CN221562605U - Thermal Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a thermal printer, which comprises a shell, an imaging component, an imaging medium accommodating part and a cover, wherein the imaging component and the imaging medium accommodating part are positioned in the shell; the cover opening assembly comprises a pressing piece, a middle piece and an ejection piece, wherein the pressing piece is used for receiving external acting force and forcing the ejection piece to eject the cover through the middle piece, so that the use experience of a user can be greatly improved, and meanwhile, possible damage to other parts of the thermal printer is effectively avoided.

Description

Thermal printer

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of thermal printing, in particular to a thermal printer.

Background

The thermal printer is imaging equipment widely applied to industries such as supermarkets, express delivery and the like, and when in operation, the thermal printer controls a heating unit positioned in the thermal printer to heat corresponding parts of the thermal paper according to received imaging signals, so that the thermal printer develops on the thermal paper.

Generally, the thermal printer includes the installation cavity that is provided with installation thermal paper and covers this installation cavity, the door closure combines with the casing of thermal printer, when the user need open the door closure and overhaul or change thermal paper to thermal printer, often pull open the door closure by force through the finger, and this kind of mode not only makes user's use experience poor, makes the door closure damage, still probably damages other parts of thermal printer.

Disclosure of utility model

In view of the above, the present utility model provides a thermal printer in which a door cover for covering a mounting cavity is not forcibly pulled apart by a user's finger, but is opened using the following technical scheme:

The thermal printer comprises a shell, an imaging component, an imaging medium accommodating part and a cover, wherein the imaging component and the imaging medium accommodating part are positioned in the shell, the cover is used for covering the imaging medium accommodating part, the imaging medium accommodating part is used for accommodating imaging media which can be imaged by the imaging component, and the thermal printer further comprises a cover opening component used for opening the cover; the cover opening assembly comprises a pressing piece, a middle piece and an ejection piece, wherein the pressing piece is used for receiving external acting force and forcing the ejection piece to eject the cover through the middle piece, a user can open the cover by applying acting force to the pressing piece without forcibly pulling the cover with fingers, so that the use experience of the user can be greatly improved, and meanwhile, the possible damage of other parts of the thermal printer is effectively avoided.

In some embodiments, the thermal printer further comprises another cover covering at least a portion of the imaging assembly, the cover and the other cover defining an imaging media outlet therebetween, the cover opening assembly being disposed on one side thereof along both sides of the direction in which the imaging media outlet extends.

In some embodiments, the thermal printer further comprises another cover covering at least a portion of the imaging assembly, an imaging medium outlet is formed between the cover and the other cover, and the cover opening assembly is arranged on both sides of the extending direction of the imaging medium outlet; the cover opening assemblies positioned on two sides of the extending direction of the imaging medium outlet can be mutually independent and can be connected through a transmission rod, the transmission rod extends along the extending direction of the imaging medium outlet, and at the moment, one pressing piece of one cover opening assembly is the transmission rod.

Preferably, the pressing member and the ejection member are provided movable in a direction intersecting with a direction in which the imaging medium outlet extends, and the intermediate member is provided rotatable with respect to the housing.

The thermal printer further includes an inner housing disposed within the outer housing, the image forming assembly being mounted to the inner housing, the image forming medium accommodating portion being formed as a part of the inner housing, the ejector not exceeding an upper surface of the inner housing when the cover is in a closed state, the ejector moving upward beyond the upper surface of the inner housing when the ejector is forced to push, so that the cover can be smoothly closed.

The cover is rotatable with respect to the housing, and in a direction in which the rotational axis of the cover is directed toward the image medium outlet, the contact position of the ejector with the cover is closer to the image medium outlet, so that the force required by the user to open the cover can be reduced, and the cover can be smoothly opened.

The thermal printer further includes a sleeve fixedly mounted on the cover and a pressing member for pressing the sleeve, the cover being locked by pressing the pressing member against the sleeve.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a thermal printer according to the present utility model.

Fig. 2 is a partially exploded schematic view of a thermal printer according to the present utility model.

Fig. 3A is a perspective view of the thermal printer according to the present utility model when viewed from the rear right after the housing is hidden.

Fig. 3B is a perspective view of the thermal printer according to the present utility model when viewed from the lower left after the housing is hidden.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the outer shell and the inner shell as seen from the rear right after being hidden.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present utility model are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thermal printer according to the present utility model; FIG. 2 is a partially exploded schematic illustration of a thermal printer in accordance with the present utility model; FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the thermal printer of the present utility model when viewed from the rear right after the housing is hidden; FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the thermal printer of the present utility model as viewed from the bottom left with the housing hidden; fig. 4 is a perspective view of the outer shell and the inner shell as seen from the rear right after being hidden.

For the sake of clarity of the following description, the orientation of the thermal printer is first defined as follows: the extending direction of the paper outlet/image forming medium outlet 2c is a left-right direction, a direction intersecting the left-right direction is a front-rear direction, and a direction intersecting the left-right direction and the front-rear direction is an up-down direction, preferably, the left-right direction, the front-rear direction, and the up-down direction are mutually perpendicular, and specifically, the up-down direction is a height direction when the thermal printer is placed on a desk.

The thermal printer 100 includes a housing 1, an imaging assembly 3 located in the housing 1, and a door cover assembly 2 combined with the housing 1, the housing 1 is formed into a geometric body opening toward a non-lower side, the imaging assembly 3 is located in a cavity 10 formed by the geometric body, and the door cover assembly 2 covers the opening; the case 1 is opened upward as an example.

The door cover assembly 2 includes a first cover 2a and a second cover 2b arranged in the front-rear direction, and a paper outlet 2c is formed between the first cover 2a and the second cover 2b and extends in the left-right direction, wherein the first cover 2a is provided in fixed connection with the housing 1, and the second cover 2b is provided rotatably with respect to the housing 1 about the rotation axis L, that is, the second cover 2b is rotatable with respect to the first cover 2 a.

Preferably, the thermal printer 100 further includes an inner case 5 fixedly installed in the cavity 10, and the imaging assembly 3 may be directly installed on the outer case 1 or may be installed in the inner case 5, and it is apparent that the modular production of the thermal printer 100 is facilitated when the imaging assembly 3 is installed in the inner case 5, thereby improving the assembly efficiency of the thermal printer.

[ Imaging component ]

The imaging assembly 3 includes a control board 35 and a power source 32 for supplying power to the control board 35, and the power source 32 may be a rechargeable battery, a non-rechargeable battery, or a power conversion member for converting external power into power usable by the thermal printer, and the control board 35 is located above the power source 32 in the up-down direction, so that a user can overhaul other components of the imaging assembly 3.

As shown in fig. 3B, the thermal printer further includes a power supply accommodating portion 52 formed in the inner case 5, and a heat insulation plate 53 located between the control board 35 and the power supply 32, wherein the power supply 32 is accommodated in the power supply accommodating portion 52, and the heat insulation plate 53 may be a separate component or may be a part of the inner case 5, so as to isolate heat emitted from the power supply 32; along the up-down direction, the control board 35 and the power supply 32 are separated by the heat insulation board 53, but the three are closely adjacent to each other, so that not only the influence of the heat emitted by the power supply 32 on the control board 35 in the working process can be effectively reduced, but also the dimension of the thermal printer 100 in the up-down direction can be effectively controlled, which is beneficial to the miniaturization of the thermal printer 100.

Further, the thermal printer 100 further includes an opening 54 provided in the inner case 5 or the heat shield 53, through which opening 54 electrical communication between the control board 35 and the power source 32 is achieved, for example, a communication portion 34 of the control board is provided opposite to the opening 54, the power source 32 is connected to the communication portion 34, or a wire for communicating the control board 35 and the power source 32 passes through the opening 54.

Still further, the thermal printer 100 further includes a support 33 disposed under the power supply 32, and preferably, the support 33 is a buffer such as a sponge, foam, spring, etc. for preventing the power supply 32 from being damaged by collision during transportation of the thermal printer; the power source 32 may be fixedly connected to the heat insulating plate 53 or the supporting member 33 by at least one of bonding, clamping, and the like. Preferably, the power supply accommodating portion 52 may be further provided with a plurality of heat radiating holes (not shown), but the heat radiating holes are not opposed to the control board 35, and the influence of the heat discharged from the heat radiating holes on the control board 35 is reduced.

In addition, the image forming assembly 3 further includes a power switch 31, a paper pressing member 37 and a paper cutting member 36, the power switch 31 is exposed outward from the casing 1, the paper cutting member 36 is disposed at the paper outlet 2c and exposed outward through the paper outlet 2c, the paper pressing member 37 is formed as a rubber roller made of an elastic body such as rubber for conveying the thermal paper/image forming medium toward the paper outlet 2c while pressing the thermal paper/image forming medium toward a heating unit (not shown), the heating unit/image forming assembly 3 images/develops on the image forming medium, preferably, the paper pressing member 37 is rotatably mounted on the second cover 2b, and when the second cover 2b rotates about the rotation axis L relative to the casing 1/first cover 2a, the paper pressing member 37 is separated from the heating unit, facilitating the user to sort the thermal paper/image forming medium.

As shown in fig. 4, the thermal printer 100 further includes a sleeve 6 for supporting the platen 37 and a pressing member 7 for pressing against the sleeve 6, the pressing member 7 is fixedly mounted on the second cover 2b by the sleeve 6, is provided as a torsion spring, has a pressed portion 71 and a pressing portion 72 provided adjacently, presses the pressed portion 71 by the sleeve 6 as the second cover 2b is closed so that the pressing member 7 is elastically deformed, and when the sleeve 6 passes over an intersection of the pressed portion 71 and the pressing portion 72, the pressing member 7 is reset, the pressing portion 72 presses against the sleeve 6, and the second cover 2b is locked.

In some embodiments, the sleeve 6 no longer supports the platen 37, but does not affect the locking of the second cover 2b by the abutment 7 against the sleeve 6.

[ Uncap Assembly ]

The thermal printer 100 further includes an image medium accommodating portion 55, and likewise, the image medium accommodating portion 55 may be formed directly in the chamber 10 or in the inner case 5, and the image medium accommodating portion 55 is formed as a part of the inner case 5.

The paper roll is an imaging medium commonly used in a thermal printer, and for this purpose, the imaging medium accommodating part 55 is provided as an arc-shaped accommodating chamber, and the first cover 2a is opposite to at least a portion of the control board 35 in the up-down direction, and the second cover 2b is opposite to the accommodating chamber, so that when the second cover 2b is closed, the accommodating chamber is closed, and when the second cover 2b is opened, the accommodating chamber is exposed to the outside, and a user can take out the paper roll in the accommodating chamber or put the paper roll into the accommodating chamber.

As described above, the second cover 2b is rotatably coupled to the casing 1, and in order to allow a user to conveniently open the second cover 2b, the thermal printer 100 further includes the cover opening assembly 4 provided at the left and right sides or the front and rear sides of the casing 1, and the user can smoothly open the second cover 2b by operating the cover opening assembly 4. As shown in the drawings, the lid opening assembly 4 includes a pressing piece 41, an intermediate piece 42, and an ejector piece 43, the pressing piece 41 being configured to receive an external force and force the intermediate piece 42 to rotate, the intermediate piece 42 rotating while causing the ejector piece 43 to eject the second lid 2 b; the movement of the pressing member 41 may be either a rotation or a sliding, as long as the external force can be transmitted to the intermediate member 42.

Specifically, the pressing member 41 includes a force receiving portion 412 and a striking portion 413, when the pressing member 41 is set to rotate, the user applies a rotational force to the force receiving portion 412, the striking portion 413 strikes the intermediate member 42 so that the intermediate member 42 rotates along a predetermined path, when the pressing member 41 is set to slide, the pressing member 41 can slide either in the housing 1 or in the inner housing 5, and during the sliding of the pressing member 41, the striking portion 413 strikes the intermediate member 42 so that the intermediate member 42 rotates along the predetermined path, and the sliding direction thereof can be any one of the up-down direction, the front-rear direction, and the left-right direction.

Like the pressing member 41, the ejector member 43 may be provided on the outer case 1 or the inner case 5 in such a manner as to be either rotatable or slidable. The pressing member 41 and the ejector member 43 are slidably provided in the up-down direction in the inner housing 5.

The pressing member 41 includes a main body 411 and a force receiving portion 412 which are connected to each other, and the stirring portion 413 may be located on any one of the main body 411 and the force receiving portion 412, preferably, the main body 411 and the force receiving portion 412 are integrally formed, and the stirring portion 413 is located at the lower end of the main body 411, at this time, the design style of the force receiving portion 412 may be changed according to the use environment, so that the design of the force receiving portion 412 more accords with the use habit of the user.

The intermediate member 42 is provided to urge the ejector 43 upward while rotating about the axis, and preferably, the intermediate member 42 is integrally formed including an intermediate body 421 and a rotating portion 423 and an urging portion 422 provided to the intermediate body 421; the axis of rotation of the intermediate member 42/rotating portion 423 with respect to the housing 1 should not be limited, but may be changed according to design requirements, for example, the axis of the intermediate member 42 may be disposed in parallel with one of the left-right direction, the front-rear direction, and the up-down direction, or may intersect any one of the three directions, as long as the intermediate member 42 is capable of transmitting a force to the ejector member 43 such that the ejector member 43 moves upward.

The ejector 43 has a force receiving portion 431 for receiving a force and an ejector portion 432 for ejecting the second cover 2b, and preferably, the force receiving portion 431 and the ejector portion 432 are located at both ends of the ejector 43, respectively, in the up-down direction, so that the design can simplify the structure of the ejector 43 and reduce interference that may occur between the ejector 43 and other components during movement.

When the user applies downward force to the force receiving portion 412, the pressing member 41 slides downward, the toggle portion 413 toggles the intermediate member 42, the intermediate member 42/rotating portion 423 rotates about the axis, the urging portion 422 urges the urging force receiving portion 431, and further, the ejector member 43 slides upward, the ejector portion 432 applies upward ejection force to the second cover 2b, the ejection force causes the second cover 2b to drive the boss 6 to force the pressing member 7 to elastically deform again, and when the boss 6 passes over the intersection of the pressing portion 72 and the pressed portion 71 upward, the second cover 2b is lifted up to unlock, and finally, the opening operation of the second cover 2b is achieved.

In some embodiments, when the second cover 2b is in the closed state, the ejector 43 is disposed not beyond the upper surface 51 of the inner case 5, and when the ejector 43 is forced by the intermediate member 42, the ejector 43 moves upward beyond the upper surface 51 and ejects the second cover 2 b. The upper surface 51 is the uppermost surface of the portion of the inner case 5 opposite to the ejector 43 in the left-right direction, and it can be seen that the second cover 2b of the thermal printer 100 having such a design can be closed more smoothly.

In some embodiments, at least one of the pressing member 41 and the intermediate member 42 is provided with the avoiding portion 414, and during the rotation of the intermediate member 42 by being pushed by the pressing member 41, possible interference between the pressing member 41 and the intermediate member 42 can be eliminated, thereby ensuring that the door assembly 4 can work smoothly. The relief portion 414 may be a portion of the pressing member 41 or the intermediate member 42 cut away, a groove formed in the pressing member 41 or the intermediate member 42, or the like.

In some embodiments, the lid opening assembly 4 further includes a reset member 44 coupled to the intermediate member 42, the reset member 44 accumulating the reset force during the opening of the second lid 2b, and the reset member 44 releasing the reset force when the external force applied to the force receiving portion 411 is withdrawn, and the pressing member 41, the intermediate member 42, and the ejection member 43 are reset.

Based on the above-described inventive concept, the lid opening assembly 4 may also be configured such that, when the pressing member 41 is pushed upward, the ejector member 43 ejects the second lid 2b, at which time a switching member (not shown) will need to be installed between the pressing member 41 and the intermediate member 42, by which switching member the intermediate member 42 is pushed, at which time the original pressing member 41 and the switching member will be regarded as new pressing members.

Further, the movement mode of the intermediate member 42 may be set to slide, in which case, after the pressing member 41 dials the intermediate member 42, the intermediate member 42 slides along a predetermined path, and during the sliding process, the intermediate member 42 forces the ejector member 43 to jack up the second cover 2b, so that the intermediate member 42 can be toggled by the pressing member 41 to move. In some embodiments, the intermediate member 42 may also be a part of the pressing member 41 and a part of the ejection member 43, for example, the pressing member 41 and the ejection member 43 are engaged by inclined surfaces, and during sliding of the pressing member 41, a force is transmitted to the ejection member 43 through the engaged inclined surfaces, so that the ejection member 43 ejects the second cover 2b, and at this time, a portion of the pressing member 41 where the inclined surfaces are provided and a portion of the ejection member 43 where the corresponding inclined surfaces are provided may be referred to as the intermediate member 42.

Further, in the direction in which the rotation axis L points to the paper outlet 2c, the contact position between the ejector 43 and the second cover 2b is closer to the paper outlet 2c, or the position of the second cover 2b lifted by the ejector 43 is closer to the paper outlet 2c, at this time, the force required for the second cover 2b to be lifted is smaller, and accordingly, the user experience is better.

Still further, the cover opening assemblies 4 are provided at both left and right sides of the housing 1, so that a user can apply force to the second cover 2b at both left and right sides at the same time, and then the second cover 2b will be opened more easily, and at the same time, the design can also enable the user to open the second cover 2b by using any one of the cover opening assemblies 4 at both left and right sides according to his own usage habit or in a situation that one hand of the user is occupied.

As shown in the drawing, a transmission lever 45 extending in the left-right direction is provided in the thermal printer 100, and for convenience of distinction, a cover opening assembly located at the left side of the casing 1 is referred to as a left side assembly 4a, and a cover opening assembly located at the right side of the casing 1 is referred to as a right side assembly 4b.

The left and right assemblies 4a and 4b may be identical in structure, and at this time, the transmission rod 45 may be dispensed with, the left and right assemblies 4a and 4b are disposed independently of each other, and the user simultaneously operates the left and right assemblies 4a and 4b to open the second cover 2b; alternatively, the transmission lever 45 may be maintained, and when the user operates the left side assembly 4a and the right side assembly 4b simultaneously, the transmission lever 45 is advantageous to ensure that the second cover 2b is opened simultaneously at both left and right sides if the forces applied by the left and right hands are different, and if the user operates with only one hand, the forces can be transmitted to the other side through the transmission lever 45 so that the second cover 2b can be opened at both left and right sides.

The structure of the left and right components 4a and 4b may not be identical, for example, a pressing member 41 is provided in one of the left and right components 4a and 4b, the other is not provided with the pressing member 41, but is provided with a middle member 42 and an ejector member 43 on both sides, so that a user may apply a force to the pressing member 41, and then the force is transferred to the other side through the transmission lever 45 so that the second cover 2b can be opened on both sides, at which time the transmission lever 45 may be regarded as a pressing member of the cover opening assembly on the side where the pressing member 41 is not provided, and a case on the side where the pressing member 41 is not provided will not have to be provided with an exposure opening allowing the pressing member 41 to be exposed, and the case will be more complete on the side, which is advantageous for improving the external appearance of the thermal printer 100.

As described above, the second cover 2b of the thermal printer 100 can be opened by the cover opening assembly 4, and the user is not required to directly apply the force to the second cover 2b with fingers, and the above-mentioned arrangement of the cover opening assembly 4 not only improves the use experience of the user, but also effectively avoids the damage to other components that may be caused when the second cover 2b is directly opened by the hand of the user.

Claims (10)

1. A thermal printer including a housing, an image forming assembly and an image forming medium accommodating portion in the housing, and a cover for covering the image forming medium accommodating portion, the image forming medium accommodating portion for accommodating an image forming medium that can be imaged by the image forming assembly, characterized in that the thermal printer further includes a cover opening assembly for opening the cover;

the cover opening assembly comprises a pressing piece, a middle piece and an ejection piece, wherein the pressing piece is used for receiving external acting force and forcing the ejection piece to eject the cover through the middle piece.

2. The thermal printer of claim 1 further comprising another cover covering at least a portion of the imaging assembly, the cover and the other cover defining an imaging media outlet therebetween, the cover opening assembly being disposed on one of the sides along a direction of extension of the imaging media outlet.

3. The thermal printer of claim 1 further comprising another cover covering at least a portion of the imaging assembly, the cover and the other cover defining an imaging media outlet therebetween, the imaging media outlet extending on both sides thereof being provided with cover opening assemblies.

4. A thermal printer according to claim 3 wherein the cover opening assemblies are disposed independently of each other on either side of the direction of extension of the imaging media outlet.

5. A thermal printer according to claim 3 wherein the cover opening assemblies on either side of the direction of extension of the imaging media outlet are connected by a drive rod that extends in the direction of extension of the imaging media outlet.

6. The thermal printer of claim 5 wherein the pressing member of one of the cover opening assemblies is a drive rod.

7. A thermal printer according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the pressing member and the ejector member are arranged to be movable in a direction intersecting with a direction in which the imaging medium outlet extends, and the intermediate member is arranged to be rotatable with respect to the housing.

8. The thermal printer of claim 7, further comprising an inner housing within the outer housing, the imaging assembly being mounted to the inner housing, the imaging media receiving portion being formed as part of the inner housing, the ejector member not exceeding an upper surface of the inner housing when the cover is in the closed condition, the ejector member moving upwardly beyond the upper surface of the inner housing when the ejector member is forced.

9. The thermal printer of claim 7 wherein the cover is rotatable relative to the housing, the ejector being in contact with the cover at a position closer to the imaging media outlet in a direction in which the rotational axis of the cover is directed toward the imaging media outlet.

10. The thermal printer of claim 7, further comprising a sleeve fixedly mounted on the cover and a pressing member for pressing the sleeve, the cover being locked by the pressing of the pressing member with the sleeve.