JPS591818Y2 - label printer - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] This invention automatically transports a strip-shaped mount on which a large number of labels are pasted at predetermined intervals, and intermittently transports each label to the printing section. This invention relates to an improvement in a label printer that prints various data such as the unit price, weight, and price of a weighed product on a transferred label.

Recently, due to the remarkable development of distribution systems, there are many cases where stores such as Tepar I and supermarkets handle a wide variety of products in large quantities.

In addition, some of the above products are weighed like food items,
There are products that are sold after calculating the price, and in many cases, the weight of such products is measured in advance and the price is calculated before being stored inside the pack, and the weight and price are also displayed on the pack itself. A label with the unit price, price, etc. printed on it is attached.

For this reason, label printers that can print such labels in large quantities and are used in conjunction with digital electronic scales have been developed and put into practical use.

This label printer uses a transport mechanism to automatically transport a strip-shaped mount on which a large number of labels are pasted at predetermined intervals, and intermittently transports each label to a printing unit. Above is the unit price and weight of the product weighed at that time.
The price, product name, store name, etc. are printed on it.

In addition, when printing the various data mentioned above on a label, for example, a detected object such as a label that has reached a predetermined distance forward or backward from the printing part is detected by a detection mechanism fixed at this position, and this detection signal is printed. The data is sent as a control signal to the printing section so that the data is printed on the label that is present at the printing section at this time.

By the way, the size of the label is not constant depending on the type of label, so as mentioned above, the detection mechanism may change the size of the bell, which is fixed at a predetermined distance from the printing section, or change the length of the printing field. If the label is changed, the printing position on the label may be shifted and printing may not be performed accurately, or the label may be removed and printed on the backing paper, causing inconveniences.

This idea was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to provide a label printer that can immediately set the correct printing position even if the size of the label or the length of the printing field changes. The purpose is

An embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the label printer 1 of this embodiment.

An electronic scale 8 is provided at the front of the label printer 1.

This electronic scale 3 includes a weighing pan 4 provided above the front part of the body 2 of the label printer 1, and a weighing mechanism part 5 inside the body 2 that calculates the weight, price, etc. of the product placed on the weighing pan 4. It's intimidating.

Further, the weight and price are displayed on the display section 6 at the upper front of the aircraft body 2.

Further, the unit price is manually entered into the arithmetic circuit of the logic board 40 by operating a key operation section (as shown) provided from a numeric keypad, etc., and is also displayed on the display section 6 at the same time.

A label printing mechanism 7 is provided in the center of the body 2.

The outline of this mechanism 7 will be explained next. A mount 9 (
A self-label 10 (see FIG. 4) wound into a roll is rotatably attached to a shaft 11.

The tip pulled out from this self-label 10 is the position detector support mechanism 1 which will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
2 and then to a printing mechanism 13 where a tag is printed, and then at a label outlet 14, the labels 8 are peeled off from the mount 9 and taken out one by one.

As seen in the figure, in this embodiment, the printing mechanism 13 is moved in the transport direction A of the mount 9 when viewed from the position detector support mechanism 12.
It is located on the rear side along the

The printing mechanism 13 includes a normal puller printer 15 (separated from a printing drum, printing hammer, etc.) and a stamp support mechanism 16.
It is empty.

A stamp for printing a product name and a stamp for printing a store name that have been prepared in advance are set in the stamp support mechanism 16, and the product name is printed on the label 8 under the control of the detection signal of the position detector as described later. It is possible to print the store name.

Further, the backing paper (waste paper) 9 from which the label 8 has been peeled off is wound up by a winding roller 18 via a paper feed roller 17.

Note that the paper feed roller 17 is connected to a rotating shaft of a paper feed motor 20 via a gear 19.

Next, the structure of the position detector support mechanism 12 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The label sliding plate 21 has both ends 21 a of a rectangular sheet metal,
21b is curved and hollowed, and its one end 21b and central portion 21C are fixed to a predetermined location of the body 2 of the label printer 1 with a fixing member 22 such as a bolt.

The label 8 attached to the mount 9 is then transferred in the direction of arrow A on the upper surface of the label sliding plate 21 in FIG.

In the figure, 23 is a guide provided on the label sliding plate 21.

One side edge 21 of the label sliding plate 21 along the transport direction A
A support plate 24 is fixed to d, and this support plate 24 is further provided with a sliding member 25 that can move in the above-mentioned transfer direction A or the opposite direction using this support plate 24 as a guide.

Further, a hole with a beveled edge is formed at the left end 25a of the sliding member 25 in the figure, and the shaft 2 of the bevel mechanism 26 is inserted into this hole.
The right end 27a of the shaft 27 is inserted, and the left end 27a of the shaft 27 is inserted.
7b is inserted into a grooved hole provided at the left end 24a of the support plate 24, and then the adjustment knob 2B is attached thereto.

Further, two sets of frames 29 fixed to the sliding member 25 and forming a pair of upper and lower sides sandwich the label sliding plate 21 and extend horizontally on both sides of the label sliding plate 21 in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction A. It is located prominently in the

Note that the frame body 29 and the sliding member 25 constitute a support member that supports the position detector.

A transistor is attached to the upper frame 29a of the first frame 29 as a light receiving element, and a lamp is attached to the lower frame 29b as a light emitting element.

(These are referred to as the first position detector D1) Second frame body 2
The upper frame 29C1 and the lower frame 29D of 9 are exactly the same (these are called the second position detector D2), and the label slide is used to enable the phototransistor to receive the light from the lamp. A longitudinal groove 30 is bored in a predetermined position of the plate 21 along the transport direction A, as shown in FIG.

Also, the distance between the centers of the lamps (or the distance between the centers of the lamps) and the distance between the centers of the transistor and the phototransistor), that is, the same position detector D1. The distance between D2 is the distance 12 described later.
(distance between the reference detection position and the product name printing center position).

An upper frame 29a of the frame body 29. Shaft 39 on the side of 29 b
One end of the label presser plate 81 is attached so that it can be rotated by.

A presser spring 32 is tightened to the shaft 39 with a nut, and the action of this presser spring 32 causes the label presser plate to
1 is pressed downward (towards the label sliding plate 21), and therefore, the label 8 on the mount 9 is pressed onto the label sliding plate 21 by the label pressing plate 31.

A handle 31a having a hole 33 is provided at the other end of the label holding plate 31, and a notch 34 is provided at the center of one end of the label sliding plate 21.

As a result, when the handle 31a is held in the hand and the label presser plate 31 is lifted upward, the label presser plate 31 resists the pressing force of the presser spring 32 and rotates about the shaft 39 as a fulcrum.

With the above configuration, by rotating the adjustment knob 2B of the screw mechanism 26, the shaft 27 is rotated, so that the sliding member 2
5 moves in the transport direction A or the opposite direction, thereby causing the surface position detectors D1. D2 can also be moved to finely adjust the detection position.

Next, the detailed structure of the label 8 and the mount 9 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The label 8 is composed of, from the top, a product name printing section, a shop name printing section, a unit price, weight, price printing section, and a processing date printing section.

The unit price, weight, and price print area are pre-printed with the characters "unit price",
"Weight", "price", "yen", and "g" are printed.

In addition, the text "Processing date" and "Storage temperature 10°C or less" are printed on the processing date printing section, and numbers are printed by a printer in the blank space allocated to both the double-sided text sections.

Additionally, the product name and store name are printed using the above stamp.

The labels 8 are pasted onto a mount 9 at intervals of, for example, 2 mm.

This portion 35 of only the mount 9 between the labels 8
is called the reference detection position.

The position detector D1. D2 is configured to detect this mount portion 35 by distinguishing it from the pasted portion of the label 8 by a change in the amount of light.

Also, the area 9' where the label 8 on the mount 9 has disappeared and only the mount 9 is present, or the space where the mount 9 has also disappeared is the surface position detector D.
1. When detected by D2, these rain detectors D1゜D
Both output signals of No. 2 are turned on.

At this time, the detection signal drives, for example, a buzzer to notify the end of the label.

Next, the operating method and operation of the label printer of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, the self-label 10 is set on the shaft 11, and its tip is passed through the position detector support mechanism 12 and the printing mechanism 13.
Pass it further to the label outlet.

Further, if a predetermined amount of pork (above) product is continuously measured and a label is prepared for the product, a stamp of this product and a stamp of the store name are set on the stamp support mechanism 16.

Then turn on the power and start working.

First, an adjustment operation is performed to ensure that printing is performed accurately at a predetermined position on the label, but after printing on two or three labels, check the printing condition, and if it is inaccurate, the printing mechanism 26
Adjust by rotating the adjustment knob 28 by hand.

When the adjustment is completed, for example, 150 g of the product is placed on the weighing plate 4, and a unit price of 300 yen is input using the numeric keypad.The electronic scale measures the weight, calculates the price of 450 yen, and displays these on the display section.

At this time, the second position detector D2 detects, for example, the ninth label 8 (label 8 in FIG.
The mount portion 35 (indicated by 352 in Fig. 4) formed between the 10th label 8 (indicated by label 8b in Fig. 4) is being detected and its output signal is on. state, while the first position detector D1 is at the 10th label B.
It is located near the mount portion 35b formed between this label 8b and the 11th label 8C on b, and its output signal is in an OFF state.

Therefore, at the same time as the price of 450 yen is calculated, the first printing command for the label 8 to be printed is outputted to the printing mechanism 13, and the unit price, weight, and price are printed.

When these printings are completed, a completion signal is sent to the paper feed motor 20, and the mount 9 is moved over the distance 11 shown in FIG. ) in the transport direction A.

At this time, the first position detector D1 is on the mount portion 35b and is in the on state, while the second position detector D2 is on the label Bb and is in the off state.

Therefore, when paper feeding is completed and the mount 9 stops, a second printing command is output to the label 8 to be printed, and the date of that day, which has been set in advance in the label printer 1, is printed on the processing date printing section, At the same time, the product name and store name are printed in the corresponding locations using the above stamp.

When this printing is completed, a command is issued to the paper feed motor 20 to feed the mount 9 by a distance 12 in the transport direction A, and the state returns to the state where printing of the next label starts.

Hereafter, this operation and operation are repeated, and the printed label 8
are peeled off from the mount 9 and discharged one by one into the label outlet 14.

Further, when the label 8 disappears and the same position detectors D1 and D2 both detect the end portion 9' or the space of the mount 9 and turn on, a buzzer sounds.

In the above explanation, one label is printed in two steps, but of course it is also easy to print in three or more times.In this case, if three or more position detectors are provided, good.

It is also possible to provide the reference detection position by attaching a special mark to a part other than the mount part.

Further, the reference detection position may be detected by an electrical method or a mechanical method other than the above-mentioned charging conversion method.

Further, other sounding bodies or display bodies may be used in place of the above-mentioned buzzer.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the upper and lower frames of the position detector were manufactured as one unit and used for a specific label with a constant distance. By being able to change and adjust the position detector, the position detector can be used for labels of any size.

Furthermore, only either the product name or the store name may be printed on the label, and of course any other information other than these may also be printed as desired.

As explained above, this idea involves transporting a strip-shaped mount on which multiple labels are pasted at regular intervals to the printing section.
In a label printer that sequentially prints labels on the labels transferred to the printing section, the printing area of one label is divided to set a plurality of divided areas, and the printing area of the label is divided into a plurality of divided areas. a plurality of detectors that are arranged along the line and detect boundaries of the labels at different detection positions; and a mount pressing mechanism that presses the mount that passes near each of the detectors so as not to lift off the conveyance path. , a screw mechanism for moving the detection position of each of the detectors and the pressing position of the mount pressing mechanism along the conveyance path, and the detection timing of each of the detectors is adjusted to the printing start position of each divided area. In addition, if the length of the label and the divided area is changed, the detection timing is adjusted by the screw mechanism, so the size of the label and the length of the divided area (print field) can be changed. Even if there is a change in the printing position, it is possible to immediately set the correct printing position, and it is possible to prevent printing misalignment from occurring.

Furthermore, since a mount pressing mechanism is provided, it is possible to prevent detection timing shifts caused by lifting or curling of the label.

In addition, if each detector is provided in a separate frame, each frame is provided with a label pressing mechanism, and each frame is set to be slidable by a screw mechanism, the label length and the length of the printing field can be adjusted. It is possible to respond to changes with an extremely large degree of freedom.

Furthermore, according to this invention, since the label pressing mechanism is movable in the opposite pressing direction, by moving the label pressing mechanism, there is an advantage that label insertion is facilitated, and the position of the detector is When the detector is adjusted, the mount suppression mechanism corresponding to this detector moves at the same time, so there is an advantage that the adjustment only needs to be made once.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of the label printer on the same side, and FIGS.
The figure shows a plan view and a side view of the position detector support mechanism on the same side.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the state of the label attached to the mount used on the same side. 1... Label printer, 3... Electronic scale, 8... Label, 9... Mount, 12
...Position detector support mechanism, 13...Printing mechanism, 14...Label output port, 20...
・・Paper feed motor, 21 ・・・Lar sliding plate, 24 ・・・support plate, 25 ・・・sliding member, 26 ・・・screw mechanism, 27...Axis, 2
B...adjustment knob, 29...frame, 3
1...Label pressing plate (backing paper pressing mechanism), 32.
...Press spring (mounting sheet pressing mechanism), 35...
・Reference detection position.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a label printer that transports a strip-shaped mount on which a plurality of labels are pasted at regular intervals to a printing section, and sequentially prints data on the labels transferred to the printing section, one label A printing area is divided into a plurality of divided areas, and a plurality of detectors are arranged along the conveyance path of the mount and detect the boundary of the label at different detection positions, and a plurality of detectors are arranged in the vicinity of each of the detectors. a mount pressing mechanism that presses the mount passing through the conveyance path so that it does not float up from the conveyance path and is movable in a direction opposite to the pressing direction; a detection position of each of the detectors and a pressing force of the mount pressing mechanism corresponding to the detector; a screw mechanism that simultaneously moves the positions along the conveyance path, so that the detection timing of each of the detectors corresponds to the printing start position of each of the divided areas, and the length of the label and the divided area is adjusted. A label printer characterized in that when the detection timing is changed, the detection timing is adjusted by the tightening mechanism.