JP2008055762A - Printer casing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate maintenance by allowing a side surface portion of a control section cover of a printer casing to be opened integrally with a front panel. <P>SOLUTION: The front panel 23 is rotated from a state (A) to a state (B) and moved rearward from the state (B). In this state, maintenance of a platen roller 7, a thermal head 9, a cutter unit 28, etc. is facilitated. Further when the front panel 23 is pressed to a rear edge so as to assume a position (C), a locking mechanism is canceled, and the front panel 23 and the control section cover 21 are detached from the casing in one body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a box-shaped printer housing, and more particularly to a printer housing that facilitates internal maintenance by allowing a side surface portion of a control unit cover to be integrally opened with a front panel.

A label printer using a conventional box-shaped printer housing will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the figure, 1 is a box-shaped housing (hereinafter referred to as “housing”) of a label printer, 2 is a bottom chassis that occupies the bottom surface of the housing 1, and 3 is erected on the bottom chassis 2. A vertical chassis is shown. The inside of the housing 1 is divided into an electric control unit 4 (left side in the figure) in which an electric circuit is mainly arranged by a vertical chassis 3 and a printing mechanism unit 5 (right side in the figure) in which a printing mechanism is mainly arranged. It is defined.

In addition to the electric circuit such as the printed wiring board 6 (see FIG. 9) and the motor (not shown), the electric control unit 4 includes mechanical elements such as a pulley and a driving belt.
In addition to the platen roller 7, the ribbon supply mechanism 8, and the label supply mechanism 19, the printing mechanism section 5 is also provided with a part of electrical element parts such as a thermal head 9 and a sensor (not shown).

  Reference numeral 10 denotes a control unit cover that covers a part of the left side surface and the upper surface of the housing 1 in the figure, and is formed by sheet metal processing or the like so that the cross section is substantially L-shaped. The vertical chassis 3 is attached to at least one of a front panel 13 and a rear panel 14 described later.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a mechanism cover that includes the right side of the casing 1 in the drawing and the remaining upper portion of the casing 1 and covers the printing mechanism section 5, and is formed by substantially the same material and processing means as the control section cover 10. ing.

  13 is a front panel, 14 is a rear panel, and each of these panels 13 and 14 covers the front part of the housing 1 which cannot be covered by the bottom chassis 2, the control unit cover 10 and the mechanism unit cover 12, and the front panel 13 covers A rear panel 14 covers the rear part of the housing 1.

  The mechanism cover 12 is attached to the vertical chassis 3 via a hinge 15 and can be opened and closed by rotating upward in the figure. Further, the upper right side 13A of the front panel 13 in the figure is divided from the left side half 13B and the lower side half 13C so as to be opened and closed integrally with the mechanism cover 12, and 14A of the rear panel 14 is the same as 13A. The mechanism cover 12 is reinforced.

  The remaining portions 13B, 13C, 14B, and 14C of the front panel 13 and the rear panel 14 are fixed to either or both of the bottom chassis 2 and the vertical chassis 3, and a feed button or on / offline is provided on the front panel 13B. A switch button 16 and an indicator 17 are provided, and a label discharge port 18 is provided at 13C.

The conventional printer housing 1 is as described above. When the ink ribbon is replaced or the label is replenished, the thermal head 9 or the platen roller 7 is cleaned, or the paper jam is removed, the mechanism cover 12 is opened and closed. Do it.
Also, when replacing the ROM of the motherboard, replacing the clock backup battery, or repairing or inspecting the printed wiring board 6 such as the I / O interface board or function expansion board, the screw 11 is removed and the control unit cover 10 is removed. To do.
As a publication in which the above printer casing is described, for example, there is Patent Document 1.
US Patent 6,361,228

  By the way, in the prior art described above, it is inconvenient that a tool such as a screwdriver is required to remove the control unit cover, that the removed screw must be secured so as not to be lost, and that the screwing location is difficult to understand. There was.

  Also, if the printer is installed in the middle of the shelf and there is not enough space at the top, the printer must be taken out of the shelf every time you remove a paper jam or clean the thermal head or cutter unit. there were.

  In addition, when the printed wiring board 6 is large, there is a problem that the front panel and the rear panel interfere with each other when removing and attaching the printed wiring board 6.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to open the side portion of the control unit cover of the box-shaped printer housing integrally with the front panel, thereby It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer housing that makes it easy to open the control unit, and further secures a large working space in the housing to facilitate maintenance inside the electric control unit.

  Another object of the present invention is to enable the front panel to be rotated and opened in the lateral direction of the printer housing, so that the thermal head, the platen roller, and the cutter unit can be used even in a narrow place where there is no space above the printer. Providing a printer housing that can be cleaned.

  In order to solve the above problems, the configuration adopted by the present invention is a bottom chassis that occupies the bottom surface of a box-shaped housing, and an electric control that is erected on the bottom chassis and in which an electric circuit is mainly disposed inside the housing. A vertical chassis that defines a printing mechanism portion in which the printing mechanism is mainly disposed, a control unit cover that includes one side surface of the housing and covers an electrical control unit, and includes another side surface of the housing In a printer housing comprising a mechanism cover that covers a printing mechanism, a front panel that covers the front surface of the housing, and a rear panel that covers a rear surface of the housing, at least a part of the front panel is covered with the controller cover. At the same time, the center of rotation can be moved rearward along the side surface so that at least a part of the front panel and the control unit cover can be opened and closed together. It is characterized by that.

  In this case, the control unit cover may include the upper surface of the box-shaped housing in part.

  The control unit cover is preferably attached to at least one of the bottom chassis, the vertical chassis, and the rear panel so that it can be opened and closed without a tool.

  According to the above means, the front panel can be rotated and opened on the side surface side of the control unit cover, so that maintenance of the rear portion of the printing press can be performed even if there is no large working space above the printer.

In addition, the front panel and the control unit cover can be stacked and handled in a compact manner, so that accidents such as hanging hands and fingers or hitting the face by hanging during installation or removal can be reduced. It is rare to become.
In addition, a large space can be formed in the electric control unit of the printer casing, and maintenance of the electric control unit is facilitated.

  Furthermore, since the control unit cover can be removed without a tool, the control unit cover and the front panel can be removed and attached at the same time, thereby improving work efficiency.

  According to the printer housing of the present invention, the front panel can be opened by rotating it toward the control unit cover side, so that the maintenance of the rear part of the printing press can be performed even when there is no large working space on the upper side of the printer. Workability when installed in a narrow place such as a rack or rack is improved.

  Also, since the front panel and control unit cover can be handled as a single unit, it can be handled in a compact manner, so if removed, a large space can be formed in the electrical control unit of the printer housing, and the removed control unit cover does not take up much space. Efficient.

  In addition, the control unit cover can be removed without tools, so that even the front panel can be removed and installed at the same time, allowing efficient assembly, maintenance, repair, disassembly, and disposal of the printer. it can.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In the embodiment, the same components as those in the above-described conventional technology are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a control cover removal operation procedure of a printer housing according to the first embodiment of the present invention in the order of (A) to (D), and FIG. 2 is an arrow at a position (B) in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially broken view from the direction of arrow III-III at the position (C) in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view in the direction of arrow IV-IV in FIG. FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the printer casing according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a state where the front panel and the control unit cover are integrally removed from the printer casing.

  First, in the first embodiment, the box-shaped housing 20 has a bottom chassis 2, a vertical chassis 3, a control unit cover 21, a mechanism unit cover 22, a front panel 23, and a rear panel 24 in substantially the same manner as the conventional one described above. However, the front panel 23 is attached to the side surface of the control unit cover 21 by a hinge 25 so that it can be opened and closed.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, two guide grooves 26 are formed in the control unit cover 21 from the front panel side to the rear panel side, and the hinge 25 slides in the guide groove 26. It is attached in a state in which the base portion is fitted so that it can move in the front-rear direction.
An inclined surface is formed on the rear side of the hinge 25 so as to operate a lock mechanism 27 described later.
Further, the rear cover 24 is provided with a bracket 24A provided with a fastening hole so as to protrude toward the inside of the housing by cutting and raising or welding.

  Reference numeral 27 denotes a hook-like lock mechanism provided on the rear end side of the control unit cover 21, and the front end thereof is constantly urged toward the inside of the guide groove 26 by a spring. Further, an inclined surface corresponding to the inclined surface of the hinge 25 is formed at the tip of the lock mechanism 27, and the hinge 25 is pressed to the rear end of the guide groove 26 ((D in FIG. 1). 3), the tip is pushed out of the guide groove 26 and the lock is released.

  On the other hand, when the hinge 25 is moved to the front side together with the front panel 23, the lock mechanism 27 is urged and locked by a spring, and the control unit cover 21 is locked to the bracket 24A of the rear panel. Are attached.

  The first embodiment is as described above, and the front panel 23 is rotated from the state shown in FIG. 1A to the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1B and opened at an angle of 90 degrees. Thus, the front panel 23 can be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow (B) in (B). In the state where the front panel 23 is pushed halfway back, the maintenance of the platen roller 7, the thermal head 9, the cutter unit 28, etc. on the front side of the printing mechanism can be easily performed. Does not require large free space at the top.

  At the position (C) where the front panel 23 is further pressed to the rear end, the lock mechanism 27 is released, and the control unit cover 21 can be removed together with the front panel 23.

  Next, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show a second embodiment, which is a modification in which the attachment mechanism for the control unit cover and the front panel is changed from the first embodiment.

  In the figure, 30 is a printer housing, 31 is a control unit cover, and 32 is a front panel. Although not shown, a rear panel similar to 24 in the first embodiment described above is disposed on the back side of the drawing.

  The control unit cover 31 is formed by sheet metal bending or the like in substantially the same manner as in the prior art, and has flanges 31A and 31B formed vertically. Here, each of the flanges 31A and 31B is provided with one protrusion 31C having a substantially D-shaped cross-section such that a part of the cylinder is cut out on the front side. Further, the control unit cover 31 is operated by hand, but the lock mechanism 37 substantially the same as the lock mechanism 27 described in the first embodiment is separated one by one from the top and bottom of the rear side. Is provided.

  The front panel 32 includes one flange portion 32A at the top and bottom, and each flange portion 32A is formed with a keyhole-shaped guide groove 32B composed of an elongated oval and a large circle on one end side thereof.

  The front panel 32 is rotatably attached to the control unit cover 31 by fitting the circular portion of each guide groove 32B to each projection 31C. Here, as shown in FIG. 6, when the front panel 32 is rotated up to 90 degrees on the printer housing 30, the notch of the protrusion 31C can enter the oval groove of the guide groove 32B. The front panel 32 can be translated so as to overlap the control unit cover 31.

  The control unit cover 31 is attached by engaging the lock mechanism 37 with a bracket that does not appear in the figure of the rear panel, so that both the control unit cover 31 and the front panel 32 can be attached and removed without tools. A part of the printer housing 30 is configured.

  The second embodiment is as described above, and the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained by this embodiment.

  Note that each of the above-described embodiments is merely one form of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be modified and replaced with equivalents within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims.

  For example, in the embodiment, a single plate-like one is illustrated as the front panel and the rear panel, but the front panel and the rear panel may be partially divided vertically and horizontally as in the prior art. This means that “at least part of the front panel” is described in claim 1.

  Further, the control unit cover is described as being fixed by being engaged with the rear cover by a hook-like lock mechanism, but it can also be attached to be openable and closable by a hinge like the mechanism unit cover.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the control part cover removal operation procedure of the printer housing | casing concerning 1st embodiment of this invention in order of (A) to (D). It is a partially broken view from the direction of arrows II-II at the position (B) in FIG. It is a partially broken view from the direction of arrows III-III at the position (C) in FIG. It is arrow IV-IV direction sectional drawing in FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view of the printer housing | casing concerning 2nd embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which removed the front panel and the control part cover integrally from the printer housing | casing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conventional printer housing | casing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the printing mechanism part of the conventional printer housing | casing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the control part of the conventional printer housing | casing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,20,30 ... Printer housing, 2 ... Bottom chassis, 3 ... Vertical chassis, 4 ... Electric control part, 5 ... Printing mechanism part, 7 ... Platen roller, 9 ... Thermal head, 15 ... Hinge, 16 ... On / Offline switch button, 17 ... indicator, 21, 31 ... control unit cover, 31A, 31B ... collar, 31C ... projection, 23, 32 ... front panel, 24 ... rear panel, 24A ... racket, 26 ... guide groove, 27 ... Lock mechanism, 32A ... collar, 32B ... guide groove

Claims (3)

  A bottom chassis that occupies the bottom surface of the box-shaped housing, an electric control unit that is erected on the bottom chassis and in which an electric circuit is mainly disposed, and a printing mechanism portion in which a printing mechanism is mainly disposed A vertical chassis to be defined, a control unit cover including one side surface of the casing and covering the electrical control unit, a mechanism unit cover including the other side surface of the casing and covering the printing mechanism unit, and a front surface of the casing In a printer housing composed of a front panel that covers the rear portion and a rear panel that covers the rear surface portion of the housing, at least a part of the front panel is attached to the side of the control unit cover so that it can be opened and closed. A printer housing characterized in that at least a part of the front panel and the control unit cover can be integrally opened and closed by allowing the moving center to move rearward along the side surface.   The printer casing according to claim 1, wherein the control unit cover includes a part of an upper surface of the box-shaped casing. 3. The printer housing according to claim 1, wherein the control unit cover is attached to at least one of a bottom chassis, a vertical chassis, and a rear panel so as to be openable and closable without a tool.

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