The present invention relates to a tape printer.
Tape printers are known which use a supply of tape, housed in a cassette received in the tape printer. The tape comprises an image receiving layer and a backing layer which are secured to one another via an adhesive layer. Such tape printers include a cutting mechanism for cutting off a portion of the tape after an image has been printed onto the image receiving layer so that the portion of tape having the image can be used as a label. After the tape has been cut, the cut portion of the tape is pulled from the printer through a slit in the printer housing. The backing layer can then be removed allowing the image receiving layer to be secured to an object using the adhesive layer.
A problem with known arrangements is that after the cutting step, the cut portion of tape must be removed manually from an exit in the body of the printer. If many labels are required to be printed then having to remove each individual label from the printer can be time consuming. Also, if the tape printer is remote from the data input device, for example a tape printer with a personal computer (PC), then a user may have to get up from the PC and walk to the printer and remove the label from the printer before returning to the PC to actuate another printing cycle. If the labels are not removed between printing cycles then the cut portions can jam the mechanism either at the exit, or further back upstream at the cutter mechanism or the printing mechanism. Newly printed sections of tape may be fed into different portions of the device rather than out through the exit, thus clogging the mechanism.
A second problem with prior arrangements is that if a short label is printed, the cut portion may not be of sufficient length to protrude through the exit in the body of the printer. It is then difficult to remove the cut portion manually. The cut portion may get stuck within the printer body blocking the tape path and leading to the mechanism becoming clogged.
It is an aim of the embodiment described hereinafter to solve the problems outlined above.
Presented is a pinion wheel for a spitter mechanism of a tape printer. The pinion wheel includes a first surface that does not engage with a tape, and a second surface for contact with a portion of the tape. Rotation of the pinion wheel causes the second surface to engage and move the portion of tape out of the tape printer.
The invention may include one or more of the following features. The first surface of the pinion wheel may have a first curvature and the second surface may have a second, different curvature. For example, the first surface may be flat and the second surface may be arcuate. The pinion wheel may include a protrusion for contacting a home switch of the spitter mechanism.
Another implementation of the invention pertains to a spitter mechanism for moving a portion of a tape in a tape printer. The spitter mechanism includes an element having a first surface facing a tape passageway when in a first position, and having a second surface facing the tape passageway when rotated to a second position. The spitter mechanism also includes a motor for rotating the element from the first position, wherein the first surface is not engaged with the portion of tape, to the second position wherein the second surface engages with the portion of tape to cause the portion of tape to be moved.
The spitter mechanism may include one or more of the following features. The first surface of the element may have a first curvature and the second surface may have a second, different curvature. Furthermore, the first surface may be flat and the second surface may be arcuate. The spitter mechanism may include a controller for generating a signal to actuate the spitter mechanism, and may include a home switch for detecting a home position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape printer including: a printer body housing a tape receiving portion for receiving a supply of tape on which an image is to be printed; printing means for printing an image on said tape; cutting means for cutting said tape; and a spitter mechanism for moving a portion of said tape, wherein said spitter mechanism comprises an element having a surface, said element being rotatable between a first position and a second position, wherein in said first position said surface is not engaged with the portion of tape and in said second position said surface is engaged with the portion of tape whereby rotation of said element in said second position causes the portion of tape to be moved.
The spitter mechanism may be located downstream of the cutting means whereby in said second position said surface is engaged with a cut portion of tape thereby moving said cut portion of tape.
Generally, the portion of tape is moved out of an exit in the printer body.
The surface may have a first portion having a first curvature and a second portion having a second, different curvature, whereby in the first position the first portion is adjacent the portion of tape and in the second position the second portion is adjacent the portion of tape with the surface engaging the portion of tape.
The first portion may be flat and the second portion may be arcuate.
The printer may further include a controller for sending a signal to actuate the spitter mechanism after the cutting means has cut the image receiving tape.
The spitter mechanism may further include a home switch, for detecting a home position for the spitter mechanism.
Movement of the surface may be by an electric motor.
In one implementation, a plurality of spitter mechanisms are provided.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of ejecting a cut portion of tape from a tape printer. The method includes rotating a pinion wheel of a spitter mechanism from a first position, wherein a first surface does not engage with the tape, to a second position wherein a second surface engages with the tape, and moving the cut portion of the tape with the second surface to eject the cut portion of the tape from the tape printer.
The method may include utilizing a pinion wheel having a first surface with a first curvature and a second surface with a second curvature. The first surface may be flat and the second surface may be arcuate.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings.
Like reference numbers in the various drawings indicate like elements.
An embodiment of a printer according to the present invention will now be described with reference to
The print head may be a thermal print head comprising a column of a plurality of printing elements. The print head may be only one element wide and the column extends in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise extent of the image receiving tape. The height of the column of printing elements may be equal to the width of the image receiving tape to be used with the tape printing apparatus. With embodiments of this invention, where more than one width of image receiving tape is used, the print head column will generally have a height suitable for printing on the largest width of tape.
During printing, the print head and the platen engage the tape. The platen rotates to drive the tape past the print head. An image is printed on the image receiving tape column by column by the print head. After printing, the cutter mechanism operates automatically or is operated by a user to cut the tape. During cutting the cutter blade passes through the tape and into the slit in the cassette wall cutting off the portion of tape having the printed image thereon.
The pinion wheel 112 has a lower portion which comprises a gear 114 to which the first gear 110 is coupled. The pinion wheel has an upper portion comprising an arcuate portion 116 and a flat portion 118. The arcuate portion 116 of the embodiment of
Operation of the spitter mechanism will now be described. In the start position the pinion wheel has its flat surface directed towards the tape path defined in the body structure. During printing tape from the cassette is fed between the printhead and the platen, the platen rotating to drive the tape through the printing mechanism and past the cutting mechanism. The tape passes along the path defined in the body of the printer. When printing has ceased the cutter mechanism is operable to cut the tape. After cutting off the printed portion of the tape the spitter mechanism is operated. In one embodiment the spitter mechanism may operate automatically after the tape has been cut. This embodiment is described in more detail below. In another embodiment the spitter mechanism may be actuated by a user. This may be achieved by providing a suitable button or key on the printer, or alternatively, the spitter may be actuated from a data input device such as a PC which is remote from the printer.
In the automatic embodiment, after cutting a signal is sent to the spitter to actuate the motor of the spitter. The signal may be sent directly from the cutter or from a central processor. The motor rotates the drive shaft with the worm thereon. The worm rotates the first gear which in turn rotates the pinion wheel. As the pinion wheel rotates the arcuate portion passes into the path defined in the body of the printer and contacts the cut portion of tape. The cut portion of tape is held between the rubber o-ring on the arcuate portion of the pinion wheel and a surface 150 (see
On further rotation of the spitter, the arcuate portion disengages from the tape and moves out of the tape path. On rotating 360 degrees the spitter is in its home position in which the flat portion of the pinion wheel is directed towards the tape path. The rib on the upper surface of the pinion wheel activates the home switch 130 which detects the home position and causes the mechanism to stop thus completing a spitter cycle.
Although a preferred embodiment of a spitter mechanism according to the present invention has been described, other embodiments within the scope of the invention are envisaged. For example, the surface 150 may be replaced with a roller or another spitter. This could reduce the friction on the tape and the contacting surfaces.
Further, although the rotatable element of the described embodiment has a surface with an arcuate portion and a flat portion, this is not the only possibility envisaged. An important feature of the rotatable element is that it has a surface having a first portion which on rotation of the element follows and defines a first circular path, and a second portion which on rotation of the element follows and defines a second circular path and wherein the first circular path is wholly within the second circular path. Thus, the second portion extends further from the center of rotation of the element than the first portion. Because of this, when the first portion is adjacent the tape the surface does not reach and contact the tape whereas when the second portion is adjacent the tape the surface reaches and contacts the tape whereby the tape is moved on further rotation of the element. Of course the first portion does not have to be flat for the invention to be achieved but merely to be shorter than the distance between the fulcrum/center of rotation and the tape, the second portion being as long or longer than the distance between the fulcrum and the tape. Another embodiment of a rotatable element is shown in
According to another possibility, a spitter may be provided along the tape path prior to a cutter. In such an arrangement the spitter functions to feed the tape from the printing mechanism to the cutting mechanism. Such an arrangement can help to prevent the tape from deviating from a preferred path and thus prevent the tape from clogging the various mechanisms in the printer. In fact, one or more spitters can be arranged at any number of positions along a tape path within a tape printer to feed and direct the tape. Further, one or more spitters may be provided in a printer which houses a plurality of tape cassettes/tape supplies. In such an embodiment the one or more spitters may act to feed and direct one or more tapes in one or more desired directions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0221765.1 | Sep 2002 | GB | national |
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent application 60/451,596 filed on Mar. 3, 2003, the entire content of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference thereto.
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