JPH06328796A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer which prevents a material to be printed, such as a tape, etc., from being cut by operation of a cutter mechanism during printing. CONSTITUTION:A printer comprises a printing mechanism 10 for successively printing data on a tape 4 to be printed, a cutter mechanism 20 for cutting the printed tape 4, and a printing switch 40 for locking the cutter mechanism 20 when the printing mechanism 10 is in an ON state to perform printing. Accordingly, when printing by the printing mechanism 10 is started in the ON state of the printing switch 40, the cutter mechanism 20 is locked by the printing switch 40. Therefore, even in the case where an operation lever 21 is erroneously operated during printing, the printed tape 4 is not cut halfway by the operation of the cutter mechanism 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, handy type printers that can easily print desired information at desired places have been widely used. In this printing apparatus, for example, a tape with release paper, which is a member to be printed, is housed in a tape cassette, desired data is sequentially printed on the tape by a thermal head, and the printed tape is cut by a cutter mechanism. Therefore, there is a label printer that can be used as a label. The cutter mechanism of such a label printer includes a cutter member that is movably arranged in a direction perpendicular to the tape at a tape discharge port through which the tape is discharged, and an operation lever that is exposed to the outside of the printer body. By operating this operation lever to move the cutter member toward the tape, the blade edge of the cutter member is pressed against the tape to cut the tape.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional label printer, if the operation lever is erroneously operated during the sequential printing of data on the tape by the thermal head, the cutter member will be damaged. Since the tape during printing is cut, the tape and printing are not only wasted, but also the tape is sent out during cutting, which causes the tape to be pressed against the cutter member to bend and jam the tape. . The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a printing apparatus in which a cutter mechanism does not operate to cut a member to be printed such as a tape during printing. .

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing mechanism for sequentially printing print data on a printing target member, a cutter mechanism for cutting the printed printing target member, and a printing mechanism. And a cutter lock unit for locking the cutter mechanism during the printing operation by the printer.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the cutter mechanism is locked by the cutter locking means during the printing operation of the printing mechanism, so that the cutter mechanism does not operate to cut the member to be printed during printing. .

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the label printer, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part showing its internal configuration. The label printer prints data such as characters, symbols, and figures on a tape with release paper, which is a member to be printed. On the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 of this label printer,
As shown in FIG. 1, a key input unit 2 for inputting data,
A display unit 3 for displaying the input data is provided, and a tape ejection port 5 for ejecting a printed printing tape (printing member) 4 described later is provided on the side surface of the apparatus body 1. ing. A chassis 6 is provided inside the apparatus body 1 as shown in FIG. A printing mechanism 10 and a cutter mechanism 20 are attached to the chassis 6, and a tape cassette 30 is detachably attached.

The printing mechanism 10 includes a platen roller 12 rotatably provided on the chassis 6 via a platen shaft 11.
And a thermal head 13 provided on the chassis 6 and moving toward and away from the platen roller 12. The thermal head 13 has a heating element connected to a drive circuit, and the heating element generates heat according to the data to be printed. The tape cassette 30 includes a print-receiving tape supply reel 31, an ink tape supply reel 32, and an ink tape take-up reel 33 inside, and the ink tape take-up reel 33 is rotatably provided on the chassis 6 and is a take-up shaft 34.
Is mounted on the chassis 6 in a state of being engaged with. In this state, the print-receiving tape 4 unwound from the print-receiving tape supply reel 31 passes through the space between the platen roller 12 and the thermal head 13 and is sent out from the tape discharge port 5 of the apparatus main body 1. Also, the ink tape supply reel 32
The ink tape 35 fed out from is wound around the ink tape take-up reel 33 after passing between the platen roller 12 and the thermal head 13. In this case, the print-receiving tape 4 between the platen roller 12 and the thermal head 13
The printing surface of the print-receiving tape 4 and the ink surface of the ink tape 35 overlap with each other.

The cutter mechanism 20 comprises an operating lever 21 and a cutter member 22, and is provided in the vicinity of the tape discharge port 5 of the apparatus body 1. The operation lever 21 is formed in an arc shape that can be easily operated manually, the outer peripheral surface thereof is exposed to the outside from the side surface of the apparatus main body 1 as shown in FIG. 1, and the lower end portion inside is the chassis 6 as shown in FIG. Is attached to a rotary shaft 23 rotatably provided in
It swings in the direction. In this case, the operation lever 21 is biased in the direction of arrow A by the torsion spring 24, and the operation lever 21 is integrally provided with a lever gear 25. The lever gear 25 is the chassis 6
It is structured such that it meshes with a cutter gear 27 rotatably provided on a rotary shaft 26 provided on the rotary shaft 26 and rotates according to a manual operation of the operating lever 21 to rotate the cutter gear 27. At the eccentric position of the cutter gear 27, the cutter member 2
An engaging pin 28 that engages with 2 is implanted. The cutter member 22, as shown in FIG.
That is, the direction (arrows X and Y directions) orthogonal to the feeding direction of the print-receiving tape 4 discharged from the tape discharge port 5.
Is movably supported by the lever gear 2 of the operating lever 21.
5, the cutter pin 27 is moved in the X and Y directions according to the movement of the engaging pin 28 of the cutter gear 27. At the lower end of the cutter member 22, a cutter blade 29 for cutting the printed tape 4 to be printed is provided so as to project downward.

On the other hand, a print switch (cutter lock means) 40 is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 as shown in FIG. The print switch 40 is a slide switch that starts printing by the printing mechanism 20 in the ON state,
As shown in FIG. 2, it is arranged near the cutter mechanism 20. That is, the print switch 40 includes a switch housing portion 41 provided in the apparatus body 1 and the switch housing portion 41.
A slide operation element 42 is provided therein so as to be slidable in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the cutter member 22. The switch housing portion 41 is formed in a U-shaped cross-section with the cutter member 22 side open, and is arranged near the left side of the cutter member 22. When the slide operator 42 is in the off state, as shown in FIG.
3 is completely housed in the housing 1, and the right end portion 42a projects from the switch housing portion 41 toward the cutter member 22 as shown in FIG.
The a is engaged with the engaging recess 43 provided in the cutter member 22, thereby preventing the cutter member 22 from moving in the vertical direction. In this case, the slide operator 4
2 has a switch housing 4 on the upper side surface when the switch is on.
A substantially U-shaped movable electrode 45 is provided which is brought into contact with a pair of fixed electrodes 44 provided on the inner surface of 1 to conduct electricity.
Further, on the lower side surface of the slide operator 42, the slide operator 42 is detachably engaged with any one of two positioning recesses 46 provided on the inner surface of the switch housing portion 41 to turn the slide operator 42 on and off. A positioning protrusion 47 for positioning is provided.

In such a label printer, data such as desired characters, symbols, and figures are input by the key input unit 2,
When printing the input data, the slide operator 42 of the print switch 40 is slid toward the cutter mechanism 20 to turn on the print switch 40 as shown in FIG. 3B. Then, the print-receiving tape 4 and the ink tape 35 in the tape cassette 30 are sent to the printing mechanism 10 in a state of being overlapped with each other, and the thermal head 13 of the printing mechanism 10 sequentially prints the data input to the print-receiving tape 4. The printed tape 4 to be printed is sent out from the tape outlet 5. When data is printed on the print-receiving tape 4 in this way, the print switch 40 is in the ON state as shown in FIG. 3B, so that the end 42a of the slide operator 42 projects from the switch housing 41. Engages with the engaging recess 43 of the cutter member 22, whereby the cutter member 22 is locked.
Therefore, even if the operating lever 21 is operated by mistake during printing, the cutter member 22 does not operate. Therefore, since the tape to be printed 4 is not cut by the cutter blade 29, the tape to be printed 4 or printing is wasted as in the conventional case, or the cutter member 2 in which the tape to be printed 4 is being cut
It does not get stuck in the tape when it is pressed against 2. When cutting the printed tape 4 to be printed, the slide operator 42 is slid in the direction away from the cutter member 22 to turn off the print switch 40 as shown in FIG. 3A. Then, the end 42a of the slide operator 42 is separated from the engaging recess 43 of the cutter member 22, so that the cutter member 22 is unlocked by the slide operator 42. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the operation lever 21 is operated in the direction of arrow B, the cutter gear 27 rotates via the lever gear 25, and the rotation of the cutter gear 27 causes the engagement pin 28 to move the cutter member 22 downward. Since it is moved to, the print target tape 4 can be cut at a predetermined position by the cutter blade 29.

In the above embodiment, the print switch 40 is used.
As described above, the case where a slide switch that locks the cutter member 22 in a disengageable manner is used by the slide operator 42 that slides in the switch housing 41 has been described. With cutter member 2
You may use the push button switch which locks 2 so that engagement / disengagement is possible.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cutter for cutting the printed target member during the printing operation of the printing mechanism for sequentially printing the print data on the target member such as a tape. Since the cutter locking means for locking the mechanism is provided, when the printing by the printing mechanism is started, the cutter mechanism is locked by the cutter locking means, so the cutter mechanism operates during the printing to cut the member to be printed. There is no end. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, the printing target member and the printing are not wasted, and the printing target member is not pressed against the cutter member being cut to cause the clogging of the printing target member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a label printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part showing the internal configuration of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the print switch and the cutter member,
FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a lock release state of the cutter member by the print switch, and FIG. 9B is a diagram showing a lock state of the cutter member by the print switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Printed tape 10 Printing mechanism 20 Cutter mechanism 40 Printing switch

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing mechanism for sequentially printing print data on a member to be printed, a cutter mechanism for cutting the printed member to be printed, and a cutter locking unit for locking the cutter mechanism during a printing operation by the printing mechanism. A printing apparatus comprising: 2. The cutter lock means is a print switch for turning on and off the printing mechanism, and locks the cutter mechanism when the printing mechanism is in an on state for printing. The printing device described.