Printer for solid articles

A printer for printing predetermined patterns of letters, figures, marks and the like on surfaces of solid articles such as tablets or capsule articles which includes a horizontal carrier for carrying the regularly arranged solid articles in a horizontal direction, an ink pattern transfer device for transferring the patterns on the surfaces of the solid articles, a print quality judging device for judging the quality of the printed ink patterns and an inferior article remover for automatically removing articles of inferior print quality from the manufacturing process.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a printer for printing predetermined patterns of 
letters, figures, marks and the like on the surfaces of solid articles 
such as tablets or capsules. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A conventional printer for solid articles is shown, for example, in 
Publication Gazette of Examined Japanese Patent Application Sho 53-32759 
or Publication Gazette of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Sho 
61-10457. FIG. 4 is a sectional side view showing a configuration of the 
conventional printer for solid articles. 
In the conventional printer for solid articles shown in FIG. 4, solid 
articles 200 are fed from a hopper 100 to a feeding drum 101. The feeding 
drum 101 has a plurality of compartments which are regularly arranged in 
the rotation direction and axial direction of the drum. The solid articles 
200 are held and carried in the pockets of the feeding drum 101. A 
transfer roller 102 which is made of rubber is provided to contact the 
surfaces of the solid articles 200 in the pockets of the feeding drum 101. 
Ink patterns which are turned inside out (i.e. mirror images) of patterns 
to be printed on the surfaces of the solid articles 200 are transferred to 
the surface of the transfer roller 102 from a design roller 105. When the 
transfer roller 102 is pushed into the solid articles 200 on the feeding 
drum 101, the ink patterns are transferred to the surfaces of the solid 
articles 200. When the transferred ink patterns are dried, the printing of 
the solid articles is completed. The printed solid articles 200 are 
dropped in a collector 103. Thus, the printed solid articles 200 are 
collected. 
In the above-mentioned conventional printer for solid articles, arrangement 
of tile solid articles 200, transcription of the ink patterns and 
collection of the printed solid articles are executed while the feeding 
drum 101 rotates about a 3/4 turn. Therefore, the solid articles 200 are 
collected in the collector 103 without completely drying the transferred 
ink patterns. According to the treatment of the solid articles 200, the 
transferred ink patterns will be spread or tile transferred ink will run. 
Thus, tile solid article 200 of the spread ink pattern will be judged as 
an inferior article. Furthermore, after the collection of the solid 
articles 200 in the collector 103, the solid articles 200, which have been 
arranged on the feeding drum 101, lose their regular arrangements, so that 
it is impossible to print the patterns on both sides of the solid articles 
200. Further, the printed solid articles 200 are collected in the 
collector 103 at random, so that it is necessary to provide another 
judging process independently For evaluating the quality of the printed 
patterns. Moreover, the judgement of the quality of the printed patterns 
is performed visionally, which is inefficient. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A purpose of this invention is to solve the abovementioned problems, that 
is, to provide an improved printer For solid articles which can completely 
dry the ink patterns transferred to the solid articles before the 
collection of the solid articles, and automatically judge the quality of 
the printed patterns and remove the articles of inferior print quality. 
An embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance with the 
invention comprises: 
a horizontal carrier having regularly arranged pockets for holding and 
horizontally carrying solid articles therein; 
a solid article feeder for feeding the solid articles to the horizontal 
carrier and arranging the solid articles regularly; 
an ink pattern transfer device, which is provided above a part of the 
horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed ink patterns to the 
surfaces of the solid articles which are carried by the horizontal 
carrier; 
a print quality judging device, which is provided above another part of the 
horizontal carrier, to judge the quality of the transferred ink patterns 
on the surfaces of the solid articles; and 
an inferior article remover for removing the inferior articles which are 
judged as inferior quality by the quality judging device. 
the above-mentioned configuration, it is desirable that the printer further 
comprises a dryer provided at the rear of the ink pattern transfer device 
and above the horizontal carrier for drying the transferred ink patterns 
on the surfaces of the solid articles. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the inferior article remover has an air 
gun for blowing off an article of inferior print quality into an inferior 
article collector. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the printer comprises an air absorption 
device for firmly holding the solid articles in the pockets of the 
horizontal carrier by vacuum pressure so that the solid articles in the 
pockets do not move during printing by the ink pattern transfer device 
and/or do not drop out from the pockets due to gravity. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the horizontal carrier is an endless 
conveyor having rotating parts positioned at both horizontal ends thereof 
and rotating in the vertical plane, and using a horizontally moving part 
as the horizontal carrier. 
Another embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance with this 
invention comprises: 
horizontal carrier having regularly arranged pockets for holding and 
horizontally carrying solid articles therein; 
a solid article feeder for feeding the solid articles to the horizontal 
carrier and arranging the solid articles regularly; 
an ink pattern transfer device, which is provided above a part of the 
horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed ink patterns to the 
surfaces of the solid articles which are carried by the horizontal 
carrier; 
a print quality judging device, which is provided above another part of the 
horizontal carrier, to judge the quality of the transferred ink patterns 
on the surfaces of the solid articles; 
an inferior article remover for removing the inferior articles which are 
judged as inferior quality by the quality judging device; and 
a reverse horizontal carrier provided in the reverse side of the horizontal 
carrier for horizontally carrying the printed solid articles upside down 
in a reverse direction. 
In tile above-mentioned configuration, it is desirable that the printer 
further comprises a dryer provided at the rear of tile ink pattern 
transfer device and above the horizontal carrier or below tile reverse 
horizontal carrier For drying the transferred ink patterns on the surfaces 
of the solid articles. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the inferior article remover has an air 
gun for blowing off an article of inferior print quality to an inferior 
article collector. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the printer further comprises an air 
absorption device for firmly holding the solid articles in the pockets of 
the horizontal carrier by vacuum pressure, so that tile solid articles in 
the pockets do not move during printing by the ink pattern transfer device 
and/or do not drop out from the pockets due to gravity. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the horizontal carrier is an endless 
conveyor having rotating parts positioned at both horizontal ends thereof 
and rotating in the vertical plane, and using an upper horizontally moving 
part as the horizontal carrier and a lower horizontally moving part as the 
reverse horizontal carrier. 
Still another embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance with 
this invention comprises: 
a first horizontal carrier having regularly arranged pockets for holding 
and horizontally carrying solid articles therein; 
a solid article feeder for feeding the solid articles to the first 
horizontal carrier and arranging the solid articles regularly; 
a first ink pattern transfer device, which is provided above a part of the 
first horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed first ink 
patterns on the surfaces of the solid articles which are carried by the 
first horizontal carrier; 
a first print quality judging device, which is provided above another part 
of tile first horizontal carrier, to judge the quality of the transferred 
first ink patterns on the surfaces of the solid articles; 
a first inferior article remover for removing inferior articles which are 
judged as inferior quality by the first quality judging device; 
a second horizontal carrier having regularly arranged pockets for holding 
and horizontally carrying upside down the solid articles passing through 
the first inferior article remover; 
a second ink pattern transfer device, which is provided above a part of the 
second horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed second ink 
patterns on the surfaces of the solid articles which are not printed yet; 
a second print quality judging device which is provided above another part 
of the second horizontal carrier to judge the quality of the transferred 
second ink patterns transferred to the solid articles; and 
a second inferior article remover for removing inferior articles which are 
judged as inferior quality by the second quality judging device. 
In the above-mentioned configuration, it is desirable that the printer 
further comprises a first dryer provided between the first ink pattern 
transfer device and the second ink pattern transfer device for drying the 
transferred first ink patterns on the surfaces of tile solid articles. 
Furthermore, It is desirable that the printer further comprises a second 
dryer provided at the rear of the second ink pattern transfer device for 
forcibly drying the transferred second ink pattern on the other surfaces 
of the solid articles. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the first and second inferior article 
remover has an air gun for blowing off an article of inferior print 
quality to an inferior article collector. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the printer further comprises air 
absorption devices for firmly holding the solid articles in the pockets of 
the first and second horizontal carriers by vacuum pressure so that the 
solid articles in the pockets do not move during printing by the ink 
pattern transfer device and/or do not drop out from the pockets due to 
gravity. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the first and second horizontal carriers 
are endless conveyors respectively having rotating parts positioned at 
both horizontal ends thereof and rotating in the vertical plane, and using 
horizontally moving parts as the first and second horizontal carriers. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the printer further comprises a solid 
articles reversing device provided between the first horizontal carrier 
and the second horizontal carrier for turning the solid articles upside 
down. 
Furthermore, it is desirable that the solid articles reversing device is a 
reverse horizontal carrier provided in the reverse side of the horizontal 
carrier for horizontally carrying the printed solid articles upside down 
in a reverse direction. 
The printer for solid articles described above has a length which is 
sufficient for drying the ink transferred to the solid articles. The 
distance is utilized for automatically judging the quality of the 
transferred patterns and removing the inferior articles if inferior 
articles are present in the printed solid articles. 
The horizontal carrier is, for example, a chain conveyor, belt conveyor, 
and the like (which is referred hereinafter as "conveyor"), and has a 
plurality of pockets on its surface regularly arranged in the moving 
direction and in the width direction of the conveyor. The solid articles 
are contained in and carried by the pockets. 
The solid article feeder is a rotation drum having a plurality of pockets 
regularly arranged in the rotation direction and the axial direction on 
its drum surface, hopper and so on. By applying vibrations or air flow to 
the solid articles which are fed from the hopper at random, the solid 
articles are regularly arranged in the pockets of the rotation drum. After 
that, the solid articles are transferred from the pockets of the rotation 
drum to the pockets of the conveyor. 
The ink pattern transfer device comprises an ink pan for storing the ink, a 
design roller having concave patterns corresponding to the patterns to be 
printed on its drum surface, a cleaner for removing the superfluous ink 
from the surface of the design roller, a transfer roller to which the ink 
remaining in the concave patterns of the design roller is transferred, and 
so on. The ink pattern transfer device is provided above a part of the 
conveyor. When the ink patterns, which are the reverse patterns of the 
patterns to be printed are pressed to the surfaces of the solid articles, 
the surfaces of tile solid articles are printed. 
The quality judging device comprises an image pick up device and a judging 
device such as a microcomputer and the like for comparing an image picked 
up by the image pick up device and predetermined patterns (which show the 
minimum allowable quality of the articles). These devices are provided 
above a part of the conveyor where the solid articles are carried. When 
the judging device finds a solid article of inferior print quality, it 
outputs a removing signal after passing a predetermined time period which 
is necessary to reach the solid article of inferior print quality to the 
inferior article remover. 
The inferior article remover is, for example, an air gun or the like, and 
it blasts air of a predetermined pressure when it receives the removing 
signal. Thereby, the solid article of inferior print quality is blown off 
to an inferior article collection basket, or the like. Then, the article 
of inferior print quality is removed from the manufacturing process. 
For down sizing the printer for solid articles, the reverse horizontal 
carrier is provided on the reverse side of the horizontal carrier. For 
example, a top side of an endless conveyor is used as the horizontal 
carrier and a bottom side thereof is used as the reverse horizontal 
carrier. A small hole is provided in each pocket of the conveyor, and the 
air in the pocket is absorbed through the small hole by a vacuum pump or 
the like. Thereby, when the solid articles are carried by the reverse 
horizontal carrier, the solid articles are held in the pockets of the 
conveyor by vacuum pressure. As a result, the solid articles do not drop 
due to gravity. 
Since the dryer such as an electric heater, a hot-air dryer and so on is 
provided, tile ink pattern transferred to the surface of the solid article 
is forcibly dried. 
Furthermore, when two sets of the ink pattern transfer device, print 
quality judging device and inferior article removing device are 
respectively provided above the first horizontal carrier and the second 
horizontal carrier and the faces of the solid articles are turned upside 
down in respective first and second horizontal carriers, the solid 
articles can be printed on both sides. 
Since the dryer is provided between the first ink pattern transfer device 
and the second ink pattern transfer device, the ink transferred to one 
side face of the solid article is forcibly dried until the solid article 
reaches the second ink pattern transfer device. Therefore, when the other 
side face of the solid article is printed, the printed ink pattern may not 
spread.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
A first preferred embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance 
with the invention is described referring to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a partially 
sectional side view showing a first embodiment of the printer for solid 
articles. The elements designated by the same numerals in the conventional 
printer for solid articles shown in FIG. 4 have substantially the same 
functions. 
As shown in FIG. 1, first and second drums 150 and 151 have a plurality of 
pockets 150a and 151a respectively arranged regularly on the drum surface 
in the rotational directions and axial directions. A small hole is 
provided in each pocket 150a or 151a. When the pockets 150a and 151a reach 
predetermined regions where the solid articles 200 should not drop by 
gravity, the air in the pockets 150 and 151 is drawn through the small 
holes so that the solid articles 200 are held in the pockets 150a and 151a 
by vacuum pressure. The solid articles 200 stored in the hopper 100 are 
positioned at a predetermined position in the pockets 150a of the first 
drum 150 by applying vibrations or air flow, as shown for example, in 
Publication Gazette of Examined Japanese Patent Application Sho 53- 32759. 
When each pocket 150a of the first drum 150 containing the solid article 
reaches to the lowest position where the first drum 150 faces the second 
drum 151, the absorption of the air is stopped, and the solid articles 200 
drop to the pockets 151a of the second drum 151 by gravity. Similarly, 
when the pockets 151a of tile second drum 151 containing the solid 
articles 200 reach the lowest position, the absorption of the air is 
stopped. The first and second drums 150 and 151 are driven in order to 
synchronize the movement of the pocket 151a with the movement of the 
pocket 150a. 
A conveyor 120 such as a chain conveyor, belt conveyor and the like is 
provided below the second drum 151. The conveyor 120 has a plurality of 
pockets 120a regularly arranged in the moving direction thereof and a 
direction perpendicular to the moving direction and facing the pockets 
151a of the second drum 151. The conveyer 120 is driven, for example, 
lefthand to righthand in FIG. 1 for synchronizing the movement of the 
pocket 120a of the conveyor 120 with the movement of the pocket 151a of 
the second drum 151. A small hole (not shown in the figure) is provided in 
each pocket 120a for absorbing the air in the pocket 120a. In the vicinity 
of the left end of a horizontal carrier part 120b of the conveyor 120, the 
conveyor 120 faces the second drum 151, and the solid articles dropped 
from each pockets 151a of the second drum 151 are received and contained 
in the pockets 120a of the conveyor 120 which face the pockets 151a. 
An ink pattern transfer device 110 is provided above substantially the 
center part of the horizontal carrier part 120b. The ink pattern transfer 
device 110 has an ink pan 104 for storing the ink, a design roller 105 
having concave patterns on tile surface thereof corresponding to the 
patterns (letters, figures, marks, and the like), a cleaner 106 for wiping 
the superfluous ink from the surface of the design roller 105, a transfer 
roller 102 to which the ink remaining in the concave patterns of the 
design roller 105 is transferred, another cleaner 107 for cleaning the 
surface of the transfer roller 102, and so on. By pushing the ink 
patterns, which are just the reversal (turned inside out) patterns of the 
patterns to be printed and transferred to the surface of the transfer 
roller 102, to the surfaces of the solid articles 200, the solid articles 
200 are printed. On the opposite side of the transfer roller 102 against 
the pocket 120a, that is the inside of the conveyor 120, an air absorption 
device 121 is provided. The air absorption device 121 is connected to a 
vacuum pump 133, and the air in the air absorption device 121 is absorbed. 
When the pockets 120a containing the solid articles passe the air 
absorption device 121, the air in the pockets 120a is drawn through the 
small holes (not shown in the figure because of the smallness), and the 
solid articles 200 are firmly held in the pockets 120a. As a result, the 
solid articles 200 may not move even when the transfer roller 102 rolls on 
the surfaces of the solid articles 200, and thus, the transference of the 
ink pattern (namely, the printing) is successfully completed. 
Furthermore, an illuminator 162 and an image pick-up device 160 are 
provided at a position above the conveyor 120 and the righthand of the ink 
pattern transfer device 110 in FIG. 1. The image pick-up device 160 is 
connected to a print quality judging device 161. The print quality judging 
device 161 is configured by a microcomputer and so on, and it compares an 
image picked up by the image pick-up device 160 and predetermined patterns 
(which correspond to the minimum acceptable quality). When the print 
quality judging device 161 evaluates a solid article 200 as having 
inferior print quality, it outputs a removing signal after passing a 
predetermined time period which corresponds to the time necessary for tile 
solid article 200 of inferior print quality to reach an inferior article 
remover 130 which is described in detail below. Furthermore, an electric 
heater or hot-air dryer 180 is provided at the rear of the illuminator 162 
for drying the ink transferred to the surfaces of tile solid articles 200. 
The inferior article remover 130 has an air gun 131, an air compressor 132, 
an inferior article collecting basket 134, and so on, and is provided in 
the vicinity of a pulley part 120c of the conveyor 120 which rotates in 
the vertical plane. Another air absorption device 122 is provided in the 
pulley part 120c for preventing the solid articles 200 from dropping due 
to gravity when the pocket 120a containing the solid articles 200 passes 
this part 120c. On the other hand, when the pocket 120a containing the 
solid articles 200 of inferior print quality passes the inferior article 
remover 130, the air gun 131 and the air compressor 132 blast off the air 
of a predetermined pressure by receiving a removing signal from the print 
quality judging device 161, thereby tile solid article 200 of inferior 
print quality is blown off to the inferior article collection basket 134. 
As a result, the article of inferior print article is removed from the 
manufacturing process. 
A third drum 152 which is substantially the same as the second drum 151 is 
provided below tile lowest part of the pulley part 120c of the conveyor 
120. Furthermore, another conveyor 140, which is substantially the same as 
the conveyor 120, is provided below the lowest part of the third drum 152. 
While the solid articles 200 are carried by the conveyors 120 and 140, the 
ink transferred to the solid articles 200 is completely dried, and the 
printed solid articles 200 are collected in a collector 141. 
A second preferred embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance 
with the invention is described by referring to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a 
partially sectional side view showing the second embodiment of the printer 
for solid articles. The elements designated by the same numerals in the 
above-mentioned first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are substantially the 
same, and thus explanations of them are omitted. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the reverse side 120d of the horizontal carrier part 
120b of the conveyor 120 is used as a reverse horizontal carrier part. The 
air absorption device 122 is expanded to cover all of the reverse 
horizontal carrier part 120d so that the solid articles 200 do not drop 
due to gravity when the pockets 120a containing the solid articles 200 
pass the reverse horizontal carrier part 120d. The collector 141 is 
provided at the end of the reverse horizontal carrier part 120d. In 
comparison with the first embodiment, the third drum 130 and the conveyor 
140 can be omitted, and the breadth of the printer can be shortened. 
Furthermore, for accelerating the drying of the ink transferred to the 
solid articles 200, the electric heater or hot-air dryer 180 is provided 
below the reverse horizontal carrier part 120d. Owing to the operation of 
the dryer 180, the ink patterns transferred to the solid articles 200 are 
completely dried when the solid articles 200 are collected in the 
collector 141. Therefore, the ink patterns may not be spread evenly when 
the printed surfaces of the solid articles 200 contact the other solid 
articles or conveying faces of the conveyor. 
A third preferred embodiment of a printer for solid articles in accordance 
with the invention is described by referring to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a 
partially sectional side view showing the third embodiment of the printer 
for solid articles. The elements designated by the same numerals in the 
afore-mentioned first embodiment shown in FIG.1 or in the second 
embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are substantially the same, and thus 
explanations of them are omitted. 
In FIG. 3, the first conveyor 120A is substantially the same as the 
conveyor 120A in the above-mentioned second embodiment shown in FIG. 2. A 
second conveyor 170 is provided below the end part of the second (reverse) 
horizontal carrier part 120d of the first conveyor 120A in a manner such 
that the starting part of the second conveyor 170 faces the end part of 
the first conveyor 120A. The second conveyor 170 is substantially the same 
as the conveyor 120 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but the 
moving direction of tile second conveyor 170 is opposite the moving 
direction of tile conveyor 120. When the solid articles 200 carried by the 
first conveyor 120A are transferred to the second conveyor 170, the 
printed surfaces of the solid articles 200 are turned upside down. Namely, 
on the second conveyor 170, the printed surfaces of the solid articles 
become bottom faces, and the surfaces not printed yet become top faces. 
A second ink pattern transfer device 110' is provided above the center part 
of the horizontal carrier part 170a of the second conveyor 170. 
Furthermore, at a position above the second conveyor 170 and the lefthand 
of the second ink pattern transfer device 110', a second illuminator 162', 
a second image pick-up device 160' and a second print quality judging 
device 161' are provided. A second inferior article remover 130' which is 
substantially the same as the inferior article remover 130 in the first 
embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is provided in a pulley part 170c of the second 
conveyor 170. Therefore, both sides of the solid articles 200 can be 
printed by the third embodiment. 
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing 
from the spirit and scope thereof. The embodiments are to be considered in 
all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the 
invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the forgoing 
description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of 
equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.