JPH0639984Y2 - Printer color switching mechanism - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color switching mechanism of a printer, and more particularly to the structure and operation of a color switching plate.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of color switching mechanism is configured as shown in FIG. 4, and a C-shaped color switching plate 41 is driven by a solenoid 42 to a state of a solid line portion and a broken line portion, and the plate is a solid line portion. In this state, a roller (not shown) interlocking with the ribbon interferes with the switching plate 41, and the color is switched to each color by controlling the movement amount of the roller moving up and down the switching plate 41. Reference numeral 43 is a print head mounted on the carriage 44.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention Since the above-described conventional color switching mechanism is a metal plate product in which the color switching plate is integrally formed, the color switching plate or the carriage-side roller is not operated when the carriage spacing motor is out of synchronization. It has a drawback that it is destroyed, and also has a drawback that it becomes an expensive mechanism because the displacement operation of the plate is performed by a solenoid.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances,
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional technology, to realize an accurate operation without failure, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new color switching mechanism for a printer which can be simply and inexpensively constructed.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, a color switching mechanism according to the present invention is provided with a ribbon take-up motor gear directly connected to a ribbon take-up motor fixed to a frame of a main body. A swinging gear that selectively engages with a gear or a gear with a cam, and an angle that is driven by the rotation of the gear with a cam in a direction perpendicular to the spacing direction of the carriage and at the same time as the spacing direction of the carriage. And a color switching plate having a one-way movable hinge part whose both ends are rotated in the spacing direction, and the both ends move together with the carriage in the spacing direction and at a right angle to the spacing direction. A possible ribbon guide and the carriage rotatably pivotally mounted on the ribbon guide and the carriage A roller that engages with both inclined surfaces of the color switching plate and moves the ribbon guide in a direction perpendicular to the spacing direction to change the position of the ribbon with respect to the head when moving in the sourcing direction. To be done.

Embodiment Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an essential part of a partial cross section showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of an essential part of the partial cross section as seen from below in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 indicates a frame of the printer main body. The frame 1 is provided on both left and right sides. However, in the drawings, only the right frame is shown, and the left frame is Omitted. Chassis 2 and 3 are fixed between the frames, and a ribbon winding motor 4 is arranged on the chassis 2. A ribbon winding motor gear 5 meshed with a swing gear 6 is directly connected to a rotation shaft of the ribbon winding motor 4. Swing gear 6
Operates by selectively meshing with the ribbon winding gear 7 or the cam-equipped gear 8 depending on the rotation direction of the ribbon winding motor gear 5. More specifically, the swing gear 6 meshes with the ribbon take-up gear 7 when the ribbon take-up motor gear 5 rotates in the normal direction to perform a normal printer printing operation, and when it rotates in the reverse direction, it operates as the cam-equipped gear 8. The color ribbon switching operation according to the present invention is configured to be engaged with each other.

Reference numeral 9 indicates a color switching plate which is one of the main parts of the present invention, and the color switching plate 9 is a lower portion kept at an angle with respect to the spacing direction of the carriage 10 as seen in FIG. Inclined surface 9a, upper inclined surface 9b
And a shaft 11 provided on both sides of the shaft 11
One-way movable hinge part 11 that is rotatable around c and 11d
a and 11b are formed (see FIGS. 2 and 3). The color switching plate 9 is displaced in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by the operation of the cam 8a caused by the rotation of the gear 8 with cam.

On the other hand, a print head that moves in the spacing direction (direction of arrow B) is provided on the shafts 12 and 13 provided between the frames 1.
A carriage 10 with 19 is arranged. carriage
A ribbon guide 15 for guiding the ribbon 14 is mounted on the stage 10 in a stepwise manner by a latch mechanism 16 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. A roller 17, which is one of the main parts of the present invention, is rotatably and pivotally attached to the ribbon guide 15. 18 indicates a platen.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. Reverse rotation (non-winding direction) of the ribbon take-up motor gear 5 is switched to the cam-equipped gear 8 through the swing gear 6 and the plate 9 is in the solid line state in FIG. At this time, the carriage 10 is spaced to the right in the direction of arrow B by a certain amount (different for each color), and the roller 17 interlocking with the ribbon 14 comes into contact with the lower inclined surface 9a of the color switching plate 9, whereby the roller 17 is moved downward. It is moved downward by being pressed by 9a, and as a result, the ribbon 14 is moved downward and the color is switched. In order to explain this operation in more detail, 17a and 17 in FIG.
Reference numerals b, 17c, 17d, and 17e indicate displacement positions of the roller 17 when the carriage 10 moves to the right in the direction of arrow B, and 17f indicates the displacement position to the left, and the position 17a of the roller 17 indicates the color a of the ribbon 14. Similarly, the position of 17b is b color, the position of 17c is c color, 17
The position of d shows d color, respectively. Here, when the ribbon 14 is switched from the color a to the color b, as described above, the gear 8 with cam is driven and the color switching plate 9 is arranged at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 by the cam 8a. Then, the carriage 10 is moved rightward in the direction of arrow B. At that time, the roller 17 moves the guide to the right in the arrow B direction by the inclined surface 9a of the plate 9. At that time, the roller 17 is guided by the inclined surface 9a of the plate 9 and moves downward in the inclination direction, and is temporarily stopped when the position of 17a is reached to the position of 17b. This suspension is appropriately achieved by the latch mechanism 16. When the ribbon 14 is switched from b color to c color and from c color to d color, the same operation is performed.

When the roller 17 is at the position 17d (color d), and when the color d is switched to the color a, the carriage 10 is further spaced to the right, and the one formed on the tip of the color switching plate 9 is moved. The directional movable hinge 11a rotates counterclockwise about the shaft 11c to the horizontal position indicated by the broken line. The roller 17 attaches the lower surface of this leveled hinge 11a to 1
As shown by 7e, the carriage 10 is rotated while coming into contact with the upper surface of the hinge 11a, and the carriage 10 is further spaced to the left in the direction of arrow B so that the upper inclined surface 9b of the color switching plate 9 is brought into contact therewith and rotated. Reach the position indicated by 17f. At the same time, the hinge 11a is rotated clockwise about the shaft 11c and returns to its original position.

When the roller 17 reaches the position indicated by 17f, the one-way movable hinge 11b turns counterclockwise around the shaft 11d and stops in the horizontal direction indicated by the broken line. The roller 17 descends after passing through the horizontal hinge 11b, and at the same time, the hinge 11b is rotated clockwise about the shaft 11d to return to its original position, and the roller 17 is provided on the lower surface 17a of the hinge 11b. It is arranged at the position indicated by and is switched to the color a.

Even if the spacing position changes due to stepping out of the spacing motor during the upper switching operation, the color switching plate 9 is provided with the unidirectional movable hinges 11a and 11b, so that the plate 9 and Roller 17 is not destroyed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the color switching plate is provided with the one-way movable hinge, and the operation of the roller pivotally supported by the ribbon guide by the inclined surface of the plate is performed by the spacing operation of the carriage and the ribbon. This is performed by utilizing the reverse rotation (non-winding direction) of the winding gear, and a highly reliable and inexpensive color switching mechanism can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a front view seen from the lower side of the figure, FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view with a part of the color switching plate omitted, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional technique. 1 ... frame, 2 ... 3 chassis, 4 ... ribbon winding motor, 5 ... ribbon winding motor gear, 6 ...
… Swing gear, 7 …… Ribbon winding gear, 8 …… Cam gear, 8a …… Cam, 9 …… Color switching plate, 10 …… Carriage, 11a, 11b …… Unidirectional movable hinge, 12, 13 ...... Shaft, 14 ...... Ribbon, 15 ...... Ribbon guide, 16 ...... Latch mechanism, 17 ...... Roller, 17a to 17f ...
… Roller 17 position, 18 …… Platen, 19 …… Print head, 20 …… Spring, 41 …… C-shaped color switching plate, 42 …… Solenoid, 43 …… Print head, 44 …… Carriage

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A swinging gear which operates by selectively meshing with a ribbon winding gear or a gear with a cam depending on the rotation direction of a ribbon winding motor gear directly connected to a ribbon winding motor fixed to a frame of a main body, The cam gear is driven in a direction perpendicular to the spacing direction of the carriage by the rotation of the gear, and is arranged at an angle with respect to the spacing direction of the carriage and both ends thereof rotate in the spacing direction. A color switching plate having a directionally movable hinge portion, a ribbon guide which is movable with the carriage in the spacing direction and is movable in a direction perpendicular to the spacing direction, and the carriage is rotatably pivotally attached to the ribbon guide. When moving in the spacing direction, make sure that both inclined surfaces of the color switching plate Combined with the color switching mechanism of a printer characterized by having a roller for changing the position with respect to the head of said ribbon guide is moved in the direction of the spacing direction perpendicular ribbon.