Printer and printing method

Abstract

To provide a printer and a printing method which achieve excellent productivity.SOLUTION: A printer 100 prints images on an outer peripheral surface of each cylinder part with a printing mechanism 120 which rotates relative to a print object 220 having a top surface part and the cylinder part hanging from a peripheral edge of the top surface part. The printer 100 includes: a holding member 140 which holds the print objects 220; and connection means which enables the holding member 140 to hold the print objects in a state that the print objects are connected while keep exposing the outer peripheral surface of each cylinder part. Printing may be performed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the cylinder parts.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there is known a device that prints on the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical portion of a printing object while rotating the printing object with a rotating mechanism. In such a device, the printing object must be replaced with a new one for the rotating mechanism each time printing is performed on the printing object, resulting in low productivity. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-80061 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2003-11342 A [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 5891602 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method that are highly productive. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention employs the following means to solve the above problems.

[0006] That is, the printing device of the present invention is A printing device that prints an image on an outer circumferential surface of a cylindrical portion by using a printing mechanism that rotates relative to a printing object having a top surface and a cylindrical portion hanging down from a periphery of the top surface, A holding member for holding the printing object; a connecting means for connecting a plurality of the printing objects to the holding member while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion exposed; Equipped with The present invention is characterized in that the outer circumferential surfaces of the plurality of cylindrical portions are configured to be printable.

[0007] According to the present invention, by connecting a plurality of print objects by the connecting means, it is possible to print on the outer circumferential surfaces of a plurality of cylindrical portions at the same time.

[0008] It is preferable to include a rotation mechanism that rotates the holding member, and to print on the outer peripheral surfaces of the tubular portions of the multiple printing objects that are rotated together with the holding member by the rotation mechanism using a stationary printing mechanism.

[0009] This makes it possible to rotate the print object and the print mechanism relatively without complicating the configuration of the print mechanism.

[0010] The rotation mechanism has a rotation shaft to which the holding member is attached, and multiple printing objects are held by the holding member in a stacked state so that they are within the printing range of the printing mechanism in a direction parallel to the central axis of the rotation shaft.

[0011] This makes it possible to simultaneously print on all of the printing objects held by the holding member.

[0012] The connecting means may use magnetic force to hold a plurality of the printing objects in a stacked and connected state on the holding member.

[0013] This makes it possible to hold a plurality of printing objects on the holding member with a simple configuration.

[0014] The connecting means may include a connecting member disposed inside the cylindrical portion and having a magnet.

[0015] The connecting member may have a disk-shaped member at least a portion of which is in contact with the inner surface of the top surface portion and which is in contact with or adjacent to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion.

[0016] This makes it possible to improve the positioning accuracy of the printing object relative to the connection member (disc-shaped member).

[0017] The disk-shaped member is made of a non-magnetic material, and a plurality of the magnets are arranged on the disk-shaped member, with adjacent magnets being arranged at equal distances from the center of the circle on the disk-shaped member and at equal angles.

[0018] This allows the printing objects to be centered relative to one another by magnetic force when multiple printing objects are stacked on top of one another.

[0019] The printing object is a lid for a container, and a sealing portion for the container is provided along a corner near the boundary between the top surface portion and the cylindrical portion, and the disk-shaped member is configured so as to be out of contact with the gasket.

[0020] This can prevent the gasket from being adversely affected by the disk-shaped member during printing.

[0021] It is preferable to provide a guide member that presses the outer circumferential surface of the tubular portion of the plurality of printing objects held by the holding member to center the plurality of printing objects.

[0022] As a result, printing is performed with the multiple printing objects being centered, so that the accuracy of the printing position for each printing object can be improved.

[0023] The printing mechanism may be an inkjet printing mechanism.

[0024] The printing method of the present invention further comprises the steps of: a holding step of holding a printing object having a top surface portion and a tubular portion hanging down from a periphery of the top surface portion, in a state in which a plurality of the printing objects are stacked and connected to a holding member using a connecting means while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the tubular portion exposed; a printing step of printing an image on an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion by a printing mechanism that rotates relative to the printing object; The present invention is characterized by comprising:

[0025] According to the present invention, printing can be performed on a plurality of printing objects at the same time.

[0026] In the printing step, printing may be performed simultaneously on the outer circumferential surfaces of all of the cylindrical portions of the plurality of printing objects.

[0027] After the holding step and before the printing step, a guide member is used to guide the The method may include a centering step of centering the plurality of printing objects by pressing the outer circumferential surfaces of the tubular portions of the held plurality of printing objects.

[0028] As a result, printing is performed with the multiple printing objects being centered, so that the accuracy of the printing position for each printing object can be improved.

[0029] The above configurations may be combined as much as possible. Effect of the Invention

[0030] As described above, according to the present invention, productivity can be improved. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0031] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a printing object according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the state of a print target during printing according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a connection member according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a printing process according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions, and the like of the components described in the embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention unless otherwise specified.

[0033] (Example) A printing device and a printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a schematic configuration seen from the side when printing is performed in the printing device. Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a printing object according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 2(a) shows the appearance of a container, Fig. 2(b) is a plan view of the container lid (printing object), and Fig. 2(c) corresponds to the AA cross-sectional view in Fig. 2(b). Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the state of a printing object during printing according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the cross-sectional view of the lid in Fig. 2(b) corresponds to the AA cross-sectional view in Fig. 2(b), and the cross-sectional view of the connecting member in Fig. 3 corresponds to the BB cross-sectional view in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a connecting member according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a printing process according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 2(a) is a front view showing the state of the centering process, and Fig. 2(b) is a side view showing the state of the centering process.

[0034] <Printing device> The overall configuration of a printing device 100 according to this embodiment will be described with particular reference to Fig. 1. The printing device 100 includes a housing 110, a printing mechanism 120 for printing on a printing object 220, and a rotation mechanism 130 for rotating the printing object 220.

[0035] The printing mechanism 120 according to this embodiment is a mechanism for performing inkjet printing. The printing mechanism 120 includes a print head 121, a support shaft 122 that supports the print head 121, an ink tank 123 that contains ink, and a pipe 124 for supplying ink from the ink tank 123 to the print head 121.

[0036] The print head 121 is provided with a nozzle unit 121a having a plurality of nozzles. The print head 121 may be fixed to a support shaft 122, or may be configured to be slidable in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 with respect to the support shaft 122 so that the print position can be adjusted. When configured to be slidable, the position of the print head 121 may be adjusted manually by an operator, or a known mechanism such as a ball screw mechanism or a rack and pinion mechanism may be employed to automatically adjust the position.

[0037] In this embodiment, in order to enable desired coloring, ink tanks 123 are provided which contain inks of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and, if necessary, other colors including colorless and transparent.

[0038] The rotation mechanism 130 includes a rotation shaft 131 and a drive source 132 such as a motor for rotating the rotation shaft 131 .

[0039] <Printing subject> An example of the printing object 220 will be described with particular reference to FIG. 2. The printing object 220 in this embodiment is a container lid. That is, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the container 200 is composed of a bottle (container body 210) made of glass or the like, and a lid (printing object 220) for closing the mouth of the bottle. The main body of the lid, which is the printing object 220, is made of a magnetic material and metal. This main body has a top surface portion 221 and a tube portion 222 that hangs down from the periphery of the top surface portion 221. In this embodiment, the tube portion 222 is composed of a cylindrical portion. In addition, the lid in this embodiment is a so-called twist-off cap, and a plurality of protrusions 223 called lugs that can engage with screw protrusions (not shown) provided around the mouth of the container body 210 (outer peripheral surface of the neck portion) are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the tube portion 222 at intervals in the circumferential direction. Further, as a sealing part, an elastomer gasket 224 is provided along a corner near the boundary between top surface part 221 and cylindrical part 222 in the main body part. With this, when the lid is closed, the tip of the mouth of the bottle comes into close contact with gasket 224, improving the sealing performance.

[0040] The printing device 100 according to this embodiment can print an image on the outer peripheral surface of the tube portion 222 of the printing object 220 by the printing mechanism 120.

[0041] <Printing process> In particular, a printing process using the printing device 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1, 3, 4, and 5. The printing device 100 according to this embodiment is configured to be capable of simultaneously printing on the outer circumferential surfaces of the tube portions 222 of a plurality of printing objects 220. To make this possible, the printing device 100 according to this embodiment is equipped with a holding member 140 that holds the printing objects 220, and a connecting means that causes the holding member 140 to hold the printing objects 220 in a connected state while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 exposed.

[0042] The holding member 140 is provided with a fitting hole 141. With the tip of the rotating shaft 131 provided in the rotation mechanism 130 inserted into this fitting hole 141, the holding member 140 is attached to the rotating shaft 131. The method of fixing the rotating shaft 131 to the holding member 140 is not particularly limited. For example, a fastener such as a bolt may be used, or a configuration may be adopted in which a female thread is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the fitting hole 141 and a male thread is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 131, so that they are directly fastened to each other by screws.

[0043] In this embodiment, the connection means employs a configuration in which a plurality of print objects 220 are stacked and connected and held by the holding member 140 using magnetic force. More specifically, the connection means employs a configuration in which a connection member 150 having a magnet 152 is used and is disposed inside the tube portion 222 of the print object 220.

[0044] The connection member 150 is a disk-shaped member 15 that is in contact with at least a portion of the inner surface of the top surface 221 of the printing object 220 and is in contact with or close to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of the tube portion 222. 1. In this embodiment, the outer peripheral surface of the disk-shaped member 151 is configured to contact or be close to the entire inner peripheral surface of the part curled inward at the tip of the tube part 222. The disk-shaped member 151 is made of a non-magnetic material such as a resin material, and a plurality of magnets 152, 153 are arranged on the disk-shaped member 151. More specifically, a plurality of fitting holes are provided in the disk-shaped member 151, and the magnets 152, 153 are respectively provided in the fitting holes. Adjacent magnets 152 and 153 are arranged at equal distances from the center of the circle of the disk-shaped member 151 and at equal angles. In the illustrated example, the magnets 152 are provided at three locations on one side of the disk-shaped member 151, and the magnets 153 are provided at three locations on the other side. Therefore, the plurality of (six) magnets 152, 153 are arranged at 60° with respect to the center of the circle. The magnetic pole on the surface side of magnet 152 provided on one surface of disk-shaped member 151 is different from the magnetic pole on the surface side of magnet 153 provided on the other surface. In this embodiment, taking into consideration costs, magnetic force, etc., the case where connecting member 150 is composed of disk-shaped member 151 and multiple magnets 152, 153 has been shown. However, it is also possible to compose the connecting member from a single disk-shaped magnet.

[0045] As described above, since the lid, which is the printing target 220 according to this embodiment, is a magnetic material, when the connecting member 150 is fitted inside the tube portion 222, they are attracted to each other by magnetic force. As described above, at least a portion of the disk-shaped member 151 of the connecting member 150 is in contact with the inner surface of the top surface 221 of the printing target 220, and is in contact with or close to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of the tube portion 222. As a result, the connecting member 150 is positioned relative to the printing target 220 and fixed by magnetic attraction. Note that the connecting member 151 is configured to be out of contact with the gasket 224 when the connecting member 150 is fitted inside the tube portion 222 (see FIG. 3).

[0046] When the printing objects 220 with the connecting members 150 embedded therein are stacked on top of each other, they are magnetically attracted and fixed by the magnetic force. In the example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a configuration in which five printing objects 220 with the connecting members 150 embedded therein are stacked is shown. In this embodiment, a configuration in which one printing object 220 is attached to the holding member 140 is also adopted. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, a magnet 142 is also provided on the holding member 140, and a configuration in which the printing object 220 is fixed to the holding member 140 by magnetic attraction is adopted. In this embodiment, a screw protrusion 143 is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the holding member 140, so that the protrusion 223 (lug) of the printing object 220 can be fixed by screw fastening.

[0047] In this embodiment, the printing objects 220 with the connecting members 150 fitted therein are fixed so as to overlap with the printing objects 220 attached to the holding member 140. As a result, a total of six printing objects 220 are held by the holding member 140 in an overlapping state, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Although detailed illustration is omitted, the holding member 140 is provided with a total of six magnets 142, which are provided at positions where they are magnetically attracted to the magnets 152 in the connecting member 150 so as to obtain a centering effect with the connecting member 150. Therefore, the magnetic poles on the front side of the magnets 142 provided on the holding member 140 are arranged so that adjacent magnets 142 are different.

[0048] In this embodiment, the printing object 220 is configured as a cover made of a magnetic material, and the connecting member 150 and the printing object 220 are fixed by magnetic attraction. However, the printing object 220 may be configured of a non-magnetic material. Even in this case, the connecting members 150 are fixed to each other, or the holding member 140 and the connecting member 150 are fixed by magnetic attraction. Therefore, for example, in FIG. 3, if the leftmost printing object 220 is not placed, the other five printing objects 220 will be fixed by the adjacent connecting members 150 or It is fixed in a sandwiched state between the connecting member 150 and the holding member 140.

[0049] As described above, the printing method according to this embodiment includes a holding step of holding the printing object 220 on the holding member 140 using a connecting means in a state where the printing object 220 is stacked and connected with the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 exposed. This holding step is performed with the holding member 140 attached to the rotating shaft 131. However, as long as this does not impair the connection state of the printing object 220, the holding member 140 may be attached to the rotating shaft 131 after the holding step. The holding step may be performed manually by an operator, or automatically using a robot or the like.

[0050] In this embodiment, by devising the arrangement of magnets, etc., if the printing objects 220 in which the connecting member 150 is fitted are fixed so as to overlap each other, the printing objects 220 can be centered with each other. However, in this embodiment, in order to further improve the centering accuracy, a guide member 160 is used as shown in FIG. 5. That is, the guide member 160 plays a role of centering the multiple printing objects 220 by pressing the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 of the multiple printing objects 220 held by the holding member 140. This guide member 160 is provided in pair, and includes a first guide surface 161 that abuts against the outer circumferential surface of the holding member 140, a second guide surface 162 that abuts against the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 of the multiple printing objects 220, and a planar abutment surface 163 for butting the pair of guide members 160 against each other. Both the first guide surface 161 and the second guide surface 162 have a shape obtained by cutting a cylindrical surface vertically in half. The pair of guide members 160 configured as above are moved in the direction of arrow C in Fig. 5(a) to sandwich the multiple printing objects 220 held by the holding member 140, thereby centering them. In Fig. 5(a), the dotted lines indicate the state after the pair of guide members 160 have been moved. Fig. 5(b) shows the state as viewed in the direction of arrow V after only the left guide member 160 in Fig. 5(a) has been moved.

[0051] The above guide member 160 may be configured to be provided in the printing apparatus 100, or may be used as a jig without being provided in the printing apparatus 100. In the former case, the guide member 160 may be configured to be automatically movable, so that the guide member 160 can be moved after the holding step to perform centering (centering step). In the latter case, the centering step can be performed manually by an operator using the guide member 160 (centering step). In this case, the centering step may be performed after the holding step is completed with the holding member 140 attached to the rotating shaft 131, or the holding member 140 may be attached to the rotating shaft 131 after the holding step and after the centering step is completed, as long as the connection state of the printing object 220 is not affected. Note that if a sufficient centering effect can be obtained without performing centering using the guide member 160, the above centering step is not necessary.

[0052] After the above steps, the multiple printing objects 220 are rotated together with the holding member 140 by the rotation mechanism 130 provided in the printing device 100. Then, an image is printed on the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 of the rotating printing objects 220 by the stationary printing mechanism 120 (printing step). Note that the printing objects 220 rotate about a central axis that passes through the center of the circle of the top surface portion 221, which has a circular planar shape, and is parallel to the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical tube portion 222.

[0053] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the multiple printing objects 220 are held by the holding member 140 in a stacked state so as to be within a printing range H1 of the printing mechanism 120 in a direction parallel to the central axis direction of the rotation shaft 131. In other words, the range H2 in which the multiple tubular portions 222 are arranged when the multiple printing objects 220 are stacked is configured to be within the above-mentioned printing range H1. By configuring in this way, in the printing process, the outer circumferential surfaces of all the tubular portions 222 of the multiple printing objects 220 are The printing is done simultaneously.

[0054] However, the range H2 may be greater than the print range H1. In this case, after printing on a plurality of print objects 220 is completed, the print head 121 may be slid to print on the unprinted print objects 220. It goes without saying that printing may also be performed separately on the surface of the top surface 221 of the print object 220.

[0055] <Advantages of the printing device and printing method according to the present embodiment> According to the printing device 100 and printing method of this embodiment, by connecting a plurality of print objects 220 by a connecting means, it is possible to simultaneously print on the outer circumferential surfaces of a plurality of tube portions 222. This can increase productivity.

[0056] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which a rotation mechanism 130 is provided for rotating the print object 220 in order to relatively rotate the print mechanism 120 and the print object 220. This eliminates the need for a mechanism for rotating the print mechanism 120, and eliminates the need to complicate the configuration of the print mechanism 120.

[0057] In this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which a plurality of printing objects 220 are held by the holding member 140 in a stacked state so as to be within the printing range H1 of the printing mechanism 120 in a direction parallel to the central axis direction of the rotation shaft 131. This allows printing to be performed simultaneously on all of the printing objects 220 held by the holding member 140.

[0058] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the connection means employs a configuration in which multiple printing objects 220 are stacked and connected together and held by the holding member 140 using magnetic force, so that multiple printing objects 220 can be held by the holding member 140 with a simple configuration.

[0059] Furthermore, the connection member 150 constituting the connection means according to this embodiment has a configuration including a disk-shaped member 151 at least a portion of which contacts the inner surface of the top surface 221 of the printing object 220 and which contacts or is close to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of the tube portion 222. This makes it possible to improve the positioning accuracy of the printing object 220 relative to the connection member 150 (disk-shaped member 151).

[0060] Furthermore, the disk-shaped member 151 is made of a non-magnetic material, and a plurality of magnets 152 are disposed on the disk-shaped member 151, with adjacent magnets 152 disposed at equal distances from the center of the circle on the disk-shaped member 151 and at equal angles. This allows the printing objects 220 to be centered relative to one another by magnetic force when multiple printing objects 220 are stacked on top of one another.

[0061] Moreover, the printing object 220 according to this embodiment is a container lid, and the disk-shaped member 151 is configured to be out of contact with the gasket 224. This makes it possible to prevent the disk-shaped member 151 from adversely affecting the gasket 224 during printing.

[0062] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a guide member 160 is used that presses the outer peripheral surface of the tube portion 222 of the multiple printing objects 220 held by the holding member 140 to center the multiple printing objects 220. As a result, printing is performed in a state in which the multiple printing objects 220 are centered, so the accuracy of the printing position for each printing object 220 can be improved.

[0063] (others) In the above embodiment, the printing mechanism is an inkjet printing mechanism, but other printing mechanisms may be used as the printing mechanism according to the present invention.

[0064] In the above embodiment, the printing object is a container lid, but the printing object printed by the printing device of the present invention is not limited to a lid. Any object that has a top surface and a tubular portion hanging down from the periphery of the top surface can be printed by the printing device of the present invention. The shape of the tubular portion is not limited to a cylindrical shape.

[0065] In the above embodiment, a configuration has been shown in which printing is performed while rotating the print object with the print mechanism stationary. However, in the present invention, it is sufficient that the print mechanism and the print object are configured to rotate relative to each other. Therefore, a configuration may be adopted in which the print mechanism rotates while the print object is stationary, or a configuration in which both are rotated.

[0066] In the above embodiment, the connection means uses magnetic force, but the connection means of the present invention also includes a configuration using air pressure, electricity, mechanical pressure, and the like. In short, various configurations can be adopted that can hold the print objects 220 in a connected state on the holding member 140 while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the tube portion 222 exposed. For example, when air pressure is used, the print objects 220 can be held on the holding member 140 in a connected state by blowing high-pressure air from a pump. In addition, the print objects 220 can be held on the holding member 140 in a connected state by generating electrostatic force. Furthermore, the print objects 220 can be held on the holding member 140 in a connected state by using a structure that engages the print objects 220 with each other, or a fixture for temporarily fixing the print objects 220 with each other. When a configuration other than a configuration using magnetic force is used as the connection means, it goes without saying that the print object does not have to be a magnetic material. For example, a resin cap on a PET bottle for beverages can be used as the print object. In the above embodiment, a configuration in which the gasket 224 is separately provided as a sealing portion has been shown, but in the case of a resin cap, it is not necessary to separately provide a gasket as a sealing portion. [Explanation of symbols]

[0067] 100:Printing device 110: Housing 120: Printing mechanism 121: Print head 121a: Nozzle unit 122: Support shaft 123: Ink tank 124: Piping 130: Rotation mechanism 131: Rotation axis 132: Power source 140: Holding member 141: Fitting hole 142: Magnet 143: Screw protrusion 150: Connection parts 151: Disk-shaped member 152: Magnet 160: Guide member 161: First guide surface 162: Second guide surface 163: Contact surface 200: Container 210: Container body 220: Printing object 221:Top section 222: Cylinder part 223: Protrusion 224: Gasket

Claims

1. A printing device that prints an image on an outer circumferential surface of a cylindrical portion by using a printing mechanism that rotates relative to a printing object having a top surface and a cylindrical portion hanging down from a periphery of the top surface, A holding member for holding the printing object; a connecting means for connecting a plurality of the printing objects to the holding member while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion exposed; Equipped with A printing device configured to be able to print on the outer circumferential surfaces of a plurality of said cylindrical portions.

2. The printing device according to claim 1, further comprising a rotation mechanism for rotating the holding member, and wherein a stationary printing mechanism prints on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular portion of a plurality of the printing objects which are rotated together with the holding member by the rotation mechanism.

3. The printing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the rotation mechanism has a rotation shaft to which the holding member is attached, and a plurality of the printing objects are held by the holding member in a stacked state so as to be within a printing range of the printing mechanism in a direction parallel to the central axis direction of the rotation shaft.

4. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting means uses a magnetic force to hold the printing objects on the holding member in a state in which the printing objects are stacked and connected together.

5. 5. The printing device according to claim 4, wherein the connecting means includes a connecting member disposed inside the cylindrical portion and having a magnet.

6. 6. The printing device according to claim 5, wherein the connection member has a disk-shaped member at least a portion of which is in contact with the inner surface of the top surface portion and is in contact with or close to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion.

7. 7. The printing device according to claim 6, wherein the disk-shaped member is made of a non-magnetic material, a plurality of the magnets are disposed on the disk-shaped member, and adjacent magnets are disposed at equal distances from the center of the circle on the disk-shaped member and at equal angles.

8. The printing device according to claim 6, characterized in that the object to be printed is a lid for a container, a sealing portion for the container is provided along a corner near the boundary between the top surface portion and the cylindrical portion, and the disk-shaped member is configured so as to be out of contact with the gasket.

9. 4. A printing device as described in claim 1, further comprising a guide member for centering the multiple printing objects by pressing the outer circumferential surface of the tubular portion of the multiple printing objects held by the holding member.

10. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing mechanism is a mechanism for performing ink-jet printing.

11. a holding step of holding a printing object having a top surface portion and a tubular portion hanging down from a periphery of the top surface portion, in a state in which a plurality of the printing objects are stacked and connected to a holding member using a connecting means while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the tubular portion exposed; a printing step of printing an image on an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion by a printing mechanism that rotates relative to the printing object; A printing method comprising:

12. The printing method according to claim 11 , wherein in the printing step, printing is performed simultaneously on the outer circumferential surfaces of all of the cylindrical portions of the plurality of printing objects.

13. The printing method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that it includes a centering step, which is performed after the holding step and before the printing step, by using a guide member to press the outer peripheral surface of the tubular portion of the multiple printing objects held by the holding member, thereby centering the multiple printing objects.

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