JP2576471B2 - Printer paper holding device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper holding device of a printer which performs printing by holding printing paper on a platen surface by a paper bail.

(Prior Art) In this type of printer, a printing paper supplied on a platen is pressed by a paper bail above a printing position where printing is performed by a printing head.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In this case, the paper holding portion of the paper bail is arranged outside the moving range of the print head so as not to interfere with the carriage or the print head moved to the left and right. The paper holding position is vertically separated from the paper holding position. Therefore, when printing is performed on the upper end of the printing paper, for example, when printing a postal code or address on the upper end of a postcard, the upper end of the printing paper may not reach the paper bail. In this case, even if the paper is fed along with the end of the printing of a predetermined print line at the upper end of the printing paper, the printing paper is not sandwiched between the platen and the paper bail, so that the paper may interfere with the paper bail. There is a risk that the printing paper will wrinkle.

In order to prevent such a situation, there has conventionally been proposed a type in which printing is not performed until the printing paper reaches a position where the printing paper is pressed by a paper bail. It is impossible to print immediately before the upper end of the printer, which hinders the printing of the postal code as described above.

Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above problems by providing a platen,
A carriage movable along the longitudinal direction of the platen, a print head mounted on the carriage, for performing printing on print paper supported by the platen, and a print head provided on the carriage, and printing by the print head A paper guide member that guides the printing paper along the outer peripheral surface of the platen in the vicinity of the position, a paper bail that releasably holds the printing paper on the platen above the printing position, and a paper bail that holds the paper bail on the platen. A paper press release mechanism that is separated from the paper press position and held at the separated position; and a carriage or a member mounted on the carriage that is disposed at one end of the movement range of the carriage and that moves to the home position of the carriage. Actuated by engaging a portion of the paper bail with the paper bail from the spaced position. A paper bail return mechanism for returning the paper bail to the home position, and after the printing is completed with the paper bail released, the carriage is moved to the home position, and the paper bail is returned to the paper holding position by the paper bail return mechanism. did.

(Operation) Therefore, when printing is performed on the upper end of the printing paper, the paper bail is moved from the paper holding position on the platen to the separation position by the paper holding release mechanism to open the upper part of the printing apparatus. In this state, the printing paper is guided by the paper guide member provided on the carriage, so that printing can be performed, and the printing paper and the paper bail are fed when the paper is fed following the printing on the upper end portion of the printing paper. And do not interfere.

After printing on the upper end of the printing paper in a state where the paper bail is at the separated position, the carriage is moved to the home position, the paper bail return mechanism operates, and the paper bail is automatically returned to the paper holding position, The printing is shifted to a state in which the paper bail is moved to the paper holding position.

Therefore, when printing is performed from the upper end of the paper where the paper bail cannot be operated, it is possible to automatically continue the printing to the lower part of the paper simply by opening the paper bail first.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In the printer of this embodiment, the platen 2 is located between the left and right side walls 1a and 1b of the frame 1 as shown in FIG.
Are rotatably supported by the shaft portions 2a protruding at both ends thereof,
The printing paper 3 is supported around the outer periphery. Platen 2
An operation knob 6 and a feed gear 7 are attached to both left and right ends of the shaft portion 2a. The platen 2 is manually rotated via the operation knob 6, or the feed gear 7 is driven by a paper feed motor (not shown). The platen 2 is rotated through such as to feed the printing paper 3 on the platen 2.

A paper bail 4 is provided between the side walls 1a and 1b of the frame 1 to hold the printing paper 3 releasably.

A support shaft 8 and a guide rail 9 are provided between both side walls 1a and 1b of the frame 1 so as to extend in parallel along the platen 2.
Is erected and supported. Support shaft 8 and guide rail 9
The carriage 10 is movably supported on the
A print head 11 is mounted on the upper side, and a print section 11a thereof is opposed to a print surface of the platen 2 with a predetermined gap therebetween. A paper meter 12 is provided as a paper guide member for guiding along the outer peripheral surface.

A ribbon cassette 13 is removably mounted on the frame 1, and a part of a print ribbon 14 housed therein is exposed to the outside, so that a print portion 11 a of the print head 11 and a print surface of the platen 2 Are disposed in the gap between the two. Then, while the carriage 10 is moved along the platen 2 based on the driving of a carriage moving motor (not shown),
The print head 11a prints on the print paper 3 on the platen 2 via the exposed portion of the print ribbon 14.

The paper bail 4 is configured as follows. A pair of left and right arms 15A, 15B is provided at both ends of the support shaft 8.
Is rotatably inserted and supported at a base end thereof, and a bar 16 extending in parallel with the platen 2 is provided between the free ends thereof. A plurality of pressing rollers 5 for pressing the printing paper 3 on the platen 2 are mounted on the bar 16, and the pressing rollers 5 and the bar 16 are arranged at upper positions that do not hinder the movement of the print head 11. . The paper bail 4 has a paper holding position where the printing paper 3 is pressed against the platen 2 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 3 and 5, and a separation distance from the platen 2 as shown by a solid line in FIGS. It is arranged to be moved to the position. The spring 17 biases the paper bail 4 to the paper holding position.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an operating lever 18 is integrally provided at the upper end of the right arm 15B, and a pair of hemispherical locking projections 19 are provided at an intermediate portion on both sides thereof. The cover 1c of the frame 1 has an elongated hole 20 through which the operation lever 18 projects.
A locking spring 21 that is bent in a bifurcated manner is attached to the back side of the rear surface by bolts. A pair of locking portions 21a that engage with both locking protrusions 19 of the operation lever 18 are formed in a middle portion of the locking spring 21 in a bent manner. In this embodiment, a paper pressing release mechanism is constituted by the operation lever 18, the locking projection 19 and the locking spring 21, and the operation lever 18 is manually operated against the urging force of the spring 17. As a result, the paper bail 4 is separated from the paper holding position on the platen 2, and the fork of the locking spring 21 is opened by the operating lever 18 against its elasticity, and both locking projections 19 are opened. The paper bail 4 is held at the separated position by moving over the tops of both the locking portions 21a and locking the locking portions 21a. Also, by pushing the arm 15B toward the platen and opening the fork of the locking spring 21 against its elasticity, the paper bail 4 is returned to the paper holding position in accordance with the bias of the spring 17.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a mounting plate 22 is fixed to the left side of the frame 1 by bolts (not shown). The mounting plate 22 has two guide holes 23 and 24 positioned on an orthogonal line. Have been. A link 25 is provided on the upper surface of the mounting plate 22 by inserting sliding pins 25a, 25b at both ends thereof into the guide holes 23, 24. The guide hole is provided on the back side of the mounting plate 22.
An engaging plate 27 is fixed to the sliding pin 26 inserted into the 23 and one sliding pin 25a of the link 25, and a part thereof is engaged with a contact piece 10a protruding from a part of the carriage 10. Engaging piece 28 is suspended. Note that the engagement plate 27 and the link 25 are rotatably connected by a slide pin 25a. The other slide pin 25b of the link 25 has the paper bail 4
A pressing body 29 engageable with an engaging projection 30 provided at the upper end of the left arm 15A is fixed. In this embodiment, a return mechanism of the paper bail 4 is constituted by the engagement piece 28, the link 25, the pressing body 29, and the engagement projection 30 of the arm 15A, and the carriage 10 returning to the home position HP is engaged with the engagement piece. When the link 25 is engaged with and pushed, the link 25 is switched via the engagement plate 27 from the standby position shown by the solid line in FIG. 4 along the guide holes 23 and 24 as shown by the two-dot chain line, and the pin 25b is moved.
Is moved to the platen side. Then, the pressing body 29 presses the paper bail 4 held at the separated position toward the platen to return to the paper holding position.

By operating the operation lever 18 to hold the paper bail 4 in the isolated position as described above, the left arm 15A
The engaging projection 30 pushes the pressing body 29 so that the link 25 and the engaging piece 28
Can be returned from the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4 to the direction of the standby position shown by the solid line.

A spring (not shown) may be attached to the link 25 and the engagement piece 28, and these may be constantly biased to the standby position.

When printing is to be performed on the upper end of the printing paper 3 using the printer configured as described above, the carriage 10 is arranged at the start side (PS position) of the printing movement range in FIG. By manually operating 18, the paper bail 4 is separated from the paper holding position on the platen 2 to open the upper part of the printing position, and both the locking projections 19 of the operation lever 18 are locked by the locking springs 21. The paper bail 4 is retained in the separated position by being locked to the portion 21a. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the engaging projections 30 of the left and right arms 15A are
Is placed immediately before

Next, the platen 2 is rotated by operating the operation knob 6 or the like, and the printing paper 3 is set at a printing position where the upper end of the printing paper 3 faces the printing portion 11a of the printing head 11 as shown by a solid line in FIG. At this time, the upper end of the printing paper 3 is guided by the paper meter 12 along the platen surface.

When printing of the first print line is completed by the printing operation of the print head 11, the printing paper 3 is fed by a paper feed motor (not shown).
By the rotation of the platen 2 based on the drive of, the sheet is fed to a point A indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. At this time, the upper end portion of the printing paper 3 extends tangentially to the platen 2, but since the paper bail 4 is held at the separated position opening above the printing position, the printing paper 3 interferes with the paper bail 4. I will not do it.

After the paper feeding is completed, the carriage 10 is moved to the home position HP side shown in FIG. 1, and when the contact piece 10a of the carriage 10 engages with the engagement piece 28 as shown in FIG.
The link 25 is moved from the standby position shown by the solid line to the operation position shown by the two-dot chain line, and the engaging projection 30 is pushed by the pressing body 29 toward the platen 2. For this reason, on the right side of the frame 1, both locking portions of the locking projection 19 of the operating lever 18 and the locking spring 21 are provided.
The engagement with the arm 21a is released, the arms 15A and 15B are rotated clockwise in FIGS. 3 and 5 by the urging force of the spring 17, and the paper bail 4 is returned to the paper holding position indicated by the two-dot chain line. . The printing paper 3 is pressed at the point B on the platen 2 by the operation of returning the paper bail 4 to the paper pressing position. Then, in this state, printing is restarted by the operation of the print head 11.

As described above, the paper bail 4 can be moved to the paper holding position with a simple configuration utilizing the movement of the carriage 10.

(Another Example) Next, another example will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, but the description of the same configuration as that of the above embodiment will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 7, a rotating member 31 is provided on a frame 1 around a support shaft 32 extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of the support shaft 8 so as to be positioned close to the right arm 15B. And is rotatably supported. A pin-shaped operating member 33 is protruded from the rotating member 31 so as to be located on the movement locus of the carriage 10, and engages with the carriage 10 to rotate the rotating member 31.
Is rotated. A pair of bevel gears meshing with each other between the right arm 15B and the rotating member 31.
A transmission gear mechanism 36 composed of 34 and 35 is provided, and the rotating member 31
Is transmitted to the right arm 15B. And in this alternative example, a rotating member having an operating member 33
31, transmission gear mechanism 36, locking projection 19 and locking spring 21
Constitutes a paper press release mechanism.

In this alternative example, a well-known automatic paper feeder (not shown) that feeds one by one from a large number of stacked printing papers 3 by a friction roller or the like is preferably used by being attached to a printer. When a "paper feed" command signal is output from the host computer or the like to the printer, the carriage 10 is moved to the right end position of the moving range before the printing paper 3 is supplied from the automatic paper feeder, and the carriage 10 operates. The rotation member 31 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 6 by engaging with the member 33, whereby the arms 15A and 15B are moved through the transmission gear mechanism 36 to the sixth and seventh arms.
By rotating the paper bail 4 clockwise in the figure, the paper bail 4 is moved from the paper holding position shown by the solid line in FIG. 7 to the separated position shown by the two-dot chain line, and the upper part of the printing position is opened. At this time, as shown in FIGS.
Are locked by both locking portions 21a of the locking spring 21, and the paper bail 4 is held at the separated position.

Next, the friction roller of the automatic paper feeder is driven to send out one print sheet 3 toward the platen 2, and subsequently, the motor for driving the platen is driven to move the upper end of the print sheet to the printing apparatus. And the print operation of the print head 11 prints the first print line. Thereafter, after the first line feed, the carriage 10 is moved to the home position HP to move the paper bail 4 to the paper holding position, as in the above-described embodiment.

Therefore, in this alternative example, the release / return operation of the paper bail 4 accompanying the paper feeding operation can be automated.

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, according to the present invention, even when the paper bail is opened, the upper end of the printing paper can be guided by the paper guide member to perform good printing, and the printing paper can be printed. After the end of printing at the upper end, the printing can be automatically shifted to a state in which the paper bail is activated. as a result,
When printing is performed from the upper end of the paper where the paper bail cannot be operated, there is an excellent effect that the printing can be automatically continued to the lower part of the paper only by opening the paper bail first.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing substantially the entirety of a printer embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a paper press release mechanism, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a paper press release mechanism, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a paper bail return mechanism, and FIG.
6 and 7 show another example of the paper press release mechanism, FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view, and FIG. 7 is a partial side sectional view. Platen 2, print paper 3, paper bail 4, carriage 10, print head 11, paper meter 12 as a paper guide member, operating lever 18 constituting a paper holding release mechanism, locking projection 19, locking spring 21, rotation Moving member 31, operating member 33, transmission gear mechanism 36, link 2 constituting paper bail return mechanism
5, engagement piece 28, pressing body 29, engagement projection 30.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A platen (2), a carriage (10) movable along a longitudinal direction of the platen (2), and mounted on the carriage (10) and supported by the platen (2). A print head (11) for printing on printing paper (3); and a print head (1) provided on the carriage (10).
A paper guide member (12) for guiding the printing paper (3) along the outer peripheral surface of the platen (2) in the vicinity of the printing position according to 1); and a printing paper (3) on the platen (2) above the printing position. ), A paper bail (4) that releasably holds the paper bail, a paper press release mechanism that separates the paper bail (4) from a paper holding position on the platen (2), and holds the paper bail at the separated position, and the carriage. It is arranged at one end of the movement range of (10), and is operated by engaging the carriage (10) or a part of a member mounted on the carriage (10) by moving the carriage (10) to the home position. A paper bail return mechanism for returning the paper bail (4) from the separation position to the paper holding position, and after printing with the paper bail (4) released. The carriage (10) is moved to the home position, the paper pressing device of the printer, characterized in that to return the paper bail (4) to the paper pressing position by the paper bail return mechanism.