JPH06234254A - Small-sized printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the title printer capable of simply obtaining a constant head gap. CONSTITUTION:The protrusion 35 coming into contact with the surface of the flat platen 39 provided to a case lid 7 is provided to the printer part 30 received in a main body case 36 and the spring material 44 elastically pressing the flat platen 39 to the protrusion is provided to ensure a space T behind the flat platen 39. By this constitution, when the case lid 37 is closed, the protrusion 35 comes into contact with the surface of the flat platen 39 to obtain a constant head gap.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable compact printing device for printing checks and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a small-sized printing apparatus which prints on roll paper or standard paper by a shuttle head.
Hereinafter, a conventional small-sized printing device will be described.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main portion of a printing section of a conventional small-sized printing apparatus. Reference numeral 1 is a print ribbon cassette, and 2 is a print ribbon pulled out from the print ribbon cassette 1. 3 is a shuttle head, and a pin 5 is provided at the tip of the hammer 4. 6 is a shaft of the hammer 4, 7 is a magnetic pole, 8 is a bobbin, 9 is a return spring, and 10 is a winding. 1
Reference numeral 1 is a head, and 12 and 13 are shafts. The shafts 12 and 13 penetrate the head 11 and are driven by a drive source (not shown) to reciprocate in the longitudinal direction of the shafts 12 and 13. A paper feed roller 14 and an auxiliary roller 15 are elastically contacted with the paper feed roller 14 by a spring 16. Reference numeral 17 is a standard paper. Reference numeral 18 is a cabinet, 19 is a paper insertion port, 20 is a paper outlet, and 21 is a platen. In this conventional small-sized printing apparatus, a certain print quality is obtained by adjusting the mounting positions of the shafts 12 and 13 and adjusting the head gap between the pin 5 and the platen 21.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional small-sized printing apparatus, it requires skill and a lot of time to adjust the head gap, or a function for automatically adjusting the pressure applied to the pin 5 may be provided. Although possible, there is a problem in that the configuration becomes complicated and the cost becomes high.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized printing apparatus which can easily adjust the head gap.

[0006]

To this end, the small-sized printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printer unit housed in a main body case,
A protrusion is provided so as to abut the surface of a flat platen provided on the case lid, and a spring material that elastically pushes the flat platen toward the protrusion is provided to secure a space behind the flat platen.

[0007]

With the above construction, when the case lid is closed, the projection of the printer section and the flat platen abut against each other by the spring force of the spring material to secure the head gap. It is possible to obtain a constant head gap by adjustment, shorten the working time, and obtain stable print quality. Further, by using a vibration damping steel plate as the material of the flat platen, it is possible to reduce the noise generated due to the thinning of the flat platen. Also, due to the elastic force of the spring material,
The case lid can be easily opened when the opening / closing lever is released.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer section of a compact printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a print ribbon cassette, 22 is a shuttle head whose printing direction is downward,
23 is a shaft penetrating the shuttle head 22, 24 is a paper feed roller, 25 is a DC motor, 26 is an encoder attached to one shaft of the DC motor 25, and 27 is an encoder sensor. 28 is a cylindrical cam having a groove 29 on its surface. Reference numeral 31 is a balancer, and projections (not shown) provided on the shuttle head 22 and projections provided on the balancer 31 are engaged with the groove 29 at positions opposite to each other. 32 is a gear box for transmitting power to the cylindrical cam 28, 58 is a gear train for transmitting power of the cylindrical cam 28 to the print ribbon cassette 1, and 59 is a ribbon drive shaft.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the small-sized printing apparatus in which the printer unit is attached to the main body case in an opened state. Three
Reference numeral 0 is the printer section, and 35 is the printer section 30.
Is a protrusion provided on the. Reference numeral 36 is a main body case, 37 is a case lid, and 38 is a hinge for connecting the main body case 36 and the case lid 37 in an openable and closable manner. 39 is a flat platen, 41
Is a paper feed member composed of a leaf spring, 42 is a claw, and 43 is a lid opening / closing lever.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view when the case lid 37 is closed, and 44 is a spring material for elastically holding the flat platen 39. An engagement portion 39a is bent and formed in a hook shape at a side edge portion of the flat platen 39. Further, an engaging claw 46 that engages with the engaging portion 39a is cut and raised on the inner surface of the case lid 37, and the engaging plate 39a and the engaging claw 46 prevent the flat platen 39 from coming off.

The printer unit 30 is housed on the inner surface of the main body case 36 while being exposed to the case lid 37 side. Further, the plane platen 39 of the case lid 37 and the paper feed member 41
Is provided at a position facing the printer unit 30.
The flat platen 39 has a spring member 44 provided on its back surface.
The printer portion 30 is urged to be pressed toward the projection 35 by the spring member 45 and is elastically urged toward the plane platen 39 by the spring member 45 provided on the back surface thereof. When the case lid 37 is closed, the protrusions 35 are formed by the spring force of the spring members 44 and 45.
The tip of the plate contacts the surface of the flat platen 39, and a space T is secured behind the flat platen 39. Therefore, the flat platen 39 can always be reliably brought into contact with the projection 35, and if the height accuracy of the projection 35 is high, a constant head gap can be obtained without adjustment. Further, the elastic force of the spring member 45 can easily open the case lid 37. The flat platen 39 is formed of a vibration damping steel material, and noise generated due to the flat platen 39 being thin can be reduced.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of a small-sized printing apparatus, in which 51 is a CPU, 52 is an input device for printing input or data input, 53 is a ROM storing various information such as programs, and 54. Stores various information R
AM and 55 are drive circuits for driving the shuttle head 22, and 56 is a drive circuit for driving the DC motor 25.

The operation of the small-sized printing apparatus having the above structure will be described below. First, the insertion of the standard paper 17 will be described. The lid opening / closing lever 43 is operated to open the case lid 37, and the standard paper 17 is positioned on the claw 42. Next, when the case lid 37 is closed, the standard paper 17 is set.
In the case of roll paper, the standard paper 1
It can be set in the same way as 7. In this case, as described above, the tip of the projection 35 elastically contacts the surface of the flat platen 39 by the spring force of the spring members 44 and 45, so that a constant head gap is obtained.

Next, paper feeding and printing will be described. The information input by the input device 52 is calculated by the CPU 51, the rotation amount and the rotation speed are determined based on the data of the ROM 53 and the RAM 54, and the drive circuit 56 rotates the DC motor 25. The power of the DC motor 25 rotates the cylindrical cam 28 via a gear train (not shown) in the gearbox 32. The shuttle head 22 engaged with the groove 29 on the cylindrical cam 28 and the balancer 31 reciprocate in the thrust direction.

The rotational force of the DC motor 25 is further transmitted by the gear train to rotate the paper feed roller 24 and the ribbon drive shaft 59 to wind up the engaged print ribbon 2.
The standard paper 17 is fed by the paper feed roller 24 because it is biased by the paper feed member 41 composed of a leaf spring. When printing, the slit 27 on the encoder 26 is read by the encoder sensor 27, the CPU 51 calculates the output of the encoder sensor 27, drives the shuttle head 22 with the drive circuit 55 at a constant timing, and is imprinted on the print ribbon 2. The standard paper 17 is printed with ink.

[0017]

As described above, according to the small-sized printing apparatus of the present invention, when the case lid is closed, the protrusion of the printer unit and the flat platen are brought into contact with each other by the spring force of the spring member to secure the head gap. Therefore, by adjusting the height accuracy of the protrusions, it is possible to obtain a constant head gap without adjustment, shorten the working time, and obtain stable print quality. Further, by using a vibration damping steel plate as the material of the flat platen, it is possible to make the flat platen thin and reduce the noise generated. Further, the case lid can be easily opened by the elastic force of the spring material.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer unit of a compact printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a compact printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a compact printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of a compact printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a conventional small-sized printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Printer Section 35 Protrusion 36 Body Case 37 Case Cover 39 Flat Platen 41 Paper Feeding Member 44 Spring Material T Space

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Norio Amamoto 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main body case for exposing and accommodating a printer section, a case lid openably and closably attached to the main body case, a flat platen and a paper provided on a surface of the case lid facing the printer section. A feeding member is provided, and a protrusion that comes into contact with the surface of the flat platen is provided in the printer unit, and a spring member that presses and urges the flat platen toward the protrusion is provided on the case lid. A small printing device that has a space behind it. 2. The compact printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flat platen is made of a damping steel plate. 3. The compact printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spring member has a spring effect of being opened only by releasing an opening / closing lever of the main body case and the case lid.