JP2000168154A - Tape-cutting mechanism of tape-printing apparatus and tape-printing apparatus with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tape-cutting mechanism of a tape-printing apparatus for which a cutter can be manufactured at low costs and a tape-printing apparatus with the same. SOLUTION: In a tape-cutting mechanism 11 of a tape-printing apparatus including a cutter 30 for cutting a printing tape 100 to a predetermined length, the cutter 30 has a cutting edge 31 which operates to cut when rotating about a fulcrum 32, and an edge-receiving member 33 for receiving the cutting edge 31 operating to cut the printing tape 100 while holding the tape. A receiving slit 51 is formed to the edge-receiving member 33 in which the cutting edge 31 after cutting is fitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape cutting mechanism for a tape printing apparatus for cutting a printed portion of a printing tape, which is mainly an adhesive tape with release paper, and a tape printing apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a tape cutting mechanism of this kind and a tape printing apparatus having the same, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 9561 is known. In this tape printing apparatus, a tape cartridge containing a printing tape is mounted in an apparatus case. The printing head is pressed against the printing tape fed from the tape cartridge to perform printing, and the printed portion is printed. The print tape is cut to a predetermined length by a cutter, and the cut print tape is discharged to the outside from a tape discharge port formed in an apparatus case. Then, the discharged printing tape is used as a label. In this case, the cutter is of a scissor type including a fixed blade, a movable blade that performs a cutting operation on the fixed blade, and a support shaft that forms a fulcrum of the fixed blade and the movable blade. The fixed blade and the movable blade are made of metal, and both are formed substantially "L" by a blade portion having a blade edge and an arm portion connected to the blade portion, with the support shaft portion interposed therebetween.

[0003]

As described above, in the cutter, since both the fixed blade and the movable blade are made of metal, the cut end of the printing tape can be cut neatly, but the cost of the cutter itself is high. There was a problem. In particular, in the case of a scissor type cutter, in order to perform a cutting operation by sliding a fixed blade and a movable blade, it is necessary to consider warpage and twist of the blade itself, or adjustment of tightening of a support shaft. Costs are also high. On the other hand, there are cases where the cut printing tape itself is used as a label, and cases where a portion serving as a label is formed on the printing tape by half-cutting. In the latter case, since the part other than the part that becomes the label is discarded, it is less significant that the cut end of the printing tape is cut cleanly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a tape cutting mechanism of a tape printing apparatus capable of manufacturing a cutter at low cost, and a tape printing apparatus having the same.

[0005]

A tape cutting mechanism according to the present invention is a tape cutting mechanism for a tape printing apparatus provided with a cutter for cutting a printing tape into a predetermined length, wherein the cutter rotates about a fulcrum. A cutting blade that receives the cutting blade that performs the cutting operation by sandwiching the printing tape, and the blade receiving member has a receiving slit into which the cut cutting blade is fitted. It is characterized by.

According to this configuration, the cutting blade rotates about the fulcrum, and the blade receiving member receives both sides of the cut portion of the printing tape, and the cutting blade cuts the cut portion toward the receiving slit. , The printing tape is cut.
In this case, since the fixed-side blade receiving member has a structure that receives the movable-side cutting blade with the receiving slit, the blade receiving member does not need to have a blade structure. That is, the cutting blade is
Although the cutting operation is performed by rotating, there is no need to take the structure of scissors.

In this case, it is preferable that the blade receiving member is made of resin.

According to this structure, the cost of the cutter can be reduced as compared with the case where the blade receiving member is made of metal or the like.

In this case, it is preferable that the cutter is housed in an apparatus case of the tape printing apparatus, and at least a part of the blade receiving member is formed integrally with the apparatus case.

Similarly, a cartridge mounting portion to which a tape cartridge containing a printing tape is removably mounted is disposed near the cutter, and at least a part of the blade receiving member constitutes a cartridge mounting portion. It is preferably formed integrally with the mounting case.

Similarly, a tape cartridge containing a printing tape is mounted near the cutter, and at least a part of the blade receiving member is preferably formed integrally with the cartridge case of the tape cartridge. .

According to these configurations, the cost of the cutter can be further reduced.

In these cases, it is preferable that a blade guide member for guiding the cutting operation of the cutting blade is provided at a position facing the blade receiving member with the printing tape interposed therebetween.

According to this configuration, the cutting blade that performs the cutting operation can be appropriately guided to the receiving slit of the blade receiving member.

In these cases, it is preferable that the cutting edge of the cutting blade bends in the cutting direction from the fulcrum side toward the cutting side.

According to this structure, the cutting angle of the cutting edge of the cutting blade with respect to the printing tape can be made substantially constant at any of the fulcrum side and the cutting side.
The sharpness of the cutter can be improved as compared with the case where a straight cutting edge is used.

In these cases, the cutting blade includes a blade portion having a blade edge, and an input arm connected to the blade portion. The blade portion is made of metal, and the arm portion is made of resin. Is preferred.

According to this structure, only the blade necessary for cutting by the cutting blade is made of metal and the other is made of resin, so that the cost can be reduced without impairing the cutting performance.

A tape printing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with the tape cutting mechanism of the tape printing apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects.

According to this configuration, the cost of the tape cutting mechanism can be reduced by reducing the cost of the tape cutting mechanism.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a tape cutting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention and a tape printing apparatus having the same will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This tape printing apparatus prints (prints) desired characters and figures on a printing tape mounted in the apparatus via a tape cartridge, and cuts a printed portion of the printing tape into a predetermined length. is there. More specifically, the printing tape has M
An adhesive label dedicated to D (mini-disc) is made, and the tape printing apparatus performs desired printing on the surface of the adhesive label. And the adhesive label after printing is
It is peeled off from the printing tape and is attached to a predetermined position on an MD (cassette).

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the tape printer in the open state. As shown in FIG.
The printing apparatus main body 2 includes a printing apparatus main body 2 and a tape cartridge 3 detachably mounted on the main body.
An outer shell is formed by the divided device case 4. On a front upper surface of the device case 4, a keyboard 5 including various input keys 5a is provided, and on a rear upper surface, a display 6, an opening / closing lid 7, and a lid opening button 8 for opening the same are provided.

A cartridge mounting portion 9 for mounting the tape cartridge 3 is formed in the inside of the opening / closing lid 7, and the tape cartridge 3 is moved to the cartridge mounting portion 9 with the opening / closing lid 7 opened. Detachable. A cartridge mounting portion 9 is provided on the left side of the device case 4.
And a tape discharge port 10 that communicates with the outside of the apparatus,
A tape cutting mechanism (see FIG. 3) 11 that cuts the sent print tape 100 faces the tape discharge port 10. Further, a cutter button 12 of the tape cutting mechanism is provided at a rear left portion of the apparatus case 4.

On the other hand, the print head 14 covered with the head cover 13 and the print head 1
4, a platen 15, a take-up reel shaft 16 for winding the ink ribbon, and a guide projection 17 for guiding the mounting of the tape cartridge 3 are provided upright. A tape feed mechanism (not shown) for rotating the platen 15 and the take-up reel shaft 16 is provided below the cartridge mounting section 9.
Is built-in. Reference numeral 18 in the drawing denotes a head operation plate, and when the open / close lid 7 is closed, the head operation plate 1 is closed.
8, the print head 14 is rotated to the print position where the platen 15 is pressed, and printing is enabled.

After the user mounts the tape cartridge 3 in the cartridge mounting section 9, the user inputs print information such as desired characters using the keyboard 5, and at the same time confirms the input result on the display 6 and edits the input information. next,
When printing is instructed via the keyboard 5, the tape feeding mechanism is driven, and the printing tape 1 is transferred from the tape cartridge 3.
00, the ink ribbon is wound up at the same time, and the print head 14 is driven to perform desired printing on the portion of the adhesive label 110 of the printing tape 100 (see FIG. 2). Alternatively, a mini-disc player (not shown) is connected to the printing apparatus main body 2 to read out and edit the index data and the like stored in the MD,
0 is printed on the adhesive label 110.

Then, the printed portion of the printing tape 100 is continuously sent out from the tape outlet 10 in parallel with the printing operation. Thus, when the desired printing is completed, the tape feeding mechanism stops the feeding operation. Here, when the user presses the cutter button 12 disposed on the left rear portion of the apparatus case 4, the tape cutting mechanism 11 is activated, and the printing tape 100 with the adhesive label is cut to a desired length.

Next, the tape cutting mechanism 11 will be described in detail. Before that, the printing tape 100 cut by the tape cutting mechanism 11 and the tape cartridge 3 in which the printing tape 100 is stored will be briefly described. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer shell of the tape cartridge 3 is formed by a cartridge case 21 including an upper case 21a and a lower case 21b which are engaged with each other in a snap-in manner.

A printing tape 100 and an ink ribbon are accommodated in the cartridge case 21. The printing tape 100 is fed out during printing, while the ink ribbon overlaps with the printing tape 100 and runs together. ,
It is wound inside. Further, in a portion where the printing tape 100 and the ink ribbon overlap each other, an opening 22 facing the printing head 14 and the platen 15 is formed. Then, the print completed portion of the printing tape 100 is sent out from the tape outlet 23 formed in the cartridge case 21 toward the tape outlet 10 of the device case 4.

The printing tape 100 is formed by attaching a release tape 102 to a printing tape main body 101 with an adhesive material, and a large number of adhesive labels 110 are arranged side by side on the printing tape main body 101 by making cut lines in a square. It is built in. That is, the adhesive label 110 is formed by half-cutting a tape with a so-called release paper. The part other than the part where the adhesive label 110 is formed, that is, the left and right non-label parts 111 is the printing tape 1
00 is the part to be cut.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the tape cutting mechanism 11 includes the cutter button 12 and the cutter 3 described above.
0, and the cutter 30 is
, A support shaft 32 serving as a rotation center of the cutting blade 31, and a blade receiving member 33 that receives a cutting operation of the cutting blade 31. Although not particularly shown, the cutter button 12 is provided with a push piece extending downward, and the cutting blade 31 is connected to a pin provided at the lower end of the push piece. The cutter button 12 is urged upward by a spring. When the cutter button 12 is pressed, the cutting blade 31 rotates about the support shaft 32 via the pin. When the user releases the cutter button 12, the cutter button 12 moves upward by a spring and returns to the original position.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the cutting blade 31 includes a blade portion 42 having a cutting edge 41 and an arm portion 43 connected to the blade portion 42, and is made of a hardened metal. Further, the cutting blade 31 includes a support shaft 32.
It is formed in an “L” shape with the portion as the center, and is compactly accommodated in the device case 4. Blade part 42
The cutting edge 41 is formed so as to slightly warp from the support shaft 32 side to the cutting edge side, and is configured so that the cutting angle of each part with respect to the printing tape 100 to be cut is substantially constant. I have. Therefore, the cutting blade 31 exhibits the same cutting performance on both the support shaft side 32 and the cutting end side.

At the tail end of the arm 43, an arm 43 is provided.
A long groove 44 extending in the longitudinal direction is formed, and the pin of the cutter button 12 is engaged with the long groove 44. The support shaft 32 is formed of a stepped screw or the like, and the cutting blade 31 is rotatable by the support shaft 32 with respect to the side wall 19 a of the mounting portion case 19 constituting the cartridge mounting portion 9. Installed.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the cutting blade 31. The cutting blade 31 of this embodiment has an arm 43 made of resin, and is attached such that a base end of a metal blade 42 is embedded therein. With this configuration, the cost of the cutting blade 31 can be reduced. In addition, in this cutting blade 31, the long groove 4 of the first embodiment is used.
4 is recessed at the tail end of the arm 43.

On the other hand, the blade receiving member 33 has an inner receiving member 52 and an outer receiving member 53 with a receiving slit 51 facing the cut blade 31 interposed therebetween, and both are made of resin. In this case, the inner receiving member 52 is
The outer side receiving member 53 is formed by extending a part of the device case 4 by protruding the side wall 19 a of the mounting portion case 19 outward. A blade guide member 34 is formed at a position facing the inner receiving member 52 with the tape discharge port 10 interposed therebetween, with the side wall 19a of the mounting portion case 19 protruding outward. That is, the inner receiving member 52 of the blade receiving member 33 and the blade guide member 34 are formed integrally with the mounting portion case 19, and the blade receiving member 3
3 is formed integrally with the apparatus case 4.

The lower portion of the blade guide member 34 is in contact with the base of the blade portion 42 in a cutting standby state. When the cutting blade 31 performs a cutting operation from this state, the blade portion 42 is guided by the blade guide member 34. , And cut into the printing tape 100. Since the blade portion 42 is cut by being guided by the blade guide member 34 in this manner, the blade portion 42 is cut.
Can be prevented from hitting the end faces of the inner receiving member 52 and the outer receiving member 53. The width of the receiving slit 51 is determined in consideration of the rigidity of the printing tape 100.
0 is set so as not to bend and be pushed into the receiving slit 51. Note that the gap formed by the inner receiving member 52 and the blade guide member 34 is
It is preferable to be continuous without forming a step between the two.

Next, a second embodiment of the tape cutting mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the inner receiving member 52 and the outer receiving member 53 of the blade receiving member 33 are formed integrally, and the blade receiving member 33 is formed integrally with the side wall 19 a of the mounting portion case 19. For this reason,
The receiving slit 51 is a deep groove.

As described above, according to these embodiments,
The cutter 30 is composed of a metal cutting blade 31 and a resin blade receiving member 33 receiving the metal cutting blade 31.
The cutter 30 can be manufactured at low cost because the cutter 3 is formed integrally with the mounting case 19 and the device case 4. Of course, a sharper cut end cannot be obtained as compared with a conventional scissor-type cutter, but since the printing tape 100 of the embodiment is discarded after peeling off the adhesive label 110, the finish of the cut end is problematic. Will not be.

Although not shown, the blade receiving member may be formed integrally with the cartridge case of the tape cartridge. Of course, the inner receiving member may be formed integrally with the cartridge case, and the outer receiving member may be formed integrally with the apparatus case. Further, the blade receiving member may be formed as a separate body, and may be attached to the mounting portion case or the like.

[0039]

As described above, according to the tape cutting mechanism and the tape printing apparatus of the present invention, the cutter is constituted by the movable cutting blade and the fixed blade receiving member. There is no need for a structure, and the cost of the cutter can be reduced. Further, by mounting the tape cutting mechanism, the cost of the tape printing apparatus itself can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention with a tape cartridge removed.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the tape cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view around a tape cutting mechanism and a cartridge mounting portion.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a portion around a tape cutting mechanism and a cartridge mounting portion.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a cutting blade of the cutter.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a cutting blade of a cutter according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view around a tape cutting mechanism and a cartridge mounting portion according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tape printing device 3 Tape cartridge 4 Device case 9 Cartridge mounting part 10 Tape outlet 11 Tape cutting mechanism 12 Cutter button 19 Mounting part case 21 Cartridge case 30 Cutter 31 Cutting blade 32 Support shaft 33 Blade receiving member 34 Blade guide member 41 Blade tip 42 blade part 43 arm part 51 receiving slit 52 inner receiving member 53 outer receiving member 100 printing tape

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A tape cutting mechanism for a tape printing apparatus comprising a cutter for cutting a print tape into a predetermined length, wherein the cutter is configured to perform a cutting operation by rotating about a fulcrum; A blade receiving member that receives the cutting blade that performs a cutting operation with a tape interposed therebetween, wherein the blade receiving member is formed with a receiving slit into which the cut cutting blade is fitted. Tape cutting mechanism. 2. The tape cutting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the blade receiving member is made of resin. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cutter is housed in an apparatus case of a tape printing apparatus, and at least a part of the blade receiving member is formed integrally with the apparatus case. The tape cutting mechanism of the tape printer according to the above. 4. A cartridge mounting portion to which a tape cartridge containing the printing tape is removably mounted is provided near the cutter, and at least a part of the blade receiving member is provided with the cartridge mounting portion. 3. The tape cutting mechanism of a tape printer according to claim 2, wherein the tape cutting mechanism is formed integrally with a mounting part case constituting a part. 5. A tape cartridge containing the printing tape is mounted near the cutter, and at least a part of the blade receiving member is formed integrally with a cartridge case of the tape cartridge. The tape cutting mechanism of a tape printer according to claim 2, wherein: 6. A blade guide member for guiding a cutting operation of the cutting blade is provided at a position facing the blade receiving member with the printing tape interposed therebetween. A tape cutting mechanism of the tape printer according to any one of the above. 7. The tape according to claim 1, wherein the cutting edge of the cutting blade is warped in the cutting direction from the fulcrum side toward the cutting side. Cutting mechanism. 8. The cutting blade includes a blade portion having a blade edge, and an input arm portion connected to the blade portion, wherein the blade portion is made of metal, and the arm portion is made of resin. The tape cutting mechanism of a tape printer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: 9. A tape printing apparatus comprising a tape cutting mechanism of the tape printing apparatus according to claim 1. Description: