JP2000103132A - Paper-feeding mechanism of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To judge by a printer whether or not a set paper is appropriate even when the paper which cannot be printed is set by mistake to the printer, and display a warning to an operator. SOLUTION: In this paper-feeding mechanism of a printer which sets a roll paper 22 having a wind core 18 at a feed shaft 9 of the printer 1, at least one engaging member 14 is provided freely movably in/out to an outer circumferential face of the feed shaft 9, and a hole part to be engaged with the engaging member 14 is set to the wind core 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper supply mechanism for a printer, and more particularly to a paper supply mechanism for a printer that pulls out roll paper from a supply shaft, such as roll paper such as tags and labels.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal printer can be used as a printer which is used in supermarkets and department stores and prints on paper such as labels and tags attached to products. This thermal printer has a supply shaft for rotatably holding rolled paper formed by winding paper around a core and forming a roll, and a printing unit on which a platen roller and a thermal head are arranged. Then, characters, prices, bar codes, and the like are printed on the paper by the heat generating action of the thermal head while the roll paper is fed out and transported by the rotation drive of the platen roller.

[0003] Paper such as labels and tags used in such printers can be generally classified into plain paper and thermal paper. When printing on plain paper, the heat generated by the thermal head is used to transfer to plain paper via the ink ribbon attached to the printer.When printing on thermal paper, the ink ribbon is not required. In this method, the heat generation of the thermal head is caused by the heat-sensitive coloring layer of the thermal paper.

However, since plain paper and thermal paper cannot be distinguished from each other based on their appearance, they may be loaded in a printer by mistake. For example, small printers are designed to be smaller, so the mechanism of the ink ribbon is eliminated, so only thermal paper is used.However, even if such a printer is loaded with plain paper by mistake and print is issued Since the color printing is not performed, there is a problem that the operator mistakenly recognizes that the printer has failed.

There is also a method of manufacturing by printing a mark or the like on the paper itself in order to distinguish between plain paper and thermal paper. However, when attached to a product, there is a problem that the appearance is poor and the value of the product is reduced. .

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a printer which displays a warning message without performing a printing operation when unprintable paper is loaded in the printer. A paper supply mechanism is provided.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention focuses on making a determination as to whether or not the paper is appropriate. A roll paper having a core and a cylindrical supply for fitting and holding the roll paper are provided. In a paper supply mechanism of a printer comprising a shaft and a side plate member rotatably supporting the supply shaft, at least one engaging member provided on the outer peripheral surface of the supply shaft so as to be freely retractable, and A paper supply mechanism for a printer, comprising a hole for engaging with an engagement member.

Therefore, the printer can print and print by loading the proper thermal paper, and the fitting member provided on the supply shaft and the hole provided on the winding core are fitted by loading the incorrect paper. Therefore, a braking force is applied so that the supply shaft does not rotate. Therefore, since the sheet cannot be transported, a warning is displayed as an improper sheet, and no operation is performed. Therefore, it is possible to easily inform the operator of the determination as to whether or not the sheet is an appropriate sheet, and to appropriately perform the subsequent processing. be able to.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of the printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a winding core, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a roll-shaped label continuous body.

A label continuous body 21 in which a plurality of labels L are temporarily attached at predetermined intervals to a band-shaped mount 20 is provided with a core 1 to be described later.
8 to form a continuous roll-shaped label 22 (roll paper). Further, the label L is temporarily attached to a thermal paper having a heat-sensitive coloring layer for forming a heat-sensitive color formed on a surface of a paper material.

The label printer 1 has a supply unit 3, a guide roller 4, a printing unit 5, and a control unit (not shown), and a roll-shaped label continuous body 22 is rotatably fitted in the supply unit 3. A supply shaft 9 to be held is provided at the rear of the printer 1. A printing unit 5 is disposed at the front of the printer 1, and includes a platen roller 7 and a thermal head 8. The thermal head 8 is provided so as to be able to contact and separate from the platen roller 7. The platen roller 7 is rotatably provided by driving a drive source (not shown).

The guide roller 4 is arranged between the supply unit 3 and the printing unit 5, and a paper sensor 6 is arranged near the guide roller 4. The paper sensor 6 is provided with detection marks (not shown) at predetermined intervals on a surface of the belt-shaped backing sheet 20 opposite to the surface on which the label L is temporarily attached, and a sensor for detecting the detection marks. And
The label is stopped at a predetermined printing position based on the detection result of the detection sensor. Further, the guide roller 4 and the printing unit 5
A guide plate (not shown) that guides the label continuous body 21 along a predetermined transfer path may be provided between the first and second labels.

The supply shaft 9 is formed of a plastic or a synthetic resin.
Cylindrical shaft 11 which does not contact the outer periphery of the supply shaft 9 through
Are provided, the central shaft 11 is fixed to the side plate 2, and the supply shaft 9 is rotatably provided on the side plate 2. Although not shown, a detection sensor for detecting the rotation of the supply shaft 9 is provided. The preferred position of the detection sensor is to provide a detection hole (not shown) in the center shaft 11 and
A detection sensor (not shown) is provided inside 1 to detect the rotation of the supply shaft 9 through a detection hole. The outer peripheral surface of the supply shaft 9 is provided with a through-hole 12 at a predetermined position.
4 are provided.

The body of the engaging member 14 has a substantially columnar shape, and one end thereof has a semi-spherical shape, and can freely protrude and retract from the outer peripheral surface of the supply shaft 9 (arrow in FIG. 2). In addition, the insertion of the core 18 is improved. Also,
The other end has a planar shape. The engaging member 14 has a washer 15 fixed to the vicinity of the semi-spherical side, so that the washer 15 contacts the outer peripheral surface of the supply shaft 9 so that the engaging member 14 does not fall off.

A coil spring 16 is fitted through the engaging member 14, one of which contacts the washer 15,
The other abuts against the inner peripheral surface of the supply shaft 9 and urges the semicircular portion of the engagement member 14 to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the supply shaft 9. When the semicircular portion of the engaging member 14 is pressed, the engaging member 14 is pushed inward of the supply shaft 9, and the flat portion of the engaging member 14 and the center shaft 11 come into contact with each other, so that the rotation of the supply shaft 9. It is designed to stop braking. A rubber-based surface, which is an elastic body, may be provided with a member having a frictional force on the flat portion of the engagement member 14.

With this configuration, when the roll paper 22 on which the thermal paper as a label is wound is loaded on the supply shaft 9 of the printer 1, the semicircular portion of the engaging member 14 and the hole of the core 18 are formed. 19 is engaged with the label continuum 2
With the transfer of 1, the supply shaft 9 rotates. When a winding core (without holes) around which plain paper is wound is loaded, the supply shaft 9
Since the semicircular portion of the engaging member 14 is pressed and the engaging member 14 and the central shaft 11 come into contact with each other, the braking force is increased so that the supply shaft 9 does not rotate, and the rotation is difficult.

Therefore, since the supply shaft 9 does not rotate and the detection sensor (not shown) does not detect the rotation of the supply shaft 14, a warning display such as "Use thermal paper" is displayed. Accordingly, the operator notices that the paper is plain paper, and can load appropriate thermal paper into the printer.

As described above, the detection sensor for detecting the rotation of the supply shaft 9 by pressing the start key of the operation unit (not shown) of the printer 1 detects the rotation of the supply shaft 9 at a predetermined timing. A signal is supplied to a control unit (not shown) to wait for a signal for print issuance, and print is issued by a print signal. Further, when the detection sensor cannot detect the rotation of the supply shaft 9, it does not supply a signal to the control unit, so that a warning is displayed and the operation is stopped.

Therefore, the printer 1 can issue a print by loading the appropriate thermal paper, and by loading paper other than the thermal paper, a warning that the paper cannot be used is displayed and the print is not issued. In addition, it is possible to easily inform the user of an appropriate sheet, and the subsequent processing can be performed accurately and practically.

Although one hole 19 formed in the core 18 shown in the present embodiment is provided on one side in the width direction of the core 18, it may be provided on both sides on the other side. In this case, the core 18 may be loaded on the supply shaft 9 from any direction. Further, in order to properly fit the engagement member 14 and the hole 19 of the core 18, preferably, a mark for alignment may be provided on the engagement member 14 and the core 18.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an example is shown in which thermal paper is used. However, in a printer dedicated to plain paper, plain paper may be wound around the core of the present invention. Also, the label continuum has been described as the roll paper, but any printable paper such as a tag for a tag can be adopted.

[0022]

As described in detail above, the present invention can easily inform the operator of the determination as to whether or not the paper is appropriate.
Since the warning is displayed, it is possible to judge whether the paper is appropriate or not, which is practical.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a core of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a continuous roll-shaped label.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 9 Supply shaft 10 Cavity part 12 Through-hole 14 Engagement member 15 Washer 16 Coil spring 18 Core 19 Hole part 22 Roll continuous label body (roll paper) L label

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A paper supply mechanism for a printer, comprising: a roll paper having a core; a cylindrical supply shaft for fitting and holding the roll paper; and a side plate member rotatably supporting the supply shaft. A paper supply mechanism for a printer, comprising: at least one engaging member provided on the outer peripheral surface of a supply shaft so as to be freely retractable; and a hole for engaging the engaging member on the core.