JP2006062832A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing device capable of preventing long print paper from falling from a delivery tray without enlarging an installation space of the printing device. <P>SOLUTION: At least one catcher 70 is provided on a projection end of the delivery tray 18 rotatably around a rotation axis X. When the long print paper P longer than length of the delivery tray 18 is delivered, the catcher 70 retains a distal end of the print paper P and is rotated around the rotation axis X while maintaining the retaining state. Thereby, the long print paper P is made to a loop-like shape on the delivery tray 18. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus capable of printing a plurality of feed lengths on a print sheet, and more particularly to a structure of a discharge tray for discharging a print sheet after printing.

As a configuration of a discharge unit in a printing apparatus, for example, in Patent Document 1, a discharge tray for discharging printed paper after printing is supported by a cantilever with respect to a casing of the printing apparatus, and the discharge tray can be expanded and contracted. A configuration is disclosed. In this printing apparatus, the discharge tray is extended longer than the paper length according to the length of the print paper to be discharged to prevent the print paper from falling to the floor, while the discharge tray is used when it is unnecessary. The installation space of the printing apparatus is reduced by shrinking the cover.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-20568

  By the way, when high-quality printing is required, for example, when printing a photograph or the like, the printed paper after printing falls from the discharge tray, and dust or dirt adheres to the printed paper. There is a demand for reliably preventing scratches on the surface.

  On the other hand, a photograph or the like may be printed on a long print paper. When the printing apparatus is configured for long print, the discharge tray needs to be longer than the long print paper.

  However, when an attempt is made to accommodate a long print sheet with an extendable discharge tray, the discharge tray is enlarged even when the discharge tray is contracted. This increases the installation space for the printing apparatus. On the other hand, if the maximum extension length of the discharge tray is shortened in order to reduce the installation space of the printing apparatus, a long print sheet is dropped from the discharge tray. Further, in the configuration in which the discharge tray is expanded and contracted according to the length of the print paper, it is necessary to manually extend and contract the discharge tray every time the print processing of the long print paper is performed, which is complicated. There are also inconveniences.

  As described above, when the discharge tray is extended and contracted, an attempt to cope with a long print sheet causes various inconveniences.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to prevent a long print sheet from falling from the discharge tray without increasing the installation space of the printing apparatus. To provide an apparatus.

  The printing apparatus of the present invention is a printing apparatus that is capable of printing with a plurality of feed lengths and that includes a discharge tray for discharging printed paper after printing.

  In the printing apparatus, at least one catcher is provided at a protruding end of the discharge tray so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis extending in a direction orthogonal to the discharge direction of the print paper, and the catcher is longer than a length of the discharge tray. When a long long print sheet is discharged to the discharge tray, the leading end of the long print sheet is held and rotated around the rotation axis while maintaining the held state.

  According to this configuration, when a print sheet having a length equal to or shorter than the length of the discharge tray is discharged to the discharge tray, the print sheet is placed on the discharge tray.

  On the other hand, when a long print paper longer than the length of the discharge tray is discharged to the discharge tray, a catcher is provided at the protruding end of the discharge tray. The tip is held by the catcher. The catcher rotates around the rotation axis while maintaining the holding state. As a result, the long print paper is looped on the discharge tray.

  As described above, by providing the catcher at the protruding end of the discharge tray, it is possible to cope with a long print sheet without configuring the discharge tray to be extendable. That is, the long print sheet is held by the catcher and loops on the discharge tray, so that the long print sheet does not fall from the discharge tray. In addition, since the discharge tray can be made shorter than the long print paper, the installation space for the printing apparatus is reduced, and every time a long print paper is printed, the discharge tray is discharged. Manual expansion / contraction of the tray is omitted.

  Furthermore, since the catcher has a simple structure that only rotates while holding the leading edge of the print paper, it can be easily provided on the protruding end of the discharge tray that is cantilevered with respect to the housing, for example. It is.

  Here, the catcher has a support shaft member that is provided at a protruding end of the discharge tray and constitutes the rotation shaft, and a contact portion with which the leading end of the long print paper comes into contact. An upper guide member that is rotatably supported, and a lower guide member that is rotatably supported by the support shaft member and is relatively rotatable with respect to the upper guide member. The leading end of the long print paper rotates around the support shaft member by pushing the contact portion as the print paper is discharged, and the front end of the long print paper is moved between the lower guide member and the bottom guide member. The upper guide member and the lower guide member are rotated around the support shaft member by further discharging the long print paper in a state where the leading end of the long print paper is held. And, to a loop of the print paper of the long on the discharge tray may be.

  According to this, it is possible to hold a long print paper in a loop on the discharge tray by rotating the upper guide member and the lower guide member around the support shaft member by using the force by which the print paper is conveyed. become. That is, the catcher is configured with a simple structure including the upper guide member, the lower guide member, and the support shaft member without requiring any special power.

  As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, a catcher is provided at the protruding end of the discharge tray, and the length of the discharge tray is maintained by holding a long print sheet in a loop on the discharge tray. Even if the length is shorter than the length of the long print paper, the long print paper is prevented from dropping from the discharge tray, and the installation space of the printing apparatus can be reduced, and the extension / extension of the discharge tray can be reduced. The contraction operation can be omitted.

  Moreover, since the catcher has a simple structure that only rotates while holding the leading edge of the print paper, even if the discharge tray is cantilevered with respect to the housing, it can be easily attached to the protruding end of the discharge tray. Can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[overall structure]
A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is an ink jet printing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus includes a reception block A that acquires image data and order information and performs necessary correction processing, and an image transmitted from the reception block A via a communication cable 1. And a print block B that prints data on the print paper P based on the order information.

[Reception block]
The reception block A is provided at an intermediate position in the vertical direction of the frame 5, a reception device 6 provided at the top of the wagon frame 5, a liquid crystal display 8 whose display screen is constituted by the touch panel 7, and the frame 5. A flat bed scanner FS. On the front surface of the accepting device 6, a semiconductor drive 9 for reading out image data stored in a recording medium Ms composed of a flash memory, and image data stored in a disk-type recording medium Md such as a CD-R or DVD. And a disk drive 10 for reading the data.

  The flat bed scanner FS includes a main body portion 11 having a scanning table 13 made of transparent glass and a scanning head 14 disposed below the scanning table 13, and a platen cover 12 attached to the main body portion 11 so as to be freely opened and closed. And. The scanning head 14 includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (for example, a CCD or the like) disposed in the main scanning direction and a light source, and is placed on the scanning table 13 by moving in the sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. The image of the scanned object is captured as image data that is color-separated into three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue).

[Print Block]
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the print block B is arranged on the casing 15, two magazine housing portions Ba and Ba arranged at the lower part of the casing 15, and arranged at the upper part of the casing 15 and printed. A printing unit Bb that records image data on the paper P and an ink storage unit Bc disposed on the side of the housing 15 are provided. On the upper surface of the housing 15, a sorting unit 17 that receives the small-size print paper P fed by the lateral feed belt 16 and a discharge tray 18 that receives the large-size print paper P are disposed.

  The magazine accommodating portion Ba includes a drawer 20 that slides as the front wall body 15A slides, and is configured to accommodate the roll-shaped print paper P held by the paper magazine 21 in the drawer 20. . Note that the width of the print paper P stored in the lower magazine storage portion Ba is larger than that of the print paper P stored in the upper magazine storage portion Ba (see FIG. 2).

  The print unit Bb includes a print head H that is provided in the wall 15B and that forms an image by spraying ink onto the print paper P.

  The ink reservoir Bc includes seven ink cartridges 23,... That are detachably accommodated in the wall 15C and have different hues. These ink cartridges 23,... Can be replaced with new ink cartridges 23 by being inserted and removed. Each of these ink cartridges 23,... Has black (K), light black (LK), cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (LC), light magenta (LM) and yellow (Y) inks. It is enclosed. The wall body 15C is configured to be swingable and openable about an axis extending in the vertical direction.

[Paper transport mechanism]
As shown in FIG. 3, the paper transport mechanism includes a supply unit U1, a print unit U2, a loop forming unit U3, a cutter unit U4, a reversing unit U5, and a discharge unit U6. In the paper transport mechanism, when image data is printed on the print paper P, the print paper P stored in one of the two magazine storage portions Ba and Ba is supplied to the print unit by the supply unit U1. Then, image data is printed by the print head H while the supplied print paper P is conveyed by the print unit U2, and then the printed print paper P is transferred from the loop forming unit U3 to the cutter unit U4. , And cut to the print size, and then sent out to the lateral feed belt 16 or the discharge tray 18 by the reversing unit U5 and the discharge unit U6.

  Specifically, the supply unit U1 includes a support roller 25 that applies a rotational force to the print paper P accommodated in the paper magazine 21, and a pressure-bonding type for conveying the print paper P from the paper magazine 21 to the print unit U2. A supply roller 26 and a guide member (not shown) for guiding the print paper P conveyed by the supply roller 26 are provided. The support roller 25 and the supply roller 26 are driven by an electric motor for supply and conveyance.

  The print unit U2 includes a guide rail 28 that guides the print head H in the main scanning direction, a drive belt 30 that is wound around a pulley 29 and moves the printer head H back and forth along the guide rail 28, and print paper P. A paper holding unit D that sucks and holds the head H at a position where printing can be performed, and pressure-type print transport rollers 31 and 31 disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side of the paper holding unit D are provided. Yes. The paper holding part D includes a guide plate 32 having a plurality of holes formed in the thickness direction, and a fan provided in the housing 33 and for applying a negative pressure to the print paper P through the holes of the guide plate 32. 34. In the print unit U2 (print unit Bb), when printing on the print paper P, the image is printed at a predetermined interval, and a cut mark is formed in an area between the adjacent images. To do.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the loop forming unit U <b> 3 includes a guide plate 36 disposed on the downstream side of the downstream print transport roller 31 and a pressure-bonding mold for transporting the print paper P guided by the guide plate 36. Intermediate roller 37. The guide plate 36 is configured to be switchable between a horizontal posture extending substantially in the horizontal direction (two-dot chain line in FIG. 3) and an open posture extending in the vertical direction (solid line in FIG. 3). In the loop forming unit U3, when printing a long print paper P, the front end portion of the print paper P is transferred to the intermediate roller 37 via the guide plate 36 in a horizontal posture, and then printed by the intermediate roller 37. The conveyance of the paper P is stopped, and then the guide plate 36 is switched from the horizontal posture to the open posture, and the print paper P is suspended to form a loop.

  The cutter unit U4 includes a fixed blade 39, a movable blade 40, a cut position sensor 41 having a reflective sensor, and a pressure-feeding type feed roller 42 for feeding the print paper P. In the cutter unit U4, when cutting, by removing the region so as to be slightly wider than the interval between adjacent images based on the detection result of the cut position sensor 41, In borderless printing, the cutting operation is performed so as not to leave a margin around the image. Thus, in the cutter unit U4, the print paper P is cut to a predetermined length (determined by the length of the area where the image is printed).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the reversing unit U5 includes a driving roller 43 that conveys the printing paper P by forward and reverse rotation, a driven roller 44 that sandwiches the printing paper P together with the driving roller 43, and a printing paper P A guide roller 46 provided on the print surface side, a reversing roller 45 including the driving roller 43 and the driven roller 44, and a reversing mechanism (not shown) for changing the direction of the guide roller 46 are provided.

  In the reversing unit U5, the print paper P that has been cut to a predetermined length by the cutter unit U4 and fed from the leading end side thereof is conveyed by the reversing roller 45 so that the rear end portion reaches the position of the reversing roller 45. Thereafter, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 3, the driven roller 44 and the guide roller 46 are rotated about 90 degrees around the rotation center axis of the driving roller 43, and then the driving roller 43 is rotated in the reverse direction, whereby the print paper P is thereafter rotated. It sends out to the discharge unit U6 from the end.

  The discharge unit U6 includes a plurality of pressure-bonding type carry-out rollers 59 for conveying the print paper P, and the print paper P conveyed by the carry-out rollers 59,. A path switching mechanism (not shown) for sending out to one side is provided. A long print paper P described later is a large-size print paper (print paper stored in the lower magazine storage portion Ba), and the long print paper P is discharged to the discharge tray 18.

[Control system]
The control system of the printing apparatus is configured as shown in FIG. That is, the receiving device 6 of the receiving block A transmits and receives information between a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) and the CPU via a data bus. The touch panel 7, the display 8, the semiconductor drive 9, and the disk drive 10 A semiconductor memory RAM / ROM, a hard disk HD, and a communication interface 61. The accepting device 6 further includes an operation system 62, an image processing system 63, and a printer driver 64, which are software for realizing the processing of the CPU. The accepting device 6 constitutes an input / output system for transmitting / receiving information to / from the flatbed scanner FS, and further constitutes a signal system for transmitting / receiving information to / from the print block via the communication interface 61. Yes.

  The print block B transmits / receives information to / from a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as “CPU”) and the CPU via a data bus. The transport control unit 66, the head control unit 67, the semiconductor memory RAM / ROM, the reflection A mold sensor S, a cut position sensor 41, an attachment / detachment sensor 65 for determining whether or not the ink cartridge 23 is present in the ink reservoir Bc, and a communication interface 68 are provided. The print block B is further provided with a print control means 69 made of software for realizing the processing of the CPU.

  The transport control unit 66 is for controlling each of the units U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U6 of the paper transport mechanism. The head controller 67 is for controlling the print head H. The print control means 69 is for performing control when printing image data on the printing paper P based on the image data sent from the receiving block A. The printing apparatus is configured to be capable of printing with a plurality of feed lengths under the control of the transport control unit 66, the head control unit 67, and the print control unit 69. A normal print having a length shorter than the length of the discharge tray 18 and a long print having a length longer than the length of the discharge tray 18 are performed.

[Eject tray]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the discharge tray 18 is supported in a cantilever state with respect to the casing 15 of the print block B. The discharge tray 18 is not configured to be extendable. At the protruding end of the discharge tray 18, two catchers 70, 70 that hold the leading end of the long print paper P when the discharged print paper P is longer than the length of the discharge tray 18 are printed. The paper P is attached with an interval corresponding to both edges in the width direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each catcher 70 is attached to the discharge tray 18 and extends in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the print paper P, and is rotatably supported by the support shaft 71. Upper guide member 80 and lower guide member 90, and first and second torsion coil springs 72 and 73 that urge the upper guide member 80 and lower guide member 90 to rotate. The transport direction of the print paper P is hereinafter simply referred to as the transport direction, and the direction orthogonal to the transport direction is hereinafter referred to as the rotation axis direction. 5 and 6 show cross sections of the catcher 70 at different positions in the rotation axis direction.

  A front end surface portion 18a that is bent downward with respect to the tray surface of the discharge tray 18 is formed at the protruding end of the discharge tray 18, and a protruding piece 18b protrudes forward in the transport direction on the front end surface portion 18a. Is provided.

  The support shaft 71 is provided on the projecting piece 18b and extends in the direction of the rotation axis. By the support shaft 71, the rotation axis X serving as the rotation center of the upper guide member 80 and the lower guide member 90 is provided. Composed.

  In an initial state (a state before the front end of the print paper P is held), the upper guide member 80 is continuous with the guide portion 81 extending in the transport direction above the discharge tray 18 and the front end of the guide portion 81. A pinching portion 82 extending forward and downward in the conveying direction, a contact portion 83 that bends perpendicularly to the pinching portion 82 at the tip of the pinching portion 82, and protrudes in a tongue shape from the pinching portion 82. And a bearing portion 84 having a through hole into which the support shaft 71 is inserted.

  In the initial state, the lower guide member 90 is transported continuously at a front position in the transport direction with respect to the discharge tray 18 and extending forward substantially continuously with the upper surface of the discharge tray 18 and the front end of the guide portion 91. A clamping portion 92 extending forward and downward in the direction, and a regulating piece portion 93 that protrudes upward at a position displaced from the upper surface of the guide portion 91 and in the rotational axis direction and contacts the lower surface of the clamping portion 82 of the upper guide member 80; And a bearing portion 94 provided integrally with the guide portion 91 and the clamping portion 92 and having a through hole into which the support shaft material 71 is inserted.

  The first and second torsion coil springs 72 and 73 are respectively inserted on the support shaft 71 and are positioned at different positions in the rotation axis direction.

  That is, the first torsion coil spring 72 is a spring that biases the relative rotation between the upper guide member 80 and the lower guide member 90, and one spring end of the first torsion coil spring 72 is connected to the upper guide member The other spring end portion engages with the lower surface of the clamping portion 82 at 80, and is engaged with a first engagement portion 95 provided on the lower guide member 90. As a result, the upper guide member 80 is urged to rotate counterclockwise in FIGS. 5 and 6 with respect to the lower guide member 90, and the restricting piece 93 of the lower guide member 90 is held in the upper guide member 80. 5, in the initial state shown in FIG. 5, a predetermined gap (a gap larger than the thickness of the print paper P) is provided between the holding portion 82 of the upper guide member 80 and the holding portion 92 of the lower guide member 90. ) Is formed.

  On the other hand, the second torsion coil spring 73 is a spring that biases the relative rotation between the discharge tray 18 and the lower guide member 90 (and the upper guide member 80), and one spring end of the second torsion coil spring 73 is The other end of the spring is engaged with a second engaging portion 96 provided in the lower guide member 90, while engaging with the lower end of the front end face portion 18a of the discharge tray 18. As a result, the upper guide member 80 that is rotationally biased with respect to the lower guide member 90 by the lower guide member 90 and the first torsion coil spring 72 is counterclockwise in FIG. In the initial state shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lower guide member 90 is engaged with the locking piece 18 c provided on the discharge tray 18 by the lower guide member 91 being engaged with the lower surface of the lower guide member 90. The 90 guide portions 91 are substantially continuous with the tray surface of the discharge tray 18.

  Next, the operation of the catcher 70 will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the long print paper P is conveyed on the discharge tray 18, the leading end of the print paper P is between the guide portion 81 of the upper guide member 80 and the discharge tray 18, and then the guide of the upper guide member 80. Passing in order between the portion 81 and the guide portion 91 of the lower guide member 90, and further between the holding portion 82 of the upper guide member 80 and the holding portion 92 of the lower guide member 90, the contact portion 83 of the upper guide member 80. (See P1 in the figure).

  By continuing the transport of the print paper P, the leading edge of the print paper P pushes the contact portion 83 in the transport direction, so that the upper guide member 80 receives the biasing force of the first torsion coil spring 72. Rotate counterclockwise. By the rotation of the upper guide member 80, the leading end portion of the print paper P is sandwiched between the sandwiching portion 82 of the upper guide member 80 and the sandwiching portion 92 of the lower guide member 90 (see P2 in the figure).

  When the printing paper P is further conveyed in this state, the lower guide member 90 is rotated clockwise against the urging force of the second torsion coil spring, and thereby the upper guide member 80 and the lower guide member 90 are rotated. Both rotate clockwise while the print paper P is sandwiched (see P3 in the figure). Thus, the orientation of the leading edge of the print paper P is changed.

  The upper guide member 80 and the lower guide member 90 are further rotated as the print paper P is conveyed, and the contact portion 83 of the upper guide member 80 is in contact with the lower end of the front end surface portion 18b of the discharge tray 18. (See P4 in the figure).

  Therefore, in the above printing apparatus, when a printing process is performed on a long print paper P, the catcher 70 holds the print paper P and rotates around the rotation axis X, as shown in FIG. In addition, the print paper P discharged to the discharge tray 18 is looped on the discharge tray 18 (see P4 in FIG. 8, where P1 to P4 in FIGS. 7 and 8 correspond to each other). .

  As a result, it is possible to surely prevent the long print paper P from dropping from the discharge tray 18 and adhering dust or dirt, or causing damage to the surface of the print paper P. .

  The print paper P after completion of the printing may be manually removed from the catcher 70, whereby the catcher 70 is in an initial state (see P1 in FIGS. 7 and 8) by the urging force of the first and second torsion coil springs 72 and 73. ) Automatically.

  When the printed paper P to be discharged is shorter than the length of the discharge tray 18, the print paper P is placed on the discharge tray 18 as it is (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

  As described above, by providing the catcher 70 at the protruding end of the discharge tray 18, it is possible to cope with the long print paper P without configuring the discharge tray 18 to be extendable and contractible.

  Moreover, since the discharge tray 18 can be made shorter than the long print paper P, the installation space of the printing apparatus (print block B) can be reduced. At the same time, it is possible to omit manually performing the expansion / contraction of the discharge tray 18 each time the printing process of the long print paper P is performed.

  Further, since the catcher 70 has a simple structure including the upper guide member 80, the lower guide member 90, and the support shaft member 71, the protrusion of the discharge tray 18 that is cantilevered with respect to the casing 15 of the print block B is provided. For example, the support structure of the discharge tray may not be changed. In addition, since the catcher 70 rotates using the conveyance force of the print paper P, no special power is required.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, an inkjet printing apparatus is targeted. However, the printing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this. The discharge tray according to the present invention can be applied to any type of printing apparatus as long as the apparatus prints on a long print sheet.

  Further, the number of catchers 70 attached to the discharge tray 18 may be at least one, and the attachment position thereof can be set as appropriate.

  As described above, according to the present invention, by attaching a catcher to the protruding end of the discharge tray, it is possible to reliably hold a long print sheet on the discharge tray even if the discharge tray is not extendable. It is useful for a printing apparatus that supports long printing.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an entire print system. It is a perspective view of a print block. It is a figure which shows the conveyance system of the printing paper of a printing block. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the print system. FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of a catcher. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the catcher in a different cross section from FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of a catcher. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that a printing paper is made into a loop shape by a catcher.

Explanation of symbols

18 Discharge tray 70 Catcher 71 Support shaft member 80 Upper guide member 83 Contact portion 90 Lower guide member B Print block (printing device)
P Print paper X Rotating shaft

Claims (2)

In a printing apparatus having a discharge tray capable of printing a plurality of feed lengths and discharging printed paper after printing,
At least one catcher is provided at the protruding end of the discharge tray so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis extending in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction of the print paper,
The catcher holds the leading end of the long print paper when the long print paper longer than the length of the discharge tray is discharged to the discharge tray, and maintains the holding state of the rotating shaft. A printing apparatus configured to rotate around. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The catcher has a support shaft member that is provided at a protruding end of the discharge tray and forms the rotation shaft, and a contact portion with which a leading end of the long print paper comes into contact, and is rotatable on the support shaft member. An upper guide member that is supported, and a lower guide member that is rotatably supported by the support shaft member and that is provided to be rotatable relative to the upper guide member,
The upper guide member rotates around the support shaft when the leading edge of the long print paper pushes the contact portion as the print paper is discharged, and the long guide paper rotates with the lower guide member. While holding the tip of the print paper,
The upper guide member and the lower guide member rotate around the support shaft member by further discharging the long print paper in a state where the leading end of the long print paper is sandwiched, and the long guide member A printing apparatus characterized in that the print paper is looped on the discharge tray.

Images