JPH0976486A - Printing device and postal franker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing device, with which a clear print of a seal can be obtained by surely preventing the vanishment and omission of the print of a seal from occurring by a method wherein a medium or a printing head is controlled so as to print at a proper printing site. SOLUTION: This is a printing device for performing predetermined printing on a medium A and equipped with a detecting means 25 for detecting the proper printing site of the medium A and a controlling means for controlling the medium A or the printing head 16 so as to perform the printing at the proper printing site detected with the detecting means 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a postage meter for performing predetermined printing on a medium such as a mail such as an envelope having a transparent window made of cellophane.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the printing apparatus of the above-mentioned example, for example, a printing roller is pressed against a continuously conveyed medium surface to print, and a predetermined portion of the medium surface is provided by a non-contact type ink jet print head. There is both a type that prints by ejecting ink to the printer, but in any of these contact type and non-contact type printing devices, the printing position is fixed with respect to the fixed position of the medium such as postal matter. Since printing is performed at a uniform printing position, there are the following problems.

That is, as shown in FIG. 13, an envelope 100
In the case where the transparent window 101 made of cellophane is provided on the sheet, when printing is performed at a fixed position by the above-mentioned print head, the range of the imprint 1
In some cases, 02 overlaps the transparent window 101, and the seal imprint of the overlapping portion 103 (shown by hatching for convenience of illustration) becomes thin and disappears.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the envelope 1
The contents 104 enclosed inside the envelope 00
When a step is formed at 0, when printing is performed at a fixed position by the above-mentioned print head, the defective portion 1 is formed at the step corresponding portion of the imprint.
05 occurred, and there was a problem that important portions of the imprint such as the amount of money (postage) and the date, which are important in the postal service, were missing.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the first aspect of the present invention, by controlling the medium or the print head so as to perform printing at a proper printing position, it is possible to reliably prevent disappearance or loss of the imprint. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can obtain a clear impression.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect of the invention, a material portion suitable for printing is detected by the detection means, so that a material portion having a clear seal imprint is formed. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can select and execute printing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect of the invention, the detection means detects a flat surface portion suitable for printing, so as to avoid the step portion. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device capable of executing printing by selecting a position.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention of claim 1, a clear imprint is secured by moving a medium or a print head to perform printing at a proper printing position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can be used.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect of the invention, the print head is moved in the direction perpendicular to the transport surface to meet the thickness of the medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can obtain an appropriate imprint by controlling the vertical position of the print head.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the third aspect of the invention, the medium is obtained by rolling a touch roller onto the medium for the purpose of detecting a flat portion suitable for printing. Accurately detect the flat part of the
An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can perform even clearer printing.

The invention according to claim 7 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention according to claim 1, uses a non-contact print head such as an ink jet, so that even a medium having a thickness step is non-contact. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can obtain a clear imprint by printing.

The invention according to claim 8 of the present invention relates to a postage meter capable of clearly printing postal printing information such as an amount of money and a date required for a postal matter, by preventing disappearance and loss of a seal imprint. For the purpose of provision.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing device for performing a predetermined printing on a medium, which comprises a detecting means for detecting a proper printing portion of the medium, and the detecting means. A printing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the medium or the print head so that printing is performed at the detected proper printing position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, the detection means is a printing device set as a material detection means for detecting a material portion suitable for printing on a medium. Is characterized in that.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, the detection means is a printing device set as flat surface detection means for detecting a flat portion suitable for printing on a medium. Is characterized in that.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the control means is a printing device set as a moving means for moving a medium or a print head. And

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the control means is a vertical moving means for moving the print head in a direction perpendicular to the medium conveying surface. It is a set printing device.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the third aspect of the present invention, the flat surface detecting means includes a touch roller that is in rolling contact with a medium, and printing for detecting the displacement of the touch roller. It is a device.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing device in which the print head is a non-contact print head.

The invention according to claim 8 of the present invention is characterized in that it is a postage meter equipped with the printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

[0021]

According to the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention, when a predetermined print is performed on the medium by the print head, the above-mentioned detecting means can perform the proper printing on the medium (the printing can be performed properly). (Including both the material portion and the flat surface portion) is detected, and the above-mentioned control means controls the above-mentioned medium or print head so as to perform printing at the proper print position detected by this detection means. As a result, there is an effect that it is possible to surely prevent disappearance or loss of the seal imprint and obtain a clear seal imprint.

According to the invention of claim 2 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the material detecting means detects a material portion suitable for printing on the medium, the material portion in which the imprint detected by the material detecting means is clear is selected. There is an effect that printing can be performed.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention as set forth in claim 1, the flat surface detecting means detects a flat surface portion suitable for printing on the medium. There is an effect that printing can be performed by selecting a set.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, the moving means moves the medium or the print head so as to perform printing at a proper printing position, so that a clear imprint by the print head can be secured. There is.

According to the invention of claim 5 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the above-mentioned vertical moving means moves the print head in the vertical direction with respect to the conveyance surface of the medium, the vertical position of the print head corresponding to the thickness of the medium. There is an effect that it is possible to control and to obtain a proper imprint.

According to the invention of claim 6 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, since the flat surface detecting means includes a touch roller, by rolling the touch roller onto a medium, the flat surface without the step of the medium based on the touch roller. It is possible to accurately detect the copy, and as a result, it is possible to perform clearer printing.

According to the invention of claim 7 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the print head is composed of a non-contact print head, it is possible to perform printing from a non-contact separated position of the medium even if the medium has a thickness step. As a result, a clear imprint can be obtained.

According to the invention of claim 8 of the present invention,
Since the postage meter is provided with the printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the postal printing information (predetermined printing) such as the amount of money and the date necessary for the postal matter can be eliminated and the loss of the seal imprint can be prevented. There is an effect that clear printing is possible while preventing.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The drawing shows a postage meter equipped with the printing device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, this postage meter 11 forms a weighing section 13 of a postal matter A on one side (left side in the figure) of a main body 12 of the apparatus, and A stacker unit 14 is formed on the side (the right side in the drawing), a touch panel 15 as an input operation unit is disposed in the middle between them, and a non-contact type print head 16 such as an inkjet is provided inside the apparatus main body 12. Is equipped with.

The above-mentioned weighing unit 13 weighs the weight of the postal matter A such as envelopes having different outer dimensions and masses, and the above-mentioned touch panel 15 is usually the type of postal mail such as registered mail, express delivery, domestic, international, airmail, and seamail. Is used for pressing and inputting by the displayed selection key.
When passing through the lower side of 6, the imprint such as the amount of money, the date, etc. is printed on the proper printing portion of the mail A by the print head 16 in a non-contact manner and stored in the stacker unit 14.

FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the main part of FIG. 2, and along the conveying route 17 of the mail A conveyed in the direction of arrow a,
From the left side to the right side of the drawing, the reflected light of the irradiation light projected from the light projector 18 through the polarization filter 19 is transferred through the polarization filter 20 to the light receiver 21 that receives the mail A with low friction resistance. The touch roller 22 and the above-described print head 16 are arranged in this order, the distance between the light reflection portion and the touch roller 22 is set to L1, and the distance between the center of the touch roller 22 and the center of the print head 16 is set. The distance is set to L2, the total length of the mail A is set to Lm, and the length required for the mail A to pass under the print head 16 after printing is set to L3 (where L3> Lm). The vertical height h between the upper surface and the print head 16 is set (however, it varies depending on the thickness of the mail A as described later).

Here, the above-mentioned transport path 17 is composed of an endless belt or the like, and the transport of the mail A is controlled by the mail transport device 23 (see FIG. 7) having a motor. Further, the projector 18 and the photoreceiver 21 described above respectively have polarization filters 19 and 20 so as not to be affected by the disturbance noise light, and irradiate the illuminating light of a specific frequency from the illuminator 18 and the reflected light thereof. It is detected at 21.

When the postal matter A is not present in the projectors / receivers 18 and 21, the irradiation light from the projector 18 is transmitted downward,
Although the reflected light does not enter the light receiver 21, when the mail A rushes (exists) into the light emitters / receivers 18 and 21, the light receiver 21 detects the reflected light from the mail A.

FIG. 3 shows the amount of light received by the light receiver 21 and the temporal change of the reflected light pulse detected by the differentiating circuit 24.
When the transparent window made of cellophane of the postal matter A (hereinafter simply referred to as cellophane section B) (see FIG. 9) passes through the light-emitters 18 and 21, the reflected light is diffusely reflected, so that the amount of light received by the light-receiver 21 is reduced. descend. The amount of change in the reflected light is calculated by the above-mentioned differentiation circuit 2
4, the range Lc (see FIG. 9) of the cellophane part B of the postal matter A is detected.

That is, the photodetector 21 and the differentiating circuit 2 described above.
Material detection means 25 for detecting a material part (non-cellophane part) suitable for printing on the postal matter A by both of them.
Is composed. In FIG. 3, Tm is the time for the mail A to pass, Tc is the time for the cellophane B,
These time data are input to the CPU 40 described later.

FIG. 4 shows a specific structure of the touch roller 22 portion arranged next to the material detecting means 25, and a roller holder 26 for rotatably supporting the touch roller 22 described above.
A pressure sensor 28 is disposed on the upper part of the pressure sensor 28 via a pressing spring.

The above-mentioned touch roller 22 rolls on the postal matter A with a comparatively weak pressing force in order to detect a minute stroke in the vertical direction, and changes in the touch pressure when the postal matter A passes through the above-mentioned pressure sensor. Measure at 28. That is, as shown in the relationship between the pressure P and the displacement y in FIG. 5, a linear relationship that linearly increases or decreases is established between the two P and y.
The thickness of the mail A can be detected by the pressure sensor 28 described above.

That is, the above-mentioned pressure sensor 28 constitutes the plane detecting means 29 for detecting the plane portion of the mail A suitable for printing. A portion where there is no deviation of the pressure signal from the pressure sensor 28 (deviation between the previous value and the current value) corresponds to the flat portion of the mail A.

FIG. 6 shows a print head elevating device 30 for moving the print head 16 arranged next to the above-mentioned plane detecting means 29 up and down according to the thickness of the mail A, and the output of the pulse motor 31. A driving gear 33 is attached to the shaft 32, and a screw 35 is attached to a driven gear 34 that constantly meshes with the driving gear 33.
And the above-mentioned print head 16 is connected via the slider 36, and the vertical distance h optimum for clear printing of the above-mentioned print head 16 by forward and reverse driving of the pulse motor 31 (see FIG. 2).
It is configured to go up and down. In this embodiment, since the non-contact type print head 16 such as ink jet is used,
The vertical distance h is variably adjusted so that the print by the print head 16 becomes clearest with respect to the thickness of the mail A.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of the control circuit of the postage meter. The CPU 40 is stored in the ROM 38 based on various necessary signal inputs from the touch panel 15, the print start button 37, the differentiation circuit 24, and the pressure sensor 28. According to the program, the print head lifting device 31, the print head 1
6. The mail transport device 23 and the weighing unit 13 are driven and controlled, and the RAM 39 stores various necessary data and tables. The print head lateral movement device 41 is not used in the embodiment shown in FIGS.

The operation of the postage meter thus constructed will be described in detail below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. In the first step S1, the clerk measures the mail A with the weighing unit 1
When set to 3, the weighing unit 13 measures the weight of the mail A and outputs the measurement result to the CPU 40. Also CP
U40 displays various selection keys on the touch panel 15 when the mail A is set, and the clerk normally pushes down and inputs the mail type such as registered mail, express delivery, domestic, international, airmail, and seamail, and the CPU40 Determines the information pattern to be printed on the mail A.

Next, in the second step S2, when the clerk operates the print start button 37 in the touch panel 15 to ON (touch input), the process proceeds to the next third step S3. In this third step S3, the CPU 40 causes the mail conveying device 23
Is driven to start the transportation of the postal matter A along the transportation path 17.

When the mail A is conveyed, the material detecting means 25 first causes the length from the end of the hand mail A to the cellophane part and the length to the cellophane part (La + Lb) (see FIG. 9) and the cellophane part B. The length Lc (see FIG. 9) is detected. Next, the displacement y of the touch roller 22 rolling on the postal matter A
Is converted into the pressure P by the pressure sensor 28, and the maximum thickness (hmax) of the mail A (data which becomes a factor for determining the vertical position of the print head 16) and the change in thickness along the longitudinal direction (of flat portion detection) The data which becomes the factor) is detected, and in particular, the detection of the portion having the step and the flat portion having no step is performed.

Next, in the fourth step S4, when the postal matter A passes through the portion where the touch roller 22 is disposed, the next fifth step S4 is executed.
Go to 5. In this fifth step S5, the CPU 40 determines whether or not it is a printable mail item, and when the determination is YES, proceeds to the next sixth step S6, while when the determination is NO, skips to the eighth step S8 for the purpose of abnormality extraction. .

In the above-described sixth step S6, the CPU 40 determines whether or not it is the position to start printing on the mail A (see the timing of the print head ON in the time chart shown in FIG. 10). While waiting until the printing start position on the object A is reached, if YES is determined, the process proceeds to the next seventh step S7.

In this seventh step S7, the CPU 40 drives the non-contact type print head 16 so that predetermined mail information is provided on the non-cellophane part of the mail A and the flat part without steps as shown in FIG. Is executed to form a seal imprint C.
Next, in an eighth step S8, the CPU 40 ends the conveyance of the mail A and completes the series of processes.

As described above, when the print head 16 carries out a predetermined printing on the mail A, the above-mentioned detecting means (at least one of the material detecting device 25 and the flat surface detecting means 29) is used for the proper printing position of the mail A ( A proper printing portion detected by this detecting means is detected by the above-mentioned control means (refer to the mail conveying device 23 and the print head lifting device 30). The above-mentioned mail A or the print head 16 is controlled so as to print on. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the seal imprint C (see FIG. 9) from being lost or missing, and obtain a clear seal imprint C.

Further, the above-mentioned material detecting means 25 is used for the mail A
In this case, since the material portion suitable for printing is detected, it is possible to select the material portion in which the seal imprint C detected by the material detecting means 25 is clear and execute the printing. Further, since the above-mentioned plane detecting means 29 detects a plane portion suitable for printing on the postal matter A, the plane portion, that is, the non-step portion where the seal imprint C (see FIG. 9) detected by this plane detecting means 29 becomes clear. There is an effect that it is possible to select and execute printing.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned moving means (see the postal matter conveying device 23 and the print head elevating device 30) moves the above-mentioned postal matter A or the print head 16 so as to perform printing at a proper printing position. There is an effect that a clear imprint due to can be secured.

In addition, the above-mentioned vertical moving means (refer to the print head lifting device 30) moves the print head 16 in the vertical direction with respect to the conveying surface of the mail A, so that it corresponds to the thickness of the mail A. There is an effect that the vertical position of the print head 16 can be controlled to obtain an appropriate imprint C.

Further, since the above-mentioned flat surface detecting means 29 is provided with the touch roller 22, by rolling the touch roller 22 onto the mail item A, a flat surface of the mail item A based on the touch roller 22 can be obtained. It is possible to accurately detect the copy, and as a result, it is possible to perform clearer printing.

Moreover, since the above-mentioned print head 16 is composed of a non-contact print head such as an ink jet, even if the mail A has a thickness difference, printing can be performed from the separated position which is not in contact with the mail A. Therefore, there is an effect that a clear imprint C (see FIG. 9) can be obtained.

FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the postage meter. In the previous embodiment, the mail A is carried by the mail carrier 23 in the direction of arrow a while the print head 16 prints. However, in this embodiment shown in FIG. 11, for the purpose of reducing the size of the apparatus main body 12 in the longitudinal direction, the mail A is once conveyed to the end of conveyance, and then the fixed position (normal position) shown by a solid line in FIG. The print head 16 is horizontally moved to a print start position indicated by an imaginary line in the figure, and after the printing is completed, the print head 16 is returned to a fixed position and horizontally moved again.

In this embodiment, since the print head 16 is laterally moved as described above, the print head lateral movement device 41 shown in FIG. 7 is used. Next, the operation of this postage meter will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Also in this embodiment, the circuit device of the main part uses the one shown in the previous figure.

In the first step U1, when the clerk sets the mail item A in the weighing unit 13, the weighing unit 13 measures the weight of the mail item A and outputs the measurement result to the CPU 40. The CPU 40 also touches the touch panel 15 when the mail A is set.
Various kinds of selection keys are displayed on, and the clerk normally presses down and inputs the mail type such as registered mail, express delivery, domestic, international, airmail, sea mail, etc., and the CPU 40 prints the information pattern to be printed on the mail A. To decide.

Next, in the second step U2, when the clerk operates the print start button 37 in the touch panel 15 to ON (touch input), the process proceeds to the next third step U3. In this third step U3, the CPU 40 causes the mail conveying device 23
Is driven to start the transportation of the postal matter A along the transportation path 17.

When the mail A is conveyed, the material detecting means 25 first detects the length from the end of the mail A to the cellophane part and the length to the cellophane part (La + Lb) (see FIG. 9) and the cellophane part B. The length Lc (see FIG. 9) is detected. Next, the displacement y of the touch roller 22 rolling on the postal matter A
Is converted into the pressure P by the pressure sensor 28, and the maximum thickness (hmax) of the mail A (data which becomes a factor for determining the vertical position of the print head 16) and the change in thickness along the longitudinal direction (of flat portion detection) The data which becomes the factor) is detected, and in particular, the detection of the portion having the step and the flat portion having no step is performed.

Next, in the fourth step U4, when the mail A passes through the portion where the touch roller 22 is disposed, the next fifth step U
Go to 5. In the above-mentioned fifth step U5, the CPU 40
Transports the postal matter A to the transporting end portion on the right side shown in FIG. 11, and finishes the transporting process prior to printing.

Next, at the sixth step U6, the CPU 40 determines whether or not the mail is printable, and at the time of NO determination, the processing after the seventh step U7 (particularly the printing processing) is not executed, so that the abnormality is extracted. While the series of processing is ended as a purpose, when the YES determination is made, the process proceeds to the next seventh step U7. In this seventh step U7, the CPU 40 drives the print head lateral movement device 41 to move the non-contact type print head 16 shown in FIG. 11 from the solid line position in FIG. 11 to the print start position shown in phantom in FIG. To move.

Next, in an eighth step U8, the CPU 40 determines whether or not the print head 16 has been laterally moved to the print start position as a flat surface portion which is a material portion capable of performing proper printing and has no step, and NO At the time of judgment, the above-mentioned seventh step U
On the other hand, while returning to step 7, when the determination is YES, the process proceeds to the next ninth step U9.

At the ninth step U9, the CPU 40 drives the non-contact type print head 16 and the print head lateral movement device 41 to move the print head 16 in the printing direction from right to left in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, predetermined postal information is printed on the non-cellophane portion of the postal matter A and on the flat portion having no step to form the imprint C (see FIG. 9). After the imprint C is formed in this way, in a tenth step U10, the CPU 40 returns the print head 16 to the fixed position shown by the solid line in FIG. To finish.

2 and 11 in the case of such a configuration.
As is clear from the comparison with the above, there is an effect that the size of the device can be reduced and the dimension in the longitudinal direction can be shortened. In other respects, substantially the same operation and effect as those of the previous embodiment are obtained, and therefore, in FIG. 11, the same parts as those in the previous figure are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 11, L4 is the length between the center of the touch roller 22 and the end of the mail A conveyed to the conveyance end position, and L4 <L2 + L3, and in the embodiment of FIG. Device miniaturization is achieved for the example.

In the correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the medium of the present invention corresponds to the mail A of the embodiment, and the detection means are the material detection means 25 and the flat surface detection means. The control means and the moving means correspond to at least one of the print head lifting device 30, the print head lateral moving device 41, and the mail conveying device 23, and the vertical moving means corresponds to the printing. The print head corresponds to the non-contact type print head 16 such as an ink jet, which corresponds to the head lifting device 30.
It is not limited only to the configuration of the above embodiment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a postage meter including a printing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an internal configuration of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing the relationship between the amount of light received by the light receiver and the detection panel.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a plane detecting unit.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the pressure detected by the pressure sensor and the vertical displacement of the touch roller.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a print head lifting device.

FIG. 7 is a control circuit block diagram.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing print control processing.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of mail items.

FIG. 10 is a time chart showing print control processing.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the postage meter of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the print control process.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an overlapping state of a seal image and a transparent window in a conventional printing unit.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a missing seal imprint state in a conventional printing unit.

15 is a sectional view taken along the line ZZ of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 ... Print head 22 ... Touch roller 23 ... Postal material conveying device 25 ... Material detecting means 29 ... Flat surface detecting means 30 ... Print head elevating device 41 ... Print head lateral moving device A ... Mail

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masahiro Seguchi 10 Okaron Dodocho, Hanazono, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture Kyoto Omron Corporation

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A printing device for performing a predetermined printing on a medium, said detection means for detecting a printing proper portion of said medium, and said medium or printing for printing at the printing proper portion detected by said detection means. A printing device comprising a control means for controlling a head. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the detection means is set to a material detection means for detecting a material portion suitable for printing on a medium. 3. A printer according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means is set as flat surface detecting means for detecting a flat surface portion suitable for printing on a medium. 4. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the control means is set as a moving means for moving the medium or the print head. 5. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the control means is set as a vertical moving means for moving the print head in a direction vertical to a conveying surface of the medium. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the flat surface detecting means includes a touch roller that is in rolling contact with a medium, and detects the displacement of the touch roller. 7. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the print head is a non-contact print head. 8. A postage meter equipped with the printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.