JP6248237B2 - Printing device and cutting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a cutting apparatus, and in particular, a printing apparatus including a printing unit that performs a printing process on a flexible long recording medium and a cutting unit that performs a cutting process on the recording medium, and a flexible printing apparatus. The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus that performs a cutting process on a long recording medium having a property.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing apparatuses such as tube printers that perform printing processing on a flexible long recording medium such as a tube and cut the recording medium are widely known. In such a printing apparatus, a transport path for transporting the recording medium is provided, and characters or the like are printed on the recording medium in the printing unit, and a cutting unit (on the downstream side in the medium transport direction of the printing unit ( The recording medium is cut into a desired length by a cutting device. Further, such a printing apparatus includes a control unit that controls printing processing of the printing unit and cutting processing of the cutting unit based on the input print information and cutting information.

  In this type of printing apparatus, since the recording medium is long and flexible, various techniques have been disclosed in relation to the structure of a cutting portion having a cutter blade.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a cutter blade receiver having a half-cut surface and a full-cut surface that are disposed at a position facing the cutter blade and has a restricting portion (ridge) that regulates the amount of movement of the cutter blade, and a cutter blade There is disclosed a cutting device and a printing device provided with a cutter blade receiver driving means for moving a receiver and switching a receiving surface corresponding to the cutter blade.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, when the cutter blade cuts the recording medium, the cutter blade protrudes from the cutter holder toward the cutter blade receiver as the cutter holder moves toward the cutter blade receiver, and cuts the recording medium. A cutter mechanism is disclosed in which the cutter blade retracts while the cutter blade returns and the recording medium is separated from the cutter holder. Further, in order to prevent the recording medium from being positioned on the curved portion on the conveyance path and causing the recording medium to bend and wrinkle, in Patent Document 3, the recording medium is removed after a predetermined time has elapsed since the cutting to the recording medium is completed. A rewind printing device is disclosed.

  Further, in Patent Document 4, after a tape base is cut with a cutter blade, a pressing member (wire spring) that presses the print tape until the cutter blade is completely detached from the tape base is provided adjacent to the cutter blade. A tape half-cutting device is disclosed. Furthermore, Patent Document 5 includes a half-cut means composed of a cutter blade and a cutter blade receiver having a cutter movement restricting projection, a drive source for operating the half-cut means, and a drive transmission cam. A printing apparatus that controls the amount of half-cut movement based on the changed cutting depth is disclosed.

JP 2002-137864 A (refer to claim 1 and FIG. 4) JP 2007-111182 A (refer to claim 1 and FIG. 6) JP-A-2005-313410 (refer to claim 1) JP 2002-255434 A (refer to claim 1 and FIG. 4) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-263866 (see claim 1, FIG. 1)

  By the way, the product specifications of this type of printing apparatus are said to have productivity (number of cuts) per minute, and one of the market requirements is to increase productivity. That is, for example, in order to cut a tube, since a tube of about φ6 (mm) is generally used, the width of the conveying path is φ6 or more, and the cutter blade moves a distance corresponding to the width of the conveying path. Then, the tube is cut. However, in order to cut the tube, a corresponding cutting time is required, and it is required to shorten the cutting time in order to increase productivity. Moreover, since the outer diameter cross section of the tube has a circular shape or an elliptical shape, there is a possibility that lateral displacement or positional displacement may occur when the tube is transported or cut with a cutter blade.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a cutting apparatus that can perform a cutting process quickly and accurately on a recording medium.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a first aspect of the present invention is a printing apparatus, which is a printing path for conveying a flexible long recording medium, and performs a printing process on the recording medium. A printing unit, a pressing member that is provided downstream of the printing unit in the recording medium conveyance direction, and that presses the recording medium, a cutter blade, and a cutter that is disposed at a position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path A cutting unit that has a blade receiver, a driving unit that moves the pressing member and the cutter blade, and that performs a cutting process on the recording medium; and a printing process of the printing unit based on the input print information and the cutting information; A control unit that controls a cutting process of the cutting unit, wherein the control unit includes a first standby position where the pressing member and the cutter blade are retracted from the conveyance path, and the pressing member and the cutter blade are the first Waiting position The second standby position where the pressing member comes into contact with the recording medium and deforms, and the pressing member and the cutter blade advance from the second standby position to the cutter blade receiving side. Then, the driving means is controlled so that the cutter blade moves to an operating position for cutting the recording medium.

  In the first aspect, when the cutting information includes a continuous cut command indicating continuous cutting of the recording medium, the control unit presses after the cutter blade once moves to the operating position and cuts the recording medium. The driving unit may be controlled so that the member and the cutter blade repeatedly move between the second standby position and the operating position to continuously cut the recording medium.

  In addition, when the cutting information includes a half-cut mode cut command indicating that the cut information partially cuts the recording medium partially and finally cuts completely, the tip of the recording medium passes the position of the cutter blade. Until then, the pressing member and the cutter blade are positioned at the first standby position, and once the cutter blade has moved from the first standby position to the operating position and cut the recording medium in half, the pressing member and the cutter blade are moved to the first standby position. The driving means may be controlled so as to continuously halve the recording medium by repeatedly moving between the standby position 2 and the operating position. At this time, the cutter blade receiver has a receiving surface of a half cut surface and a full cut surface, the drive means further changes the receiving surface of the cutter blade receiver, and the control unit faces the cutter blade via the conveyance path. The receiving surface of the cutter blade receiver is positioned so that the half-cut surface faces the position, and the pressing member and the cutter blade are positioned at the first standby position until the tip of the recording medium passes the position of the cutter blade. After the cutter blade moves from the first standby position to the operating position and cuts the recording medium in half, the pressing member and the cutter blade repeatedly move between the second standby position and the operating position to continue the recording medium. The cutting member and the cutter blade are moved to the first standby position before full cutting, and the cutter blade holder is moved so that the entire cutting surface faces the position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path. The receiving surface is changed, and the holding member and Jitter blade may control the driving means so as to totally cut the recording medium by moving the operating position from said first standby position.

  Furthermore, the pressing member may be disposed at least on the upstream side in the recording medium conveyance direction with respect to the cutter blade, and may have an inclined portion that narrows the width of the conveyance path. In addition, the pressing member may have a concavo-convex shape on the surface contacting the recording medium or a flat surface on which a sliding sheet is attached.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a second aspect of the present invention is a cutting apparatus, which is a cutting path for conveying a long recording medium having flexibility, and a presser for pressing the recording medium. A member, a cutter blade, a cutter blade receiver disposed at a position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path, and a driving means for moving the pressing member and the cutter blade, and cutting the recording medium A cutting unit that performs processing, and a control unit that controls the cutting process of the cutting unit based on the input cutting information. The control unit includes a first unit in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are retracted from the conveyance path. A first standby position, a second standby position in which the pressing member and the cutter blade advance toward the conveyance path from the first standby position, and the pressing member contacts and deforms the recording medium, and the pressing member and Cuckoo Blade and controlling the drive means so that the second said cutter blade advanced to the cutter blade receiving side of the standby position is moved to the operative position for cutting the recording medium.

  According to the present invention, the control unit moves to the first standby position, the second standby position where the cutter blade has advanced from the first standby position to the transport path side, and the operating position where the cutter blade cuts the recording medium. Therefore, when the recording medium is continuously cut, the cutter blade moves repeatedly between the second standby position and the operating position, thereby shortening the moving distance of the cutter blade and performing the cutting process. In addition to being able to speedily increase productivity, the pressing member contacts and deforms and presses the recording medium at the second standby position before the cutter blade cuts the recording medium. Since it further advances to the cutter blade receiving side and presses the recording medium, it can prevent the lateral displacement of the recording medium being conveyed in the conveying path and the position deviation when the cutter blade cuts the recording medium at the operating position can be cut accurately. Can Rukoto, effect it is possible to obtain that.

1 is an external view of a tube printer according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applicable. The attachment which can be mounted | worn with the attachment part of the tube printer of embodiment is shown, (A) is a label cassette, (B) shows the top view of the attachment for tubes. It is an external appearance perspective view of the cutting part of the tube printer of an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the control part and connection system of the tube printer of embodiment. It is an operation explanatory view showing the relation between the position of the pressing member and the cutter blade and the first cam. (A) is the first standby position for the pressing member and the cutter blade, and (B) is the first position for the pressing member and the cutter blade. No. 2 standby position, (C) shows a state in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are positioned at the operating position. It is the side view seen from the arrow B side of Drawing 5 (B), and shows the state where the pressing member was positioned in the 2nd standby position, and the contact part contacted the tube and changed. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the modification of a pressing member.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tube printer that performs a cutting process by printing arbitrary characters on a recording medium such as a tube will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Constitution)
<Overall configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1, the tube printer 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to be portable like a notebook computer, and is roughly divided into an input unit 13 having a keyboard and an input control unit, an LCD and a display control unit. A display unit 14 having a thermal head 6 and a plurality of heating elements arranged in the main scanning direction to selectively generate heat to perform printing processing on a recording medium; downstream of the printing unit 20 in the medium conveyance direction A cutting unit 30 provided on the side for cutting the recording medium, and a control unit 15 (see FIG. 4) for controlling these units. Further, the tube printer 1 is formed with a conveyance path P for conveying the recording medium.

<Input section>
The input unit 13 has function keys, letters / numbers / symbol keys, a space key, a conversion key, a cross direction key, a return key, and the like, as in a notebook type computer, and an operator operates these keys. Thus, the print information and the cutting information can be set by inputting the type, size, printing / cutting conditions, and the like of the recording medium including the tube T.

<Display section>
The LCD of the display unit 14 includes various information display areas 14A for displaying input modes and the like, a character information display area 14B for displaying characters, numbers and symbols (hereinafter abbreviated as characters) input from the input unit 13, and characters. It is divided into three display areas, a parameter display area 14C for displaying size and the like, and various information display areas 14A and parameter display areas 14C are respectively arranged above and below the character information display area 14B.

  In the various information display area 14A, an input mode display for displaying (selecting) whether alphanumeric characters, roman letters, or hiragana are input from the input unit 13 or whether the input is input from the input unit 13 by insertion or overwriting "Insert / Overwrite mode display (edit mode display)", "Print medium type" display, and how to separate pages when printing multiple pages in a single printing operation “Cut setting” (with or without half-cut, and when there is no half-cut, the separator line is a solid line, dotted line, or no separator line), “Cut length” indicating the length of one tube (one label), characters “Character placement” indicating whether the position of the center is centered or left-justified, and “Margins” indicating from the left end of the tube to the first character are displayed. Cut length / character placement / margin display, another page in front of the currently displayed page Bae The previous page display that is displayed when there is a page, the next page display that is displayed when there is another page after the currently displayed page, and an optional unit (tube feeder) to assist in transporting the tube is connected A tube feeder display that indicates whether the power has been turned on, a power supply display that indicates that the power is turned on, and the like are displayed.

  In the parameter display area 14C, the number of pages currently displayed is displayed as a number, and the printing direction is “horizontal / horizontal writing”, “vertical / vertical writing”, “vertical / horizontal writing”. The orientation of the print that indicates whether to perform the printing, the frame display that displays the shape of the selected frame when adding a frame to the character, the character size display that displays the selected character size, the number of lines to be printed A display of the number of lines to be displayed, a character interval display for displaying the selected character interval, a continuous print display for displaying how many pages the currently displayed character is printed, and the like are displayed.

  On the other hand, in the character information display area 14B, a character string of a character input from the input unit 13 (strictly, a character in which the input character data is displayed after a predetermined conversion) is displayed. In the character information display area 14B, a cursor is displayed at a location where the operator intends to input (see FIG. 1).

<Printing section>
The printing unit 20 includes conveyance rollers 2a and 2b for conveying the recording medium, a platen roller 3 disposed opposite to the thermal head 6 on the downstream side of the conveyance rollers 2a and 2b, and a platen roller on the downstream side of the platen roller 3. 3 and a pinch roller 4 arranged so as to face 3.

  An ink ribbon R is interposed between the platen roller 3 and the thermal head 6. The ink ribbon R is supplied from the ribbon supply reel of the ink ribbon cassette 8 and is taken up by the ribbon take-up reel.

  On the upstream side of the transport rollers 2a and 2b, a stepping motor 5 for rotating the spool of the ribbon take-up reel of the transport roller 2a, the platen roller 3 and the ink ribbon cassette 8 via a gear (not shown) is disposed. 8 (the left side in FIG. 1) and one side (the lower side in FIG. 1) of the cutting section 30 and a platen and a retracted position where the thermal head 6 is retracted from the conveyance path P via a gear and a cam (not shown). A stepping motor 9 that is moved between the printing position that presses the roller 3 is disposed.

  FIG. 1 shows a state where a tube T is mounted as a recording medium. Explaining in accordance with this example, at the time of printing, the thermal head 6 is pressed against the tube T with the ink ribbon R of the ink ribbon cassette 8 interposed therebetween, and the thermal head 6 is configured according to the print data input from the input unit 13. The ink on the ink ribbon R is melted by selectively generating heat from the heat generating element, and a character string is printed on the tube T line by line.

  Further, on the upstream side of the conveying rollers 2a and 2b and the downstream side of the pinch roller 4, a transmission integrated sensor for detecting the presence / absence of a recording medium and the leading end of the conveyed recording medium are arranged.

<Attachment part>
The tube printer 1 is configured to be able to perform printing processing and cutting processing on various media by changing the attachment attached to the attachment unit 10. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the label cassette and the tube attachment. For example, when the label cassette 11 shown in FIG. 2A is attached to the attachment unit 10, the label with release paper is pulled out from the inside of the cassette, and printing and cutting processing can be performed on the label. In addition, when the tube attachment 12 shown in FIG. 2B is mounted on the attachment unit 10, the tube T can be printed and cut by inserting the tube T from the tube insertion opening 12a. In the following description, the case where the tube attachment 12 is attached to the attachment unit 10 and the tube T is used as a print medium will be mainly described with reference to FIG.

<Cutting part>
As shown in FIG. 1, a cutting unit 30 that performs a cutting process on the tube T (recording medium) is disposed on the downstream side of the pinch roller 4.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cutting unit 30 has a frame 31 for integrating the members constituting the cutting unit 30. A cutter blade 32 is disposed at the center of the frame 31. The cutter blade 32 is held by a holding member 33 that holds the cutter blade 32.

  A holding member 37 that holds the tube T is disposed on the upstream side of the cutter blade 32 in the tube T conveying direction. The pressing member 37 includes an inclined portion 37a for gradually narrowing the width of the conveyance path P and an abutting portion 37b that extends downstream from the inclined portion 37a and contacts the tube T. The inclined portion 37a has an inclined surface from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction of the tube T, and the abutting portion 37b has a jagged (uneven) abutting surface. The reason why the contact portion 37b has a jagged contact surface is to reduce the friction load with the tube T transported on the transport path P by reducing the contact area.

  The bottom of the pressing member 37 is supported by a spring 34 fixed to the bracket 38. That is, the spring 34 is interposed between the bracket 38 and the pressing member 37, and the pressing member 37 is pushed up by the bracket 38 via the spring 34. Further, the holding member 33 described above is configured to be slidable with respect to the bracket 38, and when replacing the consumable cutter blade 32, the holding member 33 is replaced. Therefore, the bracket 38 supports the pressing member 37 and the holding member 33. Further, the side surface portion of the pressing member 37 on the holding member 33 side also serves as a movement guide in the moving direction when the holding member 33 cuts the tube T.

  The frame 31 supports a cam shaft 36 so as to be rotatable. A roller 41 (see FIG. 5) fixed to the outer bottom surface of the bracket 38 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the first cam 35 fitted to the cam shaft 36. For this reason, the bracket 38 is supported so as to be slidable with respect to the frame 31, and the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are directed toward the conveyance path P when the first cam 35 rotates about the cam shaft 36. To advance (move). A gear is fitted to the cam shaft 36, and the rotational driving force of the stepping motor 9 is transmitted to the gear via a plurality of gears.

  Further, a polyhedral cutter blade receiver 39 pivotally supported by the frame 31 is disposed at a position facing the cutter blade 32 via the transport path P. The cutter blade receiver 39 has a receiving surface of a half-cut surface for half-cutting and a full-cut surface for full-cutting with respect to the recording medium including the tube T. The half-cut surface has protrusions at both ends, and the entire cut surface is a flat surface. Here, half-cutting means cutting the recording medium partially, and the cutting ratio is not limited. Therefore, the cutter blade receiver 39 may have a plurality of half-cut surfaces with different cutting rates.

  The receiving surface of the cutter blade receiver 39 is also changed by the rotational driving force of the stepping motor 9 described above. In other words, the second cam 40 is fitted on the cam shaft 36, and the second cam 40 rotates and is connected to the second cam 40 via an arm (not shown) and the spring 39b. The cutter blade receiver 39 is rotated to change the receiving surface. The second cam 40 is configured to be able to move the arm up and down (moving direction of the cutter blade 32), and a spring 39b is stretched between the arm and the spring hook 39a. Further, a spring 39c is applied to the spring hook 39a to give a pulling force in a direction opposite to the pulling direction of the spring 39b. The tension of the spring 39b is set to be larger than the tension of the spring 39c. When the second cam 40 rotates and the arm moves downward (in the pulling direction of the spring 39b), the cutter blade receiver 39 is shown in FIG. When the arm rotates counterclockwise as viewed, and the arm moves upward (in the pulling direction of the spring 39c), the cutter blade receiver 39 rotates clockwise by the action of the spring 39c. The arm may be connected to the thermal head 6 and the thermal head 6 may be moved by the rotation of the second cam 40. Further, the detailed configuration of the arm and the spring is described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-137864) cited in the prior art.

<First and second standby positions and operating positions>
As shown in FIG. 5, according to the rotation of the first cam 35, the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 constituting the cutting unit 30 are in the first standby position (see FIG. 5A) and the second standby. It is positioned at the position (see FIG. 5B) and the operating position (see FIG. 5C).

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the first standby position is a position where the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are retracted from the conveyance path P. In the present embodiment, in the initial setting process described later, the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are positioned at the first standby position of the home position.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, the second standby position is positioned by rotating the first cam 35 clockwise about the cam shaft 36 and pushing up the bracket 38, and the holding member 37 and In this position, the cutter blade 32 advances from the first standby position toward the conveyance path P, and the contact portion 37b of the pressing member 37 contacts the tube T to be deformed. In the second standby position, the cutter blade 32 is positioned at a position where it does not contact the tube T.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5B, at the second standby position, the width of the conveyance path P is narrowed by the inclined portion 37a of the pressing member 37, and the tube T is slightly crushed. Is conveyed along the conveyance path P. FIG. 6 shows this state. As shown in FIG. 6, the tube T is transported with reference to the transport guide surface 31 a constituting a part of the frame 31 (in contact with the transport guide surface 31 a) in order to cope with various tube diameters. Further, since the abutting portion 37b of the pressing member 37 has a jagged abutting surface, the lateral displacement of the transported tube T is prevented and the friction load with the transported tube T as described above is reduced. doing.

  As shown in FIG. 5C, the operating position is positioned by rotating the first cam 35 further clockwise about the cam shaft 36 to push up the bracket 38, and the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 is a position where the cutter blade 32 cuts the tube T by advancing to the cutter blade receiver 39 side from the second standby position. When the pressing member 37 completely presses the tube T (when the tube T is in a completely crushed state), the cutter blade 32 contracts relative to the contact portion 37a of the pressing member 37 due to the contraction of the spring 34. It will be in the state which advanced to the blade receiver 39 side.

<Control unit>
As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 15 has a CPU that functions as a central processing unit at high speed, a ROM that stores the basic control program and program data of the tube printer 1, a RAM that functions as a work area for the CPU, and the like. These CPU, ROM and RAM are connected by an internal bus.

  An external bus is connected to the control unit 15. The external bus includes an input control unit of the input unit 13, a display control unit of the display unit 14, a thermal head 6 of the printing unit 20, a driver 18 that controls the operation of the stepping motors 5 and 9, and a sensor that controls information from the sensor. A control unit 19 is connected. The driver 18 is connected to the stepping motors 5 and 9 described above, and the sensor control unit 19 is connected to a sensor. The control unit 15 has a buffer and an interface (not shown), and can be connected to a host device such as a personal computer via an external bus. For this reason, the operator can input from a personal computer instead of the input from the input unit 13, and further, by installing an external storage device such as a RAM card or USB, the data stored in the external storage device can be stored. Use is also possible.

(Operation)
Next, the operation of the tube printer 1 of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the cutting process in the cutting unit 30 with the CPU (hereinafter abbreviated as “CPU”) of the control unit 15 as a main component. In the following, for the sake of simplicity of explanation, the operator uses the input unit 13 as cutting information as “print medium type” as a tube, “cut setting” as a half-cut mode cut command, 6 as the number of cuts, A case where 25 mm is set for “length” will be described as an example. Note that the half-cut mode cut command means that half-cutting that partially cuts the tube is repeated and the whole is finally cut. The cutting information in this example is 5 and a half times every 25 mm from the tip of the tube T. This means that, after cutting, 25 mm later (finally), the total number of cuts is set to six.

  When the tube printer 1 is turned on, the program and program data stored in the ROM are expanded in the RAM, and the CPU performs an initial setting process for moving each unit described above to a predetermined home position, and then inputs the input unit. 13 waits for input of printing information and cutting information.

  When these pieces of information are input, the CPU generates print data according to the input print information and waits for a print start instruction from the operator. If the operator presses a predetermined button on the input unit 13 to give a print start instruction, is the tube T set at a predetermined position with reference to the output from the sensor arranged upstream of the transport rollers 2a and 2b? If the determination is negative, the fact is displayed on the display unit 14 and waits. If the determination is affirmative, the stepping motors 5 and 9 are driven to print the tube T.

  That is, the thermal head 6 is moved to a printing position where the thermal head 6 is pressed against the platen roller 3, and is output to the driver 18 line by line according to the generated print data. The tube T is conveyed downstream on the conveyance path P by the rotational driving force of the conveyance rollers 2 a and 2 b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4, and a desired character is printed in the printing unit 20. In the case of this example, similarly, a total of six printing processes are performed on the tube T at predetermined intervals. In this embodiment, since the stepping motors 5 and 9 are used for transporting the tube T, the CPU counts the number of output pulses to thereby position the tip of the tube T relative to the position of the heating element of the thermal head 6. , That is, the printing position can be grasped.

  When the printing process on the tube T by the printing unit 20 (thermal head 6) is completed, the CPU moves the thermal head 6 to the retracted position where the thermal head 6 is retracted from the conveyance path P, and outputs from the sensor disposed on the downstream side of the pinch roller 4. , It is determined whether or not the tip of the tube T is located downstream of the sensor position. If the determination is affirmative, the transport rollers 2a and 2b, the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4 are reversed to reverse the tube T. The feed rollers 2a and 2b, the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4 are rotated forward so that the tube T is transported to the cutting unit 30 side. When a negative determination is made, the conveying rollers 2a and 2b, the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4 are rotated forward to convey the tube T to the cutting unit 30 side.

  Further, the CPU has a half-cut surface facing a position facing the cutter blade 32 via the conveyance path P in accordance with the cutting information between the time when the operator inputs the printing information and the cutting information. In this way, the receiving surface of the cutter receiver 39 is positioned. In the initial setting process, since the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are positioned at the first standby position (see FIG. 5A), the cam shaft 36 is rotated counterclockwise at the first standby position. As a result, the second cam 40 (see FIG. 3) fitted to the cam shaft 36 is rotated so that the half-cut surface faces a position facing the cutter blade 32 via the conveyance path P. The receiving surface of the cutter receiver 39 is positioned.

  The CPU monitors whether or not the tip of the tube T has reached the position of the sensor with reference to the output from the sensor arranged on the downstream side of the pinch roller 4, and sends it to the stepping motor 9 based on the position of the sensor. By counting the number of output pulses, the relationship of the position of the tip of the tube T with respect to the position of the cutter blade 32, that is, the cutting position can be grasped.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the CPU prevents the tip of the tube T to be conveyed from being caught by the pressing member 37 or the cutter blade 32 until the tip of the tube T passes the position of the cutter blade 32. Therefore, the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are positioned at the first standby position.

  Next, when the tip of the tube T passes the position of the cutter blade 32 and the cutting position with respect to the tube T is conveyed to the position of the cutter blade 32, the CPU sets the rollers 2a and 2b, the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4 to each other. The driving is temporarily stopped to stop the conveyance of the tube T, and the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are moved from the first standby position (see FIG. 5A) to the operating position (see FIG. 5C). Cut tube T in half. That is, it is moved to the operating position without once being positioned at the second standby position (see FIG. 5B).

  Next, the CPU moves the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 from the operating position to the second standby position, restarts the driving of the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4, and moves the tube T to the downstream side again. Transport. As shown in FIG. 6, the tube T is transported in a slightly crushed state. When the next cutting position with respect to the tube T is transported to the position of the cutter blade 32 (when transported 25 mm from the previously cut position), the driving of the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4 is temporarily stopped. Then, the conveyance of the tube T is stopped, the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are moved from the second standby position to the operating position, and the tube T is cut in half. Thereafter, similarly, the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are moved between the second standby position and the operating position, and the tube T is continuously cut in half.

  When the half-cutting of the tube T by the cutter blade 32 is repeated a total of 5 times ({(6 of cuttings) -1} times), the tube T is further transported by 25 mm and finally the tube T is fully cut. However, when the CPU reaches the full cutting position where the tube T has been transported 25 mm from the last half-cut position with the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 positioned at the second standby position. , The driving of the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4 is temporarily stopped to stop the conveyance of the tube T, and the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 are moved to the first standby position before being completely cut. . Subsequently, by rotating the cam shaft 36 counterclockwise at the first standby position, the second cam 40 fitted to the cam shaft 36 is rotated, via the conveyance path P. The receiving surface of the cutter receiver 39 is changed so that the entire cutting surface faces the position facing the cutter blade 32.

  Next, the CPU moves the pressing member 37 and the cutter blade 32 from the first standby position to the operating position and completely cuts the tube T. Next, the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4 are restarted to convey the tube T further downstream by a predetermined distance and discharge it from the tube printer 1. Then, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the driving of the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4 is stopped, and the operation of one routine based on the inputted printing / cutting information is terminated. Then, after a predetermined time has passed, the CPU drives the rollers 2a, 2b, the platen roller 3, and the pinch roller 4 to rewind the tube T toward the transport rollers 2a, 2b.

(Effects etc.)
Next, effects and the like of the tube printer 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

  In this embodiment, the control unit 15 (the CPU) controls the tube T by the first standby position, the second standby position where the cutter blade 32 has advanced from the first standby position to the transport path P side, and the cutter blade 32. The stepping motor 9 and the first cam 35 are controlled to move to the operating position for cutting. For this reason, according to the tube printer 1 of the present embodiment, when the tube T is continuously cut, the cutter blade 32 repeats the movement between the second standby position and the operating position, whereby the cutter blade 32 is moved. The moving distance can be shortened, and the cutting process can be speedily performed to increase productivity. The present inventors also made a comparative tube printer having no second standby position and compared it. The comparative tube printer required about 800 ms for the cutting time per one time. In the tube printer 1 of the embodiment, the cutting time per time can be shortened to about 500 ms. By reducing the cutting time, the productivity (cutting number) per minute of the tube printer of the comparative example is about 42, whereas the productivity of the tube printer 1 of the present embodiment is about 50. It turned out to improve. In the tube printer 1, the tube T is slightly crushed at the second standby position and the tube T is crushed at the operating position. Therefore, the same cutting time is used regardless of the thickness of the tube T. Can be secured.

  Further, according to the tube printer 1 of the present embodiment, the contact portion 37b of the pressing member 37 contacts and deforms and presses the tube T at the second standby position, and the contact portion 37b of the pressing member 37 at the operating position. Is further advanced to the cutter blade receiver 39 side and deformed and pressed until the tube T is crushed. When the cutter blade 32 cuts the tube T in the lateral displacement or operating position of the tube T being conveyed in the conveyance path P, Can be accurately cut by preventing the misalignment (the misalignment caused by deformation of the tube T by applying the cutter blade 32 from the right angle due to the outer diameter cross section of the tube T being circular or elliptical). Can do. At that time, since the abutting portion 37b of the pressing member 37 has a jagged abutting surface, it is possible to completely suppress the lateral displacement of the tube T being conveyed in combination with the presence of the conveying guide surface 31a. (See FIG. 6). Furthermore, although the pressing member 37 does not necessarily have the inclined portion 37a, the inclined portion 37a exists because the tube T is conveyed in a state where the pressing member 37 is positioned at the second standby position. Accordingly, the contact portion 36b can be smoothly contacted (contacted) with the tube T (without being caught by the tube T) and deformed.

  In the present embodiment, the half-cut mode cut command has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a full-cut mode cut command for continuously cutting all the set number of cuts. The half-cut mode cut command and full-cut mode cut command are called continuous cut commands. On the other hand, even if the full cut mode cut command is set, if the number of cuts is one, it is called a single cut command.

  In the present embodiment, the tube T cutting process has been mainly described. However, the tube printer 1 can perform full cutting and half cutting of other printing media such as labels. At that time, the half-cutting method may be changed depending on the type of the recording medium. For example, when the recording medium is a label with release paper, the label may be cut without cutting the release paper, or roll paper or ribbon tape. In this case, perforations may be inserted. Further, depending on the type of the recording medium, the cutter blade 32 may be replaced with a half cutting cutter blade corresponding to the recording medium together with the holding member.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, although the example which has arrange | positioned the pressing member 37 which hold | suppresses the tube T only to the tube T conveyance direction upstream of the cutter blade 32 was shown, this invention is not limited to this, The tube T conveyance of the cutter blade 32 You may make it arrange | position the holding member which hold | suppresses the tube T also to the direction downstream side. Such a pressing member arranged on the downstream side does not have the inclined portion shown in the present embodiment, and the contact surface has only the jagged contact portion or is shown in the present embodiment. The inclined portion may have an inclined surface that is gradually inclined from the downstream side to the upstream side in the transport direction of the tube T, the inclined surface being symmetrical.

  In the present embodiment, the jagged (uneven) shape is exemplified on the abutting surface that abuts (contacts) the tube T of the abutting portion 37b of the pressing member 37. However, as described above, the jagged shape has a contact area. Since this is to reduce the frictional load with the tube T conveyed on the conveyance path P by making it smaller, instead of this, the sliding sheet is placed on the contact surface that contacts the tube T of the contact portion 37b. You may make it be the affixed plane. Further, the top of the jagged surface of the contact surface may not be an acute angle, but may be, for example, a circle or an ellipse.

  Further, in the present embodiment, an inclined portion 37a having an inclined surface from the upstream side to the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the tube T for gradually reducing the width of the conveyance path P, and a jagged extension extending downstream from the inclined portion 37a. Although the pressing member 37 having the abutting portion 37b that abuts the tube T on the abutting surface is illustrated, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a pressing member 137 having an inclined portion 137a and a contact portion 137b may be used. In the pressing member 137, as will be described with reference to FIG. 7, the inclined portion 137a is formed so as to rise in the direction away from the conveyance guide surface 31a while rising in the tube conveyance direction. Thereby, the tube T is conveyed so that it may be pressed on the conveyance guide surface 31a side, going up the inclined surface 137a. Further, the contact portion 137b may be formed on a jagged contact surface in the same manner as the contact portion 37b.

  As described above, the present invention provides a printing apparatus and a cutting apparatus that can perform a cutting process quickly and accurately on a recording medium, and thus contributes to the manufacture and sale of the printing apparatus and the cutting apparatus. Have industrial applicability.

1 Printer (printing device)
9 Stepping motor (part of drive means)
15 Control unit 20 Printing unit 30 Cutting unit 32 Cutter blade 35 First cam (part of driving means)
36 Camshaft (part of drive means)
37 Holding member 39 Cutter blade receiver 40 Second cam (part of driving means)
M tube (long recording medium)
P transport path

Claims (7)

A conveyance path for conveying a long recording medium having flexibility;
A printing unit that performs a printing process on the recording medium;
A pressing member provided on the downstream side of the printing unit in the recording medium conveyance direction and holding the recording medium; a cutter blade; and a cutter blade receiver disposed at a position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path; A driving unit that moves the pressing member and the cutter blade, and a cutting unit that performs a cutting process on the recording medium;
A control unit that controls printing processing of the printing unit and cutting processing of the cutting unit based on input print information and cutting information;
With
The controller is
A first standby position in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are retracted from the conveyance path;
A second standby position in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are advanced from the first standby position toward the conveyance path so that the pressing member contacts and deforms the recording medium, and the pressing member and the cutter blade are in the first position. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit is controlled so as to advance from the standby position of 2 to the cutter blade receiving side and move to an operation position where the cutter blade cuts the recording medium.   When the control unit includes a continuous cut command indicating continuous cutting of the recording medium in the cutting information, the cutter blade once moves to the operating position and cuts the recording medium. 2. The drive means is controlled so that the pressing member and the cutter blade repeatedly move between the second standby position and the operating position to continuously cut the recording medium. The printing apparatus as described.   When the cutting information includes a half-cut mode cut command indicating that the cut information partially cuts the recording medium partially and finally cuts completely, the tip of the recording medium is the cutting edge of the cutter blade. The presser member and the cutter blade are positioned at the first standby position until they pass through the position, and once the cutter blade has moved from the first standby position to the operating position to cut the recording medium in half. Wherein the pressing member and the cutter blade repeatedly move between the second standby position and the operating position to control the driving means so as to continuously cut the recording medium in half. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The cutter blade receiver has a receiving surface of a half-cut surface and a full-cut surface,
The drive means further changes the receiving surface of the cutter blade receiver,
The controller is
The receiving surface of the cutter blade receiver is positioned so that the half-cut surface faces the position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path,
Until the leading edge of the recording medium passes through the position of the cutter blade, the pressing member and the cutter blade are positioned at the first standby position,
Once the cutter blade moves from the first standby position to the operating position and cuts the recording medium in half, the pressing member and the cutter blade move between the second standby position and the operating position. Is repeatedly cut into half of the recording medium,
Before the full cutting, the pressing member and the cutter blade are moved to the first standby position, and the cutter blade holder is placed so that the full cut surface faces a position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path. The receiving surface has changed,
The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the pressing unit and the cutter blade control the driving unit so that the recording medium is completely cut by moving from the first standby position to the operating position.   5. The press member according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is disposed at least on the upstream side in the recording medium transport direction with respect to the cutter blade, and has an inclined portion that narrows the width of the transport path. The printing apparatus according to claim 1.   6. The pressing member according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the pressing member that contacts the recording medium has a concavo-convex shape or a flat surface to which a sliding sheet is attached. Printing device. A conveyance path for conveying a long recording medium having flexibility;
A pressing member for pressing the recording medium, a cutter blade, a cutter blade receiver disposed at a position facing the cutter blade via the conveyance path, and a driving unit for moving the pressing member and the cutter blade. A cutting unit for cutting the recording medium;
A control unit for controlling the cutting process of the cutting unit based on the input cutting information;
With
The controller is
A first standby position in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are retracted from the conveyance path;
A second standby position in which the pressing member and the cutter blade are advanced from the first standby position toward the conveyance path so that the pressing member contacts and deforms the recording medium, and the pressing member and the cutter blade are in the first position. 2. The cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the driving means is controlled so as to advance from the standby position of 2 to the cutter blade receiving side and move to an operating position where the cutter blade cuts the recording medium.

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