JP3491257B2 - Large printer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a large-sized printer using roll paper, and more particularly to a large-sized printer configured to eliminate a discharge roller in a printing section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a large-sized printer using a roll paper, particularly a large-sized printer for printing on a large paper having a width of 420 mm or more, a paper feed unit, a printing unit, and a discharge stack unit are in an upper, middle, and lower positional relationship. The applicant of the present application has arranged a sheet conveyance path from the sheet feeding section through the printing section to the sheet discharge stack section, which is formed substantially straight from the diagonally upper back side to the diagonally lower front side. , Filed earlier.

[0003]

In a large-sized printer having a slanted paper transport path, when printing on a large-sized paper as described above, first insert the leading end of the paper into the paper transport path from diagonally above. It is necessary to pass the print area of the print section to align the leading edge of the paper.

An object of the present invention is to provide a large-sized printer having a slanted paper conveying path, which can easily align the position of the leading end of the paper when printing on the paper.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is such that a paper feed unit, a printing unit and a paper discharge stack unit are arranged in an upper, middle and lower positional relationship.
A paper transport path from the paper feed section through the print section to the paper discharge stack section is provided with a lateral position for leading edge alignment described later.
A large printer that is substantially straight in form in front of the obliquely downward side line is provided from the back side of <br/> obliquely upward when the front of the printer, the print head of the sheet transport path A suction means for sucking the sheet from the back side to prevent the sheet from separating from the conveying surface on the downstream side of the sheet conveyance surface, and the most downstream position of the suction area of the suction means.
Is also used as a horizontal line for aligning the leading edge of the paper .

According to the present invention, in a large-sized printer having a slanted paper transport path, when the front end of the paper is inserted into the paper transport path from diagonally above and passes through the printing area of the printing unit to align the front end of the paper. Further, since the leading end side of the sheet is firmly held in that position in a flat state by the suction means, the leading end position can be easily adjusted.
In particular, in the case of paper with weak stiffness (particularly, single-cut paper with weak stiffness), if the posture of the paper is not forcibly maintained, it will bend and the alignment will be difficult. Even weak paper can be held firmly, so alignment can be done easily. Further, the suction area of the suction means
The most downstream position also serves as a horizontal line for aligning the leading edge of the paper.
It is characterized by that. According to the invention,
The horizontal line that serves as a reference for the alignment of the leading edge of the paper is the suction capacity
Since it has a flat surface, it does not float up to the leading edge of the paper and is flat.
The posture is controlled by the carrier, and precise positioning is possible.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the large-sized printer according to the first aspect, the paper feed roller arranged upstream of the print head in the paper transport path is different from the drive roller. The driven roller is formed so as to be relatively contactable and separable, that is, releasable, and the both ends of the sheet are aligned in a released state.

According to the present invention, when the front end of the paper is inserted obliquely from above into the paper conveyance path and passes through the printing area of the printing section, the paper feed roller can be operated in the released state, so that the paper can be easily inserted. After being inserted, the sheet is held in that position by the suction means,
Particularly in the case of single-cut sheets, there is no risk of accidentally dropping from a sheet conveyance path having an oblique structure. Further, it becomes easier to align the position of the leading edge of the paper.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is characterized in that, in the large scale printer according to claim 1 or 2, the suction means is formed by arranging small suction ports as a unit. To do. According to the present invention, the suction portion of the suction means can be formed with a simple structure.

[0010]

Further, the invention according to claim 4 of the present application is a contract
The large-sized printer described in claim 3 is characterized in that the outermost end position of the suction area of the suction means also serves as a vertical line for aligning the paper in the vertical direction.
According to the present invention, it is possible to easily perform precise alignment on the side of the paper with the vertical line, as with the horizontal line.

The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is a contract
In the large size printer described in any one of the first to fourth aspects, in the paper conveyance path, a large-sized cut sheet is drooped backward from a portion where the suction means is provided, through a front surface and an upper surface of the paper feeding unit. It is characterized in that it is formed so that it can be aligned with the leading edge of a large-sized cut sheet in this hanging state.

According to the present invention, when printing on a considerably large single-cut sheet, the sheet must first be set in the printer. However, by setting the set state to the hanging state, it is possible to set easily. be able to. Moreover, when aligning the leading edge of the sheet in the set state, if the leading edge of the sheet is to be returned a little upstream, the hanging portion exerts a pulling force based on its own weight, so that it can be returned with a light force. it can. On the contrary, when the leading edge of the sheet is moved to the downstream side, the entire weight of the sheet does not move to the downstream side at once due to the action of the hanging portion, so that the sheet can be easily moved with a light force. The alignment can be easily performed.

The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is a contract
The large-sized printer according to any one of the first to fifth aspects is characterized in that the paper feed unit is configured to be able to feed roll paper as well as single-cut paper. According to the present invention, even when the leading edge of the roll paper is aligned, the suction means securely holds the leading edge of the paper in that position in a flat state, so that the leading edge alignment can be easily performed. .

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a printing surface of a large-sized printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, to be precise, a transportation surface before and after a printing portion in a paper transportation path, and FIG. It is a schematic front view of the printer,
FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view of the large printer.

The large printer according to the present embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed unit 30, the print unit 7, and the paper discharge stack unit 8 are arranged in an upper, middle, and lower positional relationship. Further, a sheet conveying path extending from the sheet feeding section 30 through the printing section 7 to the sheet discharge stack section 8 is formed substantially straight from the inner side on the diagonally upper side to the front side on the diagonally lower side. The paper feeding unit 30 can feed both the roll paper 3 and the single-cut paper 40 (FIG. 1) including a large rigid cardboard. Specifically, the roll paper 3 is attached to the paper feed unit 30 by two spindles 4 and 5 so as to be removable at the time of replacement, and the cut paper 40 is fed as shown in FIG. It is configured such that it can be set by placing it on the slope on the front side of the portion 30. In the present embodiment, the roll paper cover 28 provided on the front surface of the loaded roll paper 3 is formed so as to also serve as the support portion 29 in the set state of the cut sheet 40.

The printing unit 7 has a printing unit composed of an ink jet type print head 22 and a platen 33 (FIG. 1) arranged so as to face the print head 22, and serves as a paper conveying surface on the upstream side of the print head 22. It has a flat sheet feed guide 31 that operates and a flat sheet discharge guide 23 that acts as a sheet transport surface on the downstream side. In the present embodiment, a step d is formed between the paper transport surface on the upstream side of the print head 22 by the paper feed guide 31 and the paper transport surface on the downstream side of the print head 22 by the paper discharge guide 23 (see FIG. 1).
(See the above), and the stepped structure is such that the paper transport surface on the downstream side of the print head 7 descends toward the back side.

The structure of the printing unit 7 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. A paper transport surface upstream of the print head 22 by the paper feed guide 31 and a paper discharge guide 23.
A step d is formed on the downstream side of the print head 22 by the platen 33 with the platen 33 as a boundary. That is, the sheet mounting surface of the platen 33 is determined by the plurality of ribs 34 protruding from the upper surface of the platen 33, and the level of the paper feed guide 31 is the rib 34.
Almost the same as the above, and the level of the paper discharge guide 23 is lowered by a step d from this.

The discharge guide 23 on the downstream side of the print head 22 is provided with a suction port 25 composed of a plurality of small holes communicating with a suction chamber (not shown). Paper 40 through the suction port 25
The sheet is sucked from the back side to prevent the sheet from floating, and can be held flat on the sheet conveying surface in a flat state. The suction ports 25 are formed side by side in the lateral direction, and in this embodiment, five rows are provided laterally at a predetermined interval. The suction port 25 constitutes a suction means together with the suction chamber and the suction fan 24.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed roller 50 is arranged immediately upstream of the pair of the print head 22 and the platen 33, and is composed of a pair of a drive roller 35 and a driven roller 36 and is driven. A roller 36 is provided so that it can be brought into and out of contact with a rotation lever 37. The reason why this contact / separation mechanism is required is that the driven roller 36 is separated from the paper feed roller 35 (releasing state) so that the paper can easily pass therethrough when the sheets are aligned. That is, in aligning the leading edge of the sheet, the leading edge of the sheet 40 is inserted obliquely from above into the sheet transport path to pass through the printing area of the printing unit 7 (below the print head 22), and the leading edge of the sheet is placed on the paper ejection guide 23. It is formed so as to be aligned with a horizontal line 38 as a set mark. Here, the horizontal line 38 is also used at the most downstream position of the row of the suction ports 25 that constitutes the suction means (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the vertical line 39 for aligning the paper 40 in the vertical direction is also used as the outermost end position (the right end in this embodiment) of the suction area of the suction means. There is. Then, after this alignment is completed, the driven roller 36 is brought close to the drive roller 35 to nip it, and then the drive roller 35 is rotated in the reverse direction to return the leading edge of the paper and stopped at the print start position. here,
Horizontal line 38 and vertical line 39 as set marks
By using these, the front end of the sheet is aligned to prevent the skewed conveyance of the sheet in advance.

In the present embodiment, the paper feeding section 30 is configured to be able to feed the roll paper 3 in addition to the cut paper 40 as shown in FIG. Then, the roll paper 3 sent to the paper transport path is provided at a predetermined length for each printing unit by a cutter 41 arranged on the cartridge 21 at a downstream side of the print head 22 with a certain distance from the print head 22. It is supposed to be disconnected. In the case of the present embodiment, the cutter 41 includes a solenoid 42 and a return spring 43.
It is configured to be driven from the front side to the back side of the transport surface against the above.

Further, the paper discharge stack portion 8 is a portion for receiving the printed paper, and by the paper discharge switching lever 26,
At the time of separating the roll paper 3, the stack cloth 27 is unfolded to the front of the printer, the printed paper is guided to the lower part of the printer main body, or a position that does not hinder the discharge of the rigid cardboard when printing the rigid cardboard (see FIG. 3). Position).

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation of the large-sized printer according to the present embodiment will be described by taking the case of printing the cut sheet 40 as an example. According to this embodiment,
A large-sized printer having a slanted paper transport path is used.
When the position of the front end of the paper is adjusted by passing through the print area of, the front end side of the paper is firmly held in that position in a flat state by the suction port 25 constituting the suction means, so that the front end position can be easily aligned. Can be done. In particular, in the case of a single-cut sheet having a weak stiffness, it is difficult to align the sheet without forcibly holding the posture of the sheet, but according to the present embodiment, even such a weak stiffness of the sheet is firmly fixed. Since it is held, its alignment can be easily performed.

Further, in the case where the paper feed roller 50 disposed on the upstream side of the print head 22 is formed so as to be relatively contactable and separable, that is, releaseable, the leading end of the paper 40 is obliquely upward in the paper transport path. Since the paper feed roller 50 can be in the released state when the paper 40 is inserted from above and passed through the printing area of the printing unit 7, it is easy to insert the paper 40. After being inserted, the paper 40 is sucked by the suction means (suction port 2
Since it is held in that position by 5), especially in the case of a single-cut sheet, there is no risk of being accidentally dropped from the sheet conveyance path having an oblique structure, and the position of the leading edge of the sheet becomes easier to align.

When the most downstream position of the suction area of the suction means also serves as the horizontal line 38 for aligning the leading edge of the sheet 40, the horizontal line 38 serving as a reference for aligning the leading edge of the sheet has suction capability. Therefore, the posture of the sheet 40 is flatly controlled without floating up to the leading edge of the sheet 40, and precise positioning is possible. Further, in the case where the outermost end position of the suction area of the suction means also serves as the vertical line 39 for vertical alignment of the paper 40, the side of the paper 40 is also connected to the horizontal line 38 by the vertical line 39. Similarly, precise positioning can be easily performed.

Further, in the case where the paper feeding section 30 is configured to be able to feed the roll paper 3 in addition to the cut-sheet paper 40, even when the leading end position of the roll paper 3 is aligned, the suction means can be used. Since the leading edge of the sheet is firmly held in that position in a flat state, the leading edge can be easily aligned.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the paper transport path is
A large-sized cut sheet 51 is formed so as to be able to hang backward from a portion of the suction port 25 provided with the suction means through the front surface of the roll paper cover 28 of the sheet feeding unit 30 and the upper surface 16 of the main body.
That is, the upper surface 16 of the main body and the rear of the main body are also formed so as to be used as a sheet conveyance path. The leading edge of the large-sized cut sheet 51 can be aligned in this hanging state.

According to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, when printing on a considerably large cut sheet 51, as shown in FIG.
Although it cannot be set as it is on the front surface side of the printer like the paper 40 of the size shown in FIG. 2, the rear end side of the paper is set in a hanging state by using the rear of the top surface 16 of the printer main body, The large paper 51 can be easily set in the printer. Moreover, when aligning the leading edge of the sheet in the set state, if the leading edge of the sheet is to be slightly returned to the upstream side in the transport direction, the hanging portion (the trailing edge side of the sheet 51) has its own weight. Since it exerts a pulling force based on it, it can be returned with a light force. Also,
On the contrary, when the leading edge of the sheet is moved to the downstream side, the entire weight of the sheet 51 does not move to the downstream side at once due to the action of the hanging portion. Matching can be easily performed.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, a large size printer having a slanted paper transport path can easily align the leading edge of the paper when printing on the paper. That is, in a large-sized printer having a slanted paper transport path, the suction according to the present invention is performed when the front end of the paper is inserted into the paper transport path from diagonally above to pass through the print area of the printing unit to align the front end of the paper. Since the leading edge side of the sheet is firmly held in that position by the means in a flat state, the leading edge position can be easily adjusted. In particular, in the case of single-cut sheets with weak stiffness, it is difficult to align the sheets without forcibly holding the posture of the sheets, but according to the present invention, even such weak sheets can be firmly held. Therefore, the alignment can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a structure of a conveying surface of a printing unit of a large-sized printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of a large-sized printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a large-sized printer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 roll paper 7 Printing department 8 Paper output stack section 16 body top 22 Print head (printing section) 23 Paper ejection guide 24 Suction fan (suction means) 25 Suction port (suction means) 28 roll paper cover 30 paper feeder 31 Paper feed guide 33 Platen (printing section) 35 drive roller 36 Driven roller 38 Horizontal line (set mark) 39 Vertical line (set mark) 40 cut sheets 50 paper feed rollers 51 large size cut sheets

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A paper feed path in which a paper feed unit, a print unit, and a paper discharge stack unit are arranged in an upper, middle, and lower positional relationship, and a paper transport path from the paper feed unit through the printing unit to the paper discharge stack unit is provided. , A horizontal line for tip alignment is provided
The side and from the back side of the obliquely upward when the front of the printer a large printer which is substantially straight in form in front of the obliquely downward, the sheet conveying surface in the downstream side of the print head of the sheet transport path , A suction means is provided for sucking the paper from the back surface to prevent the paper from separating from the conveying surface, and the most downstream position of the suction area of the suction means is the leading edge position of the paper.
A large printer that also functions as a horizontal line for alignment . 2. The paper feed roller arranged on the upstream side of the print head in the paper transport path, wherein a driven roller is formed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from a drive roller. The large-sized printer is characterized in that the position adjustment is performed so that both rollers are separated from each other. 3. The large-sized printer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the suction means is configured by arranging small suction ports as a unit. 4. A large-sized printer according to claim 1 , wherein the outermost end position of the suction area of the suction means also serves as a vertical line for aligning the paper in the vertical direction. 5. The claim 1, wherein the paper transport path, can droop backward through the front and top of the paper feed unit noncontinuous media of large from the sucking unit is provided partially A large-sized printer, which is configured to be capable of aligning the leading edge of a large-sized cut sheet in this hanging state. 6. The claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding unit, large printers, characterized in that other on the roll paper noncontinuous media are configured to be fed.