JPH0661963B2 - Multi-head printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention is an improvement of a serial type multi-head printer equipped with a print head and an ink ribbon cassette and provided with a plurality of carriages that move in parallel to the platen. It is about.

[Conventional technology]

In the conventional wired printers, the pursuit of higher performance and lower prices has resulted in higher printing speed, finer printing, smaller device size, and optimized design according to the functions of each printer.

For example, as an example, Japanese Patent Application No. 58-2 of the present applicant
No. 34331 has two carriages that move in parallel to the platen, and each carriage has a print head and an ink ribbon cassette, and the print data to be input is moved by moving the carriages individually. Since it can be divided into printing heads and printing can be performed simultaneously, the printing speed can be increased.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, although the above-mentioned technique is satisfactory in speeding up the printing, there is a problem that other printing modes cannot be supported because the printing heads and the ink ribbon cassette are common.

For example, in the case of different printing styles such as printing that requires more copies and printing that does not require copying, the printing wire of the printing head is sufficient for printing paper when the former requires more copying. It is necessary to make an impact with a sufficient printing pressure, and a larger impact force is required compared to the case where copying is not required, so the printing sound, that is, the sound of the printing wire colliding with the printing paper, and other printing wire driving. The sound becomes louder and the power consumption becomes louder.

On the other hand, in the latter case where the copying is not required, the impact force of the printing wire may be smaller than that in the case where the copying is required. And power consumption can be reduced.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the printer used is set to correspond to either a case where more copies are needed or a case where no copies are required, high printing noise and high noise are generated. Either power consumption occurs or printing with copying becomes impossible.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is possible to perform printing on paper that needs copying and paper that does not need copying with an impact force suitable for each, and It is an object of the present invention to realize an inexpensive multi-head printer in which the gap between the sheet and the print head can be made the same even when the sheet is set and the circuit configuration is simple.

[Means for solving problems]

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a multi-head printer in which a print head and an ink ribbon cartridge are respectively mounted on two carriages that move in parallel to a platen.
The impact force of the print head mounted on one carriage is set strong, and the impact force of the print head mounted on the other carriage is set weak, and the gap between the print head having a strong impact force and the platen is widened,
The gap between the print head having a weak impact force and the platen is set to be narrow, and the function manual switching means for switching the printing function of the printer, and one of the two print heads according to the switching of the function manual switching means. And a control unit for controlling the printing operation of the selected print head.

[Action]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, when printing is performed on a sheet that needs to be copied, if the printing function is switched by the function manual switching means in response to the printing, the control unit has a strong impact force according to the switching of the function manual switching means. When a print head is selected, this print head prints on the paper that requires copying, and when printing on paper that does not require copying, if the printing function is switched by the function manual switching means accordingly, this function manual In accordance with the switching of the switching means, the control unit selects a print head having a low impact force, and controls the print head to print on a sheet that does not require copying.

Therefore, according to this, even when printing is performed on paper that needs copying or paper that does not require copying,
Printing can be performed with an impact force suitable for the paper, the gap between the print head having a strong impact force and the platen is wide, and the gap between the print head having a weak impact force and the platen is narrow. Because it is set, the gap between the paper and the print head can be the same when printing on paper that requires copying and when printing on paper that does not require copying. It is possible to print with high quality.

Further, since the control section selects the control symmetrical print head and controls the printing operation by switching the function manual switching means, it is not necessary to provide a control section corresponding to each print head, and the circuit configuration is simple and inexpensive. It becomes possible to realize a multi-head printer.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an essential part showing an embodiment of a multi-head printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a carriage drive mechanism in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the embodiment. Is.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a platen rotatably supported by a pair of left and right side plates, 2 is printing paper set on the platen 1, 3a and 3b are arranged in parallel with the platen 1, and are supported by a pair of left and right side plates. The guide shafts 4a and 4b are carriages slidably supported by the guide shafts 3a and 3b, and each of them has a driving source for spacing, which will be described later. 5a and 5b are carriages 4
printing heads mounted on a and 4b, 6a and 6b, respectively
Is an ink ribbon cassette detachably mounted on the carriages 4a and 4b, and 7a and 7b are retreat areas of the print heads 5a and 5b provided on both sides of the platen 1, and printing is performed by retreating the print head 5a to the retreat area 7a. The head 5b can be moved from the left end to the right end of the print sheet 2, and the print head 5a can be moved from the left end to the right end of the print sheet 2 by retracting the print head 5b in the retract area 7b.

Next, the carriage drive mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 2, but since the carriages 4a and 4b have the same drive mechanism, the carriage 4a will be used as a representative.

In FIG. 2, 8a is a space motor such as a flat DC brushless motor fixed to the lower surface of the carriage 4a with screws or the like, and 9 is the rotation of the space motor 8a (the space motor of the carriage 4b is referred to as 8b). An optical sensor for detecting a corner, which is arranged so as to sandwich the outer peripheral portion of a disk attached to the space motor 8a, and detects the movement of many small holes provided in the outer peripheral portion of the disk to rotate the space motor 8a. The corner is detected. Reference numeral 10 is a pinion attached to the rotor shaft of the space motor 8a, and 11 is a rack that meshes with the pinion 10, and is fixed to the frame 12 in parallel with the platen 1 shown in FIG. The rack 11 is commonly used for the carriage 4b. A flexible cable 13 is attached to the carriage 4a together with the space motor 8a, and is connected to a control circuit described later. The flexible cable 13 supplies electric power to circuit parts mounted on the carriage 4a and the circuit. Sends and receives signals between parts and control circuits.

In the above embodiment, the carriages 4a and 4b are provided with the space motors 8a and 8b, respectively, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, two motors fixed to a frame or the like and two sets of transmission mechanisms are used. It may be driven to.

In this embodiment, the printing head 5 shown in FIG. 1 is provided to have a function corresponding to both printing forms when copying is required in printing and when low noise printing is performed in which copying is unnecessary.
The printing wire of a has a strong impact force to enable copy paper printing, and the gear gap between the printing head 5a and the platen 1 is widely adjusted by the thickness thereof so as to correspond to the thick printing paper 2. Since the print wire of the print head 5b performs low noise printing, the print wire has a weak impact force, and the ink ribbon cassette 6b has high sensitivity to obtain an appropriate print density against the weak impact force. Ink ribbon is used.

The print heads 5a and 5b cannot be mixed in at least one line due to the difference in function.

In FIG. 3, 4a and 4b represent the carriage shown in FIG. 1, the head shown in the carriage 4a is the print head 5a, M is the space motor 8a, and the carriage 4
The head shown in b indicates a print head 5b, and M indicates a space motor 8b. Although not shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 is a line feed motor for moving the printing paper 2.

A control unit 15 controls the entire printer, and mainly C
It is composed of a PU, an I / O port, a timer, a memory and the like. Reference numeral 16 is a signal line for inputting a print command or print data to the control unit 15, and reference numeral 17 is a function changeover switch (function manual changeover means) for changing over the print function of the printer, which is connected to the control unit 15. Reference numeral 18 is a head switching circuit for selecting the print heads 5a and 5b,
Reference numeral 19 is a motor switching circuit for selecting the space motors 8a and 8b, 20 is a motor feedback signal switching circuit for switching a feedback signal from the space motors 8a and 8b, and 21a and 21b are the print heads 5a and 5b and the printing heads 5a and 5b. Head drive circuits 22a and 22b interposed between the head switching circuit 18 and the head switching circuit 18, respectively, are the space motors 8a and 8b.
And a motor drive circuit interposed between the motor switching circuit 19 and the motor switching circuit 19, 22c is a motor drive circuit for driving the line weight motor 14, 23a is a space motor 8a
23b of the space motor 8b is a signal line for sending a feedback signal of the line feed motor 14 to the control unit 15, and 24 is a head switching circuit 1 from the control unit 15.
8, a switching signal input to the motor switching circuit 19 and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20, and 25 denotes the entire control circuit.

As described above, since the print heads 5a and 5b do not appear in the same print line due to the difference in function, one of the carriages 4a and 4b is constantly moving, and the other is retracted to the save area 7a or 7b. Since it is necessary to control either one of the carriages 4a and 4b at all times,
Also in the control circuit 25, the head switching circuit 18, the motor switching circuit 19, and the motor feedback switching circuit 20 for switching one signal are configured to correspond to one control unit 15.

Next, the operation of the configuration shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 will be described.

Before the printer performs the printing operation, the function switching switch 17 selects the function of the printer. The control section 15 performs the following operation depending on the state of the function switching switch 17.

When the state of the function switching switch 17 and the function selected by the control unit 15 are the same, for example, in the state where the function switching switch 17 selects low noise printing, the control unit 15 can perform low noise printing at a low printing pressure. Print head 5b adjusted to
And the spacing motor 8b for the head switching circuit 1
8. When selected by the motor switching circuit 19 and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20. Alternatively, with the function switching switch 17 selecting copy printing, the controller 15 controls the head switching circuit 18 and the motor switching circuit 19 by setting the printing head 5a and the space motor 8a adjusted to a high printing pressure capable of copying printing. , The motor feedback signal switching circuit 20 may be selected. In the former case, the carriage 4a is retreated to the left retreat area 7a shown in FIG. 1, and the carriage 3b is movable by the space motor 8b. In the latter case, the carriage 3b is retreated to the right-side retreat area 7b shown in FIG. 1, and the carriage 3a can be moved by the space motor 8a.

When the function switching switch 17 and the function selected by the control unit 15 are different from each other, for example, the function switching switch 17 selects low noise printing, and the control unit 15 allows copy printing and the print head 5a and its space motor 8a. Is selected by the head switching circuit 18, the motor switching circuit 19, and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20, the control unit 15 gives a drive signal to the space motor 8a to move the carriage 3a to the retreat area 7a. Head switching circuit 1
By inverting the switching signal 24 that controls the motor switching circuit 19, the motor switching signal 19 and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20, the control unit 15 causes the print head 5b and the space motor 8b.
To enable the operation. Also, in the opposite case, after the carriage 4b is retreated to the retreat area 7b by the same procedure, the switching signal 24 is inverted and the head switching circuit 18, the motor switching circuit 19, and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20 are used to control the controller 15. Selects the print head 5a and the space motor 8a to enable their operation.

After the function selection is completed as described above, the printer performs the printing operation with the selected function according to the print data input from the outside through the signal line 16.

It is assumed that the print head 5b and the space motor 8b are selected by the head switching circuit 18, the motor switching circuit 19, and the motor feedback signal switching circuit 20.

In order to operate the carriage 3b, the controller 15 gives a drive signal to the motor drive circuit 22b to rotate the space motor 8b.

Since the space motor 8b is fixed to the carriage 4b as in FIG. 2, the carriage 4b is moved by the reaction force from the rack 11 with which the rotating pinion 10 meshes. After that, the movement of the carriage 4b is changed to the print head 5b.
Is repeated until the print start position is reached.

When the print head 5b reaches the print start position, the control section 15 sends print data to the head drive circuit 14b, and the print wire of the print head 5b is selectively driven by the signal, and the ink ribbon cassette shown in FIG. The printing wire collides with the printing paper 2 via the ink ribbon 6b, and a dot character is printed on the printing paper 2. This operation is repeated for print data for one line.

When the printing of one line is completed, the rotation of the space motor 8b is stopped by the command of the control unit 15 via the motor drive circuit 22b, and the line feed motor 14 is rotated via the motor drive circuit 22c to print as shown in FIG. The sheet 2 is moved by one line and a line feed is performed. Then, the next print data is waited for, and the operation is performed according to the print data.

When the function is changed, the printing paper 2 set on the platen 1 is exchanged according to the function together with the function changing operation.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the impact force of the print head mounted on one of the two carriages moving in parallel to the platen is strong, and the impact force of the print head mounted on the other carriage is strong. The gap between the print head having a high impact force and the platen is set to be wide and the gap between the print head having a low impact force and the platen is set to be narrow, and the print function of the printer is set to be weak. Copying is required as a configuration including a function manual switching means for switching and a control section for selecting one of the two print heads according to the switching of the function manual switching means and controlling the printing operation of the selected print head. When printing on various types of paper, if you switch the printing function by the function manual switching means, In accordance with the switching of the switching means, the control unit selects a print head having a high impact force, and when the print head prints on the paper that needs the copy and the paper that does not require the copy, the function is manually operated accordingly. When the printing function is switched by the switching unit, the control unit selects a print head having a low impact force according to the switching of the function manual switching unit, and controls the printing head to print on a sheet which does not require the copying. There is.

Therefore, according to this, even when printing is performed on paper that needs copying or paper that does not require copying,
Printing can be performed with an impact force suitable for the paper, the gap between the print head having a strong impact force and the platen is wide, and the gap between the print head having a weak impact force and the platen is narrow. Because it is set, the gap between the paper and the print head can be the same when printing on paper that requires copying and when printing on paper that does not require copying. It is possible to obtain an effect that high quality printing can be performed.

Further, since the control section selects the control symmetrical print head and controls the printing operation by switching the function manual switching means, it is not necessary to provide a control section corresponding to each print head, and the circuit configuration is simple and inexpensive. The effect that a multi-head printer can be realized is also obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an essential part showing an embodiment of a multi-head printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a carriage drive mechanism in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the embodiment. Is. 1 ... Platen, 2 ... Printing paper, 4a, 4b ... Carriage, 5a, 5b ... Printing head, 6a-6c ... Ink ribbon cartridge, 7a, 7b ... Evacuation area,
15 ... Control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A multi-head printer in which a print head and an ink ribbon cartridge are respectively mounted on two carriages that move in parallel to a platen, and the impact of the print head mounted on one of the two carriages. The force is strong and the impact force of the print head mounted on the other carriage is set to be weak, and the gap between the print head having the high impact force and the platen is wide, and the print head having the low impact force and the platen are The gap between the two is set narrower, and the function of the printer is switched by the function manual switching means, and one of the two print heads is selected according to the switching of the function manual switching means, and the printing of the selected print head is performed. And a control unit for controlling the operation. De printer.