JP2003305876A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal printer which can be thinner in size and can stably record. <P>SOLUTION: The thermal printer has a platen 11 placed opposite a thermal head 10, and feed rollers 7 and 8 supported by a side panel 1b of a support member to feed a paper P between the thermal head and the platen. Further, the thermal printer is provided with a plate-like member 15 which has an inclined plane 15b acting to move a platen between a printing position and a shunting position as a non-printing position, and a transmitter 15c for transmitting an motive force to a moving part; and an elastic member 21 installed on the other hand to move the platen to the printing position by thrusting the platen to the non-printing position and by performing elastic distortion, when the motive force is transmitted by the transmitter. The transmitter 15c is arranged through the gap between feed rollers and a base panel 1a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal printer having a thermal head and a platen arranged so as to face the thermal head, a recording medium and a recording ribbon to be printed are interposed between the thermal head and the platen to perform thermal transfer or heat transfer. A thermal printer configured to print by sublimation has been put into practical use. In particular, a thermal printer that performs color printing is configured such that the recording medium is conveyed in the forward and reverse directions by a conveying roller, the recording ribbon is supplied and wound, and color printing is performed for each YMC color.

In order to carry the recording medium and wind the recording ribbon in this way, it is necessary to provide a moving mechanism for moving either one of the thermal head and the platen from the printing position to the retracted position. In order to reduce the size of the thermal printer, the conventional moving mechanism is provided with an operating mechanism that moves the platen or the thermal head to the platen or the thermal head with the transport roller interposed therebetween, and the drive source on the opposite side. And an operating force urging mechanism for activating the operating force from the drive source.

At present, a plate-shaped power transmission member for transmitting the operating force from the operating force urging mechanism to the operating mechanism is provided along the side surface of the printer case.

[0005]

However, with the spread of mobile devices, a portable and thin thermal printer has been demanded. In the conventional thermal printer, since the power transmission member is provided along the side surface of the printer case, there is a problem that the entire printer cannot be sufficiently thinned.

More specifically, the power transmission member is required to have a certain strength and to have an appropriate width in order to ensure the function of transmitting the operating force. For this reason,
The thickness of the printer (width of the side surface of the printer case) is limited to the width of the power transmission member, and the thickness cannot be sufficiently reduced.

On the other hand, stable generation of pressure required for printing is necessary for good recording, but
If the device is made thin as described above, it becomes difficult to incorporate a mechanism that stably generates pressure.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a thermal printer which can be made thinner and can perform stable recording.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the object, the thermal printer of the present invention is
A supporting member having a substrate and a pair of side plates provided on the substrate and facing each other; a thermal head; a platen facing the thermal head; and a thermal head supported by the side plates of the supporting member, In a thermal printer including a conveyance roller that conveys an object to be printed between the platen and a movement unit that moves the platen between a printing position and a retracted position, the movement unit is configured to move the conveyance roller with respect to the conveyance roller. And an operating force urging portion that is disposed on the opposite side of the platen and that applies an operating force, and is disposed on the platen side with respect to the transport roller, and the platen is provided between the printing position and the retreat position. An operating portion that operates so as to move the operating force, and a transmitting portion that transmits the operating force urged by the operating force urging portion to the operating portion. Supporting the platen, and includes a resilient member for moving the platen elastically deformed when the actuating force is transmitted to the printing position by the transfer unit while urging the platen in said retracted position,
The transmission unit is arranged so as to pass between the transport roller and the substrate.

One end of the elastic member is fixed to the substrate, and a sliding contact surface is formed at the other end of the elastic member. Further, the transmission part is urged by the actuating force from the actuating force urging part. It is characterized by including a plate-like member provided so as to reciprocate and having an inclined surface for guiding the sliding contact surface.

A support member having a substrate and a pair of side plates provided on the substrate and opposed to each other, a thermal head, a platen opposed to the thermal head, and a side plate of the support member. In a thermal printer including: a conveyance roller that conveys an object to be printed between the thermal head and the platen; and a moving unit that moves the platen between a printing position and a retracted position, the moving unit includes: An operating force urging portion that is disposed on the side opposite to the platen with respect to the transport roller and that biases an operating force; and the platen side that is disposed on the platen side with respect to the transport roller. An operating portion that operates to move between the retracted position and a transmitting portion that transmits the operating force urged by the operating force urging portion to the operating portion. The operating portion supports the thermal head and urges the thermal head to the retracted position while elastically deforms the thermal head when the operating force is transmitted by the transmitting portion. The transmission unit includes an elastic member that moves to a printing position,
It is characterized in that it is arranged so as to pass between the transport roller and the substrate.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view (partially omitted) of a thermal printer A according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the thermal printer A, in which (a) is a non-printing state and (b) is a non-printing state.
Shows a mode at the time of printing.

First, referring to FIG. 1, a thermal printer A has a substrate 1a and a pair of side plates 1b provided on the substrate 1a and opposed to each other, and a supporting member 1 constituting a case body having a U-shaped cross section. Is the mounting base. The substrate 1a and the side plate 1b can be integrally pressed from a sheet metal, for example, and the side plate 1b can be formed by vertically bending both ends of the sheet metal. Thickness H of this thermal printer A
(See FIG. 2B) is determined by the height (width) of the side plate 1b, and the smaller the width of the side plate 1b, the thinner the thermal printer A can be made.

A shaft 17 is provided at an end of each of the side plates 1b and 1b of the support member 1. The thermal head support member 16 to which the thermal head 10 is fixed is rotatably supported by the shaft 17. There is.

Here, FIG. 1 shows a state in which the thermal head support member 16 is opened with respect to the support member 1, but when in use, as shown in FIG. 2, the lock mechanism 52 shown in FIG. Both are locked and used in the closed state. As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal head support member 16
Is opened with respect to the support member 1, the heat generating portion 10a of the thermal head 10 can be inspected and cleaned, and the recording ribbon R described later can be replaced.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), in use, an inlet / outlet 5 surrounded by the support member 1 and the thermal head support member 16 is formed. Through this inlet / outlet 5, an arrow in the drawing is shown. The paper P, which is an object to be printed, is introduced into the printer in the d direction with the printing surface facing up.

Next, the support member 1 is provided with an idle roller 7 and a drive roller 8 as a conveying roller for conveying the paper P introduced from the entrance / exit 5. The idle roller 7 and the drive roller 8 are rotatably supported by bearings (not shown) provided on each side plate 1b. In order to follow the idle roller 7 with respect to the drive roller 8 without displacement, a pressure contact mechanism (not shown) is provided near the bearing. With this configuration, the drive roller 8 and the idle roller 7
The slip in the nip portion between them is prevented, and the paper P is conveyed in the forward and reverse directions.

The platen 1 is mounted on the substrate 1a of the supporting member 1.
An elastic member 21 to which 1 is fixed by adhesion or the like is provided as illustrated. The platen 11 is elastically deformed to an appropriate degree during printing, so that the heat generating portion 1 of the thermal head 10 is
0a is pressed. This platen 1
1 is made of a heat-resistant elastic material having a predetermined hardness, such as silicon rubber, and is formed in a plate shape so as to have a semi-cylindrical cross section as shown in the present embodiment, but is formed in a roller shape. It is also possible to configure.

Further, referring to FIG. 3 which is a view taken along the line X--X of FIG. 2A, the elastic member 21 is formed by pressing using a metal spring plate such as stainless steel or phosphor bronze. Are formed from. The elastic member 21 includes a mounting base portion 21b for fixing the base member 1a of the supporting member 1 with a screw 13, three extending portions 21c that generate a spring force by being deformed, and the platen 11 as described above. The flat surface portion 21d for fixing to and the sliding contact portion 21a are integrally formed. In the fixed state shown in FIG. 2A, the elastic member 21 has such a shape that the sliding contact portion 21a elastically deforms so as to urge it toward the substrate 1a.

Next, in order to perform printing by thermal transfer or thermal sublimation, a supply spool 3 and a take-up spool 4 are detachably attached to the support member 1, and these spools are shown by a chain line. The recording ribbon R is wound. The recording ribbon R has each ink layer laid on the base film in an area corresponding to the area of one printing screen, and all three colors can be reproduced by additive color mixing: yellow (Y), magenta, and magenta. In addition to the solid ink layers of (M) and cyan (C), an overcoat layer forming a protective layer is formed.

The recording ribbon R is provided so as to pass between the heat generating portion 10a of the thermal head 10 and the platen 11 as shown in the figure. Then, the paper P is also transferred to the thermal head 1 by the idle roller 7 and the drive roller 8.
0 is conveyed between the heat generating portion 10a and the platen 11, and the heat generated by the heat generating portion 10a sublimes the ink applied to the recording ribbon R, so that an image or the like is printed on the paper P.

Here, when each color is printed by the recording ribbon R, it is necessary to reciprocate and convey the paper P for each color. In this case, the platen 11 is moved from the printing position illustrated in FIG. 2B to the retracted position illustrated in FIG. 2A, the paper P is conveyed in the forward and reverse directions, and the recording ribbon R is supplied and wound. I'm trying to get it. The moving mechanism for moving the platen 11 between the printing position and the non-printing retreat position will be described below.

In this embodiment, the moving mechanism of the elastic member 21 provided with the platen 11 is composed of an operating portion, an operating force urging portion, and a transmitting portion.

First, as an operating part, the platen 1 is more effective than the idle roller 7 and the driving roller 8 which constitute the conveying roller.
By being arranged on the first side, the sliding contact surface 21a of the elastic member 21 is kept in contact with the sliding contact surface 2a.
A plate-like member 15 having an inclined surface 15b for guiding 1a and a flat surface portion 15a formed at one end is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, the plate member 15 is integrally formed with a pair of transmission portions 15c that pass between the three extended portions 21c.

Next, a pair of rotating members 20 are provided as actuating force urging portions.

Below, FIG. 4 (a) is a sectional view taken along the line XX of FIG. 2 (a) and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line YY of FIG. 2 (b).
The configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

The pair of rotating members 20 are arranged on the inlet / outlet 5 side, which is the side opposite to the platen 11 with respect to the idle roller 7 and the driving roller 8 constituting the conveying roller. The rotating member 20 is a member for urging an operating force for moving the plate member 15.

The rotating members 20, 20 are formed as a pair of link members as shown in the drawing, and are connected to each other at their ends by a shaft support 32 so as to be rotatable with respect to each other. Further, in the pair of shaft supporting portions 33 provided on the substrate 1a, intermediate portions are pivotally supported respectively. Therefore, each of the rotating members 20 rotates around the shaft supporting portion 33, but when one rotating member 20 rotates, the other rotating member 20 also rotates via the shaft supporting portion 32.

A tension spring 37 for urging the end portion of one rotating member 20 and the side plate 1b is urged to move the end portion in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4 (a). A tooth portion 35 is formed at the end of the rotating member 20. The drive gear 36 is a gear driven by a mechanism described later,
An operating force for moving the plate member 15 is applied to the tooth portion 3 described above.
5 is a gear in which teeth are formed only at a predetermined angle so as to be transmitted to the rotating member 20 via 5. Here, the drive gear 36 is rotated by receiving a driving force from the motor M2 of the drive source, and rotates the rotating member 20 in a range in which the drive gear 36 meshes with the tooth portion 35. Further, the tension spring 37 urges the rotating member 20 which is in a free state after the engagement is disengaged to return it to the original position.

With reference to FIG. 4 (b), the counterclockwise rotation of the drive gear 36 causes the teeth to move to the right, and the rotation member 20 on the front side of the drawing rotates counterclockwise. However, in conjunction with this, the other rotating member 20 also rotates,
Both of them are shown in Fig. 4 (a) in the shape of an inverted "" and shown in Fig. 5 ".
Further, when the drive gear 36 rotates, the engagement with the tooth portion 35 is disengaged, and the rotating member in the free state is urged by the tension spring 37, so that the rotation member shown in FIG.
It returns to the state of (a).

Referring again to FIG. 3, the transmission portion 15c of the plate member 15 is disposed so as to pass between the drive roller 8 constituting the conveying roller and the substrate 1a, and one end of the transmission portion 15c. The pair of left and right first end portions 15h rotatably pivotally support the rotating member 20 constituting the actuating force urging portion in the shaft supporting portion 34.

The inclined surface 15b and the flat surface portion 15a are formed on the other end of the transmission portion 12c.
Further, the plate member 15 is provided with a pair of left and right elongated holes 15f, through which the studs 55 fixed to the substrate 1a are inserted to guide the movement of the plate member 15. There is.

Next, the operation of the moving mechanism of the platen 11 will be described. In FIG. 4A, the pair of rotating members 20 forming the actuating force urging portion are arranged in an inverted "U" shape. At this time, as shown in FIG.
The sliding contact portion 21a of the plate-shaped member 15 is located on the transmission portion 15c of the plate-shaped member 15, and the elastic deformation of the elastic member 21 causes the platen 11 to move.
Is in the retracted position. In this state, the drive gear 36
Is rotated counterclockwise and the pair of rotating members 20 are deformed into a V shape as shown in FIG.
Is pulled by the rotating member 20 and moves to the right side of the drawing as a whole. At this time, the inclined surface 15b continuously formed on the transmission portion 15c also moves to the right side in the drawing, and the sliding contact portion 21a of the elastic member 21 rides on the flat surface portion 15a.
The platen 11 is moved up to the printing position as shown in FIG.

In this state, the elastic member 21 is elastically deformed so that the sliding contact portion 21a can slide on the flat surface portion 15a of the plate member 15 from the mounting base portion 21b fixed by the screw 13. Three extension parts 21
Since it is supported by c, stable printing pressure can be generated and the platen 11 can be prevented from being excessively pressed by the thermal head 10. Further, since it becomes possible to elastically deform the thermal head 10 while ensuring the parallelism with the heat generating portion 10a, it is possible to perform good printing.

Moreover, by using the thermal head 10 of the type having many flat parts as shown in the drawing,
The flat portion can be used as a guide surface when the paper P is conveyed.

Subsequently, when the drive gear 36 is rotated, the meshing of the intermittent gear is disengaged, so that the free state is established, and the rotating member 20 is moved to the free state shown in FIG.
4A is deformed into the inverted "U" shape shown in FIG. 4A. Then, the plate member 15 is moved to the left side of the figure as a whole. The portion 21a is the plate-shaped member 1
5 from the flat surface portion 15a through the inclined surface 15b to the transmission portion 15c.
The platen 11 is lowered to the non-printing position as shown in FIG. In this state, the elastic member 21 has the screw 13
With the mounting base portion 21b fixed by as a base point, the sliding contact portion 21a is elastically deformed so as to be located on the transmission portion 15c of the plate member 15.

As described above, in this embodiment, the platen 11
Will move between the printing position and the non-printing position. Here, in the present embodiment, the transmission portion 15c of the plate-shaped member 15 is configured to pass between the drive roller 8 forming the transport roller and the substrate 1a, and the thickness of the thermal printer A is not affected. We are trying to make it thinner. Further, here, the intermittent gear is used as the drive gear 36, and the reciprocating operation is performed in cooperation with the tension spring 37. However, it is also possible to configure the drive motor only by forward and reverse rotations.

Next, the drive source of the thermal printer A will be described. In order to reduce the size of the apparatus, the drive source is arranged closer to the entrance / exit 5 side than the platen 11 with respect to the idle roller 7 and the drive roller 8 which constitute the conveyance roller in view of the layout.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which the motor M2 as a drive source and the motor M1 are fixed to the side plate 1b. As shown, the drive gear 36 is axially supported by bearings provided on the side plate 1b and a bracket 45 shown by hatching. The motor M2 fixes a worm gear 38 that meshes with the worm wheel 39 to the output shaft.

A member pivotally supporting the planetary gear 40 is rotatably provided around the rotation axis of the worm wheel 39, and the planetary gear 4 is driven by the forward and reverse driving of the motor M2.
Move 0 left and right. As a result, either the drive gear 41 or the recording ribbon winding gear 42 is connected to the planetary gear 40.
By bringing the platen 11 into a meshed state with one, it is possible to move the platen 11 and wind the recording ribbon with one motor M2.

That is, by engaging the planetary gear 40 and the drive gear 41 with each other, the driving force of the motor M2 is transmitted to the rotating member 20, and the platen 11 is moved by the reciprocating motion of the plate member 12 as described above. It becomes possible.

The motor M1 is fixed to the side plate 1b by a bracket 44, and a stepping motor is used to form an image by driving the driving roller 8 via a gear. As shown in FIG. 1, these motors M1 and M2 are selected from motors having a flat portion, and the shape of the bracket is made as shown so that the whole is made as flat as possible.

Next, the printing operation of the thermal printer A having the above configuration will be described.

With the above configuration, in the non-printing state shown in FIG. 2A, the paper P is conveyed in the nip portion between the idle roller 7 and the drive roller 8 and is sent to the print start position to be displayed for one screen. The rear end portion corresponding to the length is continued until it is determined that the heat generating portion 10a and the platen 11 are clamped, and the cue and the clamped state are maintained. Before and after this, cueing is performed to detect the start position of the Y color layer of the recording ribbon R.

Subsequently, the elastic member 21 is turned on by energizing the motor M2.
Is moved, and the platen 1 is moved with respect to the thermal head 10.
1 is brought into contact with the recording ribbon R in between, the preparation for starting printing is completed, the paper P is conveyed in the reverse direction in synchronization with the winding operation of the recording ribbon R, and in synchronization with this, thermal transfer is performed. The head 10 is energized for a predetermined time to start the formation of the first color print, and the first one-screen print is completed.

Following this, the nip portion between the drive roller 8 and the idle roller 7 is surely held and conveyed in the forward and reverse directions to perform a plurality of reciprocating drives required for color printing, thereby The printing is completed and the sheet is discharged from the doorway 5.

The thermal printer configured as described above can be used as a recording device adapted to print directly from, for example, a digital camera or a mobile phone. It goes without saying that the printing is not limited to the above-mentioned color printing and may be, for example, a monotone printing. In this case, since a black layer printing using a recording ribbon or a thermal paper can be used, higher speed can be realized.

Next, FIGS. 7A and 7B are configuration diagrams of a main part of the thermal printer A according to the second embodiment. FIG. 7A shows a non-printing mode, and FIG. 7B shows a printing mode. In FIG. 7, the same reference numerals are given to the components already described, and the description is omitted, and only different parts will be described below.

The thermal head 10 is fixed to an elastic member 12. The elastic member 12 is fixed to the thermal head supporting member 16 with screws 27, and the sliding contact portion 12a of the elastic member 12 is fixed to the thermal head supporting member 16. It is provided so as to be movable left and right by a groove member 22 fixed to the.

On the elastic member 12, a mounting base portion 12b for fixing with a screw 27, an extending portion 12c for generating a spring force, a flat surface portion 12d for fixing the thermal head 10 as shown in the drawing, The sliding contact portion 12a is integrally formed, and in the fixed state shown in the figure, the sliding contact portion 12a is moved rightward in the groove member 22 so that it can be elastically deformed.

On the other hand, the platen 11 arranged so as to face the thermal head 10 has a shaft 26 provided on the side plate 1b.
Is fixed to an end portion of a platen rotating member 23 that is rotatably provided around the rotating shaft. And this platen 1
A cam member 24 is fixed below 1.

As the plate member 15 moves, the cam member 24 passes over the inclined surface 15b from the flat surface portion 15a and rides on the transmission portion 15c (see FIG. 7B). The platen 11 is moved down to the non-printing position.

A state in which the cam member 24 rides on the flat surface portion 15a from the transmission portion 15c through the inclined surface 15b as the plate member 15 moves (see FIG. 7A).
As a result, the platen 11 is moved to the printing position.

With the above construction, the height dimension H can be made thin within the external dimensions of the thermal printer, and
The pressing force of the platen on the thermal head can be prevented from becoming excessive.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a thermal printer that can be made thinner and can perform stable recording.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a thermal printer A according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a thermal printer A, FIG.
(A) shows a mode during printing, and (b) shows a mode during non-printing.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line XX of FIG. 2 (a).

4A is a view taken along the line XX in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 4B is a front view of a gear.

5 is a view taken along the line YY of FIG. 2 (b).

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which a motor M2 as a drive source and a motor M1 are fixed to a side plate 1b.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a thermal printer A according to a second embodiment, in which (a) is a non-printing mode and (b) is a printing mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

A thermal printer 1 Support member 1a substrate 1b Side plate 3 supply spools 4 take-up spool 5 doorways 7 Idle roller (conveyor roller) 8 Drive roller (conveyor roller) 10 thermal head 11 Platen 12 Elastic member 15 Plate-shaped member 16 Thermal head support member 20 Rotating member 21 Elastic member 35 teeth 36 Drive gear M1, M2 motor P paper R recording ribbon H height dimension

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A support member having a substrate and a pair of side plates provided on the substrate and opposed to each other; a thermal head; a platen opposed to the thermal head; and supported on the side plates of the support member. A thermal printer that includes a transport roller that transports an object to be printed between the thermal head and the platen, and a moving unit that moves the platen between a printing position and a retreat position. An operating force urging portion that is disposed on the side opposite to the platen with respect to the transport roller and that applies an operating force; and a platen side that is disposed on the platen side with respect to the transport roller. An operating unit that operates to move between the retracted position and a transmitting unit that transmits the operating force urged by the operating force urging unit to the operating unit. The actuating portion supports the platen and biases the platen to the retracted position while elastically deforming when the actuating force is transmitted by the transmitting portion to move the platen to the printing position. A thermal printer, comprising: an elastic member that allows the transmission unit to pass through between the transport roller and the substrate. 2. The elastic member has one end fixed to the substrate and a sliding contact surface formed at the other end, and the transmission portion is urged by the actuating force from the actuating force urging portion. The thermal printer according to claim 1, further comprising a plate-shaped member that is provided so as to reciprocate and has an inclined surface that guides the sliding contact surface. 3. A support member having a substrate and a pair of side plates provided on the substrate and opposed to each other, a thermal head, a platen opposed to the thermal head, and supported by the side plates of the support member. A thermal printer that includes a transport roller that transports an object to be printed between the thermal head and the platen, and a moving unit that moves the platen between a printing position and a retreat position. An operating force urging portion that is disposed on the side opposite to the platen with respect to the transport roller and that applies an operating force; and a platen side that is disposed on the platen side with respect to the transport roller. An operating unit that operates to move between the retracted position and a transmitting unit that transmits the operating force urged by the operating force urging unit to the operating unit. The operating portion supports the thermal head and biases the thermal head to the retracted position while elastically deforms when the operating force is transmitted by the transmitting portion to print the thermal head. A thermal printer, comprising: an elastic member that moves to a position, wherein the transmission unit is disposed so as to pass between the transport roller and the substrate.