JPH0289673A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the quality of printing, and to prevent the deterioration of a printing head by installing a ribbon shifter moving an ink ribbon to the position of cleaning at a place, where the printing head is displaced from a printing region, while mounting a head cleaner, with which the printing head can be brought into contact at the position of cleaning. CONSTITUTION:When a printing head 1 is moved to a position displaced from a printing region on at least one end side at both left and right ends by movement in the left and right direction of a carriage 7, an ink ribbon 3 is shifted to the position of cleaning, where the printing section of the ink ribbon 3 is separated from a section between the printing head 1 and a platen 9, by the action of a ribbon shifter 19. The printing head 1 is brought into contact with a head cleaner 17 and dust, etc. adhering at the nose of the printing head are removed at that time, and the printing head is cleaned. The printing head is cleaned at the time of the initialization of a printer and in response to the frequency of printing, thus improving the quality of printing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is characterized in that a carriage carrying a print head and an ink ribbon is movably provided along a platen extending left and right. Regarding printers.

(Prior Art) An example of this type of printer is an electric transfer printer. An electric transfer printer prints by generating heat in an ink ribbon and transferring the ink layer onto printing paper.This ink ribbon has, for example, an electrically resistive layer that the print head comes into contact with during printing, and a layer on the printing paper side. It has a three-layer structure in which a conductive layer is formed between the ink layer and the ink layer.

A recording electrode is formed at the tip of the print head, and by contacting the recording electrode with the electrically resistive layer, a conductive layer is formed between the recording electrode and the return electrode that can also contact the electrically resistive layer during printing operation. Current flows. At this time, the electrically resistive layer that the recording electrode is in contact with generates heat, and the ink layer in this heat-generating area is melted and transferred onto the printing paper, thereby printing.

(Problem to be solved by 'R, Ming) By the way, in such an electric transfer printer, dirt such as dust in the air enters between the recording electrode at the tip of the print head and the electrical resistance layer of the ink ribbon. If this adheres to the tip of the print head, the recording electrode and the electrical resistance layer will not be in secure pressure contact, increasing the amount of heat saved on both sides, and causing the print to become thinner.
In addition to gaps that cause printing defects such as parts of characters being missing, the problem is that discharge occurs in gaps that cause further deterioration of the print head. In particular, in an electric transfer printer, during printing, the print head is in pressure contact with the platen through the ink ribbon, and the print head is moved along the platen.
], this causes wear due to contact between the print head and the electrically resistive layer, and dust clouds are generated due to the splashing of ink that melts when heat is generated, making it easy for dust to adhere to the print head. Cleaning is required.

However, in conventional printers of this type, cleaning of the print head (a so-called cleaning device was not particularly provided, and the cleaning was carried out using an appropriate tool such as cotton 1). Cleaning the print head is troublesome and sometimes forgotten, and even cleaning may not be sufficient to remove dust.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to clean the print head easily and effectively.

[6th aspect of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, this invention provides a method in which a carriage carrying a print head and an ink ribbon can be moved along a platen extending left and right. (), and the ink ribbon is placed at a printing position where the printing portion thereof is interposed between the printing head and the platen, and at a cleaning position where the printing portion is separated from between the printing head and the platen. A ribbon switch is provided for moving the ink ribbon to a cleaning position at a position where the print head is out of a printing area on at least one end side of both ends in the horizontal movement direction; The head cleaner is provided with a head cleaner that can be contacted by the print head.

Further, in the present invention, the print head may be moved to a position outside the print area at least on one end side of both ends in the left-right movement direction of the print head, depending on the print width.

In this invention, the print head is moved to a position outside the print area at least on one end of both ends of the print head in the horizontal movement direction, in conjunction with the print head origin detection operation during printer initialization. It's okay.

(Function) When the print head moves to a position outside the print area on at least one of the left and right ends due to the movement of the carriage in the left and right direction, the ribbon shifter causes the ink ribbon to move its print area between the print head and the platen. I'm leaving from
Move to the cleaning position. At this time, the print head comes into contact with a head cleaner to remove dust and the like adhering to the tip of the print head, thereby cleaning the print head.

By cleaning the print head at step +a of printer initialization or in accordance with the print yj degree, dust can be properly removed and print quality can be further improved.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

Since this embodiment is applied to an oil transfer printer, the print head 1 and the ribbon cartridge 5 containing the ink ribbon 3 are detachably attached to the kisser ridge 7 in the vertical direction in the figure. There is. This attachment/detachment work can be done by simply moving the ribbon cartridge 5 in the vertical direction. The print head 1 is rotatable via a pin 2, and during a printing operation in which the carriage 7 moves to the right in the figure, it comes into pressure contact with the platen 9 side via the ink ribbon 3, while also moving to the left in the same direction. When moving in this direction, this pressure contact is released. The gear ridge 7 is provided so as to be movable on a carriage shaft j-11 arranged parallel to the platen 9. This movement of the carriage 7 is
The carriage 7 is attached to a transmission belt connected to a carriage motor (not shown), and the reciprocating motion of the transmission belt is performed.

What is indicated by the reference numeral 13 is a printing paper.

At the end of the platen 9 on the right frame 15 side of the printer body,
A first blade cleaner 17 having approximately the same diameter as the platen 9 is provided to be detachably attached to the axis 9a of the platen 9. This first blade cleaner 17 is divided into two semi-cylindrical members, for example, and an engagement protrusion is provided on one side of the two members, and an engagement hole is provided on the other, and the two members are simply butted together when engaged. The engagement is released by pressing the outer periphery of the member provided with the engagement protrusion near the engagement protrusion. The first blade cleaner 17 is coated all around with a resin having a rough surface, and the tip of the print head 1 comes into contact with this coating to clean the print head 1.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a first ribbon shifter 19 is attached to the right frame 15 on the side of the carriage 7 by screws or the like. The first ribbon shifter 19 is located between a printing position where the ink ribbon 3 is interposed between the print head 1 and the platen 9 and a cleaning position where the ink ribbon 3 is separated from between the print head 1 and the platen 9. The ribbon cartridge 5 is attached to the carriage 7 so that the ribbon cartridge 5 can be moved.
In contrast, the right side portion in the figure is moved in the vertical direction in the figure.

The first ribbon shifter 19 is composed of an upper guide plate 21 and a lower guide plate 23, and both guide plates 21.2
3 are provided diagonally downward and parallel to each other, and grooves C are formed on mutually opposing sides of each tip. When the ribbon cartridge 5 is shifted by the first ribbon shifter 19, the ribbon cartridge 5 touches the two guide plates 21 and 23 at a position outside the printing area of the print head 1 on the end side in the rightward movement direction of the carriage 5. The lower surface side of the upper guide plate 21 slides on the upper surface of the ribbon cartridge 5, while the upper surface side of the lower guide plate 23 slides on the lower surface of the ribbon cartridge 5. At this time, the tip of the lower guide Fi23 enters into a guide volume 25 formed on the carriage 7 so as to extend in the direction of movement thereof.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, on the left frame 27 side of the printer body of the platen 9, there is a second blade cleaner 29 equipped with a cleaner surface 29a at approximately the same level F7 as the pressure contact surface between the platen 9 and the print head 1. It is attached removably with a stopper, etc. The second pad free thick 29 is coated with a resin having a rough surface, and the tip of the print head 1 slides into contact with this coating to clean the surface of the pad 1 for printing. Second spade cleaner 29
is bent so that the center of the carriage 7 in the moving direction protrudes, and the side walls of the platen 9 are slightly recessed from the print head pressure contact surface of the platen 9.

On the other hand, a second ribbon shifter 31 similar to the first ribbon shifter 19 described above is attached to the left frame 27 on the side of the carriage 7. The second ribbon shifter 31 is also composed of an upper guide plate 33 and a lower guide plate 35, and this ribbon shifter 31 is located at a position outside the printing area by the print head 1 on the end side in the leftward movement direction of the carriage 5. It has the function of pinching the left side portion of the ribbon cartridge 5 and moving it in the vertical direction.

FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration governing control operations of this printer. The ROM stores the υ control program and the dot pattern of printed characters, and the CPU
It controls the entire printer device based on a control program stored in M, and is composed of a microprocessor. On the other hand, the interface sends and receives data to and from the host machine, and the RAM stores print data transferred from the host machine via this interface, and is used as temporary memory during operation. It is provided with a print character number table 37 that stores the numerical value of the number of print characters. When the number of printed characters exceeds the set value, the motor drive control circuit moves the carriage 7 via the gear ridge motor to a position outside the printing area of the print head 1 on the end side in the moving direction, that is, the print head 1 to the position where it will be cleaned.

The motor control circuit drives the carriage and also drives the paper feed motor for the printing paper 13. The print head drive control circuit controls the supply of electricity to the recording electrodes provided in the print head 1 to perform a predetermined printing operation. The print buffer door stores print patterns for ~(1 minute).The reference numeral 39 is the system bus.

Next, the operation of the printer having such a configuration will be explained. First, when the power is turned on, various states are initialized. As part of this initialization, the carriage 7 moves leftward from the state shown in FIG. 2 to detect the origin where the sensor is provided, and then returns to stop at the printing start position shown in FIG.

During this operation, as the ribbon car 1 helix 5 moves to the left, it enters between the upper guide plate 33 and the lower guide plate 35 of the second ribbon shifter 31, and the left side portion in the figure moves upward. do. At this point, the tip of the lower guide plate 35 has entered the guide groove 25 of the carriage 7, and the tip of each guide plate 33, 35 has a handle CS.
3, the ribbon cartridge 5 can easily enter between the guide plates 33, 35.

As the ribbon cartridge 5 moves upward, the ink ribbon 3 separates from between the print head 1 and the platen 9.
There are no inclusions between the two. Therefore, when the print head 1 reaches the second head cleaner 29 in this state,
The tip of the print head 1 comes into contact with the cleaner surface 29a of the second blade cleaner 29, and dirt and the like adhering to the tip of the print head 1 are removed. Second spade cleaner 29
The end of the platen 9 is slightly recessed from the print head pressure contact surface of the platen 9, and is further inclined so as to protrude toward the second ribbon shifter 31 toward the left frame 27, so that the print head 1 It is possible to move smoothly from the platen 9 onto the cleaner surface 29a, and the adhesive contact between the print head 1 and the cleaner surface 29a is ensured, so that dust can be effectively removed.

The print head 1 slides into contact with the second blade cleaner 29, and further presses the key 1? When the ridge 7 moves toward the left frame 27, a sensor (not shown) detects the position of the carriage 7.

Thereafter, the carriage 7 moves backward and stops at the printing start position (origin or Baum position) shown in FIG. Even during this reverse movement, the print head 1 comes into contact with the cleaner surface 29a, and dust is removed. Further, when moving backward, the ribbon cartridge 5 is guided by the second ribbon shifter 31, and its left side portion moves downward and is fixed to the carriage 7.

The cleaning of the print head 1 at the time of initializing the printer is effective in removing dust that has adhered from the previous use of the printer, as well as dust and the like that have adhered in the air up until the current use.

Further, at the time of the above initialization, the numerical value of the number of printed characters stored in the printed character number table 37 in the RAM is cleared to zero.

Then, when the carriage 7 moves to the right from the state shown in FIG. The number of characters to be printed is added to the number of characters to be printed stored in , and the addition result is stored in the number of characters to be printed table 37 . When the result of this addition exceeds the preset number of characters to be printed, the motor drive control circuit operates the sharpness motor to move the carriage 7 further toward the right frame 15 after the printing of that line is completed.

Due to this movement, the right side portion of the ribbon cartridge 5 enters between the upper guide plate 21 and the lower guide plate 23 of the first blade cleaner 19, and moves in the -F direction.

Since this operation is similar to that of the second ribbon shifter 31 described above, it is easy for the ribbon cartridge 5 to enter between the nine guide plates 21 and 23. By moving the rear portion of the ribbon cartridge 5 upward, the ink ribbon 3 is separated from between the print head 1 and the platen 9.

When the print head 1 reaches the first blade cleaner 17 in this state, the tip of the print head 1 comes into sliding contact with the surface of the first blade cleaner 17, and the print head 1, which has become dirty due to adhesion of dust, is cleaned. .

When the print head 1 is cleaned, the numerical value in the print character number table 37 in the RAM is cleared to zero.

After this cleaning operation, the carriage 7 moves to the left, and at the same time, the right side of the ribbon cartridge 5 is guided by the first ribbon shifter 19, moves downward, and is fixed to the carriage 7. After that, when the carriage 7 moves to the left end and then moves to the right again to perform the printing operation, the number of characters for each line printed is stored in the print character number table 37 in the same manner as above, and this value becomes the set value. The print head 1 is cleaned again when the number of characters is exceeded, and thereafter, the print head 1 is cleaned every time the set number of characters is printed.

In this way, dust attached to the print head 1 is removed each time the printer is initialized, and when the number of printed characters reaches the set value, depending on the printing frequency. The amount of dust attached can be reduced without any complicated work. As a result, a gap is less likely to be formed between the recording electrode at the tip of the print head 1 and the electrically resistive layer of the ink ribbon 3, and a sufficient amount of current is ensured when energized, resulting in improved print quality. improves. Furthermore, since gaps are less likely to be formed, discharge occurring between the recording electrode and the electrical resistance layer is also reduced, and deterioration of the print head 1 is prevented.

Moreover, if the first and second head cleaners 17, 2 are replaced when they deteriorate, their cleaning function can be maintained.

Note that in the above embodiment, the second
Although two blade cleaners, the first blade cleaner 29 and the first blade cleaner 17, which is used depending on the number of characters to be printed, are provided, only one of them may be provided.

Further, the first helad cleaner 17 is columnar and the second helad cleaner 29 is plate-shaped, but the invention is not limited to this, and they may be reversed, or both may be columnar, or both may be columnar. May be root-like.

As explained above, according to the invention, the ink ribbon is moved away from between the print head and the platen at a position where the print head is out of the printing area on at least one of the left and right ends. A ribbon shifter is provided, and when the ink ribbon is moved by this ribbon shifter, the print head comes into contact with the head cleaner, eliminating the troublesome cleaning of the print head. The amount of dust adhering to the print head can be reduced without performing the lη operation, and as a result, print quality can be improved and deterioration of the print head can be suppressed.

Further, by cleaning the print head in conjunction with the printer initialization operation or in accordance with the printing frequency, dust adhering to the print head can be efficiently removed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention when the carriage is on the right frame side, Fig. 2 is a perspective view when the carriage is on the left frame side, and Fig. 3 is a control circuit of the printer. It is a diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Print head 3...Ink ribbon 7...Carriage 9...Platen 17...2 first blade cleaners...Second blade cleaner 19...First ribbon shifter 31 ...Second ribbon shifter

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a printer in which a carriage carrying a print head and an ink ribbon is movable along a platen extending from side to side, the print portion of the ink ribbon is interposed between the print head and the platen. a cleaning position where the printing part is separated from between the print head and the platen, and the print head is provided in a print area on at least one end side of both ends in the horizontal movement direction; A printer comprising: a ribbon shifter for moving the ink ribbon to a cleaning position at a position removed from the ink ribbon; and a head cleaner that can be contacted by the print head at the cleaning position. (2) The printer according to claim 1, wherein the print head is moved to a position outside the printing area on at least one end side of both ends in the left-right movement direction of the print head in accordance with the printing frequency. (3) The movement of the print head to a position outside the printing area on at least one end side of both ends of the print head in the horizontal movement direction is performed in conjunction with the print head origin detection operation during printer initialization. The printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: