JP2002103713A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cut a printed banner paper discharged from a printer easily by a cutter. SOLUTION: A roll sheet 1 contained in a sheet containing section 15 is fed out onto a sheet carrying passage 16 and printed by means of a thermal head 18 while being carried on the sheet carrying passage 16 by means of a platen roller 19 before being discharged from a sheet discharge port 14 through a sheet discharge passage 17. The sheet carrying passage 16 and the sheet discharge passage 17 are formed while being bent at a specified angle and a cutter 21 is disposed in the vicinity of the boundary thereof. Since the roll sheet 1 has been located at a position ready to abut against the cutter 21 at a specified angle when the printed roll sheet 1 is discharged from the sheet discharge passage 17, the roll sheet 1 can be cut easily by applying a slight tension from the forward end thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing long paper having a cutting function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus that prints on a long sheet of paper has been used to discharge a long sheet of paper printed by a print head from a paper discharge port to an outside of the apparatus through a paper discharge path. There is a configuration in which long paper is applied to the cutting blade provided in the printer and tension is applied to separate the printing area.

[0003]

A conventional printing apparatus is provided with a cutting blade at a paper discharge port of the apparatus, and a place where the cutting blade is provided is a position where a user's finger can easily touch. May injure fingers. When cutting the printed portion of the long paper after printing is finished, the leading end of the long paper discharged to the outside of the apparatus is picked up, and the long paper portion is placed inside the apparatus at the upstream side of the cutting blade. In order to cut well, it is necessary to apply a large angle bending to the long paper and apply the tension to the cutting blade while tearing the cut point of the long paper to the cutting blade. Requires manual work with predetermined procedures and tips, and sometimes cannot be cut well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional printing apparatus, is excellent in safety, and is capable of easily cutting long paper by a simple manual operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device having a cutting function.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a paper storage unit for storing long paper; a long paper drawn from the paper storage unit; Paper transport means for transporting and discharging to the outside from a discharge opening opened at the end of the paper discharge path; and printing on the long paper provided in the middle of the paper transport path and transported by the paper transport means. And a printing means for performing the printing operation, wherein the paper discharge path is formed by bending the paper discharge path at a predetermined angle with respect to the paper transport path, and the paper discharge path is provided at a downstream position of the print means and the paper discharge path is formed. A cutting blade for cutting the long paper in the width direction is provided at a position near a boundary between a paper path and the paper conveyance path, and the leading end of the long paper protruding outside from the discharge port by manual operation. A long sheet printed by the printing means by applying tension while holding The rear end of the printing region of the characterized by being configured to cut by the cutting blade.

According to the printing apparatus having such a configuration, the paper discharge path is formed to be bent at a predetermined angle with respect to the paper transport path.
By providing a cutting blade near the boundary between the paper discharge path and the paper transport path, when the long paper is discharged to the paper discharge path after printing, the long blade is It is located to abut at an angle. Therefore, in order to hit the cutting portion of the long paper to the cutting blade without having to pinch the end of the long paper discharged to the outside of the apparatus and manually cut it at a large angle as in the related art. Cutting can be performed by applying a slight tension from the leading end of the long paper, and the cutting operation can be performed easily and successfully.

[0007] Further, the cutting blade is provided near the boundary between the paper discharge path and the paper transport path located inside the apparatus and away from the discharge port that is easy for the user to touch, so that the safety during use is provided. Property can be ensured.

In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the shape of the paper discharge path is formed such that the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the long paper passing through the paper passage is sequentially widened toward the discharge port. Thus, the cutting portion of the long paper can be more strongly applied to the cutting blade by swinging the leading end of the picked long paper in the surface direction inside the paper discharge path.

In the printing apparatus, the cutting blade may be provided with a cutting edge which is inclined in the width direction of the long paper conveyed by the conveying means. Also, the paper discharge path is connected to the paper transport path so that one end in the width direction of the long paper abuts against one end of the cutting blade, and the other end in the width direction of the long paper rises from the other end of the cutting blade. Alternatively, it may be formed to be twisted in the width direction of the long paper conveyed. In any case, at the time of cutting, one end in the width direction of the long paper and one end of the cutting blade first contact and the cutting starts from that part, and sequentially, the other end in the width direction of the long paper. Since the cutting proceeds toward the cutting, the cutting can be performed more easily.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printing apparatus for long paper according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a rear view in which a part of the printing apparatus is cut away.

As shown in FIG. 1, a character input key, a mode designating key for designating a printing mode, a printing key for instructing printing, an execution key for executing processing, and the like are provided on the front of a main body case 11 of the printing apparatus 10. A key input unit 12 having necessary keys and a display unit 13 for displaying input characters and messages required for printing processing are provided, and a paper discharge port on the side surface for discharging printed long paper. 14 are provided.
The printing device 10 is formed in a size such that it can be held by one hand and a key operation of the key input unit 12 can be performed.

FIG. 2 shows the inside of the main body case 11 by cutting out the upper part of a back cover 11a detachably attached to the back of the main body case 11. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part. As shown in FIG. 2, a container-shaped paper storage portion 15 for storing the long paper (roll paper) 1 is formed in an upper half portion of the main body case 11, and an end portion is connected to the paper storage portion 15. The roll paper 1 pulled out from the paper storage unit 15 is formed into a concave groove-shaped paper conveyance path 16 through which the paper is fed in the main body case 11, and is discharged to the outside of the apparatus following the paper conveyance path 16. A grooved paper discharge path 17 for guiding the roll paper 1 is formed. At the end of the paper discharge path 17, a paper discharge port 14 that opens to the side surface of the main body case 11 is provided. The paper transport path 16 and the paper discharge path 17 are formed in the main body case 11 by bending at a predetermined angle. 1
6a is a guide for the roll paper 1 provided in the paper transport path 16.

In the paper transport path 16, a heating resistor array is provided corresponding to the width direction of the roll paper 1.
A thermal head 18 for performing printing in the longitudinal direction of the paper is provided. The roll paper 1 is held between the thermal head 18 and the roll paper 1 is fed out of the paper storage unit 15 by the rotation of the thermal head 18, and the paper transport path 16 and the paper A platen roller 19 for feeding paper in the discharge path 17 is provided. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the drive of a step motor provided in the main body case 11 is transmitted through a gear train to rotate the platen roller 19. Also, although not shown, the thermal head 18 is manually pressed against the platen roller 19 and moved to the printing position, and the thermal head 18 is separated from the platen roller 19 and moved to the non-printing position. A moving mechanism is provided. When the roll paper 1 is loaded, the roll paper 1 is sandwiched between the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 19 by operating the head moving mechanism.

The paper transport path 16 is provided with a reflection type optical sensor 20 for reading a mark marked on the roll paper 1. Based on the detection of the mark, a print start position on the roll paper 1 is set, and the feed amount of the transport of the roll paper 1 is managed.

At a position downstream of the thermal head 18,
Further, a cutting blade 21 for cutting the roll paper 1 in the width direction is provided at a position near the boundary between the paper transport path 16 and the paper discharge path 17. This cutting blade 21 is, as shown in FIG.
It has a saw-tooth shape and is arranged on the lower surface wall of the paper moving path at the boundary between the paper transport path 16 and the paper discharge path 17 so as to correspond to the width direction of the roll paper 1.

The lower half of the main body case 11 houses a driving battery and an electronic circuit of a device (not shown).

In the printing apparatus 10, the paper transport path 16 and the paper discharge path 17 are bent at a predetermined angle to be formed in the main body case 11. Paper discharge path 17 and the paper transport path 1
A cutting blade 21 is provided at a position near a boundary with the cutting blade 6.

The paper transport path 16 is a path through which the roll paper 1 is transported, and here is a line connecting the guide 16a and the thermal head 18 at the printing position. In short, in the printing apparatus 10, the paper transport path 16, that is, the path in which the roll paper 1 substantially moves from its supply position to the print position, and the paper transport path 16, that is, the printed roll paper 1 is substantially in the print position The two paper movement paths, which are the movement paths discharged from the printer to the outside of the apparatus, are formed in the apparatus at a predetermined angle to each other. According to the confirmation by the inventors, the predetermined angle is preferably 90 to 145 degrees, and more preferably 100 to 135 degrees is most suitable for cutting the roll paper 1.

In the printing apparatus 10, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, printing is performed while the roll paper 1 is transported through the paper transport path 16, and after the printing, the roll paper 1 is discharged from the paper discharge path 17. In this case, the roll paper 1 also corresponds to the cutting blade 21 at an angle corresponding to the paper transport path 16 and the paper discharge path 17 formed by bending at a predetermined angle. Therefore, as in the conventional case, it is not necessary to pinch the leading edge of the roll paper 1 discharged out of the apparatus and manually cut the roll paper 1 at a large angle to cut the roll paper 1 to the cutting blade 21. The roll paper 1 can be cut by applying a slight tension from the leading end of the roll paper 1 to abut.

The paper discharge path 17 can be formed so that the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the roll paper 1 passing through the paper discharge path 17 is gradually widened toward the discharge port. In this way, the cutting portion of the roll paper 1 is cut by the cutting blade 21 by swinging the leading end of the picked roll paper 1 within an allowable range inside the paper discharge path.
Can be applied more strongly, and reliable cutting can be performed.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an example of the roll paper 1 loaded in the printing apparatus 10. FIG.

The roll paper 1 is formed by laminating a thermal paper 3 coated with an adhesive 5 on the back surface with a release paper 4 and winding it around a paper tube 2.

In the thermal paper 3 portion of the roll paper 1, cut lines 6 a are formed at predetermined equal intervals along the longitudinal direction, and cut lines 6 a are formed which are continuously cut in the width direction thereof. A sewing line 6b is formed at the same position as the cutting line 6a. In the roll paper 1, printing is performed in the area of the strip-shaped thermal paper 3 divided by the cut line 6a as one unit. At the end of printing of one unit, the feed amount is controlled so that the perforation line 6 of the release paper 4 corresponds to the cutting blade 21, and the cutting blade 2
1 cuts the part of the perforated line 6 of the release paper 4.

A mark 7 for determining a printing position on the thermal paper 3 is provided on the back surface of the release paper 4 in advance. The mark 7 is provided for each area separated by the sewing line 6. Note that the mark 7 and the perforation line 6 have a constant distance A.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic circuit of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

The control unit 30 activates a system program stored in the ROM 31 in response to a key operation signal from the key input unit 12, and controls the operation of each circuit.

The control unit 30 includes a RAM 32 for storing various data relating to printing processing of the printing apparatus, a display character generator 33 for generating pattern data of a font for display, and a printing for generating pattern data of a font for printing. A character generator 34, a display section 13 for displaying input document data and data necessary for printing processing are connected, a thermal head 18 and a drive circuit 36 thereof are provided, and the platen roller 1 is provided.
9 is provided with a stepping motor 35 for rotatingly driving the driving motor 9 and a driving circuit 37 thereof. Further, the control unit 30 includes the roll paper 1
A detection signal from the optical sensor 21 for detecting the mark 7 is output.

The RAM 32 has an input buffer 32a for storing key-input data, a display buffer 32b for storing display data to be displayed on the display unit 13, a print buffer 32c for storing print data, and other data necessary for print processing. A register, a flag, a counter, and the like are provided.

FIG. 8 shows the printing apparatus 10 in which the roll paper 1
Is a flow chart showing a process of loading the roll paper 1 and performing printing on the roll paper 1.

When a character string to be printed is input from the key input unit 12 and a print key is operated, a printing process is started.

First, the step motor 35 is driven to rotate the platen roller 19 to convey the roll paper 1 (step S1). While the roll paper 1 is being transported, the sensor 2
2 is detected (step S).
2).

Printing is started when the mark 7 is detected by the sensor 22. The pattern data corresponding to the input character string stored in the print buffer 31c is read line by line sequentially from the top, and
The thermal head 18 is driven to generate heat based on the pattern data (step S3). And one
The roll paper 1 is transported by the line (step S
4).

Further, the number of driving steps of the step motor 20 for driving the platen roller 19 is counted from the detection of the mark 7, and when the value becomes a value corresponding to the distance A, printing and conveyance on the roll paper 1 are performed. Ends (step S
6, S7).

As a result, the perforation line 6 of the release paper 4 is aligned with the cutting blade 21 and cut at the position of the perforation line 6.

The printing apparatus 10 includes not only the roll paper 1 shown in FIG. 5 but also a continuous long heat-sensitive paper 3 having no release paper 4 and having no cuts or perforations. Things can also be used.

FIG. 9 shows a cross section of a paper transport path of a printing apparatus according to another embodiment. As shown, a cutting blade 21a provided in the paper transport path has an inclined saw-toothed blade shape. ing. Then, as shown in the figure, a cutting blade 21 whose blade edge is inclined with respect to the roll paper 1 held in a predetermined posture by the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 19.
By the action of a, at the time of cutting, one end in the width direction of the roll paper 1 and one end of the cutting blade 21a, which is the right end side in FIG. Since the cutting proceeds toward the other end of the roll paper 1 in the width direction, the cutting can be performed more easily.

FIG. 10 shows a paper transport path of a printing apparatus according to still another embodiment. FIG. 10 (a) is an enlarged sectional view of the paper transport path at a position where a cutting blade is provided. 10
(B) is an enlarged sectional view of the paper transport path at a position downstream of the cutting blade in the paper transport.

As shown in FIG. 3B, one end of the roll paper 1 in the width direction abuts on one end of the cutting blade 21, and the other end of the roll paper 1 in the width direction is the other end of the cutting blade 21. The paper discharge path 17a is formed to be twisted in the width direction of the roll paper 1 conveyed with respect to the paper conveyance path 16 so as to float up from the paper path.

Also in this case, at the time of cutting, one end in the width direction of the roll paper 1 and one end of the cutting blade 21 first come into contact with each other, and cutting starts from that portion. Since the cutting proceeds toward the part, the cutting can be performed more easily.

[0041]

As described above in detail, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, the paper discharge path is formed to be bent at a predetermined angle with respect to the paper transport path, and the boundary between the paper discharge path and the paper transport path is formed. By providing the cutting blade in the vicinity of the position, when the long paper is discharged to the paper discharge path after printing, the long paper is already positioned to contact the cutting blade at a predetermined angle, Cutting can be performed by applying a slight tension from the end of the long paper so that the cutting position of the long paper abuts against the cutting blade, and the cutting operation can be performed easily and successfully.

The cutting blade is provided near the boundary between the paper discharge path and the paper transport path located inside the apparatus from the discharge port, and is located inside the apparatus where the user cannot easily touch it. In use, the safety of the user can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view in which a part of the printing device is cut away.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a paper transport path of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of roll paper.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the roll paper.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic circuit of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a printing process of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of a paper transport path of a printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of a paper transport path of a printing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10A is an enlarged sectional view of the paper transport path at a position where a cutting blade is provided. , FIG.
(B) is an enlarged sectional view of the paper transport path at a position downstream of the cutting blade in the paper transport.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Roll paper 2 ... Paper core 3 ... Thermal paper 4 ... Release paper 5 ... Adhesive 6a ... Cut line 6b ... Sewing line 7 ... Mark cutting line 10 ... Printing device 11 ... Body case 11a ... Back cover 12 ... Key input part DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Display part 14 ... Discharge port 15 ... Paper accommodation part 16 ... Paper conveyance path 16a ... Guide 17 ... Paper discharge path 18 ... Thermal head 19 ... Platen roller 20 ... Optical sensors 21, 21a ... Cutting blade 30 ... Control part 31 ... ROM 32 ... RAM 33 ... character generator for display 34 ... character generator for printing 36 ... head drive circuit 37 ... motor drive circuit

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yasushi Murai 3-2-1, Sakaemachi, Hamura-shi, Tokyo Casio Computer Co., Ltd. Hamura Technical Center F-term (reference) 2C058 AB11 AB12 AC06 AC11 AD01 AE04 AF06 AF16 AF31 AF51 LB03 LB18 LB22 LC06 LC11 LC26

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A paper storage section for storing long paper, a long paper being drawn from the paper storage section, and conveyed along a paper conveyance path and a paper discharge path following the paper conveyance path. The apparatus main body includes a paper conveying unit that discharges to the outside from an opening that opens, and a printing unit that is provided in the middle of the paper conveying path and prints on the long paper that is conveyed by the paper conveying unit. A printing apparatus, wherein the paper discharge path is formed to be bent at a predetermined angle with respect to the paper transport path, at a downstream position of the printing unit, and at a boundary between the paper discharge path and the paper transport path. A cutting blade for cutting the long paper in the width direction is provided at the near position of the long paper, and the tension is applied by holding the leading end of the long paper protruding outside from the discharge port by manual operation and applying tension. The trailing edge of the printing area of the continuous paper on which printing has been performed by the printing means is the cutting blade. A printing device, characterized in that the printing device is configured to be cut by a cutting device. 2. The paper discharge path according to claim 1, wherein a direction orthogonal to a paper surface of the long paper passing through the paper discharge path is sequentially formed wider toward the discharge port. Printing device. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cutting blade includes a cutting edge that is inclined in a width direction of the long paper conveyed by the conveyance unit. 4. An end of the long paper in the width direction abuts against one end of the cutting blade, and the other end of the long paper in the width direction floats from the other end of the cutting blade. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a paper discharge path is formed by being twisted in a width direction of the long paper conveyed with respect to the paper conveyance path. 5. The long paper is provided with cuts for cutting in the width direction at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction thereof, further comprising a transfer control means for controlling the transfer means, and the transfer control means. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein after the printing by the printing unit is completed, the conveying unit is controlled to convey and stop the long sheet until the cut reaches the cutting blade. 3. The printing device according to claim 1.