JP3418210B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates are those related to the printer to discharge from the front from the two locations of the rear surface of the printer housing by supplying noncontinuous media and continuous paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional paper supply path structure for this type of printer, there is one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-164750. This printer has a printer housing composed of an upper housing and a lower housing, and the upper housing is configured to be rotatable and liftable with respect to the lower housing. Inside the printer housing, a print head, a platen, etc. It contains an internal mechanism and a pin tractor mechanism for guiding the continuous paper to the platen. Further, a continuous paper insertion port is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the lower housing, and an opening for mounting cut sheets is provided at the center of the upper surface of the upper housing.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional paper feed path structure for a printer, the pin tractor mechanism is housed inside the printer housing, and the pin tractor mechanism is moved up and down below the platen. Since the printer housing is arranged in the direction, there is a problem that the printer housing becomes large. In addition, since the opening for mounting the cut sheet by hand is provided widely in the center of the upper housing, the sound generated at the time of printing largely leaks out of the printer housing, and the noise is high. there were.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a discharge port and two insertion ports on the front and rear surfaces of the printer housing to reduce the opening through which the paper passes and to front and rear of the printer. It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems by adopting a structure that allows a sheet to pass in a direction.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the printer according to the present invention, the by forming the platen, and a print head for printing on paper opposite the platen, the sheet guide surface for supporting the sheet includes a frame forming a paper conveying path which extends in the longitudinal direction passes between the platen and the print head, the printer housing at least accommodating, with a paper discharge port on the front side of the front-rear direction,
Consecutive on the rear side with single-cut paper insertion slot and pin tractor mechanism
Printer having continuous paper insertion port for inserting paper
Oite, the continuous paper insertion port and the cut sheet paper insertion port and the
And to the isolating co <br/> by a part of the printer housing, said pin tractor mechanism outside of the printer housing, is characterized in that arranged so as to face said continuous paper insertion slot. Moreover, the printer of the present invention, the platen is flatbed, characterized in that it comprises a paper feed roller on the upstream and downstream side of the paper advance direction with respect to the platen, further, a cut sheet paper insertion opening A configuration in which an automatic sheet feeding mechanism capable of feeding a single-cut sheet is faced, a configuration in which the sheet guiding surface and a sheet feeding surface of the pin tractor mechanism are formed on a substantially straight line, and the print head and the carriage are included. The object of the present invention can be achieved by the structure in which the internal mechanism is provided above the paper transport path.

[0006]

The continuous paper is supplied to the paper guide path by the pin tractor mechanism from the continuous paper insertion opening provided on the lower rear surface of the printer housing, while the single-cut paper is inserted on the upper rear surface of the printer housing. The sheet is supplied to the sheet guide path from the mouth by the automatic sheet supply mechanism, and both sheets pass through the sheet guide path provided between the internal mechanism and the frame. At this time, printing is performed on the paper by an internal mechanism such as a print head or a platen, and the printed paper is discharged to the front of the printer from a paper discharge port provided in the lower front of the printer housing in front of the paper guide path. Paper plan in the paper guide path
The inner surface is linearly arranged and the platen is flat.
Therefore, the sheet is conveyed at a high speed and smoothly.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal mechanism, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the overall structure of the printer.

First, the structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a box-shaped printer housing. The printer housing 100 is provided with an opening portion that opens from a front surface upper portion to a front surface upper portion, and an opening / closing cover 102 attached to the printer housing 100 via a hinge 101 is used. The opening is configured to be openable and closable. Between the lower edge of the front surface of the open / close cover 102 and the upper edge of the front surface of the printer housing 100 in the closed state, a laterally long sheet discharge section A that opens to the front surface of the printer housing 100 is provided. In addition, a horizontally long cut sheet insertion opening B for opening the cut sheet 103 is provided at the rear of the upper surface of the printer housing 100, and a continuous sheet 104 is provided at the lower rear portion of the printer housing 100. A horizontally-long continuous paper insertion port C that opens rearward for feeding is provided.

A printer housing 1 having such a configuration
The frame 1 is housed inside the frame 00, and the internal mechanism D of this printer is arranged and housed above the frame 1. The internal mechanism D includes a cassette holder 2, a carriage, a print head 11, a ribbon cassette 37 and the like. The cassette holder 2 is held by the frame 1 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction. That is , the cassette holder 2 is formed with guide holes, which are elongated holes extending in the front-rear direction, on both sides of the upper surface of the cassette holder 2. The guide screws penetrate the respective guide holes 3 and are screwed and fixed at the tip to the frame side. The cassette holder 2 can be translated in the front-rear direction with respect to the frame 1 by being guided by the frame 4. Reference numeral 5 is a washer for preventing the guide screw 4 from coming off from the guide hole 3 .

A carriage shaft 6 whose both ends are held by a frame 1 is disposed below the cassette holder 2 so as to extend in the lateral direction. The carriage shaft 6 slidably penetrates a rear portion of a carriage 7. ing. An eccentric bush 10 is provided on the entire front surface of the carriage 7, and the eccentric bush 10 is arranged in the recess 8 in parallel with the carriage shaft 6 and has a guide shaft 9 supported by the frame 1 at both ends. Have been inserted. A print head 11 having a nose portion directed downward is fixed to the lower center of the carriage 7, and a flat-bed flat platen platen which is held on the plate 1 below the nose portion at appropriate intervals. 12 are arranged. Therefore, by rotating the eccentric bush 10 and moving the print head 11 in the vertical direction, the gap between the nose portion and the platen 12 can be finely adjusted. Upstream and downstream of this platen 12
A paper feed roller is arranged. 13 is an eccentric bush 10
It is a fixing screw.

At the front lower part of the guide shaft 9 facing the sheet discharge section A, a lower discharge roller 14 whose both ends are rotatably supported by the frame 1 and an upper discharge roller 15 abutting above the lower discharge roller 14 are provided. The open / close levers 16 and 16 are rotatably fitted on both sides of the lower discharge roller 14, and the both ends of the upper discharge roller 15 are rotatably supported between the open / close levers 16. . At the upper part of each opening / closing lever 16, an engaging concave portion 18 that can be engaged with a convex portion 17 provided on the frame 1 side is formed. The upper discharge roller 15 is swiveled and fixed above the lower discharge roller 14 by engaging with, and both open / close levers 16 and 16 are tilted to release the engagement between the engaging concave portion 18 and the convex portion 17. As a result, the upper discharge roller 15 moves to the front of the lower discharge roller 14,
As a result, the ribbon cassette 37 can be attached and detached. 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes a driven pulley fixed to one end of the lower discharge roller 14, and an endless belt 20 is stretched between the driven pulley 19 and a drive pulley 22 supported by a unit frame 21 of the ribbon feed switching unit. .

An opening facing the single-cut sheet insertion port B is provided in the upper rear portion of the frame 1, and a pickup roller 23 arranged substantially parallel to the carriage shaft 6 is provided in the opening. Both ends of the pickup roller 23 are rotatably held by the frame 1, and power can be transmitted to a paper feed motor 25 fixed to the printer body 1 via a paper feed gear train 24 composed of a combination of a plurality of gears. Connected to. A leaf spring 26 is provided on the back surface of the pickup roller 23, and the cut sheet 103 mounted on the paper set plate 27 provided on the back surface of the frame 1 is biased toward the pickup roller 23 by the leaf spring 26. There is. The pickup roller 23, the leaf spring 26, and the sheet setting plate 27 constitute an automatic sheet feeding mechanism capable of automatically feeding the cut sheet 103.

A continuous paper insertion slot C is provided at the lower rear of the frame 1.
An opening facing the provided outside the continuous paper insertion port C, immediately
The continuous paper 1 is placed outside the printer housing 100.
Pin tractor mechanism 1 for supplying 04 into the printer
05 is provided. Both ends of the pin tractor mechanism 105 are supported by the printer housing 100 in a state where the pin tractor mechanism 105 is horizontal and its inner end faces the continuous paper insertion port C, and the pin tractor mechanism 105 is driven by a paper feed motor 25 connected to its drive shaft so as to be capable of transmitting power. Driven.

Further, in the center of the frame 1, an upper feed roller 29 and a lower feed roller 3 which are vertically opposed to each other are installed.
A friction roller 28 of 0 is arranged substantially parallel to the carriage shaft 6. Between the friction roller 28 and the pickup roller 23, a paper guide plate 106 which is curved in an arc shape and has a wide opening on the pickup roller 23 side is provided. An internal mechanism D including the paper guide plate 106 is provided. A paper guide path E extending in the front-rear direction of the printer is provided between the frame and the frame 1. The friction roller 28 arranges, in the paper guide path E, the cut paper 103 taken out from the paper set plate 27 by the rotation of the pickup roller 23 or the continuous paper 104 supplied by the drive of the pin tractor mechanism 105 in the paper guide path E. It is conveyed by the frictional force between the feed rollers 29 and 30 and supplied below the print head 11. Reference numeral 31 is a paper feed knob fixed to one end of the upper feed roller 29 for manually feeding the cut paper 103 or the continuous paper 104.

Reference numeral 32 shown in FIG. 2 is a control board on which electronic parts such as ICs and capacitors are mounted.
A switch board 33 on which a power switch and other switches are mounted, and an operation panel 34 on which a switch for setting the number of prints and a light emitting diode for indicating the presence / absence of a failure are mounted on the upper side of 2. I have set up. 35
Is a cable that flexibly connects the print head 11 mounted on the carriage 7 and the control board 32 fixed to the frame 1 side, and a position detection plate 36 for detecting the position is fixed to the rear portion of the carriage 7. ing.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a ribbon cassette. The ribbon cassette 37 is composed of an endless ink ribbon 38 and a casing 39 accommodating the ink ribbon 38 so that the ink ribbon 38 can travel, and both ends of the casing 39 project in the same direction. The arm portion 40 is formed. An elongated hole having a size corresponding to the width and thickness of the ink ribbon 38 is formed at the tip of each arm 40.
No. 8 comes out from the long hole of one arm portion 40, enters into the casing 39 from the long hole of the other arm portion 40, and can be continuously supplied. Reference numeral 41 is a knob for manually feeding the ink ribbon 38.

A ribbon cassette 37 having such a structure
Can be detachably attached to the cassette holder 2 by attaching to the holding arm 43 provided in the cassette holder 2. The holding arm 43 is formed so as to be widened in the vertical direction on both left and right sides of the front portion of the cassette holder 2, and the left and right arm portions 40 are formed.
By inserting and holding both holding arms 43 in between,
The ribbon cassette 37 is attached to the cassette holder 2. The convex portion 17 is fixed to the inside of the holding arm 43 with a set screw 44. Reference numeral 45 is a support piece for supporting the middle portion of the casing 39 in the longitudinal direction to prevent bending. The cassette holder 2 is reciprocally driven in the front-rear direction by the driving force of a prime mover 46 such as a pulse motor.

Next, the operation will be described. Cut sheet 1
When printing on 03, the pickup roller 23 of the automatic paper feeding mechanism is rotationally driven to take in the cut sheet 103 on the paper set plate 27 whose lower end is inserted into the cut sheet insertion port B, and the cut sheet The sheet 103 is introduced into the sheet guide path E. When printing on the continuous paper 104, the pin tractor mechanism 105 is driven to feed the continuous paper 104 from the continuous paper insertion port C and introduce the continuous paper 104 into the paper guide path E. And
The leading end of the cut sheet 103 or the continuous sheet 104 is engaged with the rotating friction roller 28, and the paper 10 is rubbed by the frictional force between the upper feed roller 29 and the lower feed roller 30.
3 (or 104) is sent to the platen 12 side. The sheet 103 (or 104) fed in this way is printed by the print head 11 on the platen 12 and is further conveyed by the friction roller 28 to move to the front side of the printer. The cut sheet 103 or the continuous sheet 10
4 is bitten between the upper discharge roller 15 and the lower discharge roller 14, is sent forward by the frictional force between the rollers 14 and 15, and is discharged to the outside from the paper discharge port A on the front surface of the printer housing 100.

In this case, an automatic paper feeding mechanism for feeding the cut sheet 103 and a pin tractor mechanism for feeding the continuous paper 104 are both provided on the back surface of the printer housing 100, and the internal mechanism D such as the print head 11 is provided. Since the sheet 103 (or 104) is conveyed from the rear side to the front side of the printer through the sheet guide path E provided between the frame 1 and the frame 1, the height of the printer housing 100 can be reduced to make the printer thin. You can Moreover, the single-cut sheet insertion slot B for mounting the single-cut sheet 103 and the continuous paper 10
4 and a continuous paper insertion port C for loading the paper 103
The area of these openings can be set as small as possible for both the paper discharge port A for discharging (or 104). Therefore, the sound generated during printing does not largely leak out of the printer housing, and the noise can be reduced.

[0020]

As described above, since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

[0021] Paper outlets on the front and back of the printer housing
And two paper insertion openings, and small holes for paper to pass through
Paper, and allows the paper to pass in the front-back direction of the printer.
Due to the structure, the area of the printer housing opening can be
It can be set as small as possible. Therefore, when printing
The sound generated in the
To provide a low-noise printer that can prevent
be able to.In addition, the pintra on the outside of the continuous paper insertion port
Actuator mechanism is located outside the printer housing
Both the single-cut paper and continuous paper
Since it can be used widely in common, it is possible to avoid jamming when inserting paper.
Occurrence can be prevented. Besides, the pin tractor is outside
Therefore, the continuous paper insertion slot can be made small enough to accommodate paper.
Therefore, the printing noise is not emitted to the outside, so it can be a low noise.
Yes, and easy to set continuous paper on the pin tractor mechanism
It has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an internal mechanism of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the overall structure of the printer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 frame 2 cassette holder 11 print head 12 Platen 23 Pickup roller 26 leaf spring 27 Paper set plate 28 Friction roller 100 printer housing 102 Open / close cover 103 cut sheet 104 continuous paper 105 pin tractor mechanism A paper outlet B Single-cut paper insertion slot C Continuous paper insertion slot D Internal mechanism E paper guide way

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A platen, a print head for printing on paper opposite the platen, and the print head and the platen by forming a paper guide surface for supporting the sheet
A printer housing for accommodating at least a frame forming a paper transport path extending in the front-rear direction passing through the space, and a paper discharge port on the front side in the front- rear direction.
Continuous paper on the side with the single-sheet paper insertion port and the pin tractor mechanism.
And has it <br/> to the printer and a continuous paper insertion port for inserting, and said cut sheet paper insertion port and the continuous paper insertion opening,
Together to isolate the portion of the printer housing,
The pin tractor mechanism is arranged outside the printer housing so as to face the continuous paper insertion port.
Printer. Wherein the platen is a flat bed type, printer according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a paper feed roller on the upstream and downstream side of the paper advance direction relative to the platen. 3. A printer according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that provided in the noncontinuous media insertion opening to face an automatic sheet feed mechanism capable of supplying noncontinuous media. 4. A printer according to claim 1 to claim 3, characterized in that formed on the substantially straight line and a paper feed surface of the sheet guide surface and said pin tractor mechanism. 5. The internal mechanism including the said print head carriage, the printer of claim 1 to claim 4, characterized in that provided above the sheet conveying path.