JPH10138605A - Card printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a card printer capable of performing proper printing operation at all times in accordance with cards having various sizes and thicknesses, and including an operation head being replaceable facilely by user. SOLUTION: A gate 16 is arranged at a card ejection mechanism 9 so as to control the outlet clearance. Clearance control between an operation head 40 and a platen roller 39 is permitted to be in association with outlet control. The operation head 40 is made replaceable with respect to a printer frame 5. The operation head 40 is allowed to be controllable relative to the position of a contact operation part (a heating element and so on) at its head end in the operation head 40 itself or to the platen roller 39.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ID card,
The present invention relates to a printer for a card that performs a printing pressure operation such as printing, engraving, laminating film, and attaching a hologram sticker on a card such as a C card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Personal information, a face photograph, a logo mark, a secret hologram, and the like are printed and affixed to an ID card, an IC card, and the like, and used as a bank card, a credit card, a prepaid card, an employee card, a membership card, and the like. use. In addition, similar cards include commuter passes, driver's licenses, consultation tickets, student ID cards, and business cards.

[0003] The material of these cards is vinyl chloride, polyethylene (PET), synthetic paper, paper, etc., depending on various uses, and the thickness, length and width are different from each other. Conventional card printers are mainly dedicated printers corresponding to various cards, but some can be used together. However, the dedicated one is expensive, and the combined one has unstable printing pressure performance (for example, a defect occurs in print quality).

Regarding a thermal head for printing,
Since the heating element is formed by sputtering or the like, the processing accuracy of the head is not constant, and it is difficult to form the heating portion at an accurate position at the head end. For this reason, the printing quality actually differs every time the head is replaced, and there is no situation where the user can easily replace the head. Note that a card printer that automatically performs an operation usually includes a card storage unit, a card ejection mechanism, a card transport mechanism, a head assembly, a printing pressure mechanism, a tape feed mechanism, and a control device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a card printer capable of always performing an appropriate printing pressure operation (for example, printing) in correspondence with cards of various sizes and thicknesses. An object of the present invention is to provide a card printer capable of replacing a work head and a card printer which does not cause slack in feeding of a work material tape (for example, an ink ribbon).

[0006]

In order to equalize the printing pressure for various cards and to suppress the structural distortion of the printer caused by the printing pressure, the head assembly and the printing pressure mechanism are sandwiched by a platen roll. But they are connected by a connecting lever via a spring for applying printing pressure.

That is, in the head assembly, the work head is arranged at a position sandwiching the card conveyance path with respect to the platen roll, and the platen roll is arranged at a fixed position of a frame constituting the printer machine frame, and at the tip thereof. A work head provided with a contact working portion for the card is attached so that the contact working portion can move far and near with respect to the platen roll. Further, the printing pressure mechanism is for lowering and raising the working head, and is provided on the opposite side of the working head across the platen roll. And
The working head and the printing pressure mechanism are connected by a connecting lever via a spring for applying printing pressure.

The work head is a print head for performing printing, a thermocompression bonding head for performing lamination, or the like.
The contact working unit is a type or a heating element that actually performs printing and thermocompression operations on the card surface, presses and heats, or simultaneously performs both. The printing pressure mechanism moves the working head of the head assembly down and up with respect to the platen roll. Further, the position of the tip of the working head with respect to the platen roll is determined, and the size of the gap through which the card passes during the printing operation is set. On the other hand, the printing spring urges the work head toward the platen roll,
A pressing operation is performed on the card surface through which the card passes. A constant printing pressure is always applied even when the size of the gap through which the card passes changes.

Thus, the quality of the printing operation is stabilized by a constant printing pressure. Also, the printing pressure is balanced in the system around the head assembly and the printing pressure mechanism via the coupling lever,
Since it does not act on the outside, distortion in the structure of the printer hardly occurs. When the both ends of the work head are attached to the frame with head pins protruding in the axial direction parallel to the rotation axis of the platen roll, and the coupling levers are connected to each of the head pins, the work head has a long contact work portion in the width direction of the card. However, the printing pressure can be evenly applied in the length direction, and the quality of the printing pressure operation is improved.

The work head is arranged so that the head axis passing through the center of the head pin and the contact work portion passes through the center of the platen roll, while the frame is provided with a linear guide surface that abuts the side surface of the head pin, and the guide straight line is formed. If it passes through a position parallel to the head axis and shifted by the radius of the head pin from the axis of the platen roll, and if means for biasing the movement of the head pin toward the linear guide surface is provided, work during printing operation The contact working section at the tip of the head always moves to the correct position set with respect to the platen roll, so that a stable and stable printing operation can be performed. Further, by the means for urging the work head toward the linear guide surface, the contact working portion can always be set at the correct setting position during the printing operation, even if the work head slightly moves up and down.

In some cases, the work head is constituted by a head body having a head frame and a contact work portion at the tip, and the head body is rotatably mounted on the head frame by a support pin coaxial with the head pin. This makes it possible to adjust the angle of the main body axis passing through the center of the support pin and the contact working portion with respect to the head axis, and to keep the position of the contact working portion at the tip of the head main body slightly offset on the head axis. Can be located in the correct position by the contact working part,
Accurate and stable printing pressure work can be performed.

The work head may be detachable from the frame of the printer, and may be replaceable with a contact work part having a different shape or function. That is, the working head is made into a so-called cassette, and the head main body to be housed inside the head frame has various functions and types, and the entire head frame can be replaced. For example, for printing, laminating, or sticking a sheet. However, it may be necessary to change the magnitude of the printing pressure by the printing pressure applying spring.

[0013] If the frame side portion for guiding the movement of the work head to the platen roll is located at a position farther from the platen roll than the head pin, the work head comes into contact with the side surface of the work head from both sides by line contact. When moving in the near and far directions, there is no prying due to contact at two or more places, and the working head can be moved smoothly. Furthermore, it shall have a tape feed mechanism,
The head assembly, the printing pressure mechanism, and the tape feeding mechanism may have the following specific configurations. The tape feeding mechanism supplies a work material tape to the head assembly.

The work material tape is a tape-shaped material such as an ink ribbon, a laminating film, or a hologram sheet. A tape that consumes only the ink on the tape, such as an ink ribbon, and a laminated film or a hologram seal are used. In some cases, part of the tape is peeled off and consumed. The tape feed mechanism has a mounting lever that supports a tape guide roller and a tape pressing roller that are in contact with the tape feed roll. The lower end of the mounting lever is pivotally supported by the frame, and the tape guide roller and the tape pressing roller are separated from the tape feed roll in a direction separating from the tape feed roll, and are constantly urged by a spring. Then, these rollers are locked in a releasable state at an operation position where these rollers are in contact with the tape feed roll by a manual operation tool.

The printing pressure mechanism includes an eccentric cam, a passive lever and a crank lever which are in contact with the peripheral surface of the eccentric cam. The eccentric cam is supported on the frame below the platen roll, and the lower end of the passive lever is connected to the eccentric cam. The upper end of the crank lever is pivotally supported on the frame while being in contact with the peripheral surface, and the apex of the crank lever is disposed on the front side of the eccentric cam in the card conveying direction and is pivotally supported on the frame. A spring for applying a printing pressure is attached to the downwardly extending portion.

The coupling lever has a hook shape, and has a lower end pivotally connected to a laterally extending portion of the crank lever, and an upper end capable of attaching and detaching the head pin of the working head from the front and rear sides in the card transport direction. Engages. Then, the middle part of the mounting lever and the upper part of the coupling lever are connected by a connecting link in the front-rear direction.

When the lock of the mounting lever of the tape feed mechanism is released by the operating tool, the mounting lever is rotated by the release spring, so that the contact between the tape guide roller and the tape pressing roller with respect to the tape feed roll is released, and at the same time, the communication link is released. The coupling lever is also disengaged from the head pin of the working head via the connection lever. This makes it possible to easily exchange the work material tape and the work head.

A head assembly having an ejection mechanism for ejecting the stored cards one by one from a card printer, a platen roll disposed across the transport path of the card, and a working head having a contact working portion at the tip for the card; It is equipped with a control device, and the ejection mechanism is provided with a gate for adjusting the exit gap of the card and a card thickness sensor for detecting the size of the exit gap, while the platen roll is positioned at the fixed position of the frame constituting the printer machine frame. The work head is mounted so that the contact work part can move in and out of the platen roll, and the output of the card thickness sensor is processed by the control device to automatically adjust the gap between the work head tip and the platen roll. It may be.

According to this configuration, when the gate position is adjusted, the distance between the platen roll and the tip of the working head in the head assembly can be automatically adjusted to an appropriate value, thereby avoiding an accident due to an incorrect setting of the card thickness. Can be. In this case, the ejection mechanism includes a gate that can adjust the gap between the hopper bed on which the card is placed and the hopper bed.The relative position between the hopper bed and the gate is adjusted by rotating the cam, and the card thickness sensor detects the position of the cam. A configuration for detecting the rotation angle can be adopted. The detection of the rotation angle may be stepless, or may be at each step set according to the card pressure. Further, the rotation of the cam may be performed by a step motor or the like, and a rotation angle corresponding to the card thickness may be commanded from the control device.

The card ejection mechanism is advanced in the direction of sending out the card with the hopper bed on which the card is placed, and
It shall have a feed claw that repeats the operation of retreating to the original position, the feed claw has a step to engage with the card rear edge,
The height of the step may be about 1.5 times the thinnest card thickness of the cards using the step height. Increasing the height of the step portion by 1.5 times was determined from experiments, and efficient feeding can be performed even when the card has a warpage or a difference in thickness within a normal range.

A printer having a head assembly, a transport mechanism having a transport path for feeding a card to the head assembly and a control device, and a plurality of size detection sensors provided on the transport path, wherein a plurality of size detection sensors are provided. The card may be arranged at a position of each card size from the printing pressure reference position of the head assembly as corresponding to the card size of the card in the card transport direction.
The size detection sensor detects the trailing edge of the card, and the control device waits for a signal from the size detection sensor corresponding to the card size selected in advance and drives the printing pressure mechanism. In some cases, a card printer has a head assembly and a tape feeding mechanism for feeding a work material tape to the head assembly. The tape feed mechanism includes a supply reel, a take-up reel, and a tape feed roller, and the supply reel and the take-up reel are respectively connected to a biasing motor via a constant torque clutch. These clutches are always driven and rotated by an urging motor in the same direction so that the take-up reel rotates in the take-up direction. As a result, tension is always applied to the work material tape within the range of the torque set for the clutch, and the tape does not slack. The tape is fed by a tape feed roller. In this case, since the urging motor urges the supply roller and the take-up roller to rotate in the same direction, the slack of the tape retreats to the supply side even when the tape moves in the take-up direction. The case is also resolved.

[0022]

FIG. 1 schematically shows the entirety of a card printer 1, in which a registration number is printed on an ID card 2 by thermal transfer using an ink ribbon 3 (work material tape). The device 4 is provided. For convenience of explanation, the transport direction of the card 2 is assumed to be forward. The card printer 1
It has a main frame 5, an upper sub-frame 6, and a lower sub-frame 7, in which a card storage section 8, a card ejection mechanism 9, a card transport mechanism 10, a head assembly 11, a printing pressure mechanism 12,
And an ink ribbon feed mechanism 13 (tape feed mechanism).

Reference numeral M1 is a discharge motor, M2 is a transport motor, M3 is a head motor, M4 is a ribbon feed motor, and M5 is a biasing motor. FIG. 2 is a side view of the card printer 1 as viewed from the front, showing that the main frame 5, the upper sub-frame 6, and the lower sub-frame 7 are arranged at intervals, and the arrangement of the motors M1 to M5. I have. For convenience of explanation, the side where the sub-frames 6 and 7 are located will be referred to as the front surface. The card storage unit 8 has a hopper structure including front and rear guide frames 14 (a, b), fixing the base of the guide frames 14 (a, b) to the hopper bed 15 and opening the front (FIG. 3).

The card ejection mechanism 9 is provided below the card storage unit 8 and includes a hopper bed 15 and a gate 1.
6. Equipped with a feed claw 17 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The hopper bed 15 is fixed to the frame 5 and has an opening 18 in the front-rear direction at the center in the width direction. The feeding claw 17 is fitted into the opening 18. The gate 16 is attached to a portal frame 19 and has a hopper bed 15.
It is located at the front end. The feed claw 17 has a slider 20 integrally attached to a lower portion in front thereof.
Are mounted movably in the front-rear direction on two guide bars 21 (a, b) horizontally mounted in the front-rear direction on a part 5a of the main body frame 5. The slider 20 also has a groove plate 22 integrally on the front side. The groove plate 22 has a vertical groove whose rear surface is open, and the discharge motor M
The roller pin 24 of the pin plate 23 driven by 1 is engaged.

Accordingly, when the pin plate 23 is rotated by the discharge motor M1, the roller pins 24 move up and down in the grooves of the groove plate 22 with the rotation, and the slider 20 moves along the guide bars 21 (a, b). . As a result, the feed claw 17 moves in the front-rear direction through the opening 18 of the hopper bed 15 with a stroke equal to the diameter of the rotation locus of the roller pin 24. The rear portion of the feed claw 17 is slightly thicker, and is a stepped portion 87 protruding above the upper surface of the hopper bed 15 by a dimension d1 (FIG. 3). d1 is 1.5 times the thinnest thickness of the types of cards 2 that may be loaded into the card storage unit 8. If the cards are of the same type, the difference in thickness between the cards is small, so that the engagement claws 17 are not exchanged depending on the thickness of the card 2. The feeding claw 17 engages with the rear edge of the card 2. When the card 2 is sent out, the front edge of the card 2 passes through the gate, and the next card transport mechanism 1 is moved.
It is set to a size that can reach the pull-in roller 33 at 0.

Gate frame 19 with gate 16 attached
Is composed of legs 25 (a, b) on the front and rear sides and a bridge portion 26 connecting these upper portions, and the legs 25 (a, b).
b) The rear part is rotatably mounted on the hopper bed 15 by a horizontal support shaft 27 located above the hopper bed 15, and the leg 25
The lower end of (a, b) is supported by a part 5a of the frame via a cushion spring 28. Further, on the lower surface side of the hopper bed 15, the cam shaft 29 is horizontally supported across the leg portions 25 (a, b), and the eccentric cams 30 (a, b) protrude from the leg portions 25 (a, b) on both sides thereof. , B) are fixed as the same phase on both sides. An operation lever 31 is further fixed to the front end of the cam shaft 29. Reference numeral 32 denotes a card thickness sensor that detects the rotation angle of the operation lever 31.

Therefore, when the operating lever 31 is rotated, the eccentric cams 30 (a, b) are rotated to rotate the portal frame 19 about the support shaft 27, and the lower edge of the gate 16 and the upper surface of the hopper bed 15 are rotated. Is adjusted. This gap is set in advance by the operation lever 31 according to the thickness of the card 2. The setting may be an arbitrary thickness, or may be such that it can be selected in a stepwise manner according to the thickness of various cards which are almost standardized. The size (thickness) of the set or selected outlet gap is transmitted to the controller 4 as an output of the card thickness sensor 32. The control device 4 receives the thickness signal and receives the thickness signal.
1 to adjust the initial phase of the eccentric cam 54 (FIG. 6, described later).

The card transport mechanism 9 includes a pull-in roller 33 and a feed roller 34 (FIG. 1), a card detection sensor 35, and a size detection sensor 3 along a transport path set from the card ejection mechanism 9 to the head assembly 11.
6 (FIGS. 1 and 8) and a width shifting device 37 (FIG. 7). Card detection sensor 35, size detection sensor 36
Is connected to the control device 4 and the pull-in roller 3
3 and the feed roller 34 are driven by the transport motor M2.

The card detection sensor 35 and the size detection sensor 36 are arranged between the draw-in roller 33 and the feed-in roller 34 along the conveyance path, and the size detection sensor 36 detects the size of the card 2 in the conveyance direction. For multiple cards (36a,
36b,...) Are present (FIG. 8). As shown in FIG. 8, the arrangement order of these cards is such that the card detection sensor 35 is located immediately downstream of the pull-in roller 33, the size detection sensor 36 is located downstream of the card 2 as the flow of the card 2, and a plurality of size detection sensors (36a, 36b, ...)
The shorter the size, the more downstream the space between the sensors as the difference between the two card sizes.

The width adjusting device 37 corrects the posture of the card 2 to be conveyed so as to be along one side of the conveying path, and has a spring-like guide plate 38 disposed on the conveying path surface. The card detection sensor 35 and the size detection sensor 36 function as follows. Size detection sensor 3
6 will be described as two (FIG. 8). When the card detection sensor 35 detects the leading edge (light incident to light blocking) and the rear edge (light incoming from light shielding) of the card 2, it sends signals to the control device 4 (steps 1 and 2). The control device 4 has the detection signal of the leading edge to check that the card 2 has been ejected from the storage section 8 and has the detection signal of the trailing edge to determine the card length from the relationship with the transport speed of the transport path. The calculated value is compared with a card size that has been input and set in the control device in advance, and if it is determined that the value is within a predetermined allowable range, the card 2 is regarded as being normally conveyed and processing for the card 2 is performed. If not, the subsequent processing is stopped as a transport error and a warning is issued.

The size detection sensor 36a calculates the size of the card which has been input and set in the controller 4 in advance.
It is registered in the control device 4 as a sensor to function this time, and detects passage of the card 2. That is, when the size detection sensor 36a detects the passage of the trailing edge of the card 2 (light-shielded to light-incident, step 3), the controller 4 stops the conveyance of the card 2 once, and then sets the value of 1-2 mm. Only to retreat and stop (step 4). Since this position of the card 2 is the printing start position with respect to the printing pressure reference line p, the head is lowered, and the transport and printing of the card 2 are started (step 5). The size detection sensor 36b is connected to the card 2
It is used for a card whose size in the transport direction is smaller than that of a card. Note that the length of the card 2 is determined by the ISO standard or the like. In practice, it is sufficient to prepare several types of size detection sensors such as a business card and a commuter pass in addition to a normal card.

However, when it is necessary to designate a printing range, for example, when the IC contacts are printed on an IC contact portion like an IC card, the size detection sensor 36 (n) is required.
And it must be registered in the control device. The head assembly 11 includes a platen roll 39, a print head 40 (working head), and a peripheral structure for mounting these. The platen roll 39 is mounted on the front end of the transport path so as to be pivotally supported by the frame 5 and rotate at a fixed position. The platen roll 39 is driven by the pull-in roller 3 by a transport motor M2 common to the card transport mechanism 10.
3 and is driven so as to rotate in synchronization with the feed roller 34.

The print head 40 (FIG. 9) comprises a head frame 41 and a head main body 42 housed therein.
Head pins 43 (a, b) are provided at the lower part so as to protrude on both sides of the front side and the rear side, and between the main frame 5 and the upper sub-frame 6, the guide pins 44 (a, b) are interposed in the vertical direction. It can be detached by moving (FIG. 10). The guide members 44 (a, b) are a part of the head assembly 11. The head main body 42 has several screws 85
Heating element 46 at the tip (contact working part)
Having. The mounting with the screw 85 makes the hole of the frame larger in diameter than the screw portion of the screw 85 (so-called stupid hole), so that it is possible to adjust the position a little and cope with a processing error. In addition, support pins 4 are provided on both front and rear lower sides.
7 (a, b). The head main body 42 attaches the support pins 47 to the head frame 41 with respect to the head frame 41.
3 and coaxially attach the main body axis q to the working head 40.
Can be inclined with respect to the head axis r. Code 48
Is a set screw for fixing the inclined position.

With this configuration, even if the mounting position of the heating element 46 at the tip of the head main body 42 is slightly shifted back and forth, the position can be easily brought on the head axis r, and the card 2 Can be correctly abutted against Further, the head frame 41 is guided by the front and rear walls 49 of the guide members 44 (a, b) (FIGS. 12 and 13), and the contact between the head frame 41 and the wall 49 is caused by the protrusion provided on the front and rear walls 49. Because of the ridge 50, the head frame 41 comes into line contact only at one point in the vertical direction. Therefore, there is no prying due to the work head 40 coming into contact with the frame side of the printer at two or more places. Also, the head frame 41 itself is attached to a member on the frame 5 side such as the guide member 44 so that the head axis r can be inclined around the head pin 43, and the position can be fixed with another set screw 89. (FIG. 11, described later). In FIG. 12, reference numeral 51 denotes a push-up spring, which
0 is always biased upward. In addition, the head body 42 includes
A power line 52 for heat generation and a signal line 53 for print information are connected (FIG. 5).

The printing pressure mechanism 12 (FIG. 6) is arranged below the platen roll 39, and is constituted by an eccentric cam 54.
(A, b) and the passive lever 55 in contact with the peripheral surface thereof
(A, b) and the crank lever 56 (a, b) are provided on both the front side and the rear side. Eccentric cam 54
(A, b) are fixed to both sides of a cam shaft 57 (FIG. 5) that is suspended between the main frame 5 and the lower sub-frame 7, and are driven by the head motor M3.

The upper part of the passive lever 55 and the crank lever 5
6 is supported by the same shaft pin 58 in this embodiment, and the lower end of the passive lever 55 is connected to the eccentric cam 54.
A spring 59 for applying a printing pressure is attached between the lower surface and the lower surface of the crank lever 56. The position of the shaft pin 58 is ahead of the platen roll 39.
The lower end of the coupling lever 60 is rotatably connected to the laterally extending portion of the crank lever 56. In the printing pressure mechanism 12, the above-described configuration is symmetrical on the front side and the rear side, but has the same configuration. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 61 denotes a disk dog, which is used by a head position detecting sensor 62 (FIG. 1) to identify a head down state, a head up state, and a position for adjusting the card thickness between the print head 40 and the platen roll 39. use.

Head assembly 11 and printing pressure mechanism 12
Are connected by a coupling lever 60. That is, the lower end of the connecting lever 60 is rotatably connected to the laterally extending portion of the crank lever 56, and the upper end of the connecting lever 60 is engaged with the head pin 43 of the print head 40. In this embodiment, the upper portion of the coupling lever 60 is formed as a hook whose upper surface is inclined rearward and downward, and is detachably engaged with the head pin 43 from the front (FIGS. 6, 13). As a result, with the rotation of the eccentric cam 54, the print head 40 is pulled by the connecting lever 60 and moves downward (head down).
(FIG. 12) to pull up (head-up). When the head is down, a printing pressure is applied to the card 2 by a printing pressure applying spring 59. The printing pressure is almost constant. The direction in which the print head 40 is pulled tends to slightly incline forward because the shaft pin 58 of the crank lever 56 is disposed forward of the platen roll 39. In this embodiment, the printing pressure application spring 59 also serves as an urging means for creating this tendency.

The front and rear bearing plates 63 (a, b) for receiving the shaft of the platen roll 39 are fixed to the lower portion of the main frame 5 and the lower sub-frame 7, and are mounted on the upper surface of the plate. The linear guide 64 is formed to protrude upward. The straight guide surface 65 of the straight guide portion 64 is defined as a guide straight line s where a straight line passing through the surface is set as a guide straight line s, which is parallel to the head axis r and accurately shifted by the radius of the head pin 43 (FIG. 13).

Thus, even if the print head 40 moves up and down for the printing operation, the heating element 46 always heads down to the adjusted optimum position, and the position does not go out of order. When the head is down, the coupling lever 60
Is lowered downward, that is, the print head 40
Before the head is down, the gap between the platen roll 39 and the control device 4 which has received the output of the card thickness sensor 32 drives the head motor M3 to change the initial phase of the eccentric cam 54. Can be changed. The amount of change at that time corresponds to the change in card thickness.
As a result, the vertical position of the print head 40 is
Corresponding to the thickness of Ink ribbon feed mechanism 13 (FIG. 6)
Has a supply reel 66, a take-up reel 67, and a ribbon feed roller 68 (tape feed roller), which are mainly arranged on the main frame 5 (FIG. 2). Further, a pressing roller 69 and a guide roller 70 are provided, and these are supported by a mounting lever 71 (FIG. 6). Mounting lever 71
Are paired on the front side and the rear side like the coupling lever 60 and the like.

The supply reel 66 and the take-up reel 67 are pivotally supported by the frame 5, and are provided with biasing motors M via fixed torque clutches 72 and 73 respectively attached thereto.
At 5, the driving rotation is performed in the same clockwise direction in FIG.
The ribbon feed roller 68 is supported by the upper sub-frame 6 and is driven by a ribbon feed motor M4. The ribbon feed roller 68 is driven and rotated in the forward and reverse directions. In FIG. 6, the large-diameter portion indicated by a chain line on the supply reel 66 and the take-up reel 67 is a laminated film or a hologram sheet, and these films and the sheet are wound together with the base paper arranged at intervals. Therefore, it has a large diameter (one form of the work material tape).

The ink ribbon 3 is supplied from the supply reel 66
It goes around the lower surface of the heating element 46 at the tip of the print head 40 via some other guide rollers pivotally supported by the upper sub-frame 6, further winds a ribbon feed roller 68, and then passes through a guide roller 70. It is wound on a take-up reel 67. A ribbon detection sensor 74 (tape detection sensor) is arranged in the middle of the ribbon path, and its signal is transmitted to the control device 4. Reference numeral 75 denotes a static elimination brush. When the mounting lever 71 is fixed at the fixed position in FIG. 6 by the operation tool 76, the pressing roller 69 moves to the ribbon feed roller 68 side together with the guide roller 70, and presses the ink ribbon 3 against the peripheral surface of the ribbon feed roller 68. Press roller 69
Is movably attached to the mounting lever 71 via a long hole, and is urged to move toward the center of the ribbon feed roller 68 by a spring. The mounting lever 71
Is constantly urged forward by a relatively strong pull-back spring 75. Therefore, when the state in which the lever 71 is fixed at a fixed position is released by a manual operation such as pulling the operating tool 74 upward, the The lever 71 automatically rotates forward.

At the start of printing, the ink ribbon 3 is fed to the lower surface of the leading end of the print head 40 at the transport speed of the card 2 by the forward rotation of the ribbon feed roller 68 (right rotation in FIG. 6), and is wound up. The supply reel 66 and the take-up reel 67 are driven in the same direction with substantially the same torque (300 g on the supply reel side and 400 g on the take-up reel side) via the constant torque clutches 72 and 73. If you turn it, it will be wound up, if you turn it around you will be rewound. In each case, the constant torque clutch 7
2, 73, the tension is always applied to both sides of the ink ribbon 3, so that the ink ribbon 3 does not loosen. The rewinding of the ink ribbon 3 is used to use the unused portion of the ribbon without waste. When the ink ribbon 3 is cut or finished, the ribbon detection sensor 7
2 detects this and transmits it to the control device 4, and after performing necessary processing such as head-up, the control device 4 instructs a stop of the printing operation.

The ink ribbon feeding mechanism 13 has the following related structure with the head assembly 11 and the printing pressure mechanism 12. The bearing plate 63 supporting the platen roll 39 is extended forward, the lower end of the mounting plate 71 is supported at the front end, and the upper end of the mounting plate 71 is mounted between the mounting plate 71, the main frame 5 and the lower sub-frame 7. A pull-back spring 75 that constantly urges forward is provided. The middle part of the mounting lever 71 and the upper part of the coupling lever 60 are connected to each other in the front-rear direction
Connect with 6. The connecting portion between the communication link 76 and the mounting lever 71 is through a long hole 86 in the front-rear direction.

As a result, when the lock of the mounting lever 71 is released by the operating tool 74, the mounting lever 71 automatically rotates forward, and the guide roller 70 and the pressing roller 6 are rotated.
9 is pulled forward from the location of the ribbon feed roll 68,
The replacement of the ink ribbon 3 is enabled. At the same time, due to the forward rotation of the mounting lever 71, the upper portion of the coupling lever 60 is pulled forward via the communication link 76, and the engagement of the print head 40 with the head pin 43 is released. This makes it possible to pull out the print head 40 from the guide member 44 of the printer and replace it.

The card 2 is stored in the card storage unit 8, and the type of the card 2 is input to the control device 4 and registered. The position of the gate 16 is determined by the operation lever 31, and the exit gap of the card 2 is adjusted. The control device 4 drives the head motor M3 of the printing pressure mechanism 12 by a predetermined amount based on the adjustment value, and determines the gap between the leading end of the print head 40 and the platen roll 39. In the subsequent printing operation, the eccentric cam 4 rotates every half cycle starting from this position (initial phase) every time the printing operation is performed from the control device 4. Before that, the heating element 46 at the tip of the print head 40 to be used is
It is checked whether the position is on a line passing through the center of the platen roll 3 and the platen roll 39, and the inclination of the main body axis q and the head axis r is adjusted so as to be a correct position. However, the print head 40
The relationship between the head frame 41 and the head main body 42 is performed at the time of shipment, and the user can replace the print head 40 by simply removing and inserting it. When the print head 40 is inserted into the guide member 44 (a, b) from above and pushed in, the head pins 43 (a, b) on both sides push the inclined surface on the upper surface of the hook portion of the connection lever 60. After escaping forward, when the head pin 43 passes, it automatically returns to the original position and engages the head pin 43. When the mounting of the print head 40 is completed, a mounting completion detecting sensor 88 is provided, and the signal is transmitted to the control device 4.

When the card printer 1 is operated, the groove plate 22 is rotated by the drive of the discharge motor M1, the feed claws 17 are moved back and forth, and the cards 2 are sent out to the card transport mechanism 10 one by one. The delivery of the card 2 is confirmed by the card detection sensor 35 provided on the transport path, and then the card 2 is adjusted to a predetermined position with respect to the printing reference line p by the size detection sensor 36, and then the head is lowered to start printing.

Printing is performed while the card 2 is transported forward by the rotation of the platen roll 39 while the ink ribbon feeding mechanism 13 is being driven.
To feed the ink ribbon 3 at the same speed as the conveyance of the card 2. At the time of printing, the printing pressure by the printing head 39 is given by a printing pressure applying spring 59 incorporated in the printing pressure mechanism 12. This printing pressure is adjustable, but usually
It is almost constant even if the thickness of the card 2 changes. When replacing the ink ribbon 3, pull the operation tool 76 upward,
The fixing of the mounting lever 71 is released. Then, since the pressing roller 69 and the guide roller 70 are separated from the ribbon feed roller 68, they can be easily replaced. The mounting lever 71 is manually pushed back to the fixed position, and
To be engaged. The same applies to the replacement of the print head 40,
Pull the operation tool 76, easily take out the print head 40,
Also, it can be mounted.

The laminated film or hologram sheet is obtained by attaching a laminated film or hologram sheet divided into card units to a release film as a base and forming a thermal adhesive layer on the surface thereof. It can be attached to the surface of the card 2 by applying a heating printing pressure. In this case, the element at the tip of the head, that is, the contact working portion is usually a heat roll, but does not rotate, and the heating plate 79 has a flat heating and printing surface.
(FIG. 14). The heat plate 79 has a structure in which a ceramic 81 plate is mounted on a flat mounting plate 80, and a plate-like heating element 82 is mounted on the outer surface thereof. The structure is simple and there is no failure. The temperature control using 83 can be performed sharply. Furthermore, the durability is high, and maintenance such as cleaning of the surface can be easily performed. Reference numeral 84 is a tapped hole for attachment. A plurality of work heads such as the print head 40 are prepared as a cassette or a unit to be selectively used according to the work content, and the user can select and replace the work head. Further, card printers for printing, attaching a laminate film, or attaching a hologram sheet may be configured as independent and dedicated printers.

Further, since a sensor mark is provided for each frame on a tape such as a color ribbon, overcoat (transparent ink), a laminate film or a hologram sheet, a sensor for detecting the mark is provided, and a color for performing overprinting is provided. It may be used when it is necessary to stop the movement of the tape at predetermined intervals, such as in the case of printing alignment or a laminate film. The positioning method using such a sensor mark is the same method as detecting the card position using the card size detection sensor described above.

[0050]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the working head and the printing pressure mechanism are arranged to face each other across the platen roll, and the printing pressure is applied so as to be pulled from the printing pressure mechanism. The range of action does not extend to other mechanical parts and frames of the printer, and it is possible to prevent deterioration of work quality such as printing due to distortion of other mechanisms and frames. According to the configuration of the second aspect, the printing pressure of the working head is uniform at any point, and the working quality is high.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the contact working portion can be adjusted to a correct position with respect to the platen roll. Deviation can be easily corrected. In addition, since the contact work portion can always be guided to the correct position and can be mounted on the linear guide surface, accurate and reliable printing operation can be performed. According to the configuration of the fourth aspect, even in the working head itself, the displacement of the mounting position of the contact working portion with respect to the head tip or the formation position by sputtering or the like can be easily corrected, so that the quality of the working head can be reduced. Height and facilitate the work of replacing the work head on the user side.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, an appropriate working head can be selected and exchanged for use in accordance with a required printing pressure operation, and the card printer has versatility. Can be. According to the configuration of claim 6,
There is no prying due to surface contact or contact at two or more places between the working head and the frame side part that guides the working head up and down, so that the movement when the head is down can be performed smoothly and accurate printing pressure work can be performed. . According to the configuration of the seventh aspect, the release of the tape such as the ink ribbon and the unlocking of the work head can be simultaneously performed by the operation tool, and the work head can be easily attached and detached.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, when the outlet gap is adjusted at the card take-out gate, the gap between the work head tip and the platen roll is automatically adjusted. In this case, it is possible to prevent an accident that occurs because the card thickness is not adjusted. According to the configuration of the ninth aspect, the thickness of the card can be reliably detected with a simple configuration.

According to the configuration of the tenth aspect, since the step having the most appropriate height with respect to the card thickness is set,
Sorting and feeding can be performed reliably even if the card has some warpage or thickness variation. According to the configuration of the eleventh aspect, since a plurality of size detection sensors are provided, it is possible to use cards of various sizes without special operation on the card printer only by selecting the type of the card. According to the configuration described in claim 12, the work material tape is always in a tension state within the range of the torque set for the constant torque clutch, and the work material tape does not loosen. For this reason, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the printing pressure working quality such as cutting, jamming, or trailing of the printing of the working material tape. According to the configuration of the thirteenth aspect, the tape can be retracted without slackening the work material tape, so that the tape can be used efficiently, for example, by returning the tape to an unused portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall front view mechanically shown.

FIG. 2 is a side view seen from the front.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing a main part.

FIG. 4 is a side view seen from behind.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the head assembly and the printing pressure mechanism as viewed from the front.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a main part of a head assembly and a printing pressure mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a transport path schematically shown.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the movement of a card and the position of a sensor.

9A is a front view of the working head shown together with the platen roll, and FIG. 9B is a front view of the tip of the working head.

FIG. 10 is a side view of a portion where the work head is mounted, as viewed from the front.

FIG. 11 is a front view of a main part showing a state where the work head is mounted.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a main part of a portion where the work head is mounted.

FIG. 13 is a front view for explaining a mounted state of the working head.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of a heat plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Card Printer 2 Card 3 Ink Ribbon 4 Control Device (Work Material Tape) 5 Main Frame 6 Upper Sub Frame 7 Lower Sub Frame 8 Card Storage Unit 9 Card Ejection Mechanism 10 Card Transport Mechanism 11 Head Assembly 12 Printing Pressure Mechanism 13 Ink Ribbon feed mechanism (tape feed mechanism) 14 (a, b) Guide frame 15 Hopper bed 16 Gate 17 Feeding claw 18 Opening 19 Gate frame 20 Slider 21 (a, b) Guide bar 22 Groove plate 23 Pin plate 24 Roller pin 25 (A, b) Leg 26 Bridge portion 27 Support shaft 28 Cushion spring 29 Cam shaft 30 (a, b) Eccentric cam 31 Operating lever 32 Card thickness sensor 33 Pull-in roller 34 Feed-in roller 35 Card detection sensor 36 (a, b) Size detection sensor 37 Width adjustment device 3 Guide plate 39 Platen roll 40 Print head (printing pressure head) 41 Head frame 42 Head body 43 (a, b) Head pin 44 (a, b) Guide member 45 Substrate 46 Heating element 47 Support pin 48 Set screw 49 Wall 50 Ridge Reference Signs List 51 push-up spring 52 power supply line 53 signal line 54 eccentric cam 55 passive lever 56 crank lever 57 cam shaft 58 shaft pin 59 spring for applying printing pressure 60 coupling lever 61 disk dog 62 sensor for detecting printing gap 63 bearing plate 64 linear guide Part 65 Linear guide surface 66 Supply reel 67 Take-up reel 68 Ribbon feed roller 69 Press roller 70 Guide roller 71 Mounting lever 72 Constant torque clutch 73 Constant torque clutch 74 Ribbon detection sensor 75 Static elimination brush 76 Operating tool 77 Pullback spring 78 Contact Link 79 Heat plate 80 Mounting plate 81 Ceramic plate 82 Plate-shaped heating element 83 Thermistor 84 Tapped hole for mounting 85 Screw 86 Long hole 87 Stepped portion 88 Mounting detection sensor 89 Set screw M1 Discharge motor M2 Transport motor M3 Head motor M4 ribbon feed motor M5 urging motor p printing reference line q main body axis r head axis s guide straight line

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A head assembly having a work head arranged on a platen roll with a card conveyance path interposed therebetween, wherein the platen roll is arranged at a fixed position of a frame constituting a printer machine frame, and a card is provided at a leading end. A work head equipped with a contact work part is attached so that the contact work part can move far and near with respect to the platen roll, and the head is in a head down state and a head up state on the opposite side of the work head with the platen roll interposed therebetween. A card printer, comprising: a head vertical mechanism for moving the work head; and the working head and the head vertical mechanism are connected by a coupling lever via a spring for applying printing pressure. 2. The work head according to claim 1, wherein both ends of the working head are attached to the frame with head pins projecting in an axial direction parallel to the rotation axis of the platen roll, and coupling levers are connected to the respective head pins. Printer for the card described 3. The work head is arranged such that a head axis passing through the center of the head pin and the contact work portion passes through the center of the platen roll, and the frame is provided with a linear guide surface that is in contact with the side surface of the head pin. The straight line is parallel to the head axis and passes through a position shifted by the radius of the head pin from the axis of the platen roll, and means for biasing the movement of the head pin toward the linear guide surface side is provided. The card printer according to claim 1. 4. A work head comprising a head frame and a head body having a contact work portion at a tip thereof, the head body being rotatably mounted on the head frame by a support pin coaxial with the head pin, and a center of the support pin and the contact work portion. The card printer according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein an angle of a main body axis passing through the head is adjustable with respect to a head axis. 5. The work head according to claim 1, wherein the work head is detachable from the frame, and various types of work parts having different shapes or functions are prepared. Card printer. 6. A frame-side portion for guiding the work head to move toward and away from the platen roll at one location farther from the platen roll than the head pin of the mounted work head and comes into contact with the side surface of the work head by line contact from both sides. The card printer according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein: 7. It has a configuration according to claim 5 or 6,
Equipped with a tape feed mechanism that supplies the work material tape to the head assembly.The tape feed mechanism has a mounting lever that supports a tape guide roller and a tape pressing roller that are in contact with the tape feed roll. The tape guide roller and the tape pressing roller are always urged by a separation spring in a direction away from the tape feed roll while being supported by the shaft, and are locked in the operating position by a manual operating tool in a state where the tape guide roller and the tape pressing roller can be released. Is equipped with an eccentric cam and a passive lever and a crank lever which are in contact with the peripheral surface of the eccentric cam.The eccentric cam is pivotally supported on the frame below the platen roll, and the lower end of the passive lever is in contact with the peripheral surface of the eccentric cam. The upper end is pivotally supported on the frame, and the apex of the crank lever is located forward of the eccentric cam in the card transport direction. A spring for applying printing pressure is attached between the lower end of the passive lever and the lower extension of the crank lever, and the coupling lever pivots at the lower end with the lateral extension of the crank lever. The upper end portion is detachably engaged with the head pin of the working head from the front and rear sides in the card transport direction to connect the head lifting mechanism and the working head of the head assembly. The middle part of the lever and the upper part of the connecting lever are connected by a connecting link in the front-rear direction, and the lock of the mounting lever by the operating tool is released, the tape guide roller and the tape pressing roller with respect to the tape feed roll are released, and the connection between the connecting lever and the working head is released. A card printer characterized by canceling the match. 8. A head assembly and a control device having a discharge mechanism for discharging stored cards one by one, a platen roll disposed across a transport path of the card, and a work head provided with a contact working portion for the card at the tip end. Prepared,
The ejection mechanism is equipped with a gate that adjusts the exit gap of the card and a card thickness sensor that detects the size of the exit gap.The platen roll is placed at a fixed position on the frame that composes the printer machine frame, and the work head is brought into contact with the work. A card printer characterized in that the unit is mounted so that it can be moved in and out of distance with respect to a platen roll, and the output of a card thickness sensor is processed by a control device to automatically adjust the gap between the work head tip and the platen roll. 9. A discharging mechanism includes a gate capable of adjusting a gap between a hopper bed on which a card is placed and a hopper bed, and a relative position between the hopper bed and the gate is adjusted by rotation of a cam. 9. The card printer according to claim 8, wherein a rotation angle of the card is detected. 10. A discharge mechanism for discharging stored cards one by one, wherein the discharge mechanism advances in a hopper bed on which the cards are placed and in a direction in which the cards are fed, and repeats an operation of retreating to the original position. A pawl, wherein the feed pawl has a step for engaging the trailing edge of the card, the step height being about 1.5 times the thinnest card thickness of the cards used. Printer for cards. 11. A head assembly, a card transport mechanism having a transport path for feeding a card to the head assembly, and a control device, wherein a plurality of size detection sensors are provided on the transport path. It is arranged to correspond to the card size in the card transport direction of a plurality of types of cards, and is located at the position of each card size from the printing pressure reference position of the head assembly so as to detect the card trailing edge. A card printer wherein the controller receives a signal from a size detection sensor corresponding to a card size selected in advance and drives the printing pressure mechanism. 12. A head assembly and a tape feed mechanism for feeding a work material tape to the head assembly. The tape feed mechanism includes a supply reel, a take-up reel, and a tape feed roller. Each of them is linked to the urging motor via a constant torque clutch, and these clutches are always driven and rotated in the same direction by the urging motor so that the take-up reel rotates in the winding direction. Card printer. 13. The card printer according to claim 12, wherein the tape feed roller is rotatable forward and backward.