JP4632559B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly, to a printer including a hand-cutting device that cuts printed paper by hand.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a printer that uses paper wound in a roll, the paper is drawn from the paper roll by the platen roller of the printing unit, printed on the paper by the print head, and the printed paper is cut by a paper cutting device. Yes.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in a printer provided with a hand-cutting device as a paper cutting device, the cutting device is installed away from the print head, so that a blank portion (non-printing portion) that is not printed is generated between them.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a printer in which the non-printing portion of the paper is reduced as much as possible.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the first aspect of the present invention, the printer includes a hand cutting device that cuts a sheet printed by a platen roller and a print head. A cutting blade fixed to the front end of the print head and cutting the printed paper; a casing located downstream of the cutting blade in the paper transport direction, attached to the front end of the print head, and having a lower end opened; A guide member is provided inside the casing so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and a guide member provided with a roller which is rotatable at the lower end with respect to the paper conveyance direction, and a direction in which the guide member protrudes into the paper conveyance area. An urging spring is provided, and the roller protrudes from the lower end of the cutting blade into the sheet conveyance area.
[0006]
According to the printer of the present invention, the non-printing portion is the distance between the cutting blade and the printing element of the printing head, that is, the distance from the tip of the printing head to the printing element, and almost no useless portion is eliminated.
[0007]
In the printer of claim 2 according to the present invention, in the invention of claim 1, a guide member is disposed downstream of the cutting blade in the paper transport direction so as to be able to appear and retract in the paper transport area with respect to the tip of the cutting blade. At the same time, the guide member is urged in a direction protruding into the sheet conveyance area.
[0008]
According to the printer of the present invention, the printed paper is guided by the guide member while avoiding the cutting blade, and there is no possibility of paper jamming by the cutting blade.
[0009]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the second aspect, a roller is disposed at the tip of the guide member so as to be rotatable with respect to the sheet conveying direction.
[0010]
According to the present invention, the paper is guided more smoothly by the roller.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of a printer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0012]
In the printer of the present invention, both a label continuous body in which a label is temporarily attached to a release paper as a mount and a so-called label continuous body without a release paper are supported. 1 shows a label printer using a label continuum. The printer also includes an automatic cutting device and a manual cutting device.
[0013]
In other words, when using a continuous paper label without a mount, if an automatic cutting device is used, the adhesive applied to the back side of the label may adhere to the cutting blade, thereby causing a paper jam. When using a label continuum, it is necessary to use a hand cutting device.
[0014]
In the printer 10 shown in FIG. 1, the baseless label continuous body 11 is pulled out by a platen roller 13 from a label roll (corresponding to a paper roll) 12 around which the baseless label continuous body 11 is wound, and is pulled out by the print head 14. Printing is performed on the continuous label body 11 without backing paper, and the printed continuous label body 11 without backing paper is discharged to the outside through either the automatic cutting device 15 or the manual cutting device 16.
[0015]
In this printer 10, a first paper transport path 18 for discharging the continuous paperless label continuous body 11 from the paper discharge port 17 to the outside through the automatic cutting device 15 and the continuous labelless paperless label downstream of the print head 14 in the label transport direction. A second paper transport path 20 for discharging the body 11 from the paper discharge port 19 to the outside without passing through the automatic cutting device 15, and the first paper transport path 18 and the second paper transport path 20. A path selection device 21 that selects one of the paper transport paths 18 and 20 is provided at the entrance.
[0016]
The automatic cutting device 15 includes a movable blade 22a and a fixed blade 22b, reads a mark on the print end signal or the label continuous body 11 without mount with a sensor, and operates the movable blade 22a based on the detection signal or the like. Then, the label continuous body 11 without the mount is cut.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the manual cutting device 16 includes a plate-like cutting blade 23 that is fixedly installed at the tip of the print head 14. The cutting blade 23 has a width substantially the same as the width of the print head 14 and is provided with a saw blade at the lower end. Further, the manual cutting device 16 has a casing 24 attached to the surface of the cutting blade 23 on the downstream side in the paper transport direction. The casing 24 has a box shape with an open lower end, and a guide member 25 is accommodated therein so as to be slidable in the vertical direction.
[0018]
The guide member 25 includes a roller 26 at the lower end and a pin 27 on the side surface. The pin 27 is inserted into a long hole 28 formed in the side wall of the casing 24, and the movement of the pin 27 is restricted by the long hole 28, and the guide member 25 is moved up and down within the range.
[0019]
Further, a spring 29 is interposed between the upper end surface of the guide member 25 and the upper wall of the casing 24, and the guide member 25 is urged downward by the spring 29.
[0020]
In the hand cutting device 16 configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide member 25 is biased by the biasing force of the spring 29, and the roller 26 moves to the sheet conveyance area from the lower end of the cutting blade 23. It protrudes. Accordingly, the continuous paperless label continuous body 11 printed by the print head 14 is guided by the roller 26 of the guide member 25 and is conveyed to the paper discharge port 19 without contacting the cutting blade 23.
[0021]
When the printing is finished, the leading end of the printed continuous paperless label 11 is discharged from the sheet discharge port 19 to the outside. If the leading end is grabbed and pulled obliquely upward, as shown in FIG. Further, the guide member 25 is pulled up against the urging force of the spring 29 by the label continuous body 11 without the mount, and the roller 26 is positioned above the tip of the cutting blade 23. As a result, the tip of the cutting blade 23 is exposed. Will be. Therefore, the label continuous body 11 without the mount bites into the cutting blade 23 and is cut by the cutting blade 23.
[0022]
In this way, the margin at the leading end of the continuous substrateless label continuous body 11 following the label cut by the manual cutting device 16 is cut from the printing element 14a of the print head 14 as shown in FIG. The range L is up to 23, which is extremely small.
[0023]
The path selection device 21 shown in FIG. 1 is installed so that the other end of the guide plate 30 is moved up and down around the print head side end. By guiding the label-less continuous label body 11 to the first paper transport path 18 and guiding the label-less continuous label body 11 through the automatic cutting device 15 to the paper discharge port 17 and moving the guide plate 30 upward, The printed continuous paper label 11 is guided to the second paper transport path 20, and the continuous paper label 11 is guided to the paper outlet 19.
[0024]
The operation of the guide plate 30 may be performed manually, or it may be automatically switched by detecting whether or not the continuous labelless body 11 to be used has a mount. .
[0025]
In the above embodiment, the label printer 10 has been described. However, the printer of the present invention may be a printer that uses general belt-shaped paper.
[0026]
Further, the roller 26 of the hand cutting device 16 shown in the above embodiment corresponds to the width of the continuous labelless body 11 passing through the roller 26, but guides the portion of the continuous labelless body 11 without the mount. You may make it do. Further, the lower end of the guide member 25 may be formed on a curved surface instead of the roller 26.
[0027]
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the guide member 25 is disposed so as to be movable up and down along the cutting blade 23. However, the guide member 25 is disposed so that the lower end of the guide member 25 swings along the sheet conveyance area. In addition, the guide member 25 is urged to be attached to the cutting blade 23 by a torsion coil spring or the like, and the guide member 25 swings against the urging force of the spring when the paper is cut. Accordingly, the lower end of the guide member 25 can be configured to be retracted from the sheet conveyance area.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the printer of claim 1 of the present invention, the non-printing portion is the distance between the cutting blade and the printing element of the printing head, that is, the distance from the leading end of the printing head to the printing element. There is no useless part.
[0029]
According to the printer of the second aspect of the present invention, the printed paper is guided by the guide member while avoiding the cutting blade, and there is no possibility of paper jamming by the cutting blade.
[0030]
According to the printer of the third aspect of the present invention, the paper is guided more smoothly by the roller.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a label printer as an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a manual cutting device of the label printer shown in FIG. 1, and a casing is shown by a two-dot chain line.
3 is a cross-sectional view conceptually showing a main part cutting apparatus of the label printer shown in FIG. 1 and showing a state when a sheet is printed.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view conceptually showing the main part of the label printer shown in FIG. 1 and shows a state when paper is cut.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 11 ... Label continuous body without mount, 12 ... Label roll (paper roll), 13 ... Platen roller, 14 ... Print head, 14a ... Printing element, 15 ... Automatic cutting device, 16 ... Manual cutting device, 17 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Paper discharge port, 18 ... 1st paper conveyance path, 19 ... Paper discharge port, 20 ... 2nd paper conveyance path, 21 ... Path selection apparatus, 22a ... Fixed blade, 22b ... Movable blade, 23 ... Cutting blade, 24 ... casing, 25 ... guide member, 26 ... roller, 27 ... pin, 28 ... long hole, 29 ... spring, 30 ... guide plate

Claims (1)

In a printer provided with a manual cutting device for cutting paper printed by a platen roller and a print head,
The cutting device is
A cutting blade fixed at the tip of the print head and cutting the printed paper;
A casing that is positioned downstream of the cutting blade in the paper conveying direction, is attached to the tip of the print head, and has a lower end opened;
A guide member provided inside the casing so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and a guide member provided with a roller which is rotatable at the lower end in the paper transport direction;
The printer according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is provided with a spring that biases in a direction to project into the sheet conveyance area, and the roller projects from the lower end of the cutting blade into the sheet conveyance area.

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