JP2020055200A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a printer that is configured to prevent occurrence of jamming during back-feed of a paper and deviation of a printing position, regardless of a posture thereof in operation.SOLUTION: The printer comprises: a paper storage part that stores a roll paper wound with a belt-like paper by dropping the paper; a printing part that performs printing on a paper pulled out from the paper storage part; a carrying part that moves the paper, in a forward direction of pulling out and a backward direction of returning, along a paper passage extending from the paper storage part to the printing part; and a friction reducing part, provided at a position at which a center part of winding of the roll paper with the maximum diameter stored in the paper storage part is sandwiched between the part and the printing part, which reduces friction between the paper storage part and the roll paper rolling in the paper storage part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a printer.

  Conventionally, a portable printer has been used. Such a printer is configured so as to be smaller in size and less restricted in the direction of use as compared with a stationary printer.

  The printer as described above has a configuration in which a paper storage unit for storing roll paper wound with a band of paper, a printing unit for printing on paper drawn from the roll paper, and the like are built in a housing. The housing has a shape close to a rectangular parallelepiped, and a half of the housing in the longitudinal direction is occupied by a paper storage unit, and the rest is occupied by various electrical components.

  Typical postures of such printers during operation are horizontal and vertical. The horizontal orientation is a direction in which a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing is horizontally elongated and easily stable when used on a desk or the like. The vertical orientation is a direction in which a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing is vertically elongated when used by being attached to an operator's waist belt or the like.

  By the way, in the printer as described above, for the purpose of miniaturization, a transport unit for transporting the paper is not separately provided, and the printing unit is also configured to transport the paper. The printing unit has a configuration in which a platen roller faces a print head, and conveys a sheet by rotation of the platen roller. In addition, the paper storage unit stores and holds the roll paper in a so-called throw-in (drop-in) manner instead of supporting the roll paper by inserting a shaft into the winding core for the operability of carrying.

The roll paper held in the throw-in type paper storage unit rolls when the paper is pulled out. Further, in the above-described printer, the pulled-out sheet may be back-fed (reversely fed) in order to adjust the printing position.
When the printer is in the landscape orientation, when the paper is back-fed, the roll paper is pushed by the paper conveyed in the return direction, and rolls (reversely rotates) in the direction opposite to that when the paper is pulled out. However, the roll paper is unlikely to reverse during use in portrait orientation. For this reason, inconveniences such as a jam and a shift in a printing position may occur due to the backfeed.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printer in which a jam or a shift in a printing position during back feeding of paper is less likely to occur regardless of a posture during operation.

  The printer of the embodiment includes a paper storage unit that stores rolled paper wound with band-shaped paper by dropping, a printing unit that prints on paper pulled out from the paper storage unit, and a printing unit that prints from the paper storage unit to the printing unit. Along the path of the paper, between the transport unit that moves the paper in the forward direction and the reverse direction in which the paper is pulled out, and between the printing unit and the central part of the roll of the largest diameter roll paper stored in the paper storage unit. And a friction reduction unit configured to reduce friction between the paper storage unit and roll paper that rolls in the paper storage unit.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance and structure of the printer according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view showing the structure of the printer. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printer without a friction reducing unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the movement of the roll paper and the paper in the vertical printer, and shows a state where the diameter of the roll paper is large. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the movement of the roll paper and the paper in the vertical printer, and shows a state where the diameter of the roll paper is small.

(First embodiment)
An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance and structure of the printer 1. FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view showing the structure of the printer 1. The printer 1 includes a housing 2, a paper storage unit 3, a printing unit 4, and the like, and prints on roll paper 10.

  The housing 2 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. Typical postures during operation of the printer 1 are horizontal and vertical. The horizontal orientation is a direction in which the substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 2 is elongated horizontally and easily stable when used on a desk or the like. The vertical orientation is a direction in which the housing 2 is vertically elongated in a state where the casing 2 is used by being attached to a waist belt of an operator or the like.

  The printer 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is in a state of being placed horizontally (placed horizontally), and the three Z-axis directions shown in the figures are the height directions. Further, the X-axis directions of the three axes coincide with the directions along the width of the roll paper 10 and the paper 11 and are short directions of the housing 2. The three Y-axis directions are the longitudinal directions of the housing 2. When placed horizontally, the XY plane becomes the bottom of the printer 1, and when placed vertically, the ZX plane becomes the bottom of the printer 1.

  The roll paper 10 is, for example, a label roll in which a paper 11 (shown by a broken line in FIG. 2) in which a label having a glue layer on the back side of a printing surface is attached to a band-shaped mount. In addition, the roll paper 10 may be a label roll without a mount in which a band-shaped label is wound without a mount, a receipt roll in which a band-shaped paper 11 without an adhesive layer is wound, or the like, in addition to the above-described label roll. .

  The housing 2 includes a main body 21 and a lid 22, and incorporates a paper storage unit 3, a printing unit 4, a battery, and the like. The battery is a secondary battery (rechargeable battery) and supplies power for operating the printer 1.

  The main body 21 is, for example, a box-shaped container having an opening. The lid 22 is rotatably supported at one end (rotation side end) by the main body 21, and opens the opening of the main body 21 with the rotation (open position, see FIG. 1). ) And a closed position (closed position, see FIG. 2). The rotation axis of the lid 22 is provided substantially parallel to the X-axis direction.

  The paper storage unit 3 is provided in the main body 21 and is opened and closed by a lid 22. The paper storage unit 3 stores the roll paper 10 in a throw-in (drop-in) manner. Thus, the paper storage unit 3 holds the roll paper 10 so that the paper 11 can be pulled out. Note that the roll paper 10 is stored in the paper storage unit 3 with the winding center oriented along the X-axis direction.

  The paper storage unit 3 includes a side plate 31 that determines the position of the roll paper 10 in the width direction. The side plate 31 has a surface direction substantially parallel to the YZ axes and is provided movably in the X-axis direction. In addition, if the printer 1 is one-sided, one side plate 31 is provided facing the side wall on the reference side (the wall of the sheet storage unit 3 parallel to the YZ plane). A pair of side plates 31 that approach and separate from each other are provided. A part of the space in the housing 2 is occupied by a support portion 32 that movably supports the side plate 31. The support part 32 is realized by, for example, a rack and pinion structure.

  The printing unit 4 is provided at a position where the other end of the cover 22 in the main body 21 (that is, the moving-side end which is the end opposite to the rotation-side end) is in contact with the printing unit 4. Printing is performed on the drawn-out paper 11. The printing unit 4 includes a print head 41 and a platen 42.

  The print head 41 is provided in the main body 21. The platen 42 is attached to the lid 22. The platen 42 contacts the print head 41 with the cover 22 in the closed position. Thereby, the printing unit 4 is in a printable state.

  The print head 41 is, for example, a thermal head, and prints on the print surface of the label by heating and coloring the thermosensitive coloring layer provided on the print surface of the label.

  The platen 42 is a roller, and the rotation axis is provided substantially parallel to the X-axis direction. The platen 42 sandwiches the paper 11 with the print head 41 and rotates to draw out the paper 11 from the paper storage unit 3 and convey it. In addition, the platen 42 rotates in the direction opposite to the direction at the time of pulling out, thereby feeding the sheet 11 in the direction opposite to the pulling direction (reverse feed, back feed). Thus, the printing unit 4 also functions as a transport unit.

  When the cover 22 is in the closed position, a gap as a paper discharge port 23 is formed between the moving end of the cover 22 and the main body 21. The paper discharge port 23 discharges the paper 11 after printing. The paper discharge port 23 is provided with a cutting part for cutting the paper 11 and a peeling part for peeling the label from the backing paper as necessary.

  The printer 1 of the present embodiment includes a friction reducing unit 5 in the paper storage unit 3. The friction reducing section 5 is provided at a position where the central portion of the winding of the roll paper 10 having the largest diameter stored in the paper storage section 3 is sandwiched between the printing section 4 and the paper storage section 3 at that position. The friction between the roll paper 10 and the roll paper 10 rolling in the paper storage unit 3 is reduced, thereby reducing the rotational resistance of the roll paper 10.

  The friction reducing section 5 is, for example, a pair of rollers 51 and 52. The rollers 51 and 52 are provided at a portion serving as the bottom of the sheet storage unit 3 when the printer 1 is placed vertically (vertically placed). In the state shown in FIG. 2, since the printer 1 is in the horizontal position, the portion where the friction reducing portion 5 is provided is not the bottom of the sheet storage portion 3 but the side wall. The rollers 51 and 52 are arranged substantially parallel to the X-axis direction such that the rotation axis is along the width direction of the roll paper 10 and the paper 11.

  In the printer 1 having such a configuration, the paper 11 is replenished in the following procedure. First, the operator opens the lid 22 of the housing 2 and drops the roll paper 10 into the paper storage unit 3 from the opening of the main body 21. Next, the operator pulls out the paper 11 from the roll paper 10 stored in the paper storage unit 3, and places the end of the drawn paper 11 between the print head 41 and the platen 42 so that the housing 2 Close.

  In the printer 1, the rotation of the platen 42 causes the paper 11 to be fed forward or backward (back feed). The back feed is performed as needed, for example, when adjusting the print position.

  Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printer 100 that does not include the friction reducing unit 5. For convenience of description, among the units included in the printer 100, the same names and reference numerals are used for those common to the printer 1 of the present embodiment.

  Regardless of whether the printer 1 and the printer 100 are in the horizontal or vertical orientation, the roll paper 10 contacts the bottom portion of the paper storage unit 3 in that orientation. In the printer 1 and the printer 100, the distance from the contact position between the bottom portion of the paper storage unit 3 and the roll paper 10 to the platen 42 for feeding the paper 11 is longer in the vertical direction than in the horizontal direction. ,become longer.

  More specifically, for example, in the configuration of the printer 100, the distance from the contact position between the bottom portion of the paper storage unit 3 and the roll paper 10 to the platen 42 is １ ／ of the roll paper 10 in the case of horizontal orientation. In the case of the portrait orientation, it is about half a circumference, while the circumference is about a circumference. If the drawing length of the paper 11 from the contact position between the bottom portion of the paper storage unit 3 and the roll paper 10 to the platen 42 becomes longer, the back of the paper 11 hardly works during back feed, and the roll paper 10 is rolled. It is difficult to make it. Here, the so-called paper stiffness (stiffness, stiffness) is the resistance when a bending force is applied to the paper.

  When the diameter of the roll paper 10 is large, for example, immediately after the roll paper 10 is refilled, the outer periphery of the roll paper 10 has a small gap and the roll paper 10 is hard to roll because it is heavy.

  When the roll paper 10 does not roll, a paper jam (jam) occurs, the paper 11 becomes wrinkled, or the platen 42 On the other hand, inconvenience such as slippage of the printing position occurs.

  4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining the movement of the roll paper 10 and the paper 11 in the printer 1 in the portrait orientation. FIG. 4 shows a state where the diameter of the roll paper 10 is large, and FIG. Indicates the status.

  In the printer 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, in the case of the portrait orientation, the roll paper 10 having a large diameter rides on the rollers 51 and 52. In this case, the frictional force between the roll paper 10 and the paper storage unit 3 is reduced, and the force required for the roll paper 10 to roll is reduced. Therefore, when the paper 11 is back-fed, the roll paper 10 rolls by receiving a force from the pushed back paper 11.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the roll paper 10 whose diameter has been reduced to some extent even in the vertical orientation rides on the portion between the rollers 51 and 52 and does not ride on the rollers 51 and 52. In this case, the effect of the friction reducing portion 5 cannot be obtained, but the roll paper 10 is easily rolled lightly, and the outer periphery of the roll paper 10 has many gaps. Therefore, no problem occurs in the back-fed paper 11.

  Since the printer 1 is designed to be compact and portable, the layout inside the housing 2 is limited to some extent, and the paper storage unit 3 is provided with the largest usable roll paper. It is formed to be slightly larger than 10 and there is almost no surplus gap. Therefore, it is not possible to secure a space for the back-fed paper 11 to bend without being bent, and it is necessary for the roll paper 10 to roll in the return direction.

  In this regard, the printer 1 of the present embodiment includes the friction reducing unit 5, so that the frictional force between the roll paper 10 and the paper storage unit 3 can be reduced in the vertical use state in which the waist of the paper 11 is hard to work, The roll paper 10 rolls easily. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide the printer 1 in which a jam or a shift in a printing position during back feeding of the paper 11 is less likely to occur regardless of the posture during operation.

(Modification)
Although the friction reducing section 5 of the above embodiment is realized by the rollers 51 and 52, the friction reducing section 5 may be any as long as it reduces friction between the relevant portion and the roll paper 10. Therefore, for example, a protrusion or a rib made of resin which is slippery with respect to the paper may be provided as the friction reducing portion 5. That is, the friction reducing portion 5 may be a protrusion formed of a smooth material, protruding from the inner wall of the paper storage portion 3, and reducing the contact area between the paper storage portion 3 and the roll paper 10. When the friction reducing portion 5 is the rollers 51 and 52, it is suitable for reducing the friction. In addition, when the friction reducing portion 5 is the protrusion, the cost required for the friction reducing portion 5 can be reduced.

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

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer 10 ... Roll paper 11 ... Paper 2 ... Housing 21 ... Body part 22 ... Lid 23 ... Paper discharge port 3 ... Paper storage part 31 ... Side plate 32 ... Support part 4 ... Printing part 41 ... Print head 42 ... Platen 5 ... friction reducing parts 51, 52 ... rollers

JP 2001-316007 A

Claims (5)

A paper storage unit for storing roll paper wound with a band of paper by dropping,
A printing unit that prints on the paper pulled out from the paper storage unit,
A transport unit that moves the paper in a forward direction to pull out and a reverse direction to return, along the path of the paper from the paper storage unit to the printing unit.
The central portion of the roll of the largest diameter roll paper stored in the paper storage portion is provided at a position sandwiching the central portion between the paper storage portion and the printing portion, and friction between the paper storage portion and the roll paper rolling in the paper storage portion is provided. Friction reducing part to reduce
A printer comprising: A housing having a box-shaped main body having an opening and a lid that is rotatably supported at one end by the main body and that opens and closes the opening according to the rotation;
A gap as a paper discharge port is formed between the other end of the lid and the main body in a state where the lid closes the opening,
The paper storage unit is located at a position in the main body that is opened by the opening,
The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit is located between the paper outlet and the paper storage unit. It can be used in any of a first state carried by the operator with the friction reducing section positioned below the roll paper and a second state in which the friction reducing section is set aside next to the roll paper. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein: The printer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the friction reducing unit is a roller whose rotation axis extends in a width direction of the roll paper. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the friction reducing unit is a resin protrusion protruding from the paper storage unit.

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