JPH0577519A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve the miniaturization and cost reduction of a printer by simplify the structure of the printer. CONSTITUTION:A platen roller 8 supporting a tape to be printed and an ink tape is provided to a printer body 1 and a thermal printing head 9 opposed to the tape 18 to be printed and ink tape supported by the platen roller 8 to change to two states of a abutment state and a non-abutment state is provided to the printer body in a freely revolvable manner. Two states of the thermal printing head 9 to the tape to be printed and the ink tape are changed over by the manual operation of an operation lever 25 and, in such a state that the thermal printing head 9 is made to abut on the tape to be printed and the ink tape by the operation lever 25, the thermal printing head 9 is pressed to the tape to be printed and the ink tape by a second coil spring 28.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing device such as a thermal printer used for an information processing device such as a word processor, a print head is provided on a carriage that moves along a platen (support member), and an ink ribbon is detachable. It is mounted and prints the desired information on the print paper with the print head pressed against the print paper (print medium) guided between the carriage and platen via the ink ribbon. Is becoming In such a printing apparatus, when printing, the print head is brought into contact with the printing paper to perform printing, and when not printing, the printing head is separated from the printing paper to replace the ink ribbon, insert the printing paper, or the like. It needs to be easy to do. In response to such a demand, conventionally, a drive source such as an electromagnetic solenoid is mounted on the carriage, and the print head is brought into contact with or separated from the print medium by this drive source.

[0003]

However, when the drive source such as the electromagnetic solenoid is used, the structure including the wiring and the control circuit becomes extremely complicated, resulting in an increase in size and an increase in cost. is there. In particular,
A handy type printing apparatus that can easily print desired information at a desired place has the problem that it is not suitable for the above-mentioned inconvenience. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus which has a simple structure and can be downsized and reduced in cost.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a base, a support member provided on the base for supporting a print medium, and a support provided on the base. A print head that faces a print medium supported by a member and changes between two states, a contact state and a non-contact state, and an operation of manually switching the print head between the print head and the print medium. A lever and an urging means for pressing the print head against the print medium when the print head is in contact with the print medium by the operating lever are provided.

[0005]

When printing, the actuating lever is manually operated so that the print head faces and abuts against the print medium supported by the supporting member, and the biasing means moves the print head to the print medium. It is possible to press and the print head can be separated from the support member by manually actuating the operation lever in the opposite direction during non-printing. Therefore,
Since the structure is such that the operation lever is manually operated without requiring a drive source such as a conventional electromagnetic solenoid, the structure is simple, and the overall size and cost of the device can be reduced.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

1 and 2 show the main part of the printing apparatus.
In this printing apparatus, a chassis 2 is provided inside a portable box-shaped apparatus main body (base) 1, and a tape cassette 3 is detachably mounted on the upper surface of the chassis 2.
The attached tape cassette 3 is covered with a lid 4 which is attached to the apparatus body 1 so as to be openable and closable. In this case, on the surface of the lid 4, as shown in FIG.
A sheet key 5 for inputting information and a liquid crystal display section 6 for displaying the input information are provided. Although not shown, the printing device can be connected to an external device such as an electronic notebook and a word processor via a communication cable.

A take-up shaft 7, a platen roller (supporting member) 8 and a thermal print head 9 are provided at predetermined positions in the apparatus body 1 so as to project above the chassis 2. The winding shaft 7 is rotatably provided on the apparatus body 1. The platen roller 8 is rotatably provided on a support plate 8 a provided on the apparatus body 1. The thermal print head 9 is provided at the location of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the platen roller 8. The thermal print head 9 has a substantially plate shape, and a heating element (not shown) is provided in the vertical direction.
Are arrayed at minute intervals. In addition, the device body 1
A print tape discharge port 10 and a cutting device 11 are provided at predetermined positions on the upper part of the left wall. Further, a power switch 12 and an operation button 13 for operating a print head, which will be described later, are provided at predetermined locations on the front side wall of the apparatus body 1.

In the tape cassette 3 mounted on the chassis 2, the print-receiving tape supply reel 15 is fitted to the cassette guide shaft 16 and the ink tape take-up reel 17 is engaged to the take-up shaft 7. It is mounted at a predetermined location on the chassis 2. In this state, the print-receiving tape 18 unwound from the print-receiving tape supply reel 15 moves to the platen roller 8
And between the thermal print head 9 and the print-receiving tape discharge port 10 to the outside of the apparatus main body 1. The ink tape 20 fed from the ink tape supply reel 19 is wound around the ink tape take-up reel 17 between the platen roller 8 and the thermal print head 9 and via the ink tape guide pin 21. The print-receiving tape 18 and the ink tape 20 between the platen roller 8 and the thermal print head 9 are overlapped with each other in a state where the surface of the base tape of the print-receiving tape 18 and the ink of the ink tape 20 are in contact with each other. It is like this.

On the other hand, below the chassis 2, an operating lever 25 is arranged as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The operating lever 25 is formed in a substantially L shape, and one end of the operating lever 25 is attached to a shaft 26 of the thermal print head 9 so as to rotate together with the thermal print head 9. A first coil spring 27 for urging the operating lever 25 so as to separate the thermal print head 9 from the platen roller 8 is provided between one end of the operating lever 25 in the middle and the apparatus main body 1. There is. Also, the operating lever 25
The thermal print head 9 is provided between the other end and the operation button 13.
The operating lever 25 to press the platen roller 8
A second coil spring 28 for urging the rotation of the is provided.

The operation button 13 is formed in a substantially rectangular boat shape, and is slidably attached to a guide rail 31 at the edge of an opening 30 formed in the apparatus body 1.
That is, an insertion portion 32 that is inserted and moved in the opening portion 30 is provided at substantially the center of the inner side surface (upper surface in FIGS. 3 and 4) of the operation button 13, and both sides in the middle of the insertion portion 32 On the front and back sides of the paper), a semi-circular outer fulcrum portion 33 that abuts and slides on the outer surface of the guide rail 31, and a mountain-shaped inner fulcrum portion that abuts and slides on the inner surface of the guide rail 31. 34 are provided so as to sandwich the guide rail 31. Further, a spring attachment portion 35 to which the end portion of the second coil spring 28 is attached and an engagement protrusion 36 are provided on one end side (left side in FIGS. 3 and 4) of the inner surface of the operation button 13. .. Engagement protrusion 3
Reference numeral 6 locks the operation button 13 by engaging with the notch 37 provided at the left end of the guide rail 31 when the thermal print head 9 is pressed against the platen roller 8, and the operation button 13
When slides, the notch 37 is formed by pressing the right side of the operation button 13 to rotate the operation button 13 in a seesaw shape.
The outer surface of the guide rail 31 slides away from the guide rail 31.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. When printing is performed, the print-receiving tape 18 and the ink tape 20 are arranged in advance between the platen roller 8 and the thermal print head 9 so as to overlap each other. In this state, as shown in FIG.
Is moved toward the left side of the opening 30. Then the second
The coil spring 28 rotates in the clockwise direction around the shaft 26 of the thermal print head 9 against the spring force of the first coil spring 27, so that the thermal print head 9 approaches the platen roller 8. Rotate. Then, the engagement protrusion 36 of the operation button 13 has the notch 3 of the guide rail 31.
When it reaches 7, the engagement protrusion 36 is drawn into the notch 37 and engaged by the spring force of the second coil spring 28.
At this time, the operation button 13 is pivoted around the outer fulcrum portion 33 and the inner fulcrum portion 34 in a seesaw shape and locked.
When the engagement projection 36 engages with the cutout portion 37 in this way, the operating lever 25 further rotates clockwise, and the thermal print head 9 is pressed against the platen roller 8 via the print-receiving tape 18 and the ink tape 20. To do. Therefore, in this state, desired information can be sequentially printed,
The print-receiving tape 18 on which printing has been performed is sent out from the printing tape discharge port 12 to the outside of the apparatus main body 1, and the sent printing tape can be cut by the cutting device 13 and used as a label.

When printing is not performed, first, the right side of the operation button 13 is pressed to rotate the operation button 13 in a seesaw shape against the second coil spring 28 to engage the operation button 13. The lock of the operation button 13 is released by disengaging the projection 36 from the notch 37 of the guide rail 31. In this state, when the operation button 13 is moved toward the right side of the opening 30 as shown in FIG.
The operation button 13 moves to the right while sliding on the outer side surface of 1. When the operation button 13 moves in this way and its right end hits the right end of the opening 30 and stops, the spring force of the second coil spring 28 becomes weaker than the spring force of the first coil spring 27. The spring force of the coil spring 27 causes the actuating lever 25 to rotate counterclockwise about the shaft 26 of the thermal print head 9 and separate the thermal print head 9 from the platen roller 8. In this state, since the thermal print head 9 is separated from the platen roller 8, as shown in FIG. 2, the lid 4 of the apparatus main body 1 can be opened and the tape cassette 3 can be replaced, and the thermal print head can be replaced. The print-receiving tape 18 and the ink tape 20 can be arranged between the platen roller 8 and the platen roller 9.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and a print head such as a wire dot may be used in place of the thermal print head 9. Further, the present invention is not limited to a label printer but to a printer of a data processing device such as a word processor. Can be widely used.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, by manually actuating the actuating lever 25, the print head is brought into contact with the supporting member and pressed by the urging means, or conversely it is separated. Since such a structure is used, a conventional drive source such as an electromagnetic solenoid is unnecessary, the structure of the entire device can be simplified, and a small and inexpensive structure can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing a state in which the tape cassette is mounted on the printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the printing apparatus in a printing state.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part of the printing apparatus in a non-printing state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Device Main Body 8 Platen Roller 9 Thermal Printing Head 18 Printed Tape 25 Actuating Lever 28 Second Coil Spring

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A base, a support member provided on the base for supporting a print medium, and a print medium rotatably provided on the base and supported by the support member. A print head facing each other in two states, a contact state and a non-contact state; an operating lever provided on the base for manually switching between two states of the print head for the print medium; And a biasing unit that presses the print head against the print medium when the print head is in contact with the print medium.