JP2001150758A - Carrier of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the assembling workability of a flexible cable for connecting a carrier body in a printer with a printed circuit board and to prevent a trouble such as occurrence of peeling of a solder or generation of allophone by preventing abnormal deformation of the assembled flexible cable beforehand. SOLUTION: The printer is equipped with the carrier body 21 having a printing means mounted thereon and a bandlike flexible cable 3. A side plate section 24 having a sliplike opening 27 into which the flexible cable 3 is inserted is coupled to the carrier body 21 through a plastic hinge 28. The circuit board 5 connected to the flexible cable 3 is provided in a board mount section 23 in the carrier body 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a carrier for a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 schematically shows a carrier 2 used in a printer 1 such as an ink jet printer. In the printer 1 shown in the figure, the guide rod 11 disposed horizontally guides the reciprocation of the carrier body 21 in the left-right direction D, and the action of the printing means mounted on the carrier body 21 during the reciprocation of the carrier body 21. The recording such as printing is performed on the paper P. One end of the strip-shaped flexible cable 3 is connected to a printed wiring board 13 installed on the back side of the chassis 12. The flexible cable 3 is drawn out to the front side through an opening (not shown in the figure) of the chassis 12 and
It is fixed to the fixture 4 attached to the chassis 12, and the other end is connected to the carrier body 21.
Further, in the flexible cable 3, one portion of the intermediate portion of the portion from the fixing portion with the fixing device 4 to the carrier body 21 is bent in a U-shape, and the bending portion 3 is formed from the fixing portion.
3 to the carrier body 21 from the bent portion 33 thereof.
Has a flat shape along the reciprocating path of the carrier body 21.

On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-64861 describes a printer in which a flexible cable is connected to a carrier body. In addition, actual opening 60-18
Japanese Patent No. 2157 discloses a technique in which the intermediate portion of the flexible cable is bent into a U-shape to absorb the deformation of the flexible cable accompanying the movement of the carrier body as described in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a procedure conventionally performed when assembling the flexible cable 3 to the carrier body 21.

As shown in FIG. 1, a carrier body 21 is formed in a rectangular frame shape, and a guided portion 22 slidably held by the guide rod 11 described with reference to FIG.
Having. The carrier main body 21 has a mounting portion (not shown in the drawing) for the above-described printing means on the front surface, and a substrate mounting portion 23 on which a wiring substrate 5 described later is provided on the back surface side. Further, side plate portions 24 and 25 are provided on left and right sides of the substrate installation portion 23, and an upper plate portion 26 is provided above the substrate installation portion 23, respectively. And
A vertically long opening 27 is formed in one side plate portion 24 in a slit shape.

On the other hand, the flexible cable 3 is made of a strip-shaped FFC, and the other end is joined to the wiring board 5 for relay. A printed wiring board (PCB) having poor flexibility is employed as the wiring board 5. Further, a wiring board (FPC) 6 having a large number of electrodes corresponding to printing means is joined to the wiring board 5 together with the flexible cable 3.

As shown in FIG. 6, when attaching the flexible cable 3 to the carrier main body 21, the flexible cable 3 is inserted through the opening 27 of the side plate 24 on one side of the carrier main body 21 as shown by the arrow B, and then the relay cable is connected. Of assembling the wiring board 5 into the board installation part 23 of the carrier main body 21 is adopted. The wiring board 5 assembled to the carrier main body 21 in this manner and the joint between the wiring board 5 and the flexible cable 3 are connected to the board mounting section 23.
Are protected by being surrounded by the left and right side plate portions 24, 25 and the upper plate portion 26.

[0008]

However, the board mounting portion 23 surrounded by the left and right side plate portions 24, 25 and the upper plate portion 26 is a very narrow space, and the long strip-shaped flexible cable 3 is joined thereto. If the wiring board 5 is to be installed on the board installation section 23, the assembling work must be performed in a limited narrow space in the board installation section 23. When the wiring board 5 is assembled in this situation, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the slack portion of the flexible cable 3 is sandwiched in the gap between the edge of the wiring board 5 and the side plate portion 24, and In some cases, abnormal deformation may occur. If the deformed portion 31 of the flexible cable 3 generated as described above is left as it is, the smooth movement of the carrier main body 21 during the printing operation is hindered, resulting in an operation trouble. In addition, flexible cable 3
Is pulled out of the opening 27 of the side plate portion 24 and the deformed portion 31 is forcibly stretched, an excessive force may be applied to a soldering portion A between the flexible cable 3 and the wiring board 5 to cause solder peeling or the like. In addition, even if solder peeling does not occur, the bending habit of the deformed portion 31 may remain and cause abnormal noise when the carrier 21 moves.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, when the width of the opening 27 of the side plate portion 24 is widened and the wiring board 5 is assembled to the board mounting portion 23 of the carrier body 21, the flexible cable 3 It is conceivable that the rigidity of the wiring board 5 prevents the wiring board 5 from being pulled out from the opening 27 without resistance due to the rigidity so that the wiring board 5 is unlikely to be loosened.
It is less likely that the slack portion of the flexible cable 3 will be caught in the gap between the end edge and the side plate portion 24 and deformed into a fold shape. However, in this case, when the carrier main body 1 moves, the swing width before and after the flexible cable 3 in the opening 27 increases, so that the bending angle of the flexible cable 3 increases at the soldering point A, and the solder peels. And the possibility of disconnection of the flexible cable 3 increases.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and improves the workability of assembling the flexible cable into the carrier body without increasing the width of the opening through which the flexible cable is inserted. It is intended to provide a printer carrier capable of.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a carrier of a printer capable of improving the above-described workability without increasing the number of parts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a printer carrier in which a flexible cable is unlikely to be deformed abnormally during assembly.

[0013]

A carrier of a printer according to the present invention includes a carrier body for mounting a printing means, and a longitudinal portion inserted through an opening formed in the carrier body and having a predetermined position in the printer. And a flexible cable connected to the carrier body at another location in the longitudinal direction. In addition, the opening is formed in a side plate portion that is connected to the carrier body and that can be opened and closed between a closed position covering a connection point of the flexible cable with the carrier body and an open position outside the closed position. ing.

As described above, when the side plate portion of the carrier main body can be opened and closed between the closed position covering the connecting portion of the flexible cable and the carrier main body and the open position outside the closed position, It becomes possible to pass the flexible cable through the opening of the side plate portion that has been positioned, and by doing so, it is possible to easily and reliably perform the operation of passing the flexible cable through the opening in a large space. . In addition, if the side plate is moved to the closed position after the flexible cable is passed through the opening, no loop-like slack will remain in the flexible cable, so solder peeling or abnormal noise due to abnormal deformation of the flexible cable will occur. Occurrence, and furthermore, an operation failure during movement of the carrier body does not occur.

Further, since the side plate portion having the opening is connected to the carrier body, there is no need to use an extra part for opening and closing the side plate portion. In this regard,
It is desirable to adopt a configuration in which a continuous portion between the carrier main body and the side plate portion is formed as a plastic hinge formed integrally therewith. In such a case, the carrier main body and the side plate portion are made of plastic. In this case, it is only necessary to integrally mold, so that the price can be reduced accordingly.

When the side plate portion is located at the closed position, the opening is provided at a first position right beside the connection between the flexible cable and the carrier body, and when the side plate portion is located at the open position. Preferably, the opening is arranged outside the first position. With this configuration, if the side plate is located at the open position, the opening is provided outside the first position, so that the operation of passing the flexible cable through the opening can be performed easily and reliably in a large space. The workability of assembling the flexible cable is further improved. This effect is more remarkable because the opening is laterally opened by being disposed at the first position, and is opened in the front-rear direction by being disposed at the second position. Will be demonstrated. Therefore, even if the swing width of the flexible cable during the movement of the carrier is reduced by reducing the opening width of the opening, the workability of assembling the flexible cable is not impaired. Further, as described above, when the side plate portion is located at the closed position, the opening is arranged at the first position right beside the connecting point between the flexible cable and the carrier main body, the opening is formed at the opening. Since an unreasonable bending force is not applied to the inserted flexible member, there is no danger that an unreasonable force will be applied to a connecting portion between the flexible cable and the carrier body, that is, a soldering portion, and solder peeling will occur.

In the carrier of the printer according to the present invention, the other portion of the flexible cable is connected to a wiring board having poor flexibility, and a board mounting portion for disposing the wiring board is provided on the back surface of the carrier body. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the side plate portion is formed so as to be continuous with the left and right edges of the substrate installation portion via the plastic hinge. Further, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the flexible cable is formed in a belt shape, and the opening is formed in a slit shape.
These configurations are the same as those described in FIG. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the workability of assembling a flexible cable and eliminate problems such as peeling of solder and generation of abnormal noise without making a significant change to the configuration of a conventional carrier. become.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a procedure for assembling a flexible cable 3 to a carrier body 21 in a carrier 2 according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the carrier 2 to which the flexible cable 3 is attached. FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view for explaining a state in which the side plate portion 24 is in the open position, and FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view for explaining a state in which the side plate portion 24 is in the closed position. The difference between the carrier body 21 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and the carrier body 21 described with reference to FIG. 6 is that a vertically long slit-like opening 27
Is that the side plate part 24 provided with the opening and closing movement is possible. That is, the side plate portion 24 has upper and lower edges 24a,
While being separated from the carrier main body 21 at 24b, a continuous portion between the carrier main body 21 and the side plate portion 24 located at the front edge is formed as a thin plastic hinge 28. Therefore, the side plate portion 24 is connected to the edge portion on one side in the left-right direction of the substrate setting portion 23 on the carrier body 21 side via the plastic hinge 28. The vertically long opening 27 is formed in a shape recessed from the plastic hinge 28 toward the side plate portion 24. The other points are the same as those of the carrier main body 21 described with reference to FIG. 6, and the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals for easy understanding and simplification of the description.

In the carrier body 21, the side plate 2
4 is the closed position shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
Is in a state of facing the other side plate portion 25 in parallel, the opening 27 is connected to the flexible cable 3 and the carrier body 21 as shown in FIG. It is provided at a first position just beside the soldering point a. Also, when the side plate portion 24 is in the open position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, that is, when the side plate portion 24 is opened to the outside of the carrier body 21 and is in a horizontal state as shown in FIG. Is the first
Deployed outside of location. In addition, the opening 27 is connected to the first
When it is arranged at the position, it opens laterally as shown in FIG. 3, and when it is arranged at the second position, it opens in the front-rear direction as shown in FIG.

The point that a strip-shaped FFC is used for the flexible cable 3 and the other end of the flexible cable 3 is soldered to a flat relay wiring board 5 made of a poorly flexible PCB. That the wiring board 5 has F
The point that the wiring board 6 made of PC is joined is the same as that described with reference to FIG. Therefore, the same or corresponding parts have the same reference characters allotted for easy and simple explanation.

When the carrier body 21 is configured as described above, the workability of assembling the flexible cable 3 and the wiring board 5 to the carrier body 21 is improved. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, when the side plate portion 24 is turned sideways to the open position, the opening 27 faces in the front-rear direction at the second position outside the carrier main body 21. The operation of passing the flexible cable 3 can be easily and reliably performed in a wide space outside the board installation part 23. Therefore, even if the opening width of the opening 27 is small, the flexible cable 3 can be easily and reliably formed without causing slack.

After the flexible cable 3 is inserted through the opening 27 of the side plate 24 in the open position, the side plate 24
And is closed to the closed position as shown in FIG. By doing so, the flexible cable 3 does not become slack inside the side plate portion 24 in the closed position. Therefore, before closing the side plate portion 24 or after closing the side plate portion 24, the wiring board 5 is connected to the board mounting portion 23 of the carrier body 21.
2 and FIG. 4, the flexible cable 3 is pulled out without loosening through the opening 27 located right beside the soldering point a. It is useful to prevent the occurrence of noise and abnormal noise, and the trouble of moving the carrier body.

Even if the opening width of the opening 27 is narrowed, the workability of assembling the flexible cable 3 is improved as described above. In this case, the deflection width of the flexible cable 3 at the time can be suppressed to be small, so that it is possible to prevent an unreasonable force from being applied to the soldering portion A. 1 and 2
As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, a hook portion 29 is provided on the side plate portion 24, and the hook portion 29 is engaged with the carrier body 21 when the side plate portion 24 is in the closed position. Is provided with an engaging portion 20 for keeping the closed position. As a result, the side plate portion 24 is locked in the closed position by engaging the hook portion 29 with the engaging portion 20.
There is no possibility that the side plate portion 24 is accidentally opened to the open position.

In this embodiment, one end of the flexible cable 3 is connected to the chassis 12 or the printed wiring board 13 via the fixture 4 described with reference to FIG. May be connected to a predetermined portion (chassis 12, printer wiring board 13, etc.) on the printer side.
Although the other end of the flexible cable 3 is connected to the wiring board 5 made of a poorly flexible PCB in a joined state, the other point of the flexible cable 3 in the longitudinal direction is the carrier body 21 side. It only needs to be connected to.

In this embodiment, the carrier body 2
Although the first side plate portion 21 is connected to the carrier body 21 via a plastic hinge 28 provided right beside the substrate mounting portion 23, this point is different from the upper side edge or the lower side edge of the side plate portion 21. Is connected to the carrier body 21 via a plastic hinge, so that the side plate 21
May be opened upward or downward.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the flexible cable can be mounted on the carrier body without increasing the width of the opening through which the flexible cable is inserted or increasing the number of parts. Not only can it improve workability, but also provide a low-cost printer carrier that does not easily cause abnormal deformation such as solder peeling or abnormal noise of the flexible cable when assembling. It becomes possible to do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a procedure for assembling a flexible cable to a carrier body in a carrier according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a carrier to which a flexible cable is attached.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining a state in which a side plate portion is in an open position.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining a state where a side plate portion is in a closed position.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing a carrier used in the printer.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a procedure for assembling a flexible cable to a conventional carrier body.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state that can occur in a conventional carrier.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state that can occur in a conventional carrier.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Carrier 3 Flexible cable 5 Wiring board 21 Carrier main body 23 Board installation part 24 Side plate part 27 Opening 28 Plastic hinge i Soldering point (Connecting point of flexible cable to carrier main body)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A carrier body for mounting a printing means, and one longitudinal portion is inserted into an opening formed in the carrier body and connected to a predetermined portion of a printer, and another longitudinal portion is connected to a predetermined portion of the printer. A flexible cable having a portion connected to the carrier main body, wherein the opening is provided continuously with the carrier main body and covers a connecting portion of the flexible cable with the carrier main body, and an opening outside the closed position. A printer carrier formed on a side plate that can be opened and closed between positions. 2. The printer carrier according to claim 1, wherein a continuous portion between the carrier main body and the side plate portion is formed as a plastic hinge formed integrally therewith. 3. When the side plate portion is located at the closed position, the opening is provided at a first position right beside a connection point between the flexible cable and the carrier body, and the side plate portion is located at the open position. The opening is in the first position
3. A printer carrier as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the carrier is arranged outside the location. 4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the opening is laterally opened by being disposed at the first position, and is opened in the front-rear direction by being disposed at the second position. Printer carrier as described. 5. The flexible cable according to claim 1, wherein the other portion of the flexible cable is coupled to a wiring board having poor flexibility, and a board mounting portion for disposing the wiring board is formed on a back surface of the carrier body. The carrier of the printer according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the side plate portion is connected to the left and right edges of the printer via the plastic hinge. 6. The flexible cable according to claim 1, wherein the flexible cable is formed in a belt shape, and the opening is formed in a slit shape.
A carrier for a printer according to claim 5.