JPH0544345B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to printers, particularly impact type printers.

[Prior art and its problems]

Printers used as output devices for information processing equipment such as computers and word processors include:
There are so-called impact type printing methods, in which printing is performed by impacting a printing material such as paper with an ink ribbon, and non-impact printing methods, which use inkjet or thermal paper. Among them, impact type printers are particularly widely used because they can be used to process documents, such as making multiple copies at once. Among impact type printers, wire dot type printers are capable of forming complex shapes by combining dots, so while they are highly capable as Japanese language terminals, their printing quality is somewhat inferior.
In this regard, movable type printers with excellent printing quality are widely used for alphanumeric characters that do not require a large number of character structures.

There are various specifications for the shape of type in type printers, but those in which the type is formed on a thimble like a badminton shuttlecock are suitable for downsizing the device because the type selection section that occupies the printer cartridge can be designed to be small. There is. FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a badminton shuttle type thimble. In this simple type, letters are engraved on the circumference of the circular outer surface of the thimble passing through the positions 1 and 2 in the figure in a two-stage configuration, upper and lower.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are a front view and a plan view, respectively, showing the configuration of a printing portion of a conventional impact type printer equipped with the above-mentioned thimble. However, parts such as a printing hammer are omitted in the figure. In the figure, 3 is a thimble, 4 is a platen, 5 is a chassis frame, 6 is a carriage, 7 is a carriage guide, and 8 is a drive wire. The type thimble 3 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the platen 4 by a carriage 6, rotated on the carriage, and the type thimble 3
It is stamped from inside the circumference by a printing hammer.

9 and 10 are a side view and a front view showing the positional relationship between the platen 4 and the type thimble 3, respectively. As mentioned above, the type thimble 3 has type engraved on the circumference of the outer surface of the thimble, indicated by 1 and 2, in two stages, upper and lower, and when the thimble 3 is rotated for character selection, each stage is carved. If the surface through which the type passes is called the type rotation circular plane, then in a conventional impact type printer, the platen 4 and the thimble 3 are arranged so that the center axis of the platen 4 is parallel to the type rotation circular plane. There is.

In such conventional impact type printers, the thimble 3 prints perpendicularly to the printing surface on the cylindrical side surface of the platen 4 (Figure 10 shows the printing line passing through the center of the printing surface). In order to do this and to distinguish between the upper type printed on the outer circumferential surface at position 1 and the lower type printed on the outer circumferential surface at position 2, a vertical drive unit attached to the carriage 6 is used. The motor 9 moves the thimble 3 up and down to determine its vertical position. Further, the selection of type in each column is performed by rotating the thimble 3 with a rotation drive motor (not shown) attached to the carriage 6. By driving one printing hammer (not shown) provided inside the thimble 3, the selected characters are placed on the printing line of the platen 4 as shown in FIG. Stamp at marking position 10.

In order to print a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, etc., such as those found in ordinary English text, using a conventional impact type printer configured as described above, characters called spacing must be used. Three types of motion are required before the hammer drive: pitch feed operation, thimble rotation for character selection, and thimble up and down movement. The drawback was that it kept the energy low. Further, there were also problems of deterioration of printing quality due to uneven printing position height caused by the vertical movement mechanism of the thimble, and generation of noise due to vertical vibration of the thimble.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional type and provide an impact type printer with high speed and high print quality.

[Structure of the invention]

The present invention includes a platen, a carriage movable along the platen in the direction of the platen's center axis, and a badminton shuttle-shaped type thimble rotatably installed on the carriage and having type engraved in two upper and lower stages. In an impact-type type printer comprising a printing hammer provided inside the type thimble to direct the type thimble toward the platen, the type thimble is connected to the type rotation circular plane of the type thimble and the center of the platen. provided on the carriage so as to form a certain angle with the shaft, and in contact with the rotating outer circumferential surface of the type thimble provided in this way facing the platen;
The printing hammer includes two printing hammers arranged parallel to the center axis of the platen, and one printing hammer presses the printing thimble against the inner side of the printing thimble. The printing hammer is characterized in that the characters in the upper row of the pressed part are stamped, and the characters in the lower row of the part pressed by the other printing hammer are stamped.

〔Example〕

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

1 and 2 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the impact type printer of the present invention, with FIG. 1 being a partial plan view and FIG. 2 being a partial side view of the printing section of the printer. This printer is equipped with a badminton shuttle type thimble 3 shown in FIG. The thimble 3 is rotatably attached to the carriage 6 so that the circular plane of the type rotation is not parallel to the central axis of the platen 4 but forms a predetermined angle. The thimble 3 is rotationally driven by a rotational drive motor (not shown) mounted on the carriage 6.

The carriage 6 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the platen 4 along a carriage guide 7 by a drive wire 8. Carriage 6 has a hammer cover (not shown)
This hammer cover is provided with a left printing hammer 1 located inside the printing thimble 3.
2 and a right printing hammer 13 are arranged side by side. These left printing hammers 1
2 and the right printing hammer 13 are arranged parallel to the central axis of the platen 4, that is, in the direction in which characters are printed. The right printing hammer 13 stamps the characters on the upper row.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relative positional relationship between the type thimble 3 and the platen 4. In the figure, 16 and 17 are the left printing hammer 12 and the right printing hammer 13 on the platen 4.
Indicates the stamping position. These engraving positions are located on the printing line of the platen 4, and the thimble 3
They are located in the lower and upper rows of type, respectively. In this way, in a mechanism in which two points on the type thimble are placed on the printing line of the platen 4 at the same time, since the type thimble 3 has a circular outer surface, the type configuration diagram of the type thimble 3 and the printing of the platen 4 are different. Lines are not parallel at the printing position, but are always at an angle, so in order to improve printing quality, it is necessary to devise a way to ensure that the type structure diagram of the type thimble is always parallel to the printing line on the platen at the printing position. be done.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the carriage 6 is further provided with a cylindrical preload roller 14 that is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the type thimble and whose rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the platen 4, and this preload roller is connected to the preload spring 15. It is pressed against the outer circumferential surface of the type thimble 3 by. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the two left and right printing points (embossed positions) 16 and 17 on the type thimble and the platen printing line when such a preload roller 14 is used. In the figure, the type rotation circle shows the trajectory of the type when the type thimble 3 is rotated for type selection. As is clear from this figure, the type thimble 3 is deformed by the preload of the preload roller 14, so that the print line on the platen 4 and the left and right print hammers 12, 1 on the type thimble 3 are deformed.
The embossing positions 16 and 17 according to No. 3 are parallel to each other, so that the printed characters and the printed line are always kept perpendicular. For comparison, FIG. 5 shows the relationship between print points 10 on a type thimble and platen print lines in a conventional impact type printer (as described in FIGS. 7-10).

According to the impact type printer of this embodiment, which is equipped with the above-described printing section, the thimble 3 is driven in the printing direction by the parallel movement of the carriage 6, and the rotational drive motor mounted on the carriage 6 drives the thimble 3 in the printing direction. The two printing hammers 12 and 13 are used to print the letters on the upper and lower tiers of the thimble continuously on the printing line of the platen 4. Character printing can be performed.

Furthermore, the type thimble has a structure in which a preload roller is brought into contact with it by the force of a preload spring.
Since the preload roller is installed so that the print line on the platen is parallel to its center axis, the type thimble is deformed by the preload, and the print line on the platen and the left and right printing hammers on the type thimble are stamped. The positions are parallel.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the impact-type type printer of the present invention, since the type thimble is set at an angle with respect to the platen printing line, the type thimble has two upper and lower portions formed on the type thimble at two locations on the platen printing line. Since there is a position where characters can be stamped in columns, there is no need to move the thimble up and down using a vertical drive motor as in the conventional example, so high-speed printing is possible.

In addition, since there is no need to move the type thimble up and down, there is no need for a vertical drive motor, and there is also no need for a mechanism to convert the rotation of the vertical drive motor into vertical movement of the thimble, simplifying the printing mechanism of the printer. The number of parts is reduced because the

Furthermore, since there is no vertical movement of the type thimble, unevenness in print position height caused by the vertical movement mechanism of the thimble is eliminated, and the print quality is also excellent.

Further, the noise generated by vibrations caused by the vertical movement mechanism is also reduced, resulting in the effect that a low-noise impact type printer can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are a partial plan view and a partial side view showing an embodiment of the impact type printer of the present invention, respectively, and FIG. 3 shows a platen and a side view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a front view showing the positional relationship with the type thimble, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the embossing position and the platen printing line in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the embossing position and the platen printing line in an impact type printer.
Perspective views of the type thimble, Figures 7 and 8,
FIGS. 9 and 10 are a front view and a plan view showing the configuration of a conventional impact type printer, respectively.
The figures are a side view and a front view showing the positional relationship between a platen and a thimble in a conventional impact type printer. 1... Upper print position, 2... Lower print position, 3... Print thimble, 4... Platen, 5...
... Chassis frame, 6 ... Carriage, 7 ... Carriage guide, 8 ... Driving wire, 9 ... Vertical drive motor, 10 ... Single hammer printing position,
12...Left printing hammer, 13...Right printing hammer,
14... Preload roller, 15... Preload spring,
16... Left printing hammer printing position, 17... Right printing hammer printing position.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A platen, a carriage movable along the platen in the direction of the center axis of the platen, a badminton shuttle-shaped type thimble which is rotatably provided on the carriage and has type engraved in two upper and lower stages, and this type thimble. an impact-type type printer comprising a printing hammer provided inside the type thimble for striking the type thimble toward the platen; Preloading means is provided on the carriage so as to form a certain angle, and is in contact with the rotating outer circumferential surface of the type thimble provided in this way facing the platen, and presses the contacting portion to the inside of the type thimble. , the printing hammer consists of two printing hammers arranged parallel to the center axis of the platen, one printing hammer stamps the upper part of the pressed part of the printing thimble, and the other printing hammer An impact-type type printer characterized by embossing the type at the bottom of the pressed part.