JP2926928B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and in particular, to a first paper and a second paper to be printed after the first paper via a print head. The present invention relates to a printing device that performs printing.

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a conventional printing apparatus for performing printing on a first sheet and a second sheet to be printed after the first sheet via a print head, an example of a conventional printing apparatus is mounted on a cash register. There is also a printing device (hereinafter, referred to as a three-station printer) that can print on receipt paper or journal paper and prints on slip paper. In such a three-station printer, printed receipt paper, journal paper, and slip paper are discharged from the upper surface of the printer. Since the print head is located inside the printer from the slip discharge port, after the slip printing is completed, the slip sheet is in a print stop (end) state with a part thereof remaining inside the printer.
Thereafter, when subsequently printing on receipt paper or journal paper, the printer operator manually removes the slip completely from the discharge port,
A data input device such as a keyboard provided in the cash register is operated to start printing on receipt paper or journal paper. The details will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a cross-sectional structure of a conventional three-station printer.

In FIG. 3, the upper part of the three-station printer is covered with a housing 11, and as shown in the figure, the housing 11 has a slit-like shape for discharging the leading end 2a of the slip 2 and the receipt / journal paper 12 to the outside. A paper outlet is provided.

Further, the illustrated three-station printer has a slip insertion slot 1 into which the slip 2 is inserted from the outside,
Insertion slip detection sensor 3 for detecting insertion of a slip, an initial position for setting the inserted slip 2 in an initial position in response to a detection output of the sensor 3 to set the insertable slip 2 in a printable state. Stopper 4, inserted slip 2
And main feed rollers 7 and 8, a print head 9 and an ink ribbon cassette container 19 for transporting the ink to the outlet as the printing progresses.

From the ink ribbon cassette container 19, the ink ribbon
13 is supplied between the print head 9 and the slip 2 or the receipt / journal paper 12 at a constant speed. Therefore, if the print head 9 presses the ink ribbon 13 by the kinetic energy supplied from the preceding stage, the print head 9 prints the slip 2 or the receipt / journal paper 12 via the ink levon 13 accordingly. is there.

The slip 2 is a single sheet having a predetermined length and width, and is inserted into the slip insertion slot 1 by an operator as needed. On the other hand, the receipt / journal paper 12 is set in advance in the printer in a state of being wound in a roll shape as shown in the drawing, so that the paper 12 can be automatically and continuously supplied toward the print head 9. It is provided in.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the ink ribbon cassette container.

As shown, the ink ribbon cassette container 19 has
A ribbon roll (not shown) is built in, and the ink ribbon 13 is supplied to the outside at a constant speed from the ink ribbon cassette container 19 by being wound or rewound by the ribbon roll.

Removal of the ink ribbon cassette container 19 from the printer and attachment to the printer are performed vertically after opening the housing 11 shown in FIG.
First, the ink ribbon cassette container 19
13 is set so as to be sandwiched between the print head 9 and the printing paper, and then fixed again at the fixed position.

Next, the switching operation between slip printing and receipt / journal printing of the conventional three-station printer will be described with reference to FIG.

It is assumed that the ink ribbon cassette container 19 is set in the printer in a printable state, and that the auxiliary feed roller 6 and the main feed roller 8 have already been rotated.

The operator inserts the slip sheet into the printer via the slip insertion slot 1 as needed. The leading end 2a of the inserted slip 2 first passes through the inserted slip detection sensor 3 and is inserted and set to the position of the initial position stopper 4. At this time, the insertion state of the slip 2 is detected by the insertion slip detection sensor 3. This detection signal is transmitted to the initial position stopper 4
And to the auxiliary feed roller 5 and the main feed roller 7. In response, the auxiliary feed roller 5 moves in a direction approaching the auxiliary feed roller 6 which is already rotating and comes into contact with the roller 6, and the main feed roller 7 similarly approaches the main feed roller 8 which is already rotating. The roller 8
Touch At the same time, the initial position stopper 4 opens the stopper, and the slip 2 conveyed by the rotation of the auxiliary feed rollers 5 and 6 passes through the rotating main feed rollers 7 and 8 and the leading end 2a thereof is printed. After passing through the head 9, printing of a slip is started by the print head 9. The slip 2 is conveyed to the slit-shaped slip discharge port provided in the housing 11 by the rotation of the main feed rollers 7 and 8 in parallel with the slip printing, so that the trailing end 2b of the slip 2 is moved to the main feed rollers 7 and 8. Is passed, the print head 9 stops the printing operation, and the slip printing for the slip 2 ends.

When the printing of the slip proceeds and the printing of the slip is completed as described above, the leading end 2a of the slip 2 is placed in the housing 11 covering the printer.
Is discharged to the outside. At this time, a part of the slip 2 remains in the internal print head 9, and in this state, it is impossible to continuously print on the receipt / journal sheet 12. Therefore, in order to continue printing on the receipt / journal paper 12, the operator grabs the leading end 2a of the slip 2 coming out of the discharge port and pulls it out of the printer. Thereafter, predetermined data is input from a data input device such as a keyboard (not shown), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit: not shown) for controlling the printer is provided with a receipt paper or a journal paper. Instructs start of printing. In response,
The CPU operates to control the print head 9 and start receipt or journal printing on the supplied receipt / journal paper 12. The receipt / journal paper 12 printed in this manner is conveyed in parallel with the printing, and is sequentially discharged to the outside through the other slit-shaped hole of the housing 11.

As described above, according to the conventional three-station printer, there is an advantage that slip printing and receipt or journal printing can be performed using one print head. That is, it is possible to use one print head to perform printing on the first paper and the second paper on which printing is to be performed after the first paper.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the printer as described above, after printing on a slip sheet, in order to continuously print a receipt or a journal, the slip on which the printer operator has finished printing is required. After the removal, it is necessary to operate an input device such as a keyboard to start the receipt or journal printing. That is, in order to continue printing on the second paper after the printing on the first paper is completed, the printer operator needs to operate an input device such as a keyboard. And since such an operation was required, there existed a problem that operability was inferior.

The above-mentioned problem can be solved by automatically activating receipt or journal printing at the same time as the operator extracting the slip. For this purpose, it is considered that a detector for obtaining presence / absence of a slip sheet may be provided near the slip outlet provided in the housing of the printer. However, if the detector is fixedly mounted near the slip discharge port, as described above, the operability at the time of attaching and detaching the ink ribbon which is provided inside the printer and should be applied in contact with the print head is deteriorated. There is a problem. Further, the deterioration of the operability when the ink ribbon is attached / detached causes a problem that the time required for replacing the ink ribbon is lengthened and the operation rate of the printer is reduced due to frequent consumption of the ink ribbon. Therefore,
Simply fixing the detector in the vicinity of the slip discharge port means that the above-described slip printing (printing of the first paper) is switched to the start of receipt or journal printing (printing of the second paper). This is not a way to eliminate the hassle.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus in which the operability at the time of switching the printing operation between the printing on the first paper and the printing on the second paper is improved without deteriorating the operability at the time of attaching and detaching the ink ribbon. I do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a first sheet and a second sheet to be printed after the first sheet via a print head.
This is a printing device that prints on paper. In detail, a transport path provided for the first paper when the first paper is printed, and a position where the first paper is discharged to the outside of the printing apparatus, and Detecting means for detecting that the first sheet is pulled out of the printing apparatus, and in response to a detection output of the detecting means, Printing start means for starting printing,
The print head is provided in the transport path, the transport path includes an ink ribbon insertion path provided for an ink ribbon for performing printing on the first sheet and the second sheet, and the detecting unit includes: The mounting lever is attached to an end of a rotatably provided mounting lever, and rotates so as to escape from the ink ribbon insertion path when the ink ribbon of the mounting lever is replaced.

[Operation] Since the printing apparatus according to the present invention is configured as described above, when the detection unit detects that the first sheet has been pulled out of the printing apparatus, it responds to this detection output. Then, the printing start means automatically starts printing on the second paper. Also, the detecting means is attached to an end of a rotatably provided mounting lever, and the mounting lever rotates so as to escape from the ink ribbon insertion path when the ink ribbon inside the printing apparatus is replaced. Does not hinder the operation when replacing the ink ribbon.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a three-station printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

A comparison between the printer shown in FIG. 1 and the printer shown in FIG. 3 is different from the printer shown in FIG. 3 in that the printer shown in FIG. The point is that the slip extraction sensor 10 is provided at a position corresponding to the slip discharge port of the mounting lever 14. Other structures are the same as those of the printer described with reference to FIG. 3, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the three-station printer shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, a slip 2 inserted into the inside of the printer from a slip insertion slot 1 by a printer operator is conveyed through a slip traveling path 21, and a leading end 2a of the slip 2 passes through an upper part of the printer. Is discharged outside.

The state of the three-station printer shown in FIG.
This is a state in which the old ink ribbon cassette container 19 is replaced when the ink ribbon cassette container 19 is replaced when the ink ribbon 13 is consumed. At this time, after the housing (not shown) is opened, the mounting lever 14 moves the fulcrum 15 toward the front of the printer until the other end 17 of the mounting lever 14 contacts the head cover 18 in conjunction with the extension of the spring 16. It is in a state of rotation around the center.

Next, the new ink ribbon cassette container 19 is mounted on the printer. This ink ribbon cassette container 19 to be mounted
Is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, in order to newly install the ink ribbon cassette container 19 shown in FIG. 4, first, the operator attaches the loop formed by the container 19 and the ink ribbon 13 to the state shown in FIG. Pass through lever 14. Thereafter, the ink ribbon 13 is directly moved downward in the printer, and set so as to be sandwiched between the head 9 and the printing paper shown in FIG. Thereafter, the operator moves the container 19 downward as it is. As a result, the ink ribbon cassette container 19
The bottom portion of the cassette container comes into contact with the ribbon cassette contact surface 29 of the mounting lever 14, and the contact surface 20 holds the cassette container 19 in a fixed position by the weight of the container 19 and the pressing force applied by the operator via the container 19. It works to be fixed to. At this time, since the spring 16 fixed and mounted on the mounting lever 14 on the side opposite to the bottom portion of the cassette container 19 is compressed by the pressing force, the mounting lever 14 is returned to the original position in response to the pressing force. The slip extraction sensor 10 provided at the tip of the mounting lever 14 is returned to the slip discharge port and set. At this time, the container 19 is completely set in a fixed position.

As described above, while the sensor 10 is mounted on the upper portion of the printer, the old and new ink ribbons 13 can be easily replaced by the movement of the sensor 10 accompanying the movability of the mounting lever 14.

Next, the switching operation between slip printing and receipt / journal printing of the printer shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. FIG.

It is assumed that the ink ribbon cassette container 19 is set in the printer in a printable state as described above, and that the auxiliary feed roller 6 and the main feed roller 8 have already started rotating.

First, the printer operator inserts the slip 2 into the slip insertion slot 1 as needed. The inserted slip 2 passes through the inserted slip detection sensor 3 and is inserted and set to the initial position stopper 4 mounting position. When a slip is detected by the inserted slip detection sensor 3, in response to the detection signal, the auxiliary feed roller 5 moves so as to approach the auxiliary feed roller 6 and comes into contact with the roller 6, and similarly. When the main feed roller 7 moves toward the main feed roller 8 and comes into contact with the roller 8 and at the same time the initial position stopper 4 opens the stopper, the slip travel path 21 shown in FIG. 2 is established. You. Further, the inserted slip 2
Passes through the main feed rollers 7 and 8, and after the leading end 2a passes through the print head 9, printing of a slip is started.

Thereafter, the slip 2 is sequentially conveyed toward the slip extracting sensor 10 by the rotation of the main feed rollers 7 and 8 simultaneously with the start of the printing. The conveyance of the slip 2 is stopped when the trailing end 2b has passed the main feed rollers 7 and 8.
At this point, the leading end 2a of the slip 2 has been discharged to the outside of the housing 11 covering the printer.
In this state, a part of the slip 2 remains, and in this state, the receipt / journal paper 12 cannot be printed.

Therefore, the operator completely removes the slip 2 discharged from the housing 11 from the printer in order to start receipt and journal printing. In response, the signal level based on the detection output of the slip sampling sensor 10 changes. This detection output is given to a CPU (not shown) that controls the printer, and the CPU controls the print head 9 to drive the print head 9 so that receipt / journal printing is possible. Therefore, thereafter, the printing operation by the print head 9 is performed on the receipt / journal sheet 12 after the slip 2 has been extracted.

As described above, the mounting lever 14 and the mounting lever 14
Is provided with a slip extracting sensor 10 at one end, a print switching operation from slip printing to receipt and journal printing can be automatically performed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, when the detection unit detects that the first sheet has been pulled out of the printing apparatus, the printing start unit responds to this detection output to switch to the second sheet. Is automatically started. Therefore, manual printing switching operation by the operator in the printing apparatus can be omitted.

The detecting means is attached to an end of a rotatable mounting lever, and the mounting lever rotates so as to escape from the ink ribbon insertion path when the ink ribbon inside the printing apparatus is replaced. Is provided in the ink ribbon insertion path at the time of ink ribbon replacement, but the operation at the time of ink ribbon replacement can be easily performed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the operability at the time of switching the printing operation between the printing on the first sheet and the printing on the second sheet without deteriorating the operability at the time of attaching and detaching the ink ribbon. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a three-station printer according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the first
FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the three-station printer shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a cross-sectional structure of a conventional three-station printer. FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the ink ribbon cassette container. In the figure, 2 is a slip, 3 is an inserted slip detection sensor, 9 is a print head, 10 is a slip removal sensor, 12 is a receipt / journal paper, 13 is an ink ribbon, 14 is a mounting lever,
19 is a ribbon cassette container, and 21 is a slip running path. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for performing printing on a first sheet and a second sheet to be printed after the first sheet via a print head, wherein the first sheet is printed. A conveyance path provided for the first sheet, a position where the first sheet is discharged to the outside of the printing apparatus, and a conveyance path provided in the conveyance path, and the first sheet is transmitted from the printing apparatus. Detecting means for detecting that the sheet has been extracted to the outside, and printing start means for starting printing on the second sheet by the print head in response to a detection output of the detecting means, wherein the print head comprises: The conveyance path includes an ink ribbon insertion path provided for an ink ribbon for performing printing on the first sheet and the second sheet; Mounted at the end of the mounting lever provided freely, the mounting lever, when replacing the ink ribbon, rotates so escape from the ink ribbon insertion path, the printing apparatus.