JPH0880607A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To specify a reference printing position to always make printing on a predetermined position. CONSTITUTION: A rotation support plate 92 is projected downward on a rear end of a head block 1. A fixed bracket 93 is so provided as to come into slide contact with the rotation support plate 92. A rotation center screw 94 is provided in alignment with the center of the endmost nozzle of a nozzle line provided on a front face of the head block 1. The head block 1 and the bracket 93 are rotatably connected to each other by the rotation center screw 94. A circular guide groove 93a is provided in the bracket about the rotation center screw. A slidable fixing screw 93b is screwed into the back surface of the rotation support plate 92 so as to pass through the guide groove. A scale 95 indicating the inclination angle of the head block 1 is provided along the guide groove 93a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a physical distribution transport system, etc., for example, characters, numbers, and other marks or symbols for indicating the manufacturer, the contents of the package, the quantity thereof, etc. on the side surface of a cardboard box for packaging. The present invention relates to an inkjet type printing apparatus used for printing a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus of this type is roughly divided into four blocks, and a head block of the first block is equipped with an ink jet type print head and has a drive signal correction board mounted thereon. The second block is an ink tank unit having an ink tank for supplying ink to the print head, and the input terminal of the third block is for inputting print contents. Equipped with a keyboard for input,
The fourth block is a control unit that controls the drive of the print head, and in this unit, a drive circuit board that generates a drive signal and a signal that drives the print head, a power supply circuit board, and other control circuits. The board is mounted. The drive circuit board of the control unit and the drive signal correction circuit board in the head block are
It is electrically connected by a conduit of a bellows-shaped pipe that has a flat cable inside, and the drive signal generated by this drive circuit is corrected by this drive signal correction circuit board according to the characteristics of the print head and printed. The print head is supplied to the head, and the print head is driven.

When changing the size of a printed character or the like, the head block of the first block is rotated to change its posture.

[0004]

However, printing (printing)
When the size of a character or the like is changed, the reference position for printing is changed, so that the character is not printed at a predetermined position of the cardboard box but is printed at a position moved in the vertical direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet type printing apparatus in which a reference position for printing is always specified and printing can be performed at a predetermined position.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a head block equipped with an ink jet type print head, and by rotating the head block to change the posture, print characters, etc. In a printing device capable of changing the size of the print head, the center of rotation of the head block is made to coincide with the center of the nozzle located at the end of the nozzles of the print head.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A schematic configuration is shown in FIG.
Is supported by a support base 2 so that its position can be adjusted in the height and the moving direction. That is, the vertical column 21 is attached to the support base 2 by the handle 22.
Is supported so as to be movable up and down, and a horizontal plate 24 is supported by a mounting member 23 fixed to this vertical column, and the head block 1 can move forward and backward and rotate at the rear end of the horizontal plate. Supported by.

An ink tank unit 3 containing an ink tank (not shown) is placed and fixed on an ink tank unit bracket 25 fixed to the rear end of the horizontal plate 24.

A fixed base 4 installed separately behind the support base 2.
Is fixed to the upper end of the support column 41. A control unit 5 containing a power supply circuit board and a control circuit board (not shown) is fixed on the fixed base 4.

An input terminal 6 is provided on the control unit 5, and a keyboard 61 for inputting print contents and a display device 62 for displaying the same are provided, and are mounted on the control unit 5. It is connected to the control circuit board.

The control unit 5 and the head block 1 are connected by a conduit 7 with a built-in flat cable, and the ink tank unit 3 and the head block 1 are connected with a conduit 8 with an ink tube (see FIG. 3).
(Shown in the figure).

2 and 3 are a horizontal sectional view and a vertical sectional view of the head block 1, showing a box-shaped base plate 10 having an upper surface opening.
A drive circuit board 12 is supported by a pillar 11 therein. The drive circuit board 12 includes a circuit that generates a drive signal for the print head, which will be described later. The conduit 7 is connected to the head block via a conduit connector 71, and the tip of a flat cable 72 provided inside is connected to the rear end of the drive circuit board 12 via a socket 73. A drive signal correction circuit board 14 is connected to the tip of the drive circuit board 12 via a card edge connector 13. A drive signal is supplied from the drive circuit board 12 to the drive signal correction circuit board 14, and the drive signal from the drive circuit board 12 is corrected according to the characteristics of the print head and supplied to the print head. . Further, the ink tube 82 incorporated in the conduit 8 connected through the conduit connector 81 penetrates the front plate 10a of the base plate 10 and reaches the front thereof. Base plate 1
The upper surface opening 0 is covered by the upper cover 15.

The control circuit board built in the control unit 5 controls the drive of the ink jet print head 16 described later via the drive circuit board 12 and the drive signal correction circuit board 14.

An ink jet type print head 16 is fixed to the front surface of the front plate 10a of the base plate 10. A front cover 17 that covers the inkjet print head 16 is detachably connected to the front plate 10a by a set screw 17a. The front end of the drive signal correction circuit board 14 is the print head 1
6, the front end of the ink tube 82 is connected to the print head 16, and ink can be supplied to the nozzle portion 16a provided on the front surface of the print head. The nozzle portion 16a is slightly recessed so as to fit into the window hole 17c opening in the front surface 17b of the front cover 17, so that the front surface 16b of the nozzle portion and the front surface 17b of the front cover are kept at substantially the same level. Is dripping

As shown in FIG. 4, the front surface 17b of the front cover is shown.
On the diagonal corners of the window hole 17c (lower right and upper left corners)
, Each of which is provided with two protrusions 17d. The two protrusions at one corner are slightly separated from each other and the gap is substantially a groove. The projections 17d are for maintaining a predetermined gap between the projection surface and the printing surface during printing. Further, when the gap between the two protrusions at one corner is formed as a groove, when ink overflows from the nozzle, it serves as a passage for excess ink to prevent the printing surface and the like from being soiled.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a seal member 18 made of rubber or the like is provided in a gap between the window hole 17c and the nozzle portion 16a, and ink ejected from a nozzle 16d, which will be described later, enters the inside from the outside. Are prevented. An operation knob 16c for forcibly discharging the ink is projected from a side portion of the print head 16 when ink clogging occurs due to dust or air bubbles in the ink flow path.

3 to 7 show a head block 1 and a horizontal plate 2.
4 shows a means 9 for movably and rotatably supporting. By rotating the head block 1, the size of characters or the like to be printed can be set. FIGS. 4 and 5 are seen from the front side, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are seen from the back side. Rotation support plates 91 and 92 are provided on the rear end side of the base plate 10 so as to project downward. The bracket 93 is provided so as to be capable of sliding contact with the rotation support plates 91 and 92 (shown in FIG. 3). As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the nozzles 16d are arranged in a row in the horizontal direction in the nozzle portion 16a. At the rear surface position facing the nozzle 16d1 at the rightmost end of the nozzle, as shown in FIG. A rotation center screw 94 is provided so as to match with each other, and the head block 1 and the bracket 93 are rotatably connected by the rotation center screw 94 as shown in FIGS. The bracket 93 is slidably engaged with the horizontal plate 24 in a fixed posture so that the head block 1 moves back and forth.
The head block 1 can move forward and backward together with the bracket 93. Rotation center screw 9
By aligning 4 with the center of the rightmost nozzle 16d1 of the nozzle 16d, the portion of the character printed by the nozzle 16d1 (for example, the lower side position) is always kept constant, and the character printed by the other nozzle 16d The height of will change depending on the rotation angle.

As a means for regulating this rotation angle, FIG.
The rotary support plate 91 shown in FIG. 5 is provided with an arc-shaped guide groove 91a centered on the nozzle 16d1.
Is aligned horizontally, a fixing screw 91b that penetrates the left end of the guide groove 91a and is slidable in the guide groove is screwed onto the front surface of the bracket 93. In addition, FIG.
7 is provided with an arc-shaped guide groove 93a centered on the rotation center screw 94 on the back surface of the bracket 93, and when the nozzle 16b is horizontally aligned, the guide groove 93a is formed.
A fixing screw 93b which penetrates the left end of the rotary support plate 92 and is slidable in the guide groove is screwed to the back surface of the rotary support plate 92.

4 and 6 show a state in which the fixing screws 91b and 93b are positioned and fixed at the left ends of the guide grooves 91a and 93a, and the nozzles 16d are horizontally aligned. 5 and 7, the fixing screws 91b and 93b are attached to the guide groove 91.
The nozzles 16d ... Are aligned in an upper left slanting state in a state in which they are positioned and fixed in the intermediate portions of a and 93a. If this inclination angle is large, the height difference between the nozzle 16d at the right end and the nozzle 16d at the left end is large, so that characters with a high height can be printed, and if the inclination angle is small, characters with a low height can be printed. Printing is possible, and when the nozzles are aligned horizontally, printing of lines or dots.

In order to facilitate setting of the inclination angle, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a scale 95 is provided along the guide groove 93a. The large scale allows the height of characters to be set in steps of 5 mm, allowing printing of characters with a maximum height of 40 mm. The small scale is the height normally used for small letters,
It indicates 8 mm and 12 mm.

Next, the printing operation will be described. This printing device prints characters and the like on the side surface of a packaging carton box that is transported by a belt conveyor, for example, without stopping the transport, and therefore, the front surface 17b of the front cover 17 and the nozzle portion. 16a front surface 16b
Can face the side of the box, which is the printing surface, with a gap at least equal to the height of the protrusion 17d.

Therefore, first, the head block 1 is rotated so that characters or the like having a desired height can be printed. As described above, the rotation center screw 94 and the fixing screw 9 of FIGS.
1b and 93b are loosened, the head block 1 is rotated, the fixing screw 93b is adjusted to the character height of 15 mm as shown in FIG. 7, and the rotation center screw 94 and the fixing screws 91b and 93b are tightened again. As a result, the head block 1 has an inclination angle corresponding to a height of 15 mm for characters and the like, and the nozzles 16d are aligned in a leftward inclination as shown in FIG. 5 so that characters and the like having a height of 15 mm can be printed.

Then, the power is turned on, the print character is input by the keyboard 61 of the input terminal 6, and the print character is displayed on the display device 62. Control unit 5
The print signal, which has been subjected to data conversion by the control circuit board built in the disk, is input to the drive circuit board 12 of the head block 1 through the flat cable 72. Here, only drive pulse signals p1, p2 or p1 for driving the print head 16 in accordance with the print signal as shown in FIG. 8 are generated. Since this drive signal is transmitted to each piezoelectric element (not shown) of the print head 16, the drive circuit board 12
Is supplied to the drive signal correction circuit board 14 through the card edge connector 13. Therefore, the applied drive signal is corrected according to the characteristics of the print head 16 and supplied to the print head 16, and the piezoelectric element is driven by this signal, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle 16d, and the print timing is adjusted. Printing is performed on the flank of the transported box.
The consumed ink is supplied from the ink tank unit 3 to the print head 16 through the ink tube 82.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show changes in the height of printed characters when the head block 1 is rotated and the inclination angles of the aligned nozzles 16d are changed. Figure 9
Shows the tilt angle set to 15 °, and FIG. 10 shows the tilt angle set to 34 °. When the size of the character “A” printed in the state of FIG. 10 is 1, the size of the character “A” printed in the state of FIG. 9 becomes 1/2, and when the inclination angle is further reduced. , 1 / size of letter "A"
It can be set to 4. In addition, even if the size of the character "A" changes in this way, the position of the lower side of the character "A" does not change. That is, the lower side of the character is the reference position. This is because the head block 1 is rotated clockwise when viewed from the front with the center of the nozzle 16d located at the right end as the center of rotation.

In the illustrated example, the rightmost nozzle 16d
The center of rotation is the center of rotation, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the nozzle 16d at the left end may be rotated in the same direction with the center of rotation being the center of rotation. The upper side is the reference position.

[0026]

As described above, in the ink jet type printing apparatus of the present invention, the center of rotation of the head block is made to coincide with the center of the nozzle located at the most end of the nozzles, so that the reference position of a printed character or the like is set. Is always constant, and printing can always be performed at a predetermined position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the head block of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the head block of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view showing means for rocking the head block of FIG.

5 is an enlarged front view of the head block of FIG. 1 in a tilted state.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged rear view showing means for rocking the head block of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged rear view of the head block of FIG. 1 in a tilted state.

FIG. 8 is a waveform diagram of a drive signal of the print head.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing the height of characters printed by inclining the head block by 15 °.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing the height of characters printed by inclining the head block by 34 °.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Head block 16 Inkjet print head 16d Nozzle 16d1 Nozzle located at the end 94 Rotation center (screw)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus having a head block equipped with an ink jet print head, wherein the size of a printed character or the like can be changed by rotating the head block to change its posture. An ink jet printing apparatus, wherein a center of rotation is made to coincide with a center of a nozzle located at an extreme end among nozzles of the print head.