JP2013193346A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a display panel from inadvertently falling backward bending or damaging paper supplied to a paper feeding tray.SOLUTION: A printing apparatus includes: a casing; a display panel arranged on the upper face of the casing; a supporting shaft that makes the display panel turnable to change an inclination angle of the display panel with respect to the upper face of the display panel; a paper feeding tray having a supply port for supplying printing paper, in the upper face of the casing; and a panel inclination angle limiting means for setting the inclination angle to exceed a predetermined angle which is a maximum contact angle of the display panel and printing paper when the printing paper is supplied to the paper feeding tray.

Description

  The present invention relates to a small printing apparatus.

  Today, portable portable printing devices that can print characters and images on paper such as postcards, L plates, and 2L plates are widely used.

  In such a small printing device, for example, when not in use, the keyboard can be folded to fit the front surface of the housing, and the display panel can be folded to overlap the top surface of the housing, making it easy to store and carry the printing device. There is something.

  When using the printing device, the keyboard can be operated by tilting the keyboard to the front of the housing, and the display panel is tilted by tilting it from the top surface of the housing to make it easier to see the display screen. There is a type in which printing paper is inserted into a paper feed tray from a paper feed tray supply unit and printing is performed by the printing apparatus (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-211376

  In a printing apparatus having a printing paper supply unit on the upper surface of the housing and having a tiltable display panel, when the display panel is enlarged, the paper inserted into the supply port when the display panel is accidentally tilted backward May be bent or damaged.

  The present invention eliminates such drawbacks and provides a printing apparatus that does not damage the paper inserted into the supply port.

  One aspect of the printing apparatus according to the present invention is a casing, a display panel disposed on an upper surface of the casing, and the display panel being rotatable so that an inclination angle of the display panel with respect to the upper surface is changed. A support tray, a paper feed tray having a supply port for supplying printing paper to the upper surface of the housing, and the inclination angle when the printing paper is supplied to the paper feeding tray, and the display panel And a panel tilt angle limiting unit that exceeds a predetermined angle, which is the maximum angle with which the printing paper comes into contact.

  The present invention has a panel inclination angle limiting means for making the inclination angle of the display panel with respect to the upper surface of the casing exceed a predetermined angle which is the maximum angle at which the display panel and the printing paper come into contact with each other. It is possible to prevent the display panel from falling on the top surface of the housing and damaging the printing paper when the paper is supplied to the paper feed tray.

1 is an external perspective view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a storage state of the printing apparatus according to the invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a storage state of another embodiment of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. The cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the accommodation state of another Example of the printing apparatus which concerns on this invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a box-shaped casing 11, and a keyboard 15 is disposed in front of the casing 11. The keyboard 15 is one in which the keyboard 15 is rotatably attached to the casing 11 by an attachment shaft 16 provided in the vicinity of the lower front end of the casing 11, and as shown in FIG. When it is tilted forward and not used, it is stored facing the front surface of the housing 11.

  Further, on the front surface of the housing 11, a paper discharge port 57 from which printing paper such as postcards for which printing or photo printing has been completed is discharged, a plurality of types of storage medium insertion ports 19 into which portable storage media can be inserted, A cartridge replacement port 17 for printing ink is provided.

  The printing apparatus 10 includes a storage medium insertion port 19 so that image data of a photograph taken with a digital camera can be captured from a portable storage medium, and data edited by the printing apparatus 10 can be portable. It can be stored in a storage medium.

  Further, the printing apparatus 10 includes a display panel 21 provided with a touch panel 23 on the upper surface of the housing 11, and the display panel 21 is also provided with a speaker 27. The touch panel 23 includes a liquid crystal display board and the like. A touch panel input unit 33 using an input position detection film for detecting a contact position of a touch pen or the like is provided on the surface of the touch panel display unit 31.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the front end of the display panel 21 is pivotally attached to the front top end of the casing 11 by a support shaft 25, and can be pivoted in the front direction of the casing 11. The tilt angle θ of the display panel 21 with respect to the upper surface of the housing 11 can be held by the rotational sliding resistance of the shaft 25.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a handle 13 that is rotatable from the rear side of the housing 11 to the top of the housing 11 is attached to the upper portion of the housing 11. 13 is formed in a substantially U-shape and is used by being gripped when the printing apparatus 10 is transported.

  In the printing apparatus 10, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a paper feed tray 51 including a supply port 53 that opens in the rear half of the upper surface of the housing 11 is disposed inside the rear of the housing 11. The paper feed tray 51 can store a plurality of print sheets 50 in a stacked manner.

  In addition, a pressing member 59 that lightly presses the inserted printing paper 50 forward is provided at a lower position inside the paper feeding tray 51, and a paper feeding tray 51 at a position facing the pressing member 59 is provided with paper feeding. A pick-up roller (not shown) that feeds the printing paper 50 stored in the tray 51 downward one by one is disposed.

  In addition, a printing paper 50 fed downward by a pickup roller is fed into a paper passage 56 that communicates from the lower end of the paper feed tray 51 to a cavity portion 55 formed inside the casing 11. A conveyance roller (not shown) that conveys toward the paper discharge port 57 via the section 55 is arranged.

  Further, the cavity portion 55 accommodates a print head (not shown) and a paper discharge roller (not shown) for sending the printed printing paper 50 to the paper discharge port 57.

  The pickup roller, the conveyance roller, and the paper discharge roller form a conveyance unit in the printing apparatus 10, and the print head forms a printing unit.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the circuit configuration of the printing apparatus 10 includes a CPU as a control unit 41, a ROM 43 and a RAM 44 as a storage unit 42 connected to the control unit 41, and a touch panel display of a keyboard 15 and a touch panel 23. The touch panel display control unit 32 that controls the unit 31, the touch panel input control unit 34 that transmits an input signal from the touch panel 23 to the control unit 41, the above-described pickup roller, conveyance roller, paper discharge roller, and a stepping motor that rotates each roller. And a circuit provided with an input / output interface 47 for connection to a portable storage medium 48.

  The control unit 41 activates a system program stored in advance in the ROM 43, a control program stored in a memory card, or the like in accordance with an input signal from the input unit, or automatically by using the RAM 44 as a work memory. Control the behavior.

  The ROM 43 stores character fonts and print font data used during document editing, standard data of the printing paper 50 to be edited, other control programs, and the like. Other programs include, for example, a print data generation program that converts image data into print data, and a print control program that controls a print head in accordance with the print data.

  When the printing apparatus 10 is not used when being carried, the keyboard 15 is aligned with the front surface of the casing 11 and the display panel 21 is aligned with the upper surface of the casing 11 as shown in FIG. Can be stored.

  Further, the printing apparatus 10 includes an opening cover 61 that covers the supply port 53 when not in use, and the opening cover 61 includes a rotating shaft 63 having an axial direction in the left-right direction near the front end of the supply port 53. A plate-like extending portion 65 extending forward of the rotating shaft 63 is provided.

  A weight 72 is provided on the lower surface of the distal end of the extended portion 65, and an elastic body 71 is provided between the extended portion 65 and the housing 11, so that the extended portion 65 and the opening cover 61 are connected to the upper surface of the housing 11. When the printing paper 50 is not inserted into the paper feed tray 51, the opening cover 61 covers almost the entire supply port 53 of the paper feed tray 51 when the printing paper 50 is urged so as to have substantially the same plane.

  Therefore, the keyboard 15 of the printing apparatus 10 is tilted forward, the display panel 21 is raised, printing preparation is performed, and the printing paper 50 is inserted into the paper feed tray 51 so as to push down the opening cover 61 blocking the supply port 53. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the cover end portion 67 of the opening cover 61 comes into contact with the printing paper 50, and the extending portion 65 stands up on the back side of the display panel 21.

  As described above, the end portion of the opening cover 61 is positioned and inclined downward by the printing paper 50, and the extending portion 65 serving as the panel inclination angle limiting means rises on the back side of the display panel 21, whereby the display panel 21 is extended. It is possible to prevent the display panel 21 from falling to the upper surface side of the housing 11 as compared with the state in contact with the tip of the installation portion 65.

  Then, when the rotation shaft 63 is set as the front end of the supply port 53 and the printing paper 50 is inserted into the paper feed tray 51, the opening cover 61 and the extending portion 65 rotate to an angle close to perpendicular to the upper surface of the housing 11. When the display panel 21 falls back and comes into contact with the tip of the extension 65, the triangular extension 65 connecting the support shaft 25 of the display panel 21, the tip of the extension 65, and the rotation shaft 63 is provided. The opening position of the opening cover 61 is prevented from rotating in the direction of closing the supply port 53 due to the pressing force from the display panel 21.

In the present invention, when the printing paper 50 is inserted in the paper feed tray 51, the opening cover 61 rotates so as to lower the cover end 67 into the paper feed tray 51, and the cover end 67 In conjunction with the lowering, the extending portion 65 serving as the panel tilt angle limiting means rises on the back side of the display panel 21, so that the tilt angle θ of the display panel 21 with respect to the upper surface of the housing 11 is such that the display panel 21 and the printing paper 50 In order to exceed a predetermined angle θ ₀ , which is the maximum angle with which the display panel 21 contacts, the display panel 21 is reliably prevented from pivoting backward while the display panel 21 is in contact with the tip of the extension portion 65. Thus, it is possible to prevent the printing paper 50 from being damaged, such as the display panel 21 falling to the upper surface of the housing 11 and bending the printing paper 50.

  2 and 4, when the printing paper 50 is pulled out of the paper feed tray 51 by the weight 72 and the elastic body 71, the opening cover 61 is substantially parallel to the upper surface of the housing 11 so as to block the supply port 53. However, only the weight 72 or the elastic body 71 may be used, and the opening cover 61 is closed by the weight of the extending portion 65 due to the gravity balance between the extending portion 65 and the opening cover 61. Sometimes.

  Further, the opening cover 61 is not limited to a size that covers almost the entire supply port 53, and may have a width or length smaller than that of the supply port 53, depending on the printing paper 50 inserted in the paper feed tray 51. It is sufficient that the cover end 67 is lowered into the sheet feed tray 51.

  In this way, if the opening cover 61 is made smaller than the width of the supply port 53 or the like, it is easy to make the extension portion 65 heavier than the weight of the opening cover 61. By providing the weight 72 in the extension portion 65 in accordance with the weight and the weight of the extension portion 65, the weight balance when the opening cover 61 opens and closes the supply port 53 depending on the presence or absence of the printing paper 50 can be easily adjusted. be able to.

  As another embodiment, an opening cover panel 81 may be provided at the supply port 53 as shown in FIGS.

  The opening cover panel 81 has a panel shaft 88 serving as a rotation shaft of the opening cover panel 81 at the front end of the supply port 53, and is urged by a closing elastic body 82 so as to close the supply port 53 of the paper feed tray 51. The lever shaft 89 of the lock lever 85 provided near the front end of the upper surface of the housing 11 and the panel shaft 88 are connected by a transmission belt 83.

  The lock lever 85 has a protrusion 86 at the tip, and the protrusion 86 is formed on the support shaft 25 of the display panel 21 by rotating about a lever shaft 89 provided near the upper surface of the housing 11. It can be inserted into the joint groove 87.

  As described above, the opening cover panel 81 is provided at the supply port 53 of the paper feed tray 51, and the lock lever 85 as a panel tilt angle limiting means is provided in the immediate vicinity of the support shaft 25 of the display panel 21, so that the protrusion 86 of the lock lever 85 is provided. It can be inserted into the engaging groove 87 of the support shaft 25.

  The engagement groove 87 has a predetermined length along the outer periphery (circumference) of the support shaft 25, and a certain range of angles with the protrusion 86 of the lock lever 85 inserted into the engagement groove 87. The support shaft 25 can only rotate, and the support shaft 25 maintains the display panel 21 at an inclined angle adjusted as long as no external force is applied due to sliding resistance during rotation.

  Therefore, when the printing paper 50 is inserted into the paper feed tray 51 and the end of the opening cover panel 81 is lowered, the lever shaft 89 is moved by the transmission belt 83 in conjunction with the lowering of the end of the opening cover panel 81. And the protrusion 86 of the lock lever 85 is engaged with the engagement groove 87 of the support shaft 25, the rotation range of the support shaft 25 is limited to the range of the engagement groove 87, and the display panel 21 has an inclination angle θ. It is possible to rotate only within a certain range, and it is possible to prevent the display panel 21 from falling so as to overlap the upper surface of the casing 11 and prevent the printing paper 50 inserted in the paper feed tray 51 from being damaged.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 6, when the printing paper 50 is removed from the paper feed tray 51, the opening cover panel 81 is pushed up by the closing elastic body 82, the lock lever 85 is rotated, and the protrusion 86 is engaged with the engaging groove. The display panel 21 can be brought down from the position 87.

In the present invention, in the printing apparatus 10 that can freely set the inclination angle θ of the display panel 21 by the rotational sliding resistance of the support shaft 25, the inclination angle θ of the display panel 21 with respect to the upper surface of the housing 11 is In order to exceed a predetermined angle θ ₀ , which is the maximum angle with which the printing paper 50 comes into contact, the entire upper surface of the casing is not damaged without damaging the printing paper 50 inserted in the paper feed tray 51 with the display panel 21. A large display panel 21 can be used.

  Furthermore, as another embodiment, even in the printing apparatus 10 in which the tilt of the display panel 21 can be set by motor driving, the display panel 21 can prevent the printing paper 50 from being damaged.

  The printing apparatus 10 includes a display panel drive motor, and a driven shaft 95 driven by a display panel drive motor (not shown) is coaxially integrated with a support shaft 25 of the display panel 21 as shown in FIGS. It is connected to the shaft 97 by a driving belt 96, and has a keyboard detection switch 94 on the front surface of the housing 11. When the keyboard 15 is aligned with the front surface of the housing 11, the keyboard detection switch 94 is turned on and the display panel The display panel 21 is brought down on the upper surface of the housing 11 by controlling the rotation of the drive motor.

  Then, when the keyboard 15 is tilted forward of the housing 11 and printing preparation is performed, the display panel 21 is rotated at the tilt angle θ by rotating the drive shaft 95 by the display panel drive motor, and the display panel 21 is maintained at the tilt angle θ. It is something to be made.

  In the printing apparatus 10 to which such a display panel driving mechanism is added, an opening cover panel 91 and a closing elastic body 92 for closing the supply port 53 of the paper feed tray 51 are provided, and an end portion of the opening cover panel 91 is provided. A detection switch 93 is provided in the paper feed tray 51 that is turned on by being pushed by the end of the opening cover panel 91 when is pressed down by the printing paper 50.

In the present invention, a control program that causes the inclination angle θ of the display panel 21 to the upper surface of the casing 11 to exceed a predetermined angle θ ₀ that is the maximum angle at which the display panel 21 and the printing paper 50 contact each other is controlled by the control unit. 41, a display panel drive motor drive control unit is formed, and the display panel drive motor drive control unit interlocks with the detection switch 93 that is turned on, and the inclination angle θ of the display panel 21 is a predetermined angle. controlling the display panel driving motor to exceed theta _0. This can be as the inclination angle theta of the display panel 21 does not damage the printing paper 50 inserted in the paper feed tray 51 so as to exceed a predetermined angle theta _0.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

The invention described in the first claim of the present application will be appended below.
[1]
A housing,
A display panel disposed on an upper surface of the housing;
A support shaft capable of rotating the display panel so that an inclination angle with respect to the upper surface of the display panel changes;
A paper feed tray having a supply port for supplying printing paper to the upper surface of the housing;
Panel tilt angle limiting means for causing the tilt angle to exceed a predetermined angle that is the maximum angle at which the display panel and the print sheet are in contact with each other when the print paper is being supplied to the paper feed tray. When,
Comprising
A printing apparatus characterized by that.
[2]
An opening cover attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotation shaft;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a plate-like body extending beyond the rotation shaft from the opening cover,
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, the cover end of the opening cover is lowered into the paper feed tray, and in conjunction with the lowering of the cover end, the plate-like body is The printing apparatus according to [1], wherein the printing apparatus is tilted upright on a back side of the display panel.
[3]
The plate-like body has a weight or an elastic body,
The printing apparatus according to [2], wherein the opening cover is tilted by the weight or the elastic body so as to close the supply port when the printing paper is not supplied to the paper feed tray. .
[4]
An opening cover panel attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotation shaft;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a lock lever having a protrusion disposed corresponding to the support shaft of the display panel,
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, an end portion of the opening cover panel is lowered into the paper feed tray, and the protrusion of the lock lever is interlocked with the lowering of the end portion. Is engaged with an engaging groove formed on the support shaft. The printing apparatus according to [1], wherein
[5]
The engagement groove has a predetermined length along the outer periphery of the support shaft, and the inclination angle can be adjusted within a range of the predetermined length of the engagement groove. 4].
[6]
An opening cover panel attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotating shaft and a detection switch provided in the paper feed tray;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a control unit that controls a display panel drive motor that rotates the display panel.
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, an end of the opening cover panel is lowered into the paper feeding tray, and the detection switch is pushed by the opening cover panel to be turned on, The control unit controls the display panel drive motor so that the tilt angle exceeds the predetermined angle in conjunction with the detection switch that is in the ON state. Printing device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing apparatus 11 Case 13 Handle 15 Keyboard 16 Mounting shaft 17 Cartridge exchange port 19 Storage medium insertion port 21 Display panel 23 Touch panel 25 Support shaft 27 Speaker 31 Touch panel display unit 32 Touch panel display control unit 33 Touch panel input unit 34 Touch panel input control unit 37 Printing unit 38 Conveying unit 41 Control unit 42 Storage unit 43 ROM 44 RAM
47 I / O interface 48 Portable storage medium 50 Printing paper 51 Paper feed tray 53 Supply port 55 Cavity portion 56 Paper flow path 57 Paper discharge port 59 Press member 61 Opening cover 63 Rotating shaft 65 Extension portion 67 Cover end portion 71 Elastic body 72 Weight 81 Opening cover panel 82 Closing elastic body 83 Transmission belt 85 Lock lever 86 Projection 87 Engaging groove 88 Panel shaft 89 Lever shaft 91 Opening cover panel 92 Closing elastic body 93 Detection switch 94 Keyboard detection switch 95 Drive shaft 96 Drive Belt 97 Driven shaft 98 Panel shaft

Claims (6)

A housing,
A display panel disposed on an upper surface of the housing;
A support shaft capable of rotating the display panel so that an inclination angle with respect to the upper surface of the display panel changes;
A paper feed tray having a supply port for supplying printing paper to the upper surface of the housing;
Panel tilt angle limiting means for causing the tilt angle to exceed a predetermined angle that is the maximum angle at which the display panel and the print sheet are in contact with each other when the print paper is being supplied to the paper feed tray. When,
Comprising
A printing apparatus characterized by that. An opening cover attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotation shaft;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a plate-like body extending beyond the rotation shaft from the opening cover,
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, the cover end of the opening cover is lowered into the paper feed tray, and in conjunction with the lowering of the cover end, the plate-like body is The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is tilted upright on a back side of the display panel. The plate-like body has a weight or an elastic body,
The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the opening cover is tilted by the weight or the elastic body so as to close the supply port when the printing paper is not supplied to the paper feed tray. An opening cover panel attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotation shaft;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a lock lever having a protrusion disposed corresponding to the support shaft of the display panel,
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, an end portion of the opening cover panel is lowered into the paper feed tray, and the protrusion of the lock lever is interlocked with the lowering of the end portion. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is engaged with an engagement groove formed on the support shaft.   The engagement groove has a predetermined length along an outer periphery of the support shaft, and the inclination angle can be adjusted within a range of the predetermined length of the engagement groove. 5. The printing apparatus according to 4. An opening cover panel attached to the supply port of the paper feed tray by a rotating shaft and a detection switch provided in the paper feed tray;
The panel inclination angle limiting means is a control unit that controls a display panel drive motor that rotates the display panel.
When the printing paper is supplied to the paper feed tray, an end of the opening cover panel is lowered into the paper feeding tray, and the detection switch is pushed by the opening cover panel to be turned on, 2. The printing according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the display panel drive motor so that the tilt angle exceeds the predetermined angle in conjunction with the detection switch in the on state. apparatus.

Images