JPH0289743A - Medium paper feeding method for information output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of paper jam by pressing the projecting part of a paper sheet into a platen and pushing the paper front edge positioned on an upper guide plate inside a paper guide by means of a guide shoe running together with an output factor so as to guide the paper front edge to the paper guide correctly. CONSTITUTION:When the width of paper is larger than the width R of a guide shoe 6, a paper sheet 3 is transported to the position where the paper front edge 31 goes slightly over the tip edge of an upper guide plate 12, and stopped temporarily. During this stoppage, the guide shoe 6 actuates an output element 1 to travel between the position A to press the left side of the paper sheet and the position B to press the right side. The projecting part 32 of the paper sheet is pressed in along a platen 2 as well as the paper front edge 31 positioned on the upper guide plate 12 is pressed inside a paper guide 11 by means of the guide shoe 6 that runs together with the output element 1 so that the paper front edge 31 is correctly guided to the paper guide 11 and onto the paper discharge path 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) This invention relates to information output devices using paper as a medium, particularly printers, XY plotters, etc. that form visible information on a paper medium by mechanical or fluid means. The present invention relates to a method for feeding media paper when inserting the paper into an information output device.

(Prior Art) For example, in the wire dot type printer shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in order to insert paper 3 into the narrow gap between the print head 1 and the platen 2, the print head 1 or the platen 2 is separated from each other. There is paper 3 between the platen and the print head.
The leading edge 31 of the paper is introduced, the gap between the print head and the platen is set to a regular gap, and the printing operation is started, and the paper fed by the subsequent line feed is fed out after the leading edge 31 of the paper enters the guide area. Either the movable paper guide lla shown in FIG. 4 guides the paper by closing it so as to sandwich the front and back sides of the paper, or the fixed paper guide 11 shown in FIG. Ru.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the wire dot type printer, a guide shoe 6 is provided at the tip of the print head 1, and the paper 3 is sent out while being attached to the platen 2 by this guide shoe. However, since the guide shoe 6 travels in the paper width direction together with the print head 1, it is considerably shorter than the maximum printable paper width, and in the case of wide paper, it only holds the paper by a width shorter than the paper width. Therefore, if the front edge of the paper has a tendency to lift up due to curling, etc., the part that is not held down by the guide shoe (part 32 in Figure 5)
is lifted up a lot, and this lifting amount is the movable guide l.
If the opening amount exceeds the opening amount of la or the opening amount of the introduction portion 15 of the fixed guide, problems such as paper jams and paper folds will occur.

This invention has a paper guide 11 on the paper feeding side of the print head,
In particular, a paper feeding method is proposed that prevents the paper 3 from colliding with the upper guide plate 12 and causing paper jams and paper folds.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In the method of the present invention, when a medium paper 3 is inserted into an output device such as a printer, the width W of the paper is first detected or stored by key-in, and the width W of the paper is and the width R of the guide shoe 6, which is stored in advance as a registered value, and the operating procedure is branched depending on the magnitude relationship between the paper width W and the guide shoe width R. When the paper width W is smaller than the guide shoe width R, line feed is performed after the paper is started with the print head 1 stopped as in the conventional method, but the paper width W is smaller than the guide shoe width R. If the size is larger, the leading edge 31 of the paper will move toward the paper guide 1 during line feed.
When passing the leading edge of the paper 3, the paper 3 is transported to a position where the leading edge 31 of the paper slightly exceeds the leading edge 121 of the upper guide plate and is temporarily stopped, and at the time of this stop, the guide shoe 6 presses the left side of the paper. The output element 1 is run between position A and position B, which holds the right side, and then the remaining printing and changing operations are performed.

The output element 1 runs independently of whether a printing operation is performed or not. The front edge 31 of the paper is the paper guide 11
The position slightly beyond the leading edge of the paper means that by pressing and bending the floating portion 32 of the paper from above, it is possible to push the front edge 31 under the upper guide plate 12, and once it is pushed in, Even if the leading edge 31 of the paper tries to lift up, it collides with the inner side of the tip of the upper guide plate 12, and the flexure is suppressed in the direction of stretching.1. This is when the leading edge 3I of the paper has entered the paper guide 11 to the extent that it does not come off the paper guide 11.

(Function) The aforementioned paper jam and paper folding problems tend to occur when feeding wide paper into large printers with large maximum printing widths, but large printers use relatively large guide shoes 6. ing.

According to the method of the present invention, even if the paper 3 has a width that protrudes from the guide shoe 6 and the protruding portion is raised and is positioned on the upper guide plate 12 of the paper guide, the output element 1 The protruding portion 32 of the paper is also pressed down along the platen 2 by the guide shoe 6 that travels with it during the run, and the upper guide plate 12
Since the leading edge 31 of the paper that was located above is pushed into the inside of the paper guide 11, the next time the paper is fed, the leading edge 31 of the paper is correctly guided by the paper guide 11 and exits the paper ejection path. I am led to 16.

On the other hand, if the width W of the fed paper is narrower than the guide shoe width R, the above-described traveling operation of the output element 1 is not performed. This is because the paper 3 is held down by the guide shoe 6 over its entire width, so there is no need to run it, and the guide shoe 6, which runs beyond the width of the paper, catches the side edges of the paper, causing paper jams and paper folds. This is to avoid a drop in throughput due to the output element running independently of the printing operation.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the method of this invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 schematically show the structure of a printer according to the embodiment. In Figure 2.3,
1 is a print head, 2 is a platen, 3 (3a, 3b) is paper, 4 is a carrier on which the print head is mounted, 5.5
is a guide rod that guides the carrier; 6 is a guide shoe provided at the tip of the print head to avoid friction between the ink ribbon and the paper; 7 is a photoelectric sensor mounted on the guide shoe for detecting the side edge of the paper; 8 is the standard edge guide of the paper;
In FIG. 3, reference numeral 9 denotes a paper feed roller, 10 a paper feed roller, 12 a top guide plate of the paper guide 11 (see FIG. 5) on the paper feed side, and 14 a sensor for detecting the beginning position of the paper.

The position A of the print head indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 is the position W (
Hereinafter referred to as the "reference position". ), the position B shown by the imaginary line is the position where the right end of the guide shoe 6 matches the right edge of the wide paper 3a (hereinafter referred to as the "rightward movement position"), and the other position ffc shown by the imaginary line is the position where the right edge of the guide shoe 6 matches the right edge of the wide paper 3a. This is the home position, W (Wa, Wb) is the paper width, and R is the width of the guide shoe.

In FIG. 2, for convenience of explanation, the gap between the printing rack 1 and the platen 2 is shown larger than it actually is, and the wide paper 3a and the narrow paper 3b are simultaneously shown in the gap.

In FIG. 3, H is the paper beginning position, S is the position set as the position where the leading edge 31 of the paper slightly exceeds the leading edge 121 of the upper guide plate, and L is the distance from the paper beginning position H to the set position S ( (hereinafter referred to as "setting distance"), δ is the distance between the setting position S and the tip 121 of the upper guide plate.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the start of printing processing is commanded, the feed roller 9 feeds the first sheet of paper to the cue position H, the carrier 4 runs, and the side edge detection sensor 7 detects the position of the sheet 3. The paper width W is detected from the traveling distance when the right side edge is detected (step 21), and this is stored. Next, the first line is printed and a line feed command is received, but the amount of paper feed from the beginning position H when this line feed command is executed (total feed amount)
It is verified whether or not exceeds the set path #L (step 22). If the total feed amount does not exceed the set distance, the commanded feed change operation is executed and the next line is printed. Then, in the verification step 22 after the line feed command, if it is determined that executing the line feed command will cause the total paper feed distance to exceed the set distance, the paper is fed until the total feed amount reaches the set distance. , the paper leading edge 31 is positioned at a set position ZS (step 23). Then, compare the size of the paper width W and the guide shoe width R (step 24). If the paper width is smaller, set the print head 1 stopped at the printing end position in the previous printing operation to the reference point in FIG. 1A (step 25), and with the print head stopped at the reference position A, line feed is performed by the amount left unfeeded in step 23 (feed amount commanded by the line feed command - feed amount executed in step 23). The paper is sent (step 26), and the subsequent printing process is continued.

If it is determined in step 24 that the paper width W is larger than the guide shoe width R, move the print head ■, which has stopped at the printing end position in the previous printing operation, near the reference position A or the rightward movement position B in FIG. (Step 27)
, the carrier 4 is moved from the position to the opposite position, ie, AB or BA (step 28). Thereafter, in step 26, line feed is performed for the amount left untransmitted in step 23, and subsequent printing processing is continued.

During the above procedure, step 23 of positioning the paper leading edge 31 at the set position S, fixing the print head 1 at the reference position A, pressing the entire width of the narrow paper 3b, and moving the paper leading edge into the paper guide 11. Feeding steps 25 and 26 or the print head 1 is moved between the reference position A and the rightward movement position B to push the front edge of the wide paper 3a into the paper guide 11, and then the paper is fed and the paper 3a is moved to the paper guide 11. Steps 28 and 26 for feeding the paper inside ensure stable feeding of the paper without causing paper jams or paper folds due to the tendency of the paper to rise, not only for the narrow paper 3b but also for the wide paper 3a.

In the above embodiment, the paper width is detected by the photoelectric sensor 7, but this detection only needs to be performed for the first sheet of the group of papers that are processed simultaneously. A method of specifying it is also possible. Further, in the above embodiment, the step 25 of moving the print head to the reference position A for narrow paper is included, but if the paper width W is warmly narrower than the guide shoe width R, the print head 1 Since the guide shoe 6 will hold down substantially the entire width of the paper 3 no matter where it stops in the printable area of the paper,
There is no need to provide such step 25.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the method of the invention described above, especially when printing wide paper using a large printer with a large maximum paper width, the paper does not partially lift up from the printer surface and interfere with the paper guide. It is possible to avoid the occurrence of paper jams and paper folds caused by paper jams, and furthermore, there is an effect that feeding of narrow paper can be performed more stably.

In particular, it is a large printer that can print on paper up to about 14" wide, and is equipped with a guide shoe (not wide, for example A4 size width) on the carriage, and an optical sensor on the guide shoe that can detect the side edges of the paper. This method is very effective as a method for feeding media in a printer having a printer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing a printer structure according to the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a side view of the printer structure, and FIGS. FIG. 5 is a side view showing a printer device that can employ the method of this invention. In the figure, 1: Print head 3 (3a, 3b): Paper 6: Guide shoe 11: Paper guide 31: Paper leading edge A: Head reference position W (Wa, Wb): Paper width H: Paper comparison position 2 Nib platen 4: Carrier 7: Side edge detection sensor 12: Top guide plate 121 Ni guide tip edge B: Head right movement position R Ni guide shoe width S: Setting position

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is equipped with a print head and other output elements (1) that run in the direction perpendicular to the feed of the paper (3), and a guide shoe (6) that faces the paper surface and runs together with the output element is attached to the tip of the output element, In a method for feeding media in an information output device in which a paper guide (11) is provided on the paper feeding side of an output element to sandwich the front and back surfaces of the paper and guide the leading edge (31) of the paper to the paper ejection path (16). , step of detecting or setting the width (W) of the paper to be fed (
21), the width of the paper (W), and the width of the guide shoe (
R) and branching the procedure based on the result, and when the width of the paper is wider than the width of the guide shoe, the leading edge of the paper (31) is connected to the tip (121) of the guide (11). A method for feeding a medium sheet in an information output device, comprising the steps of: (23) temporarily stopping the sheet at a position slightly beyond ); and (28) causing the output element (1) to travel during the stop.