JPH0453952Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a head support member having a thermal head.

(Prior Art) Conventional thermal head support members are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 56-125341 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 59-1989.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 158272, a support member in which a thermal head is supported by a support made of a pressed sheet metal is generally known and used. Furthermore, attempts have already been made to manufacture the support from aluminum die casting.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) In the conventional thermal head support member, the support for supporting the thermal head is a pressed sheet metal, so the entire thermal head support member is pressed against the thermal paper on the platen. The spring pressure causes the support to bend and deform, and the thermal head follows the bend, making it stronger or weaker in contact with the thermal paper.
For this reason, there is a problem in that a difference in shading occurs in printing.

When the support is made of aluminum die-casting, the strength problem is solved compared to the case of using pressed sheet metal, but there are problems in that processing is troublesome and expensive.

The object of the present invention is to provide a thermal head support member that does not have the above-mentioned problems, has high precision, high strength, excellent workability, and is easy to assemble.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problems) The head support member having a thermal head of the present invention has a rectangular shape, and a heating element is arranged at the tip, and a conductor for the heating element is arranged at the rear end. Thermal head part includes a thermal head main body to which a terminal is attached, a bendable control plate having a conductor terminal that comes into contact with the conductor terminal of the thermal head main body and a through hole for assembly, and a thermal head part having a constant cross section. A support board made of extruded aluminum material, which houses the thermal head main body, and has an abutment at the front end for positioning the thermal head main body in the front-rear direction, a guide groove and a through hole for assembly at the center, and the support board. a guide member having a lateral positioning stopper and an assembly through hole for the thermal head main body which is inserted into the guide groove and placed on the support substrate provided at both ends, the control plate and the thermal head body; A pressing member having a rectangular shape and having an assembly through-hole for press-contacting the main body to the support substrate, and a fixing member that fits into the assembly through-hole, and the thermal head is connected to the guide. It is characterized in that the member is housed in the assembled support substrate, held between the pressing member and integrally pressed and fixed by the fixing member.

In the present invention, the thermal head main body and the control plate are housed in a support board on which a guide member having a stopper for lateral positioning of the thermal head main body and a through hole for assembly is assembled, and the thermal head main body has a rectangular shape similar to the thermal head main body. It is configured such that it is clamped by a pressing member having a through-hole for assembly, and is integrally pressed and fixed by a fixing member that fits into the through-hole for assembly. In particular, the supporting substrate corresponding to the supporting body of the prior art described above is made of aluminum extrusion material with good workability instead of pressed sheet metal, and the entire supporting member is made lightweight and strong.

Here, the heating element refers to a row of heating resistors that come into contact with the thermal paper and perform printing on the thermal paper using heat. The mounting surface of the heat generating resistor must be free of undulations, irregularities, etc. to avoid misalignment in arrangement, etc.

The conductor terminals are disposed on the thermal head main body and the control board, respectively, and when the two terminals come into contact with each other by pressure welding, the above-described heating resistor connected to these terminals is made conductive. The thermal head body is a print head body having a heating resistor.

The control board is a flexible plate-shaped cable for energizing that is assembled with the thermal head main body and the conductor terminals in close contact with each other.

Aluminum extrusion material is made by putting the material aluminum in a die and pressurizing it with a punch, so that the aluminum flows out from the opening of the die or the gap between the die and punch, so that it has the cross-sectional shape of the opening or gap. It is a processed material.

The support board is a board on which the thermal head main body and control board are placed and housed. It is made of extruded aluminum material and has an abutment at the front end to position the thermal head in the front-rear direction, and a guide groove and a through hole for assembly in the center. Motsu.

The guide member is a member that is inserted into the guide groove of the support board mentioned above and has a stopper for lateral positioning of the thermal head body and a through hole for assembly at both ends, and is made of pressed sheet metal separately from the support board made of extruded aluminum material. It is made with.

The pressing member is a member that presses the thermal head main body and the control plate into accurate position, and has a rectangular shape and has a through hole for assembly.

The fixing member is, for example, a set screw.

The elastic member is a member that is disposed between the control plate and the pressing member and biases the conductor terminals at the front end of the control plate and the conductor terminals at the rear end of the thermal head body into pressure contact.

(Embodiment of the invention) An exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a head support member having a thermal head of the present invention is shown in FIG.

The support substrate 1 was formed from an aluminum extrusion material, and both ends were cut. This support substrate 1 has a flat portion 3 provided with a guide groove 2, an abutment portion 4 for forward positioning at the front end, and a positioning hole 5 machined near the center of the guide groove 2. The guide groove 2 is provided with stoppers 6 and 7 at both ends, and a guide member 9 having an assembly through hole 8 with a protrusion that matches the hole 5 in the guide groove 2 is inserted in the center part. . In this embodiment, the guide member 9 is made of pressed sheet metal.
The thermal head main body 10 is laterally held between the stoppers 6 and 7. In order to pivotally attach the thermal head support member assembly to the mounting frame of the printer body, a rotating shaft 11 was inserted and fixed into a circular groove 12 provided at the rear of the support substrate 1.

Heat generating resistors 13, which are heating elements, are arranged at the tip of the thermal head main body 10, and conductor terminal portions 14 are connected to the heat generating resistors 13, which are arranged in parallel. A conductor terminal portion 16 disposed on a flexible cable 15 serving as a control plate is brought into contact with the conductor terminal portion 14 . The elastic member 1 is used to ensure contact between the conductor terminal parts 14 and 16.
7 is arranged so as to fit into the groove 19 of the pressing plate 18 above it.

The support substrate 1 was provided with through holes 20 and 21, a mounting reference surface 23, and a female thread 24, respectively. The through holes 20, 21 and the female thread 24 are machined. The flexible cable 15 also has through holes 25, 26 for assembly and holes 27 for screws.
Furthermore, similar through holes 28, 29 and screw holes 30 are provided in the press plate in correspondence with these through holes. 31 and 32 are set screws that are fixing members.

Next, the assembly method will be explained. The guide member 9 is inserted into the guide groove 2 of the support substrate 1, the through hole 8 for assembly having a protrusion is engaged with the hole 5 for positioning, and the guide member 9 is installed so as not to move laterally. Next, the thermal head main body 10 is placed on the flat part 3 on the support substrate 1 from above, the front end is brought into contact with the abutment part 4, and the lateral direction is brought into contact with the stoppers 6, 7 of the guide member 9.
Position it by touching it.

Next, the flexible cable 15 that forms the control section
The conductor terminal portion 14 is placed on the thermal head main body 10,
16 are arranged so as to be in contact with each other and in contact with the mounting surface 23 on the support substrate 1. In this case, the through holes 20 and 25 and 21 and 26 are aligned, respectively, and the conductor terminal portions 14 and 16 are aligned.

A presser bar 17, which is an elastic member, is placed above the flexible cable 15 on the back side of the conductor terminal portion 16, and a pressing member 18 is placed above the presser bar 17 by positioning the concave groove 19 so that the presser bar 17 fits therein. In this case, the through holes 20, 25, 28 and 21, 26,
29 are aligned and positioned.

Thereafter, set screws 31 and 32, which are fixing members, are passed through the holes 30 and 27, and are tightened and fixed with the female thread 24. In this way, the thermal head main body 10 and the flexible cable 15, which is a control board, are attached to the support substrate 1. FIG. 2 shows the assembled thermal head support member. The completed thermal head support member assembled as shown in Figure 2 is the third
As shown in the drawings and FIG. 4, it is pivotally mounted to a mounting frame 33 of the printer body via a rotating shaft 11. The thermal head support member is the printer body mounting frame 33
The thermal paper 36 on the platen roller 35 is pressed by a plate spring 34 fixed to the platen roller 35 . The thermal head support member has cam surfaces 37 and 38, and a head up lever 40 pivotally connected to a shaft 39 fixed to the mounting frame 33 allows the thermal head main body 10 to be separated from the thermal paper 36 as shown in FIG. , the so-called head up position, and the thermal head body 1
0 is movable to the position shown in FIG. 4 where it is in contact with the thermal paper and printing is possible. 41 is a thermal paper guide.

[Effects of the invention] According to the invention, the support substrate constituting the head support member is made of extruded aluminum material, making mass production possible at low mold costs, and the cross-sectional shape of the support substrate cannot be obtained with pressed sheet metal. It can have a strength-reinforcing shape. Therefore, it is possible to prevent differences in density from occurring in printing due to bending deformation of the thermal head due to spring pressure, which is the case in the prior art. Since the flat part of the support substrate is made of extruded material, the flatness accuracy can be improved, and the thermal head can be mounted without warping, which prevents bending of thermal heads made with head substrates that are weak against bending, such as alumina. I can do it.
Furthermore, it is easy to position the thermal head when assembling it, and the efficiency of the assembling work can be promoted. In addition, by providing a straight through hole, when assembling,
By inserting a jig, etc., it is possible to ensure the contact and fixation of the conductor of the thermal head and the conductor of the control board at the conductive part, which has excellent practical effects such as completely eliminating troubles caused by poor conduction of the thermal head heating element. has.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a thermal head support member in which the disassembled parts as shown in FIG. 1 have been assembled. FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams showing the main parts of the operating state of the member according to the present invention. 1... Support substrate, 9... Guide member, 10...
Thermal head body, 13... Heating element, 14...
Conductor terminal section, 15... Control board (flexible cable), 16... Conductor terminal section, 17... Elastic member (presser bar), 18... Pressing member, 31, 32... Fixing member (set screw).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A thermal head body having a rectangular shape with heating elements arranged at its tip and conductor terminals for the heating elements attached at its rear end; a thermal head portion comprising a bendable control plate having a conductor terminal that comes into contact with the conductor terminal and a through hole for assembly;
A support board having a push-in part at the front end, a guide groove and an assembly through hole in the center for positioning the thermal head main body in the front-rear direction, and supports inserted into the guide groove of the support board and provided at both ends. a guide member having a stopper for lateral positioning of the thermal head body placed on the substrate and a through hole for assembly; and a guide member having a rectangular shape for press-contacting the control plate and the thermal head body to the support substrate. It is composed of a pressing member having a through-hole for assembly, and a fixing member that fits into the through-hole for assembly, and the thermal head section is housed in the support substrate to which the guide member is assembled, and 1. A head support member having a thermal head, which is sandwiched by a pressing member and integrally pressed and fixed by the fixing member. (2) A utility model in which an elastic member is arranged between the pressing member and the control plate, and the elastic member applies a pressing force to the tip of the control plate and the rear end of the thermal head main body. A head support member having a thermal head according to claim 1.