JPH05314326A - Card handler - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the printing noise without giving a special soundproof construction to an enclosure by providing plural pairs of carrying rolls, which catch a card and are arranged in the feed direction, and a card pressing means arranged in the vicinity of a printing head. CONSTITUTION:A card 1 sucked from the outside or newly issued from the inside of a device is carried by carrying rolls 3 while being guided by a guide 2 and is sent between a printing head 4 and a platen 5. After it is positioned so that a printing start position 7 is a printing area 6 is placed just under the printing head 4, printing is started. During printing, the printing head 4 is moved back and forth in printing head moving directions of arrows 8, and the card 1 is moved in the card feed direction of an arrow 9. At this time, the card 1 is pressed to closely come into contact with the platen 5 by a pressing element 10 which is attached to face the platen 5. Thus, the oscillation brought about by beating the card 1 floated from the platen 5 during printing is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card handling device for reading out information using a card as a medium such as a transfer request card, and more particularly to a card handling device suitable for preventing noise accompanying printing on the card. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 60-108965 and 61-26038 propose a technique for printing on a paper card. As a countermeasure against noise generated during printing, Is not considered enough.

[0003]

In a mechanism for printing on a card by using a dot impact type print head, an ink ribbon is usually inserted between the print head and the card, so that the space between the print head and the platen is increased. In addition, it is necessary to provide a clearance larger than the thickness of the card. For this reason, there is a problem that printing is performed with the card floating on the platen, and generation of noise due to vibration cannot be avoided. As described above, in the prior art, no consideration is given to the prevention of this noise. Therefore, the card handling device has a special soundproof structure for the housing so that the print sound is not leaked to the outside to reduce the noise. There was a need. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a card handling device having a printing unit structure that suppresses the generation of printing noise.

[0004]

Means for achieving the above object are described in the claims. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a platen on one side of a card and a print head on the other side of the card so as to face each other, and a printing mechanism for performing printing by reciprocally moving the print head in a direction perpendicular to the card feeding direction. In a card handling device having the card, the card is sandwiched and a plurality of sets of conveying rollers arranged in the feed direction and card pressing means for pressing the card provided in the vicinity of the print head are provided. The card handling device is characterized in that the conveying roller and the card pressing means are arranged so as to press the card surface at at least two different points in the card feeding direction.

[0005]

With the above construction, the printing surface of the card during printing is pressed by the platen, and when the card surface is struck by the wire of the printing head, the vibration generated by the lifting of the card is suppressed and the printing noise is reduced. It can be reduced. Further, by providing the roller in the portion where the vibration preventing means comes into contact with the card, it is possible to prevent the surface of the card from being scratched or the printed characters from being rubbed and contaminated.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the inside of the card handling device.
The card 1 to be printed is inserted from the card insertion / ejection port 11 or is newly issued from the stack section 12 of the unused card through the card separating section 13 and sent to the transport path 14. A foreign material shutter 15, a magnetic card reader / writer 16, a card embossing optical reading unit 17, a card printing unit 18, a card collecting unit 19 and a transport roller 3 are provided on the transport route 14 along the transport route 14. It is arranged. The card 1 sent to the transport path 14 is sent to the card printing unit 18 after the necessary information is read and written by the magnetic card reader / writer 16 and is sent to the card printing unit 18 to print the account number, Customer information such as the other party is printed.

A plurality of sets of carrying rollers 3 are provided in the carrying path 14 with both sides of the card 1 sandwiched therebetween, and the pitch between the carrying roller 3 and the next carrying roller 3 is greater than the length of the card 1 in the longitudinal direction. It is set short.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. The card 1 that is sucked in from the outside or newly issued from the inside of the apparatus is conveyed by the conveying roller 3 while being guided by the guide 2, and is fed between the print head 4 and the platen 5. And the print area 6
After the positioning is performed so that the print start position 7 in the inside is located directly below the print head 4, printing is started. During printing, the print head 4 reciprocates in the print head moving direction 8 indicated by the arrow, and the card 1 moves in the card feeding direction 9 indicated by the arrow. At this time, the card 1 is pressed so as to be in close contact with the platen 5 by the pressing element 10 attached so as to face the platen 5. As a result, it is possible to prevent the vibration generated when the card 1 is tapped in a state of being lifted from the platen 5 during printing, and the printing noise due to the vibration is reduced. Reference numeral 25 indicates an ink ribbon.

FIG. 2 shows the mounting position of the pressing member 10, the print head 4 and the print area 6 of the card 1 in the above embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a plan view (a) showing an interrelationship of FIG.

The contact point between the presser 10 and the card 1 is 2
0, the front end of the print head 4 is 21, the distance between the contact point 20 and the front end 21 along the card surface is L1, and the distance from the last line of the print area 22 to the rear end of the card 1 is L2. By disposing as L1 <L2, the presser 10 always presses the card 1 during printing, that is, while the print head tip position 21 is within the card print area 6.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the "conveyance roller and the card pressing means are arranged so as to press the card surface at at least two different points in the feeding direction of the card" during the printing operation. This corresponds to the configuration of 2. That is, the conveying roller 3 and the pressing hand 10 during the printing operation are different from the card 1 in two points.
Press the surface of. Although the card 1 is printed while being fed in the card feeding direction 9, the above-mentioned arrangement makes it possible to reduce the printing noise accompanying the printing operation of the card 1.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 5 shows a plurality of pressing elements 1.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which 0 is arranged before and after the print head 4 in the traveling direction of the card 1 with the print head 4 as the center. It is possible to reduce the print noise regardless of the size of the print area 6.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 6 is a view showing an embodiment in which the roller 23 is integrally provided on the pressing member 10. Pusher 1
By attaching the roller 23 to the portion where 0 contacts the card 1, it is possible to prevent the surface of the card 1 from rubbing and damaging or rubbing the surface of the card 1 after printing to contaminate it. ..

FIG. 3 is a comparative characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the print line and the noise level of the first and third embodiments and the prior art (without the presser). Experimental conditions: Measurement position: 1 m distance from the print head Card: Paper thickness 0.7 to 0.8 mm A: Presser made of stainless steel with a pressing force of 500 gf (Example in FIG. 1) B: Stainless steel with a roller having a pressing force of 500 gf Presser (Example of FIG. 6) C: No presser (prior art) As shown in FIG. 3, the print noises of A and B with the presser 10 are compared with the prior art C without the presser 10. Then it is clearly reduced.

<Fourth Embodiment> FIG. 7 is a view showing an application example of the first embodiment in which the pressing member 10 is integrally attached to the print head 4. By integrating the presser 10 with the print head 4, the presser 10 can be moved simultaneously with the print head 4, and the distance between the contact point of the presser 10 and the print head 4 can always be kept constant. Becomes

<Fifth Embodiment> FIG. 8 shows a pair of rollers 2.
4 is a view showing an embodiment in which the cards 4 and 24 are arranged at both side ends of the print head 4 in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the card 1 so as to press the widthwise ends of the card 1. FIG. In this embodiment, the left and right ends of the card 1 in the width direction are sandwiched by the platen 5 and the roller 23, so that the card 1 is brought into close contact with the platen 5 and the vibration associated with printing is suppressed and the noise is reduced. Will be reduced.

[0017]

By implementing the present invention, it is possible to provide a card handling device using a dot impact type print head suitable for reducing printing noise without providing a special soundproof structure to the housing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view (a) and a side view (b) showing the interrelationship between the attachment position of the presser, the print head and the print area of the card in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a comparative characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the print line and the noise level of the first and third embodiments and the prior art.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the inside of the card handling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Card 2 ... Guide 3 ... Conveying roller 4 ... Print head 5 ... Platen 6 ... Printing area 7 ... Printing start position 8 ... Print head moving direction 9 ... Card feeding direction 10 ... Presser 11 ... Card insertion / exit 12 ... unused card stack section 13 ... card separation section 14 ... transport path 15 ... foreign material shutter 16 ... magnetic card reader / writer 17 ... card embossing optical reading section 18 ... card printing section 19 ... card collecting section 20 ... Contact portion between the presser and the card 21 ... Print head tip position 22 ... Printing area last line 23, 24 ... Roller 25 ... Ink ribbon

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card having a printing mechanism in which a platen is provided on one side of the card and a print head is provided on the other side of the card so as to face each other, and the print head reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to the card feeding direction to perform printing. In the card handling apparatus, the card is sandwiched and a plurality of sets of conveying rollers arranged in the feed direction are provided; and a card pressing unit that presses the card provided near the print head, The roller and the card pressing means are different at least in the feeding direction of the card.
A card handling device characterized by being arranged so as to press the card surface at points.