JP2003305917A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer and a method for guiding a print sheet in which a printed sheet can be taken out smoothly by removing static electricity from the printed sheet as much as possible through an inexpensive arrangement. <P>SOLUTION: In the printer where a printed cut sheet (P) discharged from the sheet discharge opening 112 of a thermal printer 11 constituting a print unit is dropped into a sheet receiving section 31 disposed at a lower part on the back of a front door 2 and contained therein, the thermal printer 11 is arranged such that the sheet discharge opening 112 of the thermal printer 11 inclines obliquely downward toward the front door 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to, for example, an odds printing device which issues printed matter of odds information at various racetrack stadiums. The present invention relates to a printing device that is suitable for printing and printing on paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an odds information output device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3221454 has been known as an odds printing device for issuing a printed product of odds information in various racetracks and the like. This publication discloses that a racetrack and a race number are selected with a keyboard and the odds information of the selected and designated race is printed out in a predetermined format.

In recent years, in public horse racing, the voting system for winning horse voting tickets has increased, and the amount of odds information to be printed out from the odds printing device has significantly increased. Along with this, there has been a need for a long print output sheet with a wide sheet shape of odds information to be printed out.

Further, conventionally, in a stationary type printing apparatus which prints print information on a roll paper and then cuts it into a predetermined length to issue a printed matter, as shown in FIG. A printed sheet (P) cut into a predetermined length is horizontally discharged from a sheet discharge port 012 provided at the front end, guided by a guide member (not shown), and discharged to a discharge pocket 031. The printed paper (P) is taken out from the printer 03. Therefore, in the conventional configuration, static electricity is charged on the printed paper (P) due to excessive bending or friction of the printed paper (P) discharged from the paper discharge port 012 of the thermal printer 011. As a result, the printed paper (P) sticks to the guide member, the flap 03a, etc., and the printed paper (P) cannot be smoothly taken out from the paper take-out port 03. In particular, the sticking problem of the printed paper (P) of this kind was conspicuous in the dry place, etc. in winter.

Further, in the conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG. 11, a roll paper feeding unit 015 is provided at the rear of the thermal printer 011 and the roll paper set in the roll paper feeding unit 015 is thermally processed. Since the configuration is such that the paper is supplied to the paper feed port 013 provided at the rear end of the printer 011
There is a problem that the depth dimension of the device is large and the device housing is large, and accordingly, a large device installation space is required.

Further, in the conventional equipment, since the thermal printer 011 and the roll paper feeding section 015 are integrally formed, the weight is heavy and there is a problem in maintenance.

In particular, as described above, in a printing apparatus which requires a wide and long print output sheet having a large amount of information, the above-mentioned various problems become more prominent.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional printing apparatus that prints the print information on the roll paper and then cuts the print paper to a predetermined length to issue the printed matter, the printed paper is electrostatically charged. However, there is a problem in that the printed paper sticks to the guide member, the flap, etc. due to the static electricity, and the printed paper cannot be smoothly taken out from the paper take-out port. In addition, there has been a problem that the equipment casing becomes large and a large equipment installation space is required accordingly. In addition, since the weight of the mechanism that is subject to maintenance increases, there is a problem in terms of maintenance.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides a printing apparatus in which printed sheets can be taken out smoothly by eliminating electrostatic charge on printed sheets as much as possible. To aim.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus in which the housing of the device is downsized and the space for installing the device is reduced accordingly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus which facilitates maintenance.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing unit provided in an upper part of a box-shaped housing and a lower part of a back surface of a front door of the housing, and the paper is discharged from a paper discharge port of the printing unit. A paper receiving part that stores the dropped printed paper,
It is provided at the lower front of the front door of the housing and has a paper outlet for taking out the printed paper stored in the paper receiving portion, and the paper outlet of the printing unit is slanted toward the front door. The printing unit is arranged so as to be tilted downward.

With such a structure, it is possible to avoid the problem that the printed paper discharged from the paper discharge port of the printing unit is excessively bent and frictionally charged, and the printed paper is taken out. Since the printing can be performed smoothly, the configuration is advantageous particularly in a printing apparatus that requires a wide and long print output sheet having a large amount of information.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a printing unit which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped casing and is arranged so that a paper discharge port thereof is inclined obliquely downward toward a front door of the casing, and the casing. A paper receiving portion provided under the back surface of the front door of the body for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit, and a paper receiving portion provided under the front surface of the front door of the housing. It is characterized by comprising a paper outlet for taking out the printed paper stored in the unit, and a paper feeding unit which is provided at a lower portion of the printing unit and on which a roll paper to be supplied to the printing unit is set.

With such a structure, the device housing can be downsized, and the device installation space can be saved accordingly. Therefore, a wide and long print output sheet having a large amount of information is particularly required. This is an advantageous configuration in a printing device to be used.

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing unit which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped housing and is arranged so that its paper discharge port is inclined obliquely downward toward the front door of the housing. A paper receiving portion provided under the back surface of the front door of the body for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit, and a paper receiving portion provided under the front surface of the front door of the housing. Is provided on the back side of the front door between the paper outlet for taking out the printed paper stored in the unit and the paper exit of the printing unit and the paper receiving section, and removes static electricity charged on the printed paper. And a static eliminator unit.

With such a structure, the static electricity charged on the printed paper can be surely removed, so that a wide and long print output paper with a large amount of information is particularly required. The configuration is advantageous in the printing device handled.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 respectively show the first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a printing apparatus that handles wide and long printed matter in the embodiment of FIG. 3, and FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of the first embodiment.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, 1 is a box-shaped housing, 2
Is a front door, 3 is a printing paper outlet, 3a is a flap,
Reference numeral 4 is a touch panel LCD, 5 is a card reader / writer, 6 is a speaker, 7 is a call button, and 8 is a handling indicator lamp. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, 11 is a thermal printer that handles wide and long printed matter that constitutes a printing unit, 31 is a paper receiving portion, and 111 is a thermal printer 1.
A sheet feeding port 1 and a sheet discharging port 112 of the thermal printer 11 are also provided.

The printing device configured as described above is installed in, for example, each racetrack or out-of-place sales floor, and, for example, the latest program data for odds printing is periodically sent from a host system provided by the Japan Central Horse Race Association by a PF signal. And is sequentially stored and accumulated in a storage device (not shown) in this printing device. And the odds information services handled here include wins, wins, consecutive runs, horse runs, wide, horse wins, 3
There are duplicates.

The user of this printing apparatus purchases a prepaid card prepared for using this printing apparatus and inserts it into the card reader / writer 5. If the inserted prepaid card is recognized as correct by the reading of the card reader / writer 5 and the balance is sufficient, a selection screen showing a plurality of racetrack names is displayed on the LCD 4 with a touch panel and desired. By selecting one or a plurality of racetracks, an odds selection screen on the day or the next day of the racetrack is displayed on the LCD 4 with a touch panel.

At this time, on the odds selection screen displayed on the LCD 4 with a touch panel, the race number for each racetrack,
The content of the odds information service set for the race and the amount of money are displayed for each race number. When the race is completed, the display is changed from the odds information service to the race record and displayed. In addition, in the odds selection screen of the LCD 4 with a touch panel,
In addition to this, a service / operation guide display area, an area for the selected number of races, a display area for guide information at the time of selection operation, and the like are prepared.

Then, the user selects LC with a touch panel.
When the race number is selected and specified from the odds selection screen displayed on D4 (up to 3 races can be selected in one operation), the thermal printer 11 provided in this printing device
The odds information or the race record of the designated race is printed, and the printed paper (P) can be obtained from the print paper outlet 3. Further, the charge of the prepaid card is updated and discharged by the card reader / writer 5 according to the usage fee.

The operation guidance is announced by voice from the speaker 6. Further, the call button 7 is used to call a maintenance person when the printing apparatus fails. Further, the in-handle display lamp 8 indicates that the lamp 8 is lit and is available during normal operation of the printing apparatus.

A first embodiment of the present invention in such a printing apparatus will be described below. First, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, the printed paper (P) discharged and cut from the paper exit 112 of the thermal printer 11 which constitutes the printing unit is ejected as shown by an arrow A in FIG. It falls from 112 and is stored in the paper receiving section 31. That is, the printing unit 11 itself is disposed so as to be inclined downward toward the front door 2 so that the discharge port 112 of the thermal printer 11 is disposed obliquely downward toward the front door 2. . This allows printed paper (P)
Is easily guided and is stored in the sheet receiving portion 31 without being attached to the thermal printer 11 due to static electricity.

An example of a specific mounting structure of the thermal printer 11 is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The mounting structure of the thermal printer 11 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is provided so as to be freely drawn by a pair of drawer rails 121 and 122 supported on both side walls of the housing 1.
The thermal printer 11 is fixed to the support plate 123 of the printer support base 12 with the discharge port 112 tilted obliquely downward. The side opposite to the bottom of the thermal printer 11 is fixed to the side wall of the printer support 12.

Further, the printed paper (P) printed by the thermal printer 11 has a support plate 123 through a paper ejection port 112 and a paper ejection guide plate (so as not to enter the roll paper side described later).
As a drop guide port 3 provided on the lower rear surface of the front door 2
It passes through 11 and falls to the paper receiving portion 31 also provided on the back surface of the front door 2. Further, since the depth width of the bottom surface of the paper receiving portion 31 is set to be wider than the drop guide port 311, the paper is deposited on the paper receiving portion 31 neatly, and thus the paper receiving portion 3 can be easily taken out. It is a mechanism that can be used.

With such a mounting structure of the thermal printer 11, the printed paper (P) ejected from the paper ejection port 112 of the thermal printer 11 is transferred to the thermal printer 1.
When it is cut by the cutter inside 1, it falls through the drop guide port 311 provided on the back surface of the front door 2 using the support plate 123 as a guide plate, and falls on the paper receiving portion 31 also provided on the lower back surface of the front door 2. Can be made.

Therefore, in the present invention, since the support plate 123 of the thermal printer 11 also serves as the paper discharge guide plate for the printed paper (P), a special guide mechanism is not required and the device structure is simplified. You can In addition, since the discharge port 112 of the thermal printer 11 is inclined obliquely downward, it is easy to guide the fall of the paper due to gravity. Therefore, there is a problem that static electricity is charged on the printed paper (P), which has occurred conventionally. It can be resolved. Further, since the bottom surface of the paper receiving portion 31 has a wide depth, the paper is deposited on the paper receiving portion 31 neatly, so that the printed paper (P) can be easily taken out from the paper taking-out port 3.

Particularly, in the odds information printing apparatus, since it is required to output various kinds of odds information to a wide and long printing paper, the paper guide mechanism becomes larger,
It is complicated and more effective countermeasures against static electricity are demanded. However, by adopting the mounting structure of the thermal printer 11 of the present invention described above, a large and complicated paper guide mechanism is not required, and a special static electricity is accompanied by this. Since the sheet can be stored in the sheet receiving portion 31 without any measures, the apparatus can be inexpensive and downsized.

For example, by applying this printing device to an odds printing device on a racetrack, a win of a plurality of selected races,
It becomes possible to print odds information of multi-win, frame run, horse run, wide, horse run, and triple run on a long printing paper having a width of 200 mm or more. Even in this case, the printed paper (P) ejected from the paper ejection port 112 of the thermal printer 11 is dropped to the paper receiving section 31 without sticking to the periphery of the paper ejection port due to static electricity, so that the user Can be easily and smoothly taken out as the latest odds printed matter from the printing paper take-out port 3.

Next, FIG. 4, FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 to FIG.
The second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the same parts as those in the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the thermal printer 1 which constitutes a printing unit.
A paper feed unit PF in which the roll paper 15 supplied to the paper feed port 111 of the thermal printer 11 is set in the lower part of 1.
Is provided.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the construction of the paper feeding unit PF, and FIG. 10 shows a concrete example of the construction. This paper feeding unit, as shown in FIGS. 6, 8 and 9,
A drum support shaft (hereinafter referred to as a drum shaft) 14 provided so as to project from a side wall 12a of the printer support base 12;
The drum shaft 14 is detachably supported by a polygonal roll paper support (hereinafter referred to as a paper feed drum) 13.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the paper feeding drum 13 includes leaf springs 131, 131 and engaging protrusions 132, 1.
32, engagement holes 133, 133, clip ring 134,
Washer 135, stopper 137, bushes 138, 1
38 and the like. The leaf springs 131, 131
The engaging protrusions 132, 132 provided at the tip of the sheet are supported so as to be able to project and retract from the engaging holes 133, 133 opened in the cylindrical body of the sheet feeding drum 13, and are inserted by loosely inserting the roll paper 15 to When the paper 15 is fitted and inserted in a predetermined position, it projects from the engagement holes 133, 133. The stopper 13 provided at the end opposite to the engaging protrusions 132, 132
7 holds the roll paper 15 immovably in the width direction.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10B, the drum shuff 14 is fixed to the side wall 12a of the printer support base 12 by the mounting bolts 140, and the paper feed drum 13 has the roll paper 15 and the inner rings of the bushes 138, 138. The outer ring of the shaft 14 is rotated. The rear bush 1
A buffer spring 38 and a pressing bush thereof are provided at 38 to absorb the shock even when the roll paper 15 is strongly inserted.

The paper feed drum 13 has a clip ring 134 and a washer 13 at the positions of the annular grooves 141 on both sides.
It is fixed by 5 so that it does not move left and right. Then, by grasping the front clip ring 134 with fingers, expanding its inner diameter, and removing the clip ring 134 from the annular groove 141 of the drum shaft 14, the paper feed drum 13 can be removed from the drum shaft 14. There is. That is, by removing the clip ring 134 from the drum shaft 14, only the paper feed drum 13 on which the roll paper 15 is mounted can be detached from the housing 1 separately from the thermal printer 11.

The thermal printer 11 and the paper feed unit PF are supported by a printer support base 12 which is provided so as to be freely drawn by a pair of pull-out rails 121 and 122 which are supported on both side walls of the housing 1. There is. Then, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, with the front door 2 rotatably provided on the housing 1 via the hinge 9 open, the printer support base 12 is pulled out and the rails 121, 1 are drawn.
The printer 11 and the paper feeding unit PF can be pulled out from the housing 1 by pulling out from the housing 22.

As described above, by providing the paper feeding unit PF for setting the roll paper 15 under the thermal printer 11 which constitutes the printing unit, the depth of the housing 11 is made shallow and the external appearance of the apparatus. The configuration can be slimmed down. Therefore, since the entire apparatus can be downsized, the installation space of the apparatus can be saved. In particular, in the odds printing apparatus, since the printer becomes large in the width direction in accordance with the wide paper, the space saving by the arrangement configuration of the above-described embodiment becomes a more advantageous configuration.

Further, separately from the thermal printer 11,
The paper feed drum 13 on which the roll paper 15 is mounted is configured to be removable from the housing 1, and further, the thermal printer 1
1 and the printer support base 12 for supporting the paper feed unit PF can be easily pulled out from the housing 1. Therefore, the replacement work of the roll paper 15, the paper feed mechanism including the paper feed drum 13, and the thermal Various work such as maintenance work of the printer 11 can be easily performed.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the same parts as those in the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the third embodiment, in addition to the mounting structure of the thermal printer 11 according to the first embodiment described above, as shown in FIG. 5, the thermal printer 11 that constitutes a printing unit and the paper receiver. A static elimination unit 21 for removing static electricity charged on the printed sheet (P) is provided in the sheet discharge passage inside the front door 2 between the section 31 and the section 31. By providing the static elimination unit 21, it is possible to more reliably prevent the conveyance defect due to the static electricity of the printed paper (P).

[0045]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to take out the printed paper smoothly with an inexpensive structure by eliminating the electrostatic charge on the printed paper as much as possible. Further, the device housing can be downsized, and the device installation space can be reduced accordingly. In addition, roll paper replacement work and equipment maintenance can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a printing apparatus for explaining a structure of a printing paper outlet and a paper discharge direction of a printed paper (P) in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a printing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a drum shaft and a sheet feeding drum of the present invention and a mounting structure thereof.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Case 2 ... Front door 3 ... Printing paper outlet 3a ... flap 31 ... Paper receiving section 4 ... LCD with touch panel 5 ... Card reader / writer 6 ... speaker 7 ... Call button 8 ... Handling indicator 9 ... Hinge 11 ... Printing unit (thermal printer) 111 ... Paper feed port 112 ... Paper exit 12 ... Printer support 121, 122 ... slide rails 13 ... Polygonal roll paper support (paper feed drum) 131 ... Leaf spring 132 ... engagement protrusion 133 ... engagement hole 134 ... Clip ring 135 ... washers 137 ... Stopper 138 ... Bush 14 ... Drum support shaft (drum shaft) 141 ... Annular groove 15 ... roll paper PF ... Paper feeding unit P ... Printed paper

Continued front page    (72) Inventor S. Nakamura             6-11-1, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo All over Japan             Central Horse Racing Roppongi Office (72) Inventor Yasuo Tobisaka             Eidai Da 1-14-5 Eiyo, Koto-ku, Tokyo             Ear Building Nihon Totally Zeta Co., Ltd.             Company office (72) Inventor Yoshihiko Okazaki             2-9 Suehiro-cho, Ome City, Tokyo Stock Market             Company Toshiba Ome Factory F-term (reference) 2C061 AQ04 AS06 BB02 BB10 BB12                       BB17 CD01 CP04                 2C065 AC04 AD01 CZ05 CZ06 CZ14

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A printing unit provided in an upper portion of a box-shaped housing, and a printed sheet that is provided in a lower portion of a back surface of a front door of the housing and is ejected from a paper ejection port of the printing unit and dropped. It has a paper receiving portion and a paper outlet provided at a lower portion of the front surface of the front door of the housing to take out the printed paper stored in the paper receiving portion, and the paper discharging outlet of the printing unit is the front surface. A printing apparatus, wherein the printing unit is arranged so as to be tilted obliquely downward toward a door. 2. A printing unit, which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped housing and is arranged so that a paper discharge port is inclined obliquely downward toward a front door of the housing, and a front door of the housing. A paper receiving section provided on the lower back side of the housing for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit and a lower front side of the front door of the housing for storing in the paper receiving section. A printing apparatus comprising: a paper outlet for taking out the printed paper; and a paper feeding unit provided at a lower portion of the printing unit for setting roll paper to be supplied to the printing unit. 3. A support rail for the printing unit is provided on a slide rail mounted in the housing, the printing unit is attached to a support plate fixed to the support rack, and the support plate holds the printed paper. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing device serves as a discharge guide plate. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a depth width of a bottom surface of the paper receiving portion is larger than a width of the upper drop guide opening. 5. A support rail for the printing unit is provided on a slide rail mounted in the housing, the printing unit is mounted on a support plate fixed to the support rail, and a space between the support rail and the printing unit is provided. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the paper feeding unit is provided in the printer. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the support shaft for the paper feeding unit is attached to a side wall of the support base. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the paper feeding unit and the printing unit are individually detachable from the housing. 8. A printing unit, which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped housing and is arranged so that a sheet discharge port thereof is inclined obliquely downward toward a front door of the housing, and a front door of the housing. A paper receiving section provided on the lower back side of the housing for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit and a lower front side of the front door of the housing for storing in the paper receiving section. A paper outlet for removing the printed paper, and a static eliminator provided on the back surface of the front door between the paper discharge opening of the printing unit and the paper receiver to remove static electricity charged on the printed paper. A printing apparatus comprising: 9. A printing unit, which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped housing and is arranged so that a sheet discharge port thereof is inclined obliquely downward toward a front door of the housing, and a front door of the housing. A paper receiving section provided on the lower back side of the housing for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit and a lower front side of the front door of the housing for storing in the paper receiving section. It has a paper outlet for taking out the printed paper, and a paper feeding unit provided at the bottom of the printing unit, on which roll paper to be fed to the printing unit is set, and the paper feeding unit is provided in the printing unit. A shaft core arranged in parallel with the paper feed port, a roll paper support detachably supported by the shaft core to rotatably support the roll paper, and elastically supported by the roll paper support. It is provided so that it can be sunk freely Retracted by fitted the roll paper, printing apparatus in which the roll paper is characterized by having a roll paper holding means projecting holding immovably said roll paper width direction when loosely inserted into a predetermined position. 10. A printing unit, which is provided in an upper part of the box-shaped housing and is arranged so that a paper discharge port thereof is inclined obliquely downward toward a front door of the housing, and a front door of the housing. A paper receiving section provided on the lower back side of the housing for storing printed paper discharged from the paper exit of the printing unit and a lower front side of the front door of the housing for storing in the paper receiving section. A sheet take-out port for taking out the printed sheet, a paper feed unit provided under the printing unit for setting roll paper to be fed to the printing unit, and a take-out mechanism for taking out the printing unit from the housing, A printing apparatus, comprising: a detaching mechanism for detaching the paper feeding unit independently from the housing.