JPH10324037A - Printer for plate-like medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress influence of an impact of a conveying roller for conveying a plate-like medium and pinch roller in the case of jumping into a plate-like medium and escaping from the rollers by installing a conveying belt at the rollers before and after a printing head. SOLUTION: The printer comprises a conveying belt 9 installed via two rollers 10, 11 before and after a platen roller 32 opposed to a printing head 37 and a tension roller 12. In this case, a rear surface of tag 2 is brought into contact with the belt via the belt 9 and rollers 13, 14, and printed. Further, both the rollers 10, 12 are driven.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device for printing characters and graphics on a printing medium such as a card or tag which is thicker than plain paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printing apparatus for printing a plate-like medium on a plate-like medium such as a card or a tag for printing characters and figures, a printing apparatus for a plastic card described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-500965 is known. This printing apparatus transports a print head such as a thermal head so as to be sandwiched between a plurality of roller groups, and prints an image by the print head.

[0003]

A plate-like medium such as a card to be printed by such a printing apparatus is thicker and harder than other printing mediums, so that when the card tip enters the roller group, Or when the rear end of the card escaped, a relatively large impact was generated.

[0004] Although the impact of the impact on the transport of the card is minute, the instantaneous change in the transport speed due to the impact and the deviation in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction cause print blur during printing, which greatly affects the print quality. Had been given.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and improve the recording quality even with a hard plate-like medium having a large thickness, the present invention provides a method in which a platen roller is disposed before and after a platen roller facing a print head. In order to suppress the impact of the plate media entering the transport rollers and pinch rollers for transporting the plate media and the impact of escape from the transport rollers and pinch rollers, the transport belt is stretched over the rollers before and after the print head It is.
By providing the transport belt, the back surface of the plate-shaped medium is transported while being in contact with the transport belt, so that reliable transport with a large frictional force between the two can be performed, and the influence of impact can be suppressed.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, a transport belt is stretched between a print head and a platen roller by two rollers provided before and after the transport or a plurality of rollers including the two rollers. In addition, a plate-shaped medium is transported and printed by two rollers provided before and after a platen roller and a pinch roller via a transport belt.

[0007] It is effective that the roller for driving the transport belt is a roller at the rear of the print head, which prevents the transport belt from loosening in the printing area.

Further, by using two rollers for driving the transport belt as the two rollers before and after the print head, the transport belt is moved at a constant speed before and after the printing area. By using a high friction coefficient, the driving force of the rear roller can be increased, which effectively prevents the transport belt from being loosened in the printing area.

It is preferable that the platen roller has elasticity, and the platen roller is disposed closer to the print head side than the two rollers supporting the transport belt disposed before and after the platen roller.

[0010] With the above configuration, the plate-shaped medium is transported so that the transport belt contacts the back surface of the plate-shaped medium before and after the transport of the print head. When the sheet medium enters between the rollers and the pinch rollers, or when the sheet medium escapes from between the rollers and the pinch rollers of the transport belt in front of the print head, the sheet medium is Extremely large frictional resistance between the conveyor belts prevents vibrations and delays in transport of the plate-like medium due to the impacts.Also, the impacts are absorbed by the conveyor belt while absorbing the impacts slightly, so that the impacts themselves can be suppressed and there is no print blur. Printing can be performed.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a printing area of the tag printer, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tag printer, FIG. 3 is a view showing a tag printed according to the present embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, FIG. 6 is a side sectional view on the downstream side of the conveyor belt, and FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a printing area.

To explain the outline of the configuration of the printing apparatus, an accommodation section 3 for accommodating a plurality of plastic tags 2 shown in FIG. The accommodation section 3 is movable in the front-rear direction in FIG.
A pressing plate 4 urged toward the side wall 3a on the near side of the drawing, and a regulating plate 5 that is provided to be movable in the left-right direction in the figure and regulates the rear ends of tags of different lengths. A plurality of tags 2 are accommodated with their recording surfaces 201 set upright and the recording surfaces are overlapped in the front-back direction in the figure. The accommodation section 3 has a configuration in which the upper part is opened to facilitate mounting of the tag 2.

The feed roller 6 is provided on the left side of the side wall 3a of the storage section 3 in the drawing and in a position in contact with the tag 2 stored in the storage section 3, and is a roller having a substantially half-moon cross section. , And feeds the tag 2 on the front side of the storage unit 3 to the printing area, which is the next step on the left side in the figure, in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the storage units 3 are arranged.

A side wall plate 8 is provided on the side wall 3a of the housing portion 3 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction in the drawing so as to face the holding plate 4, and is provided together with pinch rollers 10 and 11 to be described later with the switching means 2 described later.
By the operation of 5, the tag and the other plate-shaped medium are moved in accordance with the thickness. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a tag having a small thickness is accommodated, and at this time, the side wall plate 8 protrudes from the side wall 3 a of the accommodation portion 3.

The conveyor belt 9 has two rollers 10, 11
And a tension roller 12, which is rotated by the drive of the motor 7, and is rotated by two pinch rollers 13, 14.
At the same time, the tag 2 is conveyed in the left direction in the figure with its recording surface 201 vertical.

The roller 10 on the right side in FIG. 1 is a plastic roller having a groove 10a for guiding the projection 9a of the conveyor belt 9 at a substantially central portion thereof as shown in FIG. Gear 15 for transmitting the drive of the motor 7
And a gear 16 which is driven by the motor 7 via the gear 16, the gear 15 and a transmission means (not shown). A pulley 18 for stretching a timing belt 17 is provided above the gear 16.

The roller 11 on the left side in FIG. 1 is a roller having a high frictional resistance with ceramic particles applied on its surface.
As shown in FIG.
And a pulley 19 under which a timing belt 17 is stretched, and the drive of the motor 7 is transmitted through the timing belt 17 so as to be at the same speed and in the same direction as the roller 10. It is designed to rotate. The pulley 20 applies tension to the timing belt 17.

The pinch roller 13 on the right side in FIG. 1 is rotatable about a shaft 21a provided on the end of a swinging rod 21 provided rotatably with respect to the shaft of the roller 11 as shown in FIG. The pinch roller 13 is urged toward the roller 10 by urging means (not shown) for urging the swinging rod 21 backward in FIG. The surface of the pinch roller 13 is covered with an adhesive rubber such as silicone or urethane having an adhesive property, and is a cleaner for removing dust on the printing surface of the tag before printing. As shown in FIG. By removing the screw 22 above the shaft 21a, the shaft 21a can be replaced more easily than the shaft 21a.

The pinch roller 14 on the left in FIG. 1 is rotatable with respect to the axis of the roller 10 and above the end of a swinging rod 23 provided to intersect the swinging rod 21 described above. The swinging rod 23
The pinch roller 14 is urged toward the roller 11 by urging means (not shown) for urging the pinch rearward in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, one end of the roller 1 is fixed to the roller 1 by a spring 24 provided in the tag printer body 1.
It is biased toward 1.

The switching means 25 is rotatably provided substantially in the center of the inside of the conveyor belt 9 and, as shown in FIG. 7, a first part involved in the movement of the side wall plate 8 below its shaft 25a. A cam 26 that engages with the swinging rod 28 and a gear 27 that engages with a gear 36 of a shaft of a platen 32 described below are provided below the cam 26. When the switching means 25 is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the pinch roller 1 and the cam 26 and the gear 27 rotate.
The positions 3 and 14 are moved.

The position of the side wall plate 8 is moved by rotating the switching means 25 in accordance with the thickness of the plate-like medium.
6. First swinging rod 28, second swinging rod 29, and sliding rod 30
Done through.

The platen 32 has its surface covered with rubber such as EPDM to have elasticity. As shown in FIG.
The length is made substantially equal to the width of the conveyor belt, and a groove 32a for guiding the protrusion 9a of the conveyor belt 9 is provided at a substantially central portion thereof,
An annular projection 32b having a diameter larger than the center at its upper and lower ends,
32c, and is provided so as to be rotatable about a shaft 33 provided substantially at the center of the rollers 10 and 11 and to be in contact with the inside of the conveyor belt 9. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the position of the platen 32 is slightly deviated from the rollers 10 and 11 toward the thermal head, which will be described later, on the near side in the drawing.

Below the platen 32, a cam 34 engaging with the above-mentioned swinging rod 21, a cam 35 engaging with the swinging rod 23, and a gear 3 meshing with the gear 27 of the switching means 25.
6 are integrally rotatably provided on a shaft 33. Therefore, when the above-described switching means 25 is rotated in accordance with the thickness of the plate-shaped medium, the cam 3 is rotated via the gears 27 and 36.
4 and the cam 35 rotate, whereby the swinging rods 21 and 23 swing, and the positions of the pinch rollers 13 and 14 move.

The printing means uses a thermal transfer system comprising a thermal head 37 and an ink ribbon cassette 38 (ink ribbon). The thermal head 37 faces the platen 32 with the transport belt 9 interposed therebetween as shown in FIG. So that it is provided substantially at the center of the head angle 39,
The head angle 39 has one end portion 39a connected to the feeding roller 6
And the other end 39b is urged to contact the cam 40 by a spring means (not shown).
When the cam 40 is rotated by the drive of the motor 41, the thermal head 37 moves in the direction of contacting and separating from the platen 32.

The head angle 39 and the swinging rod 21 of the pinch roller 13 are connected by a connecting rod 42 so that the swinging rod 21 is linked to the swing of the head angle 39 by the connecting rod 42. When the thermal head 37 is separated from the platen 32 without printing as shown in FIG. 1, the pinch roller 13 is separated from the transport belt 9 (roller 10).

A discharge roller 43 is provided downstream of the transport belt 9.
The tag 2 conveyed by the conveyance belt 9 and the pinch roller 14 is sent out to the next storage section 45 after printing.

In the storage section 45, the tag 2 discharged from the discharge roller 43 and the pinch roller 44 is placed with its printing surface kept vertical, and the newly discharged tag 2 is located in front of the tag 2 already discharged. In order to align to come to the side,
A pair of pressing plates 46 and an alignment plate 47 are provided. In addition, in order to make it easy to take out the tag 2 after printing, the housing portion 45 is configured to open upward.

A display means 51 such as a well-known liquid crystal display or the like for displaying character data, a format and a length inputted by a keyboard 50 to be described later, and displaying instructions to an operator is provided on the front side of the housing section 45. I have.

The keyboard 50 is provided further on the front side of the display means 51, the ink ribbon 38, and the feeding roller 6, and inputs print data such as character data, data on the number of lines, and the length of a plate-shaped medium. Things.

Next, the operation of printing on the tag 2 will be described. First, when the user inputs print data such as a predetermined character or tag length or format, and then the user instructs to start recording, the motor 7 rotates, and the feed roller 6 interlocks with the rotation. One of the tags 2 that rotates and is accommodated in the accommodating portion 3 with its printing surface vertical is conveyed to the left in FIG. 2 in a direction substantially orthogonal to the arrangement direction.

With the movement of the tag 2 by the feed roller 6,
The motor 41 starts, the cam 40 rotates, the head angle 39 swings, and the thermal head 37 and the pinch roller 13 move toward the transport belt 9.

The timing of driving the motor 41 for rotating the cam 40 is controlled by a CPU (not shown), and the tip of the tag 2 conveyed by the feeding roller 6 is moved between the roller 10 and the pinch roller 13. When the intermediate time is reached, the motor 41 is started so that the front end of the tag 2 is sandwiched between the pinch roller 13 and the roller 10, and the motor 41 is stopped before the thermal head 37 approaches the transport belt 9. Thereby, sufficient driving and cleaning of the printing surface can be performed from the tip of the tag 2, and the thermal head 3
I try not to hurt 7.

At this time, not only the roller 11 but also the roller 1
0 is also driven by the motor 7, so that when the front end of the tag 2 is sandwiched between the pinch roller 13 and the pinch roller 13, the conveyance is started smoothly, whereby the load on the conveyance belt 9 is reduced. The transport belt is prevented from extending between the roller 10 and the roller 11. The roller 11 has a high coefficient of friction in which the surface of the roller 11 is covered with ceramic particles, whereas the roller 10 is a plastic roller. 11 slightly pulls the transport belt 9 between the roller 10 and the roller 11 so as not to be slackened.

Next, the tag 2 is transported to the printing area by the rotation of the transport belt 9, and subsequently, the motor 41 is started again by the control of the CPU (not shown), and Is moved to the thermal head 37, the thermal head 37 moves, and the platen 3
2 sandwiches the tip of tag 2.

Subsequently, as the thermal head 37 comes into contact with the print surface of the tag 2, predetermined print data is supplied to the thermal head 37, and predetermined characters and symbols are printed on the print surface of the tag 2.

FIG. 9 shows this state, in which the tag 2 is conveyed in a state in which it is in uniform contact with the conveying surface of the conveying belt 9. Accordingly, when the tip of the tag 2 enters between the roller 11 and the pinch roller 14 of the transport belt 9 located downstream of the thermal head, or when the tag 2 is moved between the roller 10 and the pinch roller 13 of the transport belt 9 located upstream thereof. Even if an impact occurs when the rear end of the tag 2 escapes, the frictional resistance between the tag 2 and the transport belt 9 is extremely large, so that the vibration of the tag 2 and the transport delay due to the impact can be prevented. As a result, the impact is slightly absorbed, so that the impact itself can be suppressed.

At the time of the entry, the rear end of the tag is carried by the roller 10 and the pinch roller 13, and at the time of escape, the tip of the tag is carried by the roller 11 and the pinch roller 14. Since a driving force is also applied to the rollers 11, the transport speed is not changed.

When the thermal head 37 presses the tag 2 in the direction of the platen 32 for printing, the platen 32 is elastically deformed, and the roller 10, the platen 32 and the roller 11 are deformed.
Is straightened, and printing without missing printing is performed without bending the tag 2. Also, by making the platen 32 elastic, the platen 32 absorbs the pressure applied to the hard tag and the hard thermal head.
Printing becomes possible.

After the predetermined printing, the motor 41 is activated based on the input tag length, and the cam 40 is turned on.
Rotates in the reverse direction, the head angle 39 swings in the reverse direction, the thermal head 37 separates from the tag 2 before the rear end of the tag 2 passes, and the pinch roller 13 also moves to a position separated from the roller 10.

The tag 2 on which characters and the like are printed is further transported leftward in the figure by the transport belt 9 and the pinch roller 14, and subsequently discharged to the storage section 45 by the discharge roller 43 and the pinch roller 44. The tag 2 discharged into the storage portion 45 is placed in a state where its printing surface is made vertical by a pressing plate 46 and an alignment plate 47 provided in the storage portion 45 from the near side in the front-rear direction in the drawing. They are arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the transport direction.

In this embodiment, a tag is used as a plate-like medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plate-like medium such as a card or a display plate such as a nameplate which is longer in the length direction than in the width direction is used. The medium also includes a medium, and the material is not limited to plastic, but may be metal, paper, or the like.

[0042]

According to the present invention, the transport belt is stretched before and after the transport of the printing means, and the transport of the plate-like medium is performed so that the transport belt contacts the entire back surface of the plate-like medium. Impact occurs when the plate-like medium enters between the roller of the transport belt and the pinch roller on the downstream side of the print head, or when the plate-like medium escapes between the roller and the pinch roller of the transport belt on the upstream side of the print head. Even if it occurs, the frictional resistance between the plate-shaped medium and the transport belt is extremely large, so that the vibration of the plate-shaped medium and the transport delay due to the impact are prevented, and the impact is absorbed by the transport belt, while slightly absorbing the impact itself. And good printing without print blur can be performed.

By using the roller for driving the transport belt as the roller on the rear side of the print head, the transport belt in the printing area is pulled, and the transport belt in the area is prevented from being slackened. The plate-shaped printing medium is conveyed so that the conveyance belt contacts the entire back surface of the plate-shaped printing medium before and after the printing.

Further, by driving both the rollers that stretch and support the transport belt before and after the transport of the print head, when the leading end of the plate-like medium enters between the roller on the front side of the print head and the pinch roller, Since the rollers are also driven, the plate-shaped medium can be smoothly taken in and conveyed, and the load on the conveying belt can be reduced, so that better printing can be performed.

Further, by making the subsequent roller have a high friction coefficient with respect to the preceding roller, the slack of the conveying belt in that region is prevented, and the conveying belt extends across the entire back surface of the plate-shaped print medium before and after the print head. The plate-shaped printing medium is transported so as to be in contact with the printing medium.

The platen roller has elasticity, and the platen roller is disposed closer to the print head side than the two rollers supporting the transport belt disposed before and after the platen roller, so that the hard plate-like medium can be hardened. Such printing can be performed, and at the same time, bending of the plate-like medium due to pressurization of the print head can be prevented, and printing without printing omission can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a printing area of a tag printer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tag printer.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a tag printed according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view showing each driving mechanism near a printing area.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the upstream side of the conveyance belt.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a downstream side of a conveyance belt.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a printing area.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of a print area.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of a printing area of the tag printer during printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 tag printer 2 tag 3 housing section 6 feed roller 7 motor 9 transport belt 10 roller 11 roller 12 tension roller 13 pinch roller 14 pinch roller 15 gear 16 gear 17 timing belt 18 pulley 19 pulley 20 pulley 20 pulley 21 swinging rod 23 swinging Rod 25 Switching means 32 Platen 33 Shaft 34 Cam 35 Cam 36 Gear 37 Thermal head 38 Ink ribbon 39 Head angle 42 Interlocking rod 45 Housing

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Takashi Sugai, Inventor Ryuuji Mizuuchi 1-11-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Japan (72) Inventor Ryuuji Mizuuchi, 1-11-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo No. Within Japan Thailand Writer Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] A print head that prints characters, images, and the like on a plate-like medium; a platen roller facing the print head; A conveyor belt supported by two rollers or a plurality of rollers including the roller and arranged at a distance smaller than the entire length and stretched between the print head and a platen roller; and at least one of the rollers supporting the conveyor belt Conveyor belt driving means for moving the conveyor belt by rotating the roller, and two pinch rollers urged toward the rollers so as to be movable toward and away from the two rollers supporting the conveyor belt, respectively. A printing device for a plate-shaped medium, comprising: 2. The printing head according to claim 1, wherein the transport belt, the platen roller, and the pinch roller are vertically provided so as to transport and print the plate-shaped print medium with a vertical plane. Printing device for plate media. 3. A printing apparatus for printing a plate-shaped medium, wherein the roller rotated by the conveyor belt driving means according to claim 1 is a roller disposed after a platen roller. 4. A printing apparatus for printing a plate-shaped medium, wherein the rollers rotated by the conveyor belt driving means according to claim 1 and 2 are two rollers arranged before and after a platen roller. 5. An apparatus for printing on a plate-like medium according to claim 4, wherein the roller after the platen roller has a higher coefficient of friction than the roller before the platen roller. 6. The platen roller according to claim 1, wherein the platen roller is provided with elasticity, and the platen roller is disposed closer to the print head side than two rollers supporting the transport belt disposed before and after the platen roller. Characteristic printing device for plate-shaped media.