JPH07314814A - Printer for issuing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer in which the generation the winding nature of a recording medium and the generation of the change of the properties of the medium and a platen roller are Prevented and in which printing can satisfactorily be effected. CONSTITUTION:A printer comprises a platen roller 16, and a print head 18 provided oppositely to the roller. At the time of printing, a recording medium is conveyed between the roller and the head by a feed roller 15 and a drive belt 22 to be driven by a pulse motor 20. At the time of non-printing, the medium is held at its end at a stand-by position disposed before the roller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device for printing in a band-shaped or card-shaped recording medium by a heat-sensitive method in a ticket issuing machine, a register issuing machine, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a heat-sensitive printing apparatus includes a platen roller and a print head that is in contact with the platen roller at a predetermined printing pressure, and prints with a recording medium sandwiched between the platen roller and the print head. The head prints desired information on the recording medium.

Conventionally, for example, in a ticket issuing machine which prints desired information on a tag and issues a ticket, after a predetermined printing is completed so that printing can be started immediately when a print command is input,
The tag to be printed next is on standby with its tip sandwiched between the platen roller and the print head. Simultaneously with the input of the print command, the print head prints desired information while the tag is conveyed in a predetermined direction.

[0004]

However, when the front end of the tag is held at the standby position sandwiched between the platen roller and the print head for a certain period of time, the front end is wound along the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller. I have a habit.
Therefore, when the tag is conveyed after printing, the tip of the tag is wound around the platen roller, another conveying roller, or the like, which causes a problem such as a jam.

Further, since the platen roller and the tag are always in contact with each other, the platen roller may be deformed depending on the material.
There is also a possibility that alteration or alteration of tags may occur. In this case, good printing becomes difficult. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of preventing occurrence of curl, deterioration, etc. of a recording medium and capable of excellent printing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a printing device of an issuing machine according to the present invention includes a platen roller, a print head provided to face the platen roller, and the platen roller at the time of printing. The recording medium is conveyed between the recording head and the print head, and the recording medium is held at a standby position where the front end of the recording medium is located in front of the plantain roller during non-printing.

[0007]

According to the printing apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the leading end of the recording medium which is on standby at the standby position when not printing is located in front of the platen roller. Then, when printing is started, the recording medium is conveyed by the conveying means between the platen roller and the print head, and desired information is printed on the recording medium by the print head.

Even when the recording medium is held at the standby position for a certain period of time, since the leading end of the recording medium is not sandwiched between the platen roller and the print head at the standby position, the leading end has a curl. In addition, the deterioration of the platen roller and the deformation of the recording medium are prevented.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the printing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a ticket issuing machine for tags for airline baggage will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus includes a printing unit 10 that prints various information on a tag, and a supply unit 12 that supplies a recording medium that constitutes the tag to this printing unit.
And are equipped with.

As shown schematically in FIG. 2, the printing unit 10 includes a feed roller 15 and platen rollers 16 and 17 which are provided apart from each other along a tag conveyance path 14, and platen rollers 16 and 17, respectively. Heat-sensitive first and second print heads 18 and 19 contacting each other at a predetermined printing pressure
And a carry motor 20. Conveyor motor 20
Drive pulley 20a fixed to the drive shaft of the feed roller 1
5. A drive belt 22 is wound around the platen rollers 16 and 17. The drive belt 22 is wound around a plurality of tension rollers 23. A rolling roller 15a is in rolling contact with the feed roller 15 via a drive belt 22. In addition, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 25 indicates a conveyance guide for guiding the conveyance of the tag.

When the drive motor 20 is driven, the feed roller 15 and the platen roller 1 are driven by the drive belt 22.
6 and 17 are rotationally driven. As a result, the tag is placed in the first position while being sandwiched by the feed roller 15 and the rolling roller.
To the print head 18 of the platen roller 16
Then, it is conveyed toward the second print head 19 while being sandwiched by the first print head. Subsequently, the tag is conveyed toward the discharge unit 24 while being sandwiched between the platen roller 17 and the second print head 19.

Then, when passing between the platen roller 16 and the first print head 18, the first print head 18
With this, desired information is printed on the tag. If necessary, the second print head 19 prints desired information on the tag when passing between the platen roller 17 and the first print head 19. Normally, only the first print head 18 is used for printing. When high-speed printing is required for a tag, the information to be printed is divided into two parts, the first and second print heads. Printing is carried out with 18 and 19.

Next, the structure of the entire printing apparatus will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the supply unit 12 includes a pair of storage units 30 storing rolls 27 and 29 around which a band-shaped recording medium is wound, and a printing unit 1 that pulls out the recording medium from the storage unit.
And a pull-out mechanism 26 for supplying 0. In addition, micro switches 31 and 33 that detect whether or not the rolls 27 and 29 are loaded are provided near the storage unit 30.

The recording medium of the roll 27 is pulled out from the roll 27 by driving a roller 35 that conveys the recording medium and a solenoid 37 that controls whether or not the recording medium can be conveyed. The recording medium pulled out from the roll 27 is conveyed to the printing unit 10 through the supply path 27 and the medium joining unit 39. In the supply path 27, a sensor 41 that detects that the recording medium has passed the roller 35, a sensor 43 that is provided substantially at the center between the roller 35 and the medium joining section 39, and that detects that the recording medium has passed, and A sensor 45 for detecting that the recording medium provided in the medium merging portion 39 has reached the medium merging portion 39 is provided.

The medium merging portion 3 on the supply path 27 is also provided.
On the downstream side of 9, there are provided rollers 49 and 51 driven by a pulse motor 47, and rolling rollers 49a and 51a that are in rolling contact with these rollers at a predetermined pressure. Then, the recording medium wound on the roll 27 is pulled out by driving the pulse motor 47 and sent to the printing unit 10.

Between the printing unit 10 and the supply unit 12, that is,
A cutting unit 53 is provided between the feed roller 15 of the printing unit and the roller 51 of the supply unit. This cutting part 53
A cutter 55 that cuts a belt-shaped recording medium that is conveyed to form a tag having a predetermined length, a solenoid 57 that controls the cutting operation of the cutter 55, and a sensor 59 that detects the drive state of the solenoid 57. And are equipped with. Then, the tag cut by the cutter 55 is conveyed by the feed roller 15 of the printing unit 10 through the first print head 18.

The printing unit 10 will be described in detail. The printing unit includes a sensor 63 provided between the feed roller 15 and the platen roller 16 for detecting that the recording medium has passed the feed roller 15. The sensor 63 constitutes the detecting means in this invention. Also, the first and second
Each of the print heads 18 and 19 is composed of a thermal head for dot-printing various information such as character information or bar code information on the printing surface of the tag. The platen roller 16 is disposed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the first print head 18, and the first print head 18 is provided by the solenoid 73.
Are moved between a contact position where they are in contact with each other with a predetermined pressure and a separation position where they are separated from the first print head. The position of the platen roller 16 is detected by the sensor 75.

Similarly, the platen roller 17 is disposed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the second print head 19, and the second contact position and the second contact position where the second print head 19 is brought into contact with the second print head 19 with a predetermined pressure by the solenoid 81. The print head is moved to and from a separated position away from the print head. The position of the platen roller 17 is detected by the sensor 83. A sensor 85 for detecting arrival of a tag printed by the first print head 18 is provided on the upstream side of the platen roller 17, and a second print head 19 prints on the downstream side of the platen roller 17. A sensor 87 that detects a tag and a discharge roller 91 that conveys the tag that has passed through the sensor 87 to the discharge unit 24 are provided. The discharge roller 91 is driven by the DC motor 95 via a belt.

On the other hand, the sensor 41 of the supply unit 12 is the roll 2
When the end of the recording medium pulled out from 7 is detected,
By pulling out another recording medium medium wound on the roll 29 and supplying it to the printing unit 10 via the medium joining unit 39, the rolls can be switched without stopping the operation of the printing apparatus.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Pulls out the recording medium from the roll 29 and joins the medium 39
A pull-out mechanism 28 is provided for supplying the supply path 27 via the. The drawing mechanism 28 includes a roller 99 that draws a recording medium from a roll 29, a DC motor 97 that drives the roller 99, and a medium direction changing unit 9 that changes the conveying direction of the drawn recording medium and guides it to the medium joining section 39.
6 and 6 are provided. In addition, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, in FIG. 1, the drawing mechanism 28 is illustrated as being shifted downward from the actual arrangement position.

A sensor 102 and a solenoid 101 are provided downstream of the roller 99. Then, when the sensor 41 detects the end portion of the medium wound on the roll 27, the DC motor 97 of the drawing mechanism 28 drives the roller 99, and the roll 29 is controlled based on the control of the solenoid 101 and the detection of the sensor 102. The recording medium is pulled out from.

The medium direction changing unit 96 includes first and second direction changing units 10 for changing the conveying direction of the recording medium.
A sensor 107 for detecting the arrival of the recording medium is provided on the upstream side of the first direction changing unit 103, and a sensor 109 for detecting the passage of the recording medium is provided on the downstream side of the second direction changing unit 105. Each is provided. The first and second direction changing portions 103 and 105 are formed by the direction changing roller 11
1 and 113 respectively, and these direction changing rollers 1
The components 11 and 113 are not limited to those driven by a motor, and may be configured to be rotated by the transport force for transporting the recording medium.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control system of the printer is
The main controller 120 is provided with a transport controller 121 and a print controller 122 controlled by the main controller.
The conveyance control unit 121 uses the pulse motors 20 and D of the printing unit 10.
The C motor 95 and the pulse motor 47 of the supply unit 12,
The operation of the DC motor 97 is controlled to control the conveyance of the recording medium (tag) through the supply path 27 and the conveyance path 14. The main controller 120 and the conveyance controller 121 constitute the controller in this invention.

The print control unit 122 includes a print memory 123.
Edit processing of the print pattern data to and from, and control of the first and second print heads 18 and 19. The main memory 124 stores the programs and processing data of the main control unit 120, and the printing memory 123 stores the programs and processing data and the printing data of the printing control unit 122. The print memory 123 also edits print data.

The interface processing between the main controller 120 and the print controller 122 is performed via the shared memory 125. Various sensors of the printing apparatus, such as the sensors 41, 63, 85, are connected to the main control unit 120 and input detection signals to the main control unit. Also, the solenoids 37, 57, 73, 8
1, 101 are controlled by the main control unit 120.

The main control section 120, the conveyance control section 121, the feed roller 15, the pulse motor 20, the drive belt 22, and the sensor 63 described above constitute the conveyance means of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus configured as above will be described. In the state before the printing operation is started, the recording medium is held at the standby position as shown in FIG. 4, and the leading end portion of the recording medium P at the standby position is formed by the platen roller 16 and the first print head 18. The position W is slightly (about cm) in front of the printing position R sandwiched between them.
Held in.

In the printing operation, as shown in FIG.
First, the main controller 120, the conveyance controller 121, and the print controller 122 are initialized (step S1).
Next, the main controller 120 edits the print data,
The print control unit 122 receives print data from the main control unit 120 via the shared memory 125 (step S2). Then, the print control unit 122 edits the print pattern data to be sent to the first and second print heads 18 and 19 and expands it in the print memory 123 (step S3).

Then, it is judged whether or not the editing of the print data is completed (step S4). If not, the process returns to step S3 to continue the editing. On the other hand, when the editing is completed, the main control unit 120 actuates the cutting unit 53 to cut the recording medium by the cutter 55 and forms a tag having a predetermined length (step S5).

Next, according to the command from the main control unit 120,
The conveyance control unit 121 drives the pulse motor 20 of the printing unit 10 (step S6). As a result, the tag is sent from the standby position to the printing position R by the feed roller 15, and further,
The platen roller 16 allows the first
Of the print head 18 and the print head 18.

After the pulse motor 20 is driven,
With a slight delay, that is, when the front end of the tag reaches the print position R from the position W, a print start command is input from the main controller 120 to the print controller 122 (step S).
7). Then, the print control unit 122 causes the print memory 12 to
The print pattern data stored in 3 is sequentially sent to the first print head 18 to print desired information on the tag (step S8).

Subsequently, the print control unit 122 determines whether or not the print pattern data is present in the print memory 123 (step S9), and if the print pattern data is present, the printing is continued. . If it is determined that the printing pattern does not exist in the printing memory 123, the printing operation is stopped, and the printed tag is discharged through the platen roller 17 to the discharge roller 9
1 is discharged to the discharge unit 24. After discharging, the motor 95
Is stopped (step S10).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S9 that the print memory 123 has no print pattern data,
The conveyance control unit 121 drives the pulse motor 47 of the supply unit 12 based on the command of the main control unit 120 to supply the recording medium to the printing unit 10 (step S11). The supplied recording medium is conveyed toward the first print head 18 by the feed roller 15 of the printing unit 10.

Then, when the leading edge of the recording medium is detected by the sensor 63, the transport controller 121 (step S1).
2) After a lapse of a predetermined time, that is, when the front end of the recording medium reaches the position W, the pulse motors 20 and 47 are stopped (step S13), and the supply and conveyance of the recording medium are stopped. As a result, the recording medium is held at the standby position where the leading end of the recording medium is located at the position W.

According to the printing apparatus configured as described above, in the standby state before the start of printing, the leading end portion of the recording medium is in front of the platen roller without being pinched between the platen roller and the print head. Is held at the position W. Therefore, even if the recording medium is held in the standby state for some time, the tip of the recording medium is not curled. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the leading end of the recording medium from being wound around the platen roller or other conveying rollers during the printing operation by slightly increasing the printing processing time for one time, and prevent the occurrence of inconvenience such as jamming. be able to.

Further, even when the recording medium is held in a standby state for a long time, since the recording medium and the platen roller are not in contact with each other, it is possible to prevent the platen roller from being deformed or altered, or the recording medium is altered.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention. For example, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to the ticket issuing machine but also to other issuing machines such as registers.
Further, the recording medium is not limited to a continuous band-shaped recording medium, and a card-shaped recording medium cut in advance to a predetermined size may be used.

[0038]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a printing device capable of preventing the occurrence of curling of the recording medium, the deterioration of the recording medium and the platen roller, and the like and providing good printing is provided. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view schematically showing an entire printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing printing by the printing device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a recording medium held at a standby position together with a platen roller and a print head.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a printing operation of the printing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Printing section, 12 ... Supply section, 15 ... Feed roller, 1
6, 17 ... Platen roller, 18 ... First print head,
19 ... Second print head, 20 ... Pulse motor, 120
... Main control unit, 121 ... Conveyance control unit, 122 ... Print control unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A platen roller, a print head provided so as to face the platen roller, a recording medium is conveyed between the platen roller and the print head at the time of printing, and a tip portion of the recording medium at the time of non-printing. Is provided in front of the plantain roller at a standby position for holding the recording medium, and a printing device for a ticket issuing machine. 2. The recording medium is arranged between the feed roller that conveys a recording medium toward the platen roller, the driving unit that drives the feed roller, and the feed roller and the platen roller. A detection unit that detects passage of the front end of the medium; and a control unit that stops the driving unit after a predetermined time has elapsed after the front end of the recording medium is detected by the detection unit. The printing device of the ticket issuing machine according to claim 1.