JPH065895Y2 - Impact printer - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device] [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to an impact printer that prints by hitting a recording sheet with a printing element such as a printing wire.

[Prior art and problems to be solved]

Impact printers have the advantage of being able to form multiple copies at the same time by using copy paper, but in order to increase this copy capacity (number of copies), until now a large current was applied to the print head. Then, a measure to increase the printing energy has been adopted. However, if a measure to increase printing energy is adopted, (1) power consumption increases. (2) The heat of the print head increases. (3) Heavy duty printing is not possible. (4) Head life is shortened. And the like. On the other hand, in the impact printer, when a fixed platen is used, a specific area of the platen is struck and worn by the printing wire, so that there is a problem that the printing quality gradually deteriorates due to long-term use. In order to solve this problem, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 80-3315 and Jitsukai Sho 49-44306 of the Technical Disclosure Association of the Invention, a platen facing a print head is formed by an endless belt and a recording paper is fed. That is, the platen including the endless belt is moved during non-printing so as not to hit the same place on the platen. With this configuration, it is possible to solve the problem of platen wear, but the belt constituting the platen remains stationary during the printing operation of the print head. Therefore, the printing power still depends only on the ability of the print head, and in order to improve the copy ability, the printing energy of the print head must be increased as in the above-mentioned conventional example, and the above-mentioned (1 )-(4) It did not solve the problem. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to obtain a higher copy capability without increasing the printing energy of the print head.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above problems, an impact printer according to the present invention is an impact printer that includes an impact print head and a platen that faces the print head with a recording sheet interposed therebetween. The movable platen comprises a fixed platen, a movable flat platen plate positioned between the recording paper and the fixed platen, and driving means for driving the movable platen. The printing element is always driven and driven by the driving means during the printing operation in which the recording paper is hitting the recording paper.

[Action]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, a part of the printing energy is supplied from the outside of the print head. that is,
The movable platen, which is located between the recording paper and the platen hit by the print head, is always driven during printing operation in which the print head is hitting the recording paper by a printing element such as a print wire. This is because the kinetic energy of is used as a part of the printing energy.

First Embodiment In FIGS. 1 and 2, an impact type print head 3 is mounted on a carriage 2 which is slidably received by guide shafts 1, 1. As the print head 3, a known one such as a print wire type, a print ball type, or a petal type print wheel type can be appropriately applied. A platen is arranged in front of the print head 3. This platen includes a fixed platen 4 in the shape of a square rod, a movable platen 6 composed of an endless metal belt wound around rollers 5 and 5 located close to both ends thereof, and a roller 5 and a roller 5.
It is constituted by a driving means (not shown) for rotationally driving one of the five. The belt-shaped movable platen 6 is inserted so that one side thereof contacts the front surface of the fixed platen 4, and the recording paper 7 is
It is passed between the movable platen 6 on the front surface of the fixed platen 4 and the print head 3. Reference numeral 8 is an ink ribbon. Next, the operation will be described. For example, when the print head 3 is spaced upward in FIG.
5 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, whereby the movable platen 6
Is driven to travel. In this embodiment, the traveling direction of the movable platen 6 is set to be opposite to the spacing direction of the print head 3. When a drive current is applied to the print head 3 during the spacing of the head, a print element (not shown) such as a print wire of the print head 3 is driven to move the ink ribbon 8 and the recording paper 7 to the movable platen 6. Press firmly against. At that moment, the recording paper 7 is frictionally rubbed by the moving movable platen 6 and is slightly displaced laterally. As a result, the print result is formed darker than in the case of only the fixed platen 6 (conventional configuration), and the number of copies can be increased when a plurality of sheets are simultaneously copied. This means that part of the kinetic energy of the movable platen 6 is used as printing energy. The recording paper 7 is fed by a paper feeding device (not shown).

Second Embodiment Since the movable platen 6 is preferably moved in the opposite direction to the print head 3, it is desirable that the movable platen 6 is also moved in the opposite direction to the print head 3 when performing reciprocal printing. The configuration shown in FIG. 3 is suitable for such a request.
In this example, the print head 3 carries out a printing operation while reciprocating, and both ends of a belt-shaped movable platen 6a are fixed to the carriage 2, and the middle of the fixed platen 4 via rollers 5a. Threaded to the front.
According to this configuration, the movable platen 6a on the front surface of the fixed platen 4 is always moved in the direction opposite to the print head 3.

Third Embodiment FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment, in which a pair of rollers 5b are arranged on the upper and lower parts of the platen 4, and the rollers 5b
A belt-shaped movable platen 6b is hung around, and one side thereof is passed through the front surface of the fixed platen 4. When the print head is performing a printing operation, the roller 5b rotates in the direction of the arrow, and the movable platen 6b is driven to run accordingly. In this case, the movable platen 6b has a lateral width that substantially corresponds to the length of the platen 4.

According to the impact printer according to the present invention described in detail above, since the printing energy can be increased without applying a large drive current, the consumption power is increased when the copy performance is increased. The problem such as heat generation of the head does not occur, which enables heavy-duty printing and does not shorten the life of the head. On the other hand, when printing on one sheet of recording paper, a small drive current is required to form characters and the like with the same density as before.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is FIG.
An end view taken along line II-II, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the second embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the third embodiment. 3 ... Print head, 4 ... Fixed platen, 6, 6a, 6
b ... Movable platen, 7 ... Recording paper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An impact printer comprising an impact type print head and a platen opposed to the print head with a recording sheet interposed therebetween, wherein the platen includes a fixed platen, the recording sheet and the fixed platen. It is constituted by a flat belt-shaped movable platen located between the two and driving means for running and driving the movable platen. In the movable platen, the printing element of the print head strikes the recording paper. An impact printer characterized in that it is configured to be constantly driven by the drive means during a printing operation.