GB2210860A - Transferring & stacking printed cards - Google Patents

Abstract

Printed cards are transferred from an inner card acceptance station (12) to an outer card acceptance station (13) by clamp pieces (23, 24) which are reciprocated between the stations (12, 13). Arcuate tracks (14, 15) on the body of the printer extend between the stations, and have respective slide grooves (16, 17) on their inner sides. Slide blocks (18, 19) having rollers (20) are movable along the slide grooves (16, 17). The rollers are mounted on the ends of a front shaft (21) and a rear shaft (22), said shafts extending parallel to each other and passing through the slide blocks (18, 19) and housings of the clamp pieces (23 and 24), which may have slots to permit relative movement to take place between the clamp pieces and the shafts in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axes of the shafts. The rear shaft (22) is connected by rotary arms (28, 29) to a rotary shaft (30) which is arranged to be driven by the drive mechanism of the printer via rocker arm (31). The printed cards may be deposited on the outer acceptance station (13) alternately in two stacks in order to prevent wet ink on the printed cards from staining adjacent cards. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: IMPROVEMENTS IN CARD PRINTERS This invention relates to card printers and particularly to the take-up mechanism and acceptance device of a card printer and is designed accurately to grip and take up each of the finished products of printed cards from the acceptance station in said printer and then deliver the same to an outer acceptance station, so that the printed cards can be alternately stacked in a staggered manner at different positions and so prevent wet ink on said printed cards from staining the cards, during the high speed card printing process, thereby reducing the number of inferior products and also increasing the printing efficiency of the card printer.

It is highly desirable to ensure that a card printer, regardless of whether it is the plane or flexo-graphic type, or the printing stamper, should have the characteristics of low noise, high speed and low inferior rates in performance.

The conventional card printers, whether of the plane or flexo-graphic type, generally make the cards go through a smooth slideway one by one to guide said cards out from the inner side of the printers, if and when the already printed finished products of printed cards are delivered from the inner side of the printer to the outer acceptance station on which said cards are then stacked.

Cards which are printed in the inner acceptance station will easily cause static electricity to be created owing to the friction between themselves so that the finished products of said printed cards stick on the inner acceptance station and cannot therefore slide smoothly out of the printer or the static electricity may make said cards on the card guide become askew or contact and engage in the transmission means so that they become stuck or clog the transmission means or are deformed by said transmission means so that the final packing and counting operations of the finished products for said cards cannot be completed in an integrated serial way.

Cards stuck in the transmission means can clog or otherwise adversely affect the normal operation of the printer thereby reducing work efficiency and the service life of the printer. All of these defects are often witnessed on the card printers at present available on the market.

When the printed cards are delivered from the inner side of the printer to the acceptance station, it must take a specific time for the wet ink on said cards to be completely dried without adversely affecting the stacking operation of said cards. Otherwise, the wet ink of the first one of said cards will stain the back of the next card. Therefore, during the printing process of the conventional card printers, this factor has to be considered and the printing speed reduced to take it into account thereby lowering the efficiency and operating capability of the printer.

The present invention aims to provide a card printer with a card take-up mechanism and acceptance device which avoids such problems as static electricity generated by friction of cards during printing or staining of printed cards during stacking.

According to the invention, there is provided a card printer having a drive mechanism, an inner card acceptance station, an outer card acceptance station and a take-up mechanism for transferring printed cards from the inner acceptance station to the outer acceptance station; wherein the take-up mechanism comprises a set of transmission components located between the inner acceptance station and the outer acceptance station and arranged to cause clamp pieces provided in the body of said printer to perform reciprocating movements between said inner and outer acceptance stations along the direction of movements of said transmission components and also to take out the printed cards from the printer one by one and then to stack them up one by one on the outer acceptance station in sequence; and wherein said transmission components comprise left and right tracks respectively provided on both sides of the printer between said inner and outer acceptance stations, a respective slide groove being provided on the inner side of each of said two tracks respectively, respective slide blocks on the outer sides of said slide grooves, said slide blocks being provided with rollers respectively received and movable in said slide grooves, a front shaft and a rear shaft mutually parallel and connected between said slide blocks, the clamp pieces being mounted on said shafts, and a rotary block provided on one side of said front shaft; the rear shaft being connected to a rotary shaft via rotary arms, the rotary shaft being rotatably mounted on the body of the printer and carrying on one end, outside said printer body, a rocker arm which is connected to the drive mechanism.

Preferably, a spring is provided on the upper end of the rotary block, said spring being connected to one of the rotary arms, and a roller is rotatably mounted on the bottom of the rotary block, the inner acceptance station has a front stopper and at one side thereof stop block is provided for engagement by the roller on the rotary block, and a positioning rod connects the tail ends of left and right tracks on the upper end of said outer acceptance station for positioning and stoppers are provided on said positioning rod for engagement, respectively, by said clamp pieces, said clamp pieces being held against forward movement by engagement of the roller on the bottom of said rotary block with said stop block during the reciprocating movements of said clamp pieces and the clamp pieces being held against rearward movement by engagement of said clamp pieces with said stoppers on the positioning rod.

Each of the clamp pieces desirably comprises an outer housing having a pair of elongated slots in each of its sides, the front shaft extending through one of the slots in each of the sides of said outer housing and the rear shaft extending through the other of the slots in each of the sides of the housing, an inner housing having slots in its side walls through which the two shafts extend respectively, a spring located inside said outer housing and arranged to act on an end of the inner housing to urge said inner housing out of said outer housing, and an arcuate clamp block inside said inner housing which is pivotally mounted on said front shaft, the front end of said inner housing and the clamp block extending beyond the front edge of said outer housing and being urged into this position by the spring and the front edge of said inner housing taking the form of a protruding tongue which forms, in conjunction with the front end of said clamp block, an opening to clamp and hold the printed cards.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a cam shaft is transversely provided on the bottom of the inner acceptance station and is connected to the drive source of the printer, a first cam and a second cam are provided respectively on the cam shaft, the stop block on one side of said inner acceptance station is supported by another support shaft which is transversely provided on the bottom of said inner acceptance station, said stop block being provided with a rearwardly extended section which is urged upwards by a spring, a roller is provided on the middle part of said extended section to engage said first cam, the bottom end of the stopper on the front end of said inner acceptance station is supported by another support shaft, a rearwardly extended section is provided on the bottom of said stopper and a spring is arranged to pull the middle part of said stopper downward, and a roller is provided on the rear end of said extended section to engage said second cam whereby, when under the driving force said second cam rotates, said two cams respectively make said stopper and stop block conduct downward movements.

Preferably, the take-up mechanism further includes a movable acceptance station which extends parallel to the outer acceptance station and which is arranged to conduct reciprocating movements and a set of transmission components comprising a push rod arranged to be driven by the said rotary shaft, a gear having on one side face a plurality of equally spaced laterally projecting pins, a pinion in meshing engagement with said gear and having on one side face an eccentric laterally projecting pin, upper transmission arms which are pivotally connected to the body of the printer by a rotary shaft, one of said upper transmission arms having an elongated slot receiving the eccentric pin on the side of said pinion, and lower transmission arms which are respectively pivotally connected to respective upper transmission arms.The movable acceptance station desirably comprises a plurality of separation plates and a plane bottom plate, the separation plates on the left and right outer sides are pivotally connected to said lower transmission arms; transverse tracks with slide grooves provided on their respective inner sides are respectively located on the left and right sides of said movable acceptance station and are also connected by a joint plate to form a U-shaped structure; and slide blocks which can slidably move in the slide grooves in the tracks are mounted on the ends of a link rod which extends through and is installed on said movable acceptance station; whereby the same transmission force that drives said take-up mechanism also synchronously drives the transmission components to make said movable acceptance station conduct reciprocating movements along the direction of said transverse tracks so that the finished products of printed cards delivered by said take-up mechanism respectively drop to two different positions on said outer acceptance station where said cards are stacked.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a take-up mechanism according to the invention which is connected to a rocker arm of the drive mechanism of the printer and which is located inside the printer; Fig. 2 shows the action of two clamp pieces of the take-up mechanism shown in Fig. 1 which clamp pieces are arranged to grip and take up two pieces of the finished products of printed cards from the acceptance station, one of said clamp pieces being shown partially cut away to illustrate internal components thereof; Figs. 3-5 are cross-sections illustrating the consecutive actions of the clamp pieces ranging from their gripping and taking up the cards to laying down the cards; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the drive components of the stopper of the inner acceptance station;; Figs. 7 and 8 show the drive mechanism for operating the clamp pieces; Figs. 9 and 10 show the operating sequence of the stopper of the inner acceptance station; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the take-up mechanism according to the invention from another angle and shows a movable acceptance station for transfer rig printed cards to an outer acceptance station; Fig. 12 is a perspective view, corresponding to Fig.

11, but showing the card gripping means of the take-up mechanism in an alternative position; Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Figs. 11 and 12 but showing the movable acceptance station moved to the inner side of the body of the printer (i.e. the right side in the drawing); Fig. 14 shows a further step in the operating sequence of the take-up mechanism with certain components advanced from the position shown in Fig. 13 and a printed card released by the gripping means to fall on the movable acceptance station; Fig. 15 is a side view corresponding to Figs. 13 and 14 but showing a further step in the operating sequence of the mechanism with a further card being gripped by the gripping means and the movable acceptance station moved to the outer side (the left side in the drawing) and a printed card falling onto the outer acceptance station; and Fig. 16 is a side view corresponding to Figs. 13 to 15 and showing a still further step in the operating sequence in which the next printed card falls directly to a different position on the outer acceptance station outside the bottom of the body of the printer.

In the drawings, like parts are denoted by like reference numerals.

Reference will first be made to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings in which the take-up mechanisn comprises left and right arcuate tracks 14, 15 which are respectively provided on the two dies between the inner acceptance station in the body 11 and the outer acceptance station 13. Slide grooves 16 and 17 are provided respectively in the inner side rim of the two tracks 14 and 15 and left and right slide blocks 18 and 19 are provided respectively outside of the said slide grooves 16 and 17, each slide block carrying rollers 20 which are movable in the respective slide grooves 16 and 17 in said arcuate tracks 14 and 15. Mutually parallel front shaft 21 and rear shaft 22 are respectively connected between said slide blocks 18 and 19 and left and right clamp pieces 23 and 24 are fixedly sleeve-jointed on said shafts 21 and 22.A rotary block 25 which is fixed on the shaft 21 at one side thereof and a left joint piece 26 and a right joint piece 27 are mounted on the shaft 22 adjacent respective ends thereof. A respective rotary arm 28, 29 is pivotally mounted at one end in a respective one of the joint pieces 26, 27 and at the other end on a rotary shaft 30 which is pivotally mounted on the body 11. One end of the shaft 30 outside the body 11 carries a rocker arm 31 which is connected to a drive source thereby forming the integral entity of the transmission components of the take-up mechanism.

When the rocker arm 31 rotates under the influence of the force provided by the drive source, it is effective to drive the rotary shaft 30 and left and right rotary arms 28, 29 into rocking movements as shown by the arrow A in Fig. 1. This makes the left and right slide blocks 18, 19 conduct reciprocating movements along the slide groove direction of the left and right slide tracks 14, 15. At the same time, the left and right clamp pieces 23 and 24 of said two shafts 21 and 22 are caused to reciprocate.

As shown further in Fig. 1, the front ends of the left and right tracks 14, 15 stop at the two sides of the rear stopper 32 of the inner acceptance station 12 of the body 11. On the said outer acceptance station 13 and between the tail ends of the two tracks 14 and 15, a positioning rod 33 is provided which carries stoppers 34 and 35 which are arranged to be contacted respectively by the rear ends of the clamp pieces 23 and 24. Another stop block 36 is provided on one side of the stopper 32 and is arranged to make contact with the lower end of the rotary block 25 on the front shaft 21 so that, when the aforesaid take-up mechanism moves forward during its reciprocating movements in the tracks, said mechanism can be stopped because the lower end of the rotary block 25 contacts the stop block 36.Backward movements of the take-up mechanism can be stopped because the tail ends of the left and right clamp pieces 23 and 24 contact respectively the left and right stoppers 34, 35.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a spring 27 is provided on the upper end of the rotary block 25 and is connected to the left rotary arm 28. A roller 38 is mounted on the rotary block 25 at the lower end thereof and is urged by the force of said spring 37 against the stop block 36 during the said reciprocating movements so that the stop block 36 causes the front shaft 21 to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow B in Fig. 2.

The structure of the left and right clamp pieces 23 and 24 is shown in Fig. 2 and each of said clamp pieces comprises an outer housing 40, oblong slots 41 and 42 through which pass respectively the front and rear shafts 21 and 22 (the slots in the right clamp piece 24 are not shown in Fig. 2), an inner housing 43 located within the outer housing 40 and mounted on the two shafts 21 and 22, a spring 44 between the inner part of said outer housing 40 and the inner housing 43 and an arcuate clamp block 45 (50) mounted on the front shaft 21 inside said inner housing 43. The spring 44 is effective to cause the front end of said inner housing 43 and the front end of the clamp block 45 to protrude slightly beyond the front rim of said outer housing.The front end of the inner housing is provided with a forwardly protruding convex tongue 46 (51) so when the front shaft 21 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow B, an opening is formed by means of which a printed card can be gripped between the front end of said clamp block 45 (50) and said convex tongue 46 (51) to clamp and hold the finished products of the printed cards on the inner acceptance station 12 on the front end of said front stopper 32.

As shown in Fig. 6, a cam shaft 58 is transversely provided on the bottom of the inner acceptance station 12 and is connected to the drive source of the printer. A first cam 59 and a second cam 60 are provided on said shaft 58. The stop block 36 is mounted on another support shaft 52 which is transversely provided on the bottom of the inner acceptance station 12. The rear end of a rearwardly extended section 53 of the stop block is urged upwardly by a spring 54 and a roller 61 provided in the middle of said extended section 53 is arranged to engage the first cam 59. The bottom of the front stopper 32 of said inner acceptance station 12 is supported by another support shaft 55 and a spring 57 is provided in the middle of a rearwardly extended section 56 of the stopper and extended to the lower position.A roller 62 is provided on the rear end of the rearwardly extended section 56 and engages the second cam 60. Therefore, when the cam shaft 58 is driven by the drive source of said printer to rotate, the first and second cams 59 and 60 engaging respectively the rollers 61 and 62 cause the stop block 36 and stopper 32 to move downwardly as mentioned later to facilitate the clamp pieces to grip and extract the printed cards.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 6, at the same time as the roller 38 on the bottom of the rotary block 25 engages the stop block 36, the front ends of the left and right clamp pieces open and the opening exceeds the concave grooves 47 and 48 on the upper rim of the stopper 32 so that the finished products 48 of printed cards on the inner acceptance station 12, enter the opening on the front ends of said clamp pieces.Now, under the driving force of the drive source, the cam shaft 58 rotates and the rotary action of the first cam 59 (as shown in Figs. 7 and 8) causes the stop block 36 to move downwards in the direction indicated by the arrow E in Fig. 8 and, at the same time, the roller 38 on the bottom of the rotary block 25 rolls up the face of the stop block 36 as indicated by the arrow D in Fig. 8 to drive the front shaft 21 on the rotary block 25 in a direction of rotation opposite to that indicated by the arrow B. The front ends of the two clamp pieces 23, 24 are now moved to the closed position to tightly-clamp the printed card 49. At the same time, the rotary action of the second cam 60 on the cam shaft 58 (as shown in Figs. 9 and 10) causes the stopper 32 to move downwards as indicated by the arrow F in Fig. 10.During their backward movements the clamp pieces extract the cards 49 out of the inner acceptance station without any hindrance.

When the two clamp pieces 23 and 24 move backwards and their rear ends touch the stopper 34, 35 on the upper end of the outer acceptance station, movement of the outer housings 40 of said two clamp pieces is immediately stopped. However, owing to the continuous movements of the rotary arm, the inner housings 43 continue to move in the direction indicated by the arrow C in Fig. 5 until the shafts 21, 22 abut against the rear ends of the respective slots 41, 42 in the outer housings. The front edges of the outer housings 40 now push the card clamped between the tongues 46, 51 on the front ends of the inner housing and clamp blocks 45, 50 to make said card drop to the plane of the outer acceptance station on the bottom of the printer. The sequence of operations is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 5.

When the first reciprocating action opens the said gap, the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 have released the cards, and the inner acceptance station 12 again delivers another two pieces of finished products of said printed cards to allow the front ends of said clamp pieces to clamp and extract them respectively.

Adjusting screws 52', 53' provided respectively on the stoppers 34 and 35 on the outer acceptance station 13 are for making micro adjustments to the backward stop positions of the left and right clamp pieces; related materials such as packing paper or packing boxes to be used for packing the finished products of said printed cards can be placed on the said outer acceptance station beforehand to expedite the packing operations.

Since each round of reciprocating movements can grip and take up two printed cards from the inner acceptance station 12 and then send them on to the outer acceptance station 13 where said cards are stacked, it is easy to count the finished products.

For instance, a mechanical or electronic counter can be driven by the drive components that drive the reciprocating movements, thereby facilitating counting and at the. same time achieving the aforesaid accurate take-up actions without the cards being stuck or clogged in the printer or even bouncing out of the printer thus maximizing printing efficiency.

As shown in Figs. 11, 12, the card acceptance device comprises a movable acceptance station 90 and transmission components which control the actions of said movable acceptance station.

The finished products of the printed cards are operated such that both the left and right rotary arms 28, 29 on the rotary shaft 30 make the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 conduct reciprocating movements between the inner and outer acceptance stations and along the directions of both the left and right arcuate tracks 14, 15, and meanwhile, both said left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 clamp and take up the finished products of the printed cards from the inner acceptance station (not shown) and then deliver them to the outer acceptance station 13 on which said cards are stacked.

The movable acceptance station 90 extends parallel to the upper part of the outer acceptance station 13 and is provided on the bottom of the body of the printer and can be subjected to the same drive force of said left and right clamp pieces for reciprocating movements.

The transmission components of said movable acceptance station 90 comprise a U-shaped element 63 provided on one side of the rotary shaft 30, an L-shaped element 64, a push rod 65 pivotally mounted on the L-shaped element 64, a gear pinion 66 rotatably mounted on the body 11, a pinion 67 rotatably mounted on the body and in meshing engagement with the gear 66, two sets of upper transmission arms 69 and 70, two sets of lower transmission arms 71 and 72 which are pivotally connected at one end to the transmission arms 69 and 70 respectively and left and right transverse tracks 73 and 74 on the outer sides of said movable acceptance station 90.

The L-shaped element 64 is located inside the arms of the U-shaped element 63, and both of said elements 63 and 64 are pivotally mounted on the rotary shaft 30.

The push rod 65 is connected at its rear end to the Lshaped element 64 by a pivot pin 77 and a cutout groove is provided on the front end of said push rod 65 for accommodating pins projecting from one side of the gear 66. Therefore, when the rotations of said rotary shaft 30 drive both said left and right rotary arms 28, 29, said U-shaped and L-shaped elements 63 and 64 are simultaneously rotated to cause the push rod 65 to make reciprocating movements and the cutout groove on the front end of said push rod 65 is effective to cause said gear 66 to rotate.

The teeth ratio between said gear 66 and pinion 67 is 2:1, i.e. the number of teeth of the gear 66 is twice that of the pinion 67. Besides, four equally spaced pins 78 are provided on the outer side of said gear 66, each of said pins 78 being receivable in the cutout groove on the front end of said push rod 65 to make the gear 66 rotate by 1/4 turn each time the gear 66 is pushed by the push rod 65. Further, a pin 79 is eccentrically mounted on the outer side of the pinion 67 and is also located inside an elongated slot 80 provided in said upper transmission arm 69.When the gear 66 rotates 1/4 turn under the push of said push rod 65, since the teeth ratio between the gear 66 and pinion 67 is 2:1, the engaged pinion 67 rotates a half turn, and now, due to the rotation of the pinion 67, the pin 79 on the side of pinion 67 is also moved to drive said upper transmission arm 69 into a single trip-type one-time push action in the slide groove 80 on said upper transmission arm 69.

Both the left and right upper transmission arms 69 and 70 are connected by a shaft 68 to conduct reciprocating rocking actions about the axis of said shaft. The left and right upper transmission arms 69 and 70 are respectively connected to the lower transmission arms 71 and 72 by pivot pins 81 and 82 and the other ends of said left and right lower transmission arms 71 and 72 are respectively connected to the left and right sides of the movable acceptance station 90 so that, when the left and right upper transmission arms 69, 70 are reciprocated, this movement is synchronously transmitted to the movable acceptance station 90 by means of the lower transmission arms 71 and 72.

On the inner sides of both the left and right transverse tracks 73, 74, transverse slide grooves are provided respectively for left and right slide blocks 85, 86 to conduct reciprocating movements in said slide grooves. A link rod 87 is connected between said left and right slide blocks 85 and 86 and a plurality of separation plates 88 which support a bottom face plate 89 of the movable acceptance station are mounted on said link rod 87. The bottom ends of the lower transmission arms 71, 72 are respectively connected to the outermost separation plates 88 at the left and right outer sides of said movable acceptance station 90.

A joint plate 75 is connected between the left and right transverse tracks 73, 74 to constitute therewith a U-shaped integral body. A plurality of mutually parallel separation plates 91 extend from the joint plate 75 in the direction of said movable acceptance station 90 to form a stop grid 76 and, when said movable acceptance station 90 is moved to the outermost side (to the position shown in Fig. 11), each of said separation plates 91 is located between an adjacent pair of said separation plates 88 of the movable acceptance station.Further, because the horizontal position of each of said separation plates 91 of said stop grid 76 is slightly higher than that of each of the separation plates 88 of said movable acceptance station 90, cards on the movable acceptance station 90 will be stopped by the separation plates 91 of the stop grid 76 and then fall to the outer acceptance station on the bottom.

Hence, when both the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 are pushed by the left and right rotary arms 28, 29 to the inner acceptance station (not shown in Fig. 11) at the topmost ends of the left and right arcuate tracks 14, 15 of the body to grab and pick up the printed cards, the rotary shaft 30 will, at the same time, drive the said U-shaped and L-shaped elements 64, 65 to cause said push rod 65 to rotate the gear 66 through 1/4 turn. The pinion 67 will thus rotate half a turn, due to the above-said teeth ratio between said gear and pinion, and the pin 79 in the slot 80 will drive the upper and lower transmission arms 69, 70, 71, 72 to cause said acceptance station 90 to move to the position shown in Figs. 12 and 13 along the left and right transverse tracks 73, 74.

When both the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 clamp and draw the cards to the bottom of the left and right arcuate tracks 14, 15 to place the cards, the movable acceptance station 90 is located at the place above the outer acceptance station 13 on the bottom of said body to accept the cards as shown in Fig. 14 so that the finished products of said printed cards lie flat on the upper edges of the separation plates 88 of said movable acceptance station 90.

When the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 are moved for a second time by the left and right rotary arms 28, 29 to the inner acceptance station, the transmission components of said movable acceptance station repeat the aforesaid actions to make the gear 66 rotate through 1/4 turn and the pinion 67 to rotate through 1/2 turn so that the upper and lower transmission arms 69, 70, 71, 72 drive said movable acceptance station 90 towards the stop grid 76.

Because the separation plates 91 of the stop grid 76 are respectively placed between each of the separation plates 88 of said movable acceptance station 90 and extend slightly above them, the finished products of said printed cards on said separation plates 88 drop to a position close to the outer side of the outer acceptance station on the bottom of said body for stacking thereon as shown in Fig. 15.

When both the left and right clamp pieces 23, 24 clamp and pick up the finished products of printed cards for the second time and deliver them to the outer acceptance station 13, since said movable acceptance station 90 is not pushed (i.e. the gear 66 and pinion 67 are not transmitted), the movable acceptance station 90 remains unchanged at its original place, and the finished products of printed cards fall directly to another position close to the inner side of the outer acceptance station on the bottom of said body for stacking thereon as shown in Fig. 16.

As mentioned in the above, when each of the printed cards on the inner acceptance station in said body is grabbed and picked up by the take-up mechanism, because of the action of said device, said printed cards respectively drop to the two different positions on the outer acceptance station 13 for stacking thereon, and the odd numbers of the take-up actions deliver the cards to a first designated stack-up position for said cards, while the even numbers of the take-up actions serve to deliver the cards to a second designated stack-up position. These two designated stack-up positions are different and staggered with respect to each other so that the time that each of the stacked finished products of printed cards contacts the related upper (former) and lower (next) cards is doubled whereby the ink on said cards will be dry before landing on the previous upper card of each stack.In this way, staining of the cards from wet ink will be avoided. Moreover, the printing speed of the card printers can be increased and the stack-up time of each of the printed cards can be considerably reduced compared to that of conventional card printers without causing the above-said stains on said cards.

The take-up mechanism according to the invention can therefore increase the printing efficiency of a printer so that a printer of this type has the printing capacity of two other conventional printers and can reduce the number of inferior products, thereby achieving the above-mentioned improvement, innovation and practicability.

In Figs. 11 and 12, a spring 92 provided on the front end of the push rod 65 is connected to the body 11 and a further spring 93 acts on a stop rod 94 which is arranged to engage the pins 78 on the side of the gear 66.

The invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiments but variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope thereof.

Claims (8)

1. A card printer having a drive mechanism, an inner card acceptance station, an outer card acceptance station and a take-up mechanism for transferring printed cards from the inner acceptance station to the outer acceptance station; wherein the take-up mechanism comprises a set of transmission components located between the inner acceptance station and the outer acceptance station and arranged to cause clamp pieces provided in the body of said printer to perform reciprocating movements between said inner and outer acceptance stations along the direction of movements of said transmission components and also to take out the printed cards from the printer one by one and then to stack them up one by one on the outer acceptance station in sequence; and wherein said transmission components comprise left and right tracks respectively provided on both sides of the printer between said inner and outer acceptance stations, a respective slide groove being provided on the inner side of each of said two tracks respectively, respective slide blocks on the outer sides of said slide grooves, said slide blocks being provided with rollers respectively received and movable in said slide grooves, a front shaft and a rear shaft mutually parallel and connected between said slide blocks, the clamp pieces being mounted on said shafts, and a rotary block provided on one side of said front shaft; the rear shaft being connected to a rotary shaft via rotary arms, the rotary shaft being rotatably mounted on the body of the printer and carrying on one end, outside said printer body, a rocker arm which is connected to the drive mechanism.

2. A card printer having a take-up mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a spring is provided on the upper end of the rotary block, said spring being connected to one of the rotary arms, and a roller is rotatably mounted on the bottom of the rotary block, wherein the inner acceptance station has a front stopper and at one side thereof a stop block is provided for engagement by the roller on the rotary block, and wherein a positioning rod connects the tail ends of left and right tracks on the upper end of said outer acceptance station for positioning and stoppers are provided on said positioning rod for engagement, respectively, by said clamp pieces, said clamp pieces being held against forward movement by engagement of the roller on the bottom of said rotary block with said stop block during the reciprocating movements of said clamp pieces and the clamp pieces being held against rearward movement by engagement of said clamp pieces with said stoppers on the positioning rod.

3. A card printer having a take-up mechanism according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each of said clamp pieces comprises an outer housing having a pair of elongated slots in each of its sides, the front shaft extending through one of the slots in each of the sides of said outer housing and the rear shaft extending through the other of the slots in each of the sides of the housing, an inner housing having slots in its side walls through which the two shafts extend respectively, a spring located inside said outer housing and arranged to act on an end of the inner housing to urge said inner housing out of said outer housing, and an arcuate clamp block inside said inner housing which is pivotally mounted on said front shaft, the front end of said inner housing and the clamp block extending beyond the front edge of said outer housing and being urged into this position by the spring and the front edge of said inner housing taking the form of a protruding tongue which forms, in conjunction with the front end of said clamp block, an opening to clamp and hold the printed cards.

4. A card printer having a take-up mechanism according to any preceding claim, wherein a cam shaft is transversely provided on the bottom of the inner acceptance station and is connected to the drive source of the printer, a first cam and a second cam are provided respectively on the cam shaft, the stop block on one side of said inner acceptance station is supported by another support shaft which is transversely provided on the bottom of said inner acceptance station, said stop block being provided with a rearwardly extended section which is urged upwards by a spring, a roller is provided on the middle part of said extended section to engage said first cam, the bottom end of the stopper on the front end of said inner acceptance station is supported by another support shaft, a rearwardly extended section is provided on the bottom of said stopper and a spring is arranged to pull the middle part of said stopper downward, and a roller is provided on the rear end of said extended section to engage said second cam whereby, when under the driving force said second cam rotates, said two cams respectively make said stopper and stop block conduct downward movements.

5. A card printer having a take-up mechanism according to any preceding claim, wherein the take-up mechanism further includes a movable acceptance station which extends parallel to the outer acceptance station and which is arranged to conduct reciprocating movements and a set of transmission components comprising a push rod arranged to be driven by the said rotary shaft, a gear having on one side face a plurality of equally spaced laterally projecting pins, a pinion in meshing engagement with said gear and having on one side face an eccentric laterally projecting pin, upper transmission arms which are pivotally connected to the body of the printer by a rotary shaft, one of said upper transmission arms having an elongated slot receiving the eccentric pin on the side of said pinion, and lower transmission arms which are respectively pivotally connected to respective upper transmission arms and wherein the movable acceptance stations comprises a plurality of separation plates and a plane bottom plate, the separation plates on the left and right outer sides are pivotally connected to said lower transmission arms; transverse tracks with slide grooves provided on their respective inner sides are respectively located on the left and right sides of said movable acceptance station and are also connected by a joint plate to form a U-shaped structure; and slide blocks which can slidably move in the slide grooves in the tracks are mounted on the ends of a link rod which extends through and is installed on said movable acceptance station; whereby the same transmission force that drives said take-up mechanism also synchronously drives the transmission components to make said movable acceptance station conduct reciprocating movements along the direction of said transverse tracks so that the finished products of printed cards delivered by said take-up mechanism respectively drop to two different positions on said outer acceptance station where said cards are stacked.

6. A card printer according to claim 5, wherein the teeth ratio between the mutually engaging gear and pinion is 2:1 and a cutout groove is provided on the front end of said push rod and is arranged to accommodate, in turn, one of the projecting pins on the side of said gear, spring means being provided to ensure that the push rod maintains contact with said projecting pin and also to prevent rotation of said gear in a reverse direction.

7. A card printer according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein a stop grid composed of a plurality of parallel arranged separation plates is provided on the joint plate, each of said separation plates of said stop grid being receivable between a respective pair of the separation plates of the movable acceptance station, thereby forming a staggered state, when said movable acceptance station is transmitted to the outer side, and wherein the horizontal position of each of said separation plates of said stop grid is higher than those of the movable acceptance station to achieve the effect that during the said staggered state, the stop grid stops the cards on the movable acceptance station and therefore makes said cards drop directly to the outer acceptance station on the bottom of said printer.

8. A card printer substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.