JPH024561A - Serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the radius of curvature of the bent part of a cable and to house cables in a minimum space by providing cable guide means for altering an angle of the cable near a carriage stationary section in response to the moving position of the carriage. CONSTITUTION:A platelike lever 27 is rotatably provided at an axis perpendicular to the extending direction of cables such as an ink tube 19, a flat cable 20, etc. as a center on a carriage 4. When the carriage 4 is moved rightward, A protrusion 29a is brought into contact with a protrusion 27b at a position where the radius of curvature of the cables is reduced more than required, the lever 27 is rotated in a direction for releasing the cables. The lever 27 is rotated to a position where the protrusion 27b is brought into contact with the carriage 4, its state is held by the tension of a tensile spring 28, and the cables are not bent more than required. When the carriage 4 is moved leftward, the protrusion 29a is brought into contact with the upper surface of the lever 27, which is, in turn, rotated in a direction for retaining the cables downward.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field 1] The present invention relates to a printer, and particularly to a serial printer having a recording head mounted on a carriage.

[Prior Art] In recent years, the demand for printers as output devices for office computers, personal computers, word processors, etc. has been increasing rapidly, and among these, various serial printers account for a large proportion as low-priced printers.

Serial printers include wire dot printers, inkjet printers, thermal transfer printers, and the like, but it is desired that the printing quality of all printers be improved, and the density of recording dots is becoming higher. Along with this, the capacity of flat cables and flexible cables that connect print heads and circuit boards has increased, making it necessary to increase the number and thickness of the cables. Also,
For inkjet printers, in addition to cables,
An ink supply tube is provided for supplying ink from an ink supply unit to a print head, and the number of ink supply tubes tends to increase as inkjet printers become more color-oriented and printing improves.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional inkjet type serial printer.

The carriage 4°, which is provided with the recording head 1′ and is movably held on the guide shaft 5□52′, is connected to the drive pulley 8.
The timing belt 10' is engaged with the timing belt 10' which is passed around the non-driving pulley 6'. This carriage 4° is driven by a motor 7' that rotates a drive pulley 8', and moves on the recording surface (in the direction of arrow X) of a recording paper 18' supported by a paper feed roller 11° and a vapor guide 17°. do. The recording head 1' is provided with nozzles (not shown) that eject ink droplets toward the recording paper 18'. This nozzle has an ink level detector 1 from the ink cassette 16'.
5', ink tube 19°, and a sub-tank 3° provided on the carriage 4°, ink is supplied. In addition, the drive circuit 2' provided at 4° of the carriage
is built in the nozzle and drives an ink ejection device (not shown) that ejects the ink supplied to the nozzle as ink droplets onto the recording paper. Connector 12. ', flat cable 20', and connector 122' on the carriage 4°, and the ink ejecting device is driven in accordance with the signal.

Cables such as the ink tube 19" and the flat cable 20' extend in the direction of movement of the carriage 4 degrees, and some of them are fixed by fixing members on the chassis 12, which constitutes the case, so they form an arc. The connector 122' is connected to the connector 122' and the sub-tank 3'.Therefore, the radius of curvature of the bent portion changes as the carriage 4' moves.

The head recovery mechanism 13° performs recovery operations such as ink suction and preliminary ejection to prevent nozzle clogging when the recording head 1° is at the home position.

Note that the two sets of component parts are housed within the exterior of the hollow rectangular body.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] In conventional serial printers, ink tubes,
Cables such as flat cables extend in the direction of movement of the carriage, bend in an arc, and connect to components on the carriage (ink tanks, connectors). may come into contact with the top panel of the exterior, causing the cables to wear out or
There is a risk that the carriage will not move smoothly, so in order to prevent this, it is necessary to make the exterior larger than necessary, which has the disadvantage that the printer as a whole also becomes larger.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and aims to provide an inexpensive mechanism that allows cables to be routed in a minimum amount of space and that does not cause inconveniences such as wear and disconnection. do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the serial printer of the present invention is provided with a cable guide means that changes the angle of the cable near the carriage fixing part according to the moving position of the carriage,
Controls the radius of curvature of cable bends.

This cable guide means is mounted on a carriage, has a first protrusion on the side, a second protrusion on a part of the plane, and has an axis perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage. a flat lever that rotates around the center; a third protrusion provided at the lower side of the carriage; and a lever that connects the first protrusion and the third protrusion, and uses the spring force to connect the a tension spring for rotating the lever either clockwise or counterclockwise; and a part of the chassis carrying said component is formed on a bent plate, and depending on the direction of movement of the carriage said second It is comprised of a protrusion that abuts either the protrusion or the flat surface of the lever to switch the direction of rotation in which the spring force of the tension spring acts.

Further, a first arm and a second arm are rotatably supported around first and second axes parallel to the moving direction of the carriage, and the first arm and the second arm are rotatably supported. A lever in the form of a bent L-shaped flat plate is connected to the lever and can be moved up and down perpendicular to the moving surface of the carriage, and the lever is connected to the lower side of the carriage, and the lever is moved by the spring force. a coil spring that pulls downward; a roller that is provided on the bent side of the lever and is movable along the direction of movement of the carriage; and a roller that is placed on the chassis along the direction of movement of the carriage so as to come into contact with the roller. , and is constituted by a rail that connects the height and the vertical movement of the lever.

The carriage further includes a first shaft and a second shaft provided to protrude vertically upward from the upper surface of the carriage, and a through hole through which the first shaft and the second shaft are inserted; A prismatic lever bent into an L-shape is supported so as to be movable up and down, and a coil spring is engaged with a shaft protruding from a through hole of the lever, and its spring force pushes the lever downward. a roller provided at the bent end of the lever and movable along the direction of carriage movement; and a roller placed on the chassis along the direction of carriage movement so as to come into contact with the roller; It is constituted by a rail that interlocks the vertical movement of the lever.

Furthermore, it holds the flat cable in a pinched manner,
a lever that rotates around an axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage; a gear that is provided on a central shaft around which the lever rotates and rotates in conjunction with the lever; and a first gear that meshes with the gear. a two-stage gear in which a gear part and a second gear part in the form of an intermittent gear with teeth provided on a part of the circumference are combined, and a carriage so as to come into contact with the second gear part of the two-stage gear. The rail is laid along the moving direction of the rail, and the negative part thereof is provided with a rack part that meshes with the teeth provided on the second gear part of the two-stage gear.

[Function] In the serial printer configured as above,
Cable carriage fixation 1 according to the carriage position
Since the cable can be changed by changing the angle near the part, the cable can be moved in a natural arc and will not rub against other parts, so there will be no malfunction of the carriage.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2(a) are diagrams showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(b) is a diagram for explaining its operation.

This embodiment performs printing using the same configuration and operation as the conventional example shown in FIG. , flat cable 20, etc., and is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the extending direction of cables such as the flat cable 20. The lever 27 is provided to press the cables downward, and protrusions 27a and 27b are provided on the side and end portions of the plate-shaped portion, respectively. Further, a protrusion 4a is provided at the lower side of the carriage 4, and the protrusion 4a and the protrusion 27a are connected by a tension spring 28. Therefore, the lever 27 is pulled downward as shown in FIG. 1, and presses the cables downward. In this way, since the cables go downward by -degree, the highest part of the arc portion (bend portion) is lower than that of the conventional cable shown in FIG. This allows the exterior ceiling to be designed lower. Further, the chassis 12 is provided with a plate 29 bent vertically upward, and the plate 29 is provided with a cylindrical protrusion 29a. The protrusion 29a is provided to prevent the lever 27 from pressing down on the cables more than necessary. This changes the carriage 4 from the state shown in Figure 1.
When the cable moves to the right (in the direction in which the radius of curvature of the bent part becomes smaller), if the lever 27 is kept pressed down, the radius of curvature of the cables will decrease as shown in Fig. 2(b). This is because they become extremely small and their bending durability cannot be maintained. Therefore, the protrusion 29a is provided so that when the carriage 4 moves, it comes into contact with the protrusion 29b at a position where the bending radius of the cables becomes smaller than necessary. Therefore, when the carriage 4 moves to the right, the projections 29a and 27b come into contact at a position where the radius of curvature becomes smaller than necessary, and the lever 27 rotates in the direction (counterclockwise) to release the cables. The spring force of the tension spring 28 initially acts in a direction that opposes this rotation, but when the line segment connecting the protrusion 4a and the protrusion 27a crosses the axis of rotation of the lever 27, it acts in a direction that supports the rotation. Therefore, the lever 27 rotates to a position where the protrusion 27b comes into contact with the carriage 4. Since this state is maintained by the spring force of the tension spring 28, the cables are in a released state and are not bent more than necessary.

When the carriage 4 moves to the left (in a direction in which the radius of curvature of the bent portion increases), the protrusion 29a moves toward the lever 27.
The lever 27 is rotated in a direction (clockwise) to hold down the cables, and the cables are held down.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the main structure of a second embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the carriage 36 is provided with a notch through which the flat cable 32 is passed, and arms 31. ．． One end of the carriage 312 is rotatably supported around an axis parallel to the moving direction of the carriage 36 . Arm 31. ．． The other ends of the lever 312 both rotatably support a lever 37 in the form of a bent L-shaped flat plate. Therefore, the lever 37 is attached to be movable up and down perpendicularly (in the direction of the arrow) to the surface of the flat cable 32, and this up and down movement holds down or releases the flat cable 32. The lever 30 is connected to a carriage 36 by a coil spring 33, and is always urged downward by the spring force. Further, a roller 34 is pivotally supported at the bent end, and the carriage 3
6 moves on a rail 35 attached to the chassis. Therefore, the pressed state of the flat cable 32 changes in proportion to the height of the rail 35. The rail 35 gradually becomes higher from a point corresponding to the point where the radius of curvature of the bent portion of the flat cable 32 becomes smaller than necessary when the carriage 4 moves to the right, and the position of the roller 34 and lever 30 also increases. As it becomes more expensive, the flat cable 32
is not bent more than necessary.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main structure of a third embodiment of the present invention.

The carriage 41 of this embodiment is provided with a notch similar to that of the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, and at both ends thereof are provided 11811I421, 422 which protrude vertically upward. The prismatic lever 43 has a through hole formed therein, and the aforementioned @42. .

422 is fitted so that it can move up and down, but is always urged downward by a coil spring 44 inserted between the end of the lpH 142 and the lever 43. A roller 45 is provided at the end of the lever 43, and is configured to move on a rail 47 similar to the actual example shown in FIG. 3 to prevent the flat cable 46 from being bent more than necessary. There is.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the main part configuration of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a flat cable 56 is sandwiched between the shafts 55 and 55 parallel to the width direction of the flat cable 56.
The bending state of the flat cable 56 is controlled by a lever 51 that rotates about the central axis.

The l angle h55 is fixed to the lever 51, and the gear 54 provided at the end thereof is also fixed. Therefore, the lever 51 rotates together with the gear 54. The gear 54 meshes with one gear of the two-stage gear 53. 2nd gear 53
The other gear is in the form of an intermittent gear with teeth cut on a part of the circumference, and the rack part 5 is cut into a part of the rail 52.
It meshes with 2a. The two-stage gear 53 slides on the rail 52 as the carriage moves, but rotates only at the rack portion 52a. Both sides in the circumferential direction of the partially toothed portion of the second gear 53 protrude from the rest of the circumference, so the rotation of the second gear 53 is stopped at this protruding portion. This constant amount of rotation is linked to the amount of rotation of the lever 51, and when the carriage approaches the right end and the radius of curvature of the flat cable 56 begins to become smaller than necessary, the flat cable 56 passes over the second gear 53 or the rack portion 52a. , configured to increase the radius of curvature of the flat cable 56,
Protecting the cable.

[Effects of the Invention] By configuring as described above, the present invention achieves the effects described below.

In the serial printer according to claims 1 and 2, by controlling the radius of curvature of the bending part of the cable according to the position of the carriage, it is possible to prevent cable wear and breakage and poor movement of the carriage. This has the effect of reducing the size of the .

In the serial printer according to claim 3, since the means for controlling the radius of curvature of the bent portion of the cable is realized by a lever that changes its vertical position in conjunction with the height of the rail, in addition to the above effects, This has the advantage that the radius of curvature can be delicately controlled.

In the serial printer according to claim 4, the same control using rails as in the serial printer according to claim 3 is realized with a small number of parts, so in addition to the above effects, there is a low failure rate. , it is possible to provide a serial printer with improved reliability.

In the serial printer described in claim 5, since control is performed using gears, it is possible to provide a serial printer that has the above-mentioned effects further enhanced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2(a), and 2(b) are perspective views of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are perspective views of the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the conventional example. 4.36, 41.57-... Carriage, 4a, 27a
, 27b, 29a=Protrusion, 12... Chassis, 19... Ink tube, 20.32, 46.56... Flat cable, 27
．． 37,43.51...Lever 28...Tension spring, 29...Plate, 31,. 312... Arm, 33.44... Coil spring, 34.45... Roller, 35.47.52... Rail, 42,. 422.55...shaft, 52a...rack portion, 53...two-stage gear, 54...gear. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reciprocating carriage (4, 36, 41, 57
) and a connector fixed to the case. In a serial printer in which the bending part moves while changing its radius of curvature following the reciprocating movement of the carriage, the cable carriage (4, 36, 57) changes depending on the position of the carriage (4, 36, 41, 57). , 41, 57) A serial printer characterized by comprising a cable guide means for changing the angle near the fixed part, and controlling the radius of curvature of the bent part of the cable. 2. The cable guide means is mounted on a carriage (4), and has a first protrusion (27a) on the side and a second protrusion (27a) on a part of the plane.
b), a flat lever (27) that rotates around an axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage (4), and a third protrusion provided at the lower side of the carriage (4). (4a), the first protrusion (27a) and the third protrusion (4a);
) and whose spring force rotates the lever (27) either clockwise or counterclockwise; and a part of the chassis (12) on which the above components are mounted. is formed on the bent plate (29), and depending on the moving direction of the carriage (4), comes into contact with either the second protrusion (27b) or the flat part of the lever (27), and the tension spring ( 2. The serial printer according to claim 1, further comprising a protrusion (29a) that switches the direction of rotation in which the spring force of (28) acts. 3. The cable guide means has first and second cables parallel to the direction of movement of the carriage (36).
The first shaft is rotatably supported around the respective axes.
arm (31_1) and second arm (31_2)
and the first arm (31_1) and the second arm (31_1).
1_2), a lever (37) in the form of a bent L-shaped flat plate that can move up and down perpendicular to the moving surface of the carriage (37), and the lever (37) and the carriage (36). A coil spring (33) connects the lower side of the lever (33) and pulls the lever (37) downward with its spring force.
), provided on the bent side of the lever (37),
A roller (34) movable along the moving direction of the carriage (36), and a roller (34) laid on the chassis along the moving direction of the carriage (36) so as to be in contact with the roller (34), and the height thereof and the lever Rail (35) that connects the vertical movement of (37)
2. A serial printer according to claim 1, wherein said serial printer comprises: 4. The cable guide means includes: a first shaft (42_1) and a second shaft (42_2) provided to protrude vertically upward from the upper surface of the carriage (41); and the first shaft (42_2). 42_1) and the second axis (42_2)
A prismatic lever (43) bent into an L-shape is supported on the carriage (41) so as to be movable up and down, and a lever (43) protrudes from the through-hole of the lever (43). A coil spring (42_1) is engaged with the shaft (42_1), and its spring force pushes down the lever (43).
44), provided at the bent end of the lever (43),
A roller (45) movable along the moving direction of the carriage (41), and a roller (45) laid on the chassis along the moving direction of the carriage (41) so as to be in contact with the roller (45), and the height thereof and the lever Rail (47) whose vertical movement is linked to (43)
2. A serial printer according to claim 1, wherein said serial printer comprises: 5. The cable guide means holds the flat cable (56) in a sandwiched manner;
a lever (51) that rotates around an axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage (57); and a lever (51) that is provided on the central axis around which the lever (51) rotates and that rotates in conjunction with the lever (51). a two-stage gear (54), which is a combination of a first gear part that meshes with the gear (54) and a second gear part in the form of an intermittent gear with teeth provided on a part of the circumference. 53) is laid along the moving direction of the carriage (57) so as to come into contact with the second gear part of the second gear (53), and a part of the second gear (53) is laid along the moving direction of the carriage (57).
2. The serial printer according to claim 1, further comprising a rail (52) provided with a rack portion (52a) that meshes with teeth provided on the second gear portion of the serial printer (53).