This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-170914, filed on Jul. 29, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a cutter unit and a printer.
In the related art, a label printer includes a cutter unit to cut printed paper without a backing sheet, such as a linerless label. The printed paper is cut to a predetermined length and the label printer issues the printed paper cut by the cutting unit as a label. The label issued from the label printer may be taken out by an operator or an automatic label attachment apparatus and then attached to a packaged article, a machine or the like.
Such a label printer further includes a sensor, which is located downstream of the cutter unit in a label conveying direction, to detect whether the label cut by the cutter unit is taken out by the operator or the automatic label attachment apparatus. When it is detected by the sensor that the label is taken out, the label printer cuts the next label with the cutter unit and issues the next label from a label dispensing outlet, which again may be taken out by the operator and the automatic label attachment apparatus.
However, if the middle part of a label issued from such a conventional label printer is very flexible since the label has no backing sheet, the label cut by the cutter unit may be loosened from a label conveying path between the cutter unit and the label dispensing outlet or may be dropped due to its own weight before it is taken out by the operator or the automatic label attachment apparatus. In this case, the operator or the automatic label attachment apparatus may have difficulty taking out the issued label.
According to one embodiment, a cutter unit includes a conveying mechanism configured to convey a linerless label having an adhesive-applied surface on which an adhesive agent is applied. The cutter unit also includes a first blade provided to face an opposite side from the adhesive-applied surface of the linerless label. The cutter unit further includes a second blade provided to face the adhesive-applied surface of the linerless label. The second blade includes a cutting portion configured to cut the linerless label inserted between the second blade and the first blade, and a supporting portion configured to support the adhesive-applied surface of the linerless label downstream of the cutting portion in a conveying direction of the linerless label.
Embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
A conveying path 8 extending from a paper feed opening 6 to a paper discharge opening 7 is formed within the housing 4. The continuous paper 2 is supported by a pair of rotatable paper holding rollers 9 in the paper holding part 3. The continuous paper 2 supported by the paper holding rollers 9 is introduced from the paper feed opening 6 into the conveying path 8 and then is guided to be discharged from the paper discharge opening 7.
The printing mechanism 5 is provided on the conveying path 8 along which the continuous paper 2 is conveyed. The printing mechanism 5 includes a platen roller 11 serving as a conveying mechanism, which is rotated by a stepping motor 57 (see
In this embodiment, to issue the continuous paper 2 for which printing is completed by the printing mechanism 5, the label printer 1 may select one of two types of issuance operations. In one of the two operations, a label is issued by cutting a backing sheet for each label using the cutter unit 16. In the other type of operation, a label is issued by cutting the continuous paper 2 to a predetermined length using the cutter unit 16.
In addition, in this embodiment, the label printer 1 employs a line type printing method. The line thermal head 12 has a plurality of heating elements (not shown) arranged in a line and performs a printing operation in a main scan direction using the plurality of heating elements. The line thermal head 12 performs a printing operation in a sub scan direction by the movement of the continuous paper 2 with respect to the line thermal head 12, which is caused by conveyance of the continuous paper 2. Thus, detection of a conveyance timing of the continuous paper 2 is required for the printing operation in the sub scan direction. For the detection of the conveyance timing, in this embodiment, a sensor unit 27 including two sensors such as a transmission type sensor and a reflection type sensor is provided on the conveying path 8.
The motor 20 may rotate to provide a driving force to the movable blade 26. The motor 20 includes a driving gear 21 which is provided at a leading end portion of a shaft 20a of the motor 20 and transfers a driving force to the movable blade 26.
The driven gear 22 is driven to be rotated in engagement with the driving gear 21 at one end of an edge portion. The driven gear 22 includes a driving gear 22b which is provided at a leading end portion of a shaft 22a of the driven gear 22 and transfers a driving force to the rolling body 23.
The rolling body 23 is driven to be rotated in engagement with the driving gear 22b of the driven gear 22. The rolling body 23 includes a fixing pin 23a provided at a position eccentric from the center of the rolling body 23. The position of the fixing pin 23a may be changed when the rolling body 23 rotates.
The movable blade holding member 24 holds the movable blade 26 in an upper side of the cutter unit 16. The movable blade holding member 24 includes a cam groove 24a in which the fixing pin 23a of the rolling body 23 is inserted. With this configuration, the movable blade holding member 24 may be moved to the upper or lower side of the cutter unit 16 depending on the change in position of the fixing pin 23a of the rolling body 23.
The fixed blade 25 (serving as a “first blade”) is provided to face a print surface 2b opposite the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 (i.e., in the upper side of the cutter unit 16) and is arranged to traverse the continuous paper 2 printed with predetermined information by the printing mechanism 5. That is, the fixed blade 25 is disposed above the conveying path 8 and is fixed in the cutter unit 16 by a fastening member (not shown). On the other hand, the movable blade 26 (serving as a “second blade”) is provided to face the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2. The movable blade 26 is configured to cut the continuous paper 2 interposed between the movable blade 26 and the fixed blade 25 when the movable blade 26 is moved toward the upper side of the cutter unit 16 as the movable blade holding member 24 is moved. That is, the movable blade 26 is disposed below the conveying path 8 and cuts the continuous paper 2 interposed between the movable blade 26 and the fixed blade 25 when the movable blade 26 is moved to the upper side of the cutter unit 16 as the movable blade holding member 24 is moved.
A configuration of the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26 will be described in detail with reference to
The fixed blade 25 includes a cutting surface 25a configured to cut the continuous paper 2 inserted between the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26.
The movable blade 26 includes a cutting portion 26a configured to cut the continuous paper 2 inserted between the movable blade 26 and the fixed blade 25 when the movable blade 26 is moved toward the upper side of the cutter unit 16. The movable blade 26 further includes a supporting portion 26b configured to support the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the cut continuous paper 2 downstream of the cutting portion 26a in the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2 in order to prevent the cut continuous paper 2 from straying out of the conveying path 8. This allows the continuous paper 2 cut by the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26 to be kept on the conveying path 8, and thus an operator or an automatic label attachment device may take out the continuous paper 2 easily.
More specifically, the cutting portion 26a includes a cutting surface 26c configured to cut the continuous paper 2 inserted between the cutting surface 26c and the cutting surface 25a of the fixed blade 25 by sliding cutting surface 26c on the cutting surface 25a. Further, the cutting portion 26a includes a contact surface 26d configured to contact the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 cut by the cutting surface 26c.
The contact surface 26d is inclined to gradually be further from the conveying path 8 as the contact surface 26d is directed downstream of the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2. This allows a contact area of the movable blade 26 with the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 to be reduced, which may prevent jamming of the continuous paper 2 due to the adhesion of the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 to the movable blade 26.
Although it is illustrated in this embodiment that the contact surface 26d is inclined to gradually be further from the conveying path 8 as the contact surface 26d is directed downstream of the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2, the embodiment is not limited thereto as long as the supporting portion 26b is disposed at a position apart from the cutting portion 26a downstream of the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2 so that a space is formed between the cutting portion 26a and the supporting portion 26b. For example, the contact surface 26d of the cutting portion 26a may have a concave step, facing the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2, formed between the cutting portion 26a and the supporting portion 26b.
The supporting portion 26b includes a supporting surface 26e to support the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 downstream of the contact surface 26d of the cutting portion 26a in the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2a. The supporting surface 26e is inclined to gradually be further from the conveying path 8 as the supporting surface 26e is directed downstream of the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2. This allows a contact area of the supporting surface 26e with the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 to be reduced, and may prevent jamming of the continuous paper 2 due to the adhesion of the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 to the supporting surface 26e.
In this embodiment, it is assumed that the cutting portion 26a and the supporting portion 26b are all coated with an adhesion-retardant agent such as Teflon® or a paper anti-attachment paint, except the cutting surface 26c. An example of a paper anti-attachment paint may include BYCOAT® (available from Yoshida SKT, Co., Ltd.), PAPYLESS® (available from Natoco Paints, Co., Ltd.), DEFRIC® (available from Gawayuu Research, Co., Ltd.), etc.
In this embodiment, the label printer 1 further includes some components that are driven and controlled by the microcomputer 52 to perform a printing operation in the printing mechanism 5. Specifically, the label printer 1 includes a motor driver 56 to drive the stepping motor 57 (which rotates the platen roller 11) and the motor 20, and a head controller 62 which is a print control unit to control the line thermal head 12. The motor driver 56 and head controller 62 are connected to the CPU 51 via the system bus 55.
Specifically, when it is detected that the continuous paper 2 cut by the cutter unit 16 is taken out from the conveying path 8, the motor driver 56 rotates the stepping motor 57, which then rotates the platen roller 11 to convey the continuous paper 2. In addition, the motor driver 56 rotates the motor 20 to transfer a driving force from the motor 20 to the driven gear 22, the rolling body 23 and the movable blade holding member 24 successively. The motor driver 56 moves the movable blade 26 held by the movable blade holding member 24 toward the upper side of the conveying path 8 (i.e., toward the upper side of the cutter unit 16), so that the movable blade 26 may cut the continuous paper 2 inserted between the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26.
In this embodiment, the label printer 1 resumes to convey the continuous paper 2 when the continuous paper 2 cut by the cutter unit 16 is taken out by an operator or an automatic attachment device. Therefore, the label printer 1 needs to detect that the continuous paper 2 cut by the cutter unit 16 is taken out. Accordingly, the label printer 1 includes a transmission type sensor 58 located downstream of the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26 of the cutter unit 16 in the conveying direction of the continuous paper 26 in order to detect whether the continuous paper 2 is taken out.
In addition, in this embodiment, since the label printer 1 employs a line type printing method, the line thermal head 12 performs a printing operation in a main scan direction by means of a plurality of heating elements arranged in a line. The label printer 1 performs a printing operation in a sub scan direction by the movement of the continuous paper with respect to the line thermal head 12, which is caused by the conveyance of the continuous paper 2. Thus, the label printer 1 requires detection of a conveyance timing of the continuous paper 2 for the printing operation in the sub scan direction. To this end, the label printer 1 includes a reflection type sensor 59 provided on the conveying path 8 for detection of the conveyance timing of the continuous paper 2.
These transmission type sensor 58 and reflection type sensor 59 are connected to the system bus 55 via an I/O port 60. In this embodiment, the transmission type sensor 58 is a sensor configured to detect whether or not the continuous paper 2 cut by the cutter unit 16 remains on the conveying path 8, while the reflection type sensor 59 is a sensor configured to detect a position detection mark printed on the continuous paper 2.
In addition, in this embodiment, the label printer 1 receives, via an interface 61, print data transferred from an external device, converts the print data received via the interface 61 into image data, and deploys the image data on an image memory 63. Further, the CPU 51 outputs each line of data based on the image data converted from the received print data. To this end, the interface 61 and the image memory 63 are also connected to the CPU 51 via the system bus 55.
In addition, a thermistor and an AD converter (not shown) may be attached to a head substrate (not shown) of the line thermal head 12. In this configuration, a detection signal output from the thermistor is converted into a digital value by means of the AD converter, which is then provided to the CPU 51.
According to the first embodiment as described above, the label printer 1 includes the fixed blade 25 provided to face the printed surface 2b side of the continuous paper 2, and the movable blade 26 provided to face the adhesive-applied surface 2a side of the continuous paper 2. The movable blade 26 includes the cutting portion 26a configured to cut the continuous paper 2 inserted between the movable blade 26 and the fixed blade 25, and the supporting portion 26b configured to support the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the cut continuous paper 2 downstream of the cutting portion 26a in the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2, thereby preventing the cut continuous paper 2 from straying out of the conveying path 8. Accordingly, the continuous paper 2 cut by the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26 may be kept on the conveying path 8 of the continuous paper 2, and thus an operator or an automatic label attachment device is able to take out the continuous paper 2 easily.
In another embodiment, the leading end portion of the supporting surface of the supporting portion of the movable blade may include recess portions (or grooves) facing the conveying path. This configuration will be described in more detail, where description of the same portions as the first embodiment will be omitted and only portions different from the first embodiment will be described.
In addition, in this embodiment, the supporting portion 63b of a movable blade 63 includes a supporting surface 63d configured to support the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 downstream of the contact surface 63c in the conveying direction of the continuous paper 2. The supporting surface 63d of the supporting portion 63b has recess portions (or grooves) 70 facing the conveying path 8. The recess portions 70 may reduce a contact area between the supporting portion 63b and the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 which is cut by the cutter unit 16 and remains on the conveying path 8, which may prevent the jamming of the continuous paper 2 due to the adhesion of the continuous paper 2 to the supporting portion 63b. The recess portions 70 of the supporting surface 63d are not limited to such shapes as shown in
As described above, in the label printer 1 according to the second embodiment, the supporting portion 63b of the movable blade 63 includes the supporting surface 63d configured to support the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 on which an adhesive agent is applied. The supporting surface includes the recess portions 70 facing the conveying path 8, thereby reducing the contact area between the supporting portion 63b and the adhesive-applied surface 2a of the continuous paper 2 which is cut by the cutter unit 16 and remains on the conveying path 8, which may prevent the jamming of the continuous paper 2 due to the adhesion of the continuous paper 2 to the supporting portion 63b.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2010-170914 | Jul 2010 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4742742 | Yokoe | May 1988 | A |
5235887 | Moriya | Aug 1993 | A |
5259681 | Kitazawa et al. | Nov 1993 | A |
5725320 | Austin et al. | Mar 1998 | A |
6113294 | Niwa | Sep 2000 | A |
6151055 | Ackley et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6357941 | Amano et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6688198 | Matsumoto et al. | Feb 2004 | B2 |
7186043 | Keller | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7540222 | Kim | Jun 2009 | B2 |
8562229 | Inaba et al. | Oct 2013 | B2 |
20070028739 | Kawaguchi | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20090028623 | Yokoyama | Jan 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
1566248 | Aug 2005 | EP |
04099669 | Mar 1992 | JP |
08207176 | Aug 1996 | JP |
2000-062264 | Feb 2000 | JP |
2000-190280 | Nov 2000 | JP |
2001-206621 | Jul 2001 | JP |
2004-148442 | May 2004 | JP |
2006205309 | Aug 2006 | JP |
2007044837 | Feb 2007 | JP |
Entry |
---|
Japanese Office Action for Japanese Application No. 2010-170914 mailed on May 8, 2012. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20120027495 A1 | Feb 2012 | US |