JPH0280278A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make possible the control of a movement position and a movement value in a vertical direction with the printing surface of a carriage and also the shortening of printing time by providing a stepping motor which moves a carriage moving in a main scan direction with a printing medium, and causing the motor to move the carriage to move backward and forward to a platen. CONSTITUTION:A control section 44 which detects the thickness of a printing medium with the help of a medium thickness detection section 43 applies, for instance, 20 pulses to a stepping motor 12 to rotate a drive pulley 11 to a 'G' position for obtaining a gap through which a medium passes. Consequently, a carriage 4 moves toward a carriage base 5. If for instance, 5 pulses are applied to the stepping motor 12 in consideration of the thickness of a printing medium to rotate the drive pulley 11 in an arrow, direction 'H', and wire rope 10 moves to an arrow position 'B', the carriage 4 which is energized in advance to the arrow position 'D' by a coil spring 21 moves to the arrow position 'D' sliding over the surface of the printing medium, and the printing medium is pressed by a printing medium pressure roller 2. If an ink ribbon case is replaced, 50 pulses are applied to the stepping motor 12 and thereby the carriage 4 moves away from the platen 13 by an amount enough for the ink ribbon case 3 to be replaced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device for printing on media having various thicknesses.

Conventional technology A conventional printing device of this type will be explained.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a conventional printing device, where 4 is a carriage to which the printer head 1 is attached, 3 is an ink ribbon, and 17 and 18 are guide bars of the carriage base of the carriage 4. 19 is a cam roller attached to the carriage 4, and 20 is a cam.

The operation of the printing apparatus configured as described above will be explained below.

First, the carriage base moves left and right along the guide bars 17 and 18, and when the cam roller 19 rides on the cam 2o, the carriage 4 with the printer head 1 attached thereto is lifted upward in the plane of the paper.

Next, the print medium is line-broken. Next, when the carriage base moves in the opposite direction, the cam roller 19 descends from the cam 20 and the carriage 4 moves downward in the plane of the paper to perform printing processing. The printing process continues while repeating the above operations.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional configuration, the position and amount of movement of the carriage base, which moves the print surface of the carriage 4 in the vertical direction, are constant. have to move to. For this reason, there was a problem in that the printing process took a long time. In addition, some printers were equipped with a solenoid to move the carriage, but in this case too, the amount of movement was constant and the amount of movement required when replacing the ink ribbon was required, so the printing speed was still slow.

Means for Solving the Problem In order to solve this problem, the present invention includes a stepping motor that moves a carriage that moves in the main scanning direction with respect to the print medium in the front and back direction toward the platen.

Function: In this configuration, the carriage is moved by the stepping motor, so the amount of movement of the carriage can be controlled.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a top view of a carriage base portion. FIG. 3 shows its side view. FIG. 4 is a block diagram for controlling the amount of movement of the carriage in the direction perpendicular to the printing surface. 1 is a printer head, 2 is a printing medium pressing roller, and 3 is an ink ribbon case. Reference numeral 4 denotes a carriage to which the printer head 1 is attached, and is attached to the carriage base 5 via a linear hair ring so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the printing medium. 2
1 is a coil spring that urges the carriage 4 downward in the plane of the paper. 6 is a large pulley rotatably attached to the carriage 4, and 7 is a small pulley rotatably attached to the carriage base 5. 8 is a lead screw for moving the carriage base, 9 is a guide bar, and 10 is attached via a drive pulley 11 to a stepping motor 12 hung on a large pulley 6 and a small pulley 7 to move the carriage 4. It is a wire rope that has been wrapped. 13 is a platen, 14 is a print medium conveyance surface, and 15 is a home position cam. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 16 denotes a linear bearing that serves as a guide for moving the carriage 4 in a direction perpendicular to the printing surface.

In FIG. 4, a switch 41 is operated when replacing the ink ribbon case of the printer. 4
2 is a carriage position sensor for platen 1 of carriage 4.
Detect the distance from 3.

A medium thickness detection unit 43 detects the thickness of the medium based on the gap between the conveyance rollers provided on the conveyance surface. A control section 44 controls the stepping motor 12 based on signals from the switch 41 and the medium thickness detection section 43.

The operation of the printing apparatus of this embodiment configured as described above will be described below. First, the control unit 44 detects the thickness of the print medium by the medium thickness detection unit 43, and applies, for example, 20 pulses to the stepping motor 12 to control the drive pulley 1 so as to secure a gap large enough for the print medium to pass through.
1 is rotated in the G direction, the carriage 4 moves on the carriage base 5. When the print medium is conveyed on the print medium conveying surface 14 to the desired print line on the platen 13, the carriage device on the home position cam is driven by the rotation of the lead screw 8 and moves in the direction of arrow E. , the printer head 1 is set on the print position. Next, for example, five pulses are applied to the stepping motor 12 in consideration of the thickness of the print medium to rotate the drive pulley 11 in the direction of arrow H, and the wire rope 10 is rotated in the direction of arrow B as shown in FIG. Move to. Then, the carriage 4, which is biased in advance in the direction indicated by the arrow by the coil spring 21, moves in the direction indicated by the arrow on the surface of the print medium, and presses the print medium with the print medium pressing roller 2.

The carriage 4 performs the printing process while moving in the direction of arrow E. - When the printing of a line is completed, the stepping motor 12 rotates in the direction of arrow G, and the wire rope 10 rotates in the direction of arrow A.
The carriage 4 is lifted in the direction of arrow C and the print medium is conveyed for line feed. In this case, the number of pulses applied to the stepping motor 12 is
5, which is the same number of pulses applied when contacting the print medium.
Apply . Print processing is performed by repeating the above operations.

Now, if you want to replace the ink ribbon case, switch 41
, the control section 44 applies 50 pulses to the stepping motor 12 in response. The carriage 4 then moves away from the platen 13 by an amount sufficient to replace the ink ribbon case 3.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the stepping motor 12
By moving the carriage 4 in a direction perpendicular to the print surface, the position and amount of movement of the carriage 4 in the direction perpendicular to the print surface can be controlled.

Effects of the Invention The present invention moves the carriage perpendicularly to the platen using a stepping motor, lowers the carriage at the position where printing is performed, and minimizes the amount of carriage lift depending on the thickness of the printing medium. Since this is possible, it is possible to obtain the effect of significantly shortening the printing time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device in an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a top view of the carriage base portion of this embodiment, Fig. 3 is a side view of the carriage base portion of this embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a top view of the carriage base portion of this embodiment.
The figure is a control block diagram of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a top view of a conventional printing device. 1... Printer head, 4... Carriage, 5...
・Carriage base, 11... Drive pulley, 12...
・Stepping motor, Name of agent: Patent attorney Shigetaka Awano and one other person Figure 2 Figure 1 Figure Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A carriage base that moves in the main scanning direction with respect to a print medium; a carriage placed on the carriage base and movable in a direction perpendicular to the printing surface of the print medium; 1. A printing device comprising: a stepping motor that moves the carriage; and the amount of movement of the carriage can be controlled.