CN106364181B - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a printing device, which can ensure the simplicity of replacing a cutter and can inhibit foreign matters from entering a cutter moving path in a medium conveying groove. The printing device comprises a pipe conveying groove, a cutter (27), a cutter mounting part, a cutter cover (510) and a supporting spring (580). The tube transfer groove extends in the transfer direction of the tubes. The cutter (27) has a cutter handle (27A) projecting upward and is movable along a cutter movement path. The cutter moving path includes an entering position where the cutter (27) enters the pipe conveying groove and a retreating position retreating from the pipe conveying groove. The cutter (27) is detachably mounted on the cutter mounting portion. The cutter cover (510) has an opening (524) for exposing the cutter (27) located at the retreat position upward, and covers the cutter moving path in the pipe conveying groove from above. The support spring (580) supports the cutter cover (510) so as to be movable in the vertical direction.

Description

Printing apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus capable of cutting a printing medium.

Background

Conventionally, a printing apparatus is known in which a long print medium is printed and then cut by a cutter. The long medium printing apparatus described in patent document 1 includes a conveying roller, a cutter, and a stepping motor. The transport roller transports a printing medium in the form of a long strip such as a vinyl chloride pipe. The cutter has a cutter blade and a cutter blade receiving base disposed perpendicular to the cutter blade, and cuts the printing medium. The stepping motor drives the conveying roller and causes the cutting blade to approach or separate with respect to the cutting blade receiving table. The long medium printing apparatus prints characters or the like on a print medium, and then brings the cutter blade into contact with the cutter blade receiving base by the stepping motor. The printed printing medium is sandwiched between the cutter blade and the cutter blade receiving table and is cut off.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2005-313410

Disclosure of Invention

In the long medium printing apparatus, a cutting area where the transport path of the printing medium and the moving path of the cutter intersect with each other is exposed to the outside. Therefore, there is a possibility that foreign matter enters the cutting region. In this case, it is considered that the long medium printing apparatus includes a cover covering the cutting area. In the long medium printing apparatus, it is preferable that the cutter consumed by repeated use be replaceable. Therefore, in the case where a cover is provided to cover the cutting area, there is a possibility that the user may have difficulty in replacing the cutter.

The invention aims to provide a printing device which can ensure the simplicity of replacing a cutter and can prevent foreign matters from entering a cutter moving path in a medium conveying groove.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a printing member that performs printing on the long-sized printing medium conveyed by the conveying member; a medium transport slot that is open in a first direction intersecting a transport direction of the print medium and extends in the transport direction; a cutter having a cutter handle protruding in the first direction and being movable along a cutter movement path intersecting the first direction and the conveyance direction, the cutter movement path including an entry position at which the cutter enters the medium conveyance slot and a retreat position at which the cutter retreats from the medium conveyance slot; a cutter moving mechanism for moving the cutter along the cutter moving path; a cutter mounting portion which is provided to the cutter moving mechanism, opens in the first direction, and to which the cutter is detachably mounted; a cutter cover having an opening portion for exposing the cutter positioned at the retreat position in the first direction, and covering the cutter moving path in the medium transport groove from the first direction; and a support member that supports the cutter cover so as to be movable to a first position and a second position, the second position being located closer to a second direction opposite to the first direction than the first position.

According to the above aspect, the cutter cover covers the cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove from the first direction. Thus, the printing device can prevent foreign matters from entering a moving path of the cutting blade in the medium conveying groove from the first direction. The cutter cover further has an opening portion for exposing the cutter located at the retracted position in the first direction. A handle for the cutter, which is protruded towards the first direction. The support member supports the cutter cover so as to be movable to a first position and a second position located closer to a second direction opposite to the first direction than the first position. The user moves the cutter cover to the second position when changing the cutter. This makes it easy for the user to hold the cutter handle. A user holds a cutter handle of the cutter, and attaches and detaches the cutter to and from the cutter mounting portion opened in the first direction through the opening portion. The user can easily replace the cutter. Therefore, the printing apparatus can ensure the simplicity of replacing the cutter and can prevent foreign matters from entering a cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the support member may include a spring member that biases the cutter cover in the first direction to hold the cutter cover at the first position, and a portion of the cutter cover located at the first position, which covers the cutter movement path in the medium transport slot from the first direction, may be located closer to the first direction than an end of the cutter handle in the first direction. In this case, the cutter cover is held in the first position by the support member. The user moves the cutter cover from the first position to the second position when changing the cutter. Thereby, the user can easily replace the cutter. The cutter cover at the first position covers a cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove from the first direction, and a part of the cutter cover at the first position is positioned closer to the first direction than an end of the cutter handle in the first direction. Therefore, in a state where the cutter cover is located at the first position, even if the cutter moves along the cutter moving path within the medium conveying slot, the cutter and the cutter cover do not interfere with each other. On the other hand, therefore, the printing apparatus can prevent the cutter and the cutter cover from interfering with each other in the case where the cutter moves along the cutter moving path within the medium conveying slot.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the opening of the cutter cover located at the second position may be located closer to the second direction than an end of the cutter handle in the first direction. In this case, a portion of the cutter cover located at the second position, which covers the cutter movement path in the medium transport slot from the first direction, is located closer to the second direction than the end of the cutter handle in the first direction. That is, the cutter handle of the cutter located at the retracted position protrudes in the first direction from the opening. Therefore, the user can easily grip the cutter handle. Therefore, the printing apparatus can easily replace the cutter. When the cutter cover is located at the second position, the cutter can be limited from entering the medium conveying groove.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention may include: a receiving table having a receiving table handle protruding in the first direction and capable of contacting the cutter located at the entry position; and a receiving table mounting portion to which the receiving table is detachably mounted from the first direction, wherein a portion of the cutter cover located at the second position, which covers the cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove from the first direction, is located closer to the second direction than an end portion of the receiving table handle in the first direction. In this case, the printing apparatus can cut the printing medium by sandwiching the printing medium between the cutter and the receiving table by moving the cutter from the retreat position to the retreat position. The receiving table is detachable from the receiving table mounting portion in the first direction. The cutter cover at the second position is located at a position covering the cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove from the first direction and closer to the second direction than the end of the receiving table handle in the first direction. Therefore, the user can easily hold the pedestal handle. Therefore, the printing apparatus can easily replace the receiving table.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the cutter cover may be rotatable to the first position and the second position about a rotation fulcrum extending in the transport direction, and the cutter cover may be arranged in the order of the medium transport groove, the retracted position, and the rotation fulcrum in a direction from the entry position to the retracted position. In this case, if a portion of the cutter cover covering the medium conveying groove is pressed in the second direction, the cutter located at the retreat position approaches the opening portion. Therefore, the printing apparatus can easily replace the cutter.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention may include: a conveying groove cover that is rotatable within a range including a standby position located on a downstream side in the conveying direction from the cutter moving path, and that includes an arm portion supported by the cutter cover so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis extending in a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the conveying direction, and a cover portion that is provided at a position different from the rotation axis in the arm portion and rotates in accordance with rotation of the arm portion; and a restricting portion that restricts rotation of the conveying groove cover in a direction closer to the cutter moving path than the standby position, wherein the cover enters the medium conveying groove on a downstream side in the conveying direction than the cutter moving path when the conveying groove cover is at the standby position, and the rotation shaft is positioned in the first direction than the medium conveying groove. In this case, when the conveying groove cover is in the standby position, the cover portion enters the medium conveying groove on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the cutter moving path. The conveying groove cover is limited by the limiting part to rotate in a direction closer to the moving path of the cutting knife than the standby position. Therefore, the printing apparatus can suppress the foreign matter from entering the moving path of the cutter in the medium conveying groove from the downstream side in the conveying direction.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, when the cutter cover moves from the first position to the second position, the cover portion may contact the medium transport slot to rotate the transport slot cover from the standby position in a direction away from the cutter moving path. In this case, when the cutter cover moves from the first position to the second position, the conveyance slot cover moves to the conveyance direction downstream side by the contact of the cover portion with the medium conveyance slot. Therefore, the printing apparatus can easily move the cutter cover from the first position to the second position, and thus the cutter can be easily replaced.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the cover may be a roller supported by the arm so as to be rotatable about a rotary shaft extending in parallel with the rotary shaft, and an axis of the rotary shaft may be located on a downstream side in the transport direction from an axis of the rotary shaft. In this case, the axis of the rotation shaft of the roller is located on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the axis of the rotation shaft of the arm. Therefore, when the cutter cover moves from the first position to the second position, the roller moves to the downstream side in the conveyance direction by contacting the medium conveyance slot. That is, when the cutter cover moves from the first position to the second position, the arm portion can be easily rotated in a direction away from the cutter moving path. Therefore, the printing apparatus can easily move the cutter cover from the first position to the second position, and thus the cutter can be easily replaced.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the arm may include a surface that extends in a direction inclined toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction with respect to the second direction and toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction when the conveyance slot cover is located at the standby position. In this case, if a surface extending toward the upstream side in the conveying direction and in a direction inclined toward the downstream side in the conveying direction with respect to the second direction with the conveying slot cover located at the standby position comes into contact with the printing medium conveyed by the conveying member, the arm portion can be easily rotated in a direction away from the cutter moving path.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention may further include a pressing member that presses the printing medium located in the medium transport slot in the second direction, wherein the printing member is provided upstream in the transport direction from the cutter movement path, and the pressing member is provided between the printing member and the cutter movement path in the medium transport slot. In this case, the printed printing medium is pressed toward the medium conveying slot by the pressing member and conveyed along the cutter moving path. Therefore, the printing apparatus can convey the printed printing medium along the medium conveying slot, and thus can cut the printing medium appropriately by the cutter.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1 with the cover 12 in the closed position, as viewed from the upper right front.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1 with the cover 12 in the open position, as viewed from the front right above.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the main body case 11.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the cover 12.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the first pressing member 41.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the second pressing member 46.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the area surrounded by W1 of fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the tube cutting mechanism 100 as viewed from the front left upward.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view from the left rear upper side showing the mounting form of the cutter 27 and the receiving table 180.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the vicinity of the left end portion of the attachment cover 111 and the cut region protecting portion 500 viewed from the rear right lower side.

Fig. 11 is an exploded perspective view of the cut region protection unit 500 as viewed from the front left upper side.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a part of the tube cutting mechanism 100 and the cut region protecting part 500 as viewed from the left rear upper side.

Fig. 13 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X1-X1 of fig. 7 with the cutter 27 at the retracted position and the cutter cover 510 at the upward position.

Fig. 14 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X1-X1 of fig. 7 with the cutter 27 in the cutting position and the cutter cover 510 in the up position.

Fig. 15 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X1-X1 of fig. 7 with the cutter 27 located at the retracted position and the cutter cover 510 located at the lower position.

Fig. 16 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X2-X2 of fig. 7 with the cutter cover 510 in the upper position and the conveying chute cover 540 in the standby position.

Fig. 17 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X2-X2 of fig. 7 in a case where the cutter cover 510 is located at the upper position and the conveying chute cover 540 is rotated from the standby position in a direction away from the cutter moving path.

Fig. 18 is a sagittal sectional view taken along line X2-X2 of fig. 7 with the cutter cover 510 in the lower position and the conveying chute cover 540 rotated from the standby position in a direction away from the cutter moving path.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The attached drawings are referred to for explaining technical features that the present invention can adopt. The structure of the device shown in the drawings is not limited to this, but is merely an illustrative example. In the following description, the upper right, lower left, lower right, upper left, upper right, and lower sides of fig. 1 are defined as the rear, front, right, left, upper, and lower sides of the printing apparatus 1, respectively.

The structure of the printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 3. The printing apparatus 1 is an apparatus capable of printing characters such as characters and symbols on a long cylindrical printing medium, i.e., a tube 9, and a tape (not shown) as a tape-shaped printing medium, and cutting the printed tube 9 and tape.

As shown in fig. 1, the printing apparatus 1 includes a housing 10 including a main body case 11 and a cover 12. The main body case 11 is a box-shaped member in a rectangular parallelepiped shape long in the left-right direction. The main body case 11 includes a case 112 opened upward and a mounting cover 111 (see fig. 2) provided on the upper side of the case 112. The cover 12 is a plate-like member disposed on the upper side of the main body case 11. The rear end portion of the cover 12 is supported to be rotatable on the upper side of the rear end portion of the main body case 11. The cover 12 can be rotated about the rear end portion to a closed position (see fig. 1) closed with respect to the main body case 11 and an open position (see fig. 2) opened with respect to the main body case 11. The lock mechanism 13 is provided on the upper side of the front end portion of the main body case 11. The lock mechanism 13 is locked to the front end portion of the lid 12 located at the closed position to restrict the opening of the lid 12. In the following description, the components will be described with reference to a state in which the lid 12 is in the closed position.

The cover 12 in the closed position covers the mounting surface 11A (see fig. 2) which is the upper surface of the mounting cover 111. When the user opens the lid 12, the locking mechanism 13 is operated to release the locking of the lid 12, and the lid 12 is rotated upward from the locking mechanism 13. When the cover 12 is opened with respect to the main body case 11, the attachment surface 11A is exposed upward (see fig. 2).

An operation unit 17, a tape outlet 14, a tube insertion opening 15, a tube outlet 16 (see fig. 2), and a handle 18 are provided on a side surface of the housing 10. The operation unit 17 is a plurality of operation buttons including a power button and a start button. The operation portion 17 is provided at the upper right side of the front surface of the main body case 11. The tape discharge port 14 is an opening for discharging the tape to the outside of the cabinet 10. The tape discharge port 14 is rectangular and long in the vertical direction, and is provided at the upper right portion of the front surface of the casing 10.

The pipe insertion opening 15 is an opening for guiding the pipe 9 (see fig. 3) into the casing 10. The pipe insertion opening 15 is rectangular and slightly long in the vertical direction, and is provided at the upper rear portion of the right surface of the main body case 11.

A sponge-like cleaner 15A for closing the opening of the tube insertion opening 15 is provided in the tube insertion opening 15. Three diagonal slits in the form of a regular hexagon in right side view are formed in the cleaner 15A. The slit 15B of the three slits extends in the up-down direction, and the upper end of the slit 15B reaches the upper end of the cleaner 15A. The pipe 9 is inserted downward from the upper end of the slit 15B when being mounted in a pipe transfer groove 40 described later. The pipe 9 is held by the cleaner 15A in a posture in which the intersection point of the three slits substantially coincides with the center of the cross section of the pipe 9. The cleaner 15A stabilizes the posture of the tube 9 supplied from the outside of the printing apparatus 1. The cleaner 15A wipes off dust adhering to the surface of the pipe 9 as a printing surface.

The pipe discharge port 16 is an opening for discharging the pipe 9 to the outside of the cabinet 10. The pipe discharge port 16 is rectangular and slightly long in the vertical direction, and is provided in the upper rear portion of the left surface of the main body case 11. The tube discharge port 16 is located slightly forward of the tube insertion port 15. The handle 18 is a member held by the user when the printing apparatus 1 is conveyed. The handle 18 is mounted on the left and right surfaces of the casing 10 and can be rotated in the front-rear direction through the upper side of the main body case 11.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the cover 12 is provided with a window 121 and a window 122. The window portions 121 and 122 are formed of a translucent member in a rectangular shape in plan view. The window 121 is provided at a position corresponding to the tape attaching portion 20 (described later) when the cover 12 is at the closed position (i.e., at the right portion of the cover 12 in a plan view). The window 122 is provided at a position corresponding to the ink ribbon mounting portion 30 (described later) when the cover 12 is at the closed position (i.e., at the left portion of the cover 12 in a plan view). The user can confirm the tape cassette 80 mounted on the tape mounting portion 20 described later through the window portion 121. The user can confirm the ink ribbon cassette 90 mounted on the ink ribbon mounting portion 30 described later through the window portion 122.

A control board (not shown), a power supply unit (not shown), and the like are provided inside the main body case 11. The control board is a board provided with a CPU, ROM, RAM, and the like, and controls various operations of the printing apparatus 1. For example, the control board controls the printing operation of the tube printing unit 60 and the cutting operation of the tube cutting mechanism 100. The printing operation is an operation of printing characters on the tube 9. The cutting operation is an operation of cutting the printed tube 9. The control board of this example is provided at the rear right portion inside the main body case 11 and extends in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The power supply unit is connected to a battery (not shown) mounted in the main body case 11 or an external power supply (not shown) via a cable, and supplies power to the printing apparatus 1. The power supply unit of this example is provided on the front side of the control board.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the printing apparatus 1 includes a tape printing unit 50, a tape cutting mechanism (not shown), a tube printing unit 60, a first pressing member 41 (see fig. 2), a second pressing member 46 (see fig. 2), a tube cutting mechanism 100, a cut region protection unit 500, and the like. The tape printing portion 50 is a portion for printing a tape (not shown) stored in the tape cassette 80. The tape printer 50 is provided on the mounting surface 11A. The tape printing unit 50 includes a tape mounting unit 20, a print head 52 (see fig. 3), a tape drive shaft 55 (see fig. 3), and the like.

The tape mounting portion 20 is a portion to which the tape cassette 80 can be attached and detached. The tape cassette 80 is a box-like body having a rectangular shape in plan view and capable of accommodating a tape (not shown) and an ink ribbon (not shown). The tape cassette 80 is, for example, a laminate tape cassette. The tape mounting portion 20 is a recess that is opened upward and is formed in an opening shape that substantially corresponds to the tape cassette 80 in a plan view. The belt mounting portion 20 of this example is provided on the right portion of the mounting surface 11A and on the front side of a pipe conveying groove 40 described later.

The print head 52 and the tape drive shaft 55 are respectively erected upward from the bottom surface of the tape mounting portion 20. The print head 52 is a thermal head provided with a heating element (not shown) provided on the right portion of the tape mounting portion 20. The belt drive shaft 55 is a shaft portion that is provided at the right front portion of the belt attachment portion 20 and is rotatable in the clockwise direction in plan view. The tape drive shaft 55 is inserted into the tape cassette 80 mounted on the tape mounting portion 20. In this state, the belt drive shaft 55 conveys the belt by rotation.

The tape cutting mechanism is a mechanism that cuts the printed tape. The tape cutting mechanism includes a cutter (not shown) for cutting the tape, a drive motor (not shown) for driving the cutter, and the like. The cutter is disposed in the vicinity of the tape discharge port 14. The drive motor is provided inside the main body case 11. The printed tape is cut by the tape cutting mechanism and then discharged from the tape discharge port 14 to the outside of the housing 10.

The tube printing section 60 is a section for printing the tube 9. The tube printing unit 60 is provided on the mounting surface 11A. The tube printing unit 60 includes a ribbon mounting unit 30, a tube transfer slot 40, a print head 61, a ribbon take-up shaft 63, a transfer roller 65, a transfer roller 66, a transfer roller 67, a transfer roller 68, a transfer roller 69, and the like.

The ink ribbon mounting portion 30 is a portion to which the ink ribbon cassette 90 can be attached and detached. The ribbon cartridge 90 is a box-like body having a rectangular shape in a plan view and capable of accommodating an ink ribbon (not shown). The ink ribbon mounting portion 30 is a recess that is opened upward and is formed in an opening shape that substantially corresponds to the ink ribbon cartridge 90 in a plan view. The ink ribbon mounting portion 30 of this example is provided on the left portion of the mounting surface 11A and on the front side of a tube conveying groove 40 described later.

The pipe transfer groove 40 is a groove portion to which the pipe 9 can be attached and detached. The pipe transfer groove 40 extends from the pipe insertion opening 15 to the pipe discharge opening 16 and opens upward. Since the pipe discharge port 16 is located slightly forward of the pipe insertion port 15, the pipe conveyance groove 40 is slightly inclined to the left forward side and extends in the substantially left-right direction. The direction in which the pipe transfer groove 40 extends from the pipe insertion opening 15 to the pipe discharge opening 16 is referred to as a transfer direction. The conveying direction is parallel to the left-right direction and orthogonal to the up-down direction and the front-back direction.

As shown in fig. 3, the tube transfer groove 40 includes a reference surface 401, a side surface 402, and a side surface 403. The reference surface 401 forms the bottom surface of the pipe transfer groove 40 and extends in the transfer direction. The side surface 402 extends upward from a portion between an upstream end in the conveyance direction and a downstream end in the conveyance direction at a rear end of the reference surface 401. The side surface 403 extends from the end on the upstream side in the transport direction to the portion connected to the right rear end of the ink ribbon mounting portion 30 and from the portion connected to the left rear end of the ink ribbon mounting portion 30 to the end on the downstream side in the transport direction at the front end of the reference surface 401. That is, the portions where the tube feeding groove 40 and the ink ribbon mount 30 intersect (i.e., the rear portion of the ink ribbon mount 30) are spatially connected to each other.

The opening cross section of the tube transport groove 40 orthogonal to the transport direction is slightly larger than the cross section orthogonal to the extending direction of the tube 9 (i.e., the cross section of the tube 9), except for the portion where the tube transport groove 40 and the ink ribbon mounting portion 30 are spatially connected. The user mounts the tube 9 in the tube conveying groove 40 in the conveying direction in such a manner that the tube 9 extends from the tube insertion port 15 to the tube discharge port 16.

The print head 61 and the ribbon take-up shaft 63 are respectively erected upward from the bottom surface of the ribbon loading unit 30. The print head 61 is a thermal head provided with a heating element (not shown) provided at the rear of the ribbon cartridge 30. The printhead 61 prints on the tube 9. The ribbon take-up spool 63 is a shaft portion that enables a ribbon take-up spool 92 provided in the ribbon cartridge 90 to rotate. The ribbon take-up shaft 63 pulls out an unused ink ribbon from the inside of the ribbon cassette 90 by rotating the ribbon take-up spool 92, and takes up a used ink ribbon.

The conveying rollers 65 to 69 are rollers for conveying the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40 in the conveying direction. The conveying roller 65 is provided at a position facing the print head 61 across the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40. The conveying roller 66 is provided on the rear side of the tube conveying groove 40 and on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the conveying roller 65. The conveying roller 67 is disposed on the rear side of the tube conveying groove 40 and on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the conveying roller 65. The transport rollers 65 to 67 are respectively erected upward from the bottom surface of the ribbon mounting section 30 and are rotatable clockwise in plan view.

The conveying roller 68 is provided at a position opposed to the conveying roller 66 across the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40. The conveying roller 69 is provided at a position facing the conveying roller 67 across the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40. That is, of the conveying rollers 65 to 69, the conveying roller 66 and the conveying roller 68 are located closest to the upstream side in the conveying direction, and the conveying roller 67 and the conveying roller 69 are located closest to the downstream side in the conveying direction. The transfer roller 68 and the transfer roller 69 are provided standing upward from the bottom surface of the ink ribbon mounting portion 30, and are rotatable counterclockwise in a plan view. A drive motor (not shown) for rotationally driving the transport rollers 65 to 69 and the ribbon take-up shaft 63 is provided inside the main body casing 11.

The conveying roller 68 and the conveying roller 69 are movable to a printing position and a non-printing position, respectively. At the printing position, the conveying roller 68 and the conveying roller 69 approach the conveying roller 66 and the conveying roller 67, respectively, across the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40. In the non-printing position, the conveying roller 68 and the conveying roller 69 are located on the front side of the conveying roller 68 and the conveying roller 69 in the printing position and away from the conveying roller 66 and the conveying roller 67, respectively. The user moves the conveying rollers 68 and 69 to the printing position and the non-printing position by operating the opening/closing lever 71. The opening/closing lever 71 is a rectangular parallelepiped member provided in the vicinity of the rear end of the mounting surface 11A. The right end of the opening/closing lever 71 is pivotally supported on the mounting surface 11A. The opening/closing lever 71 is rotatable about a right end portion thereof in a counterclockwise direction in the front view and in a clockwise direction in the front view between a position extending upward and a position extending leftward. When the opening/closing lever 71 is positioned to extend upward, the conveyance roller 68 and the conveyance roller 69 are positioned at the non-printing position. When the opening/closing lever 71 is positioned to extend leftward, the conveyance roller 68 and the conveyance roller 69 are positioned at the printing position.

The print head 61 is coupled to a head drive motor (not shown) provided in the main body case 11. The print head 61 is movable to a printing position and a non-printing position in accordance with the driving of the head driving motor. With the print head 61 in the printing position, the print head 61 sandwiches the tube 9 with the conveyance roller 65. When the print head 61 is in the non-printing position, the print head 61 is disposed on the front side of the tube transport groove 40 and away from the transport roller 65.

In a state where the print head 61 is in the non-printing position, if the ribbon cartridge 90 is mounted on the ribbon mounting portion 30, the ribbon take-up shaft 63 is inserted into the ribbon take-up spool 92. Thereafter, the print head 61 is moved to the printing position as the head driving motor is driven. The print head 61 superimposes the tube 9 mounted in the tube transport groove 40 on an unused ink ribbon (not shown) and biases the transport roller 65. At this time, the tube 9, which is biased, is elastically deformed and brought into surface contact with the print head 61 via the ink ribbon.

As shown in fig. 2, the first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46 are provided on the lower surface 123 of the cover 12. The lower surface 123 is a surface that opposes the mounting surface 11A when the cover 12 is in the closed position. The first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46 are each retracted from the tube transfer groove 40 and separated from the tube 9 mounted in the tube transfer groove 40 when the cover 12 is at the open position. The first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46 enter the tube transfer groove 40 when the lid 12 is in the closed position, and press the tube 9 attached to the tube transfer groove 40 downward.

As shown in fig. 3, the first pressing member 41 is disposed at the position shown at S1 when the cover 12 is at the closed position. The position indicated by S1 is a position slightly downstream in the conveying direction from the intermediate position between the tube insertion port 15 and the conveying roller 66 in the conveying direction and is located in the tube conveying groove 40. The second pressing member 46 is disposed at the position shown at S2 when the lid 12 is located at the closed position. The position shown at S2 is a position substantially in the middle of the print head 61 and the conveyance roller 67 in the conveyance direction and is located in the tube conveyance slot 40. Details of the first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46 are described later.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the tube cutting mechanism 100 is a mechanism for cutting the tube 9 after printing. The tube cutting mechanism 100 is provided near the left end of the tube conveying groove 40. The cutting region protection part 500 is a part for suppressing entry of foreign matter into a region where the tube 9 is cut by the tube cutting mechanism 100. The cutting area protection part 500 is provided near the left end of the pipe transfer groove 40. The details of the tube cutting mechanism 100 and the cutting region guard 500 are described later.

In the mounting cover 111, an opening 116 penetrating in the vertical direction is formed near the left end of the pipe transfer groove 40. A part of the tube cutting mechanism 100 and a part of the cutting region protection part 500 are exposed upward from the opening 116. That is, the tube cutting mechanism 100 and the cutting region protection part 500 are provided in a range from the lower side to the upper side of the attachment cap 111.

The detailed structure of the first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46 will be described with reference to fig. 4 to 6. As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the first pressing member 41 includes an arm portion 43, a roller 45, and a first urging member 44. The arm portion 43 has a rectangular shape extending in the conveyance direction in a plan view. An end 431 (see fig. 5) on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the arm portion 43 is supported by the support portion 124 of the cover 12 on the lower surface 123 side so as to be rotatable about the shaft portion 42. The shaft portion 42 extends in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. The support portion 124 is a portion extending perpendicularly from the lower surface 123.

The arm 43 includes a guide portion 433 extending upward from a side connecting the end 431 and the end 432 on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the arm 43. The cover 12 includes a pair of plate-like guide portions 125 and 126 (see fig. 4) extending substantially perpendicularly from the lower surface 123. The guide portions 125, 126 extend in the conveying direction. The guide portion 433 is disposed between the pair of guide portions 125 and 126. The guide portion 433 is guided between the pair of guide portions 125 and 126, and the arm portion 43 rotates about the shaft portion 42.

The roller 45 is supported by the end portion 432 so as to be rotatable clockwise in the front view of fig. 5. The roller 45 is retracted from the pipe conveying groove 40 when the lid 12 is at the open position (see fig. 2). On the other hand, when the cover 12 is in the closed position, the roller 45 enters the pipe conveying groove 40 (see fig. 5). The length of the roller 45 in the axial direction (hereinafter, the width of the roller 45) is selected in accordance with the diameter of the tube 9. The width of the roller 45 is smaller than the length of the pipe conveying groove 40 in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and the vertical direction. Thereby, the roller 45 can enter the pipe conveying groove 40. In this example, the width of the roller 45 is greater than the smallest diameter of the tube 9 that can be printed.

The first biasing member 44 is a torsion spring having a coil portion (not shown) and a pair of locking portions (not shown) extending radially outward from the coil portion. One engagement portion of the first urging member 44 is fixed to the arm portion 43. The other locking portion of the first biasing member 44 is fixed to the cover 12. The first biasing member 44 biases the arm portion 43 to rotate downward (counterclockwise in the front view). Thereby, the roller 45 presses the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40 downward when the cover 12 is positioned at the closed position.

As shown in fig. 4 and 6, the second pressing member 46 includes a support portion 48, a pressing portion 47, and a second urging member 49 (see fig. 6). The support portion 48 is a box-shaped member that is provided on the lower surface 123 and opens downward. The pressing portion 47 is opened upward and inserted into the support portion 48 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The lower end of the pressing portion 47 protrudes downward from the opening of the support portion 48. The lower end portion of the pressing portion 47 supports the roller 471 to be rotatable clockwise in the front view of fig. 6. The length of the roller 471 in the axial direction (hereinafter, the width of the roller 471) is selected according to the diameter of the tube 9. The width of the roller 471 is smaller than the length of the tube conveying groove 40 in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and the vertical direction. Thereby, the roller 471 can enter the pipe transfer groove 40. In this example, the width of roller 471 is greater than the smallest diameter of tube 9 that can be printed.

The second biasing member 49 is a compression coil spring provided inside the support portion 48. The upper end of the second biasing member 49 is fixed to the bottom surface of the support portion 48. The lower end portion of the second biasing member 49 is fixed to the bottom surface of the pressing portion 47. The second biasing member 49 biases the pressing portion 47 downward. Thus, the roller 471 pushes the tube 9 mounted in the tube transfer groove 40 downward when the lid 12 is at the closed position. When the lid 12 is in the closed position, the load with which the second pressing member 46 presses the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40 is set to be smaller than the load with which the first pressing member 41 presses the tube 9 mounted in the tube conveying groove 40. The position indicated by S1 is on the upstream side in the conveying direction than the position indicated by S2. Thus, the printing apparatus 1 can reliably press the tube 9 while suppressing the jamming at the time of tube conveyance.

The detailed structure of the pipe cutting mechanism 100 will be described with reference to fig. 8 and 9. The tube cutting mechanism 100 is provided between the conveying roller 67 and the conveying roller 69 and the tube discharge port 16 in the conveying direction (see fig. 3). The tube cutting mechanism 100 is a mechanism for cutting the printed tube 9. The cutting operation includes half cutting and full cutting. The half-cutting in this example is an operation of cutting the pipe 9 while leaving a part in the circumferential direction. The full cutting in this example is an operation of cutting the tube 9 in the entire circumferential direction to cut it into two or more pieces.

As shown in fig. 8, the tube cutting mechanism 100 includes a holding member 102, a cutter moving mechanism 150, a receiving table moving mechanism 160, a cutter 27, a receiving table 180, and the like. The holding member 102 is a plate-like member having a substantially rectangular shape in side view provided below the pipe transfer groove 40 (see fig. 2). The holding member 102 includes a holding wall portion 102A and a fixed wall portion 102B. The holding wall portion 102A is a plate-like member having a rectangular shape in side view and extending in the front-rear vertical direction. The holding wall portion 102A holds a plurality of members. The fixed wall portion 102B extends rightward from the upper end portion of the holding wall portion 102A. The fixed wall portion 102B is a rectangular plate-like member extending in the front-rear-left-right direction in a plan view. The fixed wall portion 102B is fixed inside the main body case 11.

A dc motor 104 is fixed to a front portion of the right surface of the holding wall portion 102A. The output shaft of the dc motor 104 extends in the left-right direction and penetrates the holding wall portion 102A. The dc motor 104 is driven to rotate in the forward direction and the reverse direction around the output shaft. A motor gear 104A is provided at a distal end portion of an output shaft of the dc motor 104.

The cutter moving mechanism 150 is a mechanism for moving a cutter 27, which will be described later, in the front-rear direction. The cutter moving mechanism 150 includes a rotating member 106, a connecting member 220, a torsion spring 235, a support member 152, a guide shaft 278, an arm member 277, and a moving portion 272. The rotating member 106 is disposed behind the left surface of the holding wall portion 102A. The rotating member 106 is a member that can rotate about an axis (not shown) extending in the left-right direction, and has a thickness in the left-right direction. A tooth portion 106A is formed on the right portion of the rotating member 106. The tooth portion 106A is formed in an annular shape as viewed from the right, and is coupled to the motor gear 104A via a plurality of gears (not shown). The rotating member 106 includes a pressing pin 215A. The pressing pin 215A is a cylinder protruding leftward from the left surface of the rotating member 106.

Hereinafter, the counterclockwise direction (i.e., the direction toward which the arrow B1 faces) as viewed from the left in the rotation direction of the rotating member 106 is referred to as the arrow B1 direction, and the opposite direction (the direction toward which the arrow B2 faces) to the arrow B1 direction is referred to as the arrow B2 direction. When the dc motor 104 is rotationally driven in the forward direction, the rotary member 106 rotates in the direction of arrow B1, and when the dc motor 104 is rotationally driven in the reverse direction, the rotary member 106 rotates in the direction of arrow B2.

The rotating member 106 shown by fig. 8 is in an initial rotational position. When the rotary member 106 is located at the initial rotational position, the pressing pin 215A moves from a rotational position located directly above the rotational center of the rotary member 106 to a rotational position slightly moving in the arrow B1 direction.

The coupling member 220 is provided on the left side of the rotating member 106 and behind the motor gear 104A. The connecting member 220 is a plate-like member having a substantially L-shape in right side view. The coupling member 220 is rotatable about a coupling shaft portion 223 extending in the left-right direction. The right end of the connecting shaft 223 is fixed to the holding wall 102A. Hereinafter, a counterclockwise direction (i.e., a direction toward which an arrow B3 faces) as viewed from the left side with the connecting shaft portion 223 as a center is referred to as an arrow B3 direction, and a direction opposite to the arrow B3 direction (i.e., a direction toward which an arrow B4 faces) is referred to as an arrow B4 direction. The coupling member 220 is biased in the direction of arrow B4 by a spring 220A provided on the coupling shaft 223.

The connecting member 220 includes a first plate-like portion 221 and a second plate-like portion 222. The first plate-like portion 221 is a plate-like portion extending in the substantially front-rear direction below the pipe conveying groove 40. The second plate-like portion 222 extends upward from the distal end of the first plate-like portion 221 at an angle of approximately 90 ° relative to the first plate-like portion 221. The upper end of the second plate-like portion 222 is disposed on the front side of the pipe transfer groove 40.

The first plate-like portion 221 includes a spring shaft portion 226, a locking piece 225, and a locking piece 227. The spring shaft portion 226 protrudes leftward from the left surface of the first plate-like portion 221. Both the locking piece 225 and the locking piece 227 protrude leftward from the first plate-like portion 221 at the rear side of the spring shaft portion 226. The locking piece 225 is provided at the upper rear end portion of the first plate-like portion 221. The locking piece 227 is provided at a portion of the lower end portion of the first plate-like portion 221 that is located on the rear side of the front-rear direction center. The second plate-like portion 222 includes a protruding pin 238. The protruding pin 238 protrudes rightward from the upper end portion of the second plate-like portion 222.

The torsion spring 235 is disposed on the spring shaft 226 in an elastically deformed state. The torsion spring 235 includes an extension 231 and an extension 232. The extension 231 is locked to the locking piece 225 by biasing the locking piece 225 from below. The extension portion 232 is biased from above to the locking piece 227 and locked to the locking piece 227.

When the rotating member 106 is at the initial rotational position, the connecting member 220 is biased by the spring 220A, and thus the extension 231 comes into contact with the pressing pin 215A from below. Hereinafter, the rotational position of the connection member 220 coupled to the rotating member 106 located at the initial rotational position via the extension set part 231 is referred to as a separated rotational position (refer to fig. 8). When the link member 220 is located at the separation rotation position, the protruding pin 238 is located at the front end position of the movable range.

The support member 152 is a metal plate-like member fixed to the upper surface of the fixed wall portion 102B. Support member 152 includes a lower wall portion 152A, a left wall portion 152B, a right wall portion 152C, a front wall portion 152D, and a rear wall portion 152E. The lower wall portion 152A is provided below the pipe transfer groove 40. The lower wall portion 152A is a plate-like member that extends in the front-rear direction from a position below the pipe conveying groove 40 to a position forward of the pipe conveying groove 40 and has a rectangular shape in plan view. The left wall portion 152B and the right wall portion 152C are plate-like members that are rectangular in side view and stand upward from the left end portion and the right end portion of the lower wall portion 152A, respectively. Both the left wall portion 152B and the right wall portion 152C are provided on the front side of the pipe conveying groove 40. The left wall portion 152B and the right wall portion 152C extend above the movement portion 272 described later and substantially at the same vertical position. The front wall 152D and the rear wall 152E are rectangular plate-like members in front view that are respectively erected upward from the front end and the rear end of the lower wall 152A.

The guide shaft 278 is a columnar member extending in the front-rear direction and penetrating the front wall portion 152D, the movement portion 272 described later, and the rear wall portion 152E in this order. The guide shaft 278 is supported by the front wall portion 152D and the rear wall portion 152E.

The arm member 277 extends substantially parallel to the guide shaft 278. The tip end of the arm member 277 is coupled to the protruding pin 238. The rear end portion of the arm member 277 is accommodated in a moving portion 272 described later.

The moving portion 272 is a box-shaped member that is provided between the left wall portion 152B and the right wall portion 152C and is open in the front-rear direction. The moving part 272 is supported by the guide shaft 278 at the rear side of the protrusion pin 238 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction. Since the movement of the moving portion 272 in the left-right direction is restricted by the left wall portion 152B and the right wall portion 152C, it can be stably moved in the front-rear direction.

As shown in fig. 9, a cutter mounting portion 280 is provided on the rear side of the moving portion 272 so as to be opened rearward and upward. The cutter mounting portion 280 is a portion to which a cutter 27 to be described later is detachably mounted. The cutter mounting portion 280 moves in the front-rear direction in accordance with the movement of the moving portion 272 in the front-rear direction. The cutter mounting portion 280 includes a lower wall portion 280A, a front wall portion 280B, a right wall portion 280C, and a left wall portion 280D. The lower wall portion 280A is a rectangular plate-like member that is long in the front-rear direction in a plan view. The upper surface of the lower wall portion 280A extends in parallel with the reference surface 401 (see fig. 3) at substantially the same vertical position as the reference surface 401 and extends from the rear end of the moving portion 272 to the vicinity of the receiving base 180 described later. The upper surface of the lower wall portion 280A forms a part of the reference surface 401. The front wall portion 280B is a rectangular plate-like member that is vertically long in a front view. The front wall 280B extends upward from the front end of the lower wall 280A. The right wall portion 280C and the left wall portion 280D are each a rectangular plate-like member that is long in the vertical direction in a side view. The right wall 280C and the left wall 280D extend upward from the front portions of the right end and the left end of the lower wall 280A, respectively.

As shown in fig. 8 and 9, the receiving table moving mechanism 160 is a mechanism for moving a receiving table 180, which will be described later, in the left-right direction. The pedestal moving mechanism 160 includes a support 184, a moving unit 186, and a drive transmission unit (not shown). The support portion 184 is a plate-like member having a U-shape in rear view and extending rearward from the rear end of the lower wall portion 152A. The support 184 supports the guide shaft 184A and the guide shaft 184B. The guide shafts 184A and 184B are cylindrical members that penetrate the distal end portions of the support portions 184 in the left-right direction. The guide shaft 184A is provided above the guide shaft 184B.

The moving part 186 is a box-shaped member through which the guide shaft 184A and the guide shaft 184B penetrate in the left-right direction. The moving portion 186 is supported by the guide shaft 184A and the guide shaft 184B so as to be movable in the left-right direction between the right wall portion and the left wall portion of the support portion 184. The moving part 186 is biased rightward by springs (not shown) provided on the guide shafts 184A and 184B.

The drive transmission unit is a portion that transmits the driving force of the dc motor 104. If the drive transmission unit transmits the driving force of the dc motor 104, the receiving table moving mechanism 160 moves the receiving table 180, which will be described later, leftward against the biasing force of the springs provided on the guide shaft 184A and the guide shaft 184B.

As shown in fig. 9, a receiving table mounting portion 190 that protrudes slightly forward is provided on the front surface of the moving portion 186. The receiving base mounting portion 190 is a portion to which the receiving base 180 described later is detachably mounted. The pedestal mounting portion 190 is a plate-like member extending in the vertical and horizontal directions.

The cutter 27 and the receiving table 180 are disposed opposite to each other in a direction (i.e., a front-rear direction) orthogonal to the conveying direction and the vertical direction with the pipe conveying groove 40 interposed therebetween. The cutter 27 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped member. The length of the cutter 27 in the left-right direction is smaller than the distance between the right wall portion 280C and the left wall portion 280D. The length of the cutter 27 in the front-rear direction is substantially equal to the length of each of the right wall portion 280C and the left wall portion 280D in the front-rear direction. Thereby, the cutter 27 can be attached to and detached from the cutter mounting portion 280.

The cutter 27 includes a cutter handle 27A and a cutting blade 275. The cutter grip 27A is a rectangular parallelepiped member projecting upward from the upper surface of the cutter 27. The length from the lower end of the cutter 27 to the upper end of the cutter grip 27A is greater than the vertical length of each of the front wall 280B, the right wall 280C, and the left wall 280D.

The cutting blade 275 is a plate-like body extending in the vertical and longitudinal directions, and is biased forward by a mounting spring 271 provided inside the cutter 27. A blade portion 275A linearly extending in the vertical direction is formed at the rear end portion of the cutting blade 275 (i.e., the end portion on the pipe conveying groove 40 side). The cutting blade 275 can move in the front-rear direction to a position where the blade 275A is housed inside the cutter 27 and a position where the blade 275A is exposed to the outside of the cutter 27.

The cutter 27 can be moved in a direction (i.e., a front-rear direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction and the vertical direction by the cutter moving mechanism 150. Hereinafter, the moving path of the cutter 27 is referred to as a cutter moving path. The cutter moving path includes a retreat position where the cutter 27 retreats from the tube conveying groove 40 and an entry position where the cutter 27 enters the tube conveying groove 40. When the protruding pin 238 is located at the front end position of the movable range, the cutter 27 is located at the retracted position. On the other hand, when the projecting pin 238 moves rearward from the front end position of the movable range, the cutter 27 moves to the entry position. In this example, the cutter movement path is orthogonal to the vertical direction and the conveyance direction. The cutter 27 shown by the solid line in fig. 7 is located at the retreat position. The cutter 27 of the two-dot chain line shown in fig. 7 is located at the entry position. The cutter 27 located at the retreat position is located forward of the tube conveying groove 40.

The cutting blade 275 is housed inside the cutter 27 by the biasing force of the attachment spring 271 when the cutter 27 is at the retracted position. When the cutter 27 is at the entry position, the cutting blade 275 is pressed by the arm member 277, and is exposed to the outside of the cutter 27 against the biasing force of the attachment spring 271. When the cutting edge 275 is exposed to the outside of the cutter 27, the blade 275A can contact the receiving base 180 described later. The position where the blade 275A in the entry position of the cutter 27 contacts the receiving base 180 and is restricted from moving backward is referred to as a cutting position. The cutter 27 shown by the two-dot chain line in fig. 7 is located at the cutting position.

The receiving table 180 is provided with the tube 9 when performing the cutting operation. The receiving base 180 is a box-shaped member that opens downward and rearward. The receiving base 180 includes a receiving base handle 180A. The receiving table handle 180A is a rectangular parallelepiped member projecting upward from the upper surface of the receiving table 180. The vertical position of the upper end of the receiving table handle 180A is substantially the same as the vertical position of the upper end of the cutter handle 27A.

An engagement wall portion 180B is formed on the rear surface of the receiving base 180. The engaging wall portion 180B is a wall portion that extends slightly leftward, downward, and rightward from the right end portion, the upper end portion, and the left end portion of the rear surface of the receiving base 180. Thus, the receiving table 180 is detachable from the receiving table mounting unit 190. A recess 182 is formed on the front surface of the receiving table 180, i.e., on the left portion of the contact surface 181. The concave portion 182 is provided at a portion of the contact surface 181 from below the upper end portion to above the lower end portion. That is, the upper and lower sides of the recess 182 are contact surfaces 181.

The receiving table 180 can be moved by the receiving table moving mechanism 160 between a half-cut position (see fig. 8) and a full-cut position (not shown) in parallel with the conveying direction. The half-cut position is a position in the left-right direction of the receiving table 180 where the blade 275A faces the left part of the receiving table 180. In this case, if the cutter 27 moves to the cutting position, the vicinity of the upper end portion and the vicinity of the lower end portion of the blade portion 275A contact the contact surfaces 181 on both the upper and lower sides of the concave portion 182. The full cutting position is a position in the left-right direction of the receiving table 180 where the blade 275A faces the right part of the receiving table 180. In this case, if the cutter 27 moves to the cutting position, the entire blade portion 275A contacts the contact surface 181. The receiving table 180 is held at the half-cut position by the receiving table moving mechanism 160. When the drive of the dc motor 104 is transmitted by the drive transmission unit, the receiving table moving mechanism 160 moves the receiving table 180 from the half-cut position to the full-cut position against the urging force of a spring (not shown) of the receiving table moving mechanism 160.

The detailed structure of the cut-off region protection unit 500 will be described with reference to fig. 7, 10 to 12. The cutting area protection part 500 is provided between the conveying roller 67 and the conveying roller 69 and the tube discharge port 16 in the conveying direction (refer to fig. 3). The cutting area protection part 500 is a part for preventing foreign matter from entering a moving path of the cutter in the pipe conveying groove 40.

As shown in fig. 7 and 10 to 12, the cutting area protection unit 500 includes a cutter cover 510, a support spring 580, and a conveying groove cover 540. The cutter cover 510 is a resin cover for preventing foreign matter from entering a cutter movement path in the pipe conveying groove 40 from above. The cutter cover 510 is supported by the attachment cover 111 and a support spring 580 (described later) so as to be rotatable to an upper position (see fig. 13) and a lower position (see fig. 15) at which the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. The cutter cover 510 shown in fig. 7 and 10 to 12 is located at an upper position (the same applies to fig. 13, 14, 16, and 17). The cutter cover 510 is shown in a lower position in fig. 15 (and likewise in fig. 18). In the following description, the components will be described with reference to the cutter cover 510 located at the upper position.

As shown in fig. 10 to 12, the cutter cover 510 includes a first cover portion 511, a second cover portion 520, and a third cover portion 530. The first cover 511 is a rectangular plate-like member having a longitudinal direction in a front-rear direction in a plan view. A recess 512 is formed near the front end of the first lid 511, and is recessed downward from the left end to the right end. A support portion 113 (see fig. 10) projecting downward from the support surface 11B, which is the lower surface of the mounting cover 111, is inserted into the recess 512. The support portion 113 is provided in front of the cutter 27 on the support surface 11B (see fig. 7). An axis passing through a contact point between the recess 512 and the lower end portion of the support portion 113 is referred to as a rotation axis R1 (see fig. 7 and 13). The rotation axis R1 extends in the left-right direction at a position forward of the cutter 27 located at the retracted position. That is, the pipe conveying groove 40, the retracted position, and the rotation axis R1 are arranged in this order in the direction (i.e., forward direction) in which the cutter 27 moves from the entry position to the retracted position. The cutter cover 510 is rotatable between an upper position and a lower position about a rotation axis R1.

The right and left rear corner portions of the first lid portion 511 can contact a pair of protrusions 117 (see fig. 7 and 13) protruding slightly downward from the support surface 11B. The pair of projections 117 are provided in front of the cutter 27 on the support surface 11B and in the vicinity of the opening 116. A line passing through the contact points of the pair of protrusions 117 and the first lid 511 is referred to as a support line R2 (see fig. 7 and 13). The support line R2 extends parallel to the rotation axis R1 at the rear of the rotation axis R1.

The first lid 511 is formed with a through hole 513 having a long hole shape extending in the front-rear direction. The through hole 513 vertically penetrates the vicinity of the rear end of each of the first lid 511 and a contact wall 550 described later. The through hole 513 is inserted with a protrusion 114 (see fig. 7 and 10) protruding downward from the support surface 11B. The protruding portion 114 is provided on the support surface 11B forward of the cutter 27 and rearward of the support portion 113 (see fig. 7). The length of the through hole 513 in the left-right direction and the length of the protrusion 114 in the left-right direction are substantially equal to each other. Thus, the protrusion 114 is inserted into the through hole 513, and the movement of the cutter cover 510 in the left-right direction can be restricted. A recess 514 recessed rearward is formed at the front end of the first lid 511. The recess 514 has a substantially rectangular shape in plan view. A pair of convex portions 515 protruding upward are provided at the right front corner portion and the left front corner portion of the first lid portion 511, respectively.

A contact wall portion 550 (see fig. 10 and 13) extending downward is provided on the lower surface of the first lid portion 511. The contact wall portion 550 extends from the rear side of the recess 512 to the front end portion of the first cover portion 511 at the center of the lower surface of the first cover portion 511 in the left-right direction.

The second cover 520 is a box-shaped member that extends rearward from the rear end of the first cover 511 and is open downward. The lower end of the front wall 521 (see fig. 11) of the second cover 520 is connected to the front end of the first cover 511. The right wall portion 522 of the second cover 520 extends to a lower side than the front end portion of the first cover 511 on the upper side of the right wall portion 152C (see fig. 8). The upper wall portion 523 of the second lid portion 520 is rectangular in plan view and extends in the front-rear direction in a curved shape slightly recessed downward from the front-rear direction center.

The upper wall portion 523 has an opening 524 that is rectangular in plan view and that penetrates in the vertical direction. The opening 524 extends in the front-rear direction along the upper wall 523 in a curved shape with a slightly downward concave center in the front-rear direction.

As shown in fig. 7, the length of the opening 524 in the front-rear direction is greater than the length of the cutter 27 in the front-rear direction. The length of the opening 524 in the left-right direction is greater than the length of the cutter 27 in the left-right direction. That is, the cutter 27 can pass through the inside of the opening 524 in the vertical direction. The opening 524 exposes the cutter 27 located at the retracted position upward. The second lid 520 is located behind the opening 524 above both the upper ends of the cutter handle 27A and the receiving base handle 180A and between the cutter 27 and the receiving base 180 at the retracted position. That is, the second lid 520 covers the cutter movement path in the tube transport groove 40 from above at a portion on the rear side of the opening 524.

As shown in fig. 11 and 12, the third cover 530 is a plate-like member having a rectangular shape in a plan view. The third cover 530 is connected to a portion of the left end of the second cover 520 above the tube transfer groove 40. The length of the third cover 530 in the front-rear direction is slightly smaller than the length of the tube conveying groove 40 in the front-rear direction. The third cover 530 includes a pair of extensions 531, 532. The pair of extending portions 531, 532 extend downward from the front end portion and the rear end portion of the third lid 530, respectively. The pair of extending portions 531, 532 are rectangular in front view. A pair of through holes 530A and 530B are formed near the right ends of the pair of extending portions 531 and 532, respectively. The pair of through holes 530A and 530B pass through the pair of extending portions 531 and 532 in a front-rear direction in a circular shape in front view.

The support spring 580 is a spring for biasing the cutter cover 510 upward and holding the cutter cover 510 at an upper position. The support spring 580 is provided on the lower side of the first cover 511. The length of the support spring 580 in the lateral direction is slightly smaller than the length of the first cover 511 in the lateral direction. The support spring 580 includes a flat portion 581 and an inclined surface portion 582. The plane portion 581 is a substantially rectangular portion in a plan view. A recessed portion 583 recessed rearward is formed at a front end of the flat portion 581. A protrusion 115 (see fig. 10) protruding downward from the support surface 11B is inserted into the recess 583. The protruding portion 115 is provided on the front side of the support portion 113 on the support surface 11B (see fig. 7). The length of the protruding portion 115 in the left-right direction and the length of the recessed portion 583 in the left-right direction are substantially equal to each other. Thus, the protrusion 115 is inserted into the recess 583, and the movement of the support spring 580 in the left-right direction can be restricted. A through hole 584 (see fig. 11) penetrating in the vertical direction is formed near the rear end of the planar portion 581.

The inclined surface portion 582 extends from the rear end of the flat portion 581 in a direction inclined upward with respect to the rear. The rear end of the inclined surface portion 582 extends slightly downward. The inclined surface portion 582 contacts the front side of the through hole 513 in the lower end portion of the contact wall portion 550.

The support spring 580 is fixed to the mounting cover 111 by being inserted and screwed to the mounting cover 111 with a screw 590 from below in the order of the through hole 584 and the recess 514. Thereby, the support spring 580 can be elastically deformed in the vertical direction with the screw 590 as an axis. The support spring 580 is fixed by a screw 590 in a state where the inclined surface portion 582 is elastically deformed downward and is in contact with the contact wall portion 550. Thereby, the support spring 580 can bias the knife cover 510 upward. A line passing through a contact point of the support spring 580 and the contact wall portion 550 is referred to as an application line R3 (see fig. 7 and 13). The force application line R3 extends parallel to the rotation axis R1 and the support line R2 between the rotation axis R1 and the support line R2 in a top view.

The conveying groove cover 540 is a resin cover for suppressing foreign matters from entering a cutter moving path in the pipe conveying groove 40 from the pipe discharge port 16 (i.e., downstream side in the conveying direction). The transfer slot cover 540 is disposed at a lower side of the third cover part 530. The conveying chute cover 540 is supported by the cutter cover 510 to be rotatable within a range including the standby position. The standby position is a position of the conveying chute cover 540 when the upper end portion of the conveying chute cover 540, that is, the regulating end 700 comes into contact with the support surface 11B. The conveying chute cover 540 shown in fig. 7, 10, 11, and 12 is located at the standby position (the same applies to fig. 16). In the following description, the components will be described with reference to a state in which the conveying chute cover 540 is located at the standby position.

As shown in fig. 11, the conveying chute cover 540 includes an arm portion 541 and a roller 545. The arm portion 541 is rotatably supported by a pair of extending portions 531, 532. The arm portion 541 includes an inclined wall portion 542, a pair of side wall portions 543A, 543B, and a pair of support wall portions 544A, 544B. The inclined wall portion 542 is a plate-like member that is rectangular in side view and extends upward while being inclined leftward (i.e., downstream in the conveying direction) with respect to the downward direction. The inclined surface 542A, which is a surface of the inclined wall 542 facing the upstream side in the conveyance direction, extends downstream in the conveyance direction with respect to the lower direction. The upper end portion of the inclined wall portion 542 is a restricting end portion 700. The pair of side wall portions 543A, 543B are plate-like members extending leftward from both front and rear end portions of the inclined wall portion 542 and facing each other in the front-rear direction. The left end portions of the pair of side wall portions 543A and 543B are formed substantially parallel to the inclined wall portion 542.

The pair of side wall portions 543A, 543B include a pair of protrusions 54A, 54B protruding outward, respectively. The pair of projections 54A and 54B are columnar members provided near the upper left end portions of the pair of side wall portions 543A and 543B, respectively. The diameters of the pair of protrusions 54A and 54B are substantially equal to the diameters of the pair of through holes 530A and 530B, respectively. The vertical distance between the center of the pair of protrusions 54A, 54B and the regulating end 700 is smaller than the vertical distance between the center of the pair of through holes 530A, 530B and the lower surface of the third cover 530. That is, the end portions of the pair of side wall portions 543A and 543B near the pair of protrusions 54A and 54B do not contact the lower surface of the third lid 530. The pair of protrusions 54A and 54B are inserted into the pair of through holes 530A and 530B, respectively. Thereby, the arm portion 541 is rotatably supported by the pair of extending portions 531, 532.

An axis passing through the rotation center of the arm portion 541 (i.e., a line passing through the centers of the pair of protrusions 54A, 54B) is referred to as an axis P. The axis P extends in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and the up-down direction (i.e., the front-rear direction). The axis P is located above the tube transfer slot 40.

The pair of supporting wall portions 544A and 544B are plate-like members extending further downward from the lower end portions of the pair of side wall portions 543A and 543B, respectively. A pair of through holes 541A and 541B are formed in the pair of support wall portions 544A and 544B. The pair of through holes 541A and 541B pass through the pair of support wall portions 544A and 544B in a front-rear direction, respectively, in a circular shape in front view.

The roller 545 is rotatably supported by a pair of support wall portions 544A and 544B. The roller 545 is a columnar member extending in the front-rear direction. The length of the roller 545 in the front-rear direction is slightly smaller than the distance between the pipe transfer groove 40 and the pipe discharge port 16 in the front-rear direction. The radius of the roller 545 is larger than the distance from the center of the roller 545 to the right end of the pair of support wall portions 544A, 544B. That is, the outer peripheral edge of the roller 545 is exposed to the right of the pair of support wall portions 544A and 544B.

The roller 545 includes a pair of outwardly protruding protrusions 545A and 545B (see fig. 7). The pair of protrusions 545A and 545B are cylindrical members provided at the centers of the front and rear surfaces of the roller 545, respectively. The diameters of the pair of protrusions 545A and 545B are substantially equal to the diameters of the pair of through holes 541A and 541B, respectively. The pair of protrusions 545A and 545B are inserted into the pair of through holes 541A and 541B, respectively. Thereby, the roller 545 is rotatably supported by the lower end of the arm 541. An axis passing through the rotation center of the roller 545 (i.e., a line passing through the centers of the pair of through holes 541A and 541B) is referred to as an axis Q. The axis Q extends parallel to the axis P at a position downstream of the axis P in the conveying direction and below the axis P. In this example, when the conveying chute cover 540 is in the standby position, the angle of a line extending from the axis P to the axis Q with respect to a line passing through the axis P and extending downward is about 20 °.

The transfer slot cover 540 having the above-described structure has a center of gravity at a position shown as the center of gravity G in fig. 16 to 18 from a side view. That is, when the conveying chute cover 540 is located at the standby position, the center of gravity G is located on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the axis P. Thereby, the conveying groove cover 540 is held at a position (i.e., a standby position) where the regulating end 700 is in contact with the lower surface of the second cover part 520. The conveying groove cover 540 is restricted from rotating in a direction closer to the cutter moving path than the standby position by restricting the contact of the end 700 with the lower surface of the second cover 520.

Referring to fig. 13 and 15, the manner of rotation of the cutter cover 510 will be described. The cutter cover 510 is rotatably supported by the mounting cover 111 and the support spring 580. The cutter cover 510 is biased upward at the force application line R3, and is kept at the upper position by being restricted from moving upward by the pivot axis line R1 and the support line R2 located at both the front and rear sides of the force application line R3. The cutter cover 510 is supported at three points of the rotation axis R1, the support line R2, and the force application line R3, and is stably held at the upper position.

The rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is pushed downward and rotated downward about the rotation axis R1. The rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is rotatable downward about the rotation axis R1 until the lower end portion of the right wall portion 522 comes into contact with the upper end portion of the right wall portion 152C or until the pair of convex portions 515 comes into contact with the support surface 11B. A line passing through a point where the pair of projections 515 contact the supporting surface 11B is referred to as a limiting line R4 (see fig. 15). The lower position is the position of the cutter cover 510 when the lower end of the right wall portion 522 contacts the upper end of the right wall portion 152C or when the pair of projecting portions 515 contact the support surface 11B (see fig. 15).

As shown in fig. 13, when the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the upper position, a portion of the second cover 520 on the rear side of the opening 524 (i.e., a portion of the cutter cover 510 covering the cutter movement path in the tube transport chute 40 from above) is positioned above the upper end portions of the cutter grip 27A and the pedestal grip 180A.

On the other hand, as shown in fig. 15, when the cutter cover 510 is pushed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y, it is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. When the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, the opening 524 is positioned below the upper end of the cutter grip 27A. That is, when the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, the cutter grip 27A enters the opening portion 524 from below. Further, when the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, a portion of the second cover 520 on the rear side of the opening 524 is positioned below the upper end of the receiving table handle 180A. In this case, the opening 524 extends substantially parallel to the horizontal direction. When the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, if the cutter 27 moves from the retracted position to the advanced position, the cutter grip 27A interferes with the rear end portion of the opening 524. That is, in the case where the cutter cover 510 is located at the lower position, the cutter 27 cannot move to the entry position.

When the cutter cover 510 is pushed down in the direction indicated by the arrow Y to be located at the lower position, the cutter cover is held at the lower position by four points, i.e., the pushed point, the rotation axis R1, the force application line R3, and the restriction line R4. Thus, the user can easily hold the cutter cover 510 at the lower position simply by pressing the cutter cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y.

Referring to fig. 16 to 18, a rotation mode of the conveying chute cover 540 will be described. The transfer slot cover 540 can rotate around the axis P. The conveying chute cover 540 can rotate from the standby position until the left end portions of the pair of side wall portions 543A, 543B contact the lower surface of the third cover 530. That is, the rotation range of the conveying chute cover 540 includes the standby position and is limited to a direction farther from the cutter moving path than the standby position.

As shown in fig. 16, since the center of gravity G is located on the conveying direction downstream side of the axis P, the conveying chute cover 540 is held at the standby position by restricting the contact of the end 700 with the lower surface of the second cover 520. When the conveying groove cover 540 is in the standby position, the roller 545 enters the pipe conveying groove 40 on the downstream side in the conveying direction with respect to the cutting blade moving path.

As shown in fig. 17, when the tube 9 is conveyed in the conveying direction in the tube conveying groove 40 by the conveying rollers 65 to 69 (see fig. 3), the end portion on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the tube 9 comes into contact with the roller 545 or the inclined surface 542A of the conveying groove cover 540 located at the standby position. The arm portion 541 rotates about the axis P in a direction away from the moving path of the cutter. The tube 9 is brought into contact with the roller 545 exposed from the pair of support wall portions 544A, 544B and conveyed. In this case, the roller 545 rotates clockwise in the front view. The roller 545 guides the tube 9 to the outside of the cabinet 10 by contacting and rotating with the tube 9 from above.

As shown in fig. 18, when the cutter cover 510 is pushed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y, it is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. In the transfer groove cover 540, as the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position, the roller 545 comes into contact with the pipe transfer groove 40. Since the axis Q is located on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the axis P, the conveying chute cover 540 rotates about the axis P in a direction away from the cutter moving path from the standby position.

The printing operation of the tube printing unit 60 of the printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to fig. 2. The tube printing unit 60 performs a printing operation described below under the control of a control board (not shown) provided inside the main body casing 11. The driving motor (not shown) of the tube printing section 60 rotates the conveying rollers 65 to 69 and the ribbon take-up shaft 63. The tubes 9 mounted in the tube transfer grooves 40 are transferred to the downstream side in the transfer direction as the transfer rollers 65 to 69 rotate. At this time, the tube 9 mounted in the tube transfer groove 40 is pressed by the first pressing member 41 and the second pressing member 46. Thus, the tube 9 is conveyed along the reference plane 401. If the tube 9 is conveyed in the conveying direction, the tube 9 before printing, which is located outside the cabinet 10, is pulled into the tube conveying groove 40 from the right surface of the main body casing 11 via the tube insertion port 15. As the ribbon take-up shaft 63 rotates, the ribbon take-up spool 92 rotates, and the ink ribbon is drawn out from a ribbon roll (not shown) housed inside the ribbon cartridge 90.

The print head 61 prints characters on the conveyed tube 9 using the pulled-out ink ribbon. The print head 61 of this example prints characters as an erect image on the front surface of the tube 9 passing through the rear side thereof. Thus, the front surface of the tube 9 is the print side of the tube 9. The used ink ribbon is taken up by the ribbon take-up spool 92. The printed tube 9 is conveyed to the downstream side in the conveying direction by conveying rollers 65 to 69.

The cutting operation of the tube cutting mechanism 100 of the printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to fig. 8, 13, and 14. The full cutting operation and the half cutting operation are different from each other in the following points: when the cutter 27 moves to the cutting position, whether or not the position of the receiving table 180 is moved from the half-cutting position to the full-cutting position by the receiving table moving mechanism 160 is determined. The printing apparatus 1 controls the full-cut operation and the half-cut operation in accordance with the rotation direction of the dc motor 104. The moving paths of the cutter in the half cutting operation and the full cutting operation are equal to each other. Therefore, a half cutting operation, which is one mode of the cutting operation, will be described below, and a description of the full cutting operation will be omitted.

The cutting operation is performed with the cutter cover 510 positioned at the upper position. When the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, if the cutter 27 moves from the retracted position to the advanced position, the cutter grip 27A interferes with the rear end portion of the opening 524. Thus, when the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the lower position, the movement of the cutter 27 to the entry position is restricted. On the other hand, when the cutter cover 510 is positioned at the upper position, a portion of the second cover 520 on the rear side of the opening 524 (i.e., a portion of the cutter cover 510 covering the cutter movement path from above) is positioned above the upper end of the cutter grip 27A. Thereby, the cutter 27 can move along the cutter moving path between the retreat position and the cutting position without interfering with the cutter cover 510.

As shown in fig. 8 and 13, the tube cutting mechanism 100 before operation is in an initial state. When the tube cutting mechanism 100 is in the initial state, the rotating member 106 is located at the initial rotational position, the coupling member 220 is located at the separation rotational position, and the cutter 27 is located at the retracted position. The dc motor 104 is rotationally driven in the forward direction under the drive control of a CPU (not shown) of a control board (not shown). When the dc motor 104 is driven to rotate in the forward direction, the rotating member 106 rotates in the direction of arrow B1. As the rotating member 106 rotates in the direction of the arrow B1, the pressing pin 215A presses the extended portion 231 counterclockwise as viewed from the left. The link member 220 rotates in the direction of arrow B3, and the projecting pin 238 moves the arm member 277 rearward. The arm member 277 and the moving portion 272 move rearward from the front end position of the movable range, and the cutter 27 moves rearward from the retracted position toward the entry position along the cutter moving path.

As shown in fig. 14, the tube 9 is sandwiched between the cutting edge 275 of the cutter 27 moved to the entry position and the receiving table 180. The tube 9 is crushed and deformed, and a part of the circumferential direction enters the recess 182. The dc motor 104 is driven to rotate in the forward direction by continuing its operation, and the blade 275A cuts the tube 9 and moves backward. The cutter 27 moves to the cutting position. In the case of performing the half-cutting operation, when the cutter 27 moves to the cutting position, the vicinity of the upper end portion and the vicinity of the lower end portion of the blade 275A contact the contact surfaces 181 on both the upper and lower sides of the concave portion 182. By moving the cutter 27 to the cutting position, the tube 9 is half-cut leaving a portion that enters the recess 182.

After the cutter 27 moves to the cutting position, the dc motor 104 switches the rotational driving direction from the forward direction to the reverse direction. The rotary member 106 rotates in the direction of arrow B2. When the rotating member 106 returns to the initial rotation position, the cutter 27 returns to the retracted position along the cutter movement path. The pipe cutting mechanism 100 returns to the initial state, and the half cutting operation is terminated. After being cut by the tube cutting mechanism 100, the tube 9 is discharged to the outside of the housing 10 through the left end portion of the tube conveying groove 40 and the tube discharge port 16.

The operation of replacing the cutter 27 and the receiving base 180 will be described with reference to fig. 9 and 15. In the printing apparatus 1, since the cutting operation is repeated, the cutting blade 275 and the contact surface 181 are consumed. Therefore, for example, when the cutting edge 275 and the contact surface 181 are worn, the user performs the replacement work of the cutting blade 27 and the receiving base 180, respectively.

When the user detaches the cutter 27 from the cutter mounting portion 280, the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is pressed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y in a state where the power supply of the printing apparatus 1 is turned off (i.e., a state where the tube cutting mechanism 100 is in the initial state). In this case, the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position, and the cutter grip 27A protrudes upward from the opening 524. The opening 524 is substantially parallel to the horizontal direction. The user grips the cutter grip 27A and removes the cutter 27 attached to the cutter attachment portion 280 upward through the opening 524. The user releases the pressing of the knife cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y. The cutter cover 510 is rotated from the lower position and returned to the upper position by the force of the support spring 580.

When the user mounts the cutter 27, the user presses the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y while turning off the power supply of the printing apparatus 1. In this case, the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. The opening 524 is substantially parallel to the horizontal direction below the upper end of the cutter grip 27A when the cutter 27 is attached to the cutter attachment portion 280. The user holds the cutter grip 27A and attaches the cutter 27 to the cutter attachment portion 280 from above via the opening portion 524. The user releases the pressing of the knife cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y. The cutter cover 510 is rotated from the lower position and returned to the upper position by the force of the support spring 580.

When the user detaches the receiving base 180 from the receiving base mounting portion 190, the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is pressed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y in a state where the power supply of the printing apparatus 1 is turned off. In this case, the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position, and the receiving base handle 180A protrudes upward from a portion of the second cover 520 on the rear side of the opening 524. The user grips the receiving table handle 180A to detach the receiving table 180 attached to the receiving table attachment unit 190 upward. The user releases the pressing of the knife cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y. The cutter cover 510 is rotated from the lower position and returned to the upper position by the force of the support spring 580.

When the user mounts the cradle 180 on the cradle mounting portion 190, the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is pressed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y while the printing apparatus 1 is powered off. In this case, the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. The second cover 520 is located behind the opening 524 and below the upper end of the docking station handle 180A when the docking station 180 is mounted to the docking station mounting portion 190. The user holds the pedestal grip 180A and attaches the pedestal 180 to the pedestal attachment section 190 from above. The user releases the pressing of the knife cover 510 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y. The cutter cover 510 is rotated from the lower position and returned to the upper position by the force of the support spring 580.

As explained above, according to the above embodiment, the cutter cover 510 covers the cutter moving path in the pipe transfer groove 40 from above. This makes it possible to prevent foreign matter from entering the cutter movement path in the pipe transport chute 40 from above. Further, the cutter cover 510 has an opening 524 for exposing the cutter located at the retracted position upward. The cutter 27 has a cutter grip 27A projecting upward. The support spring 580 supports the cutter cover 510 to be rotatable to an upper position and a lower position. When the user replaces the cutter 27, the rear end portion of the cutter cover 510 is pushed in the direction indicated by the arrow Y and rotated to the lower position. This makes it easy for the user to hold the cutter grip 27A. The user grips the cutter grip 27A of the cutter, and attaches and detaches the cutter 27 to and from the cutter attachment portion 280 opened upward through the opening portion 524. The user can easily replace the cutter 27. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can ensure the ease of replacement of the cutter 27 and can suppress entry of foreign matter into the cutter movement path in the pipe conveying groove 40.

The cutter cover 510 is held in an upper position by a support spring 580. When the user replaces the cutter 27, the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position. Thereby, the user can easily replace the cutter 27. Further, a portion of the cutter cover 510 located at the upper position, which covers the cutter movement path in the tube transport chute 40 from above, is located above the upper end portion of the cutter grip 27A. Therefore, in a state where the cutter cover 510 is located at the upper position, even if the cutter 27 moves along the cutter moving path within the tube conveying groove 40, the cutter 27 and the cutter cover 510 do not interfere with each other. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can prevent the cutter 27 and the cutter cover 510 from interfering with each other in the case where the cutter moves along the cutter moving path within the tube conveying groove 40.

The portion of the cutter cover 510 located at the lower position covering the cutter movement path in the tube transport chute 40 from above is located below the upper end portion of the cutter grip 27A. That is, the cutter grip 27A of the cutter 27 located at the retracted position protrudes upward from the opening 524. Therefore, the user can easily grip the cutter grip 27A. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily replace the cutter 27. Further, the cutter 27 can be restricted from entering the pipe conveying groove 40 when the cutter cover 510 is located at the lower position.

The printing apparatus 1 includes a receiving table 180 having a receiving table handle 180A. Thus, the printing apparatus 1 can pinch and cut the tube 9 between the cutter 27 and the receiving table 180 by moving the cutter from the retracted position to the advanced position. The receiving base 180 is detachable from the receiving base mounting portion 190 from above. The portion of the cutter cover 510 located at the lower position covering the cutter movement path in the tube transport chute 40 from above is located below the upper end portion of the receiving table handle 180A. Therefore, the user can easily hold the pedestal grip 180A. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily replace the receiving table 180.

The cutter cover 510 is rotatable to an upper position and a lower position about a rotation axis R1 extending in the conveying direction. The tube conveying grooves 40, the retracted position, and the rotation axis R1 are arranged in this order in the direction from the entry position to the retracted position. Thus, if the portion of the cutter cover 510 covering the tube transport groove 40 is pushed down, the cutter 27 located at the retracted position approaches the opening 524. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily replace the cutter 27.

The printing apparatus 1 includes a conveying chute cover 540 having an arm portion 541 and a roller 545. The arm portion 541 is supported by the cutter cover 510 to be rotatable about an axis P extending in the front-rear direction. The conveying chute cover 540 is rotatable within a range including a standby position located on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the cutter moving path. When the conveying groove cover 540 is in the standby position, the roller 545 enters the pipe conveying groove 40 on the downstream side in the conveying direction with respect to the cutting blade moving path. The conveying chute cover 540 is restricted by the restricting end 700 from rotating in a direction closer to the moving path of the cutter than the standby position. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can suppress the foreign matter from entering the cutter moving path in the pipe conveying groove 40 from the downstream side in the conveying direction.

When the cutter cover 510 is rotated from the upper position to the lower position, the conveying groove cover 540 is moved to the downstream side in the conveying direction by the contact of the roller 545 with the pipe conveying groove 40. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily move the cutter cover 510 from the upper position to the lower position, and thus can easily replace the cutter.

The printing apparatus 1 includes a roller 545 which rotates about an axis Q and an arm 541 which rotates about an axis P. The axis Q and the axis P extend parallel to each other. The axis Q is located on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the axis P. Therefore, when the cutter cover 510 moves from the upper position to the lower position, the roller 545 moves to the downstream side in the conveying direction by contacting the pipe conveying groove 40. That is, when the cutter cover 510 moves from the upper position to the lower position, the arm portion 541 can easily rotate in a direction away from the cutter moving path. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily move the cutter cover 510 from the upper position to the lower position, and thus can easily replace the cutter.

The arm portion 541 includes an inclined surface 542A. The inclined surface 542A extends in a direction inclined toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction and toward the downstream side in the downward conveyance direction when the conveyance slot cover 540 is located at the standby position. If the arm 541 contacts the pipe 9 conveyed by each of the conveying rollers 65 to 69, the arm can be easily rotated in a direction away from the moving path of the cutting blade.

The printing apparatus 1 includes a second pressing member 46 that presses the tube 9 positioned in the tube conveying groove 40 downward. The print head 61 is provided upstream in the transport direction of the cutter movement path. The second pressing member 46 is disposed between the print head 61 and the cutter moving path of the tube transfer slot 40. Thereby, the printed tube 9 is pressed toward the tube transport groove 40 by the second pressing member 46 and transported along the cutter moving path. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can convey the printed tube 9 along the tube conveying groove 40, and can appropriately cut the tube by the tube cutting mechanism 100.

The cutter cover 510 is rotated downward about the rotation axis R1 until the lower end portion of the right wall portion 522 comes into contact with the upper end portion of the right wall portion 152C or until the pair of projecting portions 515 comes into contact with the support surface 11B. Therefore, the right wall portion 152C and the pair of convex portions 515 can suppress the cutter cover 510 from colliding with the components such as the cutter 27 when pressed downward. Further, the printing apparatus 1 can suppress the user from pressing the cutter cover 510 excessively.

The opening 524 is substantially parallel to the horizontal direction when the cutter cover 510 is in the lower position. This facilitates the replacement work of the cutter 27 by the user. Therefore, the printing apparatus 1 can easily replace the cutter 27.

In the above embodiment, the conveying rollers 65 to 69 are an example of the "conveying member" of the present invention. The tube 9 is an example of the "printing medium" of the present invention. The print head 61 is an example of the "printing means" of the present invention. The upper direction of the printing apparatus 1 is an example of the "first direction" of the present invention. The pipe transfer slot 40 is an example of the "medium transfer slot" of the present invention. The opening 524 is an example of the "opening" of the present invention. The downward direction of the printing apparatus 1 is an example of the "second direction" of the present invention. The upper position is an example of the "first position" of the present invention. The lower position is an example of the "second position" of the present invention. The mounting cover 111 and the support spring 580 are an example of the "support member" of the present invention. The support spring 580 is an example of the "spring member" of the present invention. The pivot axis R1 is an example of the "pivot point" of the present invention. The front direction or the rear direction of the printing apparatus 1 is an example of the "third direction". The pair of protrusions 54A and 54B is an example of the "pivot shaft" of the present invention. The roller 545 is an example of the "cover" and the "roller" of the present invention. The restricting end 700 and the second cover 520 are examples of the "restricting portion" of the present invention. The pair of protrusions 545A and 545B is an example of the "rotation axis" of the present invention. The axis Q is an example of "the axis of the rotating shaft" in the present invention. The axis P is an example of "axis of rotating shaft" in the present invention. The inclined surface 542A is an example of the "surface" of the present invention. The second pressing member 46 is an example of the "pressing member" of the present invention. The arm portion 541 is an example of the "arm portion" of the present invention.

The printing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, the tape printing unit 50 and the tape cutting mechanism may not be provided. The cutter cover 510 is not limited to being made of resin. The transfer slot cover 540 is not limited to being made of resin. The support member 152 is not limited to being made of metal.

The transfer chute cover 540 may be provided with an elastic member such as a brush, sponge, rubber, or the like instead of the roller 545. In this case, the printing apparatus 1 can prevent foreign matter from entering the cutter movement path in the pipe conveyance groove 40 from the downstream side in the conveyance direction, and can remove dirt from the pipe 9 after printing and discharge the dirt to the outside of the casing 10.

The support spring 580 may be, for example, a compression coil spring or the like. In this case, one end of the compressed compression coil spring may be fixed to the mounting cover 111, and the other end may be fixed to the cutter cover 510. Thereby, the compression coil spring can bias the cutter cover 510 upward and hold it at the upper position.

The print head 61 can be moved to the printing position and the non-printing position by the driving of the head driving motor, but the position of the print head 61 may not be moved. In this case, the conveying roller 65 may be movable to a printing position and a non-printing position. With the conveying roller 65 in the printing position, the conveying roller 65 sandwiches the tube 9 with the print head 61. When the conveyance roller 65 is located at the non-printing position, the conveyance roller 65 is disposed on the rear side of the tube conveyance slot 40 and away from the print head 61.

The printing apparatus 1 may not include the dc motor 104. In this case, the cutter moving mechanism 150 may manually move the cutter 27 to the retreat position and the entry position.

The printing apparatus 1 may not include the receiving table 180. A member having a function equivalent to that of the receiving base 180 may be provided in the ribbon cassette 90. In this case, the cutter 27 may be disposed to face a member having a function equivalent to that of the receiving table 180 provided in the ribbon cartridge 90.

The second pressing member 46 is provided on the lid 12, but may be provided near the upper end of the tube conveying groove 40.

The cutter cover 510 is supported to be rotatable to an upper position and a lower position, but may be supported to be movable up and down. For example, the present invention can be realized by providing a spring member having one end fixed to the upper surface of the first cover 511 and the other end fixed to the mounting cover 111. In this case, the cutter cover 510 can move between the upper position and the lower position by moving in the up-down direction.

Claims (10)

1. A printing apparatus is characterized by comprising:

a printing member that performs printing on the long-sized printing medium conveyed by the conveying member;

a medium transport slot that is open in a first direction intersecting a transport direction of the print medium and extends in the transport direction;

a cutter having a cutter handle protruding in the first direction and being movable along a cutter movement path intersecting the first direction and the conveyance direction, the cutter movement path including an entry position at which the cutter enters the medium conveyance slot and a retreat position at which the cutter retreats from the medium conveyance slot;

a cutter moving mechanism for moving the cutter along the cutter moving path;

a cutter mounting portion which is provided to the cutter moving mechanism, opens in the first direction, and to which the cutter is detachably mounted;

a cutter cover having an opening portion for exposing the cutter positioned at the retreat position in the first direction, and covering the cutter moving path in the medium transport groove from the first direction; and

a support member that supports the cutter cover so as to be movable to a first position and a second position, the second position being located at a second direction opposite to the first direction than the first position.

2. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

the support member includes a spring member that holds the cutter cover at the first position by urging the cutter cover in the first direction,

a portion of the cutter cover located at the first position covering the cutter moving path in the medium transport slot from the first direction is located at the first direction with respect to an end of the cutter handle in the first direction.

3. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

the opening of the cutter cover at the second position is located in the second direction with respect to the end of the cutter handle in the first direction.

4. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

the disclosed device is provided with:

a receiving table having a receiving table handle protruding in the first direction and capable of contacting the cutter located at the entry position; and

a receiving table mounting portion to which the receiving table is detachably mounted from the first direction,

a portion of the cutter cover located at the second position, which covers the cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove from the first direction, is located at the second direction with respect to an end of the catch-stand handle in the first direction.

5. A printing apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4,

the cutter cover is rotatable to the first position and the second position about a rotation fulcrum extending in the conveying direction,

the medium transport grooves, the retracted positions, and the rotation fulcrums are arranged in this order in a direction from the entry position toward the retracted position.

6. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

the disclosed device is provided with:

a conveying groove cover rotatable in a range including a standby position located on a downstream side in the conveying direction from the cutter moving path, and having an arm portion supported by the cutter cover to be rotatable about a rotation shaft extending in a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the conveying direction, and a cover portion provided at a position different from the rotation shaft in the arm portion and rotated with rotation of the arm portion; and

a restricting portion for restricting the rotation of the conveying groove cover in a direction closer to the cutter moving path than the standby position,

the cover portion enters the medium conveying slot at a downstream side in the conveying direction from the cutter moving path with the conveying slot cover located at the standby position,

the shaft is located at the first direction than the media transport slot.

7. The printing apparatus of claim 6,

when the cutter cover moves from the first position to the second position, the cover portion contacts the medium conveying groove, and the conveying groove cover rotates from the standby position in a direction away from the cutter moving path.

8. The printing apparatus of claim 6,

the cover is a roller supported by the arm so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis extending parallel to the rotation axis,

the axis of the rotary shaft is located at the downstream side in the conveying direction than the axis of the rotary shaft.

9. A printing apparatus according to any of claims 6 to 8,

the arm portion includes a surface that faces the upstream side in the conveyance direction and extends in a direction inclined toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction with respect to the second direction when the conveyance slot cover is located at the standby position.

10. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

a pressing member that presses the printing medium positioned in the medium transport groove in the second direction,

the printing member is disposed at the upstream side in the conveying direction than the cutter moving path,

the pressing member is provided between the printing member and the cutter moving path in the medium conveying groove.

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