JPH0577451A - Printing head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the density of printing pins per unit area. CONSTITUTION:Drive units 10a, 10b have two piezoelectric elements 14a, 14b provided in the single frames thereof in parallel and arms 16a, 16b are connected to the piezoelectric elements 14a, 14b. The arms 16a, 16b extend in one direction by the frame. The drive units 10a, 10b are respectively arranged in two rows so as to be opposed to each other on the side of the arms and reciprocally moved in a vertical direction with respect to the surface of a drawing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrangement structure of print pin drive units in a print head mounted on, for example, a shuttle printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of printing pin drive unit generally drives one pin in one frame. That is, one piezoelectric element (including a laminated piezoelectric element, electrostrictive element) is provided in one frame, an arm is provided in the electrostrictive element, and a print pin is provided at the tip thereof.

[0003]

However, when a print head is constructed by arranging a plurality of print pin drive units having such a configuration, the pin density in the print pin array direction cannot be made smaller than the unit width. It was a hindrance to high density and integration. In particular, in a shuttle printer or the like, since the print range (distance) of each pin needs to be long, the travel distance of the print head becomes long, which hinders the increase in print speed.

Further, it is desirable to arrange a large number (for example, four rows) of printing pins in the paper feeding direction in the shuttle printer, but the printing pins lined up in the paper feeding direction also have various spacings. It takes a predetermined value that is possible, and in general, that value is relatively small. As described above, in the print head, it is desired to increase the number of print pins per unit area.

On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-229349 or Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-125449, two electrostrictive elements are provided in one frame, and each electrostrictive element is printed through an arm. It is known that the pins are connected to each other and the print pins are arranged in two rows facing each other or in one row.

However, even the configurations described in these publications cannot sufficiently solve the above problems, and particularly when the units having the above configurations are arranged in a plurality of rows to increase the number of pins, the units in each row are more likely to be used. There was a problem that the distance between the driven printing pins became long.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and narrows the print pin interval to reduce the print range of each print pin, and also makes this print pin line a plurality of lines (normally). (2 or 4 rows) are arranged in order to increase the density of the printing pins and, in turn, to increase the printing speed.

[0008]

In order to achieve this object, a print head of the present invention has a plurality of piezoelectric elements arranged in a single frame, is connected to each piezoelectric element, and has a print pin at its tip. A print pin drive unit in which the attached arm is attached so as to extend in a single direction from the frame,
It is characterized in that the frames are arranged so as to face each other in two rows so that the frame is arranged outside each printing pin.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two piezoelectric elements 14a and 14b are provided on one frame 12,
Arms 16a and 16b are respectively provided in the same direction, and the print pins 18a and 18b are arranged at the front ends of the arms 16a and 18b in the same row so as to form one print pin drive unit 10. And this drive unit 10a, 10b is 2
1 to be arranged symmetrically to form a pin row of rows
Two units are arranged side by side to form a print head H1 of two parallel rows of 24 pins having a pin arrangement as shown in FIG.

The row of the drive unit 10a forms each pin row of A in the figure, and the row of the drive unit 10b forms each pin row of B in the figure. Further, the odd-numbered pins 18a in the rows A and B are connected to the front arm 16a, and the even-numbered pins 18b are connected to the rear arm 1a.
It is connected to 6b. In the above configuration, printing is performed while the print head reciprocates left and right (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1). The line feed is performed at the points where the two reciprocating movements are opposite to each other.

According to the print head H1 having such a pin arrangement, it is possible to obtain a print head having a double density as compared with the conventional print pin drive units which are simply arranged in parallel.
What used to be pin dots can be improved to 48 pin dots. Since the two print pins are provided on one frame, the weight of the unit can be reduced.

In this embodiment, reference numeral 19 is a link for connecting a mover provided between the frame, the piezoelectric element and a mechanism for converting the displacement of the piezoelectric element into the swing of the arm (made of a known Eden spring or the like). The mechanism has a function of moving the mover only in the stacking direction of the piezoelectric elements. It is not necessary to provide this link mechanism for each piezoelectric element, and as shown in the figure, a single leaf spring is formed by forming notches and H-shaped holes so as to have the above function. .. Also, the frame 12
Since the drive units 10a and 10b are arranged so as to face each other on the outside, the pin interval between them can be easily narrowed.

On the other hand, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to print simultaneously over two character strings. Two piezoelectric elements 24a and 24b are provided on one frame 22, and printing pins 28a and 28b are provided at the tips of the respective arms 26a and 26b.
Is provided to configure the print pin drive unit 20, and the drive units 20a and 20b are arranged symmetrically. In this case, the arms of the respective drive units 20a and 20b are alternately inserted to form a pin row, whereby a 48-pin print head H having a pin arrangement as shown in FIG.
Make up 2. This also makes it possible to realize a high-density pin arrangement as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. In this example, two character strings can be printed at the same time, but the size is not so large as compared with the conventional one.

[0014]

As is apparent from the above description, since the print head of the present invention has the print pin drive units in which a plurality of print pins are provided in one frame, the print pin drive units are arranged opposite to each other. A dense and highly integrated array can be obtained.
Therefore, if this is applied to the print head of a shuttle printer, for example, the traveling distance of the print head can be reduced and the printing speed can be increased, and in the print head of a line printer, the dot interval is narrowed to reduce the print contour. Benefits such as improvements are achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a print head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a pin array explanatory diagram of the print head shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a print head according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a pin arrangement explanatory diagram of the print head shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 (10a, 10b) Print pin drive unit 12 Frame 14a, 14b Piezoelectric element 16a, 16b Arm 18a, 18b Print pin 20 (20a, 20b) Print pin drive unit 22 frame 24a, 24b Piezoelectric element 26a, 26b Arm 28a, 28b Print pin H1, H2 print head

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of piezoelectric elements are arranged in a single frame, and an arm having a print pin attached to the tip thereof is connected to each piezoelectric element so as to extend in a single direction from the frame. A print head, wherein print pin drive units are arranged so as to face each other in two rows so that the frame is arranged outside each print pin.