JP2004230564A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a printer performing operational control of a carrier using a slit film and an encoder in which vibration is suppressed during travel of the carrier utilizing the slit film. <P>SOLUTION: The carrier 1 travels reciprocally while being guided by a guide shaft 3 inserted into a bearing 2. The carrier 1 is provided with an encoder 6 for reading out positional information written on the slit film 5. The slit film 5 is stretched through resiliency of tension coil springs 51 and 51 coupled with the opposite end parts thereof and the intermediate part of the slit film 5 is brought into resilient contact with the carrier 1 side film supporting surfaces 15 and 15 on the opposite sides of the encoder 6. The film supporting surface 15 is cut at a part corresponding to the positional information writing area Z of the slit film 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing device, and more particularly to a printing device that controls the operation of a carrier on which an ink cassette is mounted by reading position information written on a slit film by an encoder.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic side view of a conventional printing apparatus of this type. Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a horizontally arranged carrier having a bearing 2 at a lower end thereof and a sliding portion 12 slidably engaged with a rail 13 provided on a chassis side at an upper end thereof. In addition, a guide shaft 3 horizontally disposed on the bearing 2 is slidably inserted. The ink cassette 4 is mounted on the carrier 1, and the carrier 1 on which the ink cassette 4 is mounted is guided by the guide shaft 3 and travels to perform printing on the paper P on the base B.
[0003]
In the printing apparatus of this configuration, when the running carrier 1 vibrates, the distance between the ink ejection head of the ink cassette 4 mounted on the carrier and the paper P and the relative position between the two change, and printing such as printing unevenness occurs. Quality degradation occurs. On the other hand, there is an unavoidable minute gap between the bearing 2 of the carrier 1 and the guide shaft 3 inserted through the bearing 2, and this gap causes the carrier 1 to vibrate during traveling. .
[0004]
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, a guide shaft 3 inserted between the left and right bearings 2 and 2 of the carrier 1 has a substantially semi-arc-shaped cross section called a shim. The pressing body 31 is slidably overlapped, and the pressing body 31 is elastically pressed against the guide shaft 3 by the leaf spring 22 to apply a radial load to the guide shaft 3. The first cause of the vibration was removed.
[0005]
By the way, in the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the operation control of the carrier 1 is performed by reading the position information written on the slit film 5 by the encoder 6 provided on the carrier 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, in this printing apparatus, the slit film 5 is stretched in parallel with the guide shaft 3 and both ends thereof are held, for example, in a chassis of the printing apparatus, and the position information written in the slit film 5 is provided. Is read by an encoder 6 fixed to the carrier 1.
[0006]
On the other hand, in the prior art, in the recording apparatus, an intermediate portion of a carriage belt wound around a motor pulley and a tension pulley is connected to a carriage guided and guided by a guide shaft, and the traveling path of the carriage belt is triangular. The shape retention exerts a radial load on the guide shaft, thereby suppressing the vibration of the carriage due to the unavoidable minute gap between the bearing of the carriage and the guide shaft inserted through the bearing. A technique to be attempted is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0007]
Further, in another prior example, in a printer, a leaf spring attached to a carriage is elastically contacted with a toothed belt connected to a carriage to increase the tension of the toothed belt, so that the transmission characteristics of the toothed belt are increased. (For example, see Patent Document 2).
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-7-61084 [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-6-135085
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, as in the conventional printing apparatus described with reference to FIG. 8 and the like, when the vibration during traveling of the carrier 1 is suppressed by using the pressing body 21 and the leaf spring 22 extra, the pressing body 21 and the leaf spring 22 However, there is a problem that the number of necessary parts and the number of assembling steps are increased, and the cost of parts and the cost of manufacturing are high.
[0010]
On the other hand, as disclosed in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, a vibration is suppressed during traveling of a carriage by applying a radial load to a guide shaft using a carriage belt. Since a large tension is directly applied to the carriage belt that forms the power transmission path leading to the transmission, the power transmission may be impeded and the carriage may not be able to travel smoothly, or the load on the motor may be excessive.
[0011]
It can be said that the technique described in the prior art cited in Patent Document 2 also has the effect of suppressing the vibration during running of the carriage by applying a radial load to the guide shaft. However, also in this case, similarly to the case of the prior art cited in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the transmission by the carriage belt is hindered and the carriage becomes difficult to travel smoothly or the load on the motor becomes excessive. There is.
[0012]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems and circumstances, and by utilizing the slit film employed in the conventional printing apparatus described with reference to FIG. In spite of the fact that vibrations during traveling of the carrier can be suppressed without requiring any extra parts and without adding excessive tension to the belt for traveling the carrier (carriage), the slit film and An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus in which the operation control characteristics of a carrier are not impaired by cooperation with an encoder.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the carrier reciprocates while being guided by a guide shaft slidably inserted into a bearing of a carrier on which the ink cassette is mounted, and the carrier is stretched along the traveling path. The carrier is provided with an encoder for reading the position information written on the slit film, and the carrier is provided with a load applying means for applying a resilient load to the guide shaft to suppress vibration during traveling of the carrier. Instead of omitting the load applying means, the slit film tensioned by a spring force is slidably elastically contacted with a film supporting surface provided on the carrier, and a bearing of the carrier is slidably mounted on the guide shaft. By pressing the carrier, vibration during carrier running is suppressed.
[0014]
According to the present invention, the tensioned slit film presses the carrier bearing through the film supporting surface against the guide shaft slidably inserted into the bearing, so that the bearing resiliently presses the guide shaft to the guide shaft. A radial load is applied, which suppresses the vibration of the carriage due to an unavoidable minute gap existing between the bearing of the carrier and the guide shaft.
[0015]
In the present invention, a film supporting surface in which the slit film is elastically contacted on both sides sandwiching the encoder is provided, the film supporting surface is provided in the carrier, and the slit film is provided between the film supporting surfaces. It is desirable to be stretched in parallel with the guide shaft. According to this, at a position where the slit film is stretched in parallel with the guide shaft, the encoder reads the position information written on the slit film, so that the slit film is used to suppress the vibration of the carrier. However, the operation control characteristics of the carrier due to the cooperation of the slit film and the encoder are not impaired.
[0016]
In the present invention, it is desirable that the slit film is tensioned by the elasticity of each of the tension coil springs connected to both ends of the slit film. According to this, even if the position of the slit film is changed by the traveling of the carrier, the state in which the slit film is uniformly tensioned by the tension coil springs at both ends thereof is maintained, so that the tension of the slit film on one side or the other side of the carrier is maintained. It is unlikely that the state will change and the reading accuracy of the position information by the encoder will be impaired.
[0017]
In the present invention, it is preferable that a portion of the film supporting surface corresponding to a position information writing area of the slit film is omitted. According to this, even if the film supporting surface rubs against the slit film due to the traveling of the carrier, the position information writing area of the slit film does not rub against the film supporting surface, so that the position information writing area is scratched by the encoder. The situation that the reading performance is impaired does not occur.
[0018]
The printing apparatus according to the present invention is further embodied by adopting the following configuration. That is, the carrier is guided by a guide shaft slidably inserted into a bearing of a carrier on which the ink cassette is mounted, and the carrier reciprocates, and the carrier is written on a slit film stretched along the traveling path. A printing device that includes an encoder that reads positional information of the carrier, and a load applying unit that applies an elastic pressure load to the guide shaft on the carrier to suppress vibration during traveling of the carrier. Instead, the slit films tensioned by the elasticity of the respective tension coil springs connected to both ends thereof are slidably slidably mounted on both sides of the encoder on the film support surfaces provided on the carrier. The bearing of the carrier is slidably pressed against the guide shaft by making elastic contact with the guide shaft. A) While suppressing vibration during traveling, the slit film is stretched in parallel with the guide shaft between the film supporting surfaces thereof, and each of the film supporting surfaces is the slit film. A portion corresponding to the position information writing area is removed, and a shift width regulating means for regulating a shift width when the slit film is displaced along with the movement of the carrier is adopted. Further embodied by The operation of the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a main part of a printing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a form in which a slit film 5 is stretched, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing a contact state between the slit film 5 and the film support surface 15, and FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway plan view of the deviation width regulating means 8.
[0020]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a horizontally arranged carrier. The carrier 1 has a bearing 2 at its lower end, and a sliding portion 12 provided at its upper end is slidably engaged with a rail 13 provided on the chassis side (see FIG. 6). . The guide shaft 3 in the horizontal position shown in FIG. 2 or 3 is slidably inserted through the bearing 2. A belt (not shown) is connected to the carrier 1, and the carrier 1 is guided by the guide shaft 3 to move forward or backward by rotating the belt at a fixed position. Further, the ink cassette 4 is mounted on the carrier 1 as described with reference to FIG. 6, and the carrier 1 on which the ink cassette 4 is mounted is guided by the guide shaft 3 and travels, so that the carrier P Printing is performed.
[0021]
On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a slit film 5 is stretched along the guide shaft 3, and the position information written on the slit film 5 is read by an encoder 6 fixed to the carrier 1. The read signal is used for controlling the operation of the carrier 1.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, on both sides of the encoder 6, left and right protrusions 14, 14 protruding from the left and right ends of the carrier 1 are provided in a rib shape. The top surface of 14 is formed as a film support surface 15, 15 which is an arc surface. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the slit film 5 has both ends connected to two locations on the chassis 100 side via the tension coil springs 51, 51, respectively. In a state where 51 is extended against its elasticity, two intermediate portions of the slit film 5 are elastically contacted with the film support surfaces 15, 15 which are the top surfaces of the left and right projecting pieces 14, 14, and The portions between the film support surfaces 15 are opposed to the encoder 6. The height of the left and right protruding pieces 14, 14 is such that the slit film 5 elastically contacting the left and right film support surfaces 15, 15 is located between the film support surfaces 15, 15. It is determined so as to be parallel to the reciprocating path of the carrier 1. Note that the pressing body 21 and the leaf spring 22 described in FIG. 8 are omitted.
[0023]
According to the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration, the slit film 5 tensed by the contraction force of the tension coil springs 51 connected to both end portions of the slit film 5 is transported via the left and right film support surfaces 15, 15. Since the first bearing 2 is pressed against the guide shaft 3 slidably inserted in the bearing 2, the bearing 2 resiliently presses the guide shaft 3, and a radial load is applied to the guide shaft 3. Therefore, despite the omission of the pressing body 21 and the leaf spring 22 described in FIG. 8, the carriage travels due to an unavoidable minute gap existing between the bearing 2 of the carrier 1 and the guide shaft 3. Medium vibration is suppressed. Further, since the vibration of the carriage 1 during running is suppressed by elastically contacting the slit film 5 with the left and right film supporting surfaces 15 of the carrier 1, a belt (not shown) for running the carrier 1 is provided. There is no need to give great tension to the students. Therefore, the power transmission from the motor to the carrier via the belt is not impaired.
[0024]
In addition, in this embodiment, the slit film 5 is stretched in parallel with the guide shaft 3 and the reciprocating path of the carrier 1 between the left and right film support surfaces 15 provided on the carrier 1. The position information written on the slit film 5 can be accurately read by the encoder 6. Therefore, despite the fact that the slit film 5 is used to suppress the vibration of the carrier 1, the operation control characteristic of the carrier 1 due to the cooperation of the slit film 5 and the encoder 6 does not deteriorate. In addition, since the slit film 5 is stretched obliquely on both sides of the carrier 1 in a plan view, there is a slight shift in the reading accuracy of the encoder 6 according to the inclination angle of the slit film 5. It is thought that such a deviation in reading accuracy is large enough to affect the printing quality of the printing apparatus by setting the fixed positions at both ends of the slit film 5 so that the inclination angle of the slit film 5 becomes as small as possible. Make sure you can avoid it.
[0025]
In this embodiment, the top surfaces of the left and right protruding pieces 14, 14 that rub against the slit film 5, that is, the left and right film support surfaces 15, 15 are formed in circular arcs in plan view. While the material is a resin having excellent slipperiness, a polyethylene terephthalate film (PET film) which hardly exhibits elongation is used for the slit film 5. Therefore, even if the left and right film support surfaces 15, 15 rub against the slit film 5 while the carrier 1 is running, there is little possibility that the rubbed portions are scratched. However, there may be a case where the position information writing area of the slit film 5 rubs against the film support surfaces 15 and is damaged. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the center part in the width direction of the slit film 5 is set as the position information writing area Z, and the respective film support surfaces 15 correspond to the position information writing area Z. The part to be done is missing. Reference numeral 16 denotes a recess corresponding to a missing portion of the film support surface 15. In this way, the locations where the slit film 5 rubs against the left and right film support surfaces 15 while the carrier 1 is running are located on both sides of the position information writing area Z, and the position information writing area Z is , 15 does not occur, so that the position information writing area Z is not abraded and reading performance by the encoder 6 is impaired.
[0026]
In this embodiment, the slit film 5 is tensioned by the elasticity of each of the tension coil springs 51, 51 connected to both ends of the slit film 5, respectively. Therefore, even if the position changes due to the traveling of the carrier 1, the slit film 5 is tensioned by the tension coil springs 51, 51 on both ends thereof with a uniform force on the left and right sides of the carrier 1. That is, the tension of the slit film 5 on both the left and right sides of the carrier 1 becomes uniform. For this reason, a situation in which the tension state of the slit film 5 changes on one side or the other side of the carrier 1 and the accuracy of reading the position information by the encoder 6 does not occur is caused.
[0027]
In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to provide the deviation width regulating means 8 shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the shift width restricting means 8 is provided with an opening 51 having a predetermined length at an end of the slit film 5 to which the tension coil spring 51 is connected, and a locking projection 17 integrally provided on the carrier 1. It is inserted into the opening 51. In this way, even if the slit film 5 rubbed with the left and right film support surfaces 15 during traveling of the carrier 1 is displaced right and left by the influence of the frictional resistance, the range of the displacement is limited by the locking projection 17. In the range corresponding to the left and right rims of the opening 51. Therefore, if the width dimension of the opening 51 is appropriately determined, even if the slit film 5 is misaligned left or right, the deviation of the reading accuracy of the encoder 6 becomes large enough to affect the printing quality of the printing apparatus. It becomes possible to keep it from becoming. 5 may be provided only at one end of the slit film 5, or may be provided at both ends of one side and the other side of the slit film 5.
[0028]
In the embodiment described above, the case where both ends of the slit film 5 are tensioned by the tension coil springs 51 and 51 to tension the slit film 5 has been described. It is also possible to tension the slit film 5 by pulling only the tension film with a tension coil spring.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, by utilizing the slit film, it is possible to suppress the vibration during the traveling of the carrier. Therefore, it is easy to reduce the parts cost and the manufacturing cost of the printing apparatus by omitting a load applying means for applying a resilient load to the guide shaft to suppress the vibration during traveling of the carrier. In addition, since vibration during traveling of the carrier can be suppressed without adding unnecessary tension to the belt for traveling the carrier, the transmission of the belt is not impaired, and an excessive load is not applied to the motor. Nevertheless, it is possible to maintain good operation control characteristics of the carrier by cooperation of the slit film and the encoder. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to inexpensively provide a printing device that exhibits printing performance equivalent to that of the conventional case and hardly causes uneven printing.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a main part of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a stretched form of a slit film.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a state where a slit film is supported by a film support surface.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing a contact state between a slit film and a film support surface.
FIG. 5 is a partially broken plan view of a deviation width regulating unit.
FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing a conventional printing apparatus.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a form of stretching a slit film in a conventional printing apparatus.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a load applying unit employed in a conventional printing apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carrier 2 Bearing 3 Guide shaft 4 Ink cassette 5 Slit film 6 Encoder 8 Offset width regulating means 15 Film support surface 16 Concave portion (part of film support surface lacking)
21 Pressing body (load applying means)
22 leaf spring (load applying means)
51 Extension coil spring

Claims (5)

A position where the carrier is reciprocated by being guided by a guide shaft slidably inserted into a bearing of a carrier on which the ink cassette is mounted, and the carrier is written on a slit film stretched along the traveling path. A printing apparatus comprising an encoder for reading information and a load applying means for applying an elastic load to the guide shaft to the carrier to suppress vibration during traveling of the carrier.
Instead of omitting the load applying means, the slit films tensioned by the elasticity of the respective tension coil springs connected to both ends, respectively, the film support provided on the carrier provided on both sides sandwiching the encoder, respectively. The carrier of the carrier is slidably pressed against the guide shaft so as to slidably press the bearing of the carrier against the guide shaft so as to suppress the vibration during the traveling of the carrier. A slit film is stretched in parallel with the guide shaft,
Each of the film supporting surfaces has a portion corresponding to the position information writing area of the slit film is omitted,
A printing apparatus comprising: a shift width regulating unit that regulates a shift width when the slit film is displaced with the movement of the carrier. A position where the carrier is reciprocated by being guided by a guide shaft slidably inserted into a bearing of a carrier on which the ink cassette is mounted, and the carrier is written on a slit film stretched along the traveling path. A printing apparatus comprising an encoder for reading information and a load applying means for applying an elastic pressure load to the guide shaft to the carrier to suppress vibration during traveling of the carrier.
Instead of omitting the load applying means, the slit film tensioned by a spring force is slidably elastically contacted with a film supporting surface provided on the carrier, and a bearing of the carrier is slidably pressed on the guide shaft. A printing device characterized in that the vibration during carrier running is suppressed by doing so. On both sides sandwiching the encoder, a film supporting surface where the slit film is elastically contacted is provided, the film supporting surface is provided on the carrier, and the slit film is formed between the film supporting surface and the guide shaft between the film supporting surfaces. 3. The printing device according to claim 2, which is stretched in parallel. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the slit film is tensioned by elasticity of another tension coil spring connected to each of both ends of the slit film. 5. The printing device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the film supporting surface has a portion corresponding to a position information writing area of the slit film missing.

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