JPH054404A - Print head carrier for serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a timing belt from slipping off a carriage when it is pushed downward and to realize a high quality print by eliminating relative positional shift of carriage due to deformation at the tooth section of timing belt. CONSTITUTION:A carriage 1 is provided with a central opening 7 and a belt fixing section 3 having a U-shaped insertion groove opening upward, wherein protrusions and recesses are provided with same pitch as the teeth of a timing belt 4 on one inner face of the groove, is formed integrally with the carriage 1 while projecting from one end of the opening 7 in the direction of the open hole.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print head conveying device for a serial printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional print head carrying device for a serial printer, as shown in FIG. 6, a timing belt 14 is fixed to a carriage 11 which is a carrying means of a print head 15 of a printer at only one position on the carriage 11. It was configured to insert from the bottom to the top in the insertion groove 13 opened in the downward direction.

[0003]

In the conventional print head transporting method for a printer having the above-described structure, when the printer user pushes the timing belt downward, the timing belt comes off the carriage and the carriage girder is removed. It has the drawback of disabling directional scanning and alienating the printing function of the printer.

If the fixing of the timing belt and the carriage is limited to one place, a large tension is applied to the timing belt when scanning the carriage in the column direction, so that the timing belt tooth portion is deformed and the belt is driven in the driving direction. There has been a problem that the relative position of the carriage is delayed, causing a shift in the print digit direction with respect to the print running direction in reciprocal printing.

It is an object of the present invention to prevent the timing belt from coming off the carriage and deviating the printing function of the printer when the user pushes the timing belt downward. Another object of the present invention is to enable high-quality printing by eliminating the relative displacement of the carriage due to the deformation of the timing belt tooth portion in the belt fixing portion on the carriage.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] By providing a U-shaped timing belt insertion groove opened upward in a carriage and inserting the timing belt downward from above, the timing belt is supported and fixed from below. To do.

Further, the carriage is provided with two belt fixing portions, and the initial tension of the timing belt and the timing belt at the belt fixing portion of the carriage is pulled by pulling the belt with the timing belt from both directions so as to slacken the middle of the carriage. The belts can be gathered in the outward direction of the carriage, and the deformation of the timing belt teeth is saturated in the initial state, so that the belt can be fixed accurately and reliably.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the periphery of a carriage in which a head is not mounted according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the periphery of the print head of the printer, and FIG. 3 is a top view of the periphery of the carriage with no print head mounted. 4 is a top view of the vicinity of the carriage in which the print head shown in claim 2 is not mounted, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the vicinity of the print head of the printer shown in claim 2. FIG. 6 is a side view around a print head of a conventional printer.

The carriage 1 is equipped with a print head 5 for printing on a sheet supported by a platen 6, and is supported by a shaft 2 so as to be capable of scanning in the digit direction. Timing belt 4
Is connected to the carriage 1 by the belt fixing portion 3 of the carriage 1.

The carriage 1 has an opening 7 at the center,
The belt fixing portion 3 projects downward from one end of the opening 7. The belt fixing portion 3 is provided with a U-shaped insertion groove that opens upward, and one surface of the insertion groove has an uneven shape in synchronization with the tooth pitch of the timing belt 4. Is transmitted to the reciprocating motion of the carriage 1 in the girder direction.

The timing belt 4 is loosened at the time of assembly and is picked up from the upper portion of the carriage 1 through the opening 7 as shown by an arrow A in FIG. Is inserted into the groove, hits the bottom of the groove, and does not go down further.

After that, when the timing belt 4 is stretched, the left and right edges of the opening 7 of the carriage 1 come into contact with the timing belt 4 and the timing belt 4 cannot be pulled out upward.

As described above, since the contact of the timing belt 4 to the bottom is the bottom of the insertion groove, even if the printer user pushes down the timing belt 4, the timing belt 4 does not come off.

On the other hand, when it becomes necessary to remove the timing belt 4 from the carriage 1 for maintenance work or the like,
After loosening the timing belt 4, the timing belt 4 is picked up from the carriage opening 7 and removed from the belt fixing portion, so that the carriage 1
The connection of the timing belt 4 can be easily released.

Next, the embodiment shown in claim 2 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the timing belt 4 is inserted into the belt fixing portions 3 a and 3 b provided on both sides of the carriage 1. At this time, the timing belt 4 is slackened between the two belt fixing portions 3a and 3b, and the slackened timing belt 4 is pressed by the elastic member 8 provided integrally with the carriage. With the carriage 1 and the timing belt 4 configured as described above, the initial tension of the timing belt 4 in the timing belt 4 and the belt fixing portion 3 of the carriage 1 can be concentrated in the outward direction of the carriage 1, and the deformation of the timing belt tooth portion can be prevented. Since the tension can be saturated in the initial direction during the carriage travel, the deformation of the timing belt tooth portion in the belt fixing portion 3 of the carriage 1 can be significantly reduced when the carriage 1 reciprocates. Further, by pressing the slack timing belt 4 in the center portion of the carriage 1 with the elastic member, the outward tension on the timing belt fixing portions 3a and 3b of the carriage 1 is relieved by the pressing force, and the carriage 1 becomes extremely strong. Can be prevented from deforming.

[0018]

As described above, the print head carrying device of the present invention has an opening at the center of the carriage and an U-shaped insertion groove having an opening at the top, and the above-mentioned one side of the inner surface of the groove. Since the belt fixing portion having an uneven shape synchronized with the tooth pitch of the timing belt is formed integrally with the carriage so as to project from one end of the carriage opening toward the opening hole. There is an advantage that the timing belt does not come off even if the printer user pushes down the timing belt.

Also, the carriage is provided with two or more belt fixing portions, and the initial tension of the timing belt and the timing belt at the belt fixing portion of the carriage is pulled by pulling the timing belt from both directions so that the middle is slackened by sandwiching the carriage. Can be concentrated in the outward direction of the carriage, and the deformation of the timing belt teeth can be saturated in the initial state, so that the belt can be fixed accurately and reliably. To avoid high quality and enable high quality printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view around a carriage according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the periphery of the printer print head of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the periphery of the carriage of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the vicinity of a carriage that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view around a carriage that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the periphery of a conventional printer print head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 carriage 3 Belt fixing part 4 Timing belt 5 print head 7 openings 8 elastic members

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A serial printer in which a carriage carrying a print head scans axially in a digit direction by a toothed timing belt fixed to a lower portion of the carriage to perform a printing operation, and an opening is provided in a central portion of the carriage.
A U-shaped insertion groove having an open upper portion is provided on one side of the inner surface of the groove with a belt fixing portion configured to have a concavo-convex shape synchronized with the tooth pitch of the timing belt from the one end of the carriage opening portion. A printhead carrying device for a serial printer, wherein the printhead carrying device is formed integrally with the carriage so as to project in a direction. 2. The belt fixing portion according to claim 1, wherein the belt fixing portions are provided on both sides of the carriage, and the timing belt is mounted in a slack state between the belt fixing portions,
A print head transport device for a serial printer, characterized in that the slack portion of the timing belt is pressed by an elastic member provided integrally with the carriage.