JPH0466198B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding an X-Y plotter that can perform various drawings while replacing various pens, the ability to detect the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder or carriage is independent of the type of pen, and the ability to detect the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder is The purpose of this product is to lower the price by sharing the detection of the rotational reference position with the pen presence/absence detection sensor.The design uses a carriage that grips the pen in a vertically movable manner and slides in a straight line, and a carriage that slides the recording paper along the surface of the paper. An X-Y plotter comprising: recording paper moving means for moving linearly in a direction perpendicular to the sliding movement of the carriage; and a rotatable pen holder that stores a plurality of pens on the circumference and transfers the pens to and from the carriage. In the pen storage position of the pen holder, a pen cap member that is in a raised position when no pen is present is provided so as to be able to slide up and down, and a photo interrupter detects the presence or absence of a slit caused by the raising of the pen, and the pen in the pen holder is removed. This is a configuration that detects the presence or absence of.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an X-Y plotter, and more particularly to an X-Y plotter that allows various drawings to be made while replacing various pens.

With the spread of personal computers, there has been an increasing demand for displaying information processed by computers in graphics in general households.
The realization of Y-Protuta is desired.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of an XY plotter to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, the head cover 50 made of semi-transparent resin is opened so that the inside can be seen.

In the figure, a carriage 2 holding a recording pen 1 is driven by a main belt 11, and a main shaft 3,
4 to the left and right (X direction).
On the other hand, the recording paper is held between a pair of friction rollers 5 and a pinch roller 6 provided on each side.
It is installed on stand 7. Following the rotation of the friction roller 5, the device slides in the longitudinal direction (Y direction).

The pen 1 is held within the carriage 2 so as to be movable downward, and is adapted to come into contact with the recording paper on the stand 7 and perform two-dimensional drawing by the above-mentioned X and Y sliding motions.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a recording paper storage box which stores a plurality of sheets of recording paper and is separably inserted into the main body.When the drawing operation for one sheet is completed, a paper feed roller (not shown) rotates and the paper is placed on the table 7. A new recording paper is fed into the drawing area and the next drawing operation is performed.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a pen holder for storing a plurality of pens, and the carriage 2 can change the pens as needed to draw in multiple colors.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, in the case of a plotter in which the carriage changes the pen to draw, the presence or absence of the pen is checked, such as whether the specified pen is installed in each pen storage position of the pen holder, and whether the carriage is holding the pen. It is necessary to detect each predetermined operation.

Conventional X-Y plotters detect the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder or on the carriage by shining light directly onto the body of the pen using a reflective photo sensor, or by shining light directly onto the body of the pen using a transmissive photo sensor. The area directly blocks the passage of light.

For this reason, the former method cannot detect the presence of a pen with a black body, and the latter method cannot detect the presence of a pen whose body is transparent and the amount of ink inside can be seen, depending on the type of pen used. There was a problem with restrictions.

In addition, the pen holder is rotated in order to transfer the pen between the carriage and the predetermined position of the pen holder, but a separate sensor different from the photo sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the pen is installed to detect the reference position of the rotation angle at this time. There was also the problem that the number of parts increased, leading to increased costs.

The present invention was created in view of the above problems, and
The ability to detect the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder or carriage allows a wide range of pens to be attached regardless of the type of pen, and the number of parts is reduced by using the pen holder rotation reference position detection as the pen presence detection sensor. The purpose of this invention is to provide an X-Y plotter with

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the X-Y plotter of the present invention comprises a carriage that holds a pen movably up and down and slides it in a straight line, and moves the recording paper along the surface of the paper in a direction perpendicular to the sliding motion of the carriage. In an X-Y plotter, the X-Y plotter is equipped with a recording paper moving means for linearly moving the recording paper, and a rotatable pen holder that stores a plurality of pens on the circumference and transfers the pens to and from a carriage, the pen storage position of the pen holder The pen cap member, which is in the raised position when no pen is present, is provided so as to be able to slide up and down, and the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder is detected by detecting the presence or absence of a slit caused by the raising with a photo interrupter. The pen holder is provided with a slit representing a reference position and a slit for defining a pen holder number, and the pen holder is configured to be detected by the photo interrupter to select a pen. This configuration includes an arm that detects the opening and closing position of the arm, and a photo interrupter that detects the open/closed position of the arm.

[Effect]

Detection of the presence or absence of a pen in the pen holder and cartridge does not directly detect the pen itself, but rather uses the pen cap member and arm, which have different positions depending on whether or not the pen is attached or held, so it is not affected by the type of pen. Reliable detection becomes possible. Since a reference position slit for rotation control and a slit for defining a holder number can be easily added to the pen holder in line with the pen presence/absence detection slit, the photo sensor can be shared.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of the X-Y plotter according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the recording paper moving means, Fig. 3 is a view showing details of the pen holder, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the presence and absence of the pen. FIG. 5, which is a diagram explaining the principle of detection, is a diagram showing the main parts of the carriage.

Since the present invention is applied to the X-Y plotter described above with reference to FIG. 6, the external appearance is the same as that shown in FIG.

Therefore, the overall operation will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a motor for driving the sliding movement of the carriage. When the motor 8 rotates, rotational power is transmitted to the shaft 10 via the timing belt 9. Power is transmitted to the main belt 11. Then, the carriage 2 slides in the X direction, and as a result, the pen 1 moves left and right to perform drawing in the X direction.

12 is a motor for moving the recording paper;
When rotates, via the timing belt 13,
The friction roller shaft 14 rotates, and the friction roller 5 rotates. FIG. 2 shows only the mechanical part that moves the recording paper during drawing, and the rubber pinch roller 6 pulls the arm 16 downward and the arms 16 provided on the left and right sides of the pinch roller shaft 15. It is pressed against the friction roller 5 by a tension spring 17. The friction roller 5 has a file-like surface sprayed with hard metal particles and has a large friction. It moves back and forth on the table by rotating.

The carriage 2 consists of a main body portion slidably held on main shafts 3 and 4 and a movable portion 19, and the pen 1 is gripped by the movable portion 19 by an arm 20 pulled by a spring (not shown).
The movable portion 19 is moved up and down by an electromagnetic solenoid 21 provided between the movable portion 19 and the main body portion, thereby causing the pen 1 to approach and separate from the recording paper. The pen pressure when the pen 1 descends to draw on the recording paper is arbitrarily set according to the type of pen, etc. by controlling the electromagnetic solenoid in a closed loop while measuring the height of the movable part 19 with a position sensor, etc. It is now possible to change the settings while drawing with the same pen.

On the rear side of the device, there is a mounting section 25 into which the recording paper storage box described in FIG. A paper roller 26 and its rotation mechanism are provided. Although a gap is provided between the stand 7 and the storage section 25 through which the supplied recording paper passes, the recording paper moves back and forth without regard to the storage section 25 during normal drawing operations.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a pen holder in which a plurality of pens are stored, and the pen holder shaft 24 rotates by being attached to the pen holder shaft 24, which rotates as a result of the stepping motor 22, so that when the carriage 2 slides to the left end, the desired pen can be changed. It's summery.

Next, the pen presence/absence detection mechanism, which is a feature of the present invention, will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

In FIG. 3, which shows the details of the pen holder, a plurality of pens 1 are held between levers 58a and 58b of a pen storage section provided on the circumference. The lever 58b is biased in the direction of gripping the pen by a spring (not shown). A rubber pen cap 59 is held by a pen cap member 60 and provided at a portion where the pen tip of the held pen 1 is located. The pen cap member 60 is assembled so as to be able to slide up and down as indicated by arrow A, and is always urged upward by a spring (not shown). Due to this bias, when the pen 1 is attached, the pen tip is covered by the pot-shaped pen cap 59 to prevent dust from adhering to it and ink from drying out.

The lever 58b of the pen holder 23 and the arm 20 of the carriage 2 in FIG. When you move to the left and approach the holder position that holds the pen, the holder hands the pen to the carriage, and when the carriage that grips the pen approaches the holder position that holds the pen, the pen is received from the carriage. .

In this way, by combining the rotational movement of the pen holder 23 driven by the stepping motor 22 and the movement movement of the carriage 2, the movement of the carriage 2 to automatically switch to another pen is achieved. The pen cap member at the pen exchange position is pushed down by a lever (not shown) activated by the movement of the carriage during the pen exchange operation, and the cap is opened, allowing the pen to be delivered and taken away. As shown in FIG. 3, the pen cap member 60' is located above other pen cap members 60 that hold pens.

FIG. 4a shows a view of the pen holder 23 from the bottom. A cylindrical projection 6 is provided on the bottom of the pen holder 23.
1 is formed, and the slit provided in the cylindrical protrusion is covered or opened by the sliding movement of the pen cap member 60. 62 is a photo interrupter, and the X-
It is attached to the main body of the Y plotter and detects the presence or absence of a pen at a plurality of pen storage positions while rotating the pen holder. That is, if a pen is attached, the pen cap member 6 is pushed downward.
Since the slit is closed at the lower end of the pen cap member 63', the photo interrupter 62 does not receive light.If a pen is not attached, the pen cap member 63' is in the upper position and a slit 64 is formed, so that the passage of light is detected.

The cylindrical protrusion 61 is also provided with a plurality of slits 65 to 70 in addition to the positions corresponding to the pens, which are used to detect the reference position and direction of rotation of the pen holder, and to identify the pen holder number when using a plurality of pen holders. Used for definition. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 4b, which shows the output of the photo interrupter as the pen holder rotates. The part 64' indicated by the dotted line in the figure is the output from the slit 64 formed depending on the presence or absence of the pen, and the outputs 65' to 7
0' corresponds to slits 65 to 70, respectively. Wide slit 65 is used to detect the reference position.
This is done as follows using a narrow slit 66 and a narrow slit 66. In other words, the motor that drives the pen holder uses a stepping motor whose rotation angle can be controlled by the number of drive pulses, detects light while rotating the motor, finds the wide slit 65', and then adjusts the angle b. The narrow slit 66' detected after the feeding is recognized as the reference position, and the direction of rotation is recognized as the direction of arrow A. Thereafter, while applying pulses to the stepping motor to rotate it through a predetermined angle corresponding to the pen storage position, the presence or absence of the pen is detected by detecting the slit 64 and the like.

Furthermore, by attaching and detaching members (not shown) for closing the slits to, for example, four slits 67 to 70 provided separately from the above-mentioned slits, ²⁴
= It is now possible to distinguish between 16 types of pen holders. As a result, when using an X-Y plotter,
You can use multiple pen holders. For example, if you use it to define various pen holders that accommodate various types of pens with different drawing pressures, such as ballpoint pens and fiber pens, it will automatically adjust the pen pressure, drawing speed, etc. It becomes possible to control the drawing conditions using the software section. By making this control possible, it is possible to use pens for correcting drawn lines that were unimaginable with conventional X-Y plotters, such as pens that have correction fluid in place of ink, or pens that have an eraser attached to the tip. A pen can be used. Furthermore, by taking advantage of the fact that the pen pressure and height of the pen can be set freely, the pen tip has a brush pen structure, and by drawing letters and pictures while changing the pen pressure along with the X-Y movement, it is possible to create calligraphy typeface characters Brush drawings can also be obtained.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, a means for detecting whether or not a pen is being held in the carriage will be explained.

The figure shows the main parts of the movable part 19 of the carriage, and the tip 20a of the arm 20 rotatably provided on the movable part 19 on the opposite side of the pen gripping part grips and holds the pen 1. At times, the arm 20 is configured to not block the light received by the optical interrupter 71, but when a pen is not being held, the arm 20 further closes to block the light received, thereby reliably detecting the presence or absence of a pen in the cartridge, regardless of the type of pen. be able to.

As a result, when exchanging pens, it can be confirmed that the cartridge from which the pen was taken has received the pen, or whether the pen has been moved from the carriage from which the pen was placed to the pen holder, improving reliability. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the ability to detect the presence or absence of a pen in a pen holder or carriage does not depend on the type of pen, so a wide range of pens can be used, and the reduction in the number of parts allows for low-cost X-Y It becomes possible to provide a plotter.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of the X-Y plotter according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the recording paper moving means, Fig. 3 is a view showing details of the pen holder, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the presence and absence of the pen. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the principle of detection, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the main parts of the carriage, and FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of the XY plotter. In the figure, 1...pen, 2...carriage,
3, 4...Main shaft, 5...Friction roller, 6
... Pinch roller, 7 ... Stand, 8 ... Carriage motor, 11 ... Main belt, 12 ... Recording paper movement motor, 23 ... Pen holder, 25 ...
Recording paper storage box attachment section, 26...Paper feed roller, 3
1... Recording paper storage box, 18... Recording paper, 60...
Pen cap member, 61...Cylindrical projection, 6
2,71...Photo interrupter, 64-70...
...Slit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A recording device comprising: a carriage 2 that holds a pen 1 in a vertically movable manner and slides it linearly; and a recording paper that moves a recording paper linearly along the surface of the paper in a direction orthogonal to the sliding motion of the carriage 2. In an X-Y plotter equipped with a paper moving means and a rotatable pen holder 23 that stores a plurality of pens 1 circumferentially and transfers the pens 1 to and from the carriage 2, the pen storage of the pen holder 23 is provided. In this position, a pen cap member 60 which is in the raised position when the pen 1 is not present is provided so as to be able to slide up and down, and a photo interrupter 62 detects the presence or absence of a slit 64 caused by the raising of the pen to detect the presence of the pen in the pen holder 23. An X-Y plotter characterized by detecting presence or absence. 2. The pen holder 23 is provided with slits 65, 66 representing a reference position and slits 67, 70 for defining a pen holder number, and these slits are detected by the photo interrupter 62 to select a pen. The X-Y plotter according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A carriage 2 that holds the pen 1 in a vertically movable manner and slides it linearly; and a recording paper moving means that linearly moves the recording paper along the paper surface in a direction orthogonal to the sliding motion of the carriage 2; The X-Y plotter is equipped with a rotatable pen holder 23 that stores a pen 1 on the circumference and transfers the pen 1 to and from the carriage 2, and the carriage 2 has an arm 2 that grips and holds the pen.
0 and a photo interrupter 71 for detecting the open/close position of the arm.
Protsuta.