Printer for solid articles

A printer for solid articles comprising:

• a first horizontal carrier which has regularly arranged pockets for holding and horizontally carrying solid articles in a predetermined first carrying direction, each of said pockets having a through hole through which air flows;
• a solid article feeder, which is disposed in the vicinity of an end of said first horizontal carrier and upstream in said carrying direction, for feeding said solid articles to said horizontal carrier and arranging said solid articles regularly;
• a first ink pattern transfer device, which is disposed above a substantially center part of said first horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed first ink patterns to the surfaces of said solid articles which are carried by said first horizontal carrier;
• a first print quality judging device, which is disposed above another part of said first horizontal carrier and downstream in said first carrying direction from said first ink pattern transfer device, to judge the quality of the transferred first ink patterns on the surfaces of said solid articles so as to identify inferior articles;
• a first inferior article remover, which is disposed in the vicinity of the other end of said first horizontal carrier downstream in said first carrying direction, for removing the inferior articles which are judged as inferior by said first quality judging device;
• a second horizontal carrier which has regularly arranged pockets for holding and horizontally carrying upside down said solid articles passing through said first inferior article remover in a predetermined second carrying direction, each of said pockets having a through hole through which air flows;
• a second ink pattern transfer device, which is disposed above a substantially center part of said second horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed second ink patterns to the surfaces of said solid articles which are not printed yet and which are carried by said second horizontal carrier;
• a second print quality judging device, which is disposed above another part of said second horizontal carrier downstream in said second carrying direction from said second ink pattern transfer device, to judge the quality of the transferred second ink patterns transferred to said solid articles so as to identify inferior articles;
• and
• a second inferior article remover, which is disposed in the vicinity of the other end of said second horizontal carrier downstream in said second carrying direction, for removing the inferior articles which are judged as inferior by said second quality judging device.

A printer for solid articles comprising:

• a horizontal carrier of an endless conveyor, which has regularly arranged pockets for holding and horizontally carrying solid articles in a predetermined carrying direction, each of said pockets having a through hole through which air flows, and having rotating parts positioned at both horizontal ends of said conveyor and rotating in the vertical plane, and using an upper horizontally moving part as said horizontal carrier;
• a solid article feeder, which is disposed in the vicinity of an end of said horizontal carrier upstream in said carrying direction, for feeding said solid articles to said horizontal carrier and arranging said solid articles regularly;
• an ink pattern transfer device, which is disposed above a substantially center part of said horizontal carrier, to transfer previously designed ink patterns to the surfaces of said solid articles which are carried by said horizontal carrier;
• a print quality judging device, which is disposed above another part of said horizontal carrier downstream in said carrying direction from said ink pattern transfer device, to judge the quality of the transferred ink patterns on the surfaces of said solid articles so as to identify inferior articles;
• an inferior article remover having an air gun, which is disposed in one of said rotating parts positioned downstream in said carrying direction, for removing the inferior article which is judged as inferior by said quality judging device by blowing compressed air to said article of inferior print quality through said through hole of said pocket so as to remove said article of inferior print quality to an inferior article collector;
• a dryer, which is disposed downstream in said carrying direction from said ink pattern transfer device and above said horizontal carrier, for forcibly drying the transferred ink patterns on the surfaces of said solid articles;
• and
• an air adsorption device, which is disposed in one of said rotating parts positioned downstream in said carrying direction, for sucking air in said pockets through said through holes by vacuum pressure so that said solid article in said pockets in said rotating part are firmly held and do not drop out from said pockets due to gravity.