JP4885990B2 - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label printer which is hardly skewed to a mount after released, and can surely prevent the deterioration of printing quality accompanied by the skewing, and a break etc. of the mount in the worst case. <P>SOLUTION: A mount damper 160 which gives tension to the mount 114 after passing a label release part 121 is provided at a position which interferes with a guide course 122 of the mount 114 led from the label release part 121 where a printed label 113 is released from the mount 114 to a mount take-up shaft 119 in a process that a label paper is conveyed by a conveying part. The tension can be applied by a mount damper 160 to the mount 114 at a part between the label release part 121 and the mount take-up shaft 119, and therefore no slack is generated to the mount 114 wound around the mount take-up shaft 119 at the time of winding. The mount 114 is prevented from being skewed, so that the deterioration of the printing quality accompanied by this, and the break etc. of the mount in the worst case can be surely prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a label printer.

  In a label printer that prints on a label affixed to a mount, while winding the mount with the mount take-up shaft, the label peeling section bends the paper guide path so that the printed label is peeled off from the mount and issued. I have to.

  A problem with such a label printer is the looseness of the mount that occurs when the labeled paper is conveyed in the backward direction. That is, in order to peel off and issue a label that has already been printed, it is necessary to transport the labeled paper until the subsequent label passes the printing position. For this reason, if printing is continued for the subsequent label as it is, a portion that cannot be printed is generated at the leading end portion of the subsequent label. Therefore, in order to prevent a portion that cannot be printed from occurring, when printing is performed on a subsequent label, a so-called back feed that transports the labeled paper in the backward direction is required. The back feed is performed, for example, by rotating the platen and the mount winding shaft in opposite directions. In this case, when transporting the labeled paper in the forward direction, it is necessary to make the paper take-up amount by the mount take-up shaft larger than the paper carry amount by the platen. Will be more. This is the reason why slack occurs in the backing sheet when the paper with the label is back-fed. If the mount becomes slack, the mount cannot be wound up afterwards, and the mount becomes skewed, resulting in a decrease in print quality and a loss of the mount in the worst case. In particular, when the diameter of the mount taken up by the mount take-up shaft becomes large, the slack of the mount at the time of reverse rotation increases due to the moment of inertia of the mount taken up by the mount take-up shaft.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 describes an invention in which a one-way clutch is built in a mount winding shaft so that the mount is not loosened during backfeeding of labeled paper.

  However, in the label printer disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order to prevent the mount from being loosened during the backfeed of the labeled paper, a complicated structure such as incorporating a one-way clutch in the mount winding shaft is used. Is required. Such a structure has not only a complicated structure, but also a number of disadvantages such as a decrease in assembling ability, an increase in the number of parts, an increase in parts cost and manufacturing cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is possible to reliably prevent the deterioration of the print quality and the worst case of the mount in the worst case without causing skew in the mount after peeling. An object of the present invention is to provide a label printer that can be used.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention includes a transport unit that transports a label sheet having a label attached to a mount in a forward direction and a backward direction, and a process in which the label sheet is transported. The label is peeled by the printing part for printing on the label, the label peeling part for bending the label paper that has passed through the printing part from the mount and peeling the label after printing, and the label peeling part. oscillating the mount, and the mount take-up shaft that takes up in faster set speed than the conveying speed of the conveying section, at a position where it interferes with the guide path of the mount leading to said platform cigarette shaft from said label peeling unit comprising a mount damper is capable providing et al, a given tension to the base sheet by the swinging of the mount damper the label by the label peeling unit during transport to the reverse direction of the mount peeled That.

  According to the present invention, there is no skew in the mount after peeling, and there is an effect that it is possible to surely prevent a decrease in print quality and a loss of mount in the worst case.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the label printer with the printer unit housed in the housing. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the printer unit is pulled out from the housing. FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the vicinity of the printing portion of the label printer. FIG. 5A is a side view illustrating the state of the label sheet when the label sheet is conveyed in the forward direction. FIG. 5B is a side view illustrating the state of the label sheet when the label sheet is conveyed in the backward direction. FIG. 6A is a side view illustrating the state of the label sheet when the label sheet is conveyed in the forward direction when the diameter of the mount wound by the mount winding shaft becomes large. FIG. 6B is a side view illustrating the state of the label sheet when the label sheet is conveyed in the backward direction when the diameter of the mount taken up by the mount take-up shaft becomes large.

  Exemplary embodiments of a label printer according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, an example in which the label printer of the present invention is applied to a label printer that issues a label or receipt on which information related to a product such as food is printed will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a recording medium such as paper. Any device that prints various types of information may be applied.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a label printer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The label printer 100 includes a housing 102 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. On the upper surface of the housing 102, an operation panel 103 including various keys such as a numeric keypad and a display 104 as a display unit having a liquid crystal display are provided. An opening is formed on the front side of the housing 102, and two printer units 105 and 106 are housed side by side in the opening.

  Front panels 105a and 106a are attached to the front surfaces of both printer units 105 and 106, respectively. Issuing ports 105b and 106b are opened above the front panels 105a and 106a. Grip portions 105c and 106c are formed below the front panels 105a and 106a. Also, both printer units 105 and 106 are supported and attached to the housing 102 so that they can be pulled out and stored in the front direction. An operator can hold the grip portions 105 c and 106 c and pull out the printer units 105 and 106 from the housing 102.

  In FIG. 1, a device arranged adjacent to the front surface of the label printer 100 is a weighing device 108. The weighing device 108 includes a flat main unit 109 and a weighing pan 110 attached to the upper surface of the main unit 109. The main unit 109 has a function of weighing the item placed on the weighing pan 110 and outputting the weighing data. The label printer 100 and the weighing device 108 are electrically connected. The weighing data output from the weighing device 108 is input to the label printer 100.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the label printer 100 in a state where the printer unit 105 is housed in the housing 102. FIG. 2 shows one of the two printer units 105 and 106 that is located on the right side when viewed from the front side of the label printer 100. The other printer unit 106 located on the left side has a structure that is symmetrical to the printer unit 105 shown in FIG. Hereinafter, only the printer unit 105 positioned on the right side will be described, and description of the printer unit 106 positioned on the left side will be omitted.

  In the present embodiment, the label paper 112 used in the printer unit 105 is roll paper wound in a roll shape. The label sheet 112 is obtained by attaching a plurality of labels 113 to a long mount 114 in a row, winding the label 113 around a paper tube 115 and winding it into a roll. As the label 113, a heat-sensitive label that develops color when heated is used.

  The printer unit 105 includes a paper holding shaft 117, a platen 118, and a mount winding shaft 119. The paper holding shaft 117 holds the label paper 112 by inserting the paper tube 115. The mount winding shaft 119 winds the mount 114 included in the label sheet 112. The paper holding shaft 117, the platen 118, and the mount winding shaft 119 are all protruded from the side wall 120 of the printer unit 105 and maintained in a cantilever state. By the sheet holding shaft 117, the platen 118, a label peeling unit 121 and a mount take-up shaft 119, which will be described later, the printer unit 105 has a guide path 122 for the label paper 112 from the sheet hold shaft 117 to the mount take-up shaft 119. It is formed.

  The printer unit 105 has a label peeling unit 121. The label peeling unit 121 is disposed in the guide path 122 in the vicinity of the downstream side of the platen 118 in the sheet conveyance direction, and bends only the mount 114 of the label sheet 112 at an acute angle in a direction in which it is separated from the label 113. By this label peeling unit 121, the printed label 113 is peeled from the mount 114 and issued from the issuing port 105b, and the mount 114 is bent and guided to the mount take-up shaft 119.

  As described above, the paper holding shaft 117 is maintained in a horizontal state in a cantilevered state on the side wall 120 of the printer unit 105, and holds the label paper 112 while being inserted into the paper tube 115 of the label paper 112. That is, the side wall 120 functions as a reference surface for positioning the first end surface 112 a that is one end surface of the label paper 112. In addition, the paper holding shaft 117 functions as a paper holding unit that rotatably holds the label paper 112 wound in a roll shape with reference to the end surface by the side wall 120 serving as the reference surface.

  The label paper 112 inserted in the paper tube 115 and held by the paper holding shaft 117 is not the side wall 120 side (the back side in FIG. 2) but the opposite end (the front side in FIG. 2). Is urged by the rotating member 202 as an interference body and is pushed in the width direction of the label paper 112 (axial direction of the paper holding shaft 117). On the other hand, the first end surface 112a of the label paper 112 abuts on the side wall 120 serving as a reference surface. In this way, when the label paper 112 is sandwiched between the side wall 120 and the rotating member 202, the movement of the roll paper that attempts to move in the width direction when being pulled out along the guide path 122 is restricted.

  The rotating member 202 is rotatably attached to the tip of the arm main portion 203 that forms a part of the roll paper holding mechanism 201 via a rotating member rotating shaft 207, and the arm main portion 203 rotates to label. The sheet is rotated and displaced by interfering with the second end surface 112 b of the sheet 112.

  The platen 118 is disposed below the guide path 122. The platen 118 rotates by receiving a driving force from a platen motor (not shown) via a gear train (not shown), applies a conveying force to the label paper 112 on the guide path 122, and a paper holding shaft. The label sheet 112 held at 117 is pulled out along the guide path 122. As described above, the platen 118, the platen motor, and the gear train function as a transport unit that pulls out the label paper 112 and transports it along the guide path 122.

  The mount winding shaft 119 is rotated by receiving a driving force from a winding motor (not shown) through a gear train (not shown) arranged on the back side of the side wall 120 to cause the label peeling unit 121 to rotate. Of the label paper 112 that has passed, only the mount 114 is wound up. The label peeling unit 121 and the mount winding shaft 119 are positioned at positions where the mount winding shaft 119 winds the mount 114 and bends the mount 114 at an acute angle at the label peeling portion 121.

  A pair of rails 111 are provided below the inside of the housing 102. The rail 111 extends horizontally from the opening provided on the front side of the housing 102 toward the back side, and supports the printer unit 105 slidably. For this reason, the operator slides the printer unit 105 in the front direction along the rail 111 by gripping and pulling the grip portion 105c of the printer unit 105, and is stored in the housing 102 (FIG. 2). ) To the outside of the housing 102 (see FIG. 3). The operator holds the grip 105c, slides the printer unit 105 toward the back side along the rail 111, and is stored from the pulled out state (see FIG. 3) (see FIG. 3). It can also be positioned in 2).

  A thermal head 125 is disposed above the interior of the housing 102. The thermal head 125 is a line-type thermal print head, and is attached at a position facing the platen 118 when the printer unit 105 is housed in the housing 102. The thermal head 125 constitutes a printing unit 126 together with the platen 118.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the printer unit 105 is pulled out from the housing 102. The skeleton of the printer unit 105 is configured around the side frame 130 having the side wall 120 and the bottom frame 131 forming the bottom. A side frame 130 is fixedly attached to one side of the bottom frame 131, and the other side is open. Therefore, the printer unit 105 has a substantially L shape when viewed from the front side. The side wall 120 of the side frame 130 supports the paper holding shaft 117, the platen 118, the label peeling unit 121, and the mount winding shaft 119 in a cantilever state in parallel with the bottom frame 131. Both side portions of the bottom frame 131 are slidably supported by the housing 102 via the rails 111.

  In the label printer 100 of the present embodiment, the front panel 105a, 106a side is inclined so as to be higher than the back side when the printer unit 105, 106 is stored. As a result, the printer units 105 and 106 are applied with force in the direction in which they are stored in the housing 102 due to gravity, so that the label printer 100 tilts and falls toward the print panels 105a and 106a when the printer units 105 and 106 are pulled out unnecessarily. To prevent it.

  FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the vicinity of the printing unit 126 of the label printer 100. As shown in FIG. 4, the platen 118 and the label peeling unit 121 are components of the cantilever unit 150. The free end of the cantilever unit 150 is supported by the auxiliary sheet metal 151 to improve positioning accuracy and ensure rigidity. In a state where the cantilever unit 150 and the mount winding shaft 119 are attached to the side wall 120 of the side frame 130, the cantilever unit 150 and the side wall 120 of the side frame 130 are orthogonal to the direction in which the printer unit 105 is pulled out and pushed in. It will be arranged along a substantially horizontal axis.

  The housing 102 has a free end support portion (not shown) for supporting the bottom portion of the auxiliary sheet metal 151 of the cantilever unit 150 on the inner wall thereof. That is, the free end support portion supports the free end of the cantilever unit 150 attached to the auxiliary sheet metal 151 by supporting the auxiliary sheet metal 151 that is directly supported.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the cantilever unit 150 of the label printer 100 has a label peeling unit 121 at a position that interferes with the guide path 122 of the label paper 112 from the label peeling unit 121 to the mount winding shaft 119. There is provided a mount damper 160 that applies an appropriate tension to the mount 114 of the label sheet 112 that has passed through. The mount damper 160 includes a bracket 161 that is pivotally supported by a shaft 164 while being supported with respect to the auxiliary sheet metal 151 of the cantilever unit 150, a substantially plate-shaped tension board 162 provided in the bracket 161, a bracket 161 (tension board 162) is provided with a torsion spring 163 that is a biasing member that biases toward the issuing port 105b (the guide path 122 of the mount 114). The tension board 162 is formed to have substantially the same width as the width direction of the mount 114 of the label paper 112 that has passed through the label peeling portion 121.

  On the auxiliary sheet metal 151 of the cantilever unit 150 and the side wall 120 of the side frame 130, substantially slit-shaped guide rails 170 and 171 are formed, respectively. On the other hand, a pair of slide shafts 165 to be inserted into the guide rails 170 and 171 are provided on the auxiliary sheet metal 151 side and the side frame 130 side of the bracket 161 of the mount damper 160, respectively.

  As described above, when the slide shaft 165 of the bracket 161 of the mount damper 160 is inserted into the guide rails 170 and 171, the slide shaft 165 moves in the guide rails 170 and 171 as the tension board 162 of the mount damper 160 swings. It will slide freely. That is, the mount damper 160 swings only within a stroke range defined by the guide rails 170 and 171.

  The label printer 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above is supplied with power from a commercial power source, and performs a printing operation by driving and controlling each unit by a microcomputer (not shown) built in the housing 102.

  In such a configuration, the label paper 112 is guided and conveyed along the guide path 122 by rotating the platen 118, and the label attached to the label paper 112 by the thermal head 125 that contacts the platen 118 via the guide path 122. A predetermined item is printed on 113. At the same time, power is transmitted from a drive source (not shown) such as a motor to the mount take-up shaft 119, and the mount 114 that forms part of the label paper 112 is taken up by the mount take-up shaft 119. At this time, the winding speed of the mount 114 by the mount winding shaft 119 is set faster than the conveyance speed of the label sheet 112 in the printing unit 126 so that no slip occurs at the printing position. The label paper 112 is in a tensioned state. For this reason, tension is applied to the label paper 112 bent at an acute angle by the label peeling portion 121, and the printed label 113 is peeled from the label paper 112, and the peeled label 113 is issued from the issuing port 105b.

  If there is a next print command after issuing one label 113 from the issuing port 105b, the platen 118 and the mount winding shaft 119 are driven in reverse rotation, and the label paper 112 is back-fed. This is because the subsequent label 113 is aligned with the printing position. At this time, conventionally, the winding speed of the mount 114 by the mount winding shaft 119 is set to be faster than the conveyance speed of the label sheet 112 in the printing unit 126 so that no slip occurs at the printing position. Due to the configuration as described above, there is a problem that the mount 114 inevitably becomes slack.

  5A is a side view illustrating the state of the label paper 112 when the label paper 112 is conveyed in the forward direction, and FIG. 5-2 is a side view illustrating the state of the label paper 112 when the label paper 112 is conveyed in the backward direction. FIG. 6A shows a case where the label paper 112 is conveyed in the forward direction when the diameter of the board taken up by the board take-up shaft becomes large. FIG. FIG. 10 is a side view illustrating the state of the label paper 112 when the label paper 112 is conveyed in the backward direction when the diameter of the mounted board becomes a large diameter.

  As illustrated in FIG. 5A, according to the label printer 100 of the present embodiment, the label peeling unit 121 is located at a position that interferes with the guide path 122 of the label paper 112 from the label peeling unit 121 to the mount winding shaft 119. Is provided with a mount damper 160 that applies appropriate tension to the mount 114 of the label sheet 112 that has passed through the label sheet 112, so that the mount 114 is attached to the mount 114 between the label peeling unit 121 and the mount take-up shaft 119. Since tension can be applied, the mount 114 wound around the mount winding shaft 119 does not sag during winding.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the platen 118 and the mount take-up shaft 119 are reversely rotated and the label paper 112 is back-fed, the slack generated on the mount 114 of the label paper 112 that has passed through the label peeling unit 121. Can be absorbed by the swing of the tension board 162 of the mount damper 160 due to the urging force of the torsion spring 163 due to the slack that occurs in the mount 114, and therefore at the portion between the label peeling portion 121 and the mount take-up shaft 119. In this case, the mount 114 wound around the mount take-up shaft 119 is not slackened.

  As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, even when the diameter of the mount 114 taken up by the mount take-up shaft 119 becomes a large diameter, the mount damper 160 is supported by the guide rails 170 and 171. Since it can oscillate within a specified stroke range, the mount 114 wound around the mount winding shaft 119 does not sag during winding and backfeeding.

  As a result, there is no skew in the mount 114, and it is possible to reliably prevent the deterioration of the print quality and the worst case of the mount in the worst case.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the guide path of the mount 114 from the label peeling unit 121 that peels the printed label 113 from the mount 114 to the mount winding shaft 119 while the label sheet is being conveyed by the conveying unit. 122, provided with a mount damper 160 that provides tension to the mount 114 that has passed through the label peeling portion 121, and is provided on the mount 114 between the label peeling portion 121 and the mount take-up shaft 119. Since tension can be applied by the mount damper 160, since the mount 114 wound around the mount take-up shaft 119 does not sag at the time of winding, the mount 114 is not skewed. There is an effect that it is possible to surely prevent the deterioration of the print quality and the worst case of running out of the backing sheet.
[Appendix 1]
The mount damper is disposed between a time when the label sheet is transported in the forward direction and a time when the label sheet is transported in the reverse direction as the diameter of the mount wound by the mount winding shaft increases. The swing stroke at
The label printer according to claim 1.
[Appendix 2]
The stroke of the swing of the mount damper is determined according to the slack of the mount that occurs when the label unit is transported in the backward direction by the transport unit.
The label printer according to claim 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Label printer 112 Label paper 113 Label 114 Mount 119 Mount winding shaft 121 Label peeling part 122 Guide path 126 Printing part 160 Mount damper 161 Bracket 162 Tension board 163 Energizing member

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-016337

Claims (4)

A transport unit for transporting the label paper with the label attached to the mount in the forward direction and the reverse direction;
A printing unit for printing on the label in the process of transporting the label paper;
A label peeling portion for bending the label paper that has passed through the printing portion from the mount and peeling the label after printing;
A mount winding shaft that winds up the mount from which the label has been peeled off at the label peeling unit at a speed set faster than the transport speed of the transport unit ;
A mount damper is found swingable to a position interfering with the guide path of the mount leading to said platform cigarette shaft from said label peeling unit,
Equipped with a,
A label printer , wherein tension is applied to the mount by swinging of the mount damper during transport in the backward direction of the mount from which the label has been peeled off at the label peeling portion . The mount damper includes a bracket provided to be rotatable, a biasing member that biases the bracket toward the guide path of the mount, and a biasing member that is provided on the bracket and resists the biasing force of the biasing member. It swings in accordance with the position of the mount during transport of the label paper in the forward direction and backward transport by the transport unit, and is formed to have substantially the same width as the width direction of the label paper. A substantially board-shaped tension board,
The label printer according to claim 1. A guide rail that defines a stroke range of swinging of the mount damper between when the label sheet is conveyed in the forward direction and when conveyed in the backward direction by the conveying unit;
The label printer according to claim 1. The mount damper reduces the bending angle of the mount caused by the contact of the mount damper during the reverse rotation of the mount winding shaft as the diameter of the mount wound by the mount winding shaft increases. To
The label printer according to claim 1.

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