JPH0145061B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording label printer that prints on labels using an electrostatic recording method.

In general, in an electrostatic recording section, the recording medium that serves as the printing medium, that is, the charged layer, is the part that requires the most reliability, but it is easily contaminated by toner, etc., and its physical properties tend to deteriorate. . Therefore, the printing resolution is likely to be affected, and no matter how reliable the material is selected, its maintenance is required. Therefore, it is unavoidable to replace the recording medium, but unlike a normal copying machine, in a label printer, it is desirable to use a belt-shaped recording medium in relation to other mechanisms. However, in the case of a belt-shaped recording medium, since it is wound around a plurality of rollers, it is not easy to remove the entire recording medium. Furthermore, although a recording medium usually has a three-layer structure consisting of a base layer, a conductive layer, and a charged layer, replacing the entire layer increases maintenance costs.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic recording type label printer that can be easily maintained and managed at low cost.

In the present invention, since only the charged layer of the recording belt is bonded so that it can be replaced, the cost is low because only the parts of the charged layer are required, and the replacement can be done without removing the entire recording belt. It is designed to be extremely easy to work with.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. First, a holding section 5 is provided at the upper part of the main body case 1, which holds a roll of label paper 4 on which labels 3 are pasted at predetermined intervals on a long mount 2. The label paper 4 pulled out from the unit 5 passes through a label detector 6, a roller 7, and a roller 8, and reaches a label peeling plate 9, which serves as a label peeling unit and also serves as a pedestal.
After the mount 2 has been peeled off, the label feed roller 10
The film is then wound up by the winding section 11. A label conveying section 12 and a label outlet 13 are provided in the same horizontal plane as the label peeling plate 9.

Next, an electrostatic recording section 14 is provided above the label peeling plate 9 and the label conveying section 12. First, a flexible recording belt 15 formed in the shape of an endless belt is provided.
drive roller 16, rollers 17, 18, 19, 2
a tension roller 16a that is suspended between the drive roller 16 and the roller 17;
A predetermined tension is applied to the rollers 19 and 20, and the rollers 19 and 20 are set parallel to the planar receiving surface 21 of the label peeling plate 9 with a predetermined distance therebetween. However, the recording belt 1
5 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. That is, synthetic leather 22 serving as a base layer having a predetermined width is glued together at a seam 23 to form an endless band shape,
A conductive rubber layer 24 serving as a conductive layer is adhered to the entire surface of the synthetic leather 22, and is formed into an endless band by seams 25. Such a conductive rubber layer 24
Mylar 27, which serves as a charged layer, is releasably adhered to the surface of , leaving ground planes 26 on both side edges.
A grounding roller 28 facing the driving roller 16 is joined to the grounding surface 26 . Also,
The conductive rubber layer 24 is separated into two along the longitudinal direction, and a separate driving element 29 is connected to each conductive rubber layer 24.

Next, around the recording belt 15, a charging charger 30, a multi-stylus head 31 serving as an electrostatic latent image forming section, a developing section 32, a static elimination charger 33, and a cleaning section 34 are arranged.
The developing section 32 includes a toner tank 35 and a developing roller 36, and the cleaning section 34 includes a cleaning claw 37 and a toner receiver 38. As shown in FIG. 5, the recording electrodes 39 of the multi-stylus head 31 have a driving element 40 connected only to one facing the conductive rubber layer 24, and the driving element 40 is connected to the other recording electrode 39. The drive elements 40 are connected in parallel to reduce the number of driving elements 40.

Further, a transfer section 41 is provided between the rollers 19 and 20.
is provided. This transfer section 41 includes a solenoid 42 and a pressing plate 4 connected to this solenoid 42.
3 and more. A rubber layer 44 is provided on the lower surface of the pressing plate 43, and as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the rubber layer 44 has different thicknesses and has an inclined surface 45 on its lower surface.

Next, the label conveying section 12 includes a plurality of drive rollers 46 arranged on the same axis and rollers 47, 48 aligned with these drive rollers 46,
49, and these rollers 46, 47, 4
It consists of a plurality of thread-like feeding belts 50 wound around threads 8 and 49. The surfaces of these feed belts 50 are coated with fluororesin so that they do not have adhesive properties to adhesives.

A fixing section 51 is provided above the label conveying section 12. This fixing section 51 has a fixing flash 52 made of a xenon lamp, a halogen lamp, or the like.

Next, the connection state of the electric circuit will be explained based on FIG. 11. First, although not shown mechanically, a weighing section 53 for measuring the weight of products, etc., and a keyboard section 53a for setting various conditions are connected to the CPU 54, and this CPU 54 has RAM 55, ROM 56,
A character generator 57 is connected.
Further, the CPU 54 is connected to a label feeding section 58 that drives the label feeding roller 10, the electrostatic recording section 14, and a display section 59.

In such a configuration, the operation of each part will be explained according to the timing chart shown in FIG. First, regarding the overall usage condition, if there are products for which prices per unit weight, that is, unit prices, are set, and each product has a different weight, the price and other information for each product will be printed. This is used when issuing a labeled label 3 for each product. Therefore, the product is placed on the weighing section 53, the data from the weighing section 53 is transmitted to the CPU 54 to perform necessary calculations, and then the data is transmitted to the electrostatic recording section 14.

First, in the initial state, there is no previous operation since no weighing has been performed yet, so a weighing completion signal indicating that preparations for weighing have been made is output. This metering completion signal causes the drive roller 16 to start and the recording belt 15 to rotate. And the charger 30
charged by. During this timing, the weighing section 53
A signal is applied to the multi-stylus head 31, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the mylar 27 of the recording belt 15 by the recording electrode 39. This electrostatic latent image is used to obtain the printed content as shown in FIG. The right side is for the readable area 60 where the product name, date, unit price, weight, price, etc. are displayed and contents are printed in letters, symbols, and numbers, and the left side is the barcode area where the barcode is printed. It is for 61. Such an electrostatic latent image portion is in the developing section 3.
2, toner is supplied to the latent image area by the developing roller 36 and adheres to the latent image area. The state of this adhesion varies depending on the method, but it is carried out in a known manner using electrostatic development or magnetic development.

Then, when the developed portion reaches the transfer section 41, the drive roller 16 stops and the recording belt 15 stops. At this time, the position of the label 3 on the label paper 4 is set in advance so that the developed portion of the recording belt 15 and the label 3 face each other. Then, when the recording belt 15 stops, the solenoid 42 is energized, and the pressing plate 43
is lowered and the label 3 and the recording belt 15 are pinched and pressed between the receiving surface 21 of the label peeling plate 9 and the toner is transferred onto the surface of the label 3. During this transfer, since the lower surface of the rubber layer 44 of the pressing plate 43 forms an inclined surface 45, the rubber layer 44 of the pressing plate 43 comes into contact with the recording belt 15 sequentially from the front toward the rear, so that the recording belt 15 does not shift. Therefore, there is no disturbance of the transferred toner. Then, when a certain pressing time necessary for transfer has elapsed, the solenoid 42 is operated and the pressing plate 43 is raised.

When the operations up to this point are completed, a measurement completion signal is output, the recording belt 15 is driven, and at the same time the label feed roller 10 is driven to feed the label paper 4 one pitch. As the label paper 4 is fed, the backing paper 2 is sharply bent at the front edge of the label peeling plate 9, so that the relatively stiff label 3 is peeled off from the backing paper 2 and reaches the label conveying section 12. The speed of the feed belt 50 of the label conveying section 12 is equal to or slightly higher than the moving speed of the label paper 4, so that the label 3 is reliably separated from the mount 2. Then, while the label 3 with the toner transferred thereon is being fed by the feeding belt 50, the fixing flash 52 is energized and the label 3 is heated.
The toner on the surface is heat-fixed and the label outlet 1
It is discharged from 3. This fixing flash 52 is not always energized, and the label 3
This is done intermittently to coincide with the transfer of The label 3 made in this way is immediately attached to the product.

In addition, since the feeding of the label paper 4 by one pitch corresponds to the pitch at which the label 3 is attached to the mount 2, the next label 3 remains at a fixed position on the receiving surface 21 of the label peeling plate 9. There is.

While label peeling and fixing are being performed in this manner, the aforementioned electrostatic latent image formation and development steps are being performed in parallel. Further, when the recording belt 15 is driven, static electricity is eliminated by the static elimination charger 33 and cleaning is performed by the cleaning section 34 at the same time.

However, physical deterioration of the mylar 27 of the recording belt 15 cannot be avoided due to long-term use, but when the characteristics of the mylar 27 deteriorate, the mylar 27
Peel it off and re-glue the new one. As a result, the characteristics of the recording belt 15 are reactivated, and the resolution of the image is improved. Of course, it goes without saying that the Mylar 27 should be bonded so that it is difficult to separate in the thrust direction and can be removed relatively easily in the vertical direction. Furthermore, the Mylar 27 can be replaced without removing the recording belt 15.

The conductive rubber layer 24 of the recording belt 15 is divided into two parts parallel to the direction of movement, each of which is grounded by a grounding roller 28 and separately connected to a driving element 29. Since the electrode 39 is divided into two halves and connected to drive elements 40 in parallel, even if the number of drive elements 40 is half, it is possible to perform the required writing on the recording belt 15. In particular, writing can be done easily and at high speed without using the time division method.
Note that the formation of the conductive rubber layer 24 on the synthetic leather 22 is not limited to adhesion, and printing or coating methods may also be used.

Next, toner transfer from the recording belt 15 to the label 3 is performed with both of them stopped, and by stopping them in this way, the arrangement pitch of the labels 3 attached to the mount 2 can be made extremely small. It is something that can be done. This state is extremely effective in a label printer, and can eliminate waste of the mount 2.

According to the present invention, in a device in which printing is performed on a label by an electrostatic recording section as described above, when the charged layer deteriorates, only the charged layer can be replaced, thereby reducing the cost of parts. It is inexpensive and, in particular, the charged layer can be replaced even with the recording belt set, so the workability during replacement is extremely good.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of the whole, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view of the main part, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal front view of the recording belt, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal side view of the recording belt. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the relationship between the multi-stylus head and the recording belt, FIG. 6 is a longitudinal side view of the transfer section, FIG. 7 is a longitudinal side view at the time of starting pressure contact, and FIG. The figure is a longitudinal side view during pressure contact, Figure 9 is a plan view of the label conveyance section, Figure 10 is a block diagram, Figure 11 is a timing chart, Figure 12 is a plan view of the printed label, and Figure 13 is a FIG. 3 is a plan view of label paper. 2... mount, 3... label, 4... label paper, 1
4... Electrostatic recording section, 15... Recording belt, 27... Mylar (charged layer).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A label sheet with labels pasted at predetermined pitches on a long mount is intermittently fed and necessary information is printed on the label by an electrostatic recording section, in which a base layer is attached to the electrostatic recording section. 1. An electrostatic recording type label printer characterized in that an endless belt-shaped recording belt comprising a current-carrying layer and a charging layer is provided, and the charging layer of the recording belt is exchangeably adhered to the current-carrying layer.