JPH08263596A - Roller for feeding card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To securely convey a card by utilizing the spike effects of projections by using a metallic projection roller as a card feed roller. CONSTITUTION: Many projections 2 are arrayed on the roller surface 1 and the spike effects of the projections 2 are utilized to convey the card. The shape, size, and pitch of the projections 2 can be determined suitably according to the surface state (smoothness and hardness) of the surface state of the card which is conveyed. The projections 2 can be manufactured by etching one surface of a plate whose hardness is previously adjusted, and various projections 2 are usable in conformity to the shape of the etching pattern. To manufacture the roller, the plate material having the projections 2 on one surface is wound around a mandrel to specific size and formed in a pipe shape by welding the abutting surfaces. This metallic projection roller is used to securely and stably convey a plastic card which does not match the roller surface because of rigidity and has an easy-to-slip surface.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card feeding roller of a card feeding mechanism for taking in and carrying prepaid cards such as telephone cards and orange cards, credit cards and cash cards and other plastic cards.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A card feeding mechanism of this type includes a driving roller and a driven roller which are opposed to each other, and a card is brought into contact with the cylindrical surfaces of both rollers to be taken in between the rollers and conveyed. In the above-mentioned card, information such as frequency, amount of money, or ID is recorded in a magnetic recording portion provided in a part of the card, and the information is read and written. It is necessary to transport the card so as to satisfy the required conditions.

Conventionally, the material of the card feeding roller, which is a driving roller, is often rubber, plastic or metal, and the shape of these rollers is cylindrical as shown in FIG. Generally, the surface is smooth considering damage to the card surface.

[0004]

The frictional force required to stably and surely convey a card is a roller pressing force set between a driving roller and a driven roller (a force for pinching the card).
And the size of the contact area between the roller and the card.

On the other hand, plastic cards as objects to be conveyed have a large thickness (about 0.3 mm), and the thickness also differs depending on the type of card. The material is plastic, the size is a business card size, and the card itself has rigidity because it is thick. In addition, the surface of the card is extremely smooth and easily slips.

Characteristics of such a plastic card (thickness, rigidity, surface smoothness)
Since the card does not fit on the roller surface, both reduce the frictional force between the roller and the card. As a method of increasing the frictional force, a method of increasing the pressing force of the roller or the size of the contact area between the roller and the card can be considered, but it is restricted by the increase in the roller storage space of the card feeding mechanism and the roller driving power, The frictional force necessary for card transportation cannot be secured.

Further, in the case of the rubber roller which has been used most frequently in the past, a normal card which is free from dirt and deformation of the card can carry relatively stably, but when oil and fat components such as hand marks and cosmetics adhere to the card, Elasticity, which is a characteristic of the rubber roller, makes the card less compatible with the card and prevents normal conveyance. Further, the oil and fat components attached to the card remain on the surface of the rubber roller, and a great deal of time is taken for cleaning work. Further, in the case of a rubber roller, since the initial elasticity is lost due to deterioration over time, the conformability (adhesion) with the card surface is deteriorated, and slippage easily occurs. Further, when the rubber deteriorates, the roughness of the roller surface increases, which may damage the card surface.

As described above, the conventional card feeding roller is about the size of a business card and has a large rigidity because it is thick, and the surface of the plastic card has a smooth surface. It was not possible to convey it stably and reliably.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to ensure that a plastic card whose surface is extremely slippery does not conform to the roller surface because of its rigidity. An object is to provide a card feeding roller that can be stably transported.

[0010]

In the card feeding roller of the present invention, at least the cylindrical peripheral surface is metal, and a large number of projections are arranged on the surface.

The circumferential surface is a pipe or a pipe-shaped metal cylinder.

The metal cylinder has a wall thickness of 1 mm or less,
The tip diameter of the protrusion is 10 to 100 μm, and the height is 10 to 100.
μm, and the arrangement interval is 0.1 to 1 mm.

The protrusions are formed by etching.

The surface of the cylindrical peripheral surface is surface-treated with a soft material or a hard material.

An elastic material for adjusting a contact force is provided inside the pipe or the pipe-shaped metal cylinder.

[0016]

According to the present invention, a large number of protrusions are arranged on the roller surface and the spike effect of the protrusions is utilized to carry the card.

The shape, size, and pitch of the protrusions can be optimally determined according to the surface condition (smoothness, hardness) of the card to be conveyed. This projection can be manufactured by etching one surface of the plate whose strength has been adjusted in advance, and various projections can be arranged along the shape of the etching pattern. It goes without saying that the method of manufacturing the protrusion may be other than the above etching method.

The roller is manufactured by winding a plate material having a projection on one surface on a mandrel having a predetermined size, and then welding the abutting surfaces to form a pipe shape.

Normally, the plastic card is conveyed by passing between the driving roller and the driven roller. However, as shown in FIG. 7, if the driven roller is a conventional rubber roller, the pressing force due to the elasticity of rubber is absorbed. Therefore, if there is no slip (idling) at the tip of the protrusion of the drive roller, the surface of the plastic card will not be scratched.

In the case of a card made by attaching a gold foil or gold plating on the surface of a plastic card, traces of protrusions may remain slightly. This is due to optimization of the shape and size of the protrusion tip, Hardness adjustment (softening of roller material, surface coating with soft material, etc.)
This can be solved by adopting a double structure in which rubber for pressing force absorption is mounted inside the protrusion roller.

Further, as the metallic material to be used, all kinds such as steel type, non-ferrous type, magnetic alloy and the like can be applied depending on the application, and the material strength can be variously prepared by the combination of rolling and heat treatment at the time of manufacturing the plate material. it can. Further, by subjecting the surface of the protrusion to a surface treatment such as plating, the hardness of the tip of the protrusion can be variously prepared.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a card feeding roller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (1) is a perspective view thereof and FIG. 1 (2).
Is an enlarged view showing the shape of the protrusion, and FIG. 1 (3) is an enlarged view showing the arrangement state of the protrusion.

In the card feeding roller of this embodiment, at least the circumferential surface 1 is made of metal, and the surface 1 has a height of 100.
A large number of protrusions 2 having a diameter of μm and a tip diameter of 50 μm are arranged at intervals of 0.3 mm.

The material of the roller body is SUS304 stainless steel adjusted to a Vickers hardness of 300 HV. The outer diameter of the roller body is 15 mm, and the roller body has a hollow cylindrical shape, and the aluminum shaft 3 is inserted into the hollow body to reduce the weight. The protrusion 2 is obtained by etching one side of a plate having a plate thickness of 0.3 mm to the above dimensions.

The force required to take in a plastic card by using the card feeding roller (hereinafter referred to as "take-in force"), the behavior of the take-in force within the time from the start of taking-in to the end of taking-in (take-in force-time line) In order to confirm the presence or absence of damage (such as scratches and traces of protrusions) on the surface of the card by the card feeding roller, the card feeding test was repeated using the card feeding roller.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the force-time chart of the loading force when the present card feeding roller is used. Although the results are shown three times under the same conditions, the uptake force is 0.74 to 0.779.
N, uptake time (time showing peak value of uptake force)
Is 0.46 to 0.52 sec, and both characteristic values are in good agreement, and it can be seen that the card feeding roller can stably take in and carry the card.

FIG. 3 shows the result when a rubber roller is used. The taking-in force and the taking-in time have a large variation as compared with the card feeding roller, and the rubber roller is a stable taking-in card even in a sound state without deterioration. It turns out that it is difficult to carry.

Next, in order to reproduce the pick-up failure due to the dirt on the card, a comparison with a conventionally used rubber roller (the surface is smooth and flat and has no protrusions) with the oil applied to the roller surface is taken in. The uptake force-time diagram was determined.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the force of taking-in when the card feeding roller is used, and FIG. 5 is a diagram of force of taking-in when the rubber roller is used.

Similar to the result shown in FIG. 2, the card feeding roller can obtain a stable taking-in force and taking-in time, whereas the rubber roller may not be able to take in the card due to a decrease in frictional force due to slip of the card surface. Even in such a case, the variation is so large that the card cannot be normally taken in and conveyed.

As described above, in addition to the case where the roller itself and the card are clean, the present card feeding roller is clean with respect to the rubber roller, and further, either the roller or the card or both of them are not stained by hand marks or cosmetics. Even in some cases, extremely stable card loading and transportation can be performed.

Further, a repeated test was performed 10,000 times in order to check the damage (marks, scratches, dents on the projections) on the card surface due to the metal projections, and it was confirmed that there was no abnormality on the front and back surfaces of the card. .

FIG. 6 is an external view of a card feeding roller according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The card feeding roller of this embodiment has a two-layer structure that absorbs the pressing force of the roller, that is, the inside of the projection roller 5, in order to prevent damage to the card surface (projection traces, scratches, etc.) due to projections. 3mm thick rubber 4
Is a two-layer roller (outer diameter 15 mm). The surface protrusions are made of stainless steel (SUS30
4) was used, and in order to enhance the effect of absorbing the pressing force due to the elasticity of the rubber 4 on the inner side, its hardness was adjusted to a soft material of about HV100. The protrusion is made by etching,
The plate thickness is 0.1 mm (100 μm), the protrusion height is 50 μm, the protrusion tip diameter is 50 μm, and the protrusion interval is 0.5 mm.

Here, a loading test was conducted on a card to which a gold foil on which a trace of protrusions is likely to remain is attached. In the repeat of the uptake test, the contact surface between the roller surface and the card surface was the same, and the number of times until the protrusion mark was formed was observed.

For comparison, in order to change the hardness of the tip portion of the protrusion roller, a roller having a protrusion surface plated was prepared. The protrusion height, protrusion tip diameter, protrusion interval, and material of these comparison rollers are the same as those of the above-described two-layer roller, but the plate thickness is 0.3 mm.

[0038]

[Table 1] The results are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, in the normal pressing force range (6 to 8 N), a trace remains on the material (SUS304) having a hardness of 300 HV at one time, but a protrusion trace remains on the roller coated on the material surface. The number of times to start is 3 times for nickel plating and 10 times for gold plating. It depends on the hardness of the plating applied to the tip of the protrusion, and by covering the surface of the protrusion with a soft material, damage to the card surface can be reduced. .

Further, in the two-layer roller utilizing the effect of absorbing the pressing force of rubber, the number of times the protrusion traces start to be generated is 88.
It turns out that the damage to the gold leaf card is very small.

As described above, as a method of coating the tip of the protrusion roller with a soft material, or suppressing the traces and scratches on the card surface while making the best use of the spike effect of the protrusion roller, By using a two-layer roller in which a rubber roller is mounted, and by combining a two-layer roller and a surface coating of a soft material, stable and reliable transportation can be performed without leaving a trace of protrusions on the surface of the card on which the gold foil is attached.

In the above embodiment, the surface coating of the soft material is used from the viewpoint of protecting the surface of the card. However, when the usage condition of the card is bad, it is required to reliably convey the card in order to protect the surface of the card. In this case, by coating the surface with a hard material, it is possible to carry out more stable transportation.

[0042]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. (1) The invention of claims 1 to 5 uses a metal protrusion roller as the card feeding roller, and the spike effect of the protrusion is utilized to make the surface smooth and slippery, and the card itself has rigidity, so the roller is The plastic card, which is apt to cause insufficient frictional force due to poor compatibility with the surface, can be reliably transported without damaging it.

Further, since there is no slip with the card due to the protrusion provided on the roller surface, the card can be conveyed at high speed and with high accuracy.

Furthermore, the card can be reliably taken in without being affected by the slippage of the card surface caused by hand stains, cosmetics, etc., which is attached when the card is carried.

Further, since the material of the protrusions is metal and the metal surface can be coated with solder, plastic, etc., there is no deterioration over time, and maintenance and use during use can be made maintenance-free. (2) According to the invention of claim 6, by mounting the rubber inside the protrusion roller, damage to the card surface due to the protrusion can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a card feeding roller of a first embodiment of the present invention (FIG. 1 (1)), an enlarged view showing the shape of protrusions (FIG. 2), and an enlargement showing the arrangement state of protrusions. Figure ((3) in the figure)
Is.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the take-in force-take-in time of the card feeding roller of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the take-in force-take-in time of a conventional rubber roller.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the taking-in force-taking-in time of the card to which the oil of the card feeding roller of the first embodiment is applied.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the take-in force-take-in time of a conventional oil-coated card of a rubber roller.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a card feeding roller according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a structure of a card feeding mechanism using the card feeding roller of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional card feeding roller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Surface with protrusion 2 Protrusion 3 Shaft 4 Rubber 5 Protrusion roller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Mikio Nishihata, 601 Owada Nitta, Yachiyo-shi, Chiba 36 days This Bell Parts Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tatsuo Kunimine 601, Owada Nitta, Yachiyo, Chiba 36 days Inside Bell Parts Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A card feeding mechanism, which is a driving roller in a card feeding mechanism that includes a driving roller and a driven roller facing each other, and takes the card between the rollers by bringing the card into contact with the cylindrical surfaces of the rollers. In the roller, at least the cylindrical peripheral surface is made of metal, and a large number of protrusions are arranged on the surface thereof. 2. The card feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical peripheral surface is a pipe or a pipe-shaped metal cylinder. 3. The wall thickness of the metal cylinder is 1 mm or less, the tip diameter of the protrusion is 10 to 100 μm, and the height is 10 mm.
The card feeding roller according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the card feeding roller has a pitch of -100 µm and an arrangement interval of 0.1-1 mm. 4. The card feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is formed by etching. 5. The card feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the cylindrical peripheral surface is surface-treated with a soft material or a hard material. 6. The card feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein an elastic material for adjusting a contact force is provided inside the pipe or the pipe-shaped metal cylinder.