JPH0255200A - X-y plotter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the necessity of a lever operation in case of detaching or attaching a recording sheet containing box by pressing a movable bottom plate of the box in step of attaching or detaching, passing the end of the sheet under a sheet feed roller, and forming a gap between the roller and the sheet laminated and contained therein when a cover is opened while the box is attached to an X-Y plotter body. CONSTITUTION:Trapezoidal cams 77 are provided at both sides of the mount 25 of a plotter body, and when a recording sheet containing box is detached from or attached to the body, the pin 75 of a movable bottom plate is pressed as by A by the cam 77 to move along the lower face 77a of the cam 77, and the bottom plate 72 is automatically pressed down to the bottom 76a of the outer box. Thus, the end of the contained sheet can be attached to or detached from the K-Y plotter body without contact with a sheet feed roller. Even if the box remains attached to the body, a cover is opened to isolate the upper face of the sheet from the roller. Accordingly, the sheet can be supplemented without removing the box from the body.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding an X-Y plotter with an automatic paper feeding function, an X-Y plotter that does not require a lever operation when attaching/detaching a recording paper storage box and is easy to handle at a low cost is provided. A carriage that grips a pen in a vertically movable manner and slides the pen linearly, and a recording paper moving means that linearly moves the recording paper along the paper surface in a direction perpendicular to the sliding motion of the carriage. and a paper feed mechanism that feeds one sheet of recording paper to the drawing area by rotation of a paper feed roller from a recording paper storage box that is detachably attached to the X-Y plotter body and stores multiple sheets of recording paper. - In the Y plotter, the recording paper storage box has an outer box and a movable bottom plate on which the stacked recording papers are placed, and the movable bottom plate is rotatably supported at its rear part by the outer box, and its front part is biased in a direction away from the bottom of the outer box, and the front part of the movable bottom plate is pressed down when the recording paper storage box is mounted on the mounting part of the X-Y plotter main body. A trapezoidal cam is provided, and the recording paper storage box further includes a lid rotatably supported on the outer box on the front side, and when the lid is opened, the lid is moved to the movable bottom plate. It has a configuration that pushes it down.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an X-Y plotter, and more particularly to an X-Y plotter having an automatic sheet feeding function.

With the spread of personal computers, there has been an increasing demand for displaying computer-processed information graphically in households.
- It is desired to realize a Y plotter. X-Y like this
When plotting on multiple sheets in succession, it is very convenient to have a plotter with a paper feed mechanism that automatically feeds the next sheet of recording paper into the device after one sheet of drawing is completed. Furthermore, it is desired that recording paper be easily replenished.

[Prior Art] FIG. 7 shows an
- It is an external perspective view of a Y plotter.

The figure shows a state in which the translucent resin navel cage 50 is opened and the inside is visible.

In the figure, a carriage 2 holding a recording pen 1 is driven by a main bell eye 1, and moves left and right (x) along a main shaft 3.4.
direction). On the other hand, the recording paper is held between a pair of friction rollers 5 and a pinch roller 6 provided on the left and right sides, and placed on a table 7. Then, following the rotation of the friction roller 5, the device is moved in the longitudinal direction (Y direction).
The slide works.

The pen 1 is held in the carriage 2 so as to be movable downward, and comes into contact with the recording paper on the stand 7 to perform two-dimensional drawing by the above x and y sliding motions.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a pen holder for storing a plurality of pens, and the carriage 2 can change the pens as needed to draw in multiple colors.

A recording paper storage box 31 stores a plurality of recording papers and is separably inserted into the main body.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation when feeding recording paper.
When the storage box 31 containing a plurality of sheets of recording paper 32 is inserted into the mounting section at the rear of the plotter main body, the paper feed roller 26 of the plotter main body moves the stacked recording paper 3
The top row of 2 is pressed.

Then, when the shaft 33 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, only one sheet of recording paper 32 in the top row is sent out in the direction of arrow B, and the seventh
When it reaches the upper surface of the stand 7 of the main body shown in the figure, it is held between the friction roller 5 and the pinch roller 6, and preparation for drawing is completed.

The recording paper storage box 31 has a depth that can store a considerable number of sheets of unused recording paper 32 in a stack, so that even if the stored recording paper is supplied to the plotter and consumed, and the stack thickness becomes thinner, the top layer is always kept. The bottom plate of the storage box is always urged upward by a spring so as to contact the paper feed roller 26 with a predetermined pressing force.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, when attaching the recording paper storage box to the plotter main body, the roller and the top layer of recording paper should be separated so that the leading edge of the stacked recording paper does not come into contact with the paper feed roller. I need to be there.

In conventional devices, the bottom plate of the storage box is pushed down using a lever for manual operation, or the paper feed roller on the device side is lifted up to release the contact between the rollers and the recording paper, and then the storage box can be removed or removed. It was supposed to be installed. After mounting, the manual operation lever was operated again to bring the paper feed roller into contact with the recording paper to achieve a predetermined paper feeding state. Therefore, each time the recording storage box is attached to and detached from the main body in order to replenish the recording paper, a lever must be operated, which poses a problem in that handling is troublesome.

The present invention was created in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an X-Y plotter that does not require lever operation when attaching and detaching a recording paper storage box, and is easy to handle at a low cost.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the X-Y plotter of the present invention includes a carriage that holds a pen movably up and down and slides in a straight line, and a recording paper that moves along the paper surface in a direction perpendicular to the sliding motion of the carriage. A recording paper moving means that moves linearly to
X consisting of a paper feed mechanism that sends sheets of recording paper to the drawing area
- In the Y plotter, the recording paper storage box includes an outer box;
a movable bottom plate on which the stacked recording papers are placed, the movable bottom plate is rotatably supported at its rear part by the outer box, and whose front part is biased in a direction away from the bottom of the outer box. The mounting portion of the X-Y plotter main body is provided with a trapezoidal cam that presses down the front part of the movable bottom plate when the recording paper storage box is mounted, and furthermore, the above-mentioned 1. The Egi storage box includes a lid rotatably supported on the outer box at the front side, and is configured such that when the lid is opened, the lid pushes down the movable bottom plate.

[Effect]

During the process of attaching and removing the recording paper storage box, the movable bottom plate of the recording paper storage box is pushed down by the trapezoidal cam of the X-Y plotter main body, and the paper feed roller is slightly below the recording paper, and the tip of the recording paper is pushed down. J1 horse passes under the power supply roller. Therefore, since no manual lever operation is required, it is easy to attach and detach the recording paper storage box.

Also, if you open the lid with the recording paper storage box attached to the X-Y plotter main body, a gap will be created between the paper feed roller and the stacked recording paper, so you can record more without removing the recording paper storage box. You can add paper to the recording paper storage box.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of an X-Y plotter according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a recording paper moving means, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a recording paper storage box according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the recording paper storage box and the trapezoidal cam, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the carriage and the slide mechanism, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the position detection magnetoresistive element and the applied magnetic field.

The present invention is applied to the X-Y plotter with a paper feeding mechanism described above in FIG. Therefore, the appearance is similar to that shown in FIG.

Therefore, the overall operation will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a motor for driving the sliding movement of the carriage. When the motor 8 rotates, rotational power is transmitted to the shaft IO via the timing belt 9, thereby passing the hook along the main shaft 3.4. Power is transmitted to the main Hell H1. Carriage 2 then slides in the X direction,
As a result, Ben 1 moves left and right to perform drawing in the X direction.

(This slide mechanism will be described in more detail later.

) 12 is a motor for moving the recording paper, and when the motor 12 rotates, the friction roller shaft 14 rotates via timing wheels I to 13, and the friction roller 5 rotates.

Figure 2 shows only the mechanical part that moves the recording paper during drawing, and the rubber pinch roller 6 is
It is pressed against the friction roller 5 by arms 16 provided on the left and right sides of the pinch roller shaft 15 and a spring 17 that pulls the arm 16 downward. Since the friction roller 5 has a file-like surface sprayed with hard metal particles and has a large friction, the recording paper 18 whose both ends are sandwiched between the friction roller 5 and the pinch roller 6 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 12. Move back and forth on the table.

The carriage 2 is comprised of a carriage body slidably held on a main shaft 3.4 and a movable part 19, and the pen 1 is gripped by the movable part 19 by an arm 20 pulled by a spring (not shown). The movable portion 19 is moved up and down by an electromagnetic solenoid 21 provided between the movable portion 19 and the main body, thereby causing the pen 1 to come into contact with and separate from the recording paper.

Note that the X-Y plotter of this embodiment allows the writing pressure of the pen to be set arbitrarily as described later, and when using thin paper with low rigidity as the recording paper, the pen pressure can be set as desired during the back and forth movement of the recording paper. Frictional resistance caused by pressure causes the recording paper to bend when it moves back and forth (particularly when the recording paper moves from the friction roller side toward the pen), making it impossible to carry out normal paper feeding operations. Therefore, in this embodiment, this problem was solved by using an underlay for thin paper. That is, by placing thin paper on this underlay, a recording paper member corresponding to a sheet of thick paper can be formed and the rigidity can be increased.

If a polyester film is used as the underlay material, the thin recording paper will be attracted and fixed to the underlay due to static electricity, making it even more effective.

23 is a pen holder in which a plurality of pens are housed, and a pen holder shaft 24 rotates as a result of a stepping motor 22.
The carriage 2, which is attached to the holder, rotates, and slides to the left end allows the desired pen to be held.

On the rear side of the apparatus, there is a mounting section 25 into which the recording paper storage box 31 described in FIG. A paper feed roller 26 and its rotation mechanism are provided. Although a gap is provided between the stand 7 and the storage section 25 through which the supplied recording paper passes, the recording paper moves back and forth without regard to the storage section 25 during normal drawing operations.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the recording paper storage box and the mounting portion of the main body, which are features of the present invention, will be explained.

In FIG. 3 showing an exploded view of the recording paper storage box of the present invention, 72 is a movable bottom plate on which stacked unused recording papers 32 are placed, and is rotatable about a fulcrum 73 on the rear side. Outer box 7
6, and its front side is always urged upward (in the direction away from the bottom 76a of the outer case) by a spring 74 between it and the bottom 76a of the outer case 76.

When this storage box is attached to the plotter main body, this bias causes the topmost recording paper to come into contact with the paper feed roller 26, regardless of the stacked thickness of the stored recording paper 32. The rotation of the paper roller 26 sends out the paper to the drawing area of the plotter.

(See FIG. 8) Bottles 75 are provided protruding from both sides of the front portion of the movable bottom plate 72.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, trapezoidal cams 77 are provided on both sides of the mounting portion 25 of the plotter body at positions corresponding to the bins, and the recording paper storage box is attached to the plotter.

When attaching to and detaching from the main body, the movable bottom plate bin 75 is pressed by the trapezoidal cam 77 as shown by arrow A and moves along the lower surface 77a of the trapezoidal cam 77, and the movable bottom plate 72 automatically attaches to the outer box. It is pushed down to the bottom 76a side.

This separates the paper feed roller from the top layer of paper, allowing the paper storage box to be attached to and removed from the X-Y plotter body without the leading edge of the stored paper coming into contact with the paper feed roller, eliminating the need for troublesome lever operations. does not require.

In Fig. 3, 78 is a lid made of transparent resin, and the front shaft 7
It is supported by an outer box 76 so as to be rotatable about 9.

When the rear of the M2S is lifted and opened from the outer box 76, the pressing portions 80 on both sides of the front portion of the shaft 79 press down the convex portion 72d of the movable bottom plate 72 as shown by arrow B. Therefore, even if the recording paper storage box is still attached to the plotter body, opening this M2S will separate the top surface of the stored recording paper from the paper feed roller, making it impossible to remove the recording paper storage box from the plotter body. It is possible to easily replenish the recording paper.

Next, the slide mechanism and pen height position detection mechanism will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, the carriage 2 is held between two main shafts 3 and 4 via three resin rollers. Two rollers 49, 50 rotating on the lower main shaft 4 are attached to the lower surface of the carriage 2 by shafts 52 via ball bearings 51, respectively. Also, the upper main shaft 3
The roller 53, which rotates while pressing from below, is similarly attached to a U-shaped plotter 54 via a ball bearing, and the plotter 54 is housed in a box provided on the upper surface of the carriage 2. Inside this box, there is a space between rail plates having an inclined surface, and the plotter 54 is placed on the rail plate while being constantly biased toward the left by a spring (not shown). Therefore, the roller 53 is brought into contact with the lower part of the main shaft 3 with a pressing force obtained by converting the horizontal bias by the spring upwards by the slope of the rail plate 55.

In this way, the sliding mechanism of the carriage 2 in this embodiment has a roller made of a resin material rotatably provided on the carriage body sandwiched between a pair of main shafts provided vertically in parallel. Compared to those that use metal ball bearings in the sliding part with the main shaft,
There is little noise during slide operation, allowing for quiet drawing.

In addition, the X-Y plotter of this embodiment can arbitrarily set the pen pressure according to the type of pen by changing the height position of the pen during drawing, or change the pen pressure while drawing with the same pen. It is now possible to do things like This is done by controlling the electromagnetic solenoid 21 in a closed loop while measuring the height of the movable part 19 that grips the pen 1 using a position sensing means.

This position sensing means detects how the magnetic field intensity generated by the permanent magnet 46 provided in the movable part 19 changes due to approach and separation using a magnetoresistive element 44 mounted on a printed board 45 mounted on the fixed part. It is supposed to be done. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the magnetoresistive element 44 normally generates an output voltage proportional to the intensity of the magnetic field HA perpendicular to the element when a bias magnetic field H parallel to the element is applied. As shown in FIG. 6(b), there are a permanent magnet 46a for a bias magnetic field fixed together with the element, and a permanent magnet 4 for a magnetic field to be measured that is fixed to a movable part and moves toward and away from the magnetoresistive element.
6b and two permanent magnets are required, but in this example
- In the Y plotter, a permanent magnet for generating a bias magnetic field is not separately provided, but a single permanent magnet 46 is provided in the movable part as shown in FIG. The magnetoresistive element 44 is arranged horizontally so that even if it moves up and down along the movement axis within the range formed by the permanent magnet 46, the magnetic field passing through the element 44 always includes a vector component H8 in the direction of the bias magnetic field. It's Nishide. This allows a single permanent magnet to supply a bias magnetic field to the magnetoresistive element, thereby reducing the number of parts.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the recording paper storage box can be easily attached and removed when replenishing recording paper, and the X - It becomes possible to provide a Y plotter, and the effect is remarkable.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing essential parts of an X-Y plotter according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a recording paper moving means, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a recording paper storage box according to the present invention. Figure 4 shows the relationship between the recording paper storage box and the trapezoidal cam, Figure 5 shows the carriage and slide mechanism, Figure 6 shows the relationship between the position detection magnetoresistive element and the applied magnetic field, and Figure 7 shows the relationship between the magnetic resistance element for position detection and the applied magnetic field. The figure is an external perspective view of the X-Y plotter, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the recording paper storage box. In the figure: 1-pen, 2-carriage, 3.4.
- Main shaft, 5- Friction roller, 6- Pinch roller, 7...
・Motor for stand, 8-carriage・
11-main belt, 19-movable part of carriage, 21...-electromagnetic solenoid, 23--pen holder, 25-mounting part of recording paper storage box,
26-paper feed roller, 31-recording paper storage box,
18.32-recording paper, 44-magnetoresistive element,
46-Permanent magnet, 49, 50.51-Resin roller, 72-Movable bottom plate, 72a-Protrusion, 73-.-
fulcrum of movable bottom plate, 74-spring, 75-pin of movable bottom plate, 76-outer box of recording paper storage box,
76a-Bottom of outer box, 78-Lid of recording paper storage box,
79--shaft of the lid, 80--pressing portion of the lid. Bungaru-gumi Eroa 43 Gengo Yarridge and Slide Old ~ netpi've Yu ε 5
Mouth

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carriage (2) that holds the pen (1) so as to be movable up and down and slides it in a straight line, and a carriage (2) that moves the recording paper along the surface of the paper at right angles to the sliding motion of the carriage (2). A recording paper moving means that moves linearly in the direction of
) in an X-Y plotter comprising a paper feeding mechanism that feeds a sheet of recording paper from a recording paper storage box (31) containing a recording paper storage box (31) to a drawing area by rotation of a paper feeding roller (26). The box (31) has an outer box (76) and a movable bottom plate (72) on which the stacked recording papers (32) are placed, and the movable bottom plate (72) is rotatable so that its rear part is attached to the bottom plate. It is supported by the outer box (76), and its front part is supported by the bottom (76) of the outer box.
6a), and when the recording paper storage box (31) is attached to the attachment section (25) of the X-Y plotter main body, the movable bottom plate (72)
An X-Y plotter characterized in that it is provided with a trapezoidal cam (77) that pushes down the front part of the X-Y plotter. 2. The recording paper storage box (31) includes a lid (78) rotatably supported on the outer box (76) on the front side, and the lid (78) is rotatably supported on the front side.
The X-Y plotter according to claim 1, wherein the lid (78) is configured to push down the movable bottom plate (72) when the lid (78) is opened.