JPH09201945A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To clearly print on a work such as a tire having an inclined print surface. SOLUTION: Print heads 6a to 6d are attached to a print ring 6 via a universal joint 50. Any one of the plurality of print heads 6a to 6d is selected by the character selection cylinder 21, the print head is pressed against the tire T, and the tire T is printed by the selected print head. Since the print head is arbitrarily tilted by the universal joint 50, the print heads 6a to 6d come into close contact with the print surface of the tire T.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer for printing the grade of tire unbalance measurement results measured by a dynamic balance tester on the tire side surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of printing apparatus has a selection mechanism for selecting one of a plurality of print heads by rotating a print ring with a pulse motor. The selection mechanism itself is a pressing cylinder. By driving in the vertical direction, the print head of the print ring is pressed against the tire arranged below to print on the side surface of the tire. Since the thickness of the tire, which is a workpiece, varies, the limit switch detects the contact of the print head with the tire surface, stops the pressing cylinder, and further contracts the pressing cylinder to return to the origin.

[0003]

However, since the print head is fixed to the print ring, and the surface of the tire to be printed is not necessarily a horizontal surface,
When the print head is pressed vertically against the tire, there is a problem that the print head does not adhere to the print surface of the tire and clear printing cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of clearly printing even on a work having an inclined surface such as a tire.

[0005]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
Describing with reference to FIG. 4, the present invention according to claim 1 uses the character selection actuator 21 to provide a plurality of print heads 6.
selecting means for selecting any one of a to 6d;
The print heads 6a to 6d attached to the print ring 6 are applied to a printing apparatus provided with a head driving unit 2 which presses the work T to print with the selected print head, and the print heads 6a to 6d are connected to the universal mechanism 50. The above-described object is achieved by attaching the print ring 6 to the print ring 6 via the above. A printer according to claim 2 is the printer according to claim 1,
The universal mechanism 50 is provided with a return mechanism 54 that returns the print head to a predetermined posture.

According to the printing apparatus of the first aspect, when the print heads 6a to 6d are pressed against the work T such as a tire, the print heads 6a to 6d also tilt according to the tilt of the printing surface of the work T, and printing is performed. The heads 6a to 6d and the print surface of the work T come into close contact with each other. Therefore, regardless of the inclination of the work print surface, the print heads 6a to 6d surely adhere to the work T,
Clear printing is possible.

According to the printing apparatus of the second aspect, since the print heads 6a to 6d after printing return to the predetermined posture before printing, even if the inclination of the work T at the next printing is different,
The print heads 6a to 6d can be securely brought into close contact with the work T.

[0008] In the section of the means for solving the above-mentioned problems, which explains the configuration of the present invention, the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention are used to make the present invention easier to understand. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a front view showing the whole of the printing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a right side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partial detailed view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrows AA of FIG. is there. Substrate 1
Is provided with a print head pressing cylinder 2, and a holder 3 is connected to its piston rod. A heater case 5 containing a heater 4 is attached to the holder 3 via a heat insulating material 7, and a printing ring 6 is attached to the heater case 5.
Is rotatably supported about an axis L, and a thermocouple 8 connected to a controller (not shown) for controlling the temperature of the heater 4 is attached to the heater case 5. The temperature is adjusted to 170 to 180 ° C. by the control means. Here, the heater case 5 is made of an integral casting in order to improve the thermal conductivity, and the printing ring 6 is made of brass. A drive pin 9 for rotating the print ring 6 is attached to the print ring 6. The holder 3 also has a flange 10 rotatably supported by bearings 20. A notch 21 is formed in the flange portion 10A of the flange 10, and the notch 21 and the drive pin 9 of the print ring 6 are engaged with each other, and a drive force applied to the flange 10 is transmitted to the print ring 6 as described later. . In addition, pin 9
In the state in which is engaged with the notch 21, the pin 9 is in contact with the notch 21 with a small contact area, as shown in FIG.

The print ring 6 has print heads 6a to 6d projecting from the circumferential surface at intervals of 90 degrees.
A mark indicating the grade of the dynamic balance test result is provided on the tip surface of 6d. The print heads 6a to 6d are screwed into the print ring 6 via a base portion 51 and a mounting portion 52 that form the universal joint 50, and are fixed by nuts 53. Base portion 51, mounting portion 52, and print head 6a to
The structure of 6d is shown in FIGS. A spring 54 that urges the print heads 6 a to 6 d in a direction away from the print ring 6 is inserted between the mounting portion 52 and the nut 53. Here, the print heads 6a to 6d are attached to the attachment portion 52 by the pins 55. The print heads 6a to 6d can be tilted in any direction by the universal joint 50, and the tilted print heads 6a to 6d can be tilted.
d can be returned to its original position by the spring 54.

On the surface of the flange 10 opposite to the side facing the print ring 6, four lock portions 11a are arranged at intervals of 90 degrees.
The drive plate 11 formed in (4) is attached, and four pins 11b are planted on the end surface of the drive plate 11 at intervals of 90 degrees. One of these pins 11b is formed to be longer than the other three pins. A lock claw 12 that engages with the lock portion 11a is pivotally supported by the holder 3, and the lock claw 12 is biased by a spring 13 in the counterclockwise direction. The lock claw 12 is the drive plate 11
Block the clockwise rotation of. Further, a rotation blocking plate (not shown) for blocking the rotation of the drive plate 11 in the counterclockwise direction is provided, and the rotation of the drive plate 11 in the counterclockwise direction is blocked when the printing ring 6 is operated for printing. .

A block 22 is provided on the piston rod of the character selection cylinder 21 so as to be able to move linearly. The character selection lever 24 is held by the block 22 so as to be rotatable in the clockwise direction in FIG. 2, and is biased by the spring 25 in the counterclockwise direction. The character selection lever 24 is provided on the character selection cylinder 21.
When the character selection cylinder 21 is contracted, it is positioned at P1, and when the character selection cylinder 21 is expanded, it is positioned at P2. When the character selection cylinder 21 is extended, the hook portion 24a at the tip of the character selection lever 24 engages with the pin 11b to rotate the drive plate 11 counterclockwise.

The board 1 is also provided with four character selection proximity switches 32 via brackets 31. The proximity switches 32 are mounted around the axis L at intervals of 90 degrees, and among the four pins 11b provided on the drive plate 11 that rotates around the axis L, a pin that is longer than the other pins (hereinafter simply referred to as a long pin). ) Any one switch 3 facing
2 is turned on to detect the rotational angle position of the drive plate 11.

The marking tape 41 (hereinafter simply referred to as tape) wound around the reel 42 is a winding motor 46.
Driven by the guide roller 43a, the roller 43b and the guides 47a, 47b, and the take-up reel 4
4 Printing is performed by pressing the print head 6a located between the guides 47a and 47b against the tire T. The roller 43b is attached to the attachment base portion 45, and the attachment base portion 45 is biased in the clockwise direction by the spring 48, so that the roller 43b is pressed by the winding motor 46. The guide roller 43a is a tape break detection lever 4
8, the sensing lever 48 is biased counterclockwise by a spring 49.

The operation of the printing apparatus thus configured will be described. The tire T, the unbalance of which is measured by a dynamic balance tester (not shown), is carried by the carrying device to below the printing device as shown in FIG. Positioning is performed in response to the tire T being conveyed to a predetermined position. The contraction direction of the character selection cylinder 21 is the vertical direction, and the tire is shown in FIG.
3 is conveyed in the left-right direction of FIG. 3 with its side surface facing downward, and the side surface of the inner peripheral edge of the tire is positioned at the time of positioning.
Opposes.

The character selection cylinder 21 selects any one of the print heads 6a to 6d based on the result of the imbalance measurement by the dynamic balance tester. That is, the four character selection proximity switches 32 are associated with each of the four print heads 6a to 6d, determine which proximity switch is currently on, and turn on the proximity switch corresponding to the desired print head. For example, the printing operation is started without selecting characters. On the other hand,
If the proximity switch corresponding to the desired print head is not turned on, the contracting operation of the character selection cylinder 21 is repeated until the proximity switch is turned on, that is, until the desired print head faces the tire.

The details of the character selection operation are as follows. When the cylinder 21 extends, the hook 24 of the character selection lever 24 at its tip
a engages with the pin 11b to rotate the drive plate 11 90 degrees counterclockwise. The rotation of the drive plate 11 causes the flange 10 integrated with the drive plate 11 to rotate,
Notch 21 formed in flange portion 10A of flange 10
Is engaged with the pin 9 of the print ring 6 and the print ring 6 moves 90
Rotate degrees. At this time, since the long pin also rotates 90 degrees, the character selection proximity switch 32, which has been turned on so far facing the long pin, is turned off, and the proximity switch 32 which is 90 degrees out of phase is turned on. If the proximity switch that outputs the ON signal corresponds to the desired print head, the character selection operation ends.

If the proximity switch turned on by the character selection operation does not correspond to the desired print head, the character selection cylinder 21 is contracted to perform the next character selection operation. During the contraction operation of the character selection cylinder 21, the character selection lever 24 retracts to the initial position of P1 while taking a posture slightly moved clockwise by the pin 11b. At this time, a clockwise rotating force acts on the drive plate 11, but the lock claw 12 does not rotate.
Since it is engaged with 1a, the reverse rotation of the drive plate 11 is prevented. Then, the character selection cylinder 21 is extended and the print ring 6 is rotated in the same manner as described above. By such an operation, the print head is indexed until the proximity switch corresponding to the desired print head is turned on.

When the desired print head is indexed, the pressing cylinder 2 is extended for the entire stroke while the character selection cylinder 21 is extended, and the print head is attached to the tire T via the tape 41.
Press Since the print ring 6 is preheated by the heater 4, the ink of the tape 41 is transferred to the tire T and printing is performed. At this time, since the print head can be tilted in any direction by the above-mentioned universal joint 50, even if the print surface of the tire T is tilted, the print head of FIG.
The print head can be in close contact with the print surface, as indicated by the dashed line. When printing is completed, the pressing cylinder 2 is contracted to separate the print head from the tire T. Since the print head is biased in the direction away from the print ring 6 by the spring 54, when the print head moves away from the tire T, the inclination of the print head returns to the original position as shown by the solid line in FIGS. 1 and 3.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the print heads 6a to 6d are connected to the print ring 6 via the universal joint 50, the print heads 6a to 6d are formed.
Can be tilted in any direction, so that even if the print surface of the tire T is tilted, the print heads 6a to 6d
Can surely adhere to the printed surface. Therefore,
Clear printing can be performed.

Further, the springs 54 cause the print heads 6a to 6d after printing to return to the predetermined postures before printing, so that the print heads 6a to 6d can be reliably held even if the inclination of the tire T at the next printing is different. It can be brought into close contact with the tire T. Further, since the print heads 6a to 6d are biased by the spring 54 in the direction away from the print ring 6, the base portion 51 and the mounting portion 52 are surely brought into contact with each other, so that the heater 4 applies to the print ring 6. Heat print head 6a
It can be reliably transmitted to ~ 6d.

Further, since the heater case 5 is made of cast metal, the heat applied from the heater 4 can be efficiently transferred to the printing ring 6. Further, since the print ring 6 is made of brass, the heat applied from the heater case 5 can be efficiently transferred to the print heads 6a to 6d. Further, since the heater case 5 is supported by the holder 3 via the heat insulating material 7, it is possible to reduce the outflow of heat applied to the heater case 5 to the holder 3. Furthermore,
Since the flange 10 for rotating the print ring 6 and the print ring 6 are only in contact with each other with a small contact area, the heat applied to the print ring 6 can be less likely to flow to the flange 10. Therefore, the heat transfer efficiency from the heater 4 to the print ring 6 and further to the print heads 6a to 6d can be greatly improved.

Since the print heads 6a to 6d are attached to the mounting portion 52 of the universal joint 50 by the pins 55, they can be easily removed from the mounting portion 52 by removing the pins 55. Therefore, even if the print heads 6a to 6d are damaged, they can be easily replaced.

In the above embodiment, one of the print heads is selected by the telescopic cylinder, but it may be selected by another actuator such as a pulse motor. When a pulse motor is used, its holding force is small, so it is preferable to provide a reverse rotation prevention mechanism during printing. By adopting the cylinder method as compared with the pulse motor method, a complicated control circuit is not required and the reverse rotation preventing mechanism is simplified, so that the cost can be reduced. Further, although the printing method using the tape has been described, the present invention can be applied to other printing methods, and the type of the print head is not limited to the present embodiment, and it is possible to select from among a plurality of print heads arranged in parallel. A method of selecting a desired print head may be used. The head drive actuator is not limited to the cylinder and may be a motor. Furthermore, the case of using it in a dynamic balance testing machine for tires has been described, but this is not limited to the embodiment, and a work that is classified by some method, such as a grade, or a single mark is printed. It can be applied to anything that is printed.

In the configuration of the above embodiment, the character selection cylinder 21 is a character selection actuator, and the character selection cylinder 21 is a character selection cylinder 21.
The mechanism that selects the print head by the expansion operation of
The pressing cylinder 2 constitutes a head driving means, the universal joint 50 constitutes a universal mechanism, and the spring 54 constitutes a return mechanism.

[0026]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the print head is attached to the print ring through the universal mechanism, the print head can be tilted in any direction. It is possible to firmly attach the to the work and perform clear printing.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the print head after printing returns to the predetermined posture before printing, the print head can be surely brought into close contact with the tire even if the inclination of the work at the next printing is different. Therefore, clear printing can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view on arrow AA of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a base of a universal joint.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a mounting portion of a universal joint.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a print head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 substrate 2 pressing cylinder 3 holder 6 printing ring 6a to 6d printing head 11 drive plate 11b pin 12 lock claw 21 character selection cylinder 24 character selection lever 32 character selection proximity switch 41 printing tape 50 universal joint

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Tatsuya Nishikawa 5-7-10 Tenjinbashi, Kita-ku, Osaka Sakashin Tenjinbashi Building Shimadzu Testing Machine Service Co., Ltd. Ring Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A selection means for selecting any one of a plurality of print heads by a character selection actuator, and a print head attached to a print ring pressed against a work,
A printing apparatus comprising a head driving means for printing with a selected printing head, wherein the printing head is attached to the printing ring via a universal mechanism. 2. The print head according to claim 1, wherein the universal mechanism is provided with a return mechanism for returning the print head to a predetermined posture.