JPH0642852Y2 - Electronic printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an electronic printing device such as a portable word processor or typewriter.

[Prior Art and Its Problems] Conventionally, in a portable word processor, a keyboard unit is provided on the main body of the device, a printing unit is housed inside, and predetermined information is recorded on a recording sheet by the printing unit according to the operation of the keyboard unit. Printing. In this case, the printing unit has a paper feed path that feeds the recording paper, which is inserted from the paper insertion opening provided on the upper side of the main body of the device, to the printing unit by folding it around 180 degrees with the supply roller. Predetermined printing is performed on the supplied recording paper.

However, in such a printing unit, since the recording sheet is folded back by about 180 degrees by the supply roller and sent to the printing section, the recording sheet is inevitably curled (curved). In particular, when printing on a relatively thick recording sheet such as a postcard, the curl is remarkable and it is difficult to return to the original state after printing, which is not preferable.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances. With the apparatus main body kept in a normal state, thin recording paper is folded and fed, and a relatively thick paper such as a postcard is used. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic printing device which allows a recording sheet to be fed in a substantially flat state and can easily print any recording sheet of any thickness by a simple operation.

[Structure of Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

In the figure, 1 is a main body case of a portable word processor. The main body case 1 is made of synthetic resin, the printing unit 2 is housed on the back side (right side in the figure), and the display section 3 and the keyboard section (not shown) are provided on the front side inclined portion. There is. The display unit 3 displays information such as sentences created according to the operation of the keyboard unit, and includes a liquid crystal display panel or the like.

The printing unit 2 sequentially prints information such as sentences displayed on the display unit 3 or the like on the recording paper 4 according to the operation of the keyboard unit. The printing unit 6, the supply roller 7, and the auxiliary supply are provided on the unit case 5. The rollers 8a and 8b are mounted, and a first paper feed path 9 and a second paper feed path 10 are provided inside thereof.

That is, the unit case 5 is made of synthetic resin, is housed in the housing portion 1a of the main body case 1, and is rotated around a shaft 7a of the supply roller 7 described later, and as shown in FIG.
It is designed to project upward and stand upright.

The printing unit 6 prints information on the recording paper 4, and includes a guide shaft 6a, a carrier 6b, a print head 6c, a platen 6d, an ink ribbon cassette 6e, and the like, and is arranged in the upper left portion of the unit case 5. The guide shaft 6a guides the carrier 6b, and is laid across the front and rear surfaces in the unit case 5. The carrier 6b carries the print head 6c and the ink ribbon cassette 6e and moves along the guide shaft 6a, and is movably provided on the guide shaft 6a.
The print head 6c prints on the recording paper 4 the information input by the keyboard portion (not shown) while moving with the carrier 6b. The platen 6d presses the recording paper 4 when the print head 6c prints, and has a long strip shape made of elastic rubber or the like. The platen 6d is located at a position slightly apart from the print head 6c in parallel with the moving direction of the carrier 6b. It is bridged in the unit case 5. The ink ribbon cassette 6e has an ink ribbon (not shown) inside,
It is detachably mounted on the carrier 6b, and a part of the ink ribbon inside is arranged to cover the print head 6c and between the platen 6d.

The supply roller 7 supplies the recording paper 4 to the printing unit 6, that is, between the print head 6c and the platen 6d. The supply roller 7 is a relatively large roller made of rubber or the like and is integrally attached to the roller shaft 7a. It is arranged on the right side in the case 5. In this case, the roller shaft 7a is rotatably supported on the side wall of the main body case 1 through the side wall of the unit case 5, and the unit case 5 is rotatably supported by the roller shaft 7a. As shown in FIG. 3, the main body case 1 is projected upward and stands up. Further, both ends of the roller shaft 7a respectively project from the side wall of the main body case 1, platen knobs 7b and 7b are provided on the projecting portions, and the roller shaft 7a is driven by a motor (not shown) via a gear mechanism. It is like this. Therefore, when the recording paper 4 is first set in the printing unit 6, the platen knobs 7b and 7b are manually rotated to rotate the supply roller 7, and when printing is performed in the printing unit 6, each line is printed. The recording paper 4 is driven line by line by being driven by a motor.

The auxiliary supply rollers 8a and 8b are relatively small rollers made of rubber or the like, and are arranged on the lower left side of the supply roller 7 and directly below the print head 6b and the platen 6d of the printing unit 6, and one of them The auxiliary supply roller 8a elastically contacts and rotates with the supply roller 7, and the other auxiliary supply roller 8b elastically contacts and rotates with one auxiliary supply roller 8a.

In addition, the paper feed paths 9 and 10 provided in the printing unit 2
Of these, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first paper feed path 9 is a state in which the recording unit 4 is inserted from above while the printing unit 2 is housed in the housing unit 1a of the main body case 1. It is folded back 180 degrees by the supply roller 7 and is fed upward from the printing unit 6 again. It passes through the lower peripheral surface of the supply roller 7 from the first sheet insertion port 11 provided at the upper right of the unit case 5. 7 and the auxiliary supply roller 8a, the printing unit 6 is provided along the guide plate 12 according to the rotation of the supply roller 7.
It is designed to be fed between the print head 6c and the platen 6d. The second paper feed path 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the printing unit 2 is rotated to project above the main body case 1 to stand up, and in this state, the recording paper 4 is supplied from the left side to the printing unit 6 and sent out to the right side. As shown in FIG. 2, the recording paper 4 is printed in a substantially flat state by the printing section 6 from the second paper insertion opening 13 provided in the center of the lower surface of the unit case 5 through the two auxiliary supply rollers 8a and 8b. It is designed to be fed linearly between the head 6b and the platen 6d.

A change-over switch 14 for changing the rotation direction of the supply roller 7 is provided in the housing portion 1a of the main body case 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the changeover switch 14 is pushed by the unit case 5 to turn on when the printing unit 2 is rotated around the roller shaft 7a of the supply roller 7 and stands up.
The rotation direction of the supply roller 7 is reversed based on this ON signal. Further, a cover 15 for covering the supply roller 7 is provided on the upper part of the unit case 5,
A paper size mark indicating the size of the recording paper 4 is provided on the cover 15 near the first paper insertion port 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a paper size mark is also provided on the lower surface of the unit case 5 in the vicinity of the second paper insertion slot 13.

[Operation of Embodiment] Next, a case of printing on the recording paper 4 by the printing unit 2 configured as described above will be described.

First, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the relatively thin A4
When printing on the recording paper 4 of the size, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the state where the printing unit 2 is housed in the housing portion 1a of the main body case 1, the first paper feeding path 9 is used. The recording paper 4 is sent to the printing unit 6. That is, the leading edge of the recording sheet 4 is provided at the upper right of the unit case 5 with the first sheet insertion port 11
To the lower side of the supply roller 7 and the space between the auxiliary supply roller 8a. In this state, when the platen knobs 7b and 7b are turned, the supply roller 7 is rotated and the recording paper 4 inserted between the auxiliary supply roller 8a is sent between the print head 6b of the printing unit 6 and the platen 6d. Be set. When the printing start key of the keyboard unit (not shown) is operated with the recording paper 4 set in this way, the carrier 6b of the printing unit 6 moves along the guide shaft 6a, Along with this, the print head 6c sequentially prints the information input from the keyboard on the recording paper 4. In this case, every time the carrier 6b moves by one line, the supply roller 7 is driven by a motor (not shown) to rotate, and the recording paper 4 is sent to the printing unit 6 line by line. In this way, when the printing unit 6 sequentially prints predetermined information on the recording paper 4, the printed recording paper 4 is sequentially sent out above the unit case 5. In this way, since the recording paper 4 sent out upward from the printing unit 6 is relatively thin, it does not curl (curve due to warpage) after printing even when folded 180 degrees by the supply roller 7.

Next, when printing on a relatively thick recording sheet 4 such as a postcard, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the printing unit 2 is erected in the accommodating portion 1a of the main body case 1. , The recording paper 4 is fed to the printing unit 6 through the second paper feed path 10. That is, in this case, first, the printing unit 2 is rotated upward about the roller shaft 7a of the supply roller 7 so that the upper half of the printing unit 2 is projected above the main body case 1 and the printing unit 2 is Stand up. Then, the second sheet insertion opening 13 provided on the lower surface side of the unit case 5 is exposed above the main body case 1. Further, when the printing unit 2 is rotated in this way, the side wall of the unit case 5 pushes down the changeover switch 14 provided in the housing portion 1a of the main body case 1 to turn it on. The rotation direction of the roller 7 is switched. In this state, when the relatively thick recording paper 4 is inserted from the second paper insertion opening 13 exposed above the main body case 1, the leading end of the recording paper 4 is auxiliary feed roller 8.
It is inserted between a and 8b. Then, similarly to the above, when the platen knobs 7b and 7b are turned, the rotation thereof is changed to the auxiliary supply roller 8a.
The recording paper 4 is transferred to the print head of the printing unit 6.
It is sent and set in a substantially flat state between 6c and the platen 6d. In this state, when a print start command is given to the print unit 2 in the same manner as described above, the print head 6c sequentially prints predetermined information on the recording paper 4 while the carrier 6b moves. At this time, the supply roller 7 is a changeover switch.
Since the recording sheet 4 is rotated in the opposite direction by 14, the recording sheet 4 is sent to the printing section 6 line by line by the auxiliary supply roller 8a. In this way, the recording sheets 4 sequentially printed by the printing unit 6 are linearly sent out from the printing unit 2 to the rear side (right side in the figure) of the main body case 1, so that they are not curled.

However, according to the portable word processor configured as described above, the printing unit 2 is rotatably provided in the housing portion 1a of the main body case 1, and the recording paper 4 is wound around the feeding roller 7 in the printing unit 2. Since the first sheet feeding path 9 for feeding the recording sheet 4 to the printing section 6 and the second sheet feeding path 10 for linearly feeding the recording sheet 4 to the printing section 6 are provided, the printing unit 2 is extremely compact. In addition to the above configuration, even if a relatively thick recording sheet 4 such as a postcard is printed through the second paper feed path 10, the recording sheet 4 can be printed extremely well without curling. Moreover, when printing on the relatively thin recording paper 4, the recording paper 4 can be fed to the printing unit 6 through the first paper feed path 9 having the paper insertion opening 11 on the upper side thereof. The feeding operation of 4 is simple and easy, and the recording paper 4 can be satisfactorily printed.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the electronic printing apparatus of the present invention, when printing on thin recording paper, the storage paper is folded back while the printing unit is housed in the device body. When printing on a relatively thick recording paper such as a postcard, the printing unit can be rotated to stand upright in the device body while the device body is in a normal state, and the recording paper can be flattened. Since it is possible to feed the paper in such a state, it is possible to print on recording paper of any thickness with the simple operation of rotating the printing unit without repositioning the device body, and it is possible to print extremely well. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part thereof, FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a state in which a printing unit is erected, FIG. 4 is a sectional view thereof. 1 ... Main body case, 2 ... Printing unit, 4 ... Recording paper, 6
... printing unit, 7 ... supply roller, 8a, 8b ... auxiliary supply roller,
9 ... 1st paper feed path, 10 ... 2nd paper feed path, 11 ... 1st paper insertion slot, 13 ... 2nd paper insertion slot.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───Continued from the front page (56) References Microfilm (JP, U) taken from the specifications and drawings attached to the application of Japanese Patent Application No. 59-106824 (No. 61-22640 of Japanese Utility Model). ) Micro film (JP, U) Practical application Sho 60-3826 (Practical development) Micro film (JP, U) obtained by photographing the details and drawings attached to the application of Sho 61-120547).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A printing unit having a printing unit and a paper feeding mechanism for feeding recording paper to the printing unit, the printing unit being rotatably supported with respect to an apparatus main body, and the printing unit being provided in the apparatus. A support mechanism that supports the printing unit in a state of being housed in the main body and in a state of standing upright in the device main body, and the recording paper to be inserted in a state in which the printing unit is stored in the device main body. And a second paper feeding path for feeding the recording paper, which is inserted in a state where the printing unit is erected on the apparatus main body, to the printing unit in a substantially flat state. An electronic printer, wherein a paper feed path is provided in the printing unit.