JP3081117B2 - Paper cassette device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper cassette device for a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a paper cassette is provided in a printer, and sheets are taken out of the paper cassette one by one by a hopping roller.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional paper cassette device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a switch operating mechanism in the conventional paper cassette device.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a paper cassette, and 12 denotes a tail guide movably disposed in the direction of arrow A with respect to the paper cassette 11. For this purpose, the paper cassette 11 has a groove 13 and the tail guide 12 has a pin 1.
A pin 4 is formed so that the pin 14 can be slid along the groove 13.
A link 16 is provided to detect the position of the tail guide 12. One end of the link 16 is a pin 17
Is connected to the paper cassette 11 through the
It is supported swingably in the direction of arrow B with 7 as a fulcrum. On the other hand, the other end of the link 16 is connected to the tail guide 12 via the pin 14 and is swingably supported on the pin 14 as a fulcrum. A long groove 18 is formed from the center of the link 16 to the other end, and the long groove 18 and the pin 1
4 is engaged. Therefore, when the tail guide 12 is moved in the direction of arrow A, the link 16 swings while moving the pin 14 along the long groove 18.

The oscillating motion of the link 16 is transmitted to a rotatably disposed drum 24,
By rotating the switch, each switch (not shown) of the switch unit 25 can be turned on / off. Therefore, the pin 17 of the link 16
A fan-shaped link gear 21 is attached to the end on the side, while a drum gear 23 is attached to the drum 24, and the link gear 21 and the drum gear 23 are engaged with each other.

[0005] A plurality of driving projections 31 are arranged around the drum 24 at different positions in the circumferential direction and in the axial direction. On the other hand, the switch unit 25 is provided with a plurality of driven protrusions 33 corresponding to the drive protrusions 31, and a switch is provided corresponding to each driven protrusion 33. Accordingly, when the driving projection 31 hits the driven projection 33 with the rotation of the drum 24, the driven projection 33 is retracted, and each switch of the switch unit 25 is turned on / off.

In the paper cassette apparatus having the above-described configuration, first, paper (not shown) is set in the paper cassette 11, and the tail guide 12 is moved in accordance with the paper. At this time, with the movement of the tail guide 12, the link 16 is rotated about the pin 17 as a fulcrum, and the drum 24 is rotated. When the drum 24 is rotated in accordance with the size of the sheet, the driving projection 31 selectively presses the driven projection 33 of each switch to turn on / off the switch. In this way, the size of the sheet can be detected by the switch unit 25.

[0007] The switch unit 25 generates a code signal assigned to each size of paper and sends it to the printer. Therefore, the printer can determine the size of the sheet based on the code signal.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional paper cassette apparatus, the switch is turned on / off in accordance with the movement of the tail guide 12, so that the paper can be stored only by the length of the paper. The size will be detected. Therefore, for example, when the A4 size paper is set horizontally, and when the A5 size paper is set vertically, the length of the paper is equal.
The position of the tail guide 12 becomes the same.

Therefore, the size of the paper cannot be accurately detected. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the conventional paper cassette apparatus and to provide a paper cassette apparatus capable of accurately detecting the size of paper.

[0010]

For this purpose, in a paper cassette apparatus according to the present invention, a paper cassette accommodating paper and a guide disposed movably in a direction perpendicular to the direction of transport of the paper are provided. A slider which is moved in conjunction with the movement of the guide and has an uneven surface, a tail guide movably arranged in the sheet conveying direction, and a swingable with respect to the sheet cassette. A supported link, a deformable link having one end swingably supported by a pin via a pin and the other end swingably supported by a tail guide via a pin; And is rotated in conjunction with the swing of the link,
In addition, there is provided a drum having a driving projection, and a switch actuating body which is engaged with the slider and the drum and forms a state corresponding to a combination of a length and a width of the sheet.

The paper cassette extends in the paper printing direction, and has a “<”-shaped long groove so that the front half approaches the pin side between the link and the deformed link. , The rear half of which is close to the pin side between the link and the deformed link. In addition, the deformable link includes, in addition to the pins, pins arranged along the moving direction of the tail guide and engaged with the long grooves.

[0012]

According to the present invention, as described above, in the paper cassette device, a paper cassette for storing paper, a guide movably disposed in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction, and Moved in conjunction with the movement of the guide,
A slider having irregularities, a tail guide movably arranged in the sheet conveying direction, a link swingably supported with respect to the sheet cassette, and one end via a pin. Swingably supported on the link,
A deformable link whose other end is swingably supported with respect to the tail guide via a pin, is rotatably disposed, is rotated in conjunction with the swing of the link, and includes a drive projection. And a switch actuating body engaged with the slider and the drum to form a state corresponding to a combination of the length and width of the sheet.

[0013] The paper cassette extends in the paper printing direction, and has a "-" shaped long groove so that the front half approaches the pin side between the link and the deformed link. , The rear half of which is close to the pin side between the link and the deformed link. In addition, the deformable link includes, in addition to the pins, pins arranged along the moving direction of the tail guide and engaged with the long grooves.

In this case, when the paper is set in the paper cassette and the guide is moved in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction and the tail guide is moved in the paper transport direction in accordance with the paper, the tail guide moves. , The drum is rotated, and the slider is moved in conjunction with the movement of the guide. Accordingly, the switch operating body engaged with the slider and the drum forms a state corresponding to the combination of the length and width of the sheet.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper cassette device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a switch operating mechanism in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a slider in the first embodiment of the present invention; 8 is a perspective view of a detection lever according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a drum according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a link according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 10 is a state diagram of the switch according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a paper cassette, and 12 denotes a tail guide movably arranged in the direction of arrow A at the rear of the paper cassette 11 in the paper transport direction (not shown). Therefore, the paper cassette 11
A groove 13 is formed in the tail guide 12, and a pin 14 is formed in the tail guide 12. The pin 14 can slide along the groove 13.

A link 16 is provided for detecting the position of the tail guide 12. One end of the link 16 is connected to the paper cassette 11 via a pin 17 and is swingably supported in the direction of arrow B with the pin 17 as a fulcrum. On the other hand, the other end of the link 16 is connected to the tail guide 12 via the pin 14 and is swingably supported on the pin 14 as a fulcrum. A long groove 18 is formed from the center of the link 16 to the other end, and the long groove 18 and the pin 14 are engaged with each other. Therefore, when the tail guide 12 is moved in the direction of arrow A, the link 1
Numeral 6 swings in the direction of arrow B while moving the pin 14 along the long groove 18.

The oscillating motion of the link 16 is transmitted to a rotatably disposed drum 24, and by rotating the drum 24, each switch (not shown) of the switch unit 25 can be turned on / off. Has become. To this end, a fan-shaped link gear 21 is attached to the end of the link 16 on the pin 17 side, while a drum gear 23 is attached to the drum 24, and the link gear 21 and the drum gear 23 are meshed. A plurality of driving projections 51 are arranged around the drum 24 so that the positions in the circumferential direction and the positions in the axial direction are different from each other. The driving projections 51 are arranged in four stages in the axial direction.

In this embodiment, not only can the length of the paper set in the paper cassette 11 be detected, but also the width of the paper can be detected. I have. For this purpose, a pair of guides 61 and 62 are disposed movably in the direction of arrow D at the front of the paper cassette 11 in the paper transport direction. Then, grooves 63 and 64 are formed in the paper cassette 11, and
Projections (not shown) are formed on the guides 61 and 62, and the projections can be slid along the grooves 63 and 64. Note that only the guide 62 may be provided without using the guide 61.

The guides 61 and 62 are adapted to move in conjunction with each other, and racks 67 and 68 are formed to protrude from the guides 61 and 62, respectively, and are engaged with both racks 67 and 68 to form a pinion 69. Is arranged. Therefore, when one of the guides 61 and 62 is manually moved, the pinion 69 is rotated, and the other can be moved in conjunction with it.

A fan-shaped lever 71 and a slider 72 are provided so that the positions of the guides 61 and 62 can be detected. The lever 71 is swingably supported in the direction of arrow E about a pin 73, and a gear 7
5 is formed, and a rod 74 is formed so as to protrude from one end, and is brought into contact with the guide 62. on the other hand,
The slider 72 is movably disposed along the paper transport direction, and a rack 76 is provided at a front portion in the transport direction.
However, a signal generator 77 assigned to the width of the sheet is formed in the rear part. The signal generating unit 77 is formed by unevenness such as a window 78 and a notch 79. Accordingly, as the lever 71 is swung in the direction of arrow E, the slider 72 is reciprocated in the direction of arrow F.

As described above, the drum 24 is rotated in accordance with the length of the paper set in the paper cassette 11, and the slider 72 is reciprocated in accordance with the width of the paper. Therefore, in order to generate a code signal assigned according to the combination of the length and width of the paper, the switch unit 25 is provided with four driven projections 33a to 33d, and the rotational position of the drum 24 and the slider The driven projection 33 can be selectively pressed down corresponding to the position 72.

For this purpose, the driving projection 5 of the drum 24
1 and a signal generating portion 77 of the slider 72 to turn on / off each switch corresponding to the engaged state.
The switch operating body 53 is disposed so as to be swingable. The switch actuating body 53 is composed of four detection levers 56 having a shape as shown in FIG.
It is supported so that it can swing in the direction.

The detection lever 56 is connected to the first contact portion 5 which is engaged with the drive projection 51 of the drum 24.
8, a second contact portion 59 to be engaged with the signal generating portion 77 of the slider 72, and a third contact portion 60 to be in contact with each of the driven protrusions 33a to 33d of the switch unit 25. Therefore, the driven projections 33a to 33d can be selectively pressed in accordance with the size of the sheet, that is, the combination of the length and width of the sheet.

Switches are respectively provided at the rear ends of the driven projections 33a to 33d. When the driven projections 33a to 33d are pressed down by the detection lever 56 and are retracted, the corresponding switches are turned on. When the pressing is stopped, the driven projections 33a to 33d move forward and the corresponding switches are turned off. Therefore, the driven protrusions 33a to 33d are urged toward the detection lever 56 by a spring (not shown), and when the detection lever 56 stops pressing, the driven protrusions 33a to 33d are advanced by the urging force of the spring. .

In the paper cassette apparatus having the above-described configuration, when paper is set in the paper cassette 11, the tail guide 12 moves in the direction of arrow A according to the length of the paper, and the guides 61 and 62 move in the direction of arrow D according to the width of the paper. It is moved to. Accordingly, the link 16 swings in the direction of arrow B, and the lever 71 swings in the direction of arrow E. The drum 24 is rotated with the swing of the link 16, and the slider 72 is reciprocated with the swing of the lever 71.

At this time, when the first contact portion 58 of the detection lever 56 is engaged with the driving projection 51 of the drum 24,
The predetermined detection lever 56 of the switch operating body 53 is swung, and the third contact portion 60 causes the driven protrusions 33a to 33a to move.
Press d to turn on the corresponding switch. On the other hand, when the second contact portion 59 of the detection lever 56 is engaged with the signal generation portion 77 of the slider 72, the predetermined detection lever 56 of the switch operating body 53 is swung, and the driven protrusion 33a
33d is no longer pressed, and the corresponding switch is turned off. In FIG. 10, the driven projections 33a, 33c
Is pressed down, the switch is on, and the driven protrusion 3
3b and 33d are not pressed, and the switches are off.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an operation table of the switches according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, ● indicates that the switch is on, and ○ indicates that the switch is off. As can be seen from the figure, the case where A3 size paper is set vertically in the paper cassette 11 (FIG. 1),
The width of the paper is the same as when the A4 size paper is set horizontally in the paper cassette 11. In addition, the length of the A4 size paper is set in the paper cassette 11 horizontally and the length of the A5 size paper is set in the paper cassette 11 vertically.

However, the combination of the length and width of each sheet can be identified by turning on / off the switches 1-4. By the way, if it is attempted to detect the size of paper having slightly different lengths, the link 16 cannot be sufficiently swung, and the accurate size cannot be detected. Therefore, the number of sheets whose size can be detected is limited.

Therefore, a second embodiment will be described in which the number of sheets whose sizes can be detected is not limited. FIG.
2 is a perspective view of a paper cassette device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 13 is a plan view of the paper cassette device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a paper cassette, and 12 denotes a tail guide movably arranged in the direction of arrow A at the rear of the paper cassette 11 in the paper transport direction (not shown). For this purpose, a groove 13 is formed in the paper cassette 11, and a pin 14 is formed in the tail guide 12, so that the pin 14 can slide along the groove 13.

In order to detect the position of the tail guide 12, a rhombus-shaped deformation link 81 is provided. One end of the deformed link 81 is connected to the link 16 via a pin 82, and is swingably supported by the pin 82 as a fulcrum. On the other hand, the other end of the deformable link 81 is connected to the tail guide 12 via the pin 14 and is swingably supported on the pin 14 as a fulcrum. A long groove 83 is formed from the central portion to one end of the deformed link 81, and a long groove 84 is formed from the other end. The long groove 83 and the pin 82 are engaged with the long groove 84 and the pin 14.

On the upper surface of the deformable link 81, a pin 86 is formed so as to protrude, and the pin 86 is engaged with a long groove 89 formed in the paper cassette 11. A pin 87 is formed on the lower surface of the deformable link 81 so as to project therefrom, and the pin 87 is engaged with a long groove 92 formed in the bottom cover 91 of the paper cassette 11.
The long groove 89 extends in the printing direction of the sheet, and has a “U” shape such that the front half approaches the pin 82 side. On the other hand, the long groove 92 extends in the printing direction of the paper, and has a “<” shape so that the rear half approaches the pin 82 side.

One end of the link 16 is connected to a pin 17
Is connected to the paper cassette 11 via a pin 17 and is swingably supported by a pin 17 as a fulcrum. On the other hand, the other end of the link 16 is connected to the deformed link 81 via the pin 82, and is swingably supported on the pin 82 as a fulcrum. Therefore, when the tail guide 12 is moved in the direction of arrow A, the pin 14 is moved along the long groove 84 and the pin 82 is moved along the long groove 8.
While moving along 3, the link 16 swings. At this time, since the pin 87 moves along the long groove 92 and the pin 86 moves along the long groove 89, the link 16 can be largely swung even by slightly moving the tail guide 12.

The oscillating motion of the link 16 is transmitted to a rotatably arranged drum 24, and by rotating the drum 24, a switch (not shown) can be turned on and off. Therefore, a fan-shaped link gear 21 is provided at the end of the link 16 on the pin 17 side.
On the other hand, a drum gear (not shown) is mounted on the drum 24, and the link gear 21 and the drum gear are engaged with each other. A plurality of driving projections 51 are arranged around the drum 24 so that the positions in the circumferential direction and the positions in the axial direction are different from each other.

In this embodiment, the width of the paper set in the paper cassette 11 can be detected. For this purpose, a pair of guides 61 and 62 are provided at the front of the sheet cassette 11 in the sheet conveying direction by arrows D.
It is arranged movably in the direction. And the guide 61,
A fan-shaped lever 71 and a slider 72 are provided so that the position of 62 can be detected. The lever 71
Is supported swingably in the direction of arrow E,
Is movably disposed in the direction of arrow F.

Further, a switch operating body 53 is swingably provided to turn on / off the switch in accordance with the rotational position of the drum 24 and the moving position of the slider 72. Therefore, the length and width of the sheet can be detected by the switch unit 25. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified based on the gist of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0037]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in a paper cassette apparatus, a paper cassette for storing paper and a paper cassette movably disposed in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the paper are provided. Guide, a slider that is moved in conjunction with the movement of the guide, and is provided with a slider having irregularities, a tail guide that is movably arranged in the sheet conveyance direction, and a sheet cassette. A swingably supported link, and a deformed link having one end swingably supported by the link via a pin and the other end swingably supported by the tail guide via a pin. And a drum provided with a drive projection, which is rotatably disposed and rotated in conjunction with the swinging of the link, and is engaged with the slider and the drum, and has a length and width of the sheet. State corresponding to combination Forming a a switch actuating member.

The paper cassette extends in the paper printing direction, and has a "<"-shaped long groove such that the front half approaches the pin side between the link and the deformed link. , The rear half of which is close to the pin side between the link and the deformed link. In addition, the deformable link includes, in addition to the pins, pins arranged along the moving direction of the tail guide and engaged with the long grooves.

In this case, the drum is rotated in conjunction with the movement of the tail guide, and the slider is moved in conjunction with the movement of the guide. Accordingly, the switch operating body engaged with the slider and the drum forms a state corresponding to the combination of the length and width of the sheet. Therefore, regardless of whether the paper is set vertically or horizontally, it is necessary to identify the combination of the length and width of the paper based on the signal of the switch actuating member and accurately detect the size of the paper. Can be. Further, the paper cassette extends along the printing direction of the paper, and the front half approaches the pin side between the link and the deformed link. Extending, the rear half is provided with a 「-shaped long groove so as to approach the pin side between the link and the deformable link, the deformable link, in addition to each of the pins,
Since the pin is provided along the moving direction of the tail guide and is engaged with each of the long grooves, the link can be largely swung in conjunction with the movement of the tail guide.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper cassette device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional paper cassette device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a switch operating mechanism in a conventional paper cassette device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the paper cassette device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a switch operating mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a slider according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a detection lever according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a drum according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a link according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a state diagram of a switch according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an operation table of switches according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a paper cassette device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a paper cassette device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Paper cassette 12 Tail guide 24 Drum 51 Driving projection 53 Switch operating body 61, 62 Guide 72 Slider

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A paper cassette for accommodating paper, (b) a guide movably disposed in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the paper, and (c) an interlocking movement of the guide. And moved, and
(D) a tail guide movably arranged in the paper transport direction, and (e) swingably supported by the paper cassette .
And links, and (f) one end supported pivotably to cut tank via the front pin, deformation link whose other end is pivotably supported relative to said tail guide via pins , (g) is rotatably disposed, before in conjunction with the swinging of the cut tank is rotated, and a drum with a drive projection, engaged with said slider and drum (h), the A switch actuating member for forming a state corresponding to a combination of the length and width of the paper; and (i) the paper cassette extends along a printing direction of the paper.
And the front half on the pin side between the link and the deformed link
In the “C” -shaped long groove that approaches, and in the printing direction of paper
And the rear half is between the link and the deformed link
As closer to the pin-side "V" shaped with a longitudinal groove, (j) the modified link, the in addition to each pin, arranged along a moving direction of the tail guide, the long grooves and the engaging
Paper cassette and wherein the obtaining Bei pins to be allowed.