JPH05338319A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent inconveniences of an injury or the like in change of an ink ribbon from occurring by a method wherein a thin earth sheet of which a longitudinal fringe part has a wavy form is laminated on one face of a flat cable which sends an electric signal to a carriage. CONSTITUTION:By superimposing a thin metallic earth sheet 4 on a flat cable connecting a carriage to a substrate on which a driver or the like are provided to a bottom surface of a printer, a recorder is protected from statistic electricity of the flat cable and a noise, and disconnection by buckling or the like in use is prevented. Further, a longitudinal fringe part of the earth sheet is formed wave and thereby hands are prevented from being injured in assembly and in change of an ink ribbon cassette. Furthermore, a form wherein a curved part is connected to a straight line part may be also used as the fringe part form.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording apparatus provided with a ground plate for protecting a flat cable for sending an electric signal to a carriage having a recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional recording apparatus, for example, FIG.
A flat cable 3 for sending an electric signal for printing to a carriage 2 equipped with a recording head 1 that moves in the left-right direction (direction of arrow A in FIG. 1) for printing on a recording sheet (not shown) as shown in FIG. One end of is connected. A thin metal ground plate 4 is laminated on the flat cable 3 in order to protect the flat cable 3 from static electricity and noise and to prevent cutting due to buckling during long-term use. The end surface shape of the ground plate 4, that is, the shape of the edge portion along the longitudinal direction is straight as shown in FIG.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the end face of the thin metal ground plate 4 is straight, a hand is put in the printer at the time of assembly at the factory or when the user replaces the ink ribbon or the ink jet head tank for printing. When inserted, the end surface of the ground plate 4 may cause hand injury.

Therefore, the end surface of the ground plate 4 is shown in FIG.
Attempts have been made to prevent inconvenience by attaching the tape 5 to cover the end face as shown in FIG. However, when it was built in, it couldn't be attached cleanly, and the appearance wasn't good, and it was a factor of cost increase.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above technical problems, and its purpose is to cause no inconvenience when replacing an ink ribbon, for example. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording device having a flat cable in which ground plates are laminated so as not to impair the appearance.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording means for recording on a recording medium,
On one surface of the flat cable, the recording means is mounted and includes a moving means for reciprocating in a space near one surface of the recording medium, and a flat cable electrically connecting the moving means and an apparatus main body. Is characterized in that a thin grounding plate having a corrugated longitudinal edge is laminated.

The length of the ground plate in the short side direction may be shorter than the length of the flat cable in the short side direction.

Further, the recording means may have means for generating thermal energy for causing film boiling in the ink as energy used for ejecting the ink.
The recording means may include a printing hammer.

[0009]

In the present invention, since the longitudinal edge of the ground plate laminated on the flat cable has a corrugated shape, even if the edge of the earth plate is touched when the parts such as the ink ribbon are replaced, it may be damaged. There is no.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Here, in FIG. 1, a character on the character wheel 6 is printed on a recording sheet (not shown) by hitting it with a print hammer, which is the recording head 1, through an ink ribbon pulled out from an ink ribbon cassette (not shown) mounted on the carriage 2. An electronic typewriter for printing will be exemplified.

While the carriage 2 prints on the recording sheet along the guide shaft 7, the carriage 2 moves in the left-right direction (arrow A in FIG. 3).
Direction) by a motor (not shown). On the carriage 2, a wheel motor for selecting a character wheel 6, a ribbon motor (not shown) for winding an ink ribbon, and a shift up / down between a standby position and a print position for aligning the ink ribbon cassette and the character position. A shift motor (not shown) and a print hammer that is the recording head 1 are mounted.

Between the carriage 2 and a substrate on the lower surface of the printer, on which a driver (not shown) or the like is mounted, for driving each element mounted in the carriage 2,
It is tied with a flat cable 3. The flat cable 3 sends an electric signal to a motor, a hammer, etc. mounted in the carriage 2.

Further, for this purpose, a thin metal ground plate 4 is used.
Is superposed on the flat cable 3 to connect the carriage 2 to the lower part of the printer.
It protects against static electricity and noise and prevents cutting due to buckling during use.

Since the ground plate 4 is a thin metal plate,
When assembling in the factory or when the user puts his / her hand in the printer when replacing the ink ribbon cassette, there is a risk of injury. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the ground plate 4 has a corrugated edge portion, and there is no possibility of scratching the hand.

Although the electronic typewriter having the printing hammer is described in the above embodiment, the ground plate having such a shape can be applied to an ink jet printer, a thermal transfer printer, a dot printer, or the like.

Further, in the above embodiment, the shape of the edge portion in the longitudinal direction of the earth plate is a wavy shape in which curved portions are connected.
Other than this, a shape in which a curved portion and a straight portion are connected as shown in FIG. 4B may be used.

Further, although the earth plate is made of metal in the above embodiment, any material other than this may be used as long as it has conductivity.

(Others) The present invention is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the ink jet recording system. The present invention provides excellent effects in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the type in which the thermal energy causes a change in ink state. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal as a result
This is effective because bubbles can be formed inside. Due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles, liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications (straight liquid passage or right-angled liquid passage). U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333, US Pat. No. 4,558,333, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The configuration using the specification of No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration corresponding to the ejection portion is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be surely and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads or a configuration as one recording head integrally formed.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the main body of the apparatus, or the electrical connection to the main body of the apparatus or the ink from the main body of the apparatus by being attached to the main body of the apparatus. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, as the constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable to add ejection recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc. because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, heating is performed by using a capping means, a cleaning means, a pressure or suction means for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a combination thereof. Examples thereof include a preliminary heating unit for performing the discharge and a preliminary discharge unit for performing discharge different from the recording.

Regarding the type or number of recording heads to be mounted, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, or a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. A plurality of pieces may be provided. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but may be either integrally formed of the recording heads or a combination of a plurality of them. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full-color recording modes by color mixing.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. Or, in the inkjet method, it is common to adjust the temperature of the ink itself within the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range. At times, a liquid ink may be used. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or in order to prevent the evaporation of the ink, it is solidified and heated in a standing state. You may use the ink liquefied by. In any case, by applying heat energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected, or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In this case, the ink is
JP 54-56847 A or JP 60-7.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 1260, it may be configured to face the electrothermal converter in a state of being held as a liquid or a solid in the concave portion or the through hole of the porous sheet. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, besides the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function It may be in a form or the like.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the longitudinal edge of the ground plate is formed into a corrugated shape, so that the ground plate can be installed at the factory or when the user replaces the ink ribbon cassette or the inkjet head. There is no risk of injury.

In the conventional straight shape, a tape is attached to protect the tape, but in the present invention, the corrugated shape eliminates the need to attach the tape, resulting in a cost reduction and a good appearance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional electronic typewriter.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the shape of a conventional ground plate.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an electronic typewriter according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the shape of a ground plate suitable for the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording head (printing hammer) 2 Carriage 3 Flat cable 4 Ground plate 5 Tape 6 Type wheel 7 Guide shaft

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording unit for recording on a recording medium, a moving unit for mounting the recording unit and reciprocating in a space near one surface of the recording medium, and the moving unit and an apparatus main body. A flat cable that is electrically connected, and a thin grounding plate having a corrugated longitudinal edge is laminated on one surface of the flat cable. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the length of the ground plate in the lateral direction is shorter than the length of the flat cable in the lateral direction. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit has a unit for generating thermal energy that causes film boiling in the ink as energy used for ejecting the ink. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording means includes a printing hammer.