JP5765144B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs desired printing on a printing medium.

  For example, a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as a printing apparatus that feeds out a printing medium stored in a roll shape and performs desired printing. This printing apparatus (electronic register) includes an apparatus housing (main body case), a conveyance roller for conveying a printing medium (paper), a printing unit for printing on the printing medium, and a printing medium after printing And a discharge blade (issue port) provided in the apparatus housing. During the printing operation, the medium to be printed supplied from the roll is conveyed by the conveyance roller, and printing is performed by the printing unit. The medium to be printed on which printing has been formed is discharged from the discharge port to the outside of the apparatus housing. The discharged print medium can generate a printed matter (receipt) separated from the roll side by being cut by the operator using a fixed blade member.

JP 2007-118093 A

  Here, during the printing operation, the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member with respect to the path of the medium to be printed that is transported as described above, printed by the printing unit, and discharged is important. For example, when the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member is poor and the installation position of the fixed blade member is too close to the head or the discharge port of the printing means or too far away, the cutting edge portion of the fixed blade member is cut when the operator cuts. There is a possibility that the printing medium is not smoothly contacted and the printing medium cannot be cut well. In the above prior art, consideration is given to improving the safety of the fixed blade member without impairing the sharpness, but the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member as described above is not particularly considered. For this reason, when the positioning accuracy is low, the smooth cutting of the print medium may be impaired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus in which a fixed blade member can be positioned and arranged with high accuracy and a smooth cutting of a printing medium can be realized with certainty.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a fixed portion, and an opening / closing portion connected to one side of the first direction included in the horizontal direction so as to be openable and closable with respect to the fixed portion, and constitutes an apparatus outline An apparatus housing, a roll that is provided on one side in the first direction of the fixing portion and wound with a print medium, and a storage portion that is opened and closed by the opening and closing portion; The print medium that is provided in the opening / closing portion so that the axis is along a second direction orthogonal to the one direction and is supplied from the roll housed in the storage portion when the opening / closing portion is in a closed state. A conveyance roller that conveys, a print processing unit that is provided in the fixing unit and performs printing on the print medium, and is provided along the second direction in the casing, and is printed by the print processing unit. Said was done A print head having a discharge port for discharging the print medium to the outside of the apparatus housing, wherein the print processing unit performs a desired print on the print medium conveyed by the conveyance roller. A unit housing that forms a rocking space in which the print head can be swung toward and away from the transport roller, and is fixed to the unit housing and discharged from the discharge port. A fixed blade member for cutting the print medium, the fixed blade member standing upright along the edge of the discharge port, and the first above the swinging space. Two mounting portions that extend in a substantially horizontal direction on both sides in two directions, and each of the other ends in the first direction are attached to the unit housing, and above the swinging space, the 2 One In the upper part of the oscillating space, a blade edge support portion extending in a substantially horizontal direction continuously on one side in the first direction of the two attachment portions so as to connect the blade edge portion to the attachment portion. A reinforcing rib portion positioned at an intermediate portion of the two attachment portions in the second direction and bent from the other end portion in the first direction of the blade edge support portion toward the swinging space. Features.

  The printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes an apparatus housing having a fixing part and an opening / closing part. On one side in the first direction of the fixed part (for example, at the rear of the apparatus), a storage unit that stores a roll of the print medium is provided, and the storage unit can be opened and closed by an opening / closing unit. The fixed unit is also provided with a print processing unit for printing on the print medium. In addition, the apparatus housing is provided with a discharge port along a second direction (for example, the left-right direction) orthogonal to the first direction.

  During the printing operation, in the closed state of the opening / closing unit, the print medium supplied from the roll of the storage unit is conveyed by the conveying roller provided in the opening / closing unit, and printing is performed by the print head of the print processing unit. At this time, in the print processing unit, a rocking space is provided inside the unit housing, and the print head is housed in this rocking space so as to be able to rock in the near and far direction toward the conveyance roller. As a result, the printing medium is sandwiched between the conveyance roller and the print head while pressing the print head against the conveyance roller provided in the closed opening / closing portion with an optimum pressure, and printing is performed smoothly and with good quality. It can be performed. The medium to be printed on which printing has been formed is discharged from the discharge port to the outside of the apparatus housing.

  The discharged print medium can be separated from the roll side by the operator using a fixed blade member to cut it. At this time, the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member with respect to the path of the medium to be printed that is transported by the transport roller and printed by the print head as described above is important. For example, if the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member is poor and it is too close or too far from the print head, the cutting edge of the fixed blade member does not smoothly contact the print medium when cutting by the operator, and the print medium is cut well. Can not do it. Further, if the fixed blade member is too close to the transport roller, it may come into contact with the transport roller and affect the durability.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the fixed blade member is fixed to the print processing unit in which the print head is arranged. Specifically, the blade edge portion is connected to attachment portions provided in two locations in the second direction (for example, the left-right direction) via the blade edge support portion, and the other end portion in the first direction of the two attachment portions ( For example, the front end) is attached to the unit housing. As described above, the print head is disposed so as to be swingable with respect to the unit housing of the print processing unit. The fixed blade member can be positioned with high accuracy with respect to the print head as compared with the case where the fixed blade member is attached to the portion.

  Here, the blade edge portion of the fixed blade member is provided along the edge of the discharge port. However, as described above, the print head that performs printing on the discharged print medium swings inside the unit housing. Perform perspective swing in space. Therefore, in order to avoid hindering the swing, in the present invention, the blade edge support portion and two attachment portions are extended in the substantially horizontal direction above the swing space, and finally the two attachment portions are connected to the unit housing. A structure that can be attached to the body. Thereby, smooth oscillation of the print head can be ensured.

Further, in the fixed blade member having a structure extending in the substantially horizontal direction as described above, the blade edge portion has a so-called cantilever structure by fixing at the attachment portion on the other side in the first direction (for example, the front side). For this reason, depending on the material of the fixed blade member, there is a concern that the deflection may occur and the positioning accuracy may be lowered. Therefore, in the present invention, reinforcement is performed from the other end portion (for example, the front end portion) in the first direction of the blade edge support portion toward the lower motive space at the intermediate portion of the two attachment portions in the second direction (for example, the left-right direction). Provide ribs. Thereby, since the intensity | strength in the above cantilever structures can be reinforced, generation | occurrence | production of the said bending can be prevented and high positioning accuracy can be ensured.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the fixed blade member can be positioned and arranged with high accuracy, smooth cutting of the print medium can be reliably realized.

  According to the present invention, the fixed blade member can be positioned and arranged with high accuracy, and smooth cutting of the print medium can be reliably realized.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an external configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the perspective view and top view which looked at the state which removed only the fixed cover part among the top covers of a housing | casing, and was seen from the front side diagonally upward direction. It is the perspective view seen from the front side diagonal upper direction showing the state which removed the whole top cover of the housing | casing. It is the perspective view seen from the back side slanting upper direction showing the state which removed the whole top cover of the housing | casing. It is the perspective view seen from the back side slanting upper direction showing the state which removed the whole top cover and roll paper of a housing | casing. It is sectional drawing by the FF cross section in FIG. 1, and sectional drawing by the GG cross section. It is a perspective view showing the detailed structure of a mechanical unit. It is a perspective view showing the detailed structure of a fixed blade member.

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

<Schematic configuration of printer>
The overall configuration of a printer (printing apparatus) 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following description, the lower right direction in FIG. 1 is defined as right, the upper left direction is left, the upper right direction is rearward, the lower left direction is front, the upper direction is upper, and the lower direction is lower (in each figure). (See arrow illustration). In this example, the front-rear direction in the above definition corresponds to the first direction described in each claim, the left-right direction corresponds to the second direction, the rear corresponds to one side of the first direction, and the front It corresponds to the other side in the first direction.

  The printer 1 prints print data received from an external device (not shown) such as a PC terminal or a mobile phone on a roll paper S (print medium). The printer 1 can be driven using a battery (not shown) as a power source.

  The printer 1 includes a substantially box-shaped device housing 100 that is made of, for example, a resin material and forms an outer shell of the device. The apparatus housing 100 includes a top cover 101 that constitutes the upper part of the apparatus outer shell and an under cover 102 that constitutes the lower part of the apparatus outer casing. The top cover 101 includes a fixed cover portion 101A on the front side and an opening / closing lid 101B on the rear side. The fixed cover portion 101A and the under cover 102 correspond to a fixed portion described in each claim, and the opening / closing lid 101B corresponds to an opening / closing portion.

  The end portion of the under cover 102 is provided with a pair of left and right insertion portions 102a. For example, a strap or the like is inserted into the insertion portion 102a, and the operator can place the battery-powered printer 1 in various places (including outdoors) as described above by hanging it over the shoulder, neck, or waist belt. It can be easily carried and used.

  A roll storage portion 161 (storage portion) is provided below the opening / closing lid 101B of the top cover 101 (inside the apparatus housing 100) (see FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). . The roll storage unit 161 stores the roll paper S wound in a roll shape so that both ends of the roll paper S are rotatably supported by the support member 162, so that the roll paper continuously from the roll storage unit 161. S can be supplied. At this time, the opening / closing lid 101B is rotatably connected to the rear end portion of the under cover 102 via the hinge portion H, thereby opening the roll storage portion 161 to the outside, and the roll storage portion 161. It can be switched to the closed state to be accommodated inside. By opening the opening / closing lid 101B, the roll storage unit 161 can be exposed to the outside of the apparatus, and the roll paper S can be easily mounted or replaced.

  Further, a discharge port 107 for discharging the roll paper S after printing is provided at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction of the top cover 101 (in this example, the portion where the fixed cover portion 101A and the opening / closing lid 101B are attached). (See FIGS. 1 and 6). At this time, the discharge port 107 is provided so as to open toward one side along the vertical direction (in this example, upward).

  A platen roller 111 (conveyance roller) is rotatably supported at the front end of the opening / closing lid 101B, and its axial center k (see FIG. 6) is arranged along the left-right direction. The platen roller 111 conveys the roll paper S by the rotation of a rotor (not shown) in the motor casing 21 being transmitted when the open / close lid 101B is in the closed state.

<Mechanical unit and surroundings>
On the other hand, a mechanical unit MU (print processing unit) including a main chassis member 150 is provided in the vicinity of the center in the front-rear direction inside the apparatus housing 100 (specifically, the under cover 102). The detailed configuration of the mechanical unit MU is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7 and FIGS. 2 to 6 above, in the mechanical unit MU, the head unit HU is disposed in the main chassis member 150 so as to be swingable in the front-rear direction (for details of the swing structure). Will be described later). The head unit HU is provided with an integrated thermal line head 112 (printing head) and a heat sink 114 for cooling the heat generated by the thermal line head 112. The heat sink 114 is urged toward the platen roller 111 (that is, the rear side) by a plurality of (two in this example) coil springs 115 whose front side ends are supported by the main chassis member 150. Thus, when the open / close lid 101B is in the closed state, the thermal line head 112 contacts the platen roller 111 with a predetermined pressure contact force.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the mechanical unit MU includes a substantially cylindrical motor casing 21 that is an outer shell of the above-described motor that generates a driving force for rotationally driving the platen roller 111, on the left side of the main chassis member 150. And a gear mechanism 132 configured to be connected to the platen roller 111 in a closed state of the opening / closing lid 101B and transmitting the driving force of the motor to the platen roller 111.

The motor casing 21 is provided below the discharge port 107 inside the apparatus housing 100 (see FIG. 6B described above). The motor casing 21 has the left-right direction as the axial direction, and the motor shaft MA of the drive motor is provided to protrude from the motor casing 21 to the left side. A motor cover 31 that covers the motor casing 21 is provided. The drive motor is controlled by a control board 170 (see FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6A) arranged from the lower side of the mechanical unit MU to the rear side of the apparatus housing 100. The drive is controlled. In this example, the control board 170 is extended in the horizontal direction for convenience of handling and assembling. 3 and 4, the control board 170 is not shown in order to avoid the complexity of the illustration. The control board 170 controls the thermal line head 112 of the mechanical unit MU, the drive motor, and the like while using the power supplied from the battery.

<Overview of printer operation>
In the above configuration, at the time of printing, print data is transmitted from an external device such as a PC terminal or a mobile phone to the printer 1 via wireless communication (or wired communication or infrared communication). Further, the roll paper S is fed out from the roll storage portion 161 by the rotation of the platen roller 111 based on the driving force of the driving motor. The fed roll paper S is guided to a pressure contact portion between the platen roller 111 and the thermal line head 112 by a guide member 120 provided below the discharge port 107. The thermal line head 112 performs printing in a desired mode on the roll paper S inserted between the thermal line head 112 and the platen roller 111 based on the print data. The printed roll paper S is discharged to the outside of the apparatus housing 100 through a discharge port 107 extending along the left-right direction. At this time, a fixed blade member 160 is attached to the main chassis member 150 along the discharge port 107 inside the discharge port 107. The operator can manually cut the end portion of the roll paper S that has been printed as described above and discharged from the discharge port 107 using the fixed blade member 160.

  When a paper jam or the like occurs, the platen roller 111 is released from the thermal line head 112 by opening the opening / closing lid 101B of the top cover 101, and the roll paper S can be easily pulled out. .

<Features of this embodiment>
In the above basic configuration, the feature of the present embodiment is the shape and mounting structure of the fixed blade member 160 in the mechanical unit MU. Hereinafter, the details will be described in order.

<Storage structure of the head unit in the mechanical unit>
As shown in FIG. 7, the mechanical unit MU includes a unit casing 190 formed by a rectangular cylindrical support frame that constitutes a part of the main chassis member 150. A head unit HU including a thermal line head 112 is disposed in the unit housing 190 so as to be swingable. In other words, the swing space SP is provided inside the unit housing 190, and the head unit HU includes a plurality of (two in this example) supported by the main chassis member 150 in the swing space SP. The coil spring 115 is housed so as to be swingable toward and away from the platen roller 111.

As a result, the platen roller 111 provided on the closed opening / closing lid 101B is pressed against the platen roller 111 of the head unit HU with an optimum pressure, and the roll is moved between the platen roller 111 and the thermal line head 112. The paper S can be sandwiched. Thus, printing can be performed smoothly and with good quality, and the roll paper S on which the printing is formed is discharged from the discharge port 107 to the outside of the apparatus housing 100 as described above. The discharged roll paper S can be separated from the roll side by the operator using the fixed blade member 160 to cut it. The detailed structure of the fixed blade member 160 is shown in FIG.

  Here, the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member 160 with respect to the path of the roll paper S conveyed by the platen roller 111, printed by the thermal line head 112, and discharged as described above is important. For example, when the positioning accuracy of the fixed blade member 160 is poor and the thermal line head 112 is too close or too far, the blade edge portion 180 of the fixed blade member 160 does not smoothly contact the roll paper S when being cut by the operator. The roll paper S cannot be cut well. Further, when the fixed blade member 160 is too close to the platen roller 111, the fixed blade member 160 itself may come into contact with the platen roller 111 and affect the durability.

<Specific configuration of fixed blade member>
Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 8, 2, 5, and 7, etc., the fixed blade member 160 is fixed to the unit casing 190 provided in the mechanical unit MU, and the blade edge is used. Part 180, two left and right attachment parts 181 and 181, and a blade edge support part 182. The attachment portion 181 is extended in a substantially horizontal direction on both sides in the left-right direction above the rocking space SP, and each front side end portion is attached to the unit housing 190. The blade edge support portion 182 is substantially horizontally continuous to the rear side of the two attachment portions 181 and 181 so as to connect the blade edge portion 180 to the two attachment portions 181 and 181 above the swing space SP. It extends in the direction. The blade edge portion 180 is connected to flat plate-like attachment portions 181 provided at two locations in the left-right direction via the blade edge support portion 182, and the front end portions of the two attachment portions 181 are screwed to the unit housing 190. It is attached with. As described above, since the head unit HU including the thermal line head 112 is disposed so as to be swingable with respect to the unit casing 190, by attaching the fixed blade member 160 directly to the unit casing 190, the apparatus Compared to the case where the fixed blade member 160 is attached to the fixed cover portion 101A and the under cover 102 or the opening / closing lid 101B of the housing 100, the fixed blade member 160 can be positioned with high accuracy with respect to the thermal line head 112.

  Here, although the blade edge portion 180 of the fixed blade member 160 is provided along the edge of the discharge port 107, the head unit HU including the thermal line head 112 that performs printing on the discharged roll paper S is described above. Thus, the perspective swing is performed in the swing space SP inside the unit casing 190. Therefore, in this embodiment, the blade edge support portion 182 and the two attachment portions 181 are extended in a substantially horizontal direction above the oscillation space SP so that the oscillation is not hindered, and finally the two attachment portions are provided. By adopting a structure in which the portion 181 is attached to the unit casing 190, smooth swinging of the head unit HU including the thermal line head 112 is ensured.

On the other hand, in the fixed blade member 160 having a structure extending in the substantially horizontal direction as described above, the blade edge portion 180 has a so-called cantilever structure that is fixed by the attachment portion 181 on the front side. For this reason, depending on the material of the fixed blade member 160, there is a concern that the deflection may occur and the positioning accuracy may be lowered. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the reinforcing rib portion 183 is provided downward from the front end portion of the blade edge support portion 182 at an intermediate portion between the two attachment portions 181 and 181 in the left-right direction. Thereby, the strength in the cantilever structure as described above can be reinforced, the occurrence of the deflection is prevented, and high positioning accuracy can be ensured.

  As described above, in the printer 1 of the present embodiment, the fixed blade member 160 can be positioned and arranged with high accuracy, so that smooth cutting of the roll paper S can be realized with certainty.

  In the present embodiment, in particular, the reinforcing rib portion 183 of the fixed blade member 160 is provided downward (not upward) from the front end portion of the blade edge support portion 182. This has the following significance in particular. That is, in the fixed blade member 160, the blade edge portion 180 is provided so as to be exposed to the discharge port 107 along the edge of the discharge port 107, but the other portion is the upper surface of the fixed cover portion 101 </ b> A of the apparatus housing 100. Is provided so as to be covered with the upper surface of the fixed cover portion 101A (see FIGS. 1, 2, and 6). Therefore, in order to prevent interference between the fixed blade member 160 and the fixed cover portion 101A, it is necessary to secure a predetermined distance between the fixed cover portion 101A and the upper portion of the fixed blade member 160 positioned below the fixed cover portion 101A. is there. As a result, when the reinforcing rib portion 183 is provided upward, it is necessary to further increase the position of the fixed cover portion 101A of the apparatus housing 100 by an amount corresponding to the vertical dimension of the reinforcing rib portion 183. The apparatus casing 100 is increased in size. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the reinforcing rib portion 183 of the fixed blade member 160 is provided facing downward. As a result, it is possible to avoid the increase in size of the device casing 100 in the vertical direction as described above, and to reliably reduce the size.

  In the present embodiment, in particular, in the oscillating space SP, the head unit HU in which the thermal line head 112 and the heat sink 114 for radiating heat generated by the thermal line head 112 are integrated in the unit casing 190. On the other hand, it is supported so as to be capable of relative displacement (see FIGS. 3, 4, 6A, and 7). Thereby, the structure which can press the thermal line head 112 with the optimal pressure with respect to the platen roller 111 can be implement | achieved, releasing the heat_generation | fever of the thermal line head 112 smoothly and reliably.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and technical idea of the present invention.

  In addition, although not illustrated one by one, the present invention is implemented with various modifications within a range not departing from the gist thereof.

1 Printer (printing device)
100 device housing 101 top cover 101A fixed cover (fixed)
101B Open / close lid (open / close part)
102 Under cover (fixed part)
107 Discharge port 111 Platen roller (conveyance roller)
112 Thermal line head (printing head)
160 Fixed blade member 161 Roll storage part (storage part)
180 Cutting edge portion 181 Mounting portion 182 Cutting edge support portion 183 Reinforcement rib portion HU Head unit MU Mechanical unit (printing processing unit)
S Roll paper (medium for printing)
SP rocking space

Claims (2)

An apparatus housing comprising a fixed part and an opening / closing part connected to the fixed part so that the one side in the first direction included in the horizontal direction can be opened and closed;
A storage unit that is provided on one side in the first direction of the fixed unit and stores a roll around which a printing medium is wound, and a storage unit that is opened and closed by the opening and closing unit;
Supplied from the roll that is provided in the opening / closing part so that its axis is along a second direction that is included in the horizontal direction and perpendicular to the first direction, and is supplied from the roll stored in the storage part when the opening / closing part is in a closed state A transport roller for transporting the printed medium to be printed;
A print processing unit that is provided in the fixed portion and performs printing on the print medium;
A discharge port that is provided along the second direction in the casing and discharges the print-receiving medium printed by the print processing unit to the outside of the apparatus casing;
A printing device comprising:
The print processing unit includes:
A print head for performing desired printing on the print medium conveyed by the conveyance roller;
A unit housing that forms an oscillating space in which the print head is accommodated so as to be able to oscillate in a perspective direction toward the transport roller;
A fixed blade member that is fixed to the unit casing and that cuts the print medium discharged from the discharge port;
With
The fixed blade member is
A cutting edge portion erected along the edge of the discharge port;
Two attachment portions that extend in a substantially horizontal direction on both sides in the second direction above the rocking space, and each of the other ends in the first direction is attached to the unit housing;
A blade edge extending in a substantially horizontal direction continuously on one side in the first direction of the two attachment portions so as to connect the blade edge portion to the two attachment portions above the rocking space. A support part;
Reinforcing ribs that are positioned above the oscillating space in the middle of the two attachment portions in the second direction and bent from the other end of the blade edge support portion toward the oscillating space. And
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 1 .
In the swing space, a head unit in which the print head and a heat sink for radiating heat generated by the print head are integrated is supported so as to be relatively displaceable with respect to the unit housing. A printing device.

Images