JPH0650202Y2 - Printing device having a plurality of printing stations - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a printing device, and more particularly, to a printing device in which a print head is replaceable and printing can be performed by one printing device on different printing methods or different paper formats. Regarding

(Prior Art and its Problems) DE-OS3107554 discloses this kind of printing device.
According to this, by exchanging the print head and a specific member attached thereto, it is possible to apply to different paper styles. In addition to the print head, the conveying means and guide means for the printing target member such as paper and the print facing member are replaced if necessary. Each of these members must be individually attached or detached. This means, on the one hand, that they take a considerable amount of time to do, and they also require adjustments, so that they are generally not replaceable by the printer user. On the other hand, in this known installation, there is a risk that the parts will be installed by mistake due to the large number of parts to be replaced, which will cause malfunction and failure of the printing device.

(Purpose of the Invention) On the other hand, in the present invention, it is possible to switch to a different printing method in a short time, and this switching can be executed by the user of the printing apparatus, and it is possible to completely prevent erroneous mounting of individual functional members. The purpose is to provide such a printing device.

(Constitution of device) This problem is solved by the feature described in claim 1 of the utility model registration.

All of the basic components associated with a particular printhead, in particular the conveying and guiding means for the print-receiving component, and the print-facing member are integrated into a replaceable building block. Switching the printing device from one printing system to another can be accomplished by exchanging only two assemblies, the printhead, and a building block containing other basic components. If you put a mark or a mark on the two assemblies so that they cannot be installed incorrectly,
Wearing is not difficult.

The device according to the invention also allows some highly advantageous constructions, especially in connection with the central drive of the conveying means, which is described in the dependent claims of the utility model claim.

By forming the entire printing station as a replacement unit, which has, in addition to the print head, a print facing member, a transporting means and a guiding means, and optionally a color material transporting body means, for example, the print facing is basically fixed in position. A rod print head having a member and a colorant band, a heated print head having a rotating print facing member and a heat transfer writing band, or other combinations can be used and are described below.

According to the configuration of the present invention, even if the replaceable print heads of a certain print station are print heads of different operating systems, all of these print heads can be controlled by a single controller. For example, there are various print heads such as an ink print head, a rod print head, a heating print head, etc. However, since these print images are similarly composed of dots, they can be controlled by the same method. In this arrangement, the cutting position in close proximity to the print head is chosen between the print head and the control unit, so that the cutting position does not need to be changed and is very simple in this respect.

The present invention is extremely advantageous in a printing apparatus having a plurality of printing stations, such as a sales floor printing apparatus having individual printing stations for a slip, a sorting table, and a receipt. In this case, it is possible to install a large number of printers in the basic equipment, so that the equipment of different printing stations can be individually configured immediately before the issuance of slips according to the customer's request. Furthermore, the user can switch the individual printing stations from one printing method to another without himself having to purchase a complete new printing device.

The printing station is configured, for example, such that all components associated with the printing operation are replaceable.
In order to facilitate the replacement work, the individual functional components that make up at least the printing station are each integrated into a completely replaceable assembly. These assemblies are constructed and arranged so that they can be easily attached or detached. On the other hand, components common to all printing processes used are fixedly provided in the printer housing. As described above, especially in a printing apparatus having a plurality of printing stations, a quiet heating printing method is mainly used for the printing stations and an inexpensive rod printing method which can be copied to rarely used printing stations. It is also possible to wear it.

The printing station basically has all its own functional components that are important for its function. However, functional members available for multiple printing stations can be provided in the printer housing, in which case, according to the invention, these components and functions provided in the printer housing during operation. The functional members of the interchangeable assembly that make the mating automatically mate with these components when the assembly is installed.

In a practical configuration of the invention, a print station consists of a printhead mountable on a carrier moving in the printer housing in the direction of the line to be printed, and a replaceable assembly, which is in operation. The writing surface is provided as a print facing member. The replaceable assembly further comprises functional elements, such as parts of the guiding and transporting means for the material to be printed, which will be described later in detail. However, according to the invention, it is also possible to provide instead of a series printhead a printhead formed as a heated writing edge member fixedly provided in the printer housing, in which case the replaceable assembly is printed opposite the printhead. A rotatable writing roller is provided as a member. The writing roller rotates as the printed member is conveyed, and thus the writing edge member generally need not be lifted from the print carrier.

According to another aspect of the invention, the replaceable assembly moves within the printer housing between an operating position in which the print facing member contacts the write head and a spaced position in which the print facing member is separated from the write head. It is possible. Thus, on the one hand, the printed material can easily pass through, and on the other hand, it can reach the print head for inspection.

In another configuration of the invention, the switch mounting member also has a writing band cassette, so that a particular cassette can be selectively mounted for rod print head or thermal transfer head operations.

Other advantages and characteristics of the present invention will be apparent from the claims for utility model and the following description of the embodiments.

Embodiments A plurality of embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A printing device 2 shown in FIG. 1 includes a printing device housing 4 in which most of all functional members of the printing device are housed,
Upper mounting member 6 mountable on the printer housing 4
And a functional member cooperating with the replaceable assembly within the upper mounting member 6, which will be described in more detail later. 3 in the device shown
1 shows a point-of-sale printing device having printing stations 8, 10, 12 at several locations. At the printing station 8, a sales slip is issued, and this slip is printed on a strip of paper and cut by the cutting means 14. At the printing station 10, a continuous assortment table is printed and simultaneously wound up on the winding spool 16. The printing stations 8 and 10 are provided in parallel with each other and are printed by a common print head 18 movable in the direction of arrow 20. When a rod print head or a heat transfer head is used as the print head 18, the print color is transferred from the color material band 22 to the print-receiving members 24 and 26 for a slip or a sorting table, respectively. The color material band 22 is pulled out from the color material band cassette 28, passes through various printing stations, and is fed into the color material band cassette 28 again. Rather, the printing station 12 is for printing a single member 30 to be printed as a receipt. A print head 32 is used for printing on the print-receiving member 30, and the print head 32 is also movable in the direction of the arrow 20, and is provided especially on the common carrier with the print head 18. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the colorant band 22 is introduced to also act as a colorant carrier for the printing station 12. When the upper or lower print station operates in a manner that does not require a colorant band,
In this station, the color material band or the print head is offset in the direction perpendicular to the row direction, and the print head is removed from the color material band track.

The upper mounting member 6 has guide means and conveying means for the print-receiving members 24 and 26, and a print facing member with which the print-receiving members come into contact during the printing process. These functional members differ in the printing method used in the stations 8 and 10, for example, from the rod printing method to the heat transfer method, which will be described in more detail later. Since the entire upper mounting member having the functional member incorporated in the assembly can be replaced, the printing device 2 can easily switch from one printing method to another printing method. Further, the upper mounting member 6 is a shaft
The member to be printed is drawn around from the storage roller provided for the printer housing 4 because it can be swung around 34.
24 and 26 can be easily mounted, and the functional members provided inside the printer housing 4, particularly the print heads 18 and 32 and the color material band cassette 28, can be easily reached. Further, when the upper mounting member 6 is swung to the position shown in the drawing, the functional members provided in the upper mounting member 6 respectively correspond to the functional members provided in the printer housing 4 as described later. Be combined.

The conveying means 36 and the print facing member 38 are provided in a common frame 40, and the frame 40 is indicated by an arrow in the printer housing 4.
It is mounted so that it can move in the direction of 42. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the print facing member 38 is formed as a simple print beam member having a flat writing plane, which is used, for example, in conjunction with a rod print head. On the other hand, the frame 40 having the conveying means 36 and the print facing member 38 is formed as a replaceable assembly. Printing station 12
When switching the printing method of the
32 is exchanged.

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of the printing device 2 of FIG. 1 in a very simple diagram. The printing stations 8, 10, 12 are all configured as rod printing stations. The upper print head 18 cooperates with a print facing member 44 which is formed as a flat writing plane on the underside of the upper mounting member 6. The upper mounting member 6 further cooperates with the guide passages 46, 48 for the printed members 24, 26 (see also FIG. 1) and the transport rollers 52 provided and driven in the printer housing and for storage. And a counter roller 50 that further feeds the print paper drawn out from the roller 54, that is, the print target member. Second
As shown in the figure, the upper mounting member 6 can swing to a lifting position shown by a dotted line, and at this time, the print facing member 44 of the print head 18 and the conveying roller 52 formed below the upper device member 6 face each other. The roller 50 is also lifted. At this position, writing of the strip-shaped members to be printed 24, 26 into the guide passages 46 to 48 and reaching (access) to the functional members provided in the printer housing are possible.

Similarly, a print head 32, which is formed as a rod print head and prints on the print target member 30, is a print facing member 38 provided on the frame 40 and formed as a print beam member.
Collaborate with. Further provided is a transport roller 36 which is driven on the frame 40 and which cooperates with a counter roller 56 provided in the printing device. The frame 40 is movable in the direction of arrow 42. In the downward pulling position, the print facing member 38 is pulled down from the print head 32 and the transport roller 36 is pulled down from the facing roller 56, so that the print-receiving member 30 can be introduced to the stopper 58 in the apparatus. The ability to move in the direction of arrow 42 is further explained in more detail below.
The print facing member is pulled down from the print head 32 to move the print head in the row direction.

FIG. 3 shows the printing stations 8 and 10 in the apparatus shown in FIG.
The one in which the heating printing method is switched to is shown. On the other hand, the printing station 12 is again equipped with the rod printing method, so that it is no longer necessary to explain this.

In FIG. 3, instead of the rod print head, a heating print head 60 formed as a heating writing edge member is provided, the heating print head 60 being mounted pivotably about a shaft 62 in the printer housing. . The compression spring 64 presses the print head 60 so as to always contact the attached print facing member.

The upper mounting member 66 corresponds in shape and size to the upper mounting member 6 of FIG. The upper mounting member 66 likewise has guide passages 68, 69 for the printed members 24, 26 and counter rollers, not shown, which cooperate with the transport rollers provided and driven in the printer housing. These facilities correspond to the facilities shown in FIG. 2 and need no further explanation.

A print counter member 70, in the form of a writing roller for the print head 60, serves its role, which is drive-coupled via a drive belt 72 to a belt wheel 76 mounted on a shaft 74 of the counter roller. Has been done. Furthermore, the axis of the opposing roller
Gears 80 and 82 that mesh with each other are provided on the shaft 74 and the shaft 78 of the conveying roller, and the gears 80 and 82 transmit the driving motion of the conveying roller to the print facing member 70 at an appropriate speed ratio. Similar to FIG. 2, the upper mounting member 66 is also swingably mounted around the swing shaft 34, so that when the upper mounting member 66 is swung to the illustrated operating position, the gears 80, 82 are engaged with each other. It will be in a state of matching.

The heating print head 60 is always in contact with the print facing member 70 or the print-receiving members 24 and 26 in contact with the print facing member 70 in the case of pure heat printing without using a color material transport band or the like. As before, the heated print head 60 is positioned above the colorant band used in the lower print station 12.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the individual arrangement shown in FIG. 2 again. The two print-receiving members 24 and 26, one for the sales slip and one for the sorting table, are respectively drawn out from the attached storage roller 54,
Although it is introduced on the transport roller 52, the counter roller 50 is in contact with the transport roller 52. The print head 18 is movable in the direction of the arrow 20 extending over the two print target members 24 and 26.
A gear 82 is provided on the shaft 78 of the transport roller 52, and the gear 82 is
When the printing station is switched, it serves to drive the rotating roller as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the individual arrangements shown in FIG. The members to be printed 24 and 26 pass from the storage roller 54 through the conveying roller 52 and the opposing roller 50 attached thereto to the printing opposing member 70, and from there, pass through a guide passage (not shown) of the upper mounting member 66. Pass and go out. Print facing member
70 is driven by a belt wheel 71 connected thereto, a drive belt 72, and a belt wheel 71 mounted on a shaft 74 of the opposing roller 50.
76 and a gear 80 mounted on the same shaft, each gear 80 engaging a gear 82 on a shaft 78 of the transport roller 52. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the shaft 74 is formed by two coaxial, mutually interleaved shafts, each of which is a gear.
Combined with 80. One of these axes drives the writing roller of the slip and the other drives the writing roller of the sorting table.

The heating print head 60 is likewise divided into two parts, and as can be seen from FIG. 5, one part is distinguished for printing on the printing target member 24 and the other part for printing on the printing target member 26.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the arrangement shown in FIG. In this case, the printing station 84 occupies the entire width of the printing device. The member to be printed 86 is composed of two layers 88 and 90. The print-receiving member similarly passes from the storage roller 92 to the outside through the conveying roller 94 and the print facing member 96 formed as a writing roller. The print head 98, which is formed as a heating writing edge member over the entire width of the print target member 86, is provided on the back side of the paper layer 88 directly on the paper layer 88 made of, for example, active paper and via the coloring material. The layer 90 is indirectly written by a thermal transfer method. In this case, the paper layer 88 becomes a separation slip and the paper layer 90 becomes a continuously wound sorting table. The printing facing member 96 is driven from the similarly driven conveying roller 94 via the belt drive 100 and the gear coupling 102, but this need not be described in detail.

FIG. 7 shows the printing station 12 shown in FIGS.
Is shown in a perspective view. Corresponding numbers are assigned to corresponding components. The printing facing member 38 and the conveying roller 36 are provided in the same frame 40, and the frame 40 is used for a printer housing and is attached so as to be movable in the direction of arrow 42. The frame 40 can take two or three different positions depending on the printing method used. Two positions are taken in the case of the rod printing method and the ink pattern printing method shown in FIG. 2 or FIG.

In the non-operating position, not only the print facing member 38 is separated from the print head 32, but also the transport roller 36 is separated from the facing roller 56, so that the member to be printed can be inserted up to the stopper 58 in the apparatus. When the frame 40 is in the operating position, the transport roller 36 contacts the opposing roller 56 or the member to be printed inserted between them, while the printing opposing member 38 forms a gap sufficient for the line feed of the member to be printed and the print head 32. And the member to be printed is capable of printing in this gap. The print head 32 may be a rod print head, and in this case, a coloring material band must be inserted between the print head 32 and the member to be printed as shown in FIGS. The print head may be formed as an ink pattern print, in which case the coloring material band is not necessary.

When it is desired to switch the printing station 12 to the heating printing method, the frame 40 having all the attached functional members contained in one replaceable assembly is replaced with the frame 104,
As shown in FIG. 8, the frame 104 has functional members necessary for the heating printing method. The print facing member 106 is formed as a rotatable writing roller, which is connected to the shaft of the conveying roller 110 via a gear drive 108. Similarly, as the print head 112, a heating writing edge member plays a role, and the print facing member 106 is in contact with this edge member from below. In this case, the frame 104 can assume three positions: a non-actuated position, a transport position, and an actuated position.

9 to 11 show schematically possible positions of the frame 104. In FIG. 9, the frame 104 is in its lower, non-actuated position, with the transport roller 110 being pulled down from the counter roller 56 and the writing roller 106 being pulled down from the print head 112. In FIG. 11, the conveying roller 110 is pulled upward until it strikes the facing roller 56, but the non-printing member existing between the two rollers can be conveyed.
As shown in FIG. 11, at this position, the print facing member 10
6 is not in contact with the print head 112 yet. In FIG. 10, the frame 104 is in its upper operating position, in which case the print facing member 106 is in contact with the print head 112, so that the print-receiving members lying between them are printable. 10th
As can be seen, the opposing roller 56 is pressed by the spring in the installation direction of the frame 104, and therefore the frame 104 can move the transport roller 110 from the position shown in FIG. 11 to the position shown in FIG. On the other hand, the frame 104
It is also possible to rotate the printer 1 from the position shown in FIG. 11 in the clockwise direction around the shaft 114 of the transport roller 110 so that the print facing member 106 abuts on the print head 112. The possibility of separating the print-opposing member from the print head during conveyance of the print-receiving member is particularly necessary when using the thermal transfer method, in which case a highly sensitive color is provided between the print-opposing member 106 and the print-receiving member. The material carrier is inserted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device having three writing stations, one replaceable assembly adapted to hold guiding means and transport means for the strip-shaped members of two parallel printing stations. 2 and 3 are schematic vertical sectional views of the printer shown in FIG. 1 in which the upper print station has a rod print head, and FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 in which the upper print station uses a heating writing edge member as a print head. Fig. 4, Fig. 4 is a partial perspective view of the printing station shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view of the printing station shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is another embodiment of the printing station shown in Fig. 5. FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of an embodiment of the lower print station of FIG. 1, FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 in which a heating writing edge member is used in this print station, and FIG. Through eleventh The drawings are schematic diagrams showing various operating states of the printing station shown in FIG. (Description of symbols) 2 ... printing device, 4 ... printing device housing, 6,66 ... upper mounting member, 8,10,12 ... printing station, 18,32,60,112 ... printing head, 22 ...... Color material carrier means, 24, 26, 30 ...... Printed member, 28 ...... Writing band cassette (color material band cassette), 36, 52, 94, 110 …… Conveying rollers, 38, 44, 70, 96, 106 ... Print facing member, 40, 104 ... Frame, 46, 48, 68, 69 ... Guide passage, 50, 56 ... Opposing roller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Wolfgang Marche German Federal Republic of Germany Day-1000 Berlin 28, Heinbütschüßentraße 47 (56) References JP-A-56-42676 (JP, A) JP-A-SHO 56-60279 (JP, A) JP 59-42984 (JP, A) Actually developed 57-34448 (JP, U)

Claims (16)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A replaceable print head (18; 32), a replaceable print facing member (44, 70; 38, 106), and a print target member (24, 26; 30) passing through a print station. Interchangeable transport and guidance means (50,46,48; 76,68,69: 36; 110)
And at least upper and lower print stations, optionally with other replaceable functional members cooperating with the print head, at each print station transporting at least the print facing member (44,70; 38,106) and A printing device in which the guide means (50,46,48; 76,68,69: 36; 110) is incorporated into one replaceable structural unit, the print head (18,18, 6
0) is provided in the upper region of the printer housing (4) with the writing element of the head facing upwards, said replaceable unit being substantially below it with guiding and conveying means. A print facing member (44, 70) for the print target member (24, 26) and an upper mounting member (6, 66) mountable to the printer housing (4), In the lower print station, the print head (32,11
2) is provided so that the writing element of the head faces downward in the bottom area of the printer housing,
The replaceable unit cooperates with a frame (40, 104) provided below the print head (32, 112) so as to be vertically movable in the printer housing, and an opposing roller (56) provided in the printer. Conveying rollers (36,110) that work,
It has a printing facing member (38,106) and a conveyance roller (36,11).
0) and the print facing member (38,106) are the frame (40,104)
Attached to the printer. 2. The printing station comprises a series print head (18, 32) movably provided in a printing device housing (4) in a printing row direction, and a printing counter having a flat writing plane as a writing beam member. Claims for utility model registration characterized by having members (44, 38) No. 1
The printing device according to the item. 3. The printing station comprises a print head (60,112) fixedly mounted in the printer housing (4) and formed as a heating writing edge member, and rotatable as a print facing member (70,106). The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a writing roller. 4. The replaceable unit comprising a print facing member (44, 70, 106) and conveying and guiding means (50, 46, 48; 76, 68, 69; 110) comprises a print facing member (44, 70). 70,106)
Has an operating position that engages the print head (18,60,112),
Print facing member (44,70,106) is print head (18,60,112)
The utility model registration claim according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is provided in the printing device (4) so as to be movable between a non-operating position away from Printing device. 5. The upper mounting member (6, 66) is attached to the printer housing (4) so as to be pivotable about an axis (34) parallel to the row direction, and the upper mounting member (6, 66) is attached. ) Is pivoted to the operating position where it is mounted on the printer housing (4), the opposing roller (50) attached to the upper mounting member (6, 66) causes the opposite roller (50) to move to the printer housing (4). 5. A printer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the printer is engaged with a conveying roller (52) provided in the inside. 6. The printing facing member (70, 96) is a conveyance roller (5).
2,94) is formed as a rotatable writing roller which is coupled to the transport roller (52,94) when the upper mounting member (66) is pivoted to its operating position. The printing device according to claim 5, wherein the means (82, 102) is drivingly connected to a driving means (71, 100) provided on the writing roller. 7. A frame (40) comprises: a non-operating position in which the carrying roller (36) and the print facing member (38) are separated from the facing roller (56) and the print head (32), and the carrying roller (36). Engage with the facing roller (56) to engage the printing facing member (3
8. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein 8) is movable between an operating position having a constant writing gap with the print head (32) and the operating position. 8. A frame (104) is provided with a print facing member (106) from a non-operating position in which a conveying roller (110) and a print facing member (106) are separated from a facing roller (56) and a print head (112), respectively. ) Is separated, but the transport roller (110) is engaged, and the print facing member (106) contacts the print head (112) and the transport roller (110) faces the opposite roller (56). The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is movable to an operating position in which the utility model is registered. 9. The utility model registration claim 8 characterized in that the frame (104) can pivot about the shaft (114) of the conveying roller (110) in addition to its vertical movement.
The printing device according to the item. 10. The utility model registration claim 8 or 9, wherein the opposing roller (56) is elastically pressed and mounted in the printing direction. Printing device. 11. The printing facing member (106) is a conveyance roller (1).
10. The printing device according to claim 1, which is formed as a rotatable writing roller combined with 10). 12. The print facing member (38) is a frame (40).
The printing device according to any one of claims 1 and 7, characterized in that it is formed as a writing beam member that is fixedly arranged inside. 13. A writing ribbon cassette (28) is provided as a further functional member to the printing station, and a specific cassette is selectively mounted for operation by a rod print head or operation by a thermal transfer print head. The printer according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the printer is possible. 14. Individual functional members (50, 80) in a replaceable unit which, in operation, functionally cooperate with components (52, 82) provided in the printer housing (4), The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that when the replaceable unit is mounted, the component (52, 82) is automatically coupled. . 15. A member to be printed (24, 26, 26), which is in the form of a strip and / or is formed into a substantially paper piece, in the printer housing (4).
30) Any one of claims 1 to 14 characterized in that a plurality of printing stations (8, 10, 12) having separate printing steps for printing are provided. The printing device described in 1. 16. A utility model registration claim according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that a color material support means (22) is provided as another replaceable functional member. Printing device.