JP2003341889A - Paper feed magazine for recording paper roll - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely feed out and rewind recording paper to and from a paper feed magazine. <P>SOLUTION: This paper feed magazine 2 is composed of a magazine body 3 and a magazine cover 4 to rotatably store a recording paper roll 14 inside. A paper feed roller 35 abutting on the outer peripheral surface of the recording paper roll 14 to rotate the recording paper roll 14, a DC motor 41 for rotating the paper feed roller 35 and a driving gear 43 and a paper feed gear 40 for transmitting the rotation of the DC motor 41 to the paper feed roller 35 are incorporated in the paper feed magazine 2. The side of the magazine body 3 is provided with a connector 10 electrically connecting the DC motor 31 to a printer. A gear for connection to the printer is not provided on the outside unlike the conventional paper feed magazine, so maintenance for the gear is not needed, and transport failure for recording paper caused by the gear can be overcome. <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 recording paper roll paper feed magazine, and more particularly to a recording paper roll paper feed magazine having recording paper feeding and rewinding functions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a commercial color thermal printer has a large number of prints, a recording paper roll obtained by winding a long color thermal recording paper into a roll is used as a recording medium. The color thermosensitive recording paper has a light-fixing property, and its coloring sensitivity changes depending on humidity. Therefore, the recording paper roll is housed in a recording paper roll paper feed magazine (hereinafter, referred to as a paper feed magazine) having a moisturizing function and a light shielding function, and the recording paper roll is set in the printer.

For feeding and rewinding the color thermosensitive recording paper from the paper feeding magazine, a paper feeding roller incorporated in the paper feeding magazine and brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the recording paper roll is used. At the end of the rotation axis of the paper feed roller, a connecting gear exposed to the outside of the paper feed magazine is attached, and when the paper feed magazine was set in the magazine chamber of the printer, it was installed in the magazine chamber. The drive gear of the motor is meshed with the connecting gear.

[0004]

Lubricant such as grease is applied to the connection gear of the paper feed magazine in order to smoothly connect it to the drive gear of the printer. Therefore, there is a problem that foreign matter such as dirt and dust is likely to adhere to the connection gear exposed to the outside. If the connecting gear with foreign matter is meshed with the drive gear, the engagement between the connecting gear and the drive gear will be incomplete, and it will not be possible to feed or rewind the color thermosensitive recording paper. May occur.

In order to prevent the above problems, it is necessary to frequently perform maintenance on the paper feed magazine. However, maintenance of the paper feed magazine is very troublesome,
Printing costs rise due to maintenance work.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to surely perform the feeding and rewinding of recording paper from a paper feed magazine without troublesome maintenance. To do.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the recording paper roll paper feed magazine of the present invention serves as a roll drive mechanism for rotating the recording paper roll and a power source for this roll drive mechanism. A motor is provided in the magazine body. The power source of the motor exposes a metal contact piece electrically connected to the motor to the outside of the magazine body, and supplies the power from the printer through the metal contact piece.

[0008]

1 and 2 are perspective views showing the appearance of a paper feed magazine used in a color thermal printer. The paper feed magazine 2 includes a magazine body 3 having a substantially box shape,
It is composed of a magazine lid 4 for opening and closing the magazine body 3. The magazine lid 4 is provided with a handle 5 which is gripped when the paper feed magazine 2 is loaded into the printer. The magazine body 3 and the magazine lid 4 are formed of plastic having a moisture retaining property and a light shielding property.

The magazine lid 4 is attached to the magazine body 3 via a hinge portion 7 so as to be openable and closable. A pair of lock members 8 are rotatably attached near the front opening edge of the magazine body 3. This lock member 8
Is hung on the front edge of the closed magazine lid 4, and locks the magazine lid 4 so as not to open it carelessly.

On the side surface of the magazine body 3, there is provided a magazine side connector 10 which is electrically connected to a connector on the printer side when the paper feed magazine 2 is set in the magazine chamber of the printer. This magazine side connector 10
Is composed of a plurality of metal contact pieces 45, and is provided in the recess 11 recessed in the side surface of the magazine body 3 in order to protect it from an external impact or the like.

The recording paper roll 14 is formed by winding a long color thermosensitive recording paper 15 around a winding core 13 made of, for example, paper or plastic. When the recording paper roll 14 is set in the paper feed magazine 2, the core 1
Paper holders 16 and 17 are attached to both ends of the sheet 5. The recording paper roll 1 is attached to the paper holders 16 and 17.
Support shafts 16a and 17a for rotatably supporting the recording sheet 4 and handles 16b and 17b that are gripped when the recording paper roll 14 is set in the paper feed magazine 2 are provided.

Bearing plates 20 and 21 are mounted inside the side walls 3a and 3b of the magazine body 3, respectively. Guide shafts 20a, 2 into which the support shafts 16a, 17a of the paper holders 16, 17 are inserted are formed in the bearing plates 20, 21.
1a is formed. These guide grooves 20a, 21a
Has an entrance portion perpendicular to the bottom surface of the magazine body 3 and is inclined at an angle of about 45 degrees below.

Shaft restraining levers 23 and 24 are rotatably mounted between the side walls 3a and 3b and the bearing plates 20 and 21, respectively. The shaft restraining levers 23 and 24 are urged toward the bottom side of the magazine body 3 by the coil springs 25, respectively, and support shafts 16a and 17 of the paper holders 16 and 17, respectively.
The end portion of “a” is pressed to slide in the inclined portions of the guide grooves 20a, 21a.

The shaft restraining levers 23 and 24 are link levers 2.
6, 27, and the link levers 26, 27 are connected to release levers 28, 29 provided inside the magazine lid 4. As a result, when the magazine lid 4 is released, the shaft holding levers 26 and 27 are guided by the guide grooves 20a and 2a.
When the magazine lid 4 is closed by opening the entrance of 1a, the shaft holding levers 23 and 24 are moved to the paper holders 16 and 17.
Press.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 which are sectional views of the main part of the paper feed magazine 2, a recording paper entrance / exit 32 through which the color thermosensitive recording paper 15 comes in / out is provided on the bottom surface of the magazine main body 3. The recording paper entrance / exit 32 is opened / closed by an opening / closing plate 33 which is swingably attached to the outside of the magazine body 3. The opening / closing plate 33 is biased by a spring (not shown) in a direction of closing the recording paper entrance / exit 32.
When the paper feed magazine 2 is set in the magazine chamber of the printer, the opening / closing mechanism provided in the magazine chamber swings the opening / closing plate 33 against the spring to open the recording paper inlet / outlet port 32.

In the vicinity of the recording paper entrance / exit 32, a paper feed roller 35 is rotatably arranged along the longitudinal direction of the magazine body 3. The paper feed roller 35 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the recording paper roll 14 to rotate, whereby the recording paper roll 1 is rotated.
The color thermosensitive recording paper 15 is fed out and rewound by rotating 4 itself.

The paper feed roller 35 has a rotary shaft 37 whose ends are rotatably supported by the bearing plates 20 and 21, and the rotary shaft 3.
7 and a roller portion 38 provided on the outer periphery of the roller 7. The roller portion 38 is formed of a material having a high frictional force such as rubber so that the recording paper roll 14 can be rotated reliably. The inclination of the guide grooves 20a and 21a of the bearing plates 20 and 21 described above is provided to move the recording paper roll 14 toward the paper feed roller 35.

At the end of the rotary shaft 37 of the paper feed roller 35,
A paper feed gear 40 is attached. A DC motor 41 that drives the paper feed roller 35 is attached to the outside of the bearing plate 20. The rotation shaft 42 of the DC motor 41 is
A drive gear 43, which penetrates the bearing plate 20 and projects to the inside of the bearing plate 20, and which meshes with the paper feed gear 40, is attached.

The contact 41a of the DC motor 41 is connected to the metal contact piece 45 of the magazine side connector 10 by the connecting cord 47.
It is connected to the. The portion of the metal contact piece 45 exposed to the outside is bent to give elasticity, so that the connection with the printer-side connector can be performed more reliably. As a result, when the paper feed magazine 2 is set in the magazine chamber of the printer and the magazine-side connector 10 is connected to the printer-side connector, the printer drives the DC motor 41.
Power is supplied to.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. When using a color thermal printer, it is necessary to set the recording paper roll 14 first. Recording paper roll 1
4 is sold in a light-shielding bag and a packaging box.
The user takes out the recording paper roll 14 from these packages and press-fits the paper holders 16 and 17 at both ends of the winding core 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the paper feed magazine 3, the lock member 8 engaged with the magazine lid 4 is disengaged to rotate the magazine lid 4 about the hinge portion 7. Thus, the upper surface of the magazine body 3 is opened. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 2, the inside of the magazine body 3 is exposed.

When the recording paper roll 14 is lifted, the handles 16b and 17b of the paper holders 16 and 17 are held by both hands. As a result, it is possible to prevent fingerprints or the like from adhering to the recording paper roll 14. Then, the support shafts 16a and 17a of the paper holders 16 and 17 are attached to the bearing plate 20,
21 is inserted into the guide grooves 20, 21a, the support shaft 16
The a and 17a slide into the inclined portion from the vertical portions of the guide grooves 20a and 21a.

After storing the recording paper roll 14, the magazine lid 4
And the magazine lid 4 is locked by the lock member 8. Since the paper holders 16 and 17 are pressed by the shaft holding levers 23 and 24, the recording paper roll 14 slides in the guide grooves 20a and 21a so that the outer circumference of the recording paper roll 14 abuts the paper feed roller 35.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the arrangement of a color thermal printer in which the paper feed magazine 2 of the present invention is used. When the paper feed magazine 2 containing the recording paper roll 14 is set in the magazine chamber 50 of the color thermal printer, the printer-side connector 51 provided in the magazine chamber 50 is connected to the magazine-side connector 10 of the paper feed magazine 2. . As a result, the DC motor 41 in the paper feed magazine 2 is electrically connected to the printer. After that, the lid of the magazine chamber 50 is closed and the setting of the paper feed magazine 2 is completed.

When the power of the color thermal printer is turned on, the controller 53 for controlling the entire color thermal printer checks the detection signal of the magazine detection switch 54. When the magazine detection switch 54 is not turned on, it is determined that the paper feed magazine 2 is not set in the magazine chamber 50, and the user is warned by using the display panel or buzzer of the color thermal printer.

After confirming that the paper feed magazine 2 is set, the controller 53 operates the door opening / closing mechanism 56 provided in the magazine chamber 50 to swing the open / close plate 33 of the paper feed magazine 2 for recording. The paper door 32 is opened.

The controller 53 also supplies electric power to the DC motor 41 via the printer-side connector 51 and the magazine-side connector 10 to rotate the DC motor 41 in the recording paper feeding direction. The rotation of the DC motor 41 is transmitted to the paper feed roller 35 via the drive gear 43 and the paper feed gear 40, and the recording paper roll 14 rotates clockwise in FIG.

When the recording paper roll 14 is rotated clockwise, the front end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 15 is moved to the recording paper entrance / exit 32.
From the paper feed magazine 27. The color thermosensitive recording paper 15 sent out from the paper feed magazine 2 is conveyed along the guide (not shown) in the conveying path in the feeding direction, and the leading end portion thereof is the pinch roller 59 and the capstan roller 60 of the conveying roller pair 58. Sent between and. The stepping motor 61 that drives the capstan roller 60 is
It is controlled by the controller 53 via the motor driver 62, and conveys the color thermosensitive recording paper 15 toward the printing unit 64 on the downstream side. In the printing section 64, each thermosensitive coloring layer of the color thermosensitive recording paper 15 is colored by a well-known thermal head, then fixed by an optical fixing device, cut into recording areas and discharged to the outside of the printer.

In the above embodiment, the paper feed magazine of the color thermal printer has been described as an example. However, a recording paper roll such as a photo printer, a sublimation type thermal printer using ink sheets, a thermal fusion type thermal printer, an ink jet printer or the like may be used. It can be used for a paper feed magazine of a printer used as a recording medium.

[0030]

As described above, according to the recording paper roll feed magazine of the present invention, the motor is built in and the gear is not used for the connection with the printer, so that the maintenance work is troublesome. It can be omitted. In addition, it is possible to improve the connectivity between the printer and the paper feed magazine so that the recording paper can be reliably fed and rewound.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a paper feed magazine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing a state when the magazine lid of the paper feed magazine is released.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the paper feed magazine in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the recording paper roll.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the paper feed magazine in the direction of the rotation axis of the recording paper roll.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a color thermal printer using a paper feed magazine.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 paper feed magazine 3 magazine body 4 magazine lid 10 Magazine side connector 14 Recording paper roll 35 paper feed roller 40 feeding gears 43 Drive gear 41 DC motor 51 Printer side connector

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printer comprising: a magazine main body for rotatably accommodating a recording paper roll in which a long recording paper is wound in a roll shape; and a recording paper inlet / outlet provided in the magazine main body for recording / removing recording paper. In a paper feed magazine for a recording paper roll that is set to supply recording paper, a roll drive mechanism that rotates the recording paper roll to feed and rewind the recording paper from the recording paper entrance and exit, and a roll drive mechanism A paper feed magazine for recording paper rolls, which is provided with a motor as a power source of the mechanism. 2. The recording paper according to claim 1, wherein power is supplied from the printer to the motor through an electric contact piece that is electrically connected to the motor and is exposed to the outside of the magazine body. Paper feed magazine for rolls.