JP2003094785A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly reliable printer in which print color can be switched quickly. SOLUTION: The printer comprises a cartridge holder 8 having a side face supported rotatably by a shaft and displacing an internal ribbon in the widthwise direction along with a ribbon cartridge carried while being driven by a drive means in order to select the color band of a multicolor ink ribbon. The cartridge holder 8 comprises a lever member 14 having a side face provided with a shaft for displacing the cartridge holder 8 by engaging with the drive means, and rotatably supported by a pivot 13, engaging grooves, and means 17 for detecting a ribbon cartridge carrying a multicolor ink ribbon, wherein the lever member 14 is provided, at the other end thereof, with a protrusion engaging with an engaging groove selectively to adjust the fixing angle of the cartridge holder 8 finely.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact type color printer. More specifically, the present invention relates to a ribbon switching device in a printer that switches a print color by changing a swing position of a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon having a plurality of color bands in the width direction (hereinafter, referred to as “multicolor ink ribbon”). It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a result of enabling multicolor printing and long printing life, a ribbon cartridge having a multicolor ink ribbon (hereinafter referred to as "multicolor ribbon cartridge") is swingably supported on a main body (stationary). (Type) multicolor ink ribbon switching device has been proposed. For example, a multicolor ink ribbon switching device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-106381 is known.

This conventional technique will be described with reference to FIG.
In the ribbon cassette 104, two protrusions 107 provided on one side surface are fitted in corresponding recesses 109 of the cassette holder 108. Screw 116 to cassette holder 108
The cam roller 120 provided on the adjusting lever 114 fixed by the pivot shaft 113 is pressed against the surface of the cam 122 by the urging force of the spring 121, and the cassette holder 108 can swing and rotate around the support shaft 112 as the cam 122 rotates. Has become. The cam 122 is integrally provided with a gear 123,
The gear 123 is coupled to the pulse motor 127 via the pinion 124. By rotating the pulse motor 127 by a predetermined amount, the gear 123 is rotated, and the integrated cam 122 is rotated by a predetermined amount. Cam roller 120
Since the cassette holder 108 is urged by the cam 122, the cassette holder 108 swings around the support shaft 112, and as a result, the ribbon 105 changes its vertical position. Further, since the adjusting lever 114 can adjust the relative position with respect to the cassette holder 108 around the pivot 113 by loosening the screw 116, the vertical position of the ribbon 105 can be finely adjusted.

[0004]

However, in the structure in which the cam roller 120 is biased to the cam 122 by the spring 121, when the rotational speed of the cam 122 becomes faster, the inertia of the cam roller 120 and the spring 121 causes a poor response. Therefore, the rotation speed of the cam 122 is limited. As a result, there is a problem that it takes a long time to switch the print colors, which causes a decrease in throughput.

Further, since the spring 121 is used, a motor having a large torque is required as a motor for driving the cam, and when a small motor is used for this, there is a problem that heat is generated.

Further, if the camera is left for a long time such as during transportation, the cam surface may be deformed by the urging force. Therefore, there are restrictions on the setting of the biasing force. As a result, there is a problem that the print color switching operation becomes unstable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable printer capable of quick printing color switching.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the printer of the present invention, the side surface is rotatably supported by a spindle, and the printer is driven by a driving means to select a color band of a multicolor ink ribbon. In a printer having a cartridge holder that displaces an internal ribbon in the width direction together with a supported and supported ribbon cartridge, the cartridge holder has a shaft on its side surface that displaces the cartridge holder by engaging with the drive means. A lever member having a lower end rotatably supported by a pivot, an engagement groove, and cartridge detection means for detecting whether or not the ribbon cartridge is a multicolor ink ribbon, and the lever member However, the other end has an engaging projection that selectively engages with the engaging groove to finely adjust the mounting angle of the ribbon cartridge holder.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, two protrusions 7 project from the right end of the ribbon cartridge 4, and a cylindrical protrusion 30 is provided at the left end.
The two protrusions 7 are supported by a notch 9 provided on the upper surface of the cartridge holder 8, and the cylindrical protrusion 30 is supported by a shaft support provided on the side frame. The endless multicolor ribbon 5 accommodated in the ribbon cartridge 4 exits from the right arm of the ribbon cartridge 4, is guided between the print head 3 and the platen 2, and is rewound from the left arm into the ribbon cartridge 4. Cartridge holder 8 supporting the two protrusions 7
The multicolor ink ribbon switching device 40 including the ribbon cartridge 4 is detachably fixed to the right side frame.
Supporting the right side of.

FIG. 2A is a view of the multicolor ink ribbon switching device 40 removed from the side frame and viewed from the direction A in FIG. FIG. 2B is a side view of FIG. 2A. FIG. 3A is a view showing the cartridge holder 8 and the adjustment lever 14 removed from the state of FIG. 2A. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the back side of FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the cartridge holder 8 and the adjusting lever 14 are removed from FIG.

As shown in enlarged form in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cartridge holder 8 is a cartridge holder having two notches 9 that fit with the two protrusions 7 on the ribbon cartridge 4. The notch 9 is opened in the lateral direction, and a hole 10 is provided below the one notch 9.
By setting the support shaft 12 provided on the support plate 11 into the hole 10, the cartridge holder 8 can be rotated around the support shaft 12 so as to be orthogonal to the traveling direction of the print head 3. It is configured to swing in the direction.

On the surface of the cartridge holder 8 on the same side as the ribbon cartridge 4 (the surface shown in FIG. 3 (a)), there is arranged an adjusting lever 14 whose lower end is pivotally supported by a pivot 13. .

As shown in FIG. 5 showing the adjusting lever 14 and FIG. 8 showing the cartridge holder,
A protrusion 16 (shown in cross section in FIG. 10) having an inverted V cross section is provided on the upper portion of the adjusting lever 14 for engaging with a continuous V-shaped groove 15 (shown in cross section in FIG. 9) provided in the cartridge holder 8. There is. Further, a pointer portion 18 is provided on the upper end portion of the adjusting lever 14, and a minute position in the width direction at the tip of the print head 3 of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is provided on the upper surface of the cartridge holder 8 corresponding to the pointer portion 18. An adjustment scale 19 (shown in FIG. 8) that is an adjustment index is formed. Furthermore, the portion of the adjusting lever 14 supported by the pivot shaft 13 is bifurcated, and the cam shaft 20 is press-fitted and fixed to this portion.

As shown in FIG. 4 which is a state in which the cartridge holder 8 and the adjusting lever 14 are removed from FIG. 2 and FIG. 6 which is a partially exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the cam and the cam shaft, the cam 22 is supported. Is integrally provided with a gear 23 rotatably supported by a support shaft 21 provided on the plate 11,
A pinion 24 meshes with the gear 23. Cam 2
Reference numeral 2 denotes a groove cam, and the cam shaft 20 is fitted into the groove. The pinion 24 is attached to the output shaft of the pulse motor 27 fixed to the support plate 11.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a cartridge detecting means 17 including a micro switch for detecting the mounting of the ribbon cartridge 4 is provided in the vicinity of the notch 9 of the cartridge holder 8.

The operation of this embodiment described above will be described.

When performing multicolor printing with the multicolor ink ribbon 5, the inclination of the ribbon cartridge 4 is changed according to the color to be printed, and the position of the end of the print head 3 facing the width direction of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is changed. The print color can be selected by changing it.

That is, the pulse motor 27 is driven at a constant rotational angle, and the rotational force is applied from the pinion 24 to the gear 23.
Is transmitted to the cam shaft 20, the cam shaft 20 is displaced by a lift amount corresponding to the rotation angle of the cam 22 which is integral with the cam shaft 20. This allows
The ribbon cartridge 4, which is engaged and supported by the cartridge holder 8 fixed to the adjustment lever 14 having the cam shaft 20, swings in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the print head 3.

As a result, the area of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 located on the front surface of the print head 3 changes. Therefore, by appropriately selecting the rotation angle of the pulse motor 27, the desired color of the paper supplied to the platen 2 can be obtained. Can be used to print.

Since the grooved cam is used as the cam and the cam shaft 20 is not pressed against the cam surface, the pulse motor 27 can be driven at a higher speed than in the prior art in which the cam roller is pressed against the cam surface by the biasing force of the spring. It is possible and the cam surface will not be deformed even if left for a long time.

Next, when the printing position of the ribbon 5 is finely adjusted because an accurate printing position cannot be obtained due to variations in product assembly, etc., for example, it is performed as follows.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining such a fine adjustment work. In FIG. 7, the position of the ribbon cartridge 4 is accurately positioned from the displaced position indicated by the imaginary line (two-dot chain line) by the solid line. It shows a case where a small movement is made to the opposite position.

As shown in the figure, when the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is slightly displaced upward with respect to the front end of the print head 3 and the multicolor ink ribbon is slightly moved downward,
While making the relative position of the pointer portion 18 and the adjustment scale 19 easy, the adjustment lever 14 is moved clockwise in the figure to move the continuous V-shaped groove 15 of the cartridge holder 8 with which the projection 16 provided on the adjustment lever 14 engages. By changing the position, the position of the ribbon cartridge 4 fixedly supported by the cartridge holder 8 is moved to the position shown by the solid line, and the fine adjustment work is completed. At that time, the adjusting lever 14 is relatively displaced around the pivot 13 of the cartridge holder 8.

By performing such adjustment work, each color region of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 can be accurately positioned with respect to the tip portion of the print head 3.

When the driving load of the multicolor ink ribbon is larger than that of the single color ink cartridge, when the cartridge detecting means 17 detects the mounting of the multicolor ink ribbon, the driving speed of the multicolor ink ribbon is set to the single color. The driving force can be increased by slowing down the driving speed of the ink ribbon.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a part of the lever member which is driven by the driving means and displaces the carried ribbon cartridge in the width direction is engaged with the engaging groove of the cartridge holder. Since the engaging projection for finely adjusting the mounting angle is provided, not only the color of the ink ribbon inside is automatically selected by operating the driving means, but also the mounting angle of the ribbon cartridge is operated by operating the lever member. Can be finely adjusted to properly select a desired color band, and when the ribbon cartridge is of a multicolor ribbon, the cartridge detection means can detect it to adjust the driving force of the driving means. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are a side view and a view of the multicolor ink ribbon switching device detached from the side frame as seen from the direction A in FIG.

3A is a view showing the cartridge holder and the adjustment lever removed from the state of FIG. 2A, and FIG. 3B is a view showing the back side of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4 shows the cartridge holder 8 and the adjusting lever 1 from FIG.
It is a figure which shows the state which removed 4.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an adjustment lever.

FIG. 6 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a relationship between a cam and a cam shaft.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a fine adjustment work.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a cartridge holder.

9 is a BB sectional view of the cartridge holder in FIG.

10 is a sectional view of the adjusting lever taken along the line AA in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 base plate 2 Platen 3 print head 4 Ribbon cartridge 5 Multicolor ribbon 7 protrusions 8 Cartridge holder 9 Notch 10 holes 11 Support plate 12 spindles 13 Axis 14 Adjustment lever 15 V-shaped groove 16 protrusions 17 Detection means 18 Pointer 19 Adjustment scale 20 cam shaft 21 Support shaft 22 groove cam 23 gears 24 pinion 27 pulse motor 28 cover 30 cylindrical protrusion 40 Multi-color ink ribbon switching device

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Koichiro Yokoyama             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Masaki Shimomura             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Yamaguchi             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation F term (reference) 2C068 AA01 AA04 AA11 EE60 JJ01                       JJ09 JJ11 JJ16 JJ19 JJ20                       JJ26 JJ29

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cartridge holder, which is rotatably supported on its side surface, is driven by a driving means to select a color band of a multicolor ink ribbon, and displaces the internal ribbon in the width direction together with the carried ribbon cartridge. In the printer, the cartridge holder has a shaft on its side surface for displacing the cartridge holder by engaging with the driving means, and a lower end of the lever member is rotatably supported by a pivot shaft. A mating groove and a cartridge detecting means for detecting whether or not the ribbon cartridge is a multicolor ink ribbon, and the lever member selectively engages with the engaging groove at the other end. A printer having an engagement protrusion for finely adjusting the mounting angle of a ribbon cartridge holder. 2. The driving force of the driving unit is increased when the cartridge detecting unit detects a ribbon cartridge containing a multicolor ink ribbon.
The printer described in. 3. The driving speed of the driving means is set to be slower than the driving speed of the single color ink ribbon when the cartridge detecting means detects a ribbon cartridge containing a multicolor ink ribbon. Printer.