JP2903534B2 - Serial printer - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a serial printer, and more particularly, to a serial printer provided with a carriage driving unit on which a print head is mounted.

[Prior Art] FIG. 7 shows a conventional example.

The conventional example shown in FIG. 7 includes a print head 50 that moves along a platen (not shown) and prints on predetermined paper using an ink ribbon (not shown), and a platen on which the print head 50 is mounted. A carriage 51 movably mounted along the guide 51, a guide section 54 for guiding the reciprocating movement of the carriage 51, and the carriage 51 described above along the guide section 54.
And a carriage moving means 52 for moving the.

The carriage moving means 52 includes a carriage moving motor 53.
And a drive belt 55 for moving the carriage 51 by the driving force of the motor 53, and a driven pulley 56 and a drive pulley 58 for rotatably supporting the drive belt 55.

The guide portion 54 includes two guides 54A, which are arranged in parallel along the platen and both ends of which are fixedly mounted on the main body frame 57.
It is composed of 54B. The guide portion 54 passes through a through hole provided in the carriage 51,
51 is slidably held. This allows the carriage 51 to move.

The drive belt 55 has an annular (endless) shape as shown in FIG. 7, and a part thereof is fixed to the carriage 51. The carriage 51 is moved by driving the drive belt 55 by the motor 53.

The drive belt 55 is stretched so as to extend one side to a motor pulley 58 attached to a shaft of the motor 53 and the other to a driven pulley 56. The motor pulley 58
The motor 53 is fixed to the shaft. Either the motor 53 or the driven pulley 56 is fixed to the frame 57, while the other is attached to the main body frame 57 so that the tension can be adjusted after adjusting the tension of the drive belt 55.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional example, the drive belt 55
Since the motor pulley 58 and the driven pulley 56 of the motor 53, on which the belt is mounted, must be fixed to the main body frame 57 after the tension of the belt is once adjusted, there is a drawback that the adjustment time is required when assembling the printer.

Further, when the tension of the drive belt 55 changes during use, there is a disadvantage that the printer must be stopped and the belt tension must be adjusted again.

[Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide a serial printer capable of improving the disadvantages of the conventional example, reducing the labor and the number of assembling steps of adjusting the belt tension at the time of assembling the printer, and reducing the cost. I do.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, a print head for printing on paper using an ink ribbon, a carriage mounted with the print head and arranged to be reciprocally movable along a platen, and the carriage And a carriage moving means for moving the carriage along the guide part, the carriage moving means is provided with a carriage moving motor and a carriage. A drive belt is connected to the drive unit and transmits a driving force of a motor to the carriage. A pair of printers rotatably support the drive belt.

Each component of the carriage moving means is provided on a stay which is disposed along the platen and whose both ends are fixed to the main body frame. Furthermore, an idler pulley that constantly applies a predetermined tension to the drive belt and a rotating arm that supports the idler pulley are provided along with the drive belt, and the idler pulley and the rotary arm are mounted on the stay described above. It has a configuration. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[Operation] At the time of assembling the printer, when the print head and the carriage are engaged with the guide, the guide is attached to the body frame at that time. At the same time, the motor, the motor pulley, the driven pulley, and the tension adjusting means (the idler pulley and the rotating arm) are attached to the stay, and then the drive belt is passed over the pair of pulleys.

In this case, at the same time, the idler pulley is pressed against the drive belt by the rotating arm portion including the spring member, thereby applying a necessary tension to the drive belt.

When the printing operation is started, the motor operates to drive the drive belt. The drive belt is always maintained at a constant tension by an idler pulley and a rotating arm, and a part of the drive belt is fixedly connected to the carriage. By rotating the drive belt by a motor, the print head is moved together with the carriage, whereby printing is performed.

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

Here, the same reference numerals are used for the same components as those in the above-described conventional example.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a print head 50 that prints on paper using an ink ribbon (not shown), and the print head 50 is mounted and arranged so as to be able to reciprocate along a platen (not shown). A carriage 51 provided, a guide section for guiding reciprocal movement of the carriage, and a carriage moving means 1 for moving the carriage along the guide section.
And

The carriage moving means 1 includes a carriage moving motor 2 and a carriage 51 which is urged by the driving force of the motor 2.
, And a driven pulley 4 and a motor pulley 8 that rotatably support the driving belt 3.

Then, the drive belt 3 is attached to the drive belt 3 described above.
Belt tension adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the belt (see FIGS. 1 to 4). The belt tension adjusting means is disposed between the motor 2 (or the motor pulley 8) and the driven pulley 4, and applies tension to the drive belt 3 by pushing up a portion located below the drive belt 3. An idler pulley 5 is provided, and a rotating arm 6 having the idler pulley 5 rotatably mounted at a distal end thereof. Further, a spring member 7 that constantly presses the above-mentioned idler pulley 5 toward the above-described drive belt 3 via the turning arm 6 is provided in the turning arm 6.

The spring member 7 is formed in a coil shape and is provided on a rotation shaft portion of the rotation arm unit 6, and applies a predetermined pressing force to the rotation arm unit 6 by using the spring property of the torsion winding direction. It is designed to be applied. FIG. 5 shows a procedure when the spring member 7 is mounted.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a stay having an L-shaped cross section and an image end fixed to the body frames 9A and 9B. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, each component of the carriage moving means 1 described above is provided on a stay 10 which is disposed along a platen (not shown) and whose both ends are fixed to main body frames 9A and 9B. Equipped. At the same time, a belt tension adjusting means for constantly applying a predetermined tension to the drive belt 3 is also provided by the above-described stay.
Equipped with 10.

 This will be described in more detail.

Here, the details of the guide section 54 have been described above, and thus are omitted here. A part of the endless drive belt 3 stretched over the pair of pulleys 4 and 8 is fixed (coupled) to the carriage 51, and the drive belt 3 is driven by the motor 2 to move the carriage 51. Let me move.

The drive belt 3 is stretched by a motor pulley 8 fixed to the shaft of the motor 2 and a driven pulley 4, and is mounted on the stay 10 as described above (see FIGS. 1 to 5).

Further, as described above, in the intermediate portion of the stay 10,
Rotating arm 6 equipped with idler pulley 5 at the tip
Is mounted rotatably with a spring member 7 (see FIGS. 2 to 5).

As shown in FIG. 5, the stay 10 includes a rotating arm 6.
And a notch of a rotation stopper 12 for limiting the rotation range. In the rotating arm 6, a rotating shaft 16 is mounted near one end of the arm plate 13, and the rotating shaft 16 is inserted into the receiving hole 11 described above to rotatably support the rotating arm 6. . Further, an idler pulley 5 corresponding to the drive belt 3 is attached directly near the other end. Further, in the middle of the arm plate 13, a protruding claw 14 which is inserted into the notch of the rotation stopper 12 to limit the rotation range of the rotation arm 6 and prevent the rotation arm 6 from falling off during rotation is provided. Is provided. A rotary spring 15A as a spring member 7 for always rotating the rotary arm 6 in one direction (direction A in the drawing) is attached to the arm 6.

 Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

At the time of assembling the printer, the drive belt 3 is installed (stretched) on the pair of pulleys 4 and 8 at the same time when the motor 2 and the motor pulley 8 and the driven pulley 4 are attached to the stay 10. Here, the tension of the drive belt 3 is not adjusted.

Next, the rotary arm 6 is pressed against the drive belt 3 by the rotary spring 15A that is the spring member 7. As a result, the idler pulley 5 attached to the tip of the arm 13 is pressed against the drive belt 3 to introduce necessary tension to the drive belt 3. The adjustment of the tension of the drive belt 3 can be adjusted by the strength of the spring member 7.

As described above, at the same time as the effort for adjusting the tension of the drive belt 3 is reduced, the stay 10 is passed between the main body frames 9A and 9B without directly fixing the motor 2 and the driven pulley 4 to the main body frames 9A and 9B. By attaching the motor 2 and the driven pulley 4 to the stay 10, the body frame 9
The lateral force acting on A and 9B is greatly reduced, and the body frames 9A and 9B can be made thinner.

When the printing operation is started, the motor 2 operates to drive the drive belt 3. The drive belt 3 always keeps a constant tension by a spring member 7, and a part thereof is fixed to a carriage 51 on which a print head 50 and the like are mounted. The printing is performed by moving the print head 50 by rotating the drive belt 3 by the motor 2.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the second embodiment, instead of the rotary spring 15A as the spring member 7 for pressing the idler pulley 5 mounted on the rotary arm portion 6 against the drive belt 3 in the first embodiment described above, the rotation is performed using a spring 15B. The rotational force is applied to the moving arm 6 to press the idler pulley 5 against the drive belt 3. The spring 15B in this case is also provided on the stay 10 as shown in FIG.

Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

Even in this case, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, an idler pulley and a rotating arm unit serving as belt tension adjusting means are provided side by side on a drive belt provided on a motor pulley and a driven pulley, and these are integrated with the stay 10. , The man-hour for belt tension adjustment conventionally required at the time of assembling the printer can be reduced.Furthermore, the idler pulley and the rotating arm portion together with the drive pulley provided on the motor pulley and the driven pulley are provided. Since the carriage moving means is mounted on the stay, these can be incorporated into the stay in advance and adjusted, and then attached to the main body frame together with the above-described guide portion and the like. As a result, the lateral force acting on the body frame is greatly Whilst this reason, it is possible to thin the main body frame, it is possible to provide an excellent serial printer unprecedented that the cost can be reduced and the weight of the entire apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing details of a stay, FIG. 3 is a side view of the stay shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. Perspective view showing the fifth
FIG. 6 is an assembly view of an arm portion, FIG. 6 is a side view showing a stay of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example. 1 carriage moving means 2 motor 3 drive belt 4 driven pulley 5 idler pulley 6 arm part 7 spring member 9A, 9B body frame 50 ... print head, 51 ... carriage, 54 ...
... Guide part.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 19/20

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print head for printing on paper using an ink ribbon, a carriage mounted with the print head and disposed reciprocally along a platen, and a guide unit for guiding the reciprocal movement of the carriage. And a carriage moving means for moving the carriage along the guide portion, wherein the carriage moving means includes a motor for moving the carriage, and a motor part of which is connected to the carriage. A drive belt for transmitting a drive force to the carriage, and a pair of pulleys for rotatably supporting the drive belt are provided. Each component of the carriage moving means is arranged along the platen. Provided on each of the stays, the ends of which are fixed to the main body frame. Serial printer and a pivot arm for supporting idler pulleys and which constantly apply a force with which features on the drive belt, and the idler pulley and the pivot arm, characterized in that fitted to the stay.