JP2010173218A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve the printing quality when printing on a semi-hollow body.
An object to be printed is a cover body 120 in which an upper arm 122 and a lower arm 124 face each other with a gap therebetween. The printing apparatus includes a printing tray 14 that functions as a holding unit that holds a printing object, a printing unit that performs image printing on a printing surface of the printing object while moving relative to the printing tray 14 by a thermal transfer method, It has. The print tray 14 is a hole formed in a side surface of the print tray, and a horizontal hole into which a part of the print object (cover body 120) is inserted with the print surface exposed to the outside. A concave portion 68 that accommodates a printing portion of a printing object whose portion is completely inserted into the horizontal hole, and a side surface on the upstream side in the printing direction of the printing object when the part is completely inserted into the horizontal hole 68. And a stopper 80 that prevents the printing object from being lifted by contact.
[Selection] Figure 10

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints an image on a printing surface of a semi-hollow body-shaped printing object.

  In recent years, there has been a demand for a printing apparatus capable of printing an image by a thermal transfer method on an article having a complicated shape, for example, a U-shaped body or a tubular body obtained by bending a plate into a U-shape. In response to such a request, Patent Document 1 discloses a printing apparatus including a printing tray having a special aspect. In the printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in order to stably hold the printing site (the site having the printing surface on which printing is performed) of the semi-hollow object to be printed, other than the printing site, A lateral hole into which the part is inserted and accommodated is formed. By accommodating a part other than the printing part in the lateral hole, the printing part can be supported on the upper surface of the print tray. As a result, even if the thermal transfer method presses the image formed on the transfer sheet against the printing surface, it is possible to effectively prevent the printing surface from being bent and to improve the printing quality.

JP 2007-301879 A

  However, in this patent document 1, although the bending of the printing object is considered, the floating of the printing object is not considered. That is, in the thermal transfer method, the image-formed transfer sheet is pressed against the printing surface by a heat roller, but when the heat roller passes through the end of the print object, the print object is lifted from the tray by the load of the heat roller. was there. In addition, after the image-formed transfer sheet is pressed against the printing surface, the transfer sheet is peeled off from the printing surface, and at the time of peeling, an upward peeling load is applied to the printing surface and eventually to the printing object. In the printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since measures against such heat roller load and peeling load are not taken, there is a case where a print object is lifted from the print tray. Such lifting of the print object causes a decrease in print quality.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of preventing the printing object from floating and improving the printing quality when printing on a semi-hollow shape printing object.

  In the printing apparatus of the present invention, an image is formed on a printing surface of a semi-hollow body-shaped printing object having a printing portion having a printing surface and a bottom portion having a bottom surface facing each other via a gap and having an opening accessible to the gap. A holding device that holds the printing object, and a printing unit that performs image printing on the printing surface by a thermal transfer method while moving relative to the holding unit, The holding means is a hole formed in a side surface of the holding means, a horizontal hole into which a part of the printing object is inserted with the printing surface exposed to the outside, and the part in the horizontal hole. A placement unit on which a printing surface of a completely inserted printing object is placed, and when the part is completely inserted into the lateral hole, the printing object is in contact with the side surface on the upstream side in the printing direction. Stops that hinder the lifting of the print object Characterized in that it comprises a and.

  In a preferred aspect, the mounting portion has a recess that accommodates the print site only at the time of complete insertion, and the stopper is configured to prevent the print object from being imperfectly inserted when the print site is not accommodated in the recess. It is provided at a height that does not contact the side surface. In this case, it is desirable that a taper for guiding the printing object at the time of the incomplete insertion to be above the stopper is formed at a corner of the upper surface of the stopper.

  In another preferable aspect, the distance between the top surface of the mounting portion and the top surface of the horizontal hole is smaller than the gap width between the printing region and the bottom region.

  According to the present invention, the floating of the printing object is prevented by the stopper that contacts the side surface of the printing object on the upstream side in the printing direction. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a complicated mechanism or the like, and the print quality can be further improved with a simple configuration.

1 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure of the cover body which is a printing target object. It is a figure which shows the structure of the printing tray in a prior art. It is an image figure which shows the influence of the heat roller load in a prior art. It is an image figure which shows the influence of the peeling load in a prior art. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of a print tray in the present embodiment. It is AA sectional drawing and BB sectional drawing of the printing tray at the time of incomplete insertion. It is AA sectional drawing and BB sectional drawing of the printing tray at the time of complete insertion. It is a perspective view of a stopper. It is an image figure which shows the effect | action of the stopper in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of a printing target object. It is a figure which shows the other example of a printing target object. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a print tray suitable for the print object illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12. It is a figure which shows the other example of a printing target object.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the printing apparatus 10. The printing apparatus 10 is an apparatus that performs image printing on a printing surface of a semi-hollow object to be printed. Here, the semi-hollow body means an object having a shape in which a printing part having a printing surface and a bottom part having a bottom face are opposed to each other through a gap and has an opening accessible to the gap. 3 includes a U-shaped body such as the cover body 120 of the USB memory 100 illustrated in FIG. 3, a cylindrical body illustrated in FIG. 11, and an object having two open surfaces as illustrated in FIG. 12. . In the following, a printing apparatus suitable for printing an image on the cover body 120 of the USB memory 100 shown in FIG. 3 will be described as an example.

  The printing apparatus 10 is provided with a print tray 14 that can be moved back and forth inside and outside the housing 12. The print tray 14 functions as a holding unit that holds the cover body 120 that is a printing target. The printing tray 14 has a special form for stably holding the cover body 120, which will be described in detail later. The cover body 120 held by the print tray 14 is conveyed to a print execution position inside the housing 12 as the print tray 14 moves.

  Inside the housing 12, a printing unit 18 that performs image printing on the printing surface of the cover body 120 is provided. The printing unit 18 transfers the ink on the ink ribbon 40 to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 and then prints the ink transferred to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 by a thermal transfer method in which the ink is transferred to the printing surface of the printing object. A plurality of colors, for example, four colors of ink, are repeatedly arranged in the ribbon longitudinal direction on the ink ribbon 40. The ink disposed on the ink ribbon 40 includes melt-type ink and sublimation-type ink. Regardless of which is used, there is no great difference in the configuration of the printing apparatus 10 and the transfer process. Here, a case where melt-type ink is used will be described as an example. The ink ribbon 40 is delivered from a ribbon delivery bobbin 46, guided by a plurality of guide rollers 62, and sequentially taken up by a ribbon take-up bobbin 44. In the ribbon winding path process, a thermal head 48 is provided to melt the ink on the surface of the ink ribbon 40 while bringing the ink ribbon 40 into close contact with the intermediate transfer sheet 42. A plurality of heating elements (not shown) are provided inside the thermal head 48. The thermal head 48 selectively heats the plurality of heating elements in accordance with an instruction from a control unit (not shown) to partially melt the ink on the ink ribbon 40. The ink ribbon 40 partially melted with ink is pressed against the intermediate transfer sheet 42, whereby the molten ink is transferred to the intermediate transfer sheet 42.

  The intermediate transfer sheet 42 is delivered from the sheet delivery bobbin 50, guided by a plurality of guide rollers 61, and taken up by the sheet take-up bobbin 52. A platen roller 54 that receives pressure from the thermal head 48 is provided in the process of winding the intermediate transfer sheet 42. When the thermal head 48 presses the ink ribbon 40 toward the platen roller 54, the ink melted by the heat of the thermal head 48 is transferred to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 fed along the platen roller 54. .

  Here, as described above, a plurality of colors of ink are repeatedly arranged on the surface of the ink ribbon 40 in the longitudinal direction of the ribbon. When printing a full color image, it is necessary to transfer all of the plurality of color inks to the intermediate transfer sheet 42. Therefore, in the case of full-color printing, the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is rewound onto the sheet delivery bobbin 50 every time the transfer of one color ink adhered to the surface of the ink ribbon 40 is completed. Then, the sheet is taken up again from the sheet delivery bobbin 50 to the sheet take-up bobbin 52, and the next color ink is transferred. By repeating this ink transfer and sheet rewinding for the number of ink colors of the ink ribbon 40, a full-color printed image is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer sheet.

  The full-color print image formed on the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is finally transferred to the print surface of the cover body 120 by the transfer assembly 56. The transfer assembly 56 is a member in which a heat roller 58 having a heat generating element therein and a peeling roller 60 positioned on the downstream side of the heat roller 58 are connected. During execution of ink transfer from the ink ribbon 40 to the intermediate transfer sheet 42, the transfer assembly 56 is raised to a position where the intermediate transfer sheet 42 and the cover body 120 do not contact each other. On the other hand, when the ink transfer from the ink ribbon 40 to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is completed and a full-color print image is formed on the intermediate transfer sheet 42, the transfer assembly 56 descends to cover the intermediate transfer sheet 42. Crimp to the printing surface of the body 120. Here, the heat roller 58 and the peeling roller 60 are arranged so that the lower end heights thereof are substantially the same. For this reason, when the transfer assembly 56 is lowered, the intermediate transfer sheet 42 positioned between the heat roller 58 and the peeling roller 60 comes into contact with the printing surface. In other words, the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is pressure-bonded to the printing surface in a planar shape.

  During the pressure bonding, the heat roller 58 melts the ink transferred to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 by a built-in heating element. Further, during the pressure bonding, the printing tray 14 moves in the same direction and at the same speed as the intermediate transfer sheet 42. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the print tray 14 moves from the left side of the drawing to the right side. The full-color print image formed on the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is finally transferred to the printing surface by the operation of the heat roller 58 and the print tray 14, and image printing is realized. As described above, in the illustrated example, during the printing process, the print tray 14 moves from the left side to the right side in the drawing, so that the image printing itself proceeds from the right side to the left side in the drawing. Hereinafter, the image printing progress direction is referred to as “printing direction”, the printing start side (right side in the drawing) is referred to as “printing direction upstream side”, and the printing end side (left side in the drawing) is referred to as “printing direction downstream side”.

  Next, the cover body 120 of the USB memory 100 that is a printing object in the present embodiment will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the USB memory 100 including the main body 110 and the semi-hollow cover body 120. 3A is a diagram illustrating a state when the USB memory 100 is not used, FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a state when the USB memory 100 is used, and FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view of the cover body 120. FIG.

  The USB memory 100 is roughly divided into a main body 110 provided with a USB terminal 112 at the tip and a cover body 120 that protects the USB terminal 112. The cover body 120 has a semi-hollow shape having a U-shaped cross section including a pair of arm portions 122 and 126 facing each other across the main body 110 and an arc-shaped connection portion 124 connecting the pair of arm portions 122 and 126. The cover body 120 rotates with respect to the main body 110 around an upper rotary shaft 128 protruding from the bottom surface of the upper arm portion 122 and a lower rotary shaft 130 protruding from the upper surface of the lower arm portion 126. It is free to move. When the USB memory 100 is not used, the cover body 120 is rotated with respect to the main body 110 so that the connecting portion 124 of the cover body 120 is positioned in front of the USB terminal 112 to protect the terminal 112 from dust and external pressure. On the other hand, when the USB memory 100 is used, the cover body 120 is rotated with respect to the main body 110 to move the connecting portion 124 from the front position of the USB terminal 112 and expose the USB terminal 112 to the outside. In the present embodiment, the cover body 120 is a printing object, and the upper surface of the cover body 120 is a printing surface. Therefore, in the cover body 120, the upper arm portion 122 functions as a printing portion having a printing surface, and the lower arm portion 126 having a bottom surface facing the printing surface functions as a bottom portion.

  Consider a case where image printing is performed on the cover body 120 of the USB memory 100 by a thermal transfer method. In this case, the cover body 120 is removed from the main body 110 of the USB memory 100, and only the cover body 120 is mounted on the printing apparatus to perform a printing process. At this time, simply placing the cover body 120 on the flat surface of the print tray 14 cannot adequately support the print surface (the upper surface of the upper arm portion 122). That is, as apparent from FIG. 3C, the cover body 120 has a U-shaped cross section, and has an upper arm portion 122 (printing portion) having a printing surface and a lower arm placed on the printing tray. There is a gap between the portion 126 (bottom part). In other words, just by placing the cover body 120 on a flat surface, the upper arm portion 122 on which the printing surface is set is in a cantilever state and can be bent even with a relatively small force. . Therefore, if the cover body 120 is merely placed on a flat surface, the upper arm 122 is bent by the pressure received from the heat roller 58 during final transfer, leading to image transfer failure, damage to the cover body 120 itself, and the like.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, a lateral hole is formed on the side surface of the print tray, and a semi-hollow cover body can be inserted into the lateral hole. FIG. 4 is an image view showing how the cover body 120 is held in this conventional technique. In the prior art, a concave portion 68 is formed on the upper surface of the print tray 14 in which the upper arm portion 122 that is a printing site is placed. In addition, a lateral hole 62 is formed on the side surface of the print tray 14 to accommodate the lower arm portion 126, which is a part other than the print target. With this configuration, almost the entire surface of the upper arm portion 122 that is a printing portion is supported by the printing tray 14 (more precisely, the upper surface of the recess 68), so that the printing surface can be applied even when a large pressure is applied during final transfer. Is prevented from bending.

  That is, it can be said that the countermeasures against the bending of the printing surface are also studied in the prior art. However, in the prior art, no countermeasure has been studied for the floating of the printing object due to the load applied by the heat roller and the peeling load received during the final transfer. Here, the peeling load means an obliquely upward force applied to the printing surface when the intermediate transfer sheet 42 pressed against the printing surface is peeled from the printing surface. FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are image diagrams showing the influence of the load by the heat roller 58 and the peeling load in the prior art. As described above, at the time of final transfer, the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is pressed against the printing surface by the heat roller 58 and heated, whereby the molten ink is transferred from the intermediate transfer sheet 42 to the printing surface. Thereafter, as the printing tray 14 moves, the intermediate transfer sheet 42 moves relative to the printing surface, whereby the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is peeled from the printing surface. However, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, when the heat roller 58 passes through the end of the cover body 120 on the downstream side in the printing direction (left side in the drawing), a slight gap is present between the cover body 120 and the print tray 14. As a result, the cover body 120 may rotate with the end on the downstream side in the printing direction as a fulcrum, and may float. Further, when the intermediate transfer sheet 42 is moved relative to the printing surface, the cover body 120 attached to the intermediate transfer sheet 42 due to the adhesive force of the molten ink tends to move together with the intermediate transfer sheet 42 as shown in FIG. 5B. There are things to do. In this case, a peeling load in an obliquely upward direction (the direction of arrow M in FIG. 5B) is applied to the cover body 120. When receiving such a peeling load, the cover body 120 may rotate with the end portion on the downstream side in the printing direction (the left side in the drawing) as a fulcrum, and the upstream end portion in the printing direction may float.

  Such floating of the cover body 120 may cause a transfer failure of ink or overcoat (hereinafter referred to as “ink or the like”). In addition, when floating occurs, there is a possibility that ink or the like cannot be traced and cut around the periphery of the printing object and remains as a burr around the periphery of the cover body. Such transfer defects and burrs naturally cause a decrease in print quality.

  Here, in order to prevent the cover body 120 which is such a printing object from floating, it is naturally conceivable to provide a mechanism for pressing the cover body 120 from above. However, the mechanism of pressing the cover body 120 from the upper side without hindering both the insertion operation into the lateral hole 62 and the printing operation (final transfer operation) on the printing surface is likely to be complicated and large in size. There was a problem.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the form of the print tray 14 is special in order to prevent such a floating of the cover body 120 with a simple configuration. Hereinafter, the configuration of the print tray 14 will be described in detail. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 6, 7, and 8.

  FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of the print tray 14. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views of the periphery of the lateral hole 62 when the cover body 120 is inserted into the lateral hole 62 incompletely and when it is completely inserted. More specifically, FIGS. 7A and 8A are cross sections taken along the line AA in FIG. 6, and FIGS. 7B and 8B are B in FIGS. 7A and 8A. It is -B sectional drawing.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, a substantially rectangular cutout 72 is formed on the side surface of the print tray 14. The notch 72 forms a notch space for accommodating the connecting portion 124 of the cover body 120. Therefore, the notch 72 has a size that can accommodate the connecting portion 124.

  A lateral hole 62 extending inward in the width direction (direction orthogonal to the printing direction) of the print tray 14 is formed on the end surface of the notch 72. When printing an image, the lower arm 126 of the cover body 120 is inserted into the lateral hole 62 and accommodated. Therefore, the lateral hole 62 has a larger width than the lower arm portion 126 and a depth larger than the length of the lower arm portion 126.

  A slit 64 extending in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal hole 62 is formed on the center line of the horizontal hole 62. The slit 64 has a width slightly larger than the diameter of the lower rotary shaft 130. When the lower arm portion 126 is inserted into the horizontal hole 62, the lower rotary shaft 130 is fitted into the slit 64 and moves along the slit 64. In other words, the slit 64 functions as an escape groove for allowing the lower rotary shaft 130 to escape when the lower arm 126 is inserted, and guides the moving direction of the lower rotary shaft 130 and thus the insertion direction of the cover body 120. Also works.

  As is clear from FIGS. 7 and 8, the height of the slit 64 is larger than the height of the lower rotary shaft 130. Therefore, even if the cover body 120 is lifted up to a height at which the lower arm 126 abuts against the upper surface of the horizontal hole 62, the lower rotary shaft 130 does not reach the bearing hole 70 described later. Therefore, even if the cover body 120 is lifted when the cover body 120 is extracted from the lateral hole 62, the lower rotary shaft 130 does not interfere with the bearing hole 70, and the cover body 120 can be pulled out smoothly.

  The upper surface of the print tray 14 functions as a placement unit on which a print site is placed. A concave portion 68 for accommodating the upper arm portion 122 of the cover body 120 is formed on the upper surface of the printing tray 14 above the lateral hole 62. The concave portion 68 has the same outer peripheral shape as that of the upper arm portion 122, that is, a shape in which a circular shape having a larger diameter than the predetermined width is connected to a distal end of a rectangular shape having a predetermined width. When the upper arm portion 122 is fitted in the recess 68, the movement of the upper arm portion 122 is restricted and fixed by the peripheral edge of the recess 68. The depth of the recess 68 is such that the height of the upper surface (printing surface) of the upper arm portion 122 placed in the recess 68 is substantially the same as the print execution position. A bearing hole 70 for receiving the upper rotary shaft 128 is formed at a position corresponding to the upper rotary shaft 128 of the cover body 120 in the recess 68. The bearing hole 70 penetrates to the slit 64. By fitting the upper rotary shaft 128 into the bearing hole 70, the bottom surface of the upper arm portion 122, which is a flat surface, comes into full contact with the upper surface of the concave portion 68, which is also a flat surface. As a result, the upper arm portion 122 is fully supported by the recess 68.

  By the way, in the present embodiment, the placement portion thickness D1 which is the distance from the upper surface of the horizontal hole 62 to the upper surface of the print tray is set to be equal to or smaller than the gap width D2 between the upper arm portion 122 and the lower arm portion 126 in the no-load state. It is trying to become. This is because the cover body 120 can be inserted into the lateral hole 62 without deforming the cover body 120. That is, the upper arm portion 122 that functions as a printing part in the present embodiment has a shape in which a circle having a larger diameter than the predetermined width is connected to a rectangular tip having a predetermined width. In other words, the printing site (upper arm portion 122) of the present embodiment has a shape having a wider portion than the base end. As shown in FIG. 7, the printing portion (upper arm portion 122) having such a shape cannot be fitted into the recess 68 and is positioned above the upper surface of the printing tray 14 during incomplete insertion during insertion or extraction. To do. Therefore, when the placement portion thickness D1 is larger than the gap width D2 in the no-load state, the cover body 120 must be deformed in order to widen the gap width D2 during insertion or extraction. Such deformation of the cover body 120 makes it difficult to insert and remove the cover body 120. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the placement portion thickness D1 is set to be equal to or less than the gap width D2 in an unloaded state so that the cover body 120 can be inserted into and removed from the horizontal hole 62 without deforming the cover body 120.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a stopper 80 is provided to prevent the cover body 120 that is a printing object from being lifted. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the stopper 80 is a member that protrudes from the side surface of the lateral hole 62 on the upstream side in the printing direction. When the cover body 120 is completely inserted into the horizontal hole 62, the tip of the stopper 80 comes into contact with the side surface of the lower arm 126 on the upstream side in the printing direction, and presses the lower arm 126 in the horizontal direction. Yes. Further, the upper surface height of the stopper 80 is lower than the bottom surface height of the cover body 120 at the time of incomplete insertion (see FIG. 7), and the cover body 120 in a state where the upper arm part 122 is fitted in the recess is completely inserted. It is higher than the bottom surface height (see FIG. 8). In other words, the stopper 80 does not come into contact with the cover body 120 during incomplete insertion, but can come into contact with the cover body 120 only during complete insertion. As a result, the stopper 80 does not hinder insertion / extraction of the cover body 120 when the cover body 120 is inserted / extracted, so that the insertion / extraction operation can be performed smoothly. In this embodiment, in order to more reliably avoid interference between the cover body 120 and the stopper 80 during insertion and extraction, a taper 82 is formed at the corner of the upper surface of the stopper 80 as shown in FIG. is doing. By providing such a taper 82, even when the lower arm portion 126 hits the stopper 80 during insertion / extraction, the lower arm portion 126 is guided by the taper 82 and smoothly moves to the upper side of the stopper 80. become.

  Next, a printing flow in the printing apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be briefly described. In order to print on the cover body 120, first, the cover body 120 is set on the print tray 14. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the lower arm 126 of the substantially U-shaped cover body 120 is inserted into the lateral hole 62 formed on the side surface of the print tray 14. At this time, since the placement portion thickness D1 is smaller than the gap width D2 between the arm portions in the no-load state, the placement portion thickness D1 can be inserted into the lateral hole 62 without deforming the cover body 120. Further, even when the tip of the lower arm portion 126 hits the end portion of the stopper 80 during insertion, the lower arm portion 126 is guided to the upper side of the stopper 80 by the taper 82 formed at the end portion of the stopper 80. Is done. As a result, the insertion operation of the cover body 120 can be performed smoothly.

  When the cover body 120 is inserted to the back, the upper arm portion 122 is fitted into the recess 68, and a complete insertion state is obtained. If it will be in this state, the upper arm part 122 which is a printing site | part will be substantially supported by the recessed part 68 in the whole surface. Further, when the upper arm portion 122 is fitted into the recess 68 and the entire cover body 120 falls downward, the stopper 80 comes into contact with the side surface of the cover body 120 on the upstream side in the printing direction.

  When this complete insertion state is reached, the printing process is started. FIG. 10 is an image diagram illustrating a printing process according to the present embodiment. During the printing process, the cover body 120 is pressed by the heat roller 58, but the upper arm 122, which is a printing site, is supported entirely by the recess 68, so that bending due to the pressing is effectively prevented. Has been. As a result, good image transfer is possible.

  Further, according to the present embodiment in which the stopper 80 is provided, it is possible to effectively prevent the cover body 120 from being lifted during the final transfer. That is, as described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 </ b> A, and 5 </ b> B, in the conventional technique in which the stopper 80 is not provided, due to the heat roller load caused by the pressing of the heat roller 58 and the peeling load caused by the movement of the printing tray 14, There is a problem that the printing object rotates upward with the end portion on the downstream side in the printing direction as a fulcrum, and rises. On the other hand, in this embodiment, even if a heat roller load and a peeling load are generated, the rotation operation of the cover body 120 is restricted by the stopper 80, so that the cover body 120 is effectively prevented from being lifted. As a result, transfer defects and burrs can be reduced, and print quality can be further improved.

  When the printing process is finished, the user pulls out the cover body 120 from the lateral hole 62. More specifically, the user pulls out the cover body 120 to the near side while slightly lifting the cover body 120 so that the upper arm portion 122 is positioned above the recess 68. At this time, even if the lower arm portion 126 hits the stopper 80, the lower arm portion 126 is guided by the taper 82 formed at the corner portion of the stopper 80 and can move upward from the stopper 80. it can. And the cover body 120 is pulled out smoothly because the bottom surface of the cover body 120 is positioned above the stopper 80.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present embodiment, the stopper 80 prevents the cover body, which is a printing object, from being lifted, so that the print quality can be further improved. Further, as is clear from the above description, in the present embodiment, the printing object is prevented from floating by being pressed from the side rather than being pressed from the upper side. Therefore, a complicated mechanism is unnecessary, and the floating can be prevented only by providing a very simple configuration of the substantially plate-like stopper 80 protruding from the side surface of the lateral hole 62. In other words, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a complicated mechanism for preventing floating, and the printing quality can be improved with a very simple and low-cost mechanism.

  In the above description, the case where the substantially U-shaped cover body 120 is used as the printing object has been described. However, the printing portion having the printing surface and the bottom portion having the bottom surface face each other with a gap therebetween, and As long as it is a semi-hollow body-shaped object having an accessible opening, an article having another shape may be used as a printing object. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, a substantially rectangular tube-shaped article 131 in which both sides of the U-shaped object are closed, or a shape in which only one side surface of the U-shaped object is closed as shown in FIG. The article 140 may be a printing object. In addition, when the shaped object having the side walls 132 and 142 is used as the print object, the side wall 132 or 142 of the print object is passed through the periphery of the recess 68 as illustrated in FIG. A slit hole 69 is formed. Even in such a case, by providing the stopper 80 (not visible in FIG. 13) so that the upstream side surface in the printing direction of the printing object can be pressed, the printing object can be prevented from floating, and the printing quality can be improved. Can be improved.

  The present embodiment can also be applied to the case of printing on the surface of the clip body 154 of the pen with clip 150 as shown in FIG. In this case, the clip body 154 of the clip-equipped pen 150 functions as a printing part, and the round bar-shaped main body 152 functions as a bottom part. In this case, a recess for accommodating the clip body 154 may be formed on the upper surface of the print tray, and a lateral hole into which the main body 152 is inserted may be formed on the side surface of the print tray. Further, if a stopper that presses the main body 152 from the side is formed on the side surface upstream of the printing direction in the lateral hole, the pen 150 with clip can be prevented from floating, and the printing quality can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the stopper for inhibiting the lifting of the printing object is provided on the upstream side in the printing direction of the printing object has been described. However, the heat roller 58 has an end on the upstream side in the printing direction of the printing object. If the lift of the print object that may occur when passing through the printing section adversely affects the print quality, a stopper for inhibiting the lift of the print object should be provided on the downstream side of the print object. May be. In this case, it is desirable that the stopper installation conditions are the same as the stopper installed upstream in the printing direction. In normal use, when the heat roller 58 passes through the upstream end of the printing object in the printing direction, the image is not transferred to the printing surface of the printing object. It can be said that there is almost no influence on the transfer of the image even if the lifting of the printing object downstream in the printing direction due to the load occurs.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing apparatus, 12 Case, 14 Printing tray, 18 Printing unit, 40 Ink ribbon, 42 Intermediate transfer sheet, 48 Thermal head, 54 Platen roller, 56 Transfer assembly, 58 Heat roller, 60 Peeling roller, 62 Side hole, 68 Concave , 70 Bearing hole, 80 stopper, 100 USB memory, 110 body, 120 cover body, 122 upper arm part, 124 connection part, 126 lower arm part, 128 upper rotating shaft, 130 lower rotating shaft.

Claims (4)

A printing apparatus that prints an image on a printing surface of a semi-hollow object to be printed having an opening that allows a printing portion having a printing surface and a bottom portion having a bottom surface to face each other through a gap and that can access the gap. And
Holding means for holding the print object;
Printing means for performing image printing on the printing surface by a thermal transfer method while moving relative to the holding means;
With
The holding means is
A hole formed in a side surface of the holding means, and a horizontal hole into which a part of the print object is inserted with the printing surface exposed to the outside;
A mounting portion on which a printing surface of a printing object in which the part is completely inserted into the horizontal hole is mounted;
When the part is completely inserted into the lateral hole, a stopper that prevents the printing object from being lifted by contacting the side surface on the upstream side in the printing direction of the printing object;
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The mounting portion has a recess that accommodates the print site only during complete insertion,
The stopper is provided at a height that does not contact the side surface of the object to be printed at the time of incomplete insertion where the printing site is not accommodated in the recess.
A printing apparatus characterized by that. The printing apparatus according to claim 2,
A taper that guides the printing object at the time of the incomplete insertion to the upper side of the stopper is formed at the corner of the upper surface of the stopper.
A printing apparatus characterized by that. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the upper surface of the mounting portion and the upper surface of the horizontal hole is smaller than a gap width between the printing portion and the bottom portion.

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