JPS6124198B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a paper sheet printing apparatus that prints on the surface of paper sheets by a thermal transfer method using a ribbon coated with a heat-melting substance.

In recent years, in order to automatically and efficiently process the increasing amount of various kinds of mail by mechanical means, we attach a postal code to the mail, automatically read the postal code, and calculate the postal code. Various devices have been developed and put into practical use to automatically process mail according to the requirements.

However, in reality, many mail items do not have postal codes, and some are unclear due to friction, etc., and the reject rate is over 20% in Japan.

However, it is too labor-intensive to process these mail items directly by obtaining them.
Recently, it has become possible to print a barcode on the unprocessable mail and use that barcode to automatically process it again.

This barcode printing device uses a transfer ribbon made by applying a heat-melting substance to the surface of a heat-resistant tape, and multiple prints that can be protruded and retracted are placed on the back side of the transfer ribbon. By making the ribbon protrude in response to a print signal while warming it with a heater, the ribbon is struck and instantly melted into a heat-melting substance, which is then transferred and printed onto the mail.

However, this conventional transfer method has the following various drawbacks.

(1) Preheat multiple printing pins and
It must be kept constantly warm at around 130°C. Therefore, the structure becomes large and uneconomical.

(2) It is dangerous because the oven used to warm each printing pin is at a high temperature.

(3) The configuration is complicated because each printing pin is mechanically driven according to the printing signal.

(4) Since mechanical movements are performed, malfunctions are likely to occur due to mechanical movements, and the noise is also intense.

(5) When starting up, it is necessary to wait until the printing pins are warmed up.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a paper sheet printing apparatus that prints on paper sheets using a thermal transfer method, in which printing is performed quickly in accordance with a given print signal. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive paper sheet printing device that operates reliably, can print immediately after startup, makes little noise, and does not require prewarming.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the paper sheet printing device.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes the main body of the apparatus, and the main body 1 of the apparatus is formed with a storage section 3 for holding paper sheets, such as mail 2, in an upright position by receiving the lower end thereof on a bottom plate. That is, the storage section 3 is formed by a pair of left and right side plates 4 and 5, and a conveyance roller 6 and a pinch roller 7 as carrying means,
The mail 2 is carried in, and after printing, it is carried out again. The conveyance roller 6 is connected to a driven pulley 9 via a clutch 8, as shown in FIG.
The driven pulley 9 is connected to an intermediate pulley 10 via a belt 11. Furthermore, the intermediate pulley 10 is connected to another belt 12 as shown in FIG.
The drive pulley 14 of the motor 13 is connected to the drive pulley 14 of the motor 13 via. Thus, the conveyance roller 6 is rotationally driven via each of these transmission members. Note that the conveyance roller 6 is equipped with a brake 15.
It is equipped with a switch so that it can be stopped suddenly when necessary.

On the other hand, the pinch roller 7 is supported so as to be retractable with respect to the conveyance roller 6, and constitutes a pinching/releasing means that is moved forward and backward by a driving magnet _M1 .

On the other hand, a light source 16 and a detection element 17 as detection means are installed on the left and right positions of the storage section 3 so as to face each other. Therefore, the clutch 8, brake 15 and magnet _M1 are controlled respectively. In other words, storage section 3
When the mail 2 is carried in and reaches a predetermined position, it is detected by the detection means and the clutch 8 is released.
When the brake 15 is activated, the magnet _M1
is excited to retract the pinch roller 7. Therefore, the mail item 2 is released and falls, and the mail piece 2 is released and falls into the storage section 3.
It hits the bottom and stops.

A heating print head 18 for thermal transfer and a presser 19 are installed in the storage section 3 so as to face each other with the mail 2 stopped at a predetermined position in between. The heat-generating print head 18 has a plurality of heat-generating elements that instantly generate heat when energized on its tip surface 20, arranged side by side in parallel. , predetermined printing is performed via a ribbon 21, which will be described later. Note that each of the above elements can be printed in various ways depending on how they are arranged. In the above-mentioned case, a barcode can be printed, but it is also possible to print numbers, for example, by placing them at Japanese characters, Japanese characters, pixel points, or symbols.

The ribbon 21 is made by coating the surface of a highly heat-resistant (temperature) thin film tape such as Mylar with a heat-melting substance, and this ribbon 21 is formed by applying a heat-melting substance to the surface of the thin film tape such as mylar. It is arranged so as to be interposed between the two.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the pusher 19 moves forward and backward in conjunction with a drive lever 25 of a drive mechanism 22, which will be described later. That is, the pusher 19 is attached to a slider 24 via a coil spring 23, and the slider 24 is connected to the drive lever 25. Thus, the slider 24 is moved back and forth by swinging the drive lever 25 back and forth.

Further, the drive lever 25 of the drive mechanism 22 is
As shown in the figure, the drive lever 25 is pivotally supported by a fixed shaft 26 on the side of the device main body 1, and furthermore, a cam follower 27 is attached to a midway portion of the drive lever 25. The cam follower 27 is in rolling contact with the cam 28, and the rotation of the cam 28 causes the drive lever 25 to swing.

Further, the rotating shaft of the cam 28 is connected to a driven pulley 30 via a one-turn clutch 29, and the driven pulley 30 is connected to the drive motor 13 via a transmission belt 31. The one-turn clutch 29 can also be operated by an operating solenoid _M2 , as shown in FIG. That is, the actuating solenoid _M2 is operated via the trigger 32 to connect the one-turn clutch 29 at the appropriate time. Thus, when the one-turn clutch 29 is engaged, the cam 28 can be rotated one revolution. The drive lever 25 can be swung back and forth once.

Further, the drive lever 25 is always pulled toward the cam 28 by a tension spring 33.
The cam follower 27 is brought into rolling contact with the circumferential surface of the cam 28. Normally, the pusher 19 is retracted from the storage portion 3 by retracting the drive lever 25 as shown in FIG.

The printing ribbon 21 is stored in a magazine 34. The magazine 34 can be detachably attached to the main body 1 of the apparatus. Further, both ends of the ribbon 21 are wound around a take-up shaft 36 and a pay-out shaft 37 installed inside the magazine 34, and the middle part of the ribbon 21 is a heat generating head when the magazine 34 is attached. 18, and faces the mail 2 in the storage section 3. The magazine 34 is provided with holes 40 and 41 into which the support shafts 38 and 39 on the apparatus main body 1 side are inserted, and the support shafts 38 and 39 are fitted into the holes 40 and 41. It can be attached and detached freely. The magazine 34 also includes a feed roller 42.
and tension roller 43 are incorporated, and this feed roller 42 and tension roller 43
The middle part of the ribbon 21 is placed over the ribbon 21.

The feed roller 42 constitutes a ribbon feed mechanism 44 built into the magazine 34, and the ribbon feed mechanism 44 is constructed as shown in FIG. 4. That is, the feed roller 4
A ratchet gear 45 is attached and fixed to the side end portion of 2, and the ratchet gear 45 is adapted to engage with a ratchet pawl 46. The ratchet pawl 46 is pivotally connected to an operating lever 47 built into the magazine 34.
7, it is designed to move back and forth. A tension spring 48 is installed between the operating lever 47 and the ratchet pawl 46, and urges the ratchet pawl 46 toward the circumferential surface of the ratchet gear 45. In other words, the ratchet claw 46
constitutes a ratchet mechanism 49 that is always engaged with the ratchet gear 45. The ratchet pawl 46 is adapted to come into contact with the stopper pin 50 in its engaged state.

Further, the operating lever 47 is attached so as to be able to reciprocate linearly with respect to the magazine body 35, and a tension spring 51 is installed between the operating lever 47 and the magazine body 35. The operating lever 47 is urged in a direction toward the front of the magazine 34. As will be described later, each printing operation is pushed in by the drive mechanism 22 on the apparatus main body 1, and the feed roller 42 is rotationally driven via the ratchet mechanism 49. In other words, the feed roller 42 is rotated by a fixed amount for each operation.

Further, the operating lever 47 is adapted to rotationally drive the winding shaft 36 of the magazine 34 via another ratchet mechanism 52. That is, a ratchet pawl 53 is pivotally attached to the tip of the operating lever 47, and is adapted to engage with a ratchet gear 54 loosely attached to the winding shaft 36.
The ratchet pawl 53 is always urged toward the ratchet gear 54 by a tension spring 55, so that it engages with the ratchet gear 54.

Further, the ratchet gear 54 is connected to the winding shaft 3.
6, and its ratchet gear 54 is joined to a friction plate 57 via an elastic ring 56. Further, the friction plate 57 is attached to one end of a coil spring 58 wound around the winding shaft 36, and the other end of the coil spring 58 is attached to the winding shaft 36.

Therefore, the winding shaft 36 is connected to the ratchet mechanism 52.
is driven through the friction plate 57 and the coil spring 58, and when a load of a certain level or more is applied, the elastic ring 56 and the friction plate 54 slide to cut off transmission of rotational force. Note that the winding shaft 36 and the feeding shaft 37 are
Take-up spool 59 and pay-out spool 6, respectively.
0 is attached. Both ends of the ribbon 21 are wound around the spools 59 and 60, and the middle portion is wrapped around a feed roller 42 and a tension roller 43.

The tension roller 43 is pivotally connected to an L-shaped ring 61 as shown in FIG. 2, and the other end of the link 60 is pulled by a spring 62 to bias the tension roller 43 in one direction. I'm starting to do that. Note that 63 is a stopper pin that corresponds to the link 61, and 64 is a knob for attaching the magazine 34 to the main body 1 of the apparatus.

On the other hand, when the magazine 34 is assembled into the apparatus main body 1, the operating lever 47 faces the tip of the feed lever 65 of the drive mechanism 22, and is operated by the feed lever 65. It's getting old. That is, the drive mechanism 22
The feed lever 65 is formed with a long hole 66, and is movably supported by inserting a pin 67a on the device main body 1 side into the long hole 66. The rear end of the feed lever 65 is pivotally connected to the drive lever 25, and the swing of the drive lever 25 moves the feed lever 65 forward and backward. That is, by rotating the cam 28 and rotating the drive lever 25, the feed lever 65 is pushed, and the operating lever 47 of the magazine 34 can be operated by the feed lever 65.

The drive lever 25 also includes the feed lever 6.
An operating lever 65' having a configuration similar to that of 5 is connected, and the tip of this operating lever 65' rotates the support arm 68 of the pinch roller 67. That is, the support arm 68 of the pinch roller 67 is rotationally biased by a tension coil spring 69 to bring the pinch roller 67 into rolling contact with the feed roller 42 on the magazine 34 side.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. First, as shown in FIG. 2, with the magazine 34 mounted, the mail piece 2 on which a bar code is to be printed is carried into the storage section 3 by the transport rollers 6 and the pinch rollers 7. And the light source 16
When the detection element 17 detects that the mail 2 has reached a predetermined position, the clutch 8 is released and the brake 15 is activated to stop the mail 2. At the same time, magnet _M1 is excited,
The pinch roller 7 is retracted from the conveyance roller 6.
As a result, the mail 2 becomes free and falls, and the lower end surface is aligned with the bottom of the storage section 3.

After this, immediately the actuation solenoid _M2
By engaging the one-turn clutch 29 through its trigger 32, the cam 28 is caused to make one revolution.
Thus, the cam 28 presses the cam follower 27 of the drive lever 25, and the drive lever 25 is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Then, the slider 24 is moved by the drive lever 25, and the pusher 19 is pushed out into the storage portion 3 via the coil spring 23. Therefore, the mail piece 2 in the storage section 3 is pressed against the front end surface 20 of the heat-generating print head 18 for barcode transfer, and the transfer ribbon 21 is interposed between the mail piece 2 and the front end surface 20. . In such a press-bonded state, each element on the tip surface 20 of the heat-generating print head 18 for barcode thermal transfer is selectively energized in accordance with the applied signal, and instantaneously becomes hot to heat the surface of the corresponding ribbon 21. Localized heating. Thus, the heat-melting substance applied to the surface of the ribbon 21 is partially melted depending on the heated element, and only the melted portion is transferred to the surface of the mail piece 2 by the pressure force.

In other words, a predetermined barcode can be printed on the surface of the mail piece 2 by simply pressing the mail piece 2 against the front end surface 20 of the heat-generating print head 18 for thermal barcode transfer. This printing is done almost instantaneously.

On the other hand, as the drive lever 25 of the drive mechanism 22 rotates, the feed lever 65 is pushed out at the same time, and the feed lever 65 of the magazine 34 is pushed forward. In other words, the feed lever 65 of the magazine 34 is
The latch 46 of the feed ratchet mechanism 49 is pushed forward in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.
is pushed into the ratchet gear 45 by a certain amount while idling. Also, the feed lever 6
5 is pushed in, the ratchet pawl 53 of the winding ratchet mechanism advances while engaging with the ratchet gear 54, thereby rotating the ratchet gear 54. In addition, the ratchet gear 5
4 rotates, the elastic ring 56 and the friction plate 5
A compression coil spring 58 is wound through the coil 7, and this rotational force is absorbed by the compression coil spring 58.
However, if the amount of rotation exceeds a certain level, it will not slip between the elastic ring 56 and the friction plate 57 and be rolled up more than necessary.

When the cam 28 of the drive mechanism 22 on the device main body 1 side rotates once and the drive lever 25 returns to its original position, the pusher 19 also returns to its original position.
The mail 2 in the storage section 3 is released. Then, when the magnet _M1 is deenergized, the pinch roller 7 moves forward and pinches the mail piece 2 between it and the conveyance roller 6, and at the same time, the brake 15 is released and the clutch 8 is connected, thereby pinching the mail piece 2. It is for transporting.

Furthermore, due to the return of the drive lever 25, the feed lever 65 on the magazine 35 side also pulls the tension coil spring 51.
It returns to its original position, but at this time,
The ratchet pawl 46 of the feed ratchet mechanism 49 engages with the ratchet gear 45 and rotates the ratchet gear 45 by a certain amount. As a result, the feed roller 42 is rotated in the same manner, and the ribbon 21 is fed out by a certain amount. In other words, the ribbon 21 can be sent out by a fixed amount for each printing operation.

On the other hand, the winding ratchet mechanism 42 idles,
Although the ratchet gear 54 is not rotated, the winding shaft 36 is rotated in the winding direction by the biasing force of the compression coil spring 58 that has been wound up previously, and the ribbon 2 is sent by the feed roller 42.
1 onto a take-up spool 59.
However, since this winding force is weaker than the ribbon holding force of the feed roller 42, the ribbon will not be wound up more than the feed amount of the feed roller 42.

As described above, a bar code is printed on the surface of the mail piece 2 by a thermal transfer method.

On the other hand, according to the above configuration, the barcode thermal transfer ribbon 21 is stored in the magazine 34, and the ribbon 21 can be replaced by simply attaching and detaching the magazine 34 to the apparatus main body 1. . That is, by inserting the winding shafts 38 and 39 into the holes 40 and 41 of the magazine body 35, the winding shafts 38 and 39 are installed at a predetermined position, and the knob 64 is used to fix the winding shafts in that position.
Further, since the magazine 34 incorporates a feeding mechanism 44 that is linked to the drive mechanism 22 on the mounting main body 1 side and feeds the ribbon 21 in fixed amounts, it is possible to feed the barcode thermal transfer ribbon 21 in fixed amounts.

As explained above, the present invention uses a ribbon coated with a heat-fusible substance to print on the surface of a paper sheet by a thermal transfer method, and the ribbon is interposed on the paper sheet to be printed. A heat-generating print head is provided facing each other, and a plurality of heat-generating elements that are selectively energized in response to a print signal and instantaneously generate heat are provided on the front end surface of the heat-generating print head. In other words, since printing is performed using the above-mentioned heat generating print head that does not perform any mechanical operation, it is possible to print at high speed without causing malfunctions and making noise. Also,
Unlike the conventional case, there is no need for an oven to pre-warm the printing pins, which simplifies the structure, and it is also safe because it does not require an oven that is constantly at high temperatures. Of course, there is no need to warm up the printing pin in advance, so you can start using it immediately. Furthermore, the overall configuration can be simplified and miniaturized.

Furthermore, since the paper sheets to be printed are carried in via the carry-in means and automatically dropped into a predetermined position, processing efficiency and labor savings can be achieved compared to a method in which paper sheets are manually inserted one by one. In addition, since printing is performed by moving the paper sheet that has been dropped to the printing position by pressing it toward the print head side using the presser, the paper sheet is kept away from the print head when not printing. This is particularly useful when dealing with mail items that do not want to get dirty.

In addition, it is possible to print on paper sheets that are brought in in a pinched state, and the paper sheet can be printed based on the bottom edge, regardless of its size, by once releasing the pinched state and making it free before printing. Therefore, the effect is particularly useful for items such as mail where the printing position is fixed regardless of the size.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a front view thereof, FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic internal structure, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a schematic structure thereof. , FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ribbon feeding mechanism,
FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view of the magazine in a mounted state, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view of the magazine. 1... Apparatus body, 2... Mail, 3... Storage section, 6...
Conveyance roller, 8...clutch, 9...driven pulley, 1
3...Motor, 15...Brake, _M1 ...Magnet, 16...Light source, 17...Detection element, 18...Heating print head, 19...Press element, 20...Tip surface,
21... Ribbon, 22... Drive mechanism, 24... Slider, 25... Drive lever, 28... Cam, 29... One rotation clutch, 34... Magazine, 35... Magazine body, 44... Feeding mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a paper sheet printing device that uses a ribbon coated with a heat-melting substance to print on the surface of paper sheets that are sequentially brought in in an upright position by a thermal transfer method, the paper sheets to be printed are a conveying means for intermittently conveying paper sheets in a standing position while holding them; a detecting means for detecting when the paper sheets conveyed through the conveying means have reached a predetermined position; a clamping/releasing means that once detects that the leaf has reached a predetermined position, releases the clamping and conveying state, sets the paper sheet in a free state, and drops the paper sheet while remaining in an upright position; A storage section that holds the paper sheet in a state based on the bottom end and in an upright position by receiving the lower end of the paper sheet that falls when the paper sheet is released from the gripping/releasing means with a bottom plate; In order to print on paper sheets, there is a heat-generating print head that faces the storage section and has a plurality of heat-generating elements arranged on its front end that generate heat in response to printing signals, and a ribbon that passes through the front of the heat-generating print head. a guide device for guiding; and a sheet of paper that faces the heat generating print head with the storage section in between and is installed so as to be able to protrude and retract into the storage section, and that protrudes into the storage section during printing and is held at a lower edge reference state. 1. A printing device for printing paper sheets, comprising: a presser for pressing sheets against the front end surface of a print head.