JPH03197100A - Apparatus for automatic supply of writing lead for xy plotter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To supply a lead smoothly, certainly and efficiently by engaging each drum cartridge with a rotary drive apparatus in a freely detachable manner so as to arrange the same to a writing utensil whose lead insertion hole is opened directly under the moving locus centering around the center of rotation of a rotary body of the drum cartridge and subjecting a shutter mechanism to opening and closing driving on a base side. CONSTITUTION:The rotation of a rotary body 16 is controlled to move the desired drum cartridge 44 among a plurality of drum cartridges 44 to the part directly above a writing utensil arranging place. Next, the selected drum cartridge 44 is rotated by predetermined quantity to allow the lower end opening part of the lead receiving hole 48 thereof to coincide with the lead falling hole 30 of the support table 24a supporting the selected drum cartridge 44. Whereupon, one lead in the lead receiving hole 48 of the drum cartridge 44 falls to the opening and closing part of a shutter mechanism under its own wt. from the lead falling hole 30 of the support table 24a. When a shutter driving mechanism is driven in this state to open the opening and closing part of the shutter mechanism, one lead falls to be inserted in the lead insertion hole 22 of the writing utensil 18 arranged under the shutter mechanism under its own wt.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an automatic writing lead supply device for an XY plotter.

[Conventional technology]

A plurality of writing leads are stored in a lead storage container, a shutter mechanism placed below the lead storage container is opened and closed, and the lead in the lead storage container is inserted into the lead insertion hole of the writing instrument placed below the shutter mechanism. An automatic core feeder that drops cores one by one is disclosed in JP-A-1-78899.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As described above, when a plurality of writing leads are stored in the lead storage container, when the shutter mechanism opens, there is a risk that the writing leads in the lead storage container will fall twice.

Another drawback is that other writing nibs come into pressure contact with the writing nibs that are about to fall from the drop hole at the bottom of the lead storage container, and the nibs do not fall smoothly due to the pressure of the other nibs.

The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned defects.

[Means to solve problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention rotatably supports a rotating body 16 connected to a rotational drive device on a base 15,
A plurality of support stands 24a, 24b are attached to the upper surface of the rotary body 16 on a circular line centered on the rotation center thereof, and each support stand 24a.

A drum cartridge 44 is rotatably supported on the support bases 24a and 24b, and the drum cartridge 44 has a plurality of core storage holes 48 arranged on the same circular line for vertically slidably inserting and arranging one core. A hole 30 for dropping the lead is provided in the center of each support stand 24, and a hole 30 for dropping the lead is provided directly below the circular line of arrangement of the lead storage hole 48.
A shutter mechanism for opening and closing the lower part of the hole 30 is provided below the hole 30 for dropping the core, and each of the drum cartridges 44 is removably engaged with the rotary drive device 52, and the drum cartridge 44, the rotating body 16
Directly below the movement trajectory centered on the rotation center of the core insertion hole 2
2 is configured such that it can be placed on a writing instrument 18 having an opening, and a shutter drive mechanism for driving the shutter mechanism to open and close is provided on the base 15 side.

[Effect]

Controlling the rotation of the rotating body 16 to move a desired drum cartridge 44 among the plurality of drum cartridges 44 directly above the writing instrument placement location.Firstly, the selected drum cartridge 44 is rotated by a predetermined amount to open the lead storage hole of the drum cartridge 44. When the lower end opening of the drum cartridge 48 is aligned with the core/sheath prepared hole 30 of the support base 24a that supports the selected drum cartridge 44, one core in the core storage hole 48 of the drum cartridge 44 is aligned with the support base 24a.
It falls under its own weight from the core/sheath prepared hole 30 of 4a to the opening/closing part of the shutter mechanism. In this state, when the shutter drive mechanism is driven to open the opening/closing part of the shutter mechanism, one lead falls and is inserted by its own weight into the lead insertion hole 22 of the writing instrument 18 disposed below the shutter mechanism.

〔Example〕

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

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 is a platen fixed to the body of the paper-driven automatic drafting machine, and a slit is formed in the middle of the platen over almost the entire length in the width direction.
A drawing roller 4 linked to a drive motor is rotatably arranged. A plurality of slits are provided in the platen 2 on an axis parallel to the drawing roller 4 arrangement slit.

The X drive shaft 6 was fixed to the slit. A drive roller 8 having the same diameter as the drawing roller 4 is rotatably arranged. The X drive shaft 6 is linked to an X drive motor, and the drawing roller 4 and drive roller 8 are set to rotate in the same direction at the same circumferential speed by the drive of the X drive motor. A Y rail is fixed to the machine body in a direction across the platen 2, and an endless head drive belt 12 is passed between pulleys rotatably supported at both ends of the Y rail.
A printing head 10 is movably attached to the.

The drawing head 10 has a built-in lead chuck mechanism and holds a writing instrument 18 which has a lead insertion hole 22 open in its upper end surface so as to be movable up and down, and the writing instrument 18 is located directly above the drawing roller 4. . The internal structure of the writing instrument 18 is based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6
It is disclosed in detail in Japanese Patent No. 1-132394. A presser roller 14 is attached to the Y rail so as to be movable up and down, and the presser roller 14 is in elastic contact with the drive roller 8 due to the elasticity of a spring. The X drive motor is driven to feed the paper on the platen 2 in the front and back direction of the platen 2, while the drawing head 10 is sent along the Y rail in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and the writing instrument 18 is used to move the paper on the platen 2. It is configured such that a predetermined drawing can be drawn on the paper on the paper.

A box-shaped base 15 is fixed to the side of the platen 2, and a tubular support 16a of the rotating body 16 is attached to the upper wall of the base.
is rotatably supported. A drive motor 17 with an encoder is fixed to the base 15, and a gear 19 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 17 meshes with a gear 20 fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the support column 16. The rotating body 1
A tubular outer rotating shaft 21 is inserted into the shaft hole along the central axis of 6.
The gear 23 is rotatably fitted and arranged, and the gear 23 fixed to the rotating shaft 21 is fixed to the output shaft of a drive motor 25 with an encoder fixed to the base 15. It meshes with gear 27. The outer rotation shaft 21 has an inner rotation shaft 2.
A gear 31 is fixed to the lower end of the rotary shaft 29 and is fixed to the output shaft of a drive motor 37 with an encoder fixed to the base 15. It meshes with gear 35. Disk portion 16b of the rotating body 16
A plurality of (two in this embodiment) disk-shaped support stands 24 are placed on the top surface of the holder on a circular line centered on the rotation center of the holder.
a and 24b are removably fixed. A pair of positioning pins 26 protruding from the top surface of the disk portion 16b are removably fitted into two fitting recesses formed in the center of the bottom surface of each of the support stands 24a, 24b. (See Figure 7).

A rising piece 82 protruding from the upper surface of the disk portion 16b.
84 is loosely fitted into a mounting hole bored in the axial direction at the bottom of the support bases 24a, 24b. The support stand 24a
, 24b is provided with a shear screw insertion hole that communicates with the mounting hole in the radial direction, and a screw 28 that is slidably inserted into the screw insertion hole is provided in the rising piece 82, 84. By screwing into the screw hole, the support base 2
4a and 24b are removably fixed to the disk portion 16b. A corresponding position 86 (see FIG. 1) is set on the base 15, where the center of the writing instrument 18 held by the drawing head 10 is located when supplying the lead.
and the distance between the center of rotation of the rotating body 16 and the center of rotation of the rotating body 16 is located directly above a circular line whose radius is the center of rotation of the rotating body 16,
Each of the support stands 24a.

A hole 30 for dropping the core is provided in the thickness direction of the core 24b. the corresponding position 86 set on the base 15;
A remaining core discharge port 88 is formed in the. As shown in FIG. 5, a notch 33 is formed at the bottom of each of the supports 24a and 24b around the hole 30, and the hole 30 is formed on both sides of the notch 33. Optical sensors 32 and 34 for detecting standby, which are composed of a light emitter 32 and a light receiver 34, are arranged across an extension of the central axis of the light emitting device.

A rotary shutter cam 36 is rotatably supported on the bottom surface of each of the support stands 24β, 24b.
6. A plurality of holes 38 for dropping the core are opened at equal intervals on a circular line centered on the rotation center of the upper and lower surfaces of the core 6, and are transparent in the thickness direction. A pin 40 is provided on the lower surface of the cam 32 and protrudes perpendicularly to the lower surface for each hole 38 . The support stand 24 is placed directly above one point of the arrangement circle of the holes 38.
Holes 30 a and 24b are located. The support stand 24a
, 24b, a cartridge support shaft 42 is protruded from the center thereof.

Reference numeral 44 denotes a drum cartridge having approximately the same diameter as the support stands 24a and 24b, and a hole 46 is bored in the bottom of the drum cartridge at the center thereof, and the hole 46 is connected to the support shaft 42.
It is rotatably fitted to the

A plurality of core storage holes 48 are transparently provided in the axial direction of the drum cartridge 44 at positions away from its rotational center axis, and these core storage holes 48 are centered on the upper and lower surfaces of the drum cartridge 44. It opens on a circular line with the same radius as the center, and the core dropping hole 30 of the support stands 24a, 24b is located on the circular line. Each of the drum cartridges 44
Gears 50a and 50b are fixedly provided on the circumferential surface of the intermediate portion.

The gear 50a is removably engaged with a gear 92 fixed to a rotating shaft 90 rotatably supported by the disk portion 16b. A pulley 94 fixed to the rotating shaft 90
An endless belt 98 is passed between the rotary shaft 29 and a pulley 96 fixed to the upper end of the rotating shaft 29. The same goes for the gear 50b.

The gear 50b removably meshes with the gear 102 of the rotating shaft 100 and is connected to the rotating shaft 21 via a pulley 104 fixed to the rotating shaft 1000, a belt 108, and a pulley 106 fixed to the rotating shaft 21. . Reference numeral 60 denotes a case housing a known tailing device, which is fixedly installed in the vicinity of the residual core discharge port 88 of the base 15, and the case 60 is equipped with a reduction gear controlled by a controller. A motor 62 (see FIG. 3) is fixedly installed. 64
is a cylindrical lifting guide cam, and the central part of the top wall of this cam is
It is fixed to the output shaft 66 of the motor 62. 68 is a plate-shaped rotating arm, and a hole formed at one end of this arm is slidably inserted into the output shaft 6. The arm 68 is located in an arm regulating groove 70 formed in the peripheral wall of the cam 64 and is compressed into the output shaft 66 by the elastic force of a coil spring 72.
It is in pressure contact with the lower surface of the ceiling wall. As shown in FIG. 6, a circumferential wall 64 between one end of the wall surface of the groove 70 at the same height level as the lower surface of the top wall of the cam 64 and the other end of the wall surface of the groove 70
On the lower surface of a, the amount of downward protrusion gradually increases with the starting end S being a surface that protrudes slightly downward from the horizontal surface of the groove 70,
An elevation control cam surface 74 is formed at the terminal end e, with the maximum amount of downward protrusion. One pin 40 of the shutter cam 36 of the support base 24a located above the residual core discharge port 88 is positioned on the rotation locus of the arm 68. When the arm 68 engages one pin 40 of the shutter cam 36,
A recessed portion 76 is formed in the shutter cam 36 to open the lower part of the core drop hole 38 corresponding to the two engaging pins 40. One writing lead 78 is arranged in each lead storage hole 48 of each drum cartridge 44 so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and the lower end of each writing lead 78 is in contact with the upper surface of the corresponding support base 24a, 24b due to its own weight. .

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the writing core automatic supply operation is started, the controller moves the drawing head 10 to the vicinity of the remaining lead outlet 88 and positions the writing instrument 18 at the corresponding position 86 in the center of the remaining lead outlet 88. Further, the controller drives the motor 17 to rotate the rotary body 16, selects one of the two drum cartridges, and moves the selected drum cartridge 44 to the corresponding position 86, which is a writing instrument. Move it above 18. The controller supports the support base 24a that supports the selected drum cartridge 44.

It is determined whether or not the standby detection sensors 32 and 34 are on.

The writing lead 78 falls into the hole 30 of the support stand 24a, and the writing lead 78
When the lower end of the shutter cam 36 is engaged with the upper surface of the shutter cam 36, the sensors 32 and 34 are on. When the controller makes a negative determination, it means that there is no writing lead 78 in the lead storage hole 48 of the drum cartridge 44 that matches the hole 30 of the support base 24a, so the controller drives the motor 37. , drum cartridge 44
is rotated by 10% to align the lead storage hole 48 next to the empty lead storage hole 48 with the hole 30 of the support base 24a. The controller then drives motor 62 to rotate arm 68. The arm 68 has its end side surface 68a in contact with the outermost pin 40 of the shutter cam 36 and pushes it. The shutter cam 36 is rotated by the arm 68,
The lead drop hole 38 corresponding to the pin 40 that engages with the arm 68 matches the hole 30 of the support base 24a, and the writing lead 78 in the hole 30 falls into the hole 38 of the shutter cam 36 and the recess of the arm 68. It falls downward through the entry part 76 and is inserted into the lead insertion hole 22 of the writing instrument 18.

Further, the arm 68 rotates slightly, and when the push-down surface 68b adjacent to the recess 76 is located directly above the writing instrument 18, it is stopped by a stopper 80 (see FIG. 6) fixed to the case 60. In this state, the shutter cam 3
The core drop hole 38 of No. 6 does not match the core drop hole 30 of the support base 24a, and the rotation operation of the shutter cam 36 for one index is completed.Next, the controller It is determined whether the sensors 32, 34 are OFF or not, and if the determination is negative, the display section of the operation panel will display the following information:
While displaying an error, the core feeding operation is stopped, and if an affirmative determination is made, the operation shifts to the tail pushing operation.

This tail-pushing operation will be explained below.

When the output shaft 66 of the motor 62 further rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
0 and the arm 68 is moved to the elevation control cam surface 7 of the cam 64.
4, the arm 68 pushes down the writing lead inserted into the writing instrument 18 further into the back using its pushing-down surface 68a, and pushes out the remaining lead inside the writing instrument 18 from the writing instrument 18 with a new lead. , the new lead is dropped into the remaining lead outlet 86, and the new lead is engaged with the lead chuck mechanism within the writing instrument 18. When the core pushing operation is completed, the output shaft 66 of the motor 62 is reversely rotated to return the arm 68 to its original position, thereby completing the core feeding operation.

As is clear from the above description, the shutter cam 36 constitutes a shutter mechanism for opening and closing the lower part of the holes 30 of the supports 24a and 24b, and the rotating arm 68 and the motor 62 constitute a shutter drive mechanism. There is. Those skilled in the art will be able to conceive of various configurations of the shutter mechanism and shutter drive mechanism, and in the present invention, the shutter mechanism and shutter drive mechanism are not particularly limited to the configurations shown in the drawings. When the lead storage hole 48 in the selected drum cartridge 44 is completely empty, or when it is desired to supply a different type of lead in the other drum cartridge 44 to the writing instrument 18, the motor 17 is driven to rotate. The body 16 is rotated 180 degrees and the other drum cartridge 44 is positioned above the writing instrument 18 in the compliant position 86. Drum cartridge 4 on support stand 24b
The index rotation of No. 4 drives the motor 25 and rotates the rotation shaft 21.
This is done by rotating.

〔effect〕

As described above, the present invention uses a drum cartridge that holds one lead at a time, so there is no possibility of the lead falling twice, and therefore, when the lead falls, the pressure of other leads is applied to the falling lead. To smoothly, reliably and efficiently supply a lead to a writing instrument without adding any additional force. Further, since a plurality of drum cartridges are prepared, different types of cores can be used depending on the purpose.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an external view, Fig. 2 is an external view, Fig. 3 is an external view, Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view, Fig. 5 is an external view, Fig. 6 is an external view,
FIG. 7 is a sectional view. 2...Platen, 4...Drawing roller, 6...X drive shaft. 8... Drive roller, 10... Print head, 12...
・Head drive belt, 14... Presser roller, 15...
・Base, 16... Rotating body, 17... Drive motor,
18...Writing instrument, 19...Gear, 20...Gear 1
．． 21... Rotating shaft, 22... Core insertion hole, 24...
Support stand, 25... Drive motor, 26... Pin, 27
... Gear, 28 ... Screw, 29 ... Rotating shaft, 30
... Hole, 32.34 ... Waiting detection sensor, 36
...Shutter cam, 37...Motor, 38...
Hole, 40... Pin, 42... Support shaft, 44... Drum cartridge, 46... Mounting hole, 48... Lead storage hole, 50... Gear, 54... Encoder, 56・
...Gear, 58...Cap, 60...Case, 6
2...Motor, 64...Cam, 66...Output shaft,
68... Rotating arm, 70... Regulation groove, 72...
Coil spring, 74...Cam surface, 76...Recessed part, 78...Stopper 82°84...Rising piece, 86...Accommodating position, 88...Remaining core outlet, 90
... Rotating shaft, 92 ... Gear, 94 ... Pulley, 9
6... Pulley, 98... Belt, 100... Rotating shaft, 102... Gear, 104, 106... Pulley,
108...Belt.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Rotating body 1 connected to the rotational drive device on the base 15
6 is rotatably supported, and a plurality of support stands 2 are positioned on the upper surface of the rotating body 16 on a circular line centered on the rotation center of the rotating body 16.
4a and 24b, and a plurality of lead storage holes 48 are provided on the same circular line on each of the supports 24a and 24b for vertically slidingly inserting and arranging one lead. The drum cartridge 44 is rotated. Each of the support stands 24a
, 24b is provided with a hole 30 for dropping the core located directly below the arrangement circle of the core storage hole 48, and each of the support stands 24a, 24 is provided with a hole 30 for dropping the core.
A shutter mechanism for opening and closing the lower part of the hole 30 is provided below the hole 30 for dropping the core, and each of the drum cartridges 44 is removably engaged with the rotary drive device 52. , so that it can be placed in a writing instrument 18 having a lead insertion hole 22 opened directly below the movement locus centered on the rotation center of the rotating body 16, and the base 1
An automatic writing lead supply device for an XY plotter, characterized in that a shutter drive mechanism for driving the shutter mechanism to open and close is provided on the fifth side.