JPH0430914B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides a feeder for a printer, such as a personal computer, that automatically supplies printing paper cut to an arbitrary length. Regarding paper devices.

(Prior Art) This type of paper feeding device includes one that has a drive source on the paper feeding device side, and one that receives driving force from a platen drive motor of the printer main body via gears etc. A paper feeding device that receives driving force from a paper feeding device has the advantage that the paper feeding device itself can be made smaller and lighter.

The paper feeding device, which receives driving force from the printer body, rotates the paper feed roller by a certain amount by a certain amount of driving force from the printer body, and feeds each sheet of paper to the platen of the printer body. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the conventional paper feeding device described above requires a dedicated paper feeding device for each size of paper. The paper feed roller stops mid-feed and the paper gets caught between the paper feed rollers, making it impossible to feed the paper for printing.Also, if the paper is too short, the next paper cannot be fed. Because of the storage, it was not possible to feed sheets of different sizes with a single sheet feeding device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer paper feeding device that can supply sheets of different sizes to a printer main body.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a transmission means 3 for transmitting forward and reverse rotational driving force from the printer main body 2 for printing on fed paper P, and a selective transmission method for the transmission means 3. A paper feeding roller 39 that rotates in conjunction with the forward rotation of the transmission means 3 when connected to feed the paper P to the printer body 2, does not rotate in conjunction with reverse rotation, and is rotatable when not connected. means 4; a switching means 5 for connecting the transmission means 3 and the paper feeding means 4 when the transmission means 3 rotates in reverse; and a switching means 5 which is set to an initial state during the reverse rotation of the transmission means 3, The operation is started at the same time as the forward rotation, and a release means 6 is provided for disconnecting the transmission means 3 and the paper feeding means 4 after a certain timing from the start of the operation.

(Function) In the present invention, when feeding the paper P to the printer main body 2, first, the driving force from the printer main body 2 causes the transmission means 3 to reversely rotate, and the switching means 5 switches the transmission means 3 and the paper feeding means 4. are connected. At this time,
The paper feed roller 39 of the paper feed means 4 does not rotate in reverse, and the release means 6 is set to the initial state while the transmission means 3 is rotating in reverse.

Next, the driving force from the printer body 2 causes the transmission means 3 to rotate forward, and the paper feed roller 39 of the paper feed means 4
rotates in conjunction with each other, and the paper P is fed to the printer main body 2. Simultaneously with the normal rotation of the transmission means 3, the operation of the release means 6 which had been set to the initial state is started, and the connection between the transmission means 3 and the paper feeding means 4 is established by this release means 6 after a certain timing from the start of the operation. It will be canceled. Therefore, after paper feeding is completed, the paper feeding means 4 becomes free, and the paper P is allowed to be drawn into the printer main body 2 side.

(Example) Hereinafter, the configuration of an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a paper feeding device, and this paper feeding device 1 is connected to a transmission means 3 that transmits forward and reverse rotational driving force from the printer main body 2, and is connected to a predetermined direction. A paper feeding means 4 for supplying paper P cut to size, such as A-4 size or B-5 size, to the printer main body 2, a switching means 5 for connecting this paper feeding means 4 to the transmission means 3, and a transmission means. and a release means 6 for releasing the connection of the paper feeding means 4 connected to the means 3.

The printer main body 2 has a platen gear 1 at one end.
0 and includes a platen 11 which is rotatably driven by a drive motor (not shown).
A starting end pressure bonding roller 13 which pinches the paper P fed along the paper guide 12 on the circumferential surface of the paper guide 12 and presses it around the platen 11; An end pressure roller 14 is attached that presses the paper P wound around the platen 11 by means of a guide member (not shown). Further, a positioning shaft 15 for mounting the paper feeding device 1 on the printer main body 2 is provided near the platen 11. In addition, platen 11
A print head (position indicated by arrow H in FIG. 2) and an end switch (position indicated by arrow S in FIG. 2) for detecting the presence or absence of paper P are arranged opposite to the circumferential surface of the printer.

The paper feeding device 1 includes a pair of side plates 20a and 20b.
An inverted U-shaped locking piece 21 that engages with the positioning shaft 15 is formed at the lower end of each side plate 20a, 20b. A locking lever 22 that is hooked to the lower part of the positioning shaft 15 when engaged with the
is provided, and this locking lever 22 is connected to an expansion spring 23.
energized in the locking direction by. In addition, a plurality of sheets of paper P are piled up between the side plates 20a and 20b.
A paper feed tray 24 on which the paper is placed is inclined in a direction facing the platen 11, and sheets P that have finished printing and have been discharged from the platen 11 are piled up in front of the paper feed tray 24. output tray 2
5 is provided.

The transmission means 3 is provided with a pair of main gears 27a, 27b connected by a transmission shaft 26 on each outer surface of the side plates 20a, 20b. This one main gear 27a is meshed with the platen gear 10 of the platen 11 via a driven gear 28, and a sub gear 29 having a smaller diameter than the main gear 27b is provided on one inner side of the other main gear 27b. ing.

As particularly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the paper feeding means 4 is provided with a movable arm 32 that is swingably supported on the outside of the side plate 20b and whose intermediate portion is pivotally supported on a support shaft 31. At the tip of the arm 32, a separation gear 33 and a drive pulley 34, which can mesh with the main gear 27b, are integrally rotatably supported, and at the rear end of the arm 32, one end is supported pivotally on the side plate 20b. An expansion spring 35 is attached, and this expansion spring 35 allows the tip of the arm 32 to move upwardly or downwardly.
Any of the point positions is energized. This arm 32
A small diameter gear 36 and a driven pulley 3 are located near the upper part of the
A timing belt 38 is stretched between the driven pulley 37 and the driving pulley 34, and a small diameter gear 36 is connected to a plurality of small diameter gears 36 disposed on the paper feed tray 24. paper feed roller 3
A continuously fed paper feed gear 41 is meshed with the support shaft 40 of No. 9. This feed gear 41 and the support shaft 40 are connected by a one-way clutch, and the gear 41 is connected to the third
The support shaft 40 only rotates clockwise in the figure.
are designed to be rotated in conjunction with each other.

The switching means 5 is composed of a switching lever 45, a switching plate 46, and a switching plate drive section 47. The switching lever 45 is formed in a substantially L shape, and the middle part thereof is rotatably attached to the side plate 20b. The switching plate 46 is pivotally supported and one end is attached to the tip of the arm 32, and the switching plate 46 has a long slot 48 and is slidably provided on the side plate 20b with a support screw 49. The rear end of the plate 46 abuts the other end of the lever 45, and the front end has a tension spring 50 stretched over the top and a pin 51 vertically protruding from the bottom.

The switching drive section 47, as shown in FIG.
It has a switching gear 52 that meshes with the main gear 27b,
A cylindrical sleeve 54 of a crimp plate 53 is slidably fitted into one side plate 52 a of the switching gear 52 , and the other side 52 b of the switching gear 52 is opened to accommodate a coil spring 55 and a crimp plate 53 . Sleeve 56 slidably inserted into sleeve 54
An outer plate 57 having a
A friction effect is formed between the pressure bonding plate 53 and the pressure bonding plate 53. Further, a groove 53a is provided on the side surface of the crimp plate 53 opposite to the side surface on which the sleeve 54 is provided, and a pair of protrusions 53b are provided at opposing positions on the circumference of the edge of this groove 53a. . Also,
A cam plate 58 having a pair of protrusions 58a that moves within the groove 53a and engages with the protrusion 53b is joined to the side surface of the crimp plate 53 with the groove 53a via a spring 59. This spring 59 has both ends attached to both plates 53 and 58, respectively, and the crimping plate 53 is attached to the switching gear 58 against the cam plate 58.
In other words, when the crimp plate 53 rotates in the reverse rotation direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5) of the switching gear 52, the spring 59 is biased. As a result, the cam plate 58 follows and rotates in the reverse rotation direction. In addition, the protrusion 58 of the cam plate 58
A groove 58b into which the pin 51 of the switching plate 46 is fitted is provided on the side opposite to the side where a is provided, and the switching gear is located at a symmetrical position on the circumference of the edge of this groove 58b. A pair of locking pieces 58d are provided, each having an engaging recess 58c with which the pin 51 is engaged only in the reverse direction of rotation of the pin 52 (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5).

As shown in FIG. 6, the release means 6 has a release gear 61 that meshes with the auxiliary gear 29 rotatably supported on a side plate 20b.
A disc 62 that engages and rotates only when the release gear 61 rotates forward is ratcheted to one side of the b side.
Furthermore, on one side of this disk 62, this disk 62
It has a semicircular notch 63 that is engaged with a protrusion 62a protruding from both sides 63a of this notch 63,
A cam plate 64 is provided that can rotate approximately half a turn until the cam plate 63b comes into contact with the protrusion 62a. Further, a spring 65 is interposed between the cam plate 64 and the disk 62, and this spring 65 presses the disk 62 to the release gear 61 and pushes the protrusion 62a of the disk 62 onto one side of the cam plate 64. The notch surface 63a is energized. Further, a protrusion 64a that protrudes to the side of the notch 63 is provided on one side of the side surface 20b of the cam plate 64, and this protrusion 64a is rotatably supported on the support shaft 31 of the arm 32. The release lever 67 can be engaged with a pin 68 provided at the tip of the release lever 67.
The upper and lower parts of 7 are locking rods 69 provided on the arm 32.
and comes into contact with the fixing rod 70 provided on the side plate 20b.

Further, between the side plates 20a and 20b, a first
As shown in the figure and FIG. 2, the platen 11
A plurality of pairs of paper ejection rollers 71a and 71b are provided to transport the paper P ejected from the paper ejection table 25,
A paper ejection gear 73 that meshes with the one main gear 27a is provided at one end of the rotating shaft 72 of the one paper ejection roller 71a that protrudes from the side plate 20a.

Then, while the paper P fed from the paper feed table 24 is wound around the platen 11 of the printer main body 2, a drive motor (not shown) is driven to the platen 11.
1 rotates, printing on paper P and paper feeding are performed. Then, the end of the paper P is switched to the end switch S.
When detected, the printing operation is stopped and the paper P
is delivered to the paper output table 25.

Next, when the switching operation for paper feeding begins, the drive motor of the printer main body 2 rotates in the reverse direction, and each gear 10,
28, 27a and the transmission shaft 26 to the main gear 2.
7b is reversely rotated. With this reverse rotation of the main gear 27b (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3), the switching gear 52,
The cam plate 58 rotates in the opposite direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 3) via the crimp plate 53 and the spring 59, and this cam plate 5
The pin 51 of the switching plate 46 engages with the locking piece 58d of 8. Due to this engagement, the following action of the spring 59 of the cam plate 58 against the crimp plate 53 is temporarily interrupted, and after only the crimp plate 53 rotates about half a rotation, the protrusion 53b of the crimp plate 53 comes into contact with the protrusion 58a of the cam plate 58. The cam plate 58 further rotates in the reverse direction.

Then, the switching plate 46 is moved to the right in FIG. 3 by the cam plate 58 against the tension spring 50, and the arm 32 is moved into the third
The arm 32 swings counterclockwise in the figure, the contact gear 33 at the tip of the arm 32 meshes with the main gear 27b, the drive motor of the printer main body 2 stops after a predetermined time, and the switching operation is completed.

Note that when the separation gear 33 meshes with the main gear 27b, the main gear 27b and the switching gear 52 are rotating in the opposite direction, but since a slip occurs between the switching gear 52 and the crimping plate 53 due to the friction action, the rotation is slow. not achieved. Furthermore, the approaching and separating gear 33 is connected to the main gear 2.
7b, the paper feed gear 41 rotates in the reverse direction, but since the paper feed gear 41 and the support shaft 40 are connected in a one-way clutch, the paper feed roller 39 of the support shaft 40 rotates in the opposite direction.
No rotation is transmitted to the

Also, during the reverse rotation of the main gear 27b, the disc 62
Then, the cam plate 64 rotates in the opposite direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 3), and the protrusion 64a of the cam plate 64 moves to
7, the release gear 61 and the disc 62
A slip occurs in the ratchet mechanism between the two and the engaged state is maintained. Then, with the protrusion 64a engaged with the pin 68, the release means 6 is set to the initial state.

Next, the drive motor of the printer main body 2 is rotated in the normal direction, and the main gear 27b is rotated in the normal direction (clockwise in FIG. 4). Along with this, the rotation is transmitted to the paper feed gear 41 via the contact/separation gear 33, the paper feed roller 39 rotates forward (clockwise in FIG. 4), and the paper P is sent to the platen 11 in the printer main body 2. Ru.

Further, the cam plate 58 rotates forward (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) via the switching gear 52, and the pin 51 of the switching plate 46 is disengaged, and the pin 51 moves freely within the groove 58b of the cam plate 58. do. Therefore, the switching plate 46 is pulled back by the tension spring 50, but since the arm 32 is biased by the spring 35,
The approaching/separating gear 33 is maintained in mesh with the main gear 27b.

Further, as the secondary gear 29 rotates forward, the release gear 61
The cam plate 64 rotates forward (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) through the
When a comes into contact with the pin 68 of the release lever 67, the arm 32 becomes a load and the rotation of the cam plate 64 is temporarily stopped. Then, when the protrusion 62a of the disc 62 that was in contact with one notch surface 63a of the cam plate 64 is pressed against the other notch surface 63b against the spring 65, the rotation of the cam plate 64 is restarted. . This rotation of the cam plate 64 causes the protrusion 64a of the cam plate 64 to push up the pin 68 of the release lever 67, causing the arm 32 to swing together with the release lever 67 in the clockwise direction in FIG. Therefore, the approach gear 33 and the main gear 27
b is disengaged and the sheet feeding operation is completed, and at this point the leading edge of the sheet P is held between the platen 11 and the starting end pressure roller 13. Note that the contact gear 33 that is separated from the main gear 27b becomes free and the paper feed roller 39 can rotate freely, so even if the paper feed roller 39 is holding the rear end of the paper P, the paper P cannot be transferred to the printer. It can be drawn into the main body 2.

For example, if the paper feeding operation is interrupted due to a power outage or a paper jam while the paper feeding operation is being performed by the forward rotation of the transmission means 3, after clearing the paper jam etc., the forward rotation of the transmission means 3 is continued and the paper feeding operation is resumed. In order to set the release means 6 to the initial state by rotating the transmission means 3 in the opposite direction, instead of returning to the initial state by rotating the
It can be restarted immediately.

Furthermore, even if the main gear 27b and the switching gear 52 start rotating in the opposite direction, there is play, that is, a dead zone, between the crimp plate 53 and the cam plate 58, so that the drive motor is turned off so that the platen 11 returns a little during printing. Even if it rotates in the opposite direction, the cam plate 58 will not cause the switching plate 46 to slide, and therefore the switching operation will not start.

Further, the control by the control means 80 provided in the printer main body 2 is shown in the flowchart of FIG. When the connection relationship (online-local) with the host computer is selected by the select switch, the switching operation is performed even if the drive motor is reversely rotated by a certain amount when the end switch S is in the on state. After that, the drive motor is rotated forward to start the paper feeding operation, and when the paper P is sent to the platen 11 and the end switch S is switched to the off contact, the platen 11 is rotated forward until the paper P is located at the proper printing position. Then, printing is performed line by line on the paper P until the end switch S is turned on. Further, when the printing on the paper P is completed, the paper P is ejected, and the host computer determines the feeding command for the next paper P. If the end switch S does not switch to the off contact even if the drive motor normally rotates forward during paper feeding operation, that is, if there is a paper jam or a shortage of paper, the drive motor is stopped.

In addition, since it is necessary to drive each means 3, 4, 5, and 6 during paper feeding operation compared to normal printing operation, the load applied to the drive motor increases, so the pulse cycle of the drive motor is rotated at a lower pulse cycle. It is preferable to control by the control means 80 as follows.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the transmission means and the paper feeding means are connected when the transmission means rotates in the reverse direction, and the release means is set to the initial state during the reverse rotation, and then, when the transmission means rotates forward, the paper feeding means is connected. The paper feed roller rotates in conjunction to feed the paper into the printer body, and at the same time as the transmission means rotates forward, the release means that was set in the initial state starts operating, and this release means causes the release means to maintain a constant state from the start of operation. After the timing, the transmission means and paper feeding means are disconnected. Therefore, after paper feeding is completed, the paper feeding means becomes free, allowing the paper to be drawn into the printer main body, and it is possible to reliably feed different sizes of paper to the printer main body with a single paper feeding device. Furthermore, even if the paper feeding operation is interrupted due to a power outage or a paper jam, for example, the paper feeding operation, that is, the operation of setting the release means to the initial state by reverse rotation of the transmission means, can be started from the interrupted state. It can be restarted immediately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the paper feeding device, Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof, Fig. 3 is a partial side view, and Fig. 4 is an illustration of an operating state. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the switching means in an exploded state; Fig. 6 is a side view of the switching means;
The figure is a perspective view of the release means in an exploded state, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing control of the printer main body. 1... Paper feeding device, 2... Printer body, 3...
Transmission means, 4...Paper feeding means, 5...Switching means, 6
...Release means, 39...Paper feed roller, 80...Control means, P...Paper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transmission means for transmitting forward and reverse rotational driving force from the printer main body for printing on fed paper, and a transmission means that rotates in conjunction with the forward rotation of the transmission means when selectively connected to the transmission means. feeds the paper into the printer main body, and is not linked to reverse rotation, and
a paper feeding means having a paper feeding roller that is rotatable when the transmission means is not connected; a switching means for connecting the transmission means and the paper feeding means by reverse rotation of the transmission means; A printer characterized in that the printer is equipped with a release means that starts the operation at the same time as the transmission means rotates in the forward direction, and releases the connection between the transmission means and the paper feeding means after a certain timing from the start of the operation. Paper feed device. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the switching means is provided with a dead zone for reverse rotation driving force from the transmission means.
Paper feeding device for the printer described in Section 1. 3. The printer paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the printer main body is provided with a control means for controlling reverse and forward rotation of the drive motor by lowering the pulse cycle during paper feeding than during printing.