JP5777414B2 - Sorting ink application unit and printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sorting ink application unit for performing coloring for sorting on a side surface of a printing medium in a printer, and in particular, sorting for coloring by pressing a rubber stamp with ink attached to a side surface of a printing medium to be conveyed. The present invention relates to an ink application unit. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a printer equipped with such a sorting ink application unit.

  In a printer that prints on a label or a tag, for example, a label having a predetermined length is temporarily attached on a long belt-like mount (separator) as a print medium (hereinafter also referred to as “paper”) at regular intervals. A continuous label or a strip-shaped sheet for tag production is used. The paper is conveyed by a platen roller, and printing is performed on a label, a tag, or the like using a thermal head provided facing the platen roller.

  Further, a printed sheet is cut at a predetermined interval by using a cutter unit built in the printer. Cut sheets such as tags are fed into a stacker arranged adjacent to the printer and stacked in the printed order. At that time, in order to be able to sort even when the tags are stacked, the printer uses a sorting ink application unit that applies color to the side of the paper by pressing an ink roller against the side of the paper being conveyed. Sorting methods that have been proposed are proposed.

  As a related technique, Patent Document 1 discloses a sorting method in which a visible mark is provided on the side surface of a continuous sheet and the sorting operation can be performed efficiently. The paper sorting method of Patent Document 1 uses coloring means for separating a predetermined number of sheets printed and stacked by a printer device. The coloring means includes a colorant-containing material containing a colorant, an inner half cylinder that houses the colorant-containing material, and an outer half cylinder that has a larger diameter than the inner half cylinder and rotates the inner half cylinder. When the inner half cylinder is located on the same side as the outer half cylinder, there is a portion exposed to the outside without being surrounded by either the inner half cylinder or the outer half cylinder, and the paper on which the colorant-containing material is traveling Using the fact that the colorant-containing material is completely surrounded by either the inner half cylinder or the outer half cylinder and does not color when the inner half cylinder is located on the side facing the outer half cylinder. While feeding the paper, coloring is performed as a mark at a predetermined position on the side surface of the paper without soiling the surface of the paper.

  However, in the conventional method in which the ink roller is directly pressed against the side surface of the paper, it is difficult to control the amount of ink filled in the ink roller, and the amount of ink applied to the paper cannot be limited. Therefore, more than necessary ink is applied to the side surface of the sheet in the sorting immediately after the ink is filled, causing the ink to reach the surface of the sheet and stain the sheet. If the ink adheres to the surface of the paper, there is a possibility that even the original purpose of the paper to accurately display information printed on the paper may be hindered. Further, in the process of stacking the sheets by the printer device, since more ink than necessary is applied, the ink adheres to the sheets positioned above and below, which causes the efficiency of sorting work to be lowered.

JP 2000-159424 A

  In view of the above points, the present invention is a method immediately after filling a sorting ink or replacing an ink roller in the sorting ink application unit when using a sorting ink application unit that colors a side surface of a printing medium in a printer. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily limit the amount of ink applied. Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer equipped with such a sorting ink application unit.

The present invention that solves the above-described problems is a sorting ink application unit that applies coloration to a side surface of a printing medium in a printer, and the sorting ink application unit advances and retreats to a side surface of the printing medium. A sorting ink application apparatus provided with a transfer member capable of contacting and separating, and positioned between the printing medium and the transfer member, and capable of contacting and separating from the transfer member according to the advance and retreat of the transfer member, An assortment ink application unit comprising: an ink supply device including an ink supply member that attaches a predetermined amount of ink to the transfer member when contacting the transfer member.
In addition, the ink application device includes a solenoid having an electromagnetic coil that receives a current from the printer, a shaft that moves as a piston moves when the electromagnetic coil receives a current, a transfer member provided at a tip of the shaft, A stopper member provided at a rear end of the shaft; and a first urging member that urges the shaft. The ink supply device includes a movable bracket having an opening, and a moving direction of the shaft. An ink supply member that is positioned and abuts the transfer member, is held by the movable bracket and is filled with a fixed amount of ink, and a link shaft that has one end fixed to the movable bracket and the other end fixed to the shaft And a second urging member for urging the movable bracket in the movable direction, respectively. It resides in the coating unit.
In the movable bracket, the relative position between the solenoid and the ink supply device can be changed by the link shaft pressing the movable bracket toward the second urging member by the piston movement. A sorting ink application unit characterized by that.
Further, in the sorting ink application unit, the solenoid is attached to the printer by a plurality of screws via a solenoid bracket.
The transfer member may have a shape having two or more different widths on a surface in contact with the ink roller.
A printing unit that performs printing by sandwiching the supplied printing medium between a platen roller and a thermal head, and a sorting ink application that applies predetermined ink to the side surface of the printing medium conveyed by the rotational drive of the platen roller. A printer comprising: a unit; a cutter unit that cuts a print medium to which a predetermined ink is applied by the sorting ink application unit into a desired length; and a discharge port for discharging the print medium to the outside. The sorting ink application unit is positioned between the printing medium and the transfer member, and the sorting ink application device including a transfer member that can be moved toward and away from the side surface of the printing medium. The transfer member can be brought into contact with and separated from the transfer member according to the advance and retreat of the transfer member, and when the transfer member comes into contact with the transfer member, a predetermined amount with respect to the transfer member. Resides in the printer, characterized in that it and an ink supply apparatus provided with an ink supply member for attaching the ink.

According to the present invention, the surface of the rubber stamp provided at the tip of the shaft of the solenoid is once brought into contact with the ink supply member filled with ink, and then the link shaft that connects the shaft and the bracket holding the ink supply member. This is a case where an ink crawler containing a large amount of ink immediately after ink filling is used by retracting the ink supply member from the path of the rubber stamp and the surface of the rubber stamp to which the ink has adhered contacts the side surface of the conveyed paper. However, it is possible to perform a stable sorting operation by limiting the amount of ink applied to the side surface of the paper to a fixed amount. Further, by limiting the amount of ink, there is no possibility of smearing the surface of other sheets stacked.
In addition, by changing the position of the rubber stamp in the height direction with respect to the paper as the shape of the surface of the rubber stamp in contact with the paper 1 is changed, the application width of the ink applied to the side surface of the paper can be easily changed. I can do it.

2 is a schematic side view of the printer 20. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sorting ink application unit 10 when a rubber stamp 97 comes into contact with the side surface of the paper 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sorting ink application unit 10 when a rubber stamp 97 comes into contact with the side surface of the paper 1. It is a figure which shows the width W1 of the rubber stamp 97. FIG. It is a figure which shows the width W2 of the rubber stamp 97. FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is used about the same component and the detail is abbreviate | omitted.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a printer equipped with a sorting ink application unit according to each embodiment of the present invention together with a stacker. In the following, a case where printing is performed on a strip-shaped sheet for tag production as a print medium (paper) will be described as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper 1 is rotatably supported on a paper supply shaft 23 provided in the housing of the printer 20 as a roll paper 3 wound in a roll shape. The paper 1 pulled out from the paper supply shaft 23 is supplied between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22 and is nipped and conveyed by the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22. At this time, the guide roller 24 guides the paper 1 drawn from the paper supply shaft 23 between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22.

  Further, the ink ribbon 2 is stretched between the ribbon supply shaft 25 and the ribbon take-up shaft 26. The ribbon take-up shaft 26 is rotationally driven in conjunction with the platen roller 21. The unused ink ribbon 2 supported while being wound around the ribbon supply shaft 25 is supplied with the paper 1 between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22, and the transferred ink ribbon 2 is It is wound up by the ribbon winding shaft 26. At that time, the guide roller 27 guides the unused ink ribbon 2 supported by the ribbon supply shaft 25 between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22, and the guide rollers 28 and 29 transfer the ink ribbon after transfer. 2 is guided to the ribbon take-up shaft 26.

  The platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22 constitute a printing unit for printing on the paper 1. The platen roller 21 is driven and rotated by a motor provided in the housing, thereby conveying the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 at the same speed in the same direction. The thermal head 22 has a plurality of fine heating elements that generate heat when an electric current flows in the width direction, and is disposed to face the platen roller 21 with the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 interposed therebetween. Printing is performed by applying a voltage to these heating elements to cause the heating elements to generate heat by passing a current and transferring the ink on the ink ribbon 2 onto the paper 1.

  The sorting ink application unit 10 according to each embodiment of the present invention is a device that performs coloration for sorting on the side surface of the paper 1 in the printer 20, and is provided at the subsequent stage of the printing unit. The sorting ink application unit 10, under the control of the control unit 50, presses a rubber stamp 97 with ink attached to the side surface of the paper 1 that has passed through the position of the thermal head 22, so that it is applied to the side surface of the paper 1 as necessary. Coloring for sorting.

  Further, a cutter unit 30 is provided at the subsequent stage (downstream in the transport direction) of the sorting ink application unit 10. Under the control of the control unit 50, the cutter unit 30 cuts the paper 1 that has passed the position of the sorting ink application unit 10 at a predetermined interval. Thereby, the paper 1 is separated into individual tags. The separated tags are discharged from the printer 20, sent to a stacker 80 disposed adjacent to the printer 20, and stacked in the printed order.

  The input unit 40 includes a plurality of operation keys and / or an interface connected to an external host computer, and is used to operate the printer 20. The control unit 50 includes, for example, a CPU and software, and controls the operation of each unit of the printer 20. The display unit 60 includes an LCD panel for displaying error messages and the like, and performs various displays based on signals supplied from the control unit 50. The power supply unit 70 supplies power to each unit of the printer 20.

Next, the operation of the printer shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail.
With the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 being sandwiched between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22, the motor rotates the platen roller 21 so that the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 are upstream in the transport direction (right side in the figure). ) To the downstream side in the transport direction (left side in the figure). By supplying a print signal to the thermal head 22 while conveying the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 in this way, the heating element of the thermal head 22 generates heat and printing on the paper 1 is performed. The printing operation is controlled by the control unit 50 based on the printing information input to the input unit 40.

  For example, when printing 30 tags for company A and then printing 20 tags for company B, the control unit 50 determines that the company A is based on the print contents and the number of prints included in the print information. The sorting ink application unit 10 is controlled so as to color the side face of the 30th tag for the company or the first tag for the B company. Alternatively, the control unit 50 applies a sorting ink so that printing is not performed on one tag following the 30th tag for the company A so as to make a dummy tag, and the side of the dummy tag is colored for sorting. The unit 10 may be controlled.

  The printed paper 1 is cut by a cutter unit 30 provided in the vicinity of the label discharge port, separated into individual tags, and discharged to the outside from the label discharge port. Tags discharged from the printer 20 are sent to a stacker 80 disposed adjacent to the printer 20 and stacked in order from the bottom in the printed order. At that time, even in a state where a large number of tags are stacked, these tags can be sorted with reference to tags whose side surfaces are colored.

  Next, the sorting ink application unit 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views of the sorting ink application unit 10 provided in the vicinity of the paper 1.

The sorting ink application unit 10 is mainly composed of an ink application device 91 and an ink supply device 107.
The ink application device 91 includes a solenoid 93 having an electromagnetic coil (not shown) therein, a solenoid bracket 108 that supports the solenoid 93 on the printer 20, a shaft 95 projecting from the inside of the solenoid 93, and one end of the shaft 95. Is provided with a rubber stamp 97, a stopper member 100 at the other end, and a torsion coil spring 94 for urging the shaft 95. Each is described in detail below. In this embodiment, the rubber stamp is used as a member for applying ink to the side surface of the tag. However, the member is not limited to the rubber stamp as long as the member can transfer ink to the side surface of the tag.

  The electromagnetic coil inside the solenoid 93 generates a certain magnetic action by the current received from the printer 20, and uses this magnetic action to convert the shaft 95 into a linear motion in the direction of the paper 1 with a force repelling the magnetism. As a result, the shaft 95 can move straight in the direction of the paper 1 or can move straight in the opposite direction of the paper 1 according to the urging force of the torsion coil spring 94 by stopping the current (hereinafter referred to as “piston movement” as appropriate).

  The shaft 95 is provided from the inside of the solenoid 93 toward the paper 1 direction, and a rubber stamp 97 is provided at the tip. A stopper member 100 is provided at the rear end of the shaft 95, and a torsion coil spring 94 is provided between the stopper member 100 and the solenoid 93. The torsion coil spring 94 repels a load applied from the stopper member 100 when the stopper member 100 advances straight in the paper 1 direction, that is, when the shaft 95 advances straight in the paper 1 direction.

  The solenoid bracket 108 is formed with four screw holes 96a that are long in the height direction, and are supported by the printer 20 through the screw holes 96a. Therefore, the solenoid 93 can be adjusted in the height direction by fixing or releasing the screw 96b. The height direction refers to a direction perpendicular to the side surface of the paper 1.

One end of the link shaft 102 is attached to the shaft 95 by a screw 99b, and the other end is connected and attached to the movable bracket 104 by a screw 99a.
As a result, as will be described later, the force acting in the piston movement direction of the ink application device 91 can be converted into the force acting in the height direction of the ink supply device 107 and transmitted.

Next, the ink supply device 107 will be described.
The ink supply device 107 includes a movable bracket 104, an ink roller 98 held by a holding shaft 105 inside the movable bracket 104, and a torsion coil spring 103 that biases the movable bracket 104 against the main body of the printer 20. .

The movable bracket 104 is formed of a cylindrical bracket having an opening 106 on one side, and the opening 106 opens downward (in the direction of the piston movement orbit of the shaft 95). An upper surface facing the opening 106 is attached to the printer 20 via a torsion coil spring 103, and an ink roller 98 filled with ink is held inside the opening 106 by a holding shaft 105.

  The ink roller 98 is a rubber stamp in which a part of the surface filled with ink protrudes downward from a position where the end of the opening 106 is connected by a straight line, and the protruding part moves straight by piston movement. 97 so as to come into contact with 97.

  Accordingly, the movable bracket 104 is interlocked with the link shaft 102 by the link shaft 102 acting on the piston movement of the shaft 95 while the rubber stamp 97 is once brought into contact with the ink roller 98 and the ink is adhered to the surface of the rubber stamp 97. Therefore, when the rubber stamp 97 is brought into contact with the ink roller 98, the movable bracket 104 does not hinder the piston movement of the shaft 97.

  Further, the ink refilling operation of the ink roller 98 can be easily performed, and the holding shaft 105 can be removed by screwing or the like (not shown), so that the ink can be refilled by replacing the ink roller 98. It is also possible to do it easily.

  The torsion coil spring 103 is provided in a state where the movable bracket 104 is pressed downward, and is an elastic member that urges against a pressing force from the direction of the opening 106.

  In this embodiment, the ink roller 98 is used as the ink supply member. However, the ink supply member may be any material and shape that contains ink and can be filled. For example, a felt material can be used. The rubber stamp 97 can be flat.

Next, operations of the ink application device 91 and the ink supply device 107 will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which no current is sent to the solenoid 93, that is, a state in which electricity is not passed through the electromagnetic coil and the shaft 95 is stopped without moving linearly toward the paper 1 direction. When no current is sent to the solenoid 93, no magnetic force is applied to the shaft 95 in the direction of the paper 1, so that no load is applied from the stopper member 100 to the torsion coil spring 94.

  A rubber stamp 97 provided at the tip of the shaft 95 is in contact with the surface of the ink roller 98 and is located away from the side surface of the paper 1. Therefore, ink is not applied to the side surface of the paper 1 when the shaft 95 is stopped. On the other hand, since the rubber stamp 97 is in contact with the surface of the ink roller 98, the rubber stamp 97 is in a state where ink is attached.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state where current is sent to the solenoid 93, that is, a state where the shaft 95 moves in a piston direction toward the paper 1 and the rubber stamp 97 is in contact with the side surface of the paper 1. At this time, since the magnetic force that moves the shaft 95 straight in the direction of the sheet 1 is acting, a load is applied from the stopper member 100 to the torsion coil spring 94, and the torsion coil spring 94 is urged against the load.

  The ink roller 98 is pressed toward the side surface of the paper 1 by the shaft 95, but the movable bracket 104 is moved upward (in the direction of the opening 106) by the link shaft 102 connecting the shaft 95 and the movable bracket 104. Can be retreated against the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 103 from the piston motion trajectory of the shaft 95 in the opposite direction), so that the position of the movable bracket 104 changes. As a result, the contact state between the rubber stamp 97 and the ink roller 98 is released.

  After the contact between the rubber stamp 97 and the ink roller 98 is released, the shaft 95 further advances straight in the direction of the side surface of the paper 1, and the linear movement of the shaft 95 is stopped at a position where the rubber stamp 97 contacts the side surface of the paper 1. The At this time, the ink adhering to the surface of the rubber stamp 97 is applied to the side surface of the paper 1.

  The rubber stamp 97 comes into contact with the side surface of the paper 1 and ink is applied to the side surface of the paper 1, and then the current sent to the solenoid 93 stops, and the shaft 95 causes the stopper member 100 to be biased by the torsion coil spring 94. The shaft 95 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 2 because it is biased in the direction opposite to the side surface direction of the sheet 1. At the same time, the link shaft 102 returns to the position shown in FIG. As the position of the link shaft 102 returns to the position shown in FIG. 2, the movable bracket 104 also returns downward (in the direction of the piston movement trajectory of the shaft 95) and the resistance to the urging force of the torsion coil spring 103 is released. The Therefore, the ink roller 98 is again positioned on the path of the piston movement of the shaft 95, and the rubber stamp 97 and the surface of the ink roller 98 are in contact with each other.

  By repeating the above operation under the control of the control unit 50, it becomes possible to apply ink to the first or last xth sheet of each type of paper 1 or the side surface of the dummy tag.

  As described above, the rubber stamp 97 is once pressed against the ink roller 98 that has been filled or replaced with ink, and then the ink roller 98 is retracted together with the movable bracket 104, and the rubber stamp 97 is pressed against the side surface of the paper 1. A certain amount of ink can be applied regardless of the remaining amount of the filled ink. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the paper 1 from being smeared by applying more ink than necessary to the side surface of the paper 1.

  4A and 4B are views showing the shape of the rubber stamp 97, FIG. 4A is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 4B is a front view of the rubber stamp 97 viewed from the paper 1 direction. The rubber stamp 97 has a substantially trapezoidal surface that contacts the surface of the ink roller 98. For example, when the rubber stamp 97 shown in FIG. 4A is pressed against the side surface of the paper 1, it can be pressed against the side surface of the paper 1 by the width W1 by pressing the upper bottom side of the rubber stamp 97.

When the rubber stamp 97 shown in FIG. 4 is pressed against the side surface of the paper 1, the paper having a width W2 wider than the width W1 shown in FIG. 5 is pressed by pressing the lower bottom side relatively than the width W1 shown in FIG. 1 can be pressed against the side.
At this time, the width W1 and the width W2 are not limited to the width of the illustrated portion, and the length may be within the range of the surface of the rubber stamp 97 so that the width W1 <the width W2.

  Accordingly, when the position of the solenoid bracket 108, that is, the solenoid 93 in the height direction is changed with the plurality of screws 96 that support the solenoid bracket 108, the rubber stamp 97 is pressed against the side surface of the paper 1. Since the position also changes in the same manner, the width of ink applied to the side surface of the paper 1 can be arbitrarily changed to W1 or W2.

  Therefore, in order to make it easy to sort the paper 1 by type, the application width of the ink to be applied can be easily changed.

  In this embodiment, the shape of the rubber stamp 97 is substantially trapezoidal, but it may be reversed so that W1> W2 is obtained as an inverted trapezoid.

  Further, the shape of the rubber stamp 97 is not limited to a trapezoidal shape, and may be a triangular or inverted triangular shape or a circular shape. That is, the width of the rubber stamp 97 in contact with the side surface of the paper 1 may be a shape provided with two or more different widths when the position of the solenoid 93 is changed in the height direction.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper 2 Ink ribbon 3 Roll paper 10 Sorting ink application unit 20 Printer 21 Platen roller 22 Thermal head 23 Paper supply part 24 Guide roller 25 Ribbon supply axis 26 Ribbon take-up axis 30 Cutter unit 40 Input part 50 Control part 60 Display part 70 Power supply unit 80 Stacker 91 Ink application device 93 Solenoid 94, 103 Torsion coil spring 95 Shaft 96a, 99a, 99b Screw 96b Screw hole 97 Rubber stamp 98 Ink roller 100 Stopper member 102 Link shaft 104 Movable bracket 105 Holding shaft 106 Opening portion 107 Ink supply device 108 Solenoid bracket

Claims (5)

A sorting ink application unit for coloring a side surface of a printing medium in a printer for sorting,
The sorting ink application unit has a sorting ink application device and an ink supply device,
The sorting ink application device includes: a solenoid having an electromagnetic coil that receives a current from the printer; a shaft that moves as a piston when the electromagnetic coil receives a current; a transfer member provided at a tip of the shaft; A stopper member provided at the rear end of the shaft; a first urging member that urges the shaft; and a transfer member that advances and retreats to and from the side surface of the printing medium ,
The ink supply device includes: a movable bracket having an opening; an ink supply member that is positioned in a moving direction of the shaft and is in contact with the transfer member; and is held by the movable bracket and filled with a certain amount of ink; A link shaft having one end fixed to the movable bracket and the other end fixed to the shaft; and a second urging member that urges the movable bracket in a movable direction. located between the transfer member, together with the enabling transfer member and contact and separation in accordance with the advance and retreat of the transfer member, by attaching predetermined amount of ink to the transfer member when in contact with the transfer member Turkey A sorting ink application unit characterized by the above.   In the movable bracket, the relative position between the solenoid and the ink supply device can be changed by the link shaft pressing the movable bracket toward the second urging member by the piston movement. The sorting ink application unit according to claim 1. The solenoid sorting inking unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in, that are attach via a solenoid bracket to the printer. The transfer member is capable of changing a position with a side surface of the printing medium to be contacted,
Sorting inking unit according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in, that a shape having a side surface and dude different widths in a position abutting said printing medium before and after the change of the position. A printer comprising the sorting ink application unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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