a transfer member 6 which is installed so as to be capable of horizontal movement control and vertical movement control, is formed to be elastically compressible and deformable, and transfers ink to transfer it to the work W. ing.

During the printing operation, the transfer member 6 is controlled to move to a position immediately above the work W and to a position behind the work W.
Is controlled at the position immediately above and at the position behind it.

A box-shaped box body 7 in which an ink chamber 8 for storing a volatile printing ink is hermetically sealed is provided above the pillar 4 and below the print head 5.

The box body 7 is provided with sliders 9 which are slidably supported in the front-rear direction by both side wall plates of the box body 7 and are installed horizontally.

The slider 9 is connected to the tip of a piston rod 10a of a cylinder 10 fixed to a rear wall plate of the box body 7, and is driven by the cylinder 10 to be controlled to move between a forward position and a backward position.

On the slider 9, a printing pad plate 11 that is put in and out of the ink chamber 8 is installed and accommodates ink applied to the pad plate 11, and is fixed to the slider 9. The installed ink tray 12 is provided. An ink reservoir is formed on the upper surface of the pad plate 11 so as to be depressed in accordance with the print content.

The ink tray 12 moves horizontally with the slider 9, and when the slider 9 moves forward, the pad plate 1 is moved.
1 moves from the inside of the ink chamber 8 to the outside through the entrance 8a of the ink chamber 8, and when the slider 9 retreats, the pad plate 11 passes through the entrance 8a of the ink chamber 8,
From inside to outside.

As shown in FIG. 3, the front end of the upper wall plate 7a of the box body 7 has an entrance 8a of the ink chamber 8 in a state where the pad plate 11 can be inserted into and removed from the inside and outside of the ink chamber 8. A scraping blade (doctor blade) having both a function of sealing in a sealed manner and a function of scraping excess ink out of the ink applied to the pad plate 11 by sliding on the upper surface of the pad plate 11. The upper end of 14 is connected via a hinge member 13.

As shown in FIG. 3, the scraping blade 14 is suspended so as to be swingable in the front-rear direction with the hinge member 13 at the upper end edge thereof as a swing fulcrum.
a flexible portion 14a slidably in contact with the pad plate 11 is formed at its lower end so as to be elastically deformable.

As shown in FIG. 4, behind the scraping blade 14, the upper wall plate 7a of the box body 7 is provided with the ink in the ink tray 12 when the pad plate 11 enters the inside of the ink chamber 8. Blade 1 that scrapes in and applies to pad plate 11
5 are connected to each other via a hinge member 15a.

When the pad plate 11 retreats from the forward end and advances into the ink chamber 8, the ink in the ink tray 12 is scraped by the return blade 15 and applied to the retreating pad plate 11.

When the pad plate 11 advances from the retracted end and advances to the outside of the ink chamber 8, excess ink of the ink applied to the pad plate 11 is scraped by the scraping blade 14 and transferred to the ink. Remains in the recesses of the pad plate.

With the pad plate 11 advanced to the forward end, the transfer member 6 descends and is pressed against the pad plate 11, and the ink applied to the pad plate 11 is stamped on the transfer member 6.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer member 6 rises and advances to a position immediately above the work W at the rising end position, and then descends and is pressed against the work w, thereby causing the transfer member 6 to move downward. Is transferred to the work W.

A solvent container 1 containing a solvent that fills the ink chamber 8 with a volatile gas during a printing operation and keeps the inside of the ink chamber 8 saturated with the volatile gas is provided in the inner part of the ink chamber 8.
6 are charged.

The solvent is stored in the solvent container 16 while being immersed in, for example, a waste cloth.

During the printing operation, the solvent contained in the solvent container 16 evaporates and the volatile gas fills the ink chamber 8, and the solvent contained in the ink evaporates from the volatile gas filled in the ink chamber 8. The change in ink viscosity over time due to evaporation of the solvent is suppressed, and the ink viscosity is kept constant.

According to the above-described embodiment, the ink viscosity can be kept constant by suppressing the temporal change of the ink viscosity during the printing operation, and the print quality can be improved and stabilized with time.

Further, the ink chamber 8 is moved by the scraping blade 14.
The entrance 8a is sealed, so that a mechanism for storing ink in a sealed state and optimizing the state of ink application to the pad plate 11 can be simplified and made compact.

[0028]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the ink viscosity can be kept constant by preventing the ink viscosity from changing over time during the printing operation, and the printing quality can be improved and stabilized over time. it can.

According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to simplify and downsize the mechanism for storing the ink in a sealed state and optimizing the application state of the ink to the pad plate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is also a side view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a box body and an ink tray.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a box body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Box body 8 Ink chamber 11 Pad plate 12 Ink tray 14 Scraping blade 16 Solvent container

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41F 17/34 B41M 1/40 B41F 3/38 B41F 3/81

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An ink chamber for storing ink applied to a pad plate is formed in a sealed state so that the pad plate can be taken in and out of the ink chamber. A printing apparatus, comprising: a solvent container that stores a solvent that holds the ink chamber in a saturated state filled with a volatile gas. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the excess ink applied to the printing plate is scraped off when the pad plate advances to the outside of the ink chamber. Item 6. The printing device according to Item 1.